The Alawite State was an area of the north-Syrian coast. Around 90 percent of the population of the area is still Alawites. The area was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, until it was dissolved at the end of the first World War.
The name Alawite refers to the people’s religion, not an ethnic group. Many belong to the Alawite sect of Sunni Islam. Their beliefs have been close-held, but are apparently very different than other Sunni sects.
The area was administered under various mandates, and under various names, by the French, British, and Syrians between 1920 and 1936. At the time this stamp was produced in 1928, the area was under a French governor, Ernest Marie Hubert Schoeffler (1877-1952). He was the last French governor of the region, serving until December 1936 when the territory was folded into the Syrian Republic.
The Alawites remained primarily against outside control, but because though they were in the majority, they were primarily poor and scattered in the mountainous region. Recently, the area was considered a fall-back location for the Asaad regime, if Damascus were to be overrun in the ongoing civil war (2001-present). The Syrian President, Basha Al-Asaad, is an Alawite, and Alawites are prominent throughout the Syrian government army.
The modern Latakia and Tartus government areas cover most of the old Alawite state.
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