 When he came to power, Assad organised state services along sectarian lines (the Sunnis became the heads of political institutions, while the Alawites took control of the military, intelligence, and security apparatuses).The formerly collegial powers of Ba'athist decision-making were curtailed, and were transferred to the Syrian presidency.The Syrian government ceased to be a one-party system in the normal sense of the word, and was turned into a one-party state with a strong presidency.