Word: sects
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Assad's longevity is all the more remarkable considering that he is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that accounts for only 11% of his nation's population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim. In a sense, it was Assad's religion that put him on the path to power. With few career opportunities available to a non-Sunni, Assad entered the military academy at 22; by 25, he was an air force officer. Around that time, the ambitious Assad became active in the country's Baath Party, which advocates...
...Rios Montt's cardinal sin was being aggressively Protestant in a Catholic country. A member of a California-based sect called the Christian Church of the Word, he appointed two church elders as his principal advisers. He could also be petty: when Pope John Paul II toured the country last March, Rios Montt refused to provide government funds for a specially built car for the Pontiff...
...fighting last week was not simply the result of sectarian rivalries. It was a show of force, designed to win a larger share of power in Lebanon's political patchwork, by the Druze, a small and esoteric sect with roots in Islam. Last month Walid Jumblatt, Druze chieftain and leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, helped organize a National Salvation Front with the deliberate aim of opposing Gemayel. The front struck an alliance with Syria and demanded that Gemayel renounce the May 17 agreement according to which Israel would withdraw its troops if Lebanon agreed to security and political...
...backed coalition, the National Salvation Front, threatened to split Lebanon's 4 million people far more effectively than any foreign forces could. The front's three leaders represent the major religious opponents of Gemayel's Christian Phalange. As leader of the Druze, an esoteric, secretive religious sect that emerged in the 11th century as an offshoot of Islam, Walid Jumblatt, 34, speaks for about 250,000 Lebanese. Rashid Karami, 62, who served as Prime Minister during the 1960s and still retains a power base in Tripoli, is a Sunni Muslim, as are a million Lebanese. Though Suleiman...
...suburbs were bombarded by rival Christian Phalangist and Druze artillerymen. A U.S. Navy air controller and two Marines were among those injured at the airport, where the 1,200 Marines who are part of the four-nation peace-keeping force have their headquarters. Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druze sect, took "full responsibility" for the airport attack. On Saturday he and two other Lebanese opposition leaders announced that they had formed a Syrianbacked "National Salvation Front" to challenge Gemayel's leadership...