The al-Assad family lived in Qardaha, an Alawite town in the mountainous Latakia Sanjak of the Ottoman Empire.

[5][6][7] Ali was known for protecting the weak and in the 1920s had assisted refugees fleeing the former province of Aleppo when France gave parts of it to Turkey.

[13] The disputed letter states: On the occasion of the ongoing negotiations between France and Syria, it is an honor for us, we the Alawites leaders in Syria, to draw your attention and your party's attention to the following points: The letter praises the Jews in Palestine and includes them among the groups that are persecuted by the Muslims.

It is possible that this aspect of the letter was not sincere but was intended to curry favor with Léon Blum, the French Prime Minister to whom it was addressed, who was a Jew.

[18] On 31 August 2012, the permanent representative of France to the United Nations Gérard Araud mentioned the letter in response to the Syrian diplomat Bashar Jaafari.