Everyone is fighting for ideologies

Some of the wealthy Sunni Muslim countries in the Middle East are very much focused on waging an ideological warfare against the Syrian government by supporting various rebel factions/groups that are actively trying to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. Their belief is that Assad is a dictator and that the Sunni population of Syria is being oppressed. I’m not sure why Assad is being single out for being a bad leader/dictator while most, if not all, of the Middle East countries are ‘governed’ by self-proclaim kings and highly corrupt governments that are actively suppressing their Sunni population (e.g Egypt).

Many youths especially in western countries are deluded or dumb enough to join this war by believing that they are serving a higher cause.

Iran, Russia, Syria currently under Assad, and probably half of Lebanon are on the other side, preferring a safe bet like Assad than a regime change. Has revolution or regime change ever worked in the Middle East or Muslim countries?

The Syrian war seems to have a very sectarian nature (Shia-vs-Sunni). I sense that many have incorrectly assumed that Assad, who happens to be an Allawite via his family connection, is a Shia (or more specifically a follower of the Iranian Shia faith). In recent time, the Allawis of Syria has been trying to portray a more Islamic outlook; by becoming more mainstream, adopting many practices of Sunnism and slowly pushing away most of the secretive stuff that exist in their creed but is virtually unknown in the Muslim world.

Iran, who has a close working relationship with Assad, has been working hard to sell the Allawite of Syria as a ‘mini Shia sect’ or follower of an Islamic sect that may closely resemble Shiasm. I think this stance taken by Iran regarding the Allawite sect is slightly misleading and also hypocritical when you consider that Iran is the biggest prosecutor of Bahai sect. Iran considers anyone following the Bahai religion/sect as an apostate (state of being taken out of the Islamic faith). Here’s the irony. Both Bahai and Allawi are holding beliefs that would be considered ‘apostate-worthy’ (in fact I would even go further by saying that this belief that most find offensive is of the exact same nature/same spectrum), but only Bahais are single out for impropriety but not the Allawis. So why is there a double standard?

Perhaps we need to be fighting less for ideology (political, religion or on social issues). More time and efforts should be spent to alleviate the real suffering of the people.

Syrians are going to suffer more this winter and the next year is also not looking very good.

More than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt are facing a disastrous and hungry winter after a funding crisis forced the UN’s World Food Programme to suspend food vouchers to hundreds of thousands forced into exile by the conflict. Syria’s three-and-a-half year civil war has killed more than 200,000 people, displaced 6.5 million within the country and forced more than 3 million to seek refuge beyond its borders.

Here's the list of countries that are funding the World Food Program. The United States of America is the largest donor contributing half of the program budget to feed the hungry around the world.

References
http://www.wfp.org/about/funding/year/2014

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/syrias-second-front/1-7-million-syrian-refugees-to-lose-their-main-source-of-food-aid/

http://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/hMl1etAck9hlzfgVdkGGajK5NkygaES4/war-and-hunger-swiping-your-card-lion-whisperer/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/01/syrian-refugees-food-crisis-un-world-programme

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/sep/18/world-food-programme-cut-aid-syria

Alevi vs Alawite

They are not the same.

Alevi is a Turkish Sufi order/sect. The name Alevi is Turkish for the Arabic word Alawi. It should not be confused with the Alawite of Syria. The Alawite of Syria is also known as the Nusayris.

Due to some similarity in the name (Alevi vs Alawi), most people think they are the same but in fact they are not.

Here's a mistake a journalist made in his report.

As Syria’s civil war degenerates into a bloody sectarian showdown between the government’s Alawite-dominated troops and the Sunni Muslim majority, tensions are increasing across the border between Turkey’s Alawite minority and the Sunni Muslim majority here.

Many Turkish Alawites, estimated at 15 million to 20 million strong and one of the biggest minorities in this country, seem to be solidly behind Syria’s embattled strongman, Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey’s government, and many Sunnis, supports the Syrian rebels [1] (The New York Times).

As you can see, the author used Alawite in Syria interchangeably with the Alevi in Turkey. That is incorrect. They are not the same.

Reference
[1] Article name: As Syria War Roils, Unrest Among Sects Hits Turkey
Author: JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published date: August 4, 2012
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/middleeast/turkish-alawites-fear-spillover-of-violence-from-syria.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all