Violence Against Minorities Quotes

Some had organized and led lynchings; others participated, and others stood by without speaking out.

The Alawites, always a Muslim minority in Syria, have been hated, distrusted, discriminated against, and physically persecuted by the majority Sunni Muslims as long as they have existed. When in Syria, the Alawites, although a minority, gained political control of the country and for the first time were secure in their own country. In the early 2000s, the Sunni majority tried to oust the Alawite leadership, but the Assad government put down the protests brutally. Most Western observers did not know of the anti-Alawite history of persecution in Syria. Returning to that position of victimization was so feared by the Alawites that they fought tooth and nail, murdering many civilians, to be sure that the historical position of the Alawites would not occur again. This makes talks and negotiations over the Syrian Civil War so difficult. The Alawites believe that if they do not control the nation, they will be massacred by the majority. The Christians and the Jews also believe that if the Sunni’s get control, their communities will be in great danger. Complicating the situation even further, is that fact that of the insurgent Sunni groups, the tolerant secular ones who started the revolution are no longer in control of the insurgents. De facto dominance has passed to the Jihadist, Islamic extremists who hold the view expressed by this quotation.