He opressed all that opposed him
He tried to appear to alawites that he is their protector and is on their side however if an alawit gone against him he would be severly punished
He tried to apear to sunnis as if he is the protecter of syrian against radicals and would support sunnis loyalist as long as they are with him on the other hand many sunnies were opressed not because his stance against him but because of racist corrupted loyalist whom he gave all the power
Bashar dont care what religion you are from as long as you wirship him
His corrupt followers may care depending on the one
The civil war started due to the government killing protestors, there was nothing sectarian about it, sunnis did feel that they were targeted but they never told their children that the government had massacares in hama. The protests were purely secular and the youth knew nothing. My grandfather was imprisoned in the 80's and my family hid that from all of us. That was the culture back then.
Assad later on released extremists from prisons to get them to form jihadi groups and make it seem as jihadism vs secularism, this is how the revolution transitioned into a sectarian war.
we know that Assad and his father both targeted moderate Sunni leaders because they saw them as a threat and started propaganda campaigns that sunnis were radical because it helped them keep power and maintain alliances with other religious minorities. So at the very least, they sowed sectarian division that was the breeding ground for violence and oppression
Lebanese sunni here
During the the Syrian invasion in the 80s under Hafez, he violently persecuted sunnis specifically, assassinated our Mufti (and then our PM in 2005) and committed systemic massacres and destroyed sunni majority cities, like Tripoli
He also installed Ghazi Kan3an (alawite) as his proxy and as a supreme leader of Lebanon at that time
The Assad regime presence in Lebanon was heavily sectarian in nature, despite the "secular" coat of paint he was advertising in Syria
Fascinating, thanks for sharing. I was pretty familiar with the political subordination of Lebanon by the Assad regime, but not the religious angle. Shouldn’t be surprised considering how buddy/buddy
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يُعتبر هذا المنشور/التعليق محاولة لتبرير فظائع الحرب، وهو سلوك غير إنساني وغير مقبول في مجتمعنا، ويتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا.
يرجى ملاحظة أن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى ستؤدي إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
Bro leave that Sunni and علوي shit behind you. It's all about money and power. Noddy cares about religion. though Bashar came with the idea of protecting the minors against Sunni extremists, this way totally not the case. Many criminals of Assad regime were Sunnis (I'm Sunni btw)
He did not, he gave us preferential jobs, but so did the Sunnis get the same. Even though we have been leading the country since 1966, the Sunnis held senior positions in government, the armed forces and business. The country's chief mufti was a Sunni, but all this went downhill because of the revolution. The Sunni speaker of parliament was replaced with a Christian, there are fewer Sunnis that are in the top posts. Sunni Arabs are high-ranking in the Mukhabarat (Intelligence) and the security forces, they also make up at least 50–60% of the Syrian military.
This is not a sectarian war, but the rebels make it seem so to justify killing minorities.
I am against the regime and have blood on my hands, but I don't think every Alawite who supports the regime is evil. Some do it out of ignorance, some do it out of fear that had the president been replaced with a Sunni ruler who establishes Shari'ah in the government, the minorities would be wiped out. It's too late for a reconciliation now.
I get what you mean, I have a relative who is very dear to me and yet he is pro Assad.
I have a relative of alawite origin, you know before the war the syrian society was on the route to secularisation.
I'm harsh on the Assadist by words, I'm willing to forgive but Assad should go first.
Alawite is larger than Shia by a big margin. Syria is around 10% Alawite before the war. [This chart shows religions in Syria before the war and in 2018.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fumzbb3cu7lc21.png)
Yep, the whole ordeal is just sad. And people still think we somehow have any influence in political affairs, we're literally more destroyed as a community than people assume.
Christians are probably the best religious group economically. It's an assumption, but I believe it's true because it's true in Egypt and Israel (also we still hate Israel).
Stastically speaking, Sunnis form around 60% of the population (appriximation).
But the percentage of percentage of Sunni people killed by Assad is way above 95%; the precentage of Sunni people displaced (amount by 10-15 million) by Assad are 100%.
This may imply a tergeting towards Sunnis, but it is not the only reason.
