Assad Stokes Sectarian Divide to Rule Syria

March 20, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

As the violence continues to escalate in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad is sending a clear message that he has no intention of giving up power. So far, international mediation efforts have failed. But it seems Assad's government has tried to exploit the deep sectarian divisions in the country to their advantage by pitting minorities such as Christians and Alawites against the Sunnis. In order to have tight control of the regime, close family members have been placed to positions of power and officials and commanders belong to the Alawite sect. Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports.

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Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

Bashar al-Assad

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Al-Assa... Explore this topic

Syrian Civil War

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam; its adherents are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhlu-s-Sunnati wa-l-Jamāʿah, "people of the tradition of Muhammad and the consensus of the Ummah" or ʾAhlu-s-Sunnah. For short, in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis, Sunnites... Explore this topic

Sectarianism

Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination, or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political mo... Explore this topic

Alawite

The Alawites, also known as Alawis, Nusayris and Ansaris are a prominent mystical religious group centred in Syria who follow a branch of the Twelver school of Shia Islam. They were long persecuted for their beliefs by the various rulers of Syria, until Hafez al-Assad took pow... Explore this topic

Ba'ath Party

The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology mixing Arab nationalist, pan-Arabism, Arab socialist and anti-imperialist interest... Explore this topic

Syrian army

The Syrian Army, officially the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 per... Explore this topic

Siege of Homs

The Siege of Homs is a series of military operations being conducted by the Syrian military in the city of Homs as a part of the Syrian civil war. Homs is the third most populated city of Syria, located 100 km north of Damascus and sometimes called the "Capital of the Revoluti... Explore this topic

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. "Christian" derives from the Koine Greek word Christ, a translation of the Biblical Hebrew term Messiah. Central to the Christian fait... Explore this topic

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Bashar al-Assad

Syria

Syrian Civil War

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