US stance on Syria 'justification of terrorism' - Lavrov

[leveymg]

6. It's a sectarian religious war that goes back generations. The Alawite regime believes the only

way to prevent their own annihilation is to repress the Sunni majority and maintain control over the Syrian state. The last round of this war was a Sunni uprising from 1976-82, when approximately 60-100,000 people were killed on both sides. That war also had regional dimensions, with the Saudis and Iranians contributing money and arms. The Alawite have long been persecuted by the Sunni majority, going back to the reign of the Ottoman Turks when they were branded an apostate cult, and they have a well-founded fear of genocide if the Ba'ath Party loses the control and protection of the Syrian Army.

The oppression and violence is on both sides, and the stakes are much wider and deeper than the survival in power of the Assad clan or the rather marginal support of the Russians.