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Caroline YEOH
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The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer Syria fuels schism between Sunnis and Shiites Posted: 13 Aug 2011 08:45 PM PDT
By James M. Dorsey
The struggle for greater political freedom in Syria is emerging as a lightning rod for a far greater schism in the
Middle East and North Africa – one that is more worrisome and that threatens to divide the region and several of
its societies not only along political lines but also along sectarian lines.
A majority of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia have in the last week for the first time since anti-government
protesters took to the streets in March condemned Syrian president Bashar al Assad’s crackdown not because
they are abhorred by the regime’s brutality or because they favor political and economic change but because Mr.
Assad enjoys the backing of predominantly Shiite Iran.
By viewing the protests sweeping the region as a product of subversive Iranian policies inspired in some cases by
deep-seated Sunni prejudice against Shiites, Arab leaders led by Saudi King Abdullah are seeking to further
isolate Iran, Syria’s staunchest ally, and taint demands for far-reaching change as the product of foreign
intervention rather than a homegrown, grassroots movement that is challenging decades of autocratic rule.Bahrain has so far emerged as the Arab state most effected by the Sunni-Shiite divide but the schism is also
impacting politics in Iraq and potentially could stoke tension in Lebanon. Syrian protesters have succeeded, at
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least for now, in preventing a series of recent sectarian killings from transforming their pro-democracy
movement into a struggle between Sunnis and Alawites, a minority sect associated with Shiism to which Mr.
Assad belongs.
Bahraini King Khalifa, backed by King Abdullah and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders succeeded in
turning what started in February as protests by Sunnis and Shiites standing shoulder-to-shoulder in favor of
more equitable housing and land policies, fairer representation in parliament and constitutional reform into a
dividing line that separates the communities. The GCC-backed violent squashing of the protests in March has left
the island deeply divided with Shiites and Sunnis distrustful of one another. Government efforts to heal the
wounds appear to have only thrown salt into them. The country’s major Shiite opposition parties have vowed to
boycott next month’s parliamentary by-elections called to fill the seats of 18 deputies who resigned in protest
against the crackdown.
Lebanon has so far proven itself remarkably immune to the turmoil just across its border even if pro- and anti-
Syrian factions are battling it out in the country’s media. More importantly, the reputation of Hezbollah, the
Shiite militia in Lebanon widely seen as a bastion of resistance against Israel, has suffered significantly because
of the group’s siding with Mr. Assad and the recent indictment of four of its operatives on charges of having been
involved in the 2005 killing of prime minister Rafik Hariri. Nonetheless, concern remains that the turmoil could
ultimately upset Lebanon’s fragile sectarian apple cart.
In Iraq, however, the sectarian schism has deepened political divisions with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, a
Shiite, standing out as the one major Arab leader to have refrained from condemning Mr. Assad’s crackdown.
Instead, he has called on the protesters not to undermine the Syrian state and has hosted a delegation of Syrian
government officials and businessmen to discuss closer economic ties, including the construction of a gas
pipeline that would run from Iran through Iraq to Syria. Mr. Maliki further hosted Syria’s foreign minister in
Baghdad in June.
By contrast, the Sunni speaker of Iraq’s parliament, Osama al Najafi, accused the Syrian government of
suppressing the freedom of its people and condemned the crackdown on protesters as unacceptable. Mr. Najafi
said the government had the obligation to protect the lives and property of its people and called for an end to the
bloodshed.
Mr. Maliki’s reluctance to condemn Mr. Assad despite Iraqi allegations that jihadists who wreaked havoc in Iraq
had been able to enter the country from Syria is as much a function of the prime minister’s relationship with Iran
and the fact that Syria granted him asylum while Saddam Hussein was in power as it is that Saudi Arabia’s deep-
seated fear of Shiite rule has strained relations with Iraq and stopped it from opening an embassy in Baghdad. In
fact, Saudi Arabia has made sectarian identity a cornerstone of its policy in the region.
To be sure, Saudi Arabia has good reason to want to isolate Iran. The Islamic republic has sought to cast the wave
of protests sweeping the Middle East and North Africa as a success of its own revolution that overthrew the Shah
32 years ago. Alleged Iranian agents have been uncovered in Bahrain and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and the Gulf
states are legitimately concerned about Iran’s nuclear program.
The timing of Saudi Arabia’s stepped up effort to further corner Iran could not be better. Iran’s longstanding
claim that it is the first and only Middle Eastern nation to have thrown off the shackles of a subservient
relationship with the United States no longer holds with the toppling of the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, who
were widely seen as US lackeys. The fall of the Syrian president would constitute a further major setback for Iran,
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depriving it of its major Arab ally and complicating its ability to furnish a politically weakened Hezbollah with
arms.
Exploiting Iran’s weakening position as a result of the Arab revolt is one thing; casting the Saudi-Iranian rivalry
in sectarian terms is another. Sectarianism may delay but will not stop the inevitable course of history and could
unleash forces that ultimately could prove far more detrimental to regional security and stability.
James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.
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