Did people even see picture of this small gathering in Cairo? They were merely the entourage of Rif`Aat Al-Asad and were spirited in by Saudi intelligence. Notice that this article makes no mention of Rif`at Al-Asad whatsoever: "Another group of Syrian dissidents in exile, many of them Alawites — the
same minority as Mr. Assad, his family and his inner circle — held a
rare public gathering in Cairo to try to persuade more Alawites in Syria
to abandon the government. One of the meeting’s aims was to dispel the
widely held notion that Syrian Alawites, who make up roughly 13 percent
of the Syrian population, all march in lock step with Mr. Assad.
Alawites at the conference said that the mainly Sunni opposition
coalition had failed to reassure Alawites that they would be safe if Mr.
Assad fell, and had done little to persuade Syria’s neighbors to
shelter Alawites who decided to flee, several participants said."
