All the while, Assad was describing the violence as the product of terrorists and Sunni extremists seeking dominion over minority Alawites, Druze, Kurds, Christians, and other groups. He worked assiduously to fan the flames of sectarian civil war, succeeding to the extent that now the chief reason for not intervening to stop the killing is the impossibility of doing so effectively in an environment of sectarian violence.
与此同时，阿萨德将暴力活动描绘成想要统治阿拉维派少数族裔、德鲁兹人、库尔德人、基督徒和其他团体的恐怖份子和逊尼派极端份子制造的产物。他不遗余力地煽动宗派内战，他的策略如此成功，以致于不干预阻止杀戮的主要原因是在宗派暴力环境下根本不可能实现这一目标。