Muslims say they are apostates. The penalty for apostasy is summary execution. If I were Alawite, and lived in a majority Muslim country, I'd say I was a Muslim too. From Wikipedia:
On 31 January 1973, Assad implemented the new Constitution which led to a national crisis. Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the president of Syria must be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the ulama.They labeled Assad as the "enemy of Allah" and called for a jihad against his rule.[42] Robert D. Kaplan has compared Assad's coming to power to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[44]
Assad responded by arresting about 40 Sunni officers who were accused of plotting.
Nevertheless, Assad returned the requirement to the Constitution to please the Sunnis, but he stated that he "rejects every uncultured interpretation of Islam that lays bare an odious narrow-mindedness and loathsome bigotry".[42] In 1974, to satisfy this constitutional requirement, Musa Sadr, a leader of the Twelvers of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement who had unsuccessfully tried to unite Lebanese Alawis and Shias under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council,[45] issued a fatwa stating that Alawis were a community of Twelver Shia Muslims.[46][47]
Sounds like the Shiites say that Alawites are Shiite muslims.