MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-02-23 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] for those interestin in internation affairs
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Iraq sectarian conflict reverberates beyond borders
By William Wallis in Cairo
Published: February 23 2006 18:51 | Last updated: February 23 2006 18:51
The bombing of one of Shia Islamÿs holiest sites in Iraq has
reverberated across the Muslim world. But so transparent is the attempt
to drive a wedge between Islamÿs two main sects, that it may, outside
Iraq, have the opposite effect to the one the bombers had intended.
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´We are expecting a very big demonstration in Bahrain today, and it will
be shared between Sunni and Shia, which is a very good thing,¡ said
Sheikh Ali Salman, the young leader of Bahrainÿs Shia el Wefaq party.
In Iran on Thursday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader,
cautioned against retaliatory attacks by Shia. ´There are definitely
some plots to force Shia to attack the mosques and other properties
respected by the Sunnis,¡ he said. ´Any measure to contribute to that
direction is helping the enemies of Islam and is forbidden by sharia
[law].¡
The conciliatory note struck by some Shia leaders in the wake of the
Askariya mosque attack reflects the acute sensitivity throughout the
region to the danger that sectarian sensibilities in several countries
might be inflamed by any escalation towards civil war in Iraq.
To the dismay of many Sunni Arab leaders, the US invasion of Iraq in
2003 and subsequent empowerment of the majority Shia through elections
altered the regional balance of power.
In the words of King Abdullah of Jordan, who has expressed alarm at the
growing influence of Tehran, this created a Shia ´crescent¡ extending
from Iran and Iraq into Lebanon.
One result has been that Shia populations in the Sunni-dominated Gulf
have become more assertive in demanding their rights, both where they
are in the majority but ruled by the Sunni, as in Bahrain, and in Saudi
Arabia where they form less than 10 percent of the population.
At home, the Saudi authorities have reacted delicately, inviting the
Shia into a national dialogue and allowing greater debate about their
position in society.
Saudi Arabia has also been heavily involved in recent months in efforts
to diffuse sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where tens of thousands of
Shia gathered in Beirut on Thursday to protest the Samarra bombing.
As the conflict in Iraq has assumed increasingly sectarian dimensions,
so tensions have risen beyond its borders. ´Unfortunately, the last year
has not been a good year for the Sunni and Shia together [in Bahrain].
There have been no clashes, but in general what happens in Iraq is
looked at very differently in the Shia mosque and in the Sunni mosque,¡
Sheikh Salman said.
Bahrain has parliamentary elections later this year, where the position
of the majority Shia will be the prominent issue. The political crisis
in Lebanon, which experienced its own bitter sectarian civil war in the
1970s and 1980s, shows no sign of abating.
Shia-dominated Iran is also flexing its muscles. While Tehran has little
interest in seeing its Shia allies in Baghdad lose control of government
in an escalating conflict, its growing influence in the region continues
to unnerve Sunni leaders, in particular in Saudi Arabia.
´The sectarian situation in Iraq has a direct impact on its neighbours.
Itÿs a dangerous region,¡ says Dia Rashwaan, an expert in Islamism at
the Al Ahram centre for political and strategic studies.
The Samarra bombing, at the least, reveals the determination of
extremists in Iraq to take advantage.
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