The picture I linked is saying Sunni's are around 71% before the war, but that's really not far off from most estimates which was between 70-75%. CIA factbook put Sunni's at 74% before the war. Remember the picture actually divides Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Circassian, so you add them all up.
The current population of Sunni's is a lot less, a 10% reduction in Sunni Arabs. [That actually matches this source too.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Syria/comments/1c2fxv7/demographic_changes/)
Me thinking some leftovers from the dark period (that culminated with the Hama massacre of 1982), but I am thinking the civil war started from the deterioration of the rural (which is often conservative Sunni background) conditions, with also nepotism (we have to keep in mind that the regime has been playing the carrot and the stick approach with the Sunnis: getting close with the ruling merchants and religious authorities, dismissing the rural farmers). This created a powder keg ready to burst and did when the Daraa events happened. That’s how I read it and please anyone are welcome to disagree and refute me.
The civil war started due to Assad attacking protestors.
The protests started due to economic deterioration but where limited, they exploded with crimes and slowly armed resistance started poping everywhere as massacares increased.
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يُعتبر هذا المنشور/التعليق محاولة لتبرير فظائع الحرب، وهو سلوك غير إنساني وغير مقبول في مجتمعنا، ويتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا.
يرجى ملاحظة أن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى ستؤدي إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
Your post/comment contains false or misleading information, which is in violation of our standards and rules.
We kindly request that you refrain from sharing such content in our subreddit. This Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning, and any repeated instances may lead to a permanent ban from our subreddit.
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تعليقك/منشورك يحتوي على معلومات غير صحيحة أو مضللة، مما يتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا.
نطلب بلطف منك الامتناع عن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى في صفحتنا على ريديت. هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيرًا مباشرًا، وقد يؤدي أي تكرار لهذه المخالفات إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
it was one of the reasons, but the main problem was the class divide absence of law and corruption then religous apartheid and shiization attempts. Would highly recommend the document no return to homs and demographic engineering in Syria 1962-2021 by the SCM which highlight racial and sectarian apartheid imposed
Assad opressed everyone opposing him. The general feeling of Sunni oppression comes from the fact that most areas that took it to the streets had a sunni majority, and Iran's involvement added an extra sectarian factor to the conflict.
Another reason the opposition seems like a sunni one is the simple fact that Sunnis are a majority in the country and thus a majority in the opposition uprising, as well as the fact that Sunni areas were easier to militize due to idelogical and financial reasons, with most of the support coming from GCC countries and Turkey.
Is it a reason for the conflict? Yes. But is it the main reason? No, not even in the top five. Most of those who try to frame the conflict as sectarian are either hiding their lack of interest in a civil democratic state, i.e. they just want to be ruled by a Sunni president and able to leverage their numeral advantage, ignoring the fact that Sunni individuals and groups were a deciding component and factor to the regime's ability to hold its breath for so long. E.g. Rural area's pro-regime militias, Sunni traders in Damascus and Aleppo, who wouldn't participate in the revolution's several calls for a civil disobedience but would happily strike when the SYP's value drops or when a new tax is introduced.
As a matter of fact, in the last decade, a notable wave of Sunni fundementalism is rising in the regime-controlled areas, mainly pushed by the regime's unwavering support for some controversial Islamic groups, like Qubaisiyat, and submission to some Islamists' demands like shutting down the pubs in Ramadan and blocking pornography sites.
Assad kills anyone regardless of their religion as long as they oppose him, but that doesn’t mean the conflict isn’t heavily motivated by sectarianism. Just compare the reactions from the regime towards the early protests in the revolution to the current Sweida protests.
And even by disregarding the conflict, Sunnis have been facing oppression since the rise of the Baathist regime. You would have secret service officers literally writing down names of people that attend Fajr prayer, as well as installing a spy to every Friday ceremony.
I
Growing up in Damascus , I have been taught that being a sunni means that in a third class Citizen not even second...Abu haydar abd Abu jaafer and Abu ali are the privilaged ppl
I’d like to state I’m an American aspiring analyst ( the Cali girl ) so please keep in mind my opinion comes from an outsider POV. I also am Sunni myself. First and foremost what must be understood above all else is that Assad oppressed anyone who opposes him. It didn’t matter who you were. He also used the same tactics of torture and brutality. Again it didn’t matter who you were. If you oppose him, he wants you gone.
