Why is this even noteworthy?
What was Assad going to do....
Surrender - and let his naked body be dragged through the streets of Damascus behind two illiterate rebels on a sputtering motorcycle?
What was the Alawite leadership going to do....
Calmly let their families be slaughtered and all their property confiscated?
They all agreed to fight to the death - and why wouldn't they?
The Alawites only make up 15% of the population. If they didnt fight to death, it would mean the death of the entire tribe in the country.
It helped that all the Officers in the military were Alawite. The Republican Guard, an elite military division is all Alawite.