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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin speaks to supporters of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad who turned out Friday in Damascus.
Editor's note: Cairo-based NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin is reporting from inside Syria this week. Follow his updates on Twitter @Aymanm
Inside Syria, Day4
DAMASCUS, Syria -- It's part concert, part celebration, but ALL for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
That's what it was like attending a pro-government rally Friday in Damascus.
Here, there is no mistaking whom this crowd supports. His picture is everywhere, even draped on the side of a multistory building that belongs to the Central Bank.
There are some glaring observations that any one who comes to these rallies notices. First, they are extremely safe. Police block streets, volunteers usher people to the opens spaces, there is a nice stage and sound system set up. Flags and the president’s pictures are plentiful. The rallies are carried on State TV.
This is in stark contrast to the demonstrations against the president's rule. Those protests are often in tight side streets away from the eyes of security forces that have used force to disperse them. No high-quality cameras beaming the images on TV, the vast majority of anti-government protests are captured on amateur footage and shared via social media websites.
There was something rather disturbing I noticed during Friday's pro-government rally. Even my Syrian friends who were with me thought it was extremely distasteful and alarming.
People were openly professing their support for the "SHABIHA" - armed thugs that critics and activists say are used by the Assad regime, along with the military, to put down the nationwide uprising violently.
Related story: US considers shutting embassy in Syria
It's very difficult to gauge the support the president has across the country, but there is no doubt that here in the capital, there are still those who will come out to show their support for the leader. But what is even harder to tell is whether the president and his government enjoy support for their performance or fear out of the alternative that would emerge in a post-Assad era should he leave power.
Many people feel as the conflict drags on and becomes increasingly militarized, the wounds of a full-blown war between the government and armed insurgents would destroy Syria and that fear has paralyzed some into supporting the president -- for the time being.
AFP - Getty Images
A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian demonstrators waving Syrian flags and holding pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a pro-regime rally Friday in Damascus.
But I haven't seen too many pro-Assad rallies in the rest of the country and certainly not as big or as frequent as the ones held in Damascus.
Earlier in the day, we had requested permission to go to a square in another part of the city where anti-government protests are held. Surprisingly, the ministry of information granted us the permits relatively easily. Keep in mind we have been waiting for 4 days to get permission to film long lines at petrol stations.
See all of Ayman Mohyeldin's Inside Syria reports
When we arrived there was no rally … just plain-clothes security and pro-Assad supporters who coincidently showed up when our camera appeared.
Foreign journalists visiting Syria have been banned from traveling to areas where anti-government sentiment runs high. The government says it's for our own safety. Critics say it's to control the message. So because we can't get to them, activists are sending amateur footage out to the world showing what they say are atrocities the government is committing against civilians.
A reminder that in Syria's uprising, there now is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of viewers as well.
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The US and Israel need to stop stirring up trouble in the Middle East.
May I ask you, what exactly has Israel done to stir up Syria? As far as I can recall, Israel has been fairly silent on the matter.
I do know Hezzbollah, a terrorist organization that is driven by archaic Koran prophesy to destroy Israel is sponsored by Iran and Syrias extremist factions. I do know that this organization, Hezzbollah has launched numerous attacks on Israel from Lebanons populated neighborhoods thus using the innocent as a human shield. This organization has virtually hijacked the Lebanese government from its native residents dragging them into wars that would not be in otherwise.
I also know that Hezzbollah killed 230 United States Marines and civillian workforce at our our embassy there in 1980.
You several times cited the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty by Israeli forces. True; Our own investigations by the U.S. military concluded that "it was an accident". Israel was under attack by no less than 6 Islamist nations that wanted to kill every one of them. We were there to deter the attack because it was wrong.
Do you understand Judson? Genocide is wrong, Theocide is wrong. Do you understand that if you were in any one of these attacking countries, your own death would be a victory for Allah.
Sorry Judson, killing all the Jews won't solve your problems, the worlds problems, or our nations problems. You will just be next on their list of people to kill. Last I checked, Jews don't care what religion I want to adhere to, or abstain from. The Jews were given nukes as a deterrent. Everybody knows they have them, and that's why they have them. They have not abused the privilege either, so it is working to some degree.
