(Foreign Policy) Stephen Star - Jdaydieh Artouz, a town 11 miles southwest of Damascus, is home to a mix of Sunnis, Christians, and Alawites. Ask the Christian, Shiite, and Druze families whom I lived among in Jdaydieh if they support the revolution, and the vast majority will answer, in private, that they do not. Today, Christians fear that their churches will be tightly controlled by what would likely be a conservative Sunni government, should the rebellion succeed. The new Syrian middle class also feels threatened by the revolt. Many in this group clearly fear losing the privileges they have enjoyed during Assad's reign. The reality is that many Syrians back neither the regime nor the revolt. They are Syria's silent majority, and they will likely pay a heavy price.
2012-07-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive