@WalrusGuy:
The Alawites, whom the Assad family belongs, have been the targets of Sunni slaughter and brutality for many centuries.
Which hasn't been the case for at least a century, the table has since completely flipped and now Alawis dominate the government, military, and economy. Which has been the case for something like a half century now.
The rebellion against Assad was neutral in character, and to fight it he deliberately played up sectarian conflict in order to drive wedges between the population and ensure loyalty of Alawis and other smaller groups. Which makes him a key factor in the instability, and makes his continued control of the country not an option because a sectarian leader cannot peacefully rule a diverse country.
If you want to actually option keeping Assad in even the slightest "realistic" sense you would have to advocate partition and leave Assad in control of Alawi and maybe Christian/Druz majority areas.
Prime Minister Leon Blum stabbed them in the back by rescinding that agreement. They bid their time for a while and launched a coup in 1963, which was a success and gave them the power they still hold to this day.
The 1963 coup was Baathist, which was a weird form of Arab Nationalist Socialism (no not Nazi). It involved military officers of diverse backgrounds aside from all being Arab of some sort….
Then there was another coup in 66 of a younger Baathist element that pushed out the older one. And later another in 70 that directly put Assad's dad in control.
It so happened that Baathism in Syria mostly fell among minority groups, and over time as people stopped caring about Baathism, it became more clearly a sectarian divide between government and majority population.
It was not an Alawi coup, that's a ridiculous description. Also you still seem to come to the conclusion that the Alawi's are in power and have been for nearly 50 years and your point is...? That they can do no wrong to other groups? Yeah no.
So honestly, I can sympathize very much with them.
You're saying you can sympathize with the concentrated slaughter of thousands of people?
He's not killing his people, because he isn't a Sunni. He's a Alawite, he's fighting to PROTECT his people from genocide.
Hi, please pick a consistent position!
1. Assad is a solid choice to hold Syria together.
2. Assad is a justified ethnic protector protecting a minority of Syria's population.
These are mutually exclusive! If you have chosen to move the goalposts by all means let us know!
Also: If you think Assad hasn't killed Alwais opposed to his rule you're naive.
If you think Assad gives a shit about the sectarian element beyond using it to maintain control you're naive.
If you think the sectarian element existed in the start of the revolution OR war, you are badly misinformed and/or forgetful.
That Assad forced it into reality for manipulative purposes sure casts a crap on your claim of his defender position.
Oh and this supports a defensive war from a shrunk sized Syria rather than …Syria.
Also he is committing the genocide here. But it's ok because there might be a genocide!
It's well known to anyone who has more than a cursory knowledge of this conflict that the Christian minority
Anytime you'd like to discuss the Druz or Kurds would be nice, but again it seems like Christians are like …more important or something.
are supporting Assad. They don't want a repeat of what happened in Iraq.
Let me go through this with you again.
-Protests against Syrian dictatorship starts in same style as Egypt/Libya/Tunisia
-Syrian government fights back with obscene violence, much as happened in Libya
-Population begins to fight back like in Libya
-Assad however has a card to play that Gaddafi did not! Sectarian conflict!
-Assad stirs up ethnic hatreds and mistrust to help control some of the country and weaken the opposition.
Say let's use this fancy pants logic you got goings on here to justify ISIS.
In Iraq Sunnis are scared of the Shia government! In Syria the Sunnis are scared of the Shia (Alawi) government! They're afraid of genocide and discrimination!
Along comes a monster who is good at fighting, between monster and survival they must choose.
We should support ISIS to ensure a stable Syria!