In Syria – a Sunni-majority country where, incidentally, a Sunni Muslim caliphate, the Umayyads, once prospered – Iran is spending billions of dollars to prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, dominated by members of a minority Shia sect, the Alawites (historically known as Nusayris).
在叙利亚——这是一个逊尼派占少数的国家，碰巧也是逊尼派穆斯林哈里发帝国倭马亚王朝的龙兴之地——伊朗投入数十亿美元支持总统巴沙尔·阿萨德政权。巴沙尔政权由什叶派中的少数派阿拉维派（历史上称为奴萨里派）主导。