[rmlew]

Actually it is Alawites and Druze vs Sunni and the Sunni are purposely killing and ethnically cleansing Christians, Alawites and Druze.

[robowombat]

Yes and I suspect there is an unspoken but real bargain between the US and Saudi Arabia that allows the Saudis to bankroll the Sunni militias in Syria and in Iraq. The goal in both places is to squelch the pro-Iranian Shia militias in Iraq and to topple the heretical Alawite regime in Syria . The latter is Iran's only ally in the region and the site of the Russians only naval base. The Sunni /Alawite war will unfortunately lead to a lot of Syrian Christians deaths unless there is a side deal that they can get out via Israel and Lebanon and then be settled here and Canada and Australia. The desired end state is a semi Islamist Sunni block in Syria and Iraq with a de facto Kurd state in the north and the Hezbollah isolated in Lebanon with the Israelis ready to pay them back for 2006. The grand strategy is to continue to isolate and contain Iran and create an Islamacist block that does not direct its Jihad at the US.