Syria genocide: Intra-Islamic 'religious hatred' -Alawite - Sunni

[Milagros]

Intra-Islamic hatred: Alawite - Sunni bigotry

Against Syrian anger, Assad's sect feels fear | Reuters
Feb 2, 2012 - "You Alawite," read a text on the social networking site, widely hailed by ... the once scorned Alawites, the language of religious hatred is growing louder. ... Adnan Arour, a Sunni cleric who fled Syria during Assad's reprisals...
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/syria-alawites-idINDEE81109520120202

Syria's Future: Alawite Military Coup, or Regional Civil War
And a Sunni-Alawite bloodbath in Syria could lead to something similar ... victims being mostly innocent victims of communal and religious hatred on both sides.
http://www.kurdnas.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=155:syrias-future-alawite-military-coup-or-regional-civil-war&catid=35:opinion&Itemid=55

Syria on the brink of civil war - CBS News Video
Jan 21, 2012 - CBS News
video: Syria on the brink of civil war - Calls for political..
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7395926n

Ghost militia haunting Syria: 'Killers on steroids' do dirty work for regime...
National Post - [June 8, 2012]
The clannishness, secrecy and tenacity of Syria's power elite around Assad have deepened Sunni suspicions about the enigmatic Alawite faith.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/06/08/ghost-militia-haunting-syria-killers-on-steroids-do-dirty-work-for-regime/

The Shabiha: Inside Assad's death squads
Telegraph.co.uk By Harriet Alexander, and Ruth Sherlock in Beirut
6:00PM BST 02 Jun 2012
But now, as ultra-loyal enforcers of Syria's brutal regime, they have taken on a ... brainwashing the militia into believing the Sunni majority was their enemy. ... In addition to sectarian hatred and economic motives, the Shabiha ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9307411/The-Shabiha-Inside-Assads-death-squads.html

Men who drink blood: inside the brutal world of Assad's death squads
Sydney Morning Herald - [June 3, 2012]
As President Bashar al-Assad's country slides towards civil war, the violent, dark and secretive world of the Shabiha is coming out into the open ... Mr Assad, and his father Hafez before him, used the Shabiha to terrorise his people into obedience, brainwashing members of the militia into believing that Syria's Sunni majority was their enemy.

Alawites comprise about 12 per cent of Syria's population, and historically were persecuted by the Sunnis. They split from the Shiite branch of the Islamic faith in the ninth century, believe prayers are not necessary and do not fast or perform pilgrimages. Many of the key tenets of the faith are secret. Sunnis see them as heretics.

When the French ran Syria after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, they needed soldiers willing to defend the regime from a Sunni uprising. Large numbers of Alawites were incorporated into the army.

It was from the army that Hafez al-Assad emerged to seize power in 1970 and make the Alawites the most politically powerful sect in Syria.

Initially, the Shabiha were a mafia clan, making money through racketeering. The Assads turned a blind eye and the Shabiha became the family's loyal defenders and enforcers.

''They are fuelled by this belief that they are fighting for their survival,'' said Dr Azzawi. ''Assad tells them that they must defend the government or else they will be destroyed; it's kill, or be killed.''
http://www.smh.com.au/world/men-who-drink-blood-inside-the-brutal-world-of-assads-death-squads-20120603-1zq1v.html

Children shot, knifed, axed to death in Syria's Houla massacre reports say
CNN (blog) - May 28, 2012
Houla is a largely Sunni Muslim enclave surrounded by Shiite and Alawite villages, the latter being the sect to which al-Assad belongs.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/28/children-shot-knifed-axed-to-death-in-syrias-houla-massacre-reports-say/

Syria civil war threat grows after Houla massacre
BBC News - May 31, 2012
"God will take revenge for us" - it's a declaration heard in the Sunni... of deliberately recruiting death squads like this to fuel sectarian hatred.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18281606

[hinckley buzzard]

We live in an age where civilizations are reaching for the stars, yet having to contend with ankle-biting dogs like these primitive savages. They need to be dealt with decisively and put where they belong.

