Shiism in Syria

Alavites - Gulat syncretic sect. The second largest religious group after the Sunnis. Dutch orientalist Nikolaos Van Dam estimates their population at 11.5% of the population of Syria ^[2] . In 1516, when the Ottomans gained control of the Levant , the Alawites began to be persecuted and survived the massacre, which killed 9,400 people ^[3] . From 1571, according to the Ottoman decree, they began to be charged jizya . Despite the attempts of the Ottomans to convert them to Sunnism, they continued to live autonomously, preserving their identity. In 1806, 1811 and 1852, the Alawites made failed attempts to rebel against the Ottomans. At the end of the 19th century, self-government reforms undertaken by the Turks somewhat improved their position. After the arrival of the French authorities, part of the Alawites, headed by Sheikh Saleh al-Ali, rebelled against the French, but most of the Alawites reacted positively to the French authorities. France created the autonomous Alawite State for the Alavites , but later abolished autonomy, ignoring the appeal of many Alavite sheikhs (among whom was Bashar al-Assad Ali Suleiman al-Assad's grandfather) to Leon Blum not to do this for fear of religious persecution by the Sunni majority in a single state ^{[4 ] [5]} . In independent Syria, the Alawites became one of the founders of the Ba'ath nationalist party that came to power, overthrowing the monarchy. In 1966, the Alawites seized power in the party through a coup , and in 1966 the power seized the wing of Aad , the requisitions of other Alawite officers from the leadership, still in power. During the civil war in Syria, the Alawites became the target of genocide by the radicals of the Syrian opposition , and also participated in anti-Sunni purges themselves.

Ismailism is represented by Nizari. Their unofficial capital is Salamia (where they moved from Latakia to the lands allocated to them by Sultan Abdul-Hamid II ), where the teachings of Imam Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ismail came from, which gave rise to the Fatimid caliphate, which was later defeated by the Mamluk sultan . Abundance in Syria - approx. 200 thousand people.

Rafidite Muslims make up a very small, excluding refugees from Iraq , part of the population (according to the Egyptian Ibn Khaldun Center for the Study of Social Development ( Arabic. مركز ابن خلدون للدراسات الإنمائية ) they make up 1% of the population ^[6] , according to other estimates - 2% ^[7] ), concentrated mainly in the settlements of Nubbol , ez-Zahra , al-Foah and Kafraya and to a lesser extent in others ( Umm al-Amad , Dzhunaynat , al-Rabwa, ad-Dalbuz, Bosra , El Jura in the Old City of Damascus ). In Syria, there are several sacred places of great importance to the Rafidites: Umayyad Mosque, Seyyid Rukayi Mosque, Seyyid Zeynab Mosque, Al-Nukt Mosque and the Uwais al-Qarani Mosque destroyed by the militants of the Islamic State . Also, the rafidites of Syria have their own house .

• [4] , Hudson Institute