This is a video about the Alawees in Syria, from Mountains to the government:
this was posted April 11,2012 - I see YouTube has censored it..... isn't it amazing, social media is not that social...
Update June 3, 2021
Here is additional information about Alawees:
https://en.wikishia.net/view/Alawites_(Syria) (since censorship and information suppression has been so common recently, I'll add captions, quotes from this post:
Syrian Alawites (Arabic: عَلَویون) or Nuṣayrīyya (Arabic: نُصَیریّه) or Anṣārīyya (Arabic: أنصاریة) is a Shiite sect in Syria. In some historical sources and books of sects and creeds, they are referred to as Ghalis (people who exaggerate about the Imams). The sect was formed in the 3rd/9th century. The Nusayriyya originally resided in the north of Syria. In different historical periods, the Syrian Alawites were constantly oppressed by the Sunni governments in Syria, because they were Shi'as as well as Ghalis. In addition to Syria, the Nusayriyya also live in southern Turkey, northern Lebanon, and in Palestine. They took over the power in the 14th/20th and 15th/21st centuries after centuries of oppression and miseries. Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, is a member of the Alawites
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The History of the Alawites and the Future of Syria
By Cole Mullis
One of the primary causes of the Syrian Civil War could also prove to be a great obstacle to lasting peace at its conclusion: the situation of the Alawite religious minority. Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite, along with much of the elite, but the majority of Alawites live in no better conditions than the average Syrian. However, this does not change the fact that many Syrians see Alawites as foreign occupiers due to their influence in government. The future of Syria and its prospects for success as a modern state will largely be determined by how it handles the Alawite situation.
Bashar al-Assad, like his father before him, is an Alawite ruler of Syria. Many of Syria’s elites are Alawites, particularly in the army. This has created deep resentment within the Sunni majority of the country. The Sunni perception of Alawite dominance was a primary cause of protest and ultimately a rebellion in 2011, when the Syrian Civil War began. All parties involved in negotiating Syria’s future must ponder what fate the Alawites will have in a country in which they are the object of widespread hatred.
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On April 3, the anonymous Alawite group dared to issue a controversial declaration designed to "reform" and clarify Alawite identity. For example, the document calls for ending the practice of "taqiyya." (A simplified explanation of taqiyya describes it as the belief that Muslims may use deception to protect their knowledge or escape a situation in which they feel threatened.) The document emphasizes that Alawites are neither Sunni nor Shiite and rejects the tradition of the “salvation sect," under which some Muslims believe their sect is the only true way to salvation, and all other sects are apostates. According to the declaration, Alawites believe there are good people in all religions and sects.
Ahmad Adeeb Ahmad, a Syrian Alawite religious scholar, told Al-Monitor, “Faith and salvation, according to our beliefs, are not tightly linked to a sect, but to loyalty. So we acknowledge the existence of good and faithful men everywhere."
The Alawites claim to belong to the line of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (599-661), the fourth caliph who was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Alawite sect originated in Iraq and soon moved to Aleppo in Syria under the rule of Sayf al-Dawla al-Hamadani (890-1004), an Alawite who helped spread the doctrine. He followed a senior Alawite scholar, Hussein bin Hamdan al-Khusaibi (874-961), the founder of Alawi religious practice.
The Alawites were persecuted by the Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk and Ottoman states, which carried out massacres against the Alawites after occupying the Levant in 1516. The Alawites fled to the Latakia mountains after a large massacre in Aleppo in which thousands of them died....
Hanbali theologian Taqi ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328) issued fatwas in the early 1300s deeming Shiites, Alawites, Druze and Ismailis to be apostates. The Mamluk and Ottoman authorities used these fatwas as religious justifications to kill Alawites. This persecution deeply affected Alawite society, which resorted to taqiyya in religious practice and to nationalist, leftist and secular ideologies in political and partisan work.
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June 3, 2012 from FB post about Syrian history:
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