There was an early settlement of Syrian `Alawites in the US at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The first settlement was a community of 250 Syrian `Alawites in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. They worked in factories and mines. (I came across this in Philip Hitti, The Syrians in America, 1924, p. 109).
PS Human Rights Watch's office in Beirut called for the arrest of the early `Alawite immigrants because they are Shabbihah.
PS Human Rights Watch's office in Beirut called for the arrest of the early `Alawite immigrants because they are Shabbihah.