When we have people like you walking around who want to take the easy way out throwing the Jews on a sacrificial pyre in the name of peace, all I can say is why don't you do us Americans all a favor and leave. Pizz-ovv bonehead !!! You are a Nazi - My dad fought against you blowhards and won already.
Another Liberal Socialist Spin from the Obama Propaganda machine.
It was reported today that John Podesta's group of progressives are being accused of using anti-Semite language on their website. Judson are in that group?
Being anti-Israeli policy doesn't mean that one is anti-Semitic. Of course, many who support Israeli policy will do anything and say anything to silence those who don't agree with that policy. Let us not forget this is the U.S.A. where we have freedom of speech, unlike in Israel, where they do not, where what is written in the paper's in controlled by the government. So I have to laugh when certain individuals say that Israel is a democracy.
let's stir up trouble in the far east, then. better yet, let's get even with putin.
The poster is correct, the US and Israel need to stop stirring the $hit the mid-east. But in Syria's internal conflict I see no evidence of scullduggery by the US and, or, Israel. That's not to say the CIA, Mossad, and other secretive groups do not operate within Syria on a standard basis; they no doubt do and are probably taking careful notes on the conflict as we speak. But, really, the current violence in Syria appears to the be the making of a cruel dictator.
Now, since we're on the subject, I do think the US and Israel share blame for mid-east problems. Some of it seems pretty simple to me. Israel has been doing land grabs on the Palestinians for some time and if it was my land being squatted on by these so-called settlers, I'd be more than pi&&sed and I bet every right-minded American would be, too. This Jewish version of manifest destiny is pure bullpucky and I don't think we, the US, have done enough to call the Israelis out for the settlement movement in the West Bank.
You know there are plenty of bad actors in every part of the world and there sure are a lot of them stuffed into the Mid-East. Sure, like I said above, I don't approve of US and Israeli policy on the Palestinian question. But I also don't approve of a Palestinian suicide bomber taking out a commuter bus. That's pure villiany and I hope it's stamped out. The thing is, we in the US can't control every bad element. But we can at least have our own policies be just, regardless of the fact that the other side doesn't always play fair.
Remember what was reported from North Korea, the "MOURNERS" who lined the motorcade for the dead dictator who did not cry were taken with their families to reeducation camps.
Why would it be any different in Syria? Who had the flags made and passed them out? Who went house to house and told the people to get out for the tv cameras? And who was checking to see who did not appear at the rally?
You forget the same thing happened in Libya with almost the same exact article about the Libyan capital? Then when the rebels entered they were surprised by the immediate collapse.
Remember when they held free elections in Nicaragua with the Sandanistas in control and the U.N. monitoring the vote. In the preelection polling the government sent troops with the U.N. monitors to the houses to get opinions and it was overwhelming in favor of the Sandanistas. Then on election day, the Sandanistas lost everything when the U.N. monitors oversaw the voting and vote counting?
It is amazing to see all those 'FREE' people out there cheering for Assad. I think somebody said to them 'Now hold up this picture and cheer for our fearless leader or we'll blpw your brains out' . With a pep talk like that most people would hold up the picture and cheer.......
Spot on! And we Americans are sick and tired of the "Let's you and him fight" played by Israel, a nuclear country that doesn't want any other neighbor to have nucler power. Israel is the problem in the ME.
There is absolutely no evidence that either the US or Israel has anything to do with the unrest in Syria. There have been some indications that certain other elements have been stirring up trouble. Many hard line Islamists are not happy with Assad's fairly tolerant stance on people worshipping different flavors of Islam as well as some other religions. Syria is not really your typical Muslim nation where if you do not follow the state sanctioned version of Islam you are persecuted.
I think that many people would be surprised by the level of support that Assad has among the Syrian people. If the majority of the people were truly against him, he would not have been able to maintain his hold on power this long. If the majority of the people were against him, you would see far more military units changing sides and supporting the rebels. There have been a few military units that have defected to the rebels, but these are few and far between. It is also very clear that the rebels are just as guilty as Assad when it comes to perpetrating violence and inflicting civilian casualties. I am not saying that I support Assad or his dictatorial government. All I am saying is that the rebels do not seem to really represent the majority of the population of Syria. I think that as much as some people do not like the way Assad rules with a heavy hand, they are even more afraid of what would happen if the Muslim extremists gained control of the country. They are watching the Muslim Brotherhood gaining control in Egypt and the extremists exerting their influence in Libya and are thinking that they do not want that to happen in Syria. They are willing to put up with Assad because the alternative they are seeing appears to be worse.
