Neo-Sunni Alliance Accentuates Regional Sectarian Conflict
The Syrian crisis has deepened sectarian divisions in the region.
The June 23 lynching of four Shiite Muslims in Egypt and the June 16 killing of four Shiites in Lebanon mark a new escalation in a regional conflict that is growing increasingly sectarian in nature.
A new, seemingly unified front of authoritarian Sunnis and their ex-critics could construct a new (alleged) common enemy and concern for the existence of Sunnis.
This neo-Sunnism emerging in the region has brought together Saudi-backed Salafis, Sunni autocrats and the "moderate" Islamists such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Justice and Development Party.
The Shiite vs. Sunni narrative was famously highlighted almost a decade ago in 2004 by Jordan’s King Abdullah II in his warning against the threat of the "Shiite Crescent" — a term devised to portray an alliance between Shiite regimes in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
