To Our Noble Alawite Sect, Peace Be Upon You

By Fouad Abdel Aziz

Since the opposition factions began last week to advance on Aleppo province and later take control of it, the stance of many Alawite figures opposed to the Assad regime was striking, as they began to declare their fear of this attack, if not to say their opposition and rejection of it.

Their argument for this is that Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham is leading it, and therefore what will happen is the replacement of one tyranny with another, which may be worse than it.

The truth must be told, this talk is nothing but a preconceived judgment without knowledge or awareness, but rather it was established during the first years of the revolution, when Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham bore the name "Jabhat al-Nusra".

It contributed, along with its sister extremist organizations, to playing a role in fueling the sectarian conflict in the country, alongside the Syrian regime, which tried from the beginning to drag everyone into the field in which it is skilled at playing, to tell the international community that it is fighting terrorism and not a revolution of a people with legitimate demands.

Later, "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham", with its new name, was not in a better situation than the rest of the forces that imposed their will in the areas under their control by virtue of the status quo, and this matter was faced by the Syrians of the revolution with the utmost courage, and they went out in massive demonstrations in Idlib against the organization, not to mention the Syrian opposition spread in the areas of refuge, who also announced their rejection of all forms of tyranny once again.

I know that my previous words may not be encouraging to change visions and ideas, but I certainly rely on my subsequent words, and based on the wonderful scenes that were established by the factions that controlled the city of Aleppo and the rest of the surrounding cities and countrysides, reaching the borders of Hama Governorate, they indicate that we are heading towards a better and more beautiful reality without the Assad regime..

This authority that established societal division in the service of its rule, in a country where the same components have coexisted for hundreds of years, while in the last ten years they have become unable to live with each other.. Doesn't this indicate that the Assad regime is the reason for what we are all suffering from today.?

Let me go back in memory to the beginnings of the Syrian revolution in 2011, I was working at the SANA agency in Damascus, in the foreign news department, and to this day I still cannot forget the gathering of my Alawite friends around me, after a colleague who was not Alawite attacked me, saying that we, the people of Daraa, seek to destroy Syria. That day, my Alawite friend pulled me aside and said to me: Believe me, Fouad, we will not defend Rami Makhlouf. This was an indication that they realize the evil of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and his leadership of Syria.

Later, this friend joined the chorus of those who spoke about terrorists, to the point that one time, while I was in France, I called him following a post he wrote on his Facebook page, in which he fully adopted the regime’s discourse, and I said to him: What are you saying, man? We are not terrorists! Then we continued the call like any Syrian friends who have been friends for a long time, between jokes, jokes and laughter, while we reminded each other of situations that had happened to us when we worked together at the agency.

That day, I realized the true meaning of what many of the Alawite brothers who declared their loyalty to the revolution and their opposition to the regime were saying, that the sect was "kidnapped", a statement that has its validity if we use our minds and think about what Hafez al-Assad was doing to take his sect with him, and push it to participate in all the crimes he committed against the Syrian people, quite simply. Imagine yourself being poor, destitute and isolated, and then someone comes to you and extends the hand of authority, power and sometimes wealth ..? Would you tell him: Please .. I don't want ..!

Frankly, I do not want to delve into the details of the past to justify what happened, because what happened is much bigger than I or anyone else can justify, as it is a heinous crime against an entire people and country.

But we must not deny that we all contributed, from all components, in one way or another to identifying with the regime's authority at one point in time, and participated in the violence it practiced against our people and our society.

In any case, I have no doubt that the future of Syria, as a single, unified state, will not be without the Alawites.

Any division that is being talked about today is decided primarily by the Alawites, as they have the final say in this matter. They have the choice to continue supporting Bashar al-Assad and then withdraw with him to the borders of the coastal region,

and certainly no one will be able to touch them, or to declare their rejection of this regime and decide to work with the rest of their Syrian brothers.

Imagine, our Alawite people, that it will later be written in the history of Syria that you are the reason for the division of the country.. What sin and shame does Bashar al-Assad and his regime want to pin on you?

I am absolutely confident that the wonderful Syrian youth who are liberating regions, one after the other, from Assad’s authority today are fully aware of this matter and are working on it, which is evident from their disciplined behavior in dealing with the people of those regions who do not have the same religious and sectarian identity as him..

Believe me, we are today facing a historic moment in every sense of the word.

It is our chance to all live together and build our country without excluding anyone, and believe me, when we sit with each other from the Sunni sect - how ugly this description is - but I have to say it, we only talk about the kindness and simplicity of our Alawite people and how they enter the heart directly, and you can get along with them from the first moment. This is our established idea about you without exaggeration, do not give the Assad regime the opportunity to change it.

I say it honestly: the hand of all Syrians today is extended to you and says to you:

Peace be upon you, with the true meaning of security that this phrase carries, so will you return our greeting?