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Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1846271,00.html
Why Syria Will Keep Provoking Israel
[TIME] Robert Baer - Why has Syria had an uninterrupted record of attaching itself to radical causes and countries like Iran? For starters, Syria is ruled by a besieged and insecure minority, the Alawites. About 12% of Syria's population, the Alawites are looked at by extremist Sunni Muslims as heretics. In the late '70s and early '80s, the Sunni extremists came close to getting their way. During a February 1982 Muslim Brotherhood insurrection in Hama, Syria's third largest city, Hafez al-Assad felt compelled to flatten it in order to stay in power. By joining Iran in the so-called "Islamic resistance" against Israel, Assad associated the Alawites with a cause larger than themselves. Since the Alawites cannot settle with Tel Aviv and survive the wrath of the Muslim Brotherhood, it remains reliant on its alliance with Tehran. Americans don't understand the Alawites' insecurity - and the fact that they will risk war with Israel if they believe their survival requires it. The writer was a case officer in the Directorate of Operations for the CIA from 1976 to 1997.