As far as Abu Khader
is concerned, Syrian President Bashar Assad is a “thief” who is leading Syria “to hell.” That doesn’t mean he will
stop fighting for the regime. As an Alawite soldier serving in the Republican
Guard, Abu Khader feels that he must keep fighting for Assad, a member of the
same religious minority, in order to preserve his sect’s very existence in a
country dominated by Sunni Muslims. He blames
Assad for leading Alawites into a sectarian war but sees no alternative to
supporting the President. Assad, says Abu Khader, “got us into this war to keep
his authority. But as Alawites, we are forced to fight, because the opposition
is all Sunnis, and they want to kill us all.”
As
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lobbies in Europe this week to bring Syria’s
squabbling opposition groups, and their equally fractious international supporters, to peace
negotiations in Geneva slated for the end of November, he may be overlooking
one key interest group: an Alawite population that does not necessarily embrace
Assad but is terrified by the prospect of a Syria without him. Assad, who sees
himself in the ascendency, refuses to negotiate with “terrorists,” his term for
the armed opposition. The opposition, for its part, is divided over whether
Assad should have any role at all, either in negotiations or in a proposed
transitional government. About the only group eager for negotiations is
Alawites who want to see the war end. Geneva is the best chance for peace, says
Abu Khader: “We can continue our lives together if we forget the religious and
political differences.” He agrees that it won’t be easy, especially after two
and a half years of fighting. “The Sunnis will not lay down their weapons so easily
after we killed a lot of them and destroyed their homes,” he says. But the only
alternative is continued war. If the warring camps can’t make it to the
negotiating table in November, Syria’s bloody stalemate is likely to flare into
a regional conflagration as rival backers — Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and
Turkey on the opposition side; Iran and the powerful Lebanese militia Hizballah
with the regime — seek to force their preferred outcome by backing local
proxies. Alawites fear that whatever happens, they are likely to lose the most.
(PHOTOS: A Flurry of Fire
in Syria)
Alawites
account for about 12% of Syria’s population, but they have a disproportionate
representation in Syria’s security apparatus, government and military
leadership, the legacy of an Assad family rule that has lasted more than 40
years. That has forced many Alawites, who didn’t necessarily support Assad, to
bear the brunt of the largely Sunni opposition’s sectarian-tinged wrath. The
opposition’s political and military leadership, based in Turkey, may refrain
from using sectarian terms to describe the war, but rebel fighters on the
ground, speaking to TIME via Skype, routinely refer to Alawite soldiers fighting
for Assad as “infidels,” “apostates” and “dogs” destined for “extermination.”
It’s no wonder that soldiers like Abu Khader, who spoke to TIME in the Alawite
enclave of Tartous, on the Mediterranean coast, see the war in existential
terms. Abu Tariq, another soldier on home leave in Tartous, is adamant that he
does not fight in defense of Assad, but for the defense of the Alawite sect. “I
know that Assad is a thief [who] rules this country by force not by justice,
but to abandon him means abandoning ourselves because he is the only one who is
capable to lead us in this war.” Like Abu Khader, Abu Tariq spoke to TIME on
condition that only his nickname be used, in order to protect his family.
Abu
Khader and Abu Tariq agree that Assad has made their lives worse, first with
his authoritarian rule, and then by bringing his co-religionists into what has
devolved into a sectarian war. Despite their disgust, they say Assad’s
departure cannot be a precondition to negotiations. If Assad is not allowed to
be part of the transition, they see little assurance that their own rights as a
minority will be protected, not just from Sunnis seeking revenge, but also from
the greater threat of al-Qaeda-affiliated groups among the opposition ranks.
Neither feels that the opposition leadership has done enough to guarantee the
safety of Alawites in a Syria without Assad. Until then, they will keep
fighting for a man they loathe.
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