The New Cold War Dividing the Middle East

The New Cold War Dividing the Middle East

Photo: Flickr/ james_gordon_losangeles

David Blair, writing at the UK daily Telegraph, says that the animating conflict in the modern Middle East is not Arab-Israeli, Muslim-Jewish, or Muslim-Christian. Rather, it is Muslim-Muslim. The tensions between Sunni and Shia Islam require the immediate attention and thorough understanding of Western policymakers if we’re going to navigate these rough waters.

Across the Middle East, tensions between Sunni and Shia are steadily being inflamed. No one was particularly surprised when Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the leading preacher of the (Sunni) Muslim Brotherhood, claimed last month that Shias in general – and Iran in particular – were plotting “massacres to kill Sunnis”. In most countries, the struggle between the two sects is not fought with guns and bombs, but today the religious fissures criss-crossing the region are probably wider than at any time since the First World War

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Author: Stand For Israel | July 25, 2013

Posted in:  Middle East unrest, SFI Daily Dispatch