Bill Webster/The Washington Post
Who’s Fighting Whom In Syria? -- Voice of America
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is struggling to maintain power as many of the country’s Sunnis have joined the rebellion and even as some members of his own Alawite sect are turning against him, as the Washington Post’s Liz Sly reported.
How many religious sects are there in Syria, and what do they all want?
The Assad family and the Syrian security forces are Alawite. Alawites identify as Shiite Muslims, but their religion includes aspects of Zoroastrian, ancient pagan, Christian and other beliefs. They believe in the divinity of Ali, the son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad.
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My Comment: Looking at the above map, I cannot help but feel that when the civil war is finally over, this is how Syria will be fractured. Sectarian ghettos in Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo, Alawites near Lataika, Christians fleeing the country, Druze near the Golan heights and Lebanon, Kurds in the north, and the Sunnis will have the rest.