Alawites in Syria starting to flee amid fears of ethnic cleansing

Members of Syria's minority Alawite community are fleeing their homes and going into hiding, terrified that avenging rebels will hunt them down as more areas of the country come under the control of fighters trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

Sectarian fault lines on the ground that are threatening to escalate the bloodshed, fueled, some say, "by the determination of Mr Assad, an Alawite, to plunge Syria into chaos rather than admit defeat." Alawites and Christians in Syria have been scarred by the experience of Egypt, "where the toppling of Hosni Mubarak brought more persecution for Christians and a rise in Islamic political parties. A worse fate awaited regime loyalists in Libya, where armed militias have brutally punished those perceived as backers of the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi."

McDonald-Gibson adds: "Syria is a delicate tapestry of religions. Members of the Sunni Muslim branch of Islam make up more than 70 per cent of Syria's 22 million people. But they have for decades been sidelined from positions of power by members of the Assad family's Alawite sect, a branch of Shia Islam that makes up 12 per cent of Syria's population. And while many members of the opposition are desperate to keep their revolution secular, reports from US officials of Sunni extremists and al-Qa'ida-linked fighters entering Syria from Iraq are further stoking fears and playing into the regime's narrative of an Islamist uprising. Many Sunnis also feel a sense of rage against Alawites who have sided with government even as they commit atrocities."

Related Topics: Alawite, Christians in Arab World, Sunni, Syria receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free middle east clarity mailing list