Once Syria's most influential minority, Alawites struggle to move on from their association with a hated dictator.

A rivalry developed between the Syrian branch under Assad and his late father, Hafez, and the one in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, who was removed from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

As preparations were being made to entomb former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad in a mausoleum nearby, a young Imam sat on the steps of the mosque and sighed, before confessing a dangerous ...