Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — President Bashar Assad, strapped by a shortage of
manpower, is said to have organized Alawite militias to quell the Sunni
revolt in Syria.

Opposition sources said the Assad regime has recruited thousands of
young Alawites for military operations over the last four months. In most
cases, the sources said, the Alawites were allowed to form or join
pro-regime militias in attacks on suspected Sunni rebel targets.

“The biggest of the [Alawite] militias is the Shabiha, which is actually an umbrella group,” an opposition source said.

The sources said the regime has been deploying Shabiha in the Syrian Army assault on Homs earlier this month. They said Shabiha fighters served as ground troops to operate under heavy mortar and rocket cover.

More than 500 people were believed to have been killed in the assault on Homs. The sources said the Syrian Army has deployed T-62 and T-72 main battle tanks, BMP armored personnel carriers, artillery, and anti-aircraft guns.

“Assad can’t use Sunnis to fight in Homs because he’s scared they would desert,” the source, familiar with the battle in the city, said. “The Alawites in Shabiha know that if they don’t fight they will be torn apart [by Sunni rebels].”

The sources said Shabiha units, often comprising of 20 or more fighters,
were working with army snipers to kill Sunnis throughout Homs. They said the
goal of the regime was to spark a Sunni exodus from the city, a gateway to
the Mediterranean coast.

The sources said Alawite militias have also been assigned to quell
demonstrations around Damascus. They said many of the Alawites came from
towns along the Mediterranean coast and routinely fired toward Sunni
pedestrians during and after anti-Assad protests.

But in February, the Alawites were forced to withdraw when they met
resistance by the rebel Free Syrian Army in several neighborhoods of the
capital. On Feb. 15, about 1,000 elite troops from the Republican Guards and
4th Armored Division, backed by armored personnel carriers, stormed the
Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus in search of FSA and other rebels.

  Assad regime recruiting young Alawites to help snipers target Sunni rebels, Barzeh, Bashar Assad, Free Syrian Army, Homs, Shabiha, Sunni revolt