I know that Western (and Saudi) media love this story, that Bashshar want to rule an `Alawite enclave, but what evidence does Landis has that this was ever a dream for Bashshar or his father? I think that both want to rule over all of Syria and not one sectarian enclave. But this fits into the framework of Western-Saudi sectarian propaganda. "But his government views that territory as far too vulnerable because it is cut off from Syria’s main water sources and because it would lack the major cities that are at the core of the economy, said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma.For such a state to become sustainable it would need a real economy, and for that, it would require a major city — Aleppo is the only option — and probably a port on the Mediterranean, Mr. Landis said."