ABSTRACT
The uprising in Syria rapidly degenerated into a civil war, as the terrorist groups spewing Salafi ideology overwhelmed the secular forces protesting authoritarianism of the Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The Salafi-jihadi Sunnis terror groups and vigilante Shia militias of regional provenance are engaged in a deadly war on the Syrian soil. One of the key factors that led to the rise of sectarianism was extensive funding from various quarters to the jihadi leaders. The evolution of the civil war into a religious/sectarian war became a magnet for jihadis who started pouring in Syria from all across the region and world. When the Arab Spring mass protests shook the grip of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the ensuing violence between the government forces and the opponents’ polarised Syria. Islamists sensed a political opportunity in the situation for political expression that had been denied to them for over five decades by the ruling Ba‘ath party.
