Anti-Alawite Sentiment in the 2011-2012 Syrian Uprising

Following the development of the 2011-2012 Syrian uprising, Alawites in Syria have been subject to a series of growing threats and attacks coming from Sunni Muslims, who are the majority of the Syrian population. Many Sunnis think that Alawites are heretics.
Background
Alawites in Syria are a minority, which account for around 12% on the 23 millions residents in Syria. Members of the Alawite sect are afraid of Sunni hegemony, as they were oppressed by Sunnis during Ottoman times and in the early years of the 20th century, the Sunni merchant class held much of the country's wealth and dominated politics, while Alawites generally lived as poor peasants. Following Hafez al-Assad coup, their position in the society improved and they achieved equality of rights due to a secular regime. In the 1980's, the Islamic uprising in Syria happened and Alawites were the main target of the Muslim Brotherhood, an influent Islamist party.
Anti Alawites statements from Syrian opposition members
A Syrian opposition member said privately that all Alawites men were murderers.
A Syrian cleric living in exile in Saudi Arabia said that they would feed Alawites to the dogs if they seize power.
Mamoun al-Homsy, one of the opposition leader, told that Alawites should stop support the government, or Syria would become their graveyard.
Mohamed Bazzi said tha many of the jihadists elements in the Syrian opposition viewed the Shia as heretics and the Alawites as even more heretic.
Anti Alawites attacks and threats
Ali, a dentist student asked by Reuters, told that he was being insulted daily by Sunnis because he was an Alawite living in a neighbourhood which has a sunni majority. He had to leave his house because of death threats. He said his uncle had been killed in a sectarian murder, his body was cut in parts and sent back to his alawite village.
Mahmoud, another student of Damascus, said that if the current secular government felt, he would have to leave Syria or be killed. In his childhood village Rabia, located near the sunni city of Hama, he said that 39 Alawites villagers had been killed by sunnis and told that if an Alawite leave his village, he is stopped at checkpoints and killed by sunnis if they identify him as an Alawite.
Due to the widespread threats, a lot of Alawites are reportedly hiding their identity, trying to hide their accent and their names.
In the city of Homs, the main hub of the Syrian uprising, Alawites were allegedly targeted by sunni rebels, being abducted or killed.
Issa Abboud, a 60 year old man, was killed in Homs while he was loading his car to flee his quarter. A young alawite was shot in the stomach during the attack, while a third was abducted. A few day before, another Alawite, Shadi Tammour, relative to them had been kidnapped in Homs.
Turkish Alawites fear it will be "a river of blood" for Alawites if Assad leaves. A number of Turkish Alawites are so worried that they started to highjack ambulances near the border to try to disrupt weapons smuggling to syrian rebels.

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