Abdullah Al-Haqim 
Syrian President Ahmed Al -Shara, whose fighters led a attack that overthrew the rule of the Assad family in December, announced that he would establish a society that includes all sects in a country characterized by a sensitive sectarian and religious mix.
However, this pledge faces a difficult test due to a killing campaign targeting the Alawite community in Syria, which the ousted President Bashar al -Assad belongs, which broke out after an attack by loyal to Assad on the new government forces.
Some Syrians and external forces show fears that Sharia will impose a strict Islamic rule or exclude some sects from the positions of power in a country that includes many minorities, such as the Druze, Kurds, Christians and Alevis.
A constitutional declaration issued on Thursday said that Islamic jurisprudence will remain the main source of legislation.
Below is a look at the sects and minorities in Syria, which was destroyed by a civil war that lasted for years in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising led by Sunni Muslims in Syria against the Alawite leaders.
Alawites
A small sect is a branch of Shiites and sanctified Imam Ali bin Abi Talib. The Alawite community is concentrated in Syria, but it has a presence in other regions of the Middle East.
Most of the Alawites in Syria are poor farmers who come from the western mountainous region of the Mediterranean.
The late President Hafez al -Assad, the father of Bashar, became the strongest Alawite figure when he seized power in the 1970 coup after his rise within the Baath Party.
During its rule, the Assad family relied on the Alevis and imitated them in positions in the army, security and intelligence, but many of them continued to suffer from poverty and repression like other Syrians during the ruling of the family.
Throughout history, the Alawites were persecuted, as they suffered from the invasion of the Crusaders, the Mamluks and the Ottomans, and they also fought internal wars.
Sunnah
They form the majority around the Islamic world, with the exception of a few countries.
Hafez al -Assad crushed one -year armed and killed at least 10,000 in the city of Hama in 1982 in the bloodiest incidents in modern Arab history.
However, Hafez has strengthened his relationships with the Sunni merchants in Damascus and Aleppo, the mall of Syria, and appointed the Sunnis in government positions. Some Sunnis say that Bashar al -Assad deliberately excluded these merchants after that and preferred that his Alawite relatives enjoy commercial interests.
In March 2011, demonstrations against Assad’s rule over Syria, demanding more freedoms and elimination of corruption. After the government launched a suppression campaign, the uprising turned into a civil war, which put the opposition, most of which was from the Sunni majority, in the face of Assad’s forces backed by Shiite factions from all over the Middle East.
Christians
Many Christians in Syria adhered to Assad, but they said they did so for fear that Sunni Islamists would violate the rights of minorities if they reach power.
Other prominent Christian figures joined the Syrian opposition.
Christians are divided into a number of sects, some of which are small societies with ancient roots in Syria dating back to pre -Islam. They include the Greek Orthodox, Maronite, Orthodox, Catholics, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Orthodox and Catholics. There are also some Protestants.
Druze
They are an Arab minority practicing religious rituals originally derived from Islam, and they live in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and the occupied Golan Heights, and they have a distinctive position amid a mixture of religions and cultures in the region.
In Syria, most of them are stationed in the southern province of As -Suwayda, but there are others who live around Damascus and in northern Syria.
Druze has a coherent identity and a doctrine that appeared in the eleventh century, and includes elements of Islam and other philosophies with a focus on monotheism, reincarnation and the pursuit of the truth.
They maintain a degree of confidentiality about their religious practices.
In Israel there are a small number of Druze and some also live in the Golan Heights, which Israel occupied from Syria in the 1967 war.
Israel threatened to intervene militarily in Syria if the Druze faces any threats.
