Nonilex<p>Despite making up only 10% of the country’s population, the <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Alawites" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alawites</span></a> exerted outsized influence during the <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Assad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Assad</span></a> family’s >50-yr rule. The Alawites, who practice an offshoot of <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Shiite" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Shiite</span></a> Islam, dominated the <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/RulingClass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RulingClass</span></a> & upper ranks of the <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/military" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>military</span></a> under Assad.</p><p>The new govt called on all members of Assad’s forces to relinquish their ties to the fmr govt & surrender their weapons at “reconciliation centers.” While thousands have taken part in that process, some…have not.</p><p><a href="https://masto.ai/tags/Syria" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Syria</span></a> <a href="https://masto.ai/tags/geopolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>geopolitics</span></a></p>