Fearful Alawites pay sectarian militias in battered Homs
Notable excerpts:
"Alawite residents in Homs say they are being coerced into helping fund the war effort of the 'shabbiha', brutal sectarian militias supporting President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on an 18-month-old rebellion.
'The shabbiha exploit our fear. Every time, there is some excuse - they need food or ammunition. But it's basically a silent understanding now that each month the wealthier families pay,' says Fareed, a greying surgeon who lives with his family in Zahra, an Alawite district of Homs...
...Shabbiha are formed mostly from members of Assad's own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam. They have been the fiercest enforcers of a bloody crackdown on the uprising led by Syria's majority Sunni Muslims, even accused of massacres.
The disgust some Alawites have at the idea of paying for them symbolises a greater inner conflict many in their sect are struggling with: Do they risk rejecting the crackdown by their Alawite-led government and its brutal militias? Or do they buy in, literally, to the shabbiha argument that this is a fight for existence against Sunnis determined to take revenge?...
...But Alawites in Zahra say that while they know the money they pay is extortion, and that shabbiha violence towards Sunnis puts them more at risk, they are regularly reminded of how precarious their fate is".
Looks like they are returning directly to their Mafia-esque roots. I also wonder how much control the Assads really have anymore. They seem more like figureheads for a powerful security apparatus to rally around, including these and other militias.
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