Word: sunni
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...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 Franjieh, 73, who served as President from 1970 to 1976, is a Maronite Christian like Gemayel, he has waged a long and bitter feud with Gemayel's family; Franjieh still holds the Phalangists responsible for the 1978 assassination of his eldest son Tony...
Sheik Isa's main worry centers on a religious schism within his people. The royal family, along with most of the nation's decision makers, are Sunni Muslims, but some 60% of the country, including most of the poor, belong to the Shi'ite branch of Islam. Bahrain thus is an inviting target for an Islamic revolution imported from Iran, where the Shi'ites are dominant. The island in fact was part of Persia until Sheik Isa's ancestors, who came from Qatar, drove out the Persians in 1783. Since the revolution that brought Ayatullah...
...country. Nonetheless, the vote drew sharp rebukes from Syria. Damascus Radio declared that Lebanese deputies who voted for the agreement had "sold their country to the devil." Perhaps coincidentally, shooting subsequently broke out in the northern port city of Tripoli in a renewal of fighting between Sunni Muslims and Syrian-backed Alawite Muslims...
Sadly, the guerrillas also fight vehemently among themselves. The Soviet invasion has sparked friction between ethnic Tajiks and ethnic Pushtuns and thrown gasoline on centuries-old feuds between Shi'ite Muslims and Sunni Muslims, and between pro-Iranian Shi'ites and independent Shi'ites. The guerrilla movement is thus fragmented into hundreds of units organized along village lines, each loosely affiliated with one of the six major resistance groups. Based in Pakistan, the leaders of most of those groups are quite unable to control events at the front. The divisions are so deep, moreover, that...
...February, he announced that he was extending his control over the entire 28-mile-wide zone that Israel has said is essential to its security. This part of Lebanon has 600,000 residents, who are predominantly Shi'ite Muslims. But it also includes a substantial number of Christians, Sunni and Druze Muslims, as well as some 200,000 Palestinians...