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Rising Discontent within Assad's Power Base
(Foreign Affairs) Oula Abdulhamid Alrifai - In recent months, there have been signs of growing resentment and infighting within Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite clan. In August, Douraid al-Assad, the president's cousin, called for the resignation of Syria's defense minister, Fahd Jassem al-Freij, following the execution of 120 Syrian soldiers at the Tabqa airbase by the Islamic State. Alawite activists called Freij "the minister of death" in their #Speak Up Against Assad campaign, protesting the high number of Alawite deaths since the start of the conflict. More than 8,000 pro-regime military personnel from the Jableh district in the primarily Alawite region of Latakia have reportedly been killed since the beginning of the fighting, not to mention the thousands from other Alawite regions who have died. The division in the Alawite community reflects the backlash against Assad's favoritism toward his Kallasieh clan, while other Alawite communities, such as the Haidariya, are forced to go out to the front lines and fight.