Christian Science Monitor quotes Frederic Hof on how the crisis in Syria is costing the country’s Alawite community:
With the regime constantly repeating – and finding some evidence for – their claim to be defending the nation against “foreign terrorists,” many Assad loyalists see no other option. For others, the fragmented opposition doesn’t seem a viable alternative. Still, there are murmurs of discontent among the bereaved.
“One hears stories – from Alawites – of widespread discontent over casualties in Alawite areas; that people wonder what the total scope of sacrifice will be required to keep a particular clan in power,” says Fredric C. Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the former Syrian opposition liaison to the US.