http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/02/m-the_real_story_on_syria_and_why_it_matters.html This article explains that Assad and his regime and security services are from the Alawite sect of Shiite Muslims while the opposition forces almost all Sunni Muslim. This week some Sunni clerics issued a fatwa against Russia and China for vetoing a UN resolution against Assad. Iran is Shiite and so supports Assad. The middle-east is being divided between Sunni and Shiite.
I read this morning that Iran was sending 15,000 troops to Syria to help Assad. It seems these tribal differences are the driving forces in the middle east. No amount of the promise of democracy and freedom seems to over ride their hate for each other. The only people they hate worse than each other is us!
Query: why do sunni and shia hate each other? One answer, from wiki answers: Both Sunni and Shia Muslims follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. The Shia have serious issues about what they regard as the murder of Ali after the death of Muhammad, and the dispossession of the Caliphate from those they believe to have been its rightful heirs. The two sects within Islam have lived together in peace for most of the 1300 years of Islamic history. There are differences, but they are more sectarian than any kind of major religious dispute. Their differences are like the differences between Catholics and Protestants. For the most part, Catholics and Protestants have lived together quite peacefully. Still, there have been times when they killed each other and made war on each other. The killings and bombings that tortured Ireland throughout the 20th Century were Catholic vs Protestant. Each side claimed that the other's beliefs were evil. They still hate each other. Their attitudes toward the Papacy are analogous to the disputes over the Caliphate. Yet, in other places, like here in the US, Protestants and Catholics get along just fine, and frequently intermarry. This is also true of Sunni and Shia in most places, for most of the time since Islam came into existence in the 7th Century. We should also remember the Catholic against Protestant religious wars that tore Europe apart and killed millions over the centuries. There are many other sects in Islam, but the Sunni-Shia situation is among the most volatile. It must be recognized, however, that these differences have been manipulated and inflamed by other nations to divide and conquer. Consider Iraq. On the whole, the differences between Christians and the wars that resulted have been far bloodier than any Islamic disputes. To be clear, let me point out that I am not a Muslim, but have spent a fair amount of time in the Muslim world, and have studied its history and culture.