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In Syria, the Army's Loyalty to Assad Runs Deep
(Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el - The regime in Syria has not yet collapsed. Assad is sure that the Syrian army can deal with the enemy at home. Assad is still able to rely on at least most of the army, an army whose senior ranks are an inseparable part of the economic elite. It would be inaccurate to state that the struggle in Syria is between the Alawites and the Sunnis. Among the Alawite tribes there are also many who wish to see Assad and his regime toppled. In March, even before the mass protests began, the heads of four large Alawite clans published a manifesto in which they disavowed themselves of the Assad regime and of "all connections that were forcibly imposed on us during the period of President Hafez and his son, Bashar." Heads of large Alawite clans made it clear to representatives of the government that they would not agree to another massacre of the kind that took place in Hama in 1982.