(CNN) -- The Shabiha militia fighters working hand in hand with Syria's military to repress the 15-month-long uprising are President Bashar al-Assad's "shock troops," observers say. "The regime uses them for the real dirty work, killing and violent action, especially where it has to go into an urban area and repress resistance," said Jeff White, defense fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Civil war imminent in Syria, U.N. warns Blamed for their participation in the Houla and Qubeir massacres and other assaults, there may be tens of thousands of them, mostly but not all members of the Alawite sect that dominates the government, analysts say.
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The Shabiha emerged in the '70s as a criminal gang
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The word might be derived from the name of a Mercedes
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Special forces like the Shabiha are gaining in influence, an analyst says
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They used to smuggle drugs and weapons, but "now they are being used as butchers"
The @placeholder, who dominate state ministries and have more jobs than other ethnic groups, are clinging to the top and know they will face a "bleak future."