In fact, when war erupts, the main victim is the truth. It's difficult to get at exactly what is going on. Every part of the conflict has its statistics and ways. But I think it is different in Syria. In the former Yugoslavia it was ethnic and religious problems in the early 1990s. But in Syria the problem is not ethnic and it's not religious. The issue is dictatorship. The people are fighting for their freedom.
The conflict started on March 15, 2011. It started with a peaceful demonstration, and the government forces met it with bullets. Then the people were forced to defend their families and their people.
I don't think the conflict in Syria is an ethnic conflict or a religious conflict. Really now, it has moved from a civil war between the government elite and the other groups...the situation is divided between the Alawis and Shia Baath with the government, and the Sunni Baath with the opposition, and every one of them is receiving support from the front supporters—from Saudi Arabia and others for the Sunni Muslims, and for the Shiites from Iran and from Hezbollah as well.
Syria, according to the United States State Department report on religious freedom, 2012, comprises a huge number of religious and ethnic groups. Sunni Muslims, including Arabs, Kurds, Chechens, Circassians, and Turkomans, comprise 74%; the Alawis, Shias, and Ismailis are 13%; another 3% are Druze. The rest, 10%, are Christians.
By the way, the Christians in Syria are a very ancient presence there, I think before any other community.