When protests against Bashar Assad’s regime began, official propaganda portrayed the opposition as Islamist fanatics bent on punishing secular Syrians and religious minorities. This was aimed especially at Alawites and Christians, groups that each make up around 10% of Syria’s 22m people. In fact, the protesters have come from all classes and creeds, and activists have worked hard to stress the need for sectarian unity. Other even smaller minorities have taken part. Ismailis, concentrated in Salamiya, north-east of Homs, have joined the anti-Assad fray. The Druze have become more hostile. So have young Kurds, though their political leaders have been wary of speaking out.

But the regime’s propaganda may be getting closer to reality in Homs, Syria’s third city and the revolution’s current centre, which has a very mixed population. There and elsewhere, sectarian hatred seems to be on the rise, with protesters expressing increasingly fierce hostility to the Alawites, in particular. This is because Alawites, a heterodox offshoot of Shia Islam, are disproportionately represented in the civil service, the armed forces (especially the senior ranks) and thuggish militias sponsored by the regime. They have overseen the bloody crackdown on the protesters.

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