For decades, the Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad built his power on a single, relentless narrative of survival: The regime presented itself as the only shield against annihilation for the Alawites, the ethno-religious minority that makes up about a tenth of Syria's population and has long understood itself to be threatened by the country's Sunni majority. Supporting Assad, himself an Alawite, was a matter not of loyalty or politics for this community, the regime insisted, but of choosing between existence and extinction. This narrative, and the fear of Sunni extremist groups such as the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, kept many Alawites bound to Assad even as the cost became unbearable. With Assad gone, Syria's new government has a chance to prove that his rule was not only vicious but built on a lie. The fact that Alawites were sustained in a state of fear does not excuse the complicity of those among them who supported the regime's crimes, which included mass incarceration,...
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