... Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, who opposed the regime and suffered at its hands) [
4
]. The Sadrists’ military wing retained considerable influence over the state security system.
Despite having some political clout and a few ministerial posts, the Sunnis found themselves marginalized in the new situation and did not have influence over the decision-making process in Baghdad as the case for, for example, the Nujaifi clan from Mosul. The main forces opposing the United States and the central government ...
... process were riddled with pitfalls that gave rise to inevitable cataclysms.
The real ethnic and denominational situation resulted in the Shiites dominating the political spectrum, which entailed severe political consequences. For the first time, the Sunnis found themselves in a position of the ethnic-denominational minority. They felt the growing inferiority of their situation, which prompted many of them to join ISIS terrorist camps. The same situation motivated the Kurds to steer a course for independence....
... West, but information-wise the status quo is likely to remain for a long time to come. As a result, some will see Russia as a country that defends dictators and bombs the moderate opposition and civilians, while others will see it as an enemy of the Sunnis. Details regarding the groups bombed, real targets for air attacks, or the fact that Russia has 20 million Sunnis residing in its territory will be virtually ignored.
The most obvious risks are image-related.
Russia is, as always, rather weak ...
A second front seems to have been fully opened up in the Middle East by the whirlwind events in Yemen, which few predicted and hence have generated numerous
forecasts
regarding the consequences for the broader security of the Arabia Peninsula and the Middle East as a whole. They
state
that the Yemen crisis will trigger Saudi Arabia’s decline, because the Yemenis will drop their domestic squabble and close ranks to face the external threat. Others
believe
that the area is in for a full-scale...
... keeping the government functioning; however, not addressing core issues like electing a president, holding parliamentary elections and forming a new government will lead to continuous institutional deadlock.
AFP / LOUAI BESHARA
Elena Suponina:
Shiites and Sunnis: The Danger of Major War
from Syria to Pakistan
These dialogues cannot substitute political institutions. In the current situation, the government’s response towards pressing developments has been weak at best. Recently, Islamist militants ...
... decades. And now the main theater for this confrontation lies in Iraq, whose western and central regions have become home to the Islamic State (IS), territory claimed by a group of radical Islamists
[22]
.
AFP / LOUAI BESHARA
Elena Suponina:
Shiites and Sunnis: The Danger of Major War
from Syria to Pakistan
Emergence of a major Islamist entity in close proximity to its borders constitutes a direct threat to Iran's national security. Hence, sources suggest, Iranian troops have already entered Iraqi territory ...
Relations within the Iran-United States-Saudi Arabia triangle
The civil war in Iraq is raging on – local Sunnis have risen up against the Shiite authorities. The causes of the uprising lie in the Sunni elite’s resentment of its position in the country and in the role played by external forces.
It is not the case that the country entered a period of ...
... different countries have lived together quite peacefully. On the other hand, every now and then conflicts occur too, and we are now witnessing again a surge of tensions in the Middle East.
Although in my opinion large-scale war between the Shiites and the Sunnis is not in the offing, the threat of it breaking out will dramatically increase if international mediators fail to stop the destruction in Syria.
PEW Forum on Religion and Public Life
Unlike many other countries (such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya),...
