[RedEyeJack]

Actually, the Ba’athists in Syria, who run the country, are Shiites. They are only 18% of the population. The Sunnis in Syria make up 75-80% of the population. It is a mirror image of the religious make up in Iraq under the Saddam's Ba’athists regime. The Ba’athists have to be heavy handed to keep the majorities under control. Assad would use the chemical weapons on them long before he would use them on the Israelis. Of course, if mounted on scud missiles, he could fire them into Iraq against US bases if his Iranian bosses told him to.

[muawiyah]

The fellows who run the show in Syria are ALAWI, not Shia.

They share many elements in common with both Sunni and Shia Moslems, but they also share elements with Christianity and Judaism, andprobably even more "Old Time Religion".

On a challenge one Freeper found a single source (that claimed he was a trained Mullah) on the internet that would claim the Alawi were actually Moslem. Virtually all Moslems hold that the Alawi are NOT Moslem.