Jon Alterman is head of the Middle East program at the Center for Stategic and International Studies in Washington.

VOA: standard.2009.06.02

Jon Alterman is director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

VOA: standard.2010.06.29

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies and associate professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Oklahoma, said Alawites live "cheek by jowl" near Sunnis in Homs, Hama and Idlib province in the west.

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"When the merchants of Hamidiya -- the main souq (marketplace) -- go on strike, you know you have lost the conscience and heart of Damascus, " wrote Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

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Observers such as Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, say a wider Mideast conflict could be avoided.

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