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Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/656e348c-5af7-11e0-a290-00144feab49a.html#axzz1IAU92L7C
Assad's Alawite Army
(Financial Times-UK) Robert Baer - The Syrian army is a palace guard, meant to keep the ruling Alawite sect in power. When I was working in Syria in the 1980s, President Hafiz al-Assad instituted an unwritten rule that every large combat unit would be under the command of an Alawite officer. There would still be Sunni commanders, but in name only. They were not permitted to put a single aircraft into the air or drive a tank out of the base without the authority of the ranking Alawite officer. Assad's son Bashar has left his father's military system in place. If Assad and the Alawites are forced from power, Syria, unlike Egypt, will not have an army to fill the vacuum. The writer is a former CIA operative in the Middle East.