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The Alawis, who number about 1,350,000 in Syria and Lebanon, constitute Syria's largest religious minority. Historically they have been called Nusayris, Nusairis, Namiriya or Ansariyya. They live chiefly along the coast in Al Ladhiqiyah Province, where they form over 60 percent of the rural population; the city of Latakia itself is largely Sunni. The Alawi sect, which integrates doctrines from other religions -- in particular from Christianity -- arose from a split within the Ismailite sect. The Alawis appear to be descendants of people who lived in this region at the time of Alexander the Great. When Christianity flourished in...

The Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday accused the Syrian Alawite elite of waging sectarian warfare on Sunnis by attacking Hama, after at least 80 people were killed there in a bloody crackdown earlier in the day. "Syria is witnessing a war of sectarian cleansing. The regime has linked its open annihilation with the crescent of Ramadan. It is a war on the identity and beliefs of the Syrian nation ... on Arab Muslim Syria," the Brotherhood said in a statement.

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASES Sunday, December 20, 2009 United States Transfers 12 Guantanamo Bay Detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland Region Twelve detainees have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region. As directed by the President’s Jan. 22, 2009 Executive Order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of each of these cases. As a result of that review, which examined a number of factors, including potential threat, mitigation measures and the likelihood of success in habeas litigation, the detainees were...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

'No election' for parts of Iraq Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has admitted for the first time that violence will prevent some parts of Iraq voting in this month's election. "There are some pockets that will not participate in the election, but they are not large," he said. He spoke on a day when at least 15 people were killed across the country. At least six police officers died in Tikrit, seven Iraqis were killed in an attack south of Baghdad, and at least two died in a bomb in Samarra. Iraq's interim government has announced it has set aside...

THE TAX Wednesday, November 10, 2004 Hi, You have surely heard of the kidnapping of the relatives of Dr. Alawi, his cousin, aged more than seventy years old, the cousin’s wife and his daughter in law. The daughter in law is said to be pregnant. Immediately afterward, an internet site announces that they will be beheaded if some impossible demands which can be summarized as total surrender to these miserable Dead Enders. Can you imagine this; beheading a pregnant young woman whose only fault is being a relative of the Prime Minister. Now you know the kind of people who...

In this respect, John Kerry isn't exactly the best advertisement for his Swiss finishing school. Forget the impeccable carriage -- if you imagine you're watching streaming video on a slow dial-up connection, his gait seems perfectly natural. But the manners thing seems to have passed him by entirely. His decision to break the time-honored tradition of keeping out of the way during the other guy's convention by rushing on the air within an hour of President Bush's speech to give an instant response was boorish and petty. But, given that his ''midnight rambler'' routine in Ohio was a disaster, there...

The IAF struck this night Hamas terrorists, who were concentrating in a building in the Sechiya neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. The attack came close to midnight. IDF helicopters fired a few rockets towards a building, that was being used as a training and instruction facility for the Hamas terror group, under the guise of being a "community center." Al Jazeera reports, that the building is being used as a "community center" for the Iz Adin A Qassam brigade, the military wing of Hamas. The report says the helicopters fired 5 missiles towards the building, causing the casualties. About 30...

Chirac to Meet Iraqi President for Talks The Associated Press PARIS Aug. 28, 2004 — French President Jacques Chirac said that Iraq's interim president will travel to Paris early next month for talks on how France can best contribute to Iraq's reconstruction. Chirac told his nation's diplomats on Friday that France is prepared to make a serious commitment to help Iraq achieve stability and democratically elect its next leaders. "France is open to a dialogue with Iraqi authorities on all subjects the training of security forces, Iraqi debt all subjects that concern the rebuilding and the well-being of the Iraqi...

The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, (left) and the Iraqi prime minister, Ayad Allawi. Photograph: Bilal Qabalan/Getty Images  Ayad Allawi today welcomed Saudi Arabia's US-backed proposals to help build a joint force of Muslim nations to establish security in Iraq. The Iraqi prime minister was speaking a day after more than 100 people were killed in a series of suicide attacks - the deadliest bout of violence since his interim government took over power from the US authorities.After holding talks with the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, Mr Allawi said Muslim countries must close ranks against "those gangs,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 30 — The Iraqi authorities, with the help of American intelligence agencies, are creating an intelligence service here that will focus on rooting out guerrilla fighters, especially those from outside the country, Iraqi and American officials said Friday. The service will employ some former agents of Saddam Hussein's security apparatus and will probably receive financing from the American government, the officials said. Many of the agents will work in the border towns of Iraq to identify foreign fighters who have slipped into the country and will monitor their activities, said Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior member of the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to set up an Iraqi intelligence service to spy on groups and individuals inside Iraq that are targeting U.S. troops and civilians, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. Citing unidentified U.S. officials, the Post said the CIA plans to set up the new service with help from Jordan. Two members of an Iraqi exile group are at CIA headquarters in Virginia this week to work out details of the new program, the Post said. Iraqi Interior Minister Nouri Badran, a secular Shiite Muslim, has been selected to head the service initially, the Post...