Spot on Judson, don't listen to the lovers of war, they bring nothing but death.
Trouble in Syria is invented by the most bigoted and highly corrupt Sunni Saudi Arabia and its rulers.
Saudi rulers, oil companies and their lobbyists are inventing problems in Syria, Iran and other places as in Iraq earlier.
Assad's rule is far better than the highly corrupt, despotic, barbaric Sunni bigoted Saudi, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and other Sunni rulers.
mike christain : How is he 'spot on' ?
Israel didn't even take a side, but of course you'll refuse facts.
Judging by your comments, you're just another antisemitic spammer.
The people of Syria "rallying" to support that A hole is about as believable as the people that were "fainting and crying" in the streets when North Korea's Big A Hole died. You either support the A Hole or you get beaten or go to prison.
I wonder just how many of these people showing "support" for this dictator were forced to show up. I wonder how many of these people have people being held by the government in order to force them to show up. The days of dictatorship are over and Assad should see this sooner or later he is going how he goes will be up to him.
Does any group in any country really represent the population ? So the protesters in Egypt apparently represented a very small number since they only got 10 percent of the votes during the elections. Even during the Iranian protests, what percent of the population was really doing the protesting?
We often say our country here in the US is very divided which it is. So at any time about half the country is very distressed about who currently holds the executive, house and senate. It is sort of all or nothing because as you can see as long as the WH is the "other" party, the house and senate do virtually nothing. It is really a sad state of affairs.
Well said...
Fail. take care of your own house, before you tear down others.
Most of the ME Muslim nations have dictatorships.
Sunni ruled dictators of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and some more are worse than Syria's Assad.
What kind of a "democracy" was established after removing Saddam in Iraq?
Assad is a brutal king. Just shows you how stupid people are. When you support someone, then you are also responsible for what that someone does. They are just as guilty as as he is.
You ever hear about Stalin's chicken example?
He had just wiped out a whole inner circle and brought fresh young faces. He gave them their first lesson by having a chicken brought. He said, "The Russian people are like this chicken." The chicken walked around for a minute. Stalin walks over to it and kicks the crap out of it several times. Then he holds out some seed spreading some of it on the ground. Next thing they knew, the chicken was eating out of Stalin's hands.
As Jesus said to Paul, in effect, on the road to Damascus, "If you oppose Me, you cannot win, and it will be
painful if you try." What's not to love about Jesus? Just asking!!!!!!
To Theomega,
Ah,I'm not sure we want to dwell on that idea too much.Then that would mean we have to accept the blame for Bush's crackpot doing's.That is something we don't want to do,lol.
You are just focussing on Syria.
What about the barbaric and brutal rulers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and some more?
Are they acceptable just because they have monies and throw around them liberally to have lobbyists doing their cheerleading?
Al-Assad was elected in 2000, re-elected in 2007, unopposed each time. Talk about fear! Perfect example.
YA, we MUST force ASSAD out. Christians from around the ME have been fleeing to Syria for protection. He MUST be overthrown so that the "Religion of Peace" can continue erradicatin the Sunday people. A little more help from the State Dept and Soros' NGOs and another secular state will bit da dust. They have done a good job of exterminatin of the Saturday people from the ME except Israel. However, Iran is fixin to fix Israel also.
85% of American Muslims and American Jews have and WILL vote for President Obama in 2012. LOL!
Ah, Judson again. You were the one that would just as soon Israel just gets completely erased from the face of the Earth.
On the subject of the tyrant murderous dictator of Syria, you said, " Try shooting at policemen in this country Steven and see how long it will be before the military smacks you down ... most syrians support Assad btw."
Judson, I am strongly suggesting you seek medical attention; there is medicine that can help you. I believe there were several others that made similar suggestions to you. Good luck buddy.
Sonar guy - Judson has the same right to make comments as you do - and I suspect you are a paid schill to spout the talking points of the warmongers - you are the one who is sick - now go sit down and let the grown ups finish talking.
