Sectarian tensions boil over into Syria

Once strictly secular, Syria has shifted tone amid a series of public flaps between Sunnis and Shiites.

from the February 13, 2007 edition

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In the past year, the regime has loosened restrictions on everything from religious weddings, which once needed state security clearances, to allowing the first public celebration of the prophet Muhammad's birthday in decades – an event that earned even more fanfare than the normally extravagant Baath Party founding anniversaries.

Just a few months ago, the country's highest-ranking Sunni cleric, Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, publicly downplayed concerns about Shiitization in a widely seen interview with Al Arabiya. While Mr. Hassoun said that the number of conversions was trivial, the fact that he even acknowledged Sunni concerns was significant.

The Syrian government is "trying to settle down these tensions between Sunni and Shiite that have spilled over from Iraq," says Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Damascus-based Institute for Current World Affairs and a consulting editor for Syria Today magazine.

Many Sunnis here appear to connect recent regional events with a broader anti-Sunni campaign. Some blame Shiites for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's humiliating hanging amid sectarian taunts. There is also a popular perception that the months-long push led by Lebanon's Shiite Hizbullah Party to oust the government there was motivated by anti-Sunni sentiments.

Yet during the 34-day war between Israel and the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hizbullah last summer, many Syrians proudly plastered posters of the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

"When they killed Saddam Hussein, who wasn't a practicing Sunni for a day in his life, suddenly the feeling in Syria shifted," says Mr. Qurabi. "They tore down Hassan Nasrallah's posters."

For many, the question now is whether the US can exploit Sunni misgivings to pry Syria away from Iran's influence, as recommended by the Baker-Hamilton report last year.

According to Mohammad Habash, an independent Sunni member of parliament and director of the Damascus Center for Islamic Studies, the Syrian regime's newfound religious tolerance was partly designed to offset possible internal divisions that could make Syria vulnerable to US manipulation.

"The gap between religion and state policies has become narrower because of the policy of the US administration that believes it has a chance, under the banner of democracy, to make changes," he says.

Indeed, Sunni Arab leaders like Jordan's King Abdullah have warned that Iran is establishing a "Shiite crescent" stretching from Iraq through Lebanon to Syria. Saudi Arabia's monarch, in a rare move, recently lashed out against attempts to convert Sunnis to Shiites. He didn't name Tehran, but the conservative kingdom has been trying to counter Iran's growing influence in the region.

"The area is like a tug of war," says Mr. Ziade, the political activist. "Ahmadinejad, who speaks like a demagogue about exporting the [Islamic] revolution, increases sectarian tensions everywhere, including here."

 

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