Word: shying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...complicating factor is the lack of a single homogeneous Muslim community in Britain. Rather there is a rich tapestry of communities from different countries (Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, various Arab states), with different languages (Arabic, Persian, Urdu) and different ways of practicing Islam (Shi'a, Sunni, Wahhabi). Among them are a significant number of inward-facing Muslims?economic immigrants who aren't particularly interested in learning to speak English, participating in British culture or making friends outside their community. There is little contest in their eyes between the importance of their faith and their status as U.K. residents or citizens...
...year since the Shi'ite group provoked a 34-day war with Israel that left more than a thousand dead and large parts of Lebanon in ruins, Hizballah is rearming. Interviews with Hizballah officials and fighters and other Lebanese close to the party show that the group's battle-hardened military wing is stockpiling weapons, digging positions and training new fighters - despite resolutions passed by the U.N. Security Council last summer calling for it to disband. What's more, the Shi'ite party appears to be preparing for battles on two fronts: against Israel and against Hizballah's sectarian rivals...
...standstill. Hizballah soon came under intense domestic and international pressure to disarm, but it has managed to replenish its arsenal with the aid of its patrons, Iran and Syria, according to Lebanese officials and Hizballah members. There is some evidence, too, that Hizballah may be sharing its skills with Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq. U.S. military officials have claimed that in March they arrested a senior Hizballah bomb expert who had been training Iran-backed cells in southern Iraq...
...Lebanon itself, Hizballah spearheads the opposition drive to unseat the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The country has been politically gridlocked since November when six ministers - including all five Shi'ites - quit the government. Siniora and his allies accuse Hizballah of pushing an agenda on behalf of Iran and Syria. The frail government has survived strikes and an indefinite opposition sit-in that has paralyzed central Beirut. It retains broad support among Lebanese Sunnis and Druze, and the sympathy of moderate Arab states and the West. The Shi'ite community, Lebanon's largest sect, overwhelmingly sides with...
...UNIFIL troops and Hizballah, or any other Lebanese political party, was "highly forbidden". But keeping some type of contact may be critical to UNIFIL's mission. The goal of the informal communications is partly to harness Hizballah's local intelligence gathering abilities, but also to ensure that the powerful Shi'ite group remains supportive of UNIFIL. The unspoken fear among some peacekeepers is that although Hizballah strongly denounced the bombing, it may have known of the attack beforehand or may even have been involved, which, if true, would have dire repercussions on UNIFIL's future. "I cannot dismiss that...