Word: lebanons
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...most significant challenge facing the U.S. in an increasingly unstable Middle East today is understanding the rise of the Shi'ites across the region. The U.S. invasion of Iraq unleashed a process of Shi'ite empowerment that won't be confined to that country: From Lebanon to the Persian Gulf, through peaceful elections and bloody conflicts, the Shi'ites are making their presence felt. The headlines of 2006 have been dominated by the likes of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army as sectarian warfare surged in Iraq; by Hizballah, emboldened by its summer war with Israel...
...Lebanon war showed that Iraq has rewritten the rules in the Middle East, adding sectarian loyalties to the equation. But Lebanon - particularly the U.S. refusal to push for an early cease-fire as Shi'ite communities were pummeled - also cost the U.S. much of the goodwill it had gained among Shi'ites following the Iraq...
...faithful. Over time, the two sects developed their own distinct conception of Islamic teachings and practice, much as Catholicism and Protestantism did in the centuries following their split. Shiites are a minority of 10%-15% of the global Muslim community, but in the geographic arc that runs from Lebanon to Pakistan, they are around half of the Muslim population - some 150 million people in all. They account for about 90% of Iranians, 65% of Iraqis, and 40%-45% of Lebanese, as well as a sizable portion of the people living in the Persian Gulf region...
...King Abdullah's fear appeared to be confirmed by the month-long war in Lebanon in summer of 2006. The war turned Hizballah and Iran into regional power brokers, and brought jubilant Shi'ites into the streets in Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Traditional Sunni powers such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt found themselves pushed to the sidelines, unable to influence events. Even al-Qaeda was caught off-guard as it watched Hizballah steal some of its thunder. The reaction of Sunni rulers and radicals was swift: They denounced Hizballah's campaign as an Iranian-sponsored Shi'a power...
...Washington, developments in Lebanon and Iraq now form part of the larger challenge of dealing with Iran. Iran sees itself as a great power, and it is pursuing the nuclear capability that would confirm this self-image. Since 2003, it has shown a more confident but also radical face. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's goal of positioning Iran as the leader of the entire Muslim world requires focusing on hostility to Israel and the West that tend to unite Arabs and Iranians, Sunni and Shi'a, even as it seeks to marginalize traditional Sunni allies of the West. This...