empire until after world war i, when france and britain carved up the middle east between them. france took syria, and syria didn t gain independence until 1946. the next few decades were marked by coups and uprisings, until president bashar al assad s father seized power in 1970. syria is made up of a wide variety of ethnic groups, including ethnic kurds, arab christians, and even jews. 59% of the population are sunni muslim arabs. then there are the alawites that follow a sect of shiaism. the alawites make up less than 12% of the population, but they are the ruling class. this matters. president bashar al assad and his family are from that ethnic group. bashar s father managed to keep power by violently crushing any toepgs. he bombed the city of hama for