The sectarian divisions in Syria's violent uprising

Sectarian divisions have simmered throughout Syria's 17-month-long uprising, but these lines have become increasingly pronounced as the political upheaval turns more violent.

In fact, Middle East expertsworry thatsectarian violencecould explode if the Assad regime falls and retribution becomes the order of the day.

Here's a look at thereligious groups that make up Syria:

Sunnis

Sunni Muslims account for 74 per cent of the entire Syrian population. They are in the majority in every part of the country except forsouthern Al-Suwayda and northwesternLatakia.

Ordinary Sunnis also comprise the bulk of the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's regime.Some Sunni elites are among its supporters, but that support has been cracking, as witnessed inthe recent round of high-level defections.

Defections from the armed forces havebeen largelyby Sunni generals, according to reports. Ahigh-level diplomatic defectionin early July was also by a Sunni Muslim, the Syrian ambassador to Iraq, Nawah al-Fares.

Fares had served in the ruling Baath Party and as governor ofLatakia, a region dominated by the minority Alawites, the Assad family sect that makes up much of the country's elite and general staff.

Assad's wife, Asma al-Akhras, isfrom a prominent Sunni Muslim family from Homs.

Alawites

The Alawites make up only12 per cent of Syria's population of 22.5 million but they havedominated the country for the past four decades.The minority Shia Muslimsectcelebrates certain Christian rituals, such as Christmas and Easter, which makes them seem like heretics to many Muslims.

The second largest religious group in Syria, most Alawites live in the northwesternMediterranean port city of Latakia and nearby mountains. And there are also large numbers of them in some of the nicer areas of Damascus.

The Syrian president's father, Hafez,came from a poor Alawite family. With his rise to power in a 1970 coup, the fortunes of the Alawites also rose.

Hafez filled keypolitical andmilitary positionswith fellow Alawites and todayan estimated 70 per cent of the military's elite units issaid to bemade up of Alawites.

Manymembers of thefeared pro-Assad militia called Shabiha are also from this minority religious group. "Most importantly, the key elements within the armed forces are made of the Alawite minority,"observes Peter Fragiskatos of the University of Western Ontario. He says that a key sign of cracks in the regime would be defections from that group.

Though powerful in today's Syria, the Alawites were oppressed through much oftheir history. That changed when Ottoman rule ended with the First World Warand France took over the mandate of what is nowSyria and Lebanon and, some historians said, deliberately incitedsectarian divisions to suppress Arab nationalism.

Christians

Christians constitute about one-tenth of the Syrian population, or abouttwo million people. This religious group is divided into a number of churches, including Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Maronite and Protestant.

Many of Syria's Christians have not abandoned their support for Assad ortheir Alawite neighbours, fearing being ruled by an Islamist Muslim Brotherhood if Assad is overthrown.

However, Syria expertJoshua Landis, director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at theUniversity of Oklahoma,noted to USA Todaythat there are also plenty of Christians in Syria who "believe that democracy in the long run is the best protection for Christians."