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'Baghdad Belt' Deals With New Sectarian Tensions

Once a paradigm of multi-sectarian coexistence, the towns in the area circling the Iraqi capital known as the "Baghdad belt" have been some of the first victims of increased security measures and sectarian incitement in a turbulent Iraq.
Residents walk beside U.S. army Bradley fighting vehicles on a search mission in the Sunni neighbourhood of Arab Jabour in south Baghdad October 19, 2007.          REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch (IRAQ) - RTR1V3KU
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Arab Jibor, a neighborhood south of Baghdad that is home to a variety of different sects, is part of an area that encompasses the Iraqi capital known as "hizam Baghdad," Arabic for the "Baghdad belt." In this neighborhood, roads are unpaved and winding, surrounded by farms and gardens.

Haj Nasr al-Kaabi, a Shiite farmer who was repairing his house after it was damaged in the armed clashes that took place between al-Qaeda groups and the security forces, told Al-Monitor that home restoration is not an easy task as long as human beings have not first "restored" their souls.

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