Syria Analysis: Could Hezbollah Involvement Spark Sectarian Violence?

http://goo.gl/NBJmh

Could increased involvement by Hezbollah transform the civil war between regime troops and the insurgency into a open Sunni-Shia/Alawite sectarian conflict, at least in the al-Qusair region?

Sectarianism has played a relatively small role in the Syrian civil war to date. Support for the insurgency, like support for Assad, is ethnically diverse. However, Hezbollah's incursions into the border region, and increasing lawlessness along the Lebanese border area, may be major catalysts for greater sectarian violence, at least between Al Qusayr and the border with Lebanon.

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Syria Feature: Questions About the "Boy Beheads Two Regime Officers" Video

Yesterday we noted a claimed video of a group of men and a young boy beheading two men who were reportedly "Alawite officers" involved in the Houla massacre.

The video was reportedly taken on Sunday, provided to a journalist by a "commander in Homs".

By the end of the day, however, activists were claiming the discovery of footage, posted on a pro-regime YouTube channel months ago, that apparently had some of the images in the beheading video which emerged yesterday:

@brown_moses Old video. Appeared for the first time on pro regime channel youtube.com/watch?v=rWBpG5…

— الجندي الحر (@FreeSySoldier) December 10, 2012

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