Every religion has their various sects or divisions. How they deal with one another defines the value of the religion. Muslims just hate & kill each other over their differences. Yet I am not aware of reform & orthodox Jews resorting to massacring each other over differences like Muslims do. Oh well, praise be to Mohammed.
With the little dalliance being played out in Syria, we see the result of a continuing 1,400 year long blood feud. The Assad family and his hatchet men, who stand to lose the power they wielded mercilessly as a weapon against dissent for so long, will kill as many people as needed to maintain their positions. His Shia allies in Iran and Hizbollah will be there to assist. The local and out-of-state Sunni holy warriors will be on hand to fulfill their role in the homicidal jihad against the Shia who they view as apostates and infidels, in accordance with the tenets of their unreformed, seventh century death cult. It will be awful in some places, and extraordinarily awful everywhere else.
Did anyone really expect it to be different?