THREAD: Popular discontent with the impunity of #Syria’s ruling elite has increased even among Alawites as a distant cousin of President Al-Assad has been released from prison and is walking free despite a 20-year sentence for killing a highly decorated #Alawite colonel in 2015.

The road rage killing illustrated the extent to which the Alawite community’s relationship with the Al- #Assad regime is an unequal partnership in which the community at large bears significant and often personal costs to protect the entitlements of the few. 2/7

There are some indications that the younger Al-Assad had enjoyed considerable freedom of movement or had been confined to house arrest, rather than prison, in the intervening five years. 3/7

Suleiman Al-Assad's kid-glove treatment during detention and his early release are now widely seen as proof that Syria’s ruling regime enjoys unchecked impunity despite the costs shouldered by its Alawite base. 4/7

As such, the event casts light on the deep social tensions in #Lattakia and within the Alawite community itself. Suleiman Al-Assad’s release has prompted criticism among the #Sunni community too. 5/7

In 2014, Al-Assad reportedly led deadly assaults on Sunni neighborhoods in Lattakia in a bout of misdirected revenge over the death of his father, Hilal Al-Assad, a National Defense Forces commander. 6/7

Coupled with evidence like the growing #narcotics trade, Suleiman Al-Assad’s release is indicative of the #gangsterism that is taking root as the country’s formal institutions weaken and power becomes concentrated in the hands of the connected few. 7/7