Neil MacFarquhar and agitation against `Alawites in the New York Times

Look at this sinister sentence: "During the biggest demonstrations to date in Damascus, on Feb. 18, Alawite civilians emerged to help suppress a mostly Sunni demonstration."  What is his source for this claim?  And how would his informants know that those civilians were `Alawites? Is this like Hitler who used to claim that he could tell a Jewish person while walking the streets of Vienna?