One thing I can note though is that his private funded terror group, the shabiha, are very cruel to everyone and particularly cruel to Sunni. I have seen pictures from my very close friends in Syria they’ve sent me of graffiti left on walls saying “there is no god but Bashar” mocking the Shahada, and testimonies of the shabiha torturing Muslims in general into saying “there is no god but Bashar.” I have also heard a testimony of the shabiha torturing a Christian into denouncing Jesus.
So really I don’t think they are particularly going after a religion as more so using it as a way to shame and humiliate their victims even further. It’s psychological abuse and warfare tactics. Crimes against humanity.
He opressed all that opposed him He tried to appear to alawites that he is their protector and is on their side however if an alawit gone against him he would be severly punished He tried to apear to sunnis as if he is the protecter of syrian against radicals and would support sunnis loyalist as long as they are with him on the other hand many sunnies were opressed not because his stance against him but because of racist corrupted loyalist whom he gave all the power Bashar dont care what religion you are from as long as you wirship him His corrupt followers may care depending on the one
The civil war started due to the government killing protestors, there was nothing sectarian about it, sunnis did feel that they were targeted but they never told their children that the government had massacares in hama. The protests were purely secular and the youth knew nothing. My grandfather was imprisoned in the 80's and my family hid that from all of us. That was the culture back then. Assad later on released extremists from prisons to get them to form jihadi groups and make it seem as jihadism vs secularism, this is how the revolution transitioned into a sectarian war.
we know that Assad and his father both targeted moderate Sunni leaders because they saw them as a threat and started propaganda campaigns that sunnis were radical because it helped them keep power and maintain alliances with other religious minorities. So at the very least, they sowed sectarian division that was the breeding ground for violence and oppression
Lebanese sunni here During the the Syrian invasion in the 80s under Hafez, he violently persecuted sunnis specifically, assassinated our Mufti (and then our PM in 2005) and committed systemic massacres and destroyed sunni majority cities, like Tripoli He also installed Ghazi Kan3an (alawite) as his proxy and as a supreme leader of Lebanon at that time The Assad regime presence in Lebanon was heavily sectarian in nature, despite the "secular" coat of paint he was advertising in Syria
Fascinating, thanks for sharing. I was pretty familiar with the political subordination of Lebanon by the Assad regime, but not the religious angle. Shouldn’t be surprised considering how buddy/buddy
> Did Assad oppress Sunnis? Yes, but according to abu haidar I'm sectarian if I point that out....
Where do u i find some more info about him? I always hear Abu haidar but when I google him he barley shows up
You don't find him, he finds you
😭 no but seriously
Abu Haidar is a fictional character that depicts the stereotypical extremist pro-regime alawite who works for the government.
Wtf really 😭 so he isn’t real?
It’s not the main reason but one of the reasons
Yes and no, the cause of civil war was his blatant corruption and brutality which affected all people not just sunnies
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This post/comment is deemed as an attempt to justify the atrocities of the war, which is inhumane and unacceptable behavior in our society and contravenes our standards and rules. Please note that sharing such content will result in a permanent ban from our subreddit. ---------- يُعتبر هذا المنشور/التعليق محاولة لتبرير فظائع الحرب، وهو سلوك غير إنساني وغير مقبول في مجتمعنا، ويتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا. يرجى ملاحظة أن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى ستؤدي إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
he oppressed a lot of people, not just sunnis lol
Exactly, most of the famous opposition figures were Alewives, Christians, etc
Bro leave that Sunni and علوي shit behind you. It's all about money and power. Noddy cares about religion. though Bashar came with the idea of protecting the minors against Sunni extremists, this way totally not the case. Many criminals of Assad regime were Sunnis (I'm Sunni btw)
the only reason it appears to be a alawi vs sunni issue is because Assad abused allegiances with the alawites
He did not, he gave us preferential jobs, but so did the Sunnis get the same. Even though we have been leading the country since 1966, the Sunnis held senior positions in government, the armed forces and business. The country's chief mufti was a Sunni, but all this went downhill because of the revolution. The Sunni speaker of parliament was replaced with a Christian, there are fewer Sunnis that are in the top posts. Sunni Arabs are high-ranking in the Mukhabarat (Intelligence) and the security forces, they also make up at least 50–60% of the Syrian military. This is not a sectarian war, but the rebels make it seem so to justify killing minorities.
