Christians, Druze, and Kurds generally have stayed out of a confrontation that pits the majority Sunnis against the minority but powerful Alawites. Many Christians, in particular, fear that the fall of Assad could usher in a Sunni Islamist regime that may restrict their freedoms. Syria's minorities have watched neighbors Lebanon and Iraq tumble into civil war in recent years and have no wish to see Syria plunged into the same kind of conflict.
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Syria conflict: 5 warring factions
Syria is at the nexus of some of the Middle East's most central problems, meaning that fallout from its uprising is likely to ripple, in unpredictable ways, through the region. Here's a brief guide to the actors in the conflict.
Religious and ethnic minorities
