AP News, January 21st, 2007
Syria has a religious makeup as potentially explosive as that in Lebanon or Iraq, but it has long seemed immune to sectarian strife. Now, some are wondering if spillover violence from those two countries will spark religious animosity here.
Four decades of secular rule under the authoritarian Baath Party have largely muted sectarian differences in Syria, with the exception of a bloody campaign by Sunni militants in the 1980s to topple the regime of the late President Hafez Assad.
Assad and his son and successor, Bashar Assad, belong to the country's Alawite minority, followers of an offshoot sect of Shiism. Their inner circles have been dominated by Alawites.
But Sunni Arabs make up an estimated 60 percent of Syria's population, with the rest divided among Christians, Druse, Shiites and Alawites. With divisions between Sunnis and Shiites deepening across the region due to the turmoil in Iraq, some are concerned the delicate balance in this nation of 18 million people could be threatened.
"The danger is there," said Ayman Abdul-Nour, a reform-minded member of Syria's Baath Party. "There could be a domino effect across the Arab world."
Syrians now openly discuss their country's ethnic and religious makeup, something that was unthinkable only 10 years ago. Many are also becoming bolder about their sectarian viewpoints.
For instance, Sunnis are grumbling about persistent rumors that Shiite Iran, Syria's closest foreign backer, was offering cash and other incentives to persuade Syrian Sunnis to convert.
Salah Kiftaro, who runs one of Syria's largest Islamic institutions, dismissed the rumors as false, but also cautioned that close ties to Iran should not open the door for Shiite evangelizing.
"We are happy to see close Syrian-Iranian relations, but we condemn any attempt to exploit them," said Kiftaro.
Many Sunnis were also deeply angered by the Dec. 30 execution of Saddam Hussein, who was taunted by Iraqi Shiites at the gallows.
In contrast, the reaction from the Syrian government was muted. A Cabinet minister criticized the fact that the hanging was carried out on the first day of a major Muslim holiday, and a state newspaper editorial blamed Washington for allowing the execution to go ahead.
"Our hurt is deep," said Khaled Ibrahim, a Damascus resident who hails from the central Syrian city of Hamah, a Sunni stronghold. He called the execution "an unforgettable insult."
Although the government did not criticize the execution _ perhaps hoping not to hurt relations with Iraq _ it has sought to avert any sectarian spillover from Iraq or Lebanon by urging Syrians to get along. With unusual frequency, clerics from Islam's various branches have been holding highly publicized gatherings to discuss narrowing their doctrinal differences.
Bashar Assad himself spoke about the danger of conflict in an address to church leaders last month, accusing "neocolonialists" _ a euphemism for the United States in Syria's political parlance _ of seeking to stir sectarian tensions.
Syria's neighbors have been embroiled in sectarian conflict for years. The U.S.-led overthrow of the Iraqi government in 2003 empowered the majority Shiites and their Kurdish allies who had been oppressed by the minority Sunnis during Saddam's rule. Now, Sunni militants and Shiite-led death squads have been blamed for the bulk of the spiraling bloodshed in the country.
In Lebanon, where Muslims and Christians fought a 1975-1990 civil war, Shiites who were long marginalized by Sunnis and Christians, are pushing for more political power. The strongest Shiite movement in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has strong backing from Syria.
But some Syrians say analogies with Iraq and Lebanon don't apply to their country. They point to deeply entrenched alliances between the Alawites and the influential Sunni merchant class, and a level of religious freedom not common elsewhere in the Middle East. Most of Syria's sects are also represented in the Sunni-dominated Cabinet.
"We don't have a minority government in Syria," said Elias Murad, the Christian editor-in-chief of the state-run al-Baath newspaper. "The political makeup in Syria differs from our neighbors."
Some argue, however, that sectarian harmony has in large part endured because of the Assads' hold on power.
"So long as the regime continues to be strong, sectarian peace will remain, but it will always be only skin deep," said Amr Hamzawi, a Washington-based Middle East expert.
