History of Syria, Hafez al Assad, Bashar al Assad, Alawites

Syria has had a long history of conflict.  Hafez al Assad, Bashar's dad, once destroyed a whole city named Hama, occupying it 27 days.

Hafez and his son are Alawites, a minority religion who are at odds with the Musilim Brotherhood.

Syria was one of the founders of the Ba'ath party that sought unity and Pan Arabic nationalism in the area at Saddm Hussein's height of power.  Syria and Iraq founded the organization.

We will bring things into the fast forward modern day crisis.