A former British NATO commander warns that the world is on the “brink of the Third World War”, as the Middle East is once again engulfed in major tensions. The current conflict is not a new one. Its roots go back to the beginnings of Islam, nearly 1,400 years ago, but today it is fueled by oil and gas, ethnic rivalries, nationalism, relations with the West, and, above all, attitudes towards Israel.
Religious divisions between Sunnis and Shiites underlie many conflicts in the Middle East. Shiites believe that their religious leaders, the ayatollahs, are infallible and appointed by Allah, sometimes even descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis, on the other hand, do not have a strict clerical hierarchy and judge each preacher on his merits, reports Daily Mail.
More than four-fifths of Muslims are Sunnis, the majority in Arab countries and Pakistan. In Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan, Shiites predominate, and significant Shiite populations also live in Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. This division creates the premises for internal conflicts, often extremely violent.
The Iranian revolution of 1979, which overthrew the Shah, represented more than a political change, it was a religious takeover. Throughout the region, many Shiites recognized Ayatollah Khomeini as their supreme religious leader. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s Sunni government feared a Shiite revolt, which led to a devastating war in the ’80s, with over a million dead.
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