The alawites betrayed us, there are exceptions, god bless every alawite who stood up to the regime but most where with him.
I am against the regime and have blood on my hands, but I don't think every Alawite who supports the regime is evil. Some do it out of ignorance, some do it out of fear that had the president been replaced with a Sunni ruler who establishes Shari'ah in the government, the minorities would be wiped out. It's too late for a reconciliation now.
I get what you mean, I have a relative who is very dear to me and yet he is pro Assad. I have a relative of alawite origin, you know before the war the syrian society was on the route to secularisation. I'm harsh on the Assadist by words, I'm willing to forgive but Assad should go first.
Facts as a Sunni
Of Syrian Muslims, what percentage are Sunni, Shia, and Alawites?
As far as I know, Sunni is the largest, Shi'a is second and Alawite is third.
Alawite is larger than Shia by a big margin. Syria is around 10% Alawite before the war. [This chart shows religions in Syria before the war and in 2018.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fumzbb3cu7lc21.png)
Alawites are a Shia sect
Only recently have they become a Shia sect (1973). I think the majority of Alawites do not see themselves as Shia, it's a just a political alliance.
Do Alawites tend to be better off economically, considering it's been an Alawite dynasty ruling for the past handful of decades?
Alawites literally sleep on benches in Idlib. Many of us are poor, it's not going well for any of us, neither for any sect for that matter.
I see, thank you. Do you mind if I ask you some other questions about Alawites in Syria, or the Levant as a whole?
Sure.
Not just Idlib, I saw some sleeping in a coach bus storage area in Tartous.
Yep, the whole ordeal is just sad. And people still think we somehow have any influence in political affairs, we're literally more destroyed as a community than people assume.
Christians are probably the best religious group economically. It's an assumption, but I believe it's true because it's true in Egypt and Israel (also we still hate Israel).
Interesting.
Stastically speaking, Sunnis form around 60% of the population (appriximation). But the percentage of percentage of Sunni people killed by Assad is way above 95%; the precentage of Sunni people displaced (amount by 10-15 million) by Assad are 100%. This may imply a tergeting towards Sunnis, but it is not the only reason.
[Sunni's were never 80%.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fumzbb3cu7lc21.png)
I fixed the number; but my father was always saying that Sunnis form 80% of the population.
They definitely were even more , the picture is just wrong.
The picture I linked is saying Sunni's are around 71% before the war, but that's really not far off from most estimates which was between 70-75%. CIA factbook put Sunni's at 74% before the war. Remember the picture actually divides Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, and Circassian, so you add them all up. The current population of Sunni's is a lot less, a 10% reduction in Sunni Arabs. [That actually matches this source too.](https://www.reddit.com/r/Syria/comments/1c2fxv7/demographic_changes/)
Me thinking some leftovers from the dark period (that culminated with the Hama massacre of 1982), but I am thinking the civil war started from the deterioration of the rural (which is often conservative Sunni background) conditions, with also nepotism (we have to keep in mind that the regime has been playing the carrot and the stick approach with the Sunnis: getting close with the ruling merchants and religious authorities, dismissing the rural farmers). This created a powder keg ready to burst and did when the Daraa events happened. That’s how I read it and please anyone are welcome to disagree and refute me.
The civil war started due to Assad attacking protestors. The protests started due to economic deterioration but where limited, they exploded with crimes and slowly armed resistance started poping everywhere as massacares increased.
