Word: shia
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Abdel Nasser a decade ago, Faisal faces other political complications. One is the Shahanshah of Iran across the Persian Gulf (Saudis doggedly refer to it as the "Arabian Gulf). Like Faisal, the Shah is an oil-rich absolute monarch, but he disagrees with the King about religion (Iranians are Shia Moslems; Saudis, more orthodox Sunnis) and the military steps necessary to protect the Gulf...
...Syrian leader must take account of the country's religious division. Its population of 6.9 million is predominantly Sunni Moslem, although there are 1.5 million Christians, 500,000 Shia Moslems, mostly Alawites and Druzes. Assad is a member of the Alawites, an impoverished minority that has risen to power because of its strong representation in the military. But the Alawites who dominate the military high command could not rule without Sunni support. General Tlas, for example, is a Sunni and acknowledged to be the second most powerful man in Syria...
...government came none too soon for Lebanon, which has been economically paralyzed by the strife. But the uneasy compromise left a lot unsettled. President Suleiman Franjieh is expected to form a new government soon, which will respect Lebanon's constitutional division of power between the Christians, the Shia and the Sunni Moslems. Pressure from pro-Palestinian Moslems appeared to be an important factor in forcing Franjieh to settle with the guerrillas. Also instrumental was Leftist Leader Kamal Jumblatt, who stands to gain an important post in the new government, probably as Interior Minister...
...Israeli incursions and the fleeing farmers created a new crisis for Premier Rashid Karami's government in Beirut. Most of the refugees belong to the Moslem Shia sect, who hold the menial jobs in Lebanon and who have long received second-class treatment in domestic matters from Lebanon's Christians and the religiously dominant Sunni sect, to which Karami and most Moslems in his Cabinet belong. Now the peasants were angry at becoming pawns in war. Imam Mousa Sadr, religious leader of the Shia, called an effective one-day strike last week that even curtailed operations at Beirut...