Ba`thist rule and tribes

A Syrian reader (whose family was exiled by the Asad regime), sent me this:  "Let's not forget that getting "clan" support is not just a colonial concept , baathist regimes have thrived on  clan support.  Assad (the father) was always aware of the importance of clans and would make sure they are well represented in the parliament,  in fact Mahmoud Al Zu'bi had no qualification what so ever , but he was just put in place to appease "Zu'bi clan" because they were upset...was exiled and was not allowed to come back. That is just an example.   ...was recently asked to go talk to heads of clans in Horan on behalf of his brother the "vice president" in order to avert protests he was able to get their "words" and some of them did not protest ,in fact it took weeks for some villages to join the uprising and the people did it in spite of those clan leaders promise.   Also like Colonial powers Assad and Saddam relied on minority support and use Palestine as it suits them to stay in power.  The more I view Bashar regime the more I see it as an internal "foreign" occupation , they use the same terror techniques as well as lies and fabrications in order to subjugate the natives and beat them into submission."