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After splitting with Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra is being presented to the West as a moderate force. ...

Edit The Independent 10 May 2016
Good public relations ... Qatar's relations with Nusra raises questions. It denies direct ties with the group, and yet six months ago the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel interviewed Nusra’s CEO, Mohamed al-Jolani, who said that they’ve nothing against Christians, Alawites or Americans – only that pesky president in Damascus who’s got Hizballah, Iran and Russia on his side ... You bet they were ... Read more ....

U.S. Kills ISIS' 'Desert Lion' Executioner in Iraq Air Strike

Edit Newsweek 10 May 2016
The U.S.-led coalition killed a mid-level Islamic State militant group (ISIS) fighter named “Desert Lion,” who became notorious for his brutality, in an air strike in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Monday ... Try Newsweek. Subscription offers. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook, using an acronym for ISIS, said ... He continued ... He attained a reputation for his brutality, executing three Syrian Alawites near the Iraqi-Syrian border in 2013 ... ....

As a Damascus bazaar crumbles, Iran eyes a business opportunity

Edit The National 09 May 2016
A huge fire broke out in the old quarter of Damascus's commercial district last month ... The cause of the fire remains a matter of controversy ... The Alawite council of elders has issued a statement complaining about Iranian entrenchment in Damascus and broader Syria. Alawites outside the Assad fold like to maintain their independence and distinction from either Sunni or Shia Islam ... Maha Samara is a journalist in Beirut ....

A recent PBS report about the war in Yemen exposed the secret connection between the U.S.-Saudi alliance and Al Qaeda, a reality that also underscores the jihadist violence in Syria, writes Daniel Lazare. By Daniel Lazare

Edit Information Clearing House 09 May 2016
Mohammad Alloush, who enjoys strong US backing as the chief rebel negotiator at the Geneva peace talks, is a leader of yet another Salafist group called Jaysh al-Islam, which issued a blood-curdling call to exterminate Syria’s Alawite community in July 2013.  Jaysh al-Islam, it informed the Alawites, “will make you taste the worst torture in ......

The Dangerous Regional Implications of the Iran Nuclear Agreement (The Heritage Foundation)

Edit Public Technologies 09 May 2016
(Source. The Heritage Foundation). May 9, 2016 . Backgrounder on National Security and Defense. By James Phillips. The Obama White House has treated Iran's hostile regime with kid gloves ... national interests, and demoralize U.S ... Security Council plus Germany) ... Weaknesses of the JCPOA ... Resolutions ... As long as he remains, ISIS will be able to pose as the champion of Sunni Arabs, who long have been victimized by his predominantly Alawite regime....

Syria's Civil War Explained

Edit Al Jazeera 08 May 2016
Five years since the conflict began, more than 250,000 Syrians have been killed in the fighting, and almost 11 million Syrians - half the country's prewar population - have been displaced from their homes ... Many Islamist movements were also strongly opposed to the Assads' rule ... Although most Syrians are Sunni Muslims, Syria's security establishment has long been dominated by members of the Alawite sect, of which Assad is a member ... ....

US-backed jihad and the stamping out of Syria’s Christians

Edit Asia Times 03 May 2016
Syria’s Christians are finding it’s easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive their erstwhile friend Uncle Sam ... A damaged painting of Christ lies on the ground in the Syrian Orthodox Um al-Zinar church in Homs. Sen ... Sen ... This time a coalition of Syrians — Christians, Muslims, and Alawites — all rushed to fight together as one to defend Sadad and their pluralistic society against foreign-backed jihadists in their country.[9]....

Holy Lands: Reviving Pluralism in the Middle East by Nicolas Pelham

Edit The Guardian 29 Apr 2016
Sectarianism is the hall-mark of the deadly collapse of the Arab nation-state, argues a thought-provoking new book. The Ottomans managed better ... Sunnis dominated Iraq, Alawites Syria and co-opted and persecuted minorities (Kurds, Assyrians, Maronites and Jews) to different degrees ... Afghan and Pakistani Shias are fighting with Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria, though some Alawites recently dissociated themselves from the Assad clan....

Russia wants powerful Syrian opposition groups listed as 'terrorists'

Edit The National 27 Apr 2016
BEIRUT // Russia requested that two of the most powerful Syrian rebel groups be labelled terrorist organisations by the United Nations Security Council in a move that threatened to further derail peace talks ... Jaish Al Islam, for example, has used captured Alawites - including civilians - as human shields and its former leader called for cleansing Syria of Alawites and Shiites ... jwood@thenational.ae ... ....

Turkey, A Nation Divided -- Religion (Part 2)

Edit Radio Free Europe 27 Apr 2016
The thing that divides Turkey first and foremost is not religion. It is the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, an ethnic-military confrontation that has been going on for more than 32 years ... a row between the Sunni and Alevi followers of Islam. This almost sounds like the 17th-century wars in Europe between Catholics and Protestants. Well, yes, though not exactly ... Syrian Alevis are usually known as "Alawites" in the Western world ...  ....

The Morning They Came for Us - an unflinching account of Syria's catastrophe

Edit The National 27 Apr 2016
She speaks to Christians in Maaloula who genuinely fear the opposition's Islamist component; regime supporters in Damascus who believe the chaos is being orchestrated by a "third element"; Sunnis who have chosen denial for fear of reality's terrible implications; and an Alawite soldier who, despite having lost an arm and a leg, is eager to return to the front to battle "foreign fighters" ... There is relentless and casual murder ... ....

Hezbollah Develops New Skills in Syria, Posing Challenges for Israel

Edit Voa News 27 Apr 2016
That practical experience could be of use in any subsequent conflict with Israel. Hezbollah commanders acknowledge the benefits ... Doubts about Syrian involvement Hezbollah lent support to Assad’s regime from the start of the civil war with small numbers of fighters but committed heavily when the war dragged on to do all it could militarily to save Syria’s strongman, a member of the Alawite minority sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam ... ....

Obama is going to leave behind a giant mess in the Middle East

Edit Business Insider 26 Apr 2016
Until recently the U.S. claimed the missile tests violate a U.N. Security Council resolution forbidding them. They do not. Resolution 2231, submitted by the U.S ... In any case, Iran is now certifiably incapable of making a nuclear warhead ... The Saudi-supported opposition group walked out of talks last week because it continues to insist that the Assad government—which is Alawite, a Shiite sect—has to go before any deal can be struck ... 4 ... ....
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