Houssam sent me this: "As a son of a military officer, I lived in Hama, Damascus, Lattakia and Homs, thanks to Hafiz Assd's policy of moving officers around so they do not establish deep influence in any particular area of the country. Because of that I am quite familiar with the different accents of these areas. People from Homs (Hims) and surroundings pronounce التاء المربوطه as (ياء).
So ورده is pronounced (وردي), and الحوله is pronounced (الحولي). I know the area quite well for several reasons. First, due to Hafiz Assad's way of depriving Syrians from essential goods (gas, oil, sugar, grain, etc.) and from luxury items (electronics, Italian shoes, fancy watches, etc.), people resulted to the black market that was run by officers and smugglers. The smugglers (mostly Sunni) were supplied by army and customs officers (mostly Alawi) who were stationed in Lebanon. Their marketplace were small towns near the boders with Lebanon. Close to Damascus that would be Madaya and Zabadani. Close to Homs that would be A-Houleh area. Interestingly, these areas are hotbeds for the FSA now. I suspect that the old smugglers have become either Shabeiha or FSA but I have no way to prove that. The other reason I know the area well is because I had a clinic as a general practitioner in the area for a couple years before migrating to the US. I actually recognize the victim's family names from what I read about the massacres.
You mentioned in a post that some of the families of the area have converted to Shi'a. I have not seen that, however, many young men (smugglers) married from Shi'a families in the becc'a' valley as they did business with suppliers in Lebanon (that was a thriving business for sure for both sides of the border). People did not make much about it, and I do not remember any sectarian sentiments in the ares when I was there. The offices and smugglers had warm relationships and populations along the border on both sides got along just fine. I am not sure if it was planned, but I feel that is how Hafiz imagined a non-sectarian Syria: United by lack of necessities and dependency of smuggling, by corruption and illegal enrichment, and by bribing/partnering with the security apparatus that turned a blind eye but keeps score, just in case one acted unfavorably."
