Word: shia
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...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...
...communications, have kept the ethnic conglomerate intact for 26 years by means of a scrupulously observed gentleman's agreement. It provides that the President of the republic-currently Charles Helou-should always be a Maronite Catholic, the Premier a Sunnite Moslem, and the Speaker of Parliament a Shia Moslem. Parliament is apportioned on a 6-to-5 ratio favoring Christians, as are the army and the civil service. From time to time, the system has come close to collapse. Until last week, its severest test occurred in 1958, when strife between the sects led President Eisenhower to dispatch...
...acknowledging the regime's fear of Takriti, Aref published a decree removing the ambassador from government service altogether. Such steps are hardly likely to provide permanent security for a regime that is bitterly opposed by almost all of Iraq's powerful minority groups. The 3,000,000 Shia Moslems of the south are unhappy over Aref's recent Nasser-style nationalization of imports and exports, as well as his growing dependence on Cairo and Moscow. In the northern mountains, the 1,500,000 Kurds once again are restive, suspecting that Aref's promise to provide Kurdish...