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Article: A new dawn for the Shi'ite faithful: the Arab world's Sunni governments have registered alarm at the Shi'ites' rise to power in Iraq.(REGIONAL)
- Article from:
- The Middle East
- Article date:
- November 1, 2005
- Author:
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THE EMERGENCE OF A SHI'ITE-DOMINATED government in Iraq, even if it is only within a breakaway oil-rich south, is causing deep unease in the Arab world, which for centuries has been ruled by the majority Sunnis. They fear a "Shi'ite crescent" stretching from Asia to the Levant will challenge their legitimacy and authority, which dates back to the Ottoman Empire, thereby dramatically changing the political landscape of the Middle East.
The undeclared sectarian civil war that is swelling in Iraq, with its centrepiece the murderous campaign against the Shi'ite majority being waged by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the most notorious of the Sunni insurgent leaders, is but the ...