Word: ite
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...conflict has created a tangled skein of improbable alliances and rivalries. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the conservative oil sheikdoms of the gulf are aligned with radically socialist Iraq; Libya and Syria, which have predominantly Sunni Muslim populations, have sided with Iran, a non-Arab nation of Shi'ite Muslims. Last week these tensions within the Arab world reached a critical point...
Perhaps most convoluted are the motivations of Jordan's King Hussein. He too fears the contagion of Khomeini's revolution, particularly if it were to spread to Iraq, which has a Shi'ite majority and is on Jordan's own borders. Also, there is some evidence that Hussein wants to re-establish himself as a spokesman for the Palestinian residents of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which was ruled by Jordan until the 1967 Middle East war. Hussein bitterly recalls how other Arab leaders humiliated him at the 1974 Rabat summit by designating the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole...
Iraq is ruled by the revolutionary Baath Party. So is Syria. Yet they are on opposite sides. The overwhelming majority of Syrian and Libyan Arabs are Sunni Muslims. Yet they are allied with the Shi'ite Persians of Iran, whom devout Sunnis consider schismatics. Revolutionary Iraq is fighting its war against Iran with Soviet rifles, tanks, planes and missiles. Its new ally, the ultraconservative monarchy of Saudi Arabia, defends itself against Iran's U.S.-made Phantom jets with the latest American equipment. As Iran chants its hatred of "the Great Satan America," its armed forces are surprising the world, thanks...
...anything they might do to us," said the owner of a small shop in the Baghdad souk, or marketplace. His remark reflects not so much bravado as the fact that there have been few Iranian bombing raids in which civilians have been hit. Even in the famed Shi'ite Muslim Al Kadhimain mosque, where posters of Ayatullah Khomeini once hung during religious festivals, there is little evidence of special security precautions. Strongman Saddam Hussein's government, dominated by Sunni Muslims, is apparently confident that the Iranians will not be able to spark uprisings among their Shi'ite...
...Jewish state. "The Iranians want to give the impression that they are the patrons of all Islam," said Gur-Arieh. Indeed, the pilgrims expressed profound gratitude to the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini for his religious diplomacy, despite the fact that he is a leader of the Shi'ite branch of Islam while the Israeli Arabs are rival Sunnis. "Even if they cut my throat," said one pilgrim, "I'm for Khomeini...