The majority of the soldiers in the Syrian armed forces are Alawites, like President Bashar Al-Assad. Alawites make up 7 percent of the Syrian population but are estimated to make up 70 percent of the career soldiers in the Syrian army. Of the 200,000 or so career soldiers in the Syrian army 140,000 are Alawites. A similar imbalance is seen in the officer corps where some 80 percent of the officers are Alawites. The military??? most elite division, the Republican Guard, and the 4th Mechanized Division are exclusively Alawite.