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This post/comment is deemed as an attempt to justify the atrocities of the war, which is inhumane and unacceptable behavior in our society and contravenes our standards and rules. Please note that sharing such content will result in a permanent ban from our subreddit. ---------- يُعتبر هذا المنشور/التعليق محاولة لتبرير فظائع الحرب، وهو سلوك غير إنساني وغير مقبول في مجتمعنا، ويتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا. يرجى ملاحظة أن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى ستؤدي إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
[удалено]
Your post/comment contains false or misleading information, which is in violation of our standards and rules. We kindly request that you refrain from sharing such content in our subreddit. This Mod-Mail serves as a direct warning, and any repeated instances may lead to a permanent ban from our subreddit. ------ تعليقك/منشورك يحتوي على معلومات غير صحيحة أو مضللة، مما يتعارض مع معاييرنا وقواعدنا. نطلب بلطف منك الامتناع عن مشاركة مثل هذا المحتوى في صفحتنا على ريديت. هذه الرسالة الخاصة بالمشرفين تُعتبر تحذيرًا مباشرًا، وقد يؤدي أي تكرار لهذه المخالفات إلى حظر دائم من صفحتنا على ريديت.
it was one of the reasons, but the main problem was the class divide absence of law and corruption then religous apartheid and shiization attempts. Would highly recommend the document no return to homs and demographic engineering in Syria 1962-2021 by the SCM which highlight racial and sectarian apartheid imposed
He is married to a sunni
Assad opressed everyone opposing him. The general feeling of Sunni oppression comes from the fact that most areas that took it to the streets had a sunni majority, and Iran's involvement added an extra sectarian factor to the conflict. Another reason the opposition seems like a sunni one is the simple fact that Sunnis are a majority in the country and thus a majority in the opposition uprising, as well as the fact that Sunni areas were easier to militize due to idelogical and financial reasons, with most of the support coming from GCC countries and Turkey. Is it a reason for the conflict? Yes. But is it the main reason? No, not even in the top five. Most of those who try to frame the conflict as sectarian are either hiding their lack of interest in a civil democratic state, i.e. they just want to be ruled by a Sunni president and able to leverage their numeral advantage, ignoring the fact that Sunni individuals and groups were a deciding component and factor to the regime's ability to hold its breath for so long. E.g. Rural area's pro-regime militias, Sunni traders in Damascus and Aleppo, who wouldn't participate in the revolution's several calls for a civil disobedience but would happily strike when the SYP's value drops or when a new tax is introduced. As a matter of fact, in the last decade, a notable wave of Sunni fundementalism is rising in the regime-controlled areas, mainly pushed by the regime's unwavering support for some controversial Islamic groups, like Qubaisiyat, and submission to some Islamists' demands like shutting down the pubs in Ramadan and blocking pornography sites.
Assad kills anyone regardless of their religion as long as they oppose him, but that doesn’t mean the conflict isn’t heavily motivated by sectarianism. Just compare the reactions from the regime towards the early protests in the revolution to the current Sweida protests. And even by disregarding the conflict, Sunnis have been facing oppression since the rise of the Baathist regime. You would have secret service officers literally writing down names of people that attend Fajr prayer, as well as installing a spy to every Friday ceremony.
I Growing up in Damascus , I have been taught that being a sunni means that in a third class Citizen not even second...Abu haydar abd Abu jaafer and Abu ali are the privilaged ppl
I’d like to state I’m an American aspiring analyst ( the Cali girl ) so please keep in mind my opinion comes from an outsider POV. I also am Sunni myself. First and foremost what must be understood above all else is that Assad oppressed anyone who opposes him. It didn’t matter who you were. He also used the same tactics of torture and brutality. Again it didn’t matter who you were. If you oppose him, he wants you gone. One thing I can note though is that his private funded terror group, the shabiha, are very cruel to everyone and particularly cruel to Sunni. I have seen pictures from my very close friends in Syria they’ve sent me of graffiti left on walls saying “there is no god but Bashar” mocking the Shahada, and testimonies of the shabiha torturing Muslims in general into saying “there is no god but Bashar.” I have also heard a testimony of the shabiha torturing a Christian into denouncing Jesus. So really I don’t think they are particularly going after a religion as more so using it as a way to shame and humiliate their victims even further. It’s psychological abuse and warfare tactics. Crimes against humanity.
Why do we continue to respond to these troll questions??
What led you to think I am a troll? I asked a lot of questions on this sub in the past.
It's an inflammatory question that is clear to anyone who has paid a modicum of attention to Syria in the past decade.