Are you getting your facts from InfoWars?
No, the majority were NOT happy with Assad.
You do realize that his father killed 100,000 people in the last civil war? Were they happy?
Assad is an Alawite, a minority group in Syria. Sunni's are the dominant population representing some 75% of the population.
Assad has been unpopular for a very long time, just as his father was outside the Alawite community.
sixty percent of Syrians did not want this rebellion. What his father did, he did.
Christians were treated decently and what do you think is going to replace him>?
A moderate muslim and they are going to sing songs of peace and live happily ever after?
No, they will live and Sharia law.
Correct on all counts. Assad is a Shia Allawite minority. The majority of Syrians are Sunnis. There has always been tension. There was another civil war in the ‘80s his father put down brutally.
The current civil war began when Sunni Syrian army officers started refusing to fire on protesting civilians and Syrian soldiers were repeatedly being shot for refusing to fire on protestors. This is essentially what created the first armed opposition to Assad, the FSA, created by defecting Sunni Army personnel. Once open conflict was occurring the Islamist groups followed suit. This also explains why (Shia) Assad is receiving assistance from (Shia) Iranian-backed groups like (Shia) Hezbollah and (Shia) Hamas. The former took heavy casualties in a recent offensive against (Sunni) Islamist forces and declared they would only act defensively from then on. Which, IMO, is one reason why Russia has entered the fray. Assad is on the ropes and needs foreign intervention to re-take territory.
When the US first started bombing Syrian ISIS positions this spring Assad went on the offensive against the secular opposition groups (our guys) and in the long term has not fared well since he cannot replace forces lost and now lacks forces to retake territories controlled by secular and Islamist opposition forces. Hezbollah has bowed out and Hamas is too little to be effective. Enter Russia.
Putin’s poked a hornet’s nest and lots of Chechnyan’s will flock to Syria for payback they cannot exact in Chechnya, as well as Taliban and AQ. The Gulf states will be more than happy to transit Arabian terrorists to assist as well. Putin’s got his work cut out for him as the secular rebels are within artillery range of the Russian base in Latakia which will require a ground offensive to clear. Look for Islamist groups moving into that area soon to engage.
(Derived from public information sources).