Syria's population is 74% Sunni Muslim.
I want to be the first guy to reverse a communist revolution.
While all Alawites fear vengeance against their entire community should Assad fall, there are varying degrees of loyalty to the Assads.
On taking office in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama put Israeli settlements at the center of U.S. policy in the Middle East.
At the United Nations, a lynch mob for Israel is always just a moment away.
Like all forms of collective security, multilateral sanctions require a unanimity rarely achieved in international politics.