Alawite insurgents are trying to foment sectarian conflict to undermine and destabilize the interim Syrian government.

On March 6, armed groups began entering Alawite villages in western Syria and killing the residents. On March 7, a local woman wrote to her friend abroad: “They killed four families here ...

The residents, members of the Alawite minority, now say their excitement has been replaced by fear. Masked men have terrorized the village, beating people, looting homes and using anti-Alawite slurs.