DECRYPTION – This heterodox branch of Shiism, which rose to the highest positions in society under the Assad regime, could be the target of reprisals by the Islamist rebels now in power.
In Syria, the future looks very uncertain for the Alawites. The fate of this religious minority which had dominated the country for five decades raises questions, a week after the sudden fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, swept away by the dazzling offensive of the Islamist rebels of HTS.
The Alawites are a dissident branch of Shiism, which represents barely more than a tenth of the Syrian population, but which were brought to the highest positions in the government after the coup d'état by Hafez el-Assad in 1970, of Alawite faith, until the fall of his son Bachar on December 8.
This upheaval is reshuffling the cards for the distribution of powers in this religious mosaic that is Syria. “It is precisely because we are Muslims that we will guarantee the rights of all (…) and all faiths in Syria”said to Corriere della Serra Mohamed al-Bashir, head of the Syrian provisional government, ensuring that the coalition…
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