Cyprus-Forum.com

[supporttheunderdog]

from the same article

A second defector from Houla, a first lieutenant who was serving in nearby Homs city last weekend, said that Houla had changed the thinking of soldiers and officers like him who did not support the regime crackdown on dissent but had been too afraid to leave.

The lower ranks of the Syrian military are largely made up of Sunni Muslims, who account for around 70% of Syria's population and who now dominate all ranks of the Free Syria Army.

Senior officers in the loyalist military are mostly drawn from the Alawite sect, which uses an uncompromising police state to maintain its iron-clad grip on Syrian society.

"There were no Sunni soldiers around Houla itself [when the massacre took place]," the former officer said. "They are all Alawites there, the officers and the soldiers. "[Houla] is a very sensitive area. Many of the Shabiha in Syria come from here. They won't defect from here."

The officer said he had regularly seen Shabiha groups work alongside regime forces, but said they appeared to take orders from intelligence officers, particularly the Air Force Intelligence Directorate, which has played a frontline role in the regime crackdown. "The military give them weapons and cover, and escort them in tanks," he said. "But they sometimes work independently."

[supporttheunderdog]

I believe it should be Alawites or Sunnis.

The Alawites are a minority sect who were granted power under the post WW1 French mandate, ( so I have read) !

There is another alleged eyewitness account here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/3 ... 59442.html

[Bananiot]

You too underdog believe what you are spoon-fed by western media? I too think that the western media are the worse, except all those of the rest of the world. Here we have to do with single-minded zealots, no matter what the issue is. Be it the Cyprus problem, the Libyan question, the Syrian issue, they know the answer. The west is to blame!

[kimon07]

I believe it should be Alawites or Sunnis.

Can not object just being sceptical. Can not imagine how Syrians would plan and execute such massive murders of other Syrian people. From what I have heard Syrians are educated and civilized people. That is why I am inclined to believe the allegations of the regime that the massacres may have been committed by foreign mercenaries. If not, i.e., if they are committed by other Syrians, then, what can I say. "God" and religion seem to have many faces and interpretations.

[Sotos]

Banana, what you are missing here is that the Americans and their allies want to remove the Russian naval base from Syria. Both sides in the Syrian conflict are as bad as each other but the Americans support one side and the Russians another out of pure self interest.

[Bananiot]

I will support anyone who gets rid of the dictator, as simple as that. There are no buts and ifs.

[Sotos]

I will support anyone who gets rid of the dictator, as simple as that. There are no buts and ifs.

That is because you are a simpleton! You should support anyone who gets rid of the dictator IF he will be replaced by democratic government. Who will replace Assad in Syria? The Muslim Fanatics?

[kimon07]

You should support anyone who gets rid of the dictator IF he will be replaced by democratic government. Who will replace Assad in Syria?

Erdogan

[kurupetos]

I will support anyone who gets rid of the dictator, as simple as that. There are no buts and ifs.

WTF? Don't you like dictators? I thought Lenin and Stalin were your idols.

[Bananiot]

So, the grand democrats of the forum support Assad, because he might be replaced by someone worse. What the Syrian people want does not matter. Excellent thinking, worthy of their great ancestral democratic heritage.