(Zaman al-Wasl)- The sectarian discourse was never absent from regime media outlets. The regime media in its discourse hid a provocative sectarian discourse and it appears on the surface whenever a civilian Alwaite is killed or when the regime orders so.

When the Zara village in southern countryside of Hama province, mostly Alwaite residents, was lost to rebels and rebel photos beside killed residents from the village were circulated, the sectarian discourse escalated on social media websites and it was mainly enhanced by regime media.

The guilt of the sect

The regime supporters held Assad regime accountable for what is happening to them in the context of this escalation.

Zuhair Zayud wrote an extensive comment in “United News of Yashout House” page talking about the injustice done to Alwaites “our blood is precious for God but very cheap for the leadership and other sects. The massacres against Alwaites extended from Latakia countryside to Zara.”

He indicated in his comment the absence of a religious reference which can demand rights for Alwaites like Christians and Druze. He demanded to unify the sect sheikhs under one council to represent the pains of the Alwaites according to him.

Lama Mohamed in her post considered the fault of the Alwaite sect is manifested in “its loyalty to the president Bashar al-Assad”. At the same time, it called for the continuation of loyalty to Bashar saying “the oppression has been happening for a very long time. ”

“Syrian Coast News Network” pledged to continue to write about the massacres against the Alwaite sect until death.

Moderation

Some justify the escalated sectarian discourse while others who talked about what happened in Zara have ignored totally and did not condemn the massacres committed by their leader and their army which their sect controls. The massacres in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed from the Syrian population in Daraya, al-Huleh, Halfaya, and Ghouta with chemicals, explosive barrels and knives, according to a post by Abu Khaled al-Omeri on his Facebook page.

In contrast, there are Alwaites who were rational and talked realistically about what happened in Zara and what is happening in Syria as a whole. Bassam Yousef, an opposition Syrian journalist, wrote on his personal page asking regime supporters to condemn regime massacres as they condemned massacres in Zara.

“a big number of opposition condemned Zara massacre and some of them were personally subject to regime barbarism similar to barbarism committed to Zara victim. But regime supporters do not do the same.”

Yousef criticized an Alwaite woman who claims to be civil and fight for human rights saying “she only sees the Alawite blood when it is spilled and starts shouting, but other blood should be spilled as a human duty because they are terrorists and Qaeda affiliated.”

Regime responsibility

Lawyer Mohamed al-Sayed considers that the regime is the one which fueled sectarianist feelings among the Alwaites in order to “keep their support since the outbreak of the revolution” by ordering its media outlets to focus on showing the revolution as a Sunni Islamist revolution against the Alwaites.

He told Zaman al-Wasl that the regime offered sacrifices of Alwaites in Hama, Homs and Latakia and he left them to die. The regime used its media to show they are victims of Sunni sect terrorism.

He points out that the regime deliberately lied and magnified every incident that happens to an Alwaite. The most recent one is the regime publication of Banyas massacre photos which the regime said it happened to Alwaites in Zara by terrorists.

Opposition, cultural figures and advocates condemned what happened in Zara and demanded it does not get repeated considering it is the way the regime deals with his opponents and it opposes what the revolution started for.