The Middle East in the Time of the Great Sorting-Out

The 2003 American intervention in Iraq set off an imposing restructuring of the Middle East, triggering a struggle between different ethnic and religious communities. In Syria Sunnis, underestimating the regional nature of the conflict, deluded themselves into thinking that they could topple al-Asad's regime by virtue of their overwhelmingly demographic superiority. Amongst the losers there are also the Christians who, unlike the Alawis or the Curds, are not a compact minority.