What is "shabiha"

Shabiha ( North Levantine Arabic: , ; also romanized Shabeeha or Shabbiha ; loosely translated "spirits", "ghosts", "shadows", or "apparitions") were mostly Alawite groups of armed militia in support of the Ba'ath Party government of Syria, led by the Al-Assad family. However, in the Aleppo Governorate, Shabiha was composed entirely from the local pro-Assad Sunni tribes such as al-Berri, al-Baggara, al-Hasasne and al-Zeido. In the city of Aleppo itself it was led by a powerful Sunni Arab al-Berri tribe.

The Syrian opposition stated that the shabiha are a tool of the government for cracking down on dissent. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has stated that some of the shabiha are mercenaries.