SonarGUY...it is reported by most independant news sources( not our mainstream media ) that Assad still enjoys popular support in Syria.....if you take the time try Googling CIA in Syria and see what you find.....The goal of the United States is to destabalize Syria in a further attempt to Isolate Iran.......Think about this...Iran and Syria are the only countries left in the Middle East that do not have American military bases on its soil......The US has military bases in every other country...The playbook is the same for the CIA they move in foment violence and find the Anti Assad groups and fund and support their efforts against whoever is in Power.......
Research all the Govts the US has overthrown in the last 50 years and replaced with puppet dictators of our own......its a very long list.
Sonar Guy wants you to take their "medicine" so you can be dumbed down like him. He is right, the "medicine" they will give you will clear you right up. You wont ask anymore questions and you will fall in line with the rest of the flock.
Show your support for the dictator and your family can live another month!
What a disappointment Ayman's Syria reports are - after his riveting reporting from Gaza and brave dispatches from Egypt - he now seems tame, compliant - even bland.
He was in DAMASCUS yesterday where major anti Assad rallies took place - and all we get from him is this drivel about the dictator's highly organized shibiba rallies - where no protesters ever die under a hail of the dictator's murderous bullets.
Frankly Ayman - you're boring since you left AJE - have NBC also got you on a tight reign - time for a career change?
Syria is not a typical Muslim hole. The Alawites are intelligent and religiously tolerant people. The typical Islamics are not. Case closed but they will use the fact that Bashear is fighting back against them as intolerance. I wish the Alawites all the best to turn away these Islamic insurgents.
Sorry folks; here is a cut and paste from Wiki about the Alawi I found interesting for trivia sake. - I don't know enough to say good, or bad about them. I just know evil dictators are a scourge on this planet.
This means that the Alawis are tolerant in that they believe that both Sh'ia and Sunni Islam, as well as Christianity, are all ultimately divinely inspired. This makes them acceptable in the religious sense to diverse elements in a society containing several religions. The Assads are not a religiously-based tyranny; some of the opposition to them is in fact a desire by various sects to have their group ensconsed as the "official" version of Islam and thus suppressing the others as heretics. Don't think that Basshir particularly claims "divine right" as the basis of his regime, just the fact that he has maintained the loyalty of most of his senior officials largely in the way that his father did. Remember that "democracy" in most non-Western countries is often essentially a census -- people vote not on the basis of ideology or philosophy as much as for their religious/ethnic group, thus the largest of those "wins" and tends to impose its will on the others.
God bless Assad ! He is one of the few left to stand up to the NATO baby killers ! What Assad said was the most truthful thing ever said regarding the UN- it is just a game we play !!!! All of the other corrupt Arab regimes are the most brutal in the world ! Of course the USA supports the whores to have its bases there ! So the USA has NO regards to human rights-asked the raped Fillipino maids in the Gulf, the Christians in Arabia ??? The Christians are safe in Syria with an Alawi leader that is united with them ! But of course nato would love to bomb them like they did to the Serbian Orthodox Christians praying !
Funny how those flags in the photo are all the same size with no wear and tear and almost all mounted on identical sticks. You'd have thought they were all just handed out. Oops, wait a minute. Oh Assad, you rascal, you almost had us. Almost, but we're not quite that stupid. Okay, never mind. We're all pretty stupid, but not that stupid.
Syria has their very own Obama just like us. Isn't that cute
I don't remember Obama having our military kill any demonstrators or not winning a fair election or any of the other strong arm tactics being seen in Syria so I just wonder how you come to your conclusions. If you have some actual points to make you should present them instead of bad mouthing people with whom you don't share the same political views.
CIA/MOSSAD funding the uprising in Syria to overthrow the non-puppet Bashar and install a puppet.
Exactly.
yah, really it is funny how all these flags look like.... yah....and Assad is a king....Yah...and cut and past to form an opinion so you can sound like you are smart guy....and Assad is dictator...yah...someone said that ...so he is a dictator...yah,,...and some people they still have the never to claim that poor countries with very basic weapons are capable to erease a country with over 300 nuclear weapons of the face of the earth....yah ....and I wonder too ..why people are taking about syria and they do not know ..Sh.....t about it ..but they just like to sound cool...yah...yah...yah...poor Isreal
I'm getting tired of all these syria stories...cant wait for the video of Assadhole's bloodied body draped across the hood of a car like the guy from Lybia...
