sect

Explaining why she had not talked about the experience, she said: "Bétharram was organised like a sect or a totalitarian regime exercising psychological pressure on pupils and teachers, so they stayed silent."

Moving the action to Seattle brings a lot less of it – it’s a wild, dangerous place strangled in conflict, governed by a military sect that makes Jackson’s militia look like a hippie horse club.

Investigations following Abe's assassination revealed close ties between the secretive sect and many conservative ruling-party lawmakers, leading to the resignation of four ministers.

Most of those killed in the recent attacks, which occurred over a period of days earlier this month, were Alawites - an offshoot of Shia Islam, and Assad's minority sect.

Last week, security forces launched an operation in the region, in response to a growing insurgency by fighters loyal to deposed president Bashar al-Assad - an Alawite whose regime was dominated by members of the sect.