"They think all Alawites are rich, because we are the same sect as Bashar al-Assad.
Two were Alawite, the same sect as Assad, one was Druze and the fourth, Faris, was Sunni.
Traditionally, people of the same sect, ethnic or tribal group, or craft have lived together in separate quarters or neighbourhoods.
But we have always been members of the same sect, for whom the rules of democracy are sacred and from which we may not deviate under any circumstances".
It opposed the arming of the anti-Assad movement and has more prominent representatives from minority groups, including Alawites, from the same sect as Mr. Assad.
He held the same sect responsible for a recent massacre said to have been carried out by supporters of Mr. Assad.
Prediction: "The blood of the just will be lacking in London, Burnt up in the fire of '66: The ancient Lady will topple from her high place, Many of the same sect will be killed".
In Benghazi, in the courthouse that serves as the nerve center for the opposition, Essam Gheriani, a psychologist turned merchant, said that because most Libyans are Sunni Muslims from the same sect, Islam in Libya would remain moderate.
But it also has an Alawite minority - the same sect as President Bashar al-Assad - and street fights between Sunnis and Alawites are common every time Lebanon gets dragged further into the crisis next door.
Iranian-backed militias and government security forces appeared to have targeted Sunnis, Human Rights Watch found, either because they were suspected of supporting the Islamic State or simply because they came from the same sect as the militant group that controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