Remember that the "majority opinion" in the Middle East is still "Death to the Jews". While Assad is a dictator, remember that if a government that replaces him is truly reflective of the will of the Syrian people, it will probably in short order lauch an attack to regain control of the lost Golan Heights even if this would likely ultimately result in disaster. In the West we seem to think that a truly democratic government will be peaceful since the sentiment of the people in most of the West most of the time has come in recent decades to show a vast proclivity for peace. It is silly and the basis for very poor and unfeasible policies to project this proclivity onto non-Western peoples.
Judson has it completely wrong about America's involvement in Syria. If anything, Barack Hussein Obama has (indirectly) supported Assad.
A few examples: BHO has constantly refused to remove our Ambassador from Syria. For that matter, BHO continues to dither on closing our embassy entirely. BHO has stated that Syria is too big to fall. Where have we heard that before? BHO has looked the other way, while 5,400 plus "Innocent Civilians" have been killed. This does not include those imprisoned, tortured, beat-up, raped, etc. Yet, when "Innocent Civilians (Carry military weapons) were being killed in Libya, BHO jumped to the rescue. BHO's refusal to "do anything" about Syria has encouraged Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. By BHO's doing nothing worth while, it is the same as enabling Assad. So, the very weak sanctions imposed really sent the message to Assad that he can continue to kill, imprison, rape, beat his people, etc. I can hear the critics now but he imposed sanctions. Wow! We have had sanctions in place a decade with N. Korea and Iran. While these sanctions have done some good over the years, they never the less have not accomplished why they were imposed. Is BHO telling Assad he has 10 more years to brutalize his people? That's the message I get.
As for Hillary Clinton. She is so much like her boss. Just as BHO believes American are stupid, apparently so does HC. Her comment "what was really necessary to pressure Assad was to sanction Syria's oil and gas industry" FYI - Syria has very, very little oil. In fact Syria ranks 34th in the world when it comes to oil production. And, most of the oil produced by Syria remains in Syria. HC also left out the fact that Syria imports oil from Iraq. Notice no mention by HC that Iraq stop selling oil to Syria! What HC said amounts to a hill of beans. Again sending the message to Assad that America is looking the other way.
Democracies are a great idea we say,THAT is, if they agree with us.Now the problem with that is you can't have it both ways.The idea of democracy is the will of the people,and the will of the people may be different than what we want it to be.Case in point,Iraq.Under Saddam,the 60-65% of the population that was Shia Arab was oppressed badly by Saddam and the Sunni Arab minority that supported him.The Kurds while Sunni,were also oppressed by Saddam, because, many of them wanted their own country.So we come in,not only with very little knowledge about Iraq,but even proud of that fact.Reports say Bush didn't even know the difference between the Shia and Sunni beliefs.But we believe just bringing democracy to Iraq will fix everything.So of course in a free (or at least mostly free)election the Shia take over the government.Now we force them to include a few Sunni for window dressing,and give the Kurds autonomy as well.But you see if any of our "fearless leaders" had studied Iraq,they would know that Saddam,murderous dictator that he was,was a secular ruler.The Shia political parties are religious parties.With the Baa'th party out,the Sunni parties are religious based as well.And the Kurds want to secede,and with that,expand their territory into Arab areas of Iraq.So when you see us wringing our hands about Iranian influence growing in Iraq.I think to myself,what do you expect,they are both Shia religious based governments.Many of whose leaders studied and lived at one time or the other in Iran.I'd be more surprised if they didn't.When we complain about Sunni extremist terror gangs there. What do we expect,we destroyed the only secular party in Iraq.When we talk about the trouble in the Kurdish region,what do we expect again.Instead of making it known from the start that we supported a unitary state,we led them to believe they could break away.Knowing full well that our Turkish ally would not tolerate that for one minute.Until we get people in power that know anything about the countries we get involved in,we need to stop talking about bringing democracy to other countries.While getting rid of a murderous tyrant is a good thing.Doing it until you understand what forces you are going to release,is a recipe for disaster.Saddam could have been brought down without destroying the secular regime as well,and a gradual transition to democracy brought about.
the same old crap...