[Milagros]

This is why I disagree with John Mccain to get involved (as it stands now): intra-Islamic hatered/massacres is NOT our business.

[umgud]

Saving these muslims is not worth an ounce of American blood. I’ll be angry if we intervene for that reason.

[Milagros]

Yup. We should remeber ‘Black Hawk Down.’ too. Or the Bosnian [recent] terror plot after we saved their asses in the 1990s.

[RetiredTexasVet]

Surprised that Eric the Corrupt hasn’t started “Fast and Furious - Syria” yet. The Food Stamp President is having a tough time raising funds .... even went so far as saying the Moo wouldn’t go down all the way, but we must assume that he would in order to get those big queer donations. He may need to push Eric to get the gunrunning operation up to speed before the election so that he can get up.

[Uncle Chip]

Hopefully we learned our lesson in Iraq — stay out of it.

[Pelham]

Our ‘involvement’ with the Islamic world needs to be to keep them out of Western countries, not to sort out their internal wars.

Conservatives especially shouldn’t be falling for the utopian goals of liberal internationalism. It has always been a fools errand.

[Zhang Fei]

''They are fuelled by this belief that they are fighting for their survival,'' said Dr Azzawi. ''Assad tells them that they must defend the government or else they will be destroyed; it's kill, or be killed.''

I'd be surprised if Assad has to tell them anything. Alawites are considered heretics at best, and apostates at worst, by Sunnis. What else would you call a religion (Alawism) that has some of the forms of Islam, but allows its followers to drink alcohol, celebrates Easter and Christmas, lets its women go uncovered (i.e. no garbage bag outfits) and coexists best with Christians, rather than Shias or Sunnis? My guess is that the primary reason Assad pere went with Arab nationalism was to channel Sunni discontent (with being ruled by Alawite heretics/apostates) away from himself and toward the bogeymen of Israel and the West. His acceptance of aid from Iran is in exchange for supplying Hezbollah, which is a gnat transformed into a giant by the shadows cast by the klieg lights pointed in its direction.

[Milagros]

Agreed.

[Milagros]

Speaking of Hezbollah / Iran in Syria... --

• Ynetnews, May 27, 2012:

  Iran confirms sending troops to Syria...
  Islamic Republic admits its forces are aiding Assad's regime in crackdown on pro-democracy protesters; UN's tally of fatalities in Syrian uprising is at 13,000.

• JPost, June 6, 2012:

  'Iran giving Assad personnel to kill own people'... Iran, Hezbollah supporting "brutality," "butchery"; avoids answering if West should intervene.

[Zhang Fei]

'Iran giving Assad personnel to kill own people'

I don't think the Sunni Arabs being killed considered any non-Sunni or non-Arab their "own people" except in the subordinate sense of slaves or non-Muslim poll-tax-paying second class citizens. Ultimately, the deportation of Syria's Sunni Arab community to a more like-minded country like Egypt or Saudi Arabia would probably be a boon to the non-Muslim world.

[muawiyah]

More or less.

[elcid1970]

I have read before that in Syria there is a mix of religions commonly called “Chrislam”. Is this what “Alawism” is about? Real question.

[Zhang Fei]

Just as Christianity is a Jewish heresy, Islam is a Christian heresy. Alawism, like Islam, is yet another Christian heresy, but has retained more of the features of Christianity than Islam itself. I'd almost say it's not only a Christian heresy - it's a Muslim heresy as well (and that's a good thing, given that its heretical aspects are a rejection of some of the nuttier features of Islam, such as garbage bag ladies' fashions).

My sense is that "Chrislam" is merely an attempt by Christians to proselytize among Muslims and by Muslims to proselytize among Christians. Given that Muslims already have free rein to do so among Christians, whereas Christians do not among Muslims, it's not a surprise that some Christian religious leaders are looking into it - it's a sneaky way to reach Muslims who were hitherto unreachable.