Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian cleric Sheik Muhammad Badi' Moussa, which aired on Al-Hekma TV on March 14, 2012 :

Interviewer : Is it permissible to kill 'Alawites – their women and their children – in retaliation for their actions?

Muhammad Badi' Moussa : Yes, my brother. We have issued a communiqué to the 'Alawites, in which we gave them a strong warning, which may be the last. Our brothers in the Free Syrian Army sent queries to scholars in exile, asking whether they were allowed to raid 'Alawite villages, like the Zahra, Eqrima, and Nuzha suburbs of Homs.

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Our brothers in the Free Syrian Army asked several sheiks and scholars for a fatwa on whether they are allowed to kill ['Alawite] women and children, just as they are killing our women and children. The snipers are coming from the 'Alawite suburbs, and the free Muslim women who were raped and kidnapped are being held in 'Alawite suburbs.

All the scholars said: Have a little patience. They must be warned first. We don't want a civil, sectarian war to rage in Syria.

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[The 'Alawites] know that they are a minority in our country, and that all the sects hate them and want to get rid of them. It is not in their best interest to follow the regime.

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