We are all Gods children, and He knew everyone of us before He placed us into our mothers womb.
Sounds like Tripoli Replay #2.
Is there really anything different?
I would bet that a good 7/8's of that crowd would tear Assad limb-from-limb given the chance..
This is just one more "been there, done that" exercise.
He will be gone before 2013....
You should start worrying about your own country. It looks pretty clear that America probably will not make it to 2013.
Syria is a World problem. Hence we have what is called United Nations ( Ha! Not really united, they just call themselves that). Most of the time the UN is gutless on most World problems and WE > or NATO have to clean up the mess. That means more of our Tax dollars being spent on these World problems while most of the rest of the UN nations sit on their butts and complain. The billions upon billions spent on this organization which half the countries hate the USA even if we give them aid or not. I for one do not want one of my tax dollars going to these rouge countries such as N. Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or countries outside of NATO nations or close ties to the USA. Otherwise keep the money home!
All these pro assad rallies happen during working days because his gestapo forces people to go out. During the weekend, they can not do any of these rallies. If he is that popular, he should not be afraid of a real democratic election with international monitors or let international newspaper reporters to move freely in syria.
What a suprise the Aaaad faithfull have a propaganda gathering. Quadaffi had one in Tripoli. Obama( who is on a plane everyday and rarely in the white house) has organized democratic party meetings most every day. In the backround of these these town hall propaganda gatherings you see every ethnic group and gender young and old. the smile and applaud his every word. Romney has the same republican propaganda organization in his campaign trail. Please take note that only one heckler in each case crashed their organized meetings. In the U.S. We are very used to propaganda controlled manipulation.
dear Ayman Mohyeldin
are`nt you astonished about this support to Assad ...did you make any effort to find out . 70% of the syrian people are pro Assad regime.,
Ah just leave the country alone for once.
They will do what they feel is best.
if they hate this leader i am sure there are enough people to overwhelm this power structure.
Maybe they really do like there leader did you ever think that just might be a possibility?
Hell we hate our US leader, but we have yet to get rid of him or the next one that will more then likely be the same war mongering idiot.
Vote Ron Paul and stop this pointless war on terror that never seems to end.
JMPO
Good luck.
yes we no about stupid voting in a President that is also stupid, we have one.
freemannogod:: totally agree, leave everyone alone so this once great country can flourish again. get rid of obama and hope we pick someone with half brain for the people and keep the damn Constitution going, this is what America is about.
Syrian protesters. Forget yourselves. Allah commands you to lay down and submit to Father Assad. Islam does not allow for freedom. Freedom is Islam's enemy. Freedom is an enemy of Allah. Break you will and submit or have it broken.
What vital interest of the US warrants any involvement in Syria on our part? While we would love to see a secular democratic regime which respects the human rights of all and doesn't advocate for the immediate or eventual destruction of Israel, realistically that's not in the cards. Let's just sit back and see who wins and then look for elements in the winners' government who may wish to work with us on some issues and that we can work with. We can't police every conflict in the world, nor should we desire to. I'm not an "isolationist" by any stretch -- we're in the world and a "Great Power", but involvement in and with the world doesn't imply an obligation to inject ourselves into every situation.
all the christians in syria support assad.
All 5 of them.
Anthony = ignorance.
It is not Allah's will for his people to be free. The people of Egypt, Tunisia and Lybia will pay for their disobedience. Allah Akhbar!
Anthony isn't educated in Arabic. It's Allahu Akbar.
Based on other postings here, he isn't educated in much else, either.
The Alawites are fighting for their very survival. The Alawites do allow Christianity to be there without being discriminated. Its the Shia that hate the Christians. The Alalwites of which Bashear is a member and most of the government are a rarity in the mostly typical Muslim countries. The Alawite are to Islam as the Morman is to Chritianity. Most of those in the US don't have any idea of the difference.
The fact remains the Alawites are a small minority and an offshoot of Shiism. The majority of Syrians are Sunni, not Shiites or Alawites.
The al-Assad regime is dominated by members of the Alawite sect, extends to them special privileges and does not respect the will of the majority of Syria's people.
While that is true. I feel that if the Sunni were in control they would not respect the Shiite and Alawites.