With the Druze joining the uprising, all of Syria's dozen or so ethnic

13 With the Druze joining the uprising, all of Syria's dozen or so ethnic and religious communities are now marching under the banner of revolt against the Assad dynasty. More important, perhaps, the day brought the first signs that at least parts of the security forces may be reluctant to shoot demonstrators in the street. According to my sources, security men have shot at least three soldiers on the spot for "disobedience." "These were cold-blooded executions in the street," one source tells me. "The soldiers had refused to fire on marchers. They were killed by men from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs." Two of the three soldiers shot have been identified as Muhammad Awadh Qanbar and Murad Hajoo, who died in Maddiyah. A third soldier was shot in the port city of Banias. In Tartus, Der'aah and the Kurdish city of Qamishli, Alawite elite units have replaced the regular army with orders to crush the demonstrations. Some special Alawite units, known as al-Ashbah or "ghosts," appear in civilian clothes to kill demonstrators at random. The tactic is meant to terrorize the opposition, forcing it to stop its almost daily protests. These terror tactics are starting to radicalize the opposition, but some groups still hope to reach a peaceful way out of the crisis. Several human-rights groups have joined in the Damascus Declaration, calling for a negotiated departure of Bashar al-Assad and his entourage with the Syrian army acting as an interim government. Other groups, however, insist that the opposition is willing and able to set up a transitional authority and hold free elections, with the army ensuring the country's security. The Assad clan is trying to convince the outside world, including the United States and the European Union, that the regime's fall could lead to chaos and sectarian wars. It claims the opposition is either too HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023470