sectarian

Iraqi Kurds unfurl a giant Kurdish flag during Nawruz celebrations in Dahuk, 260 miles (430 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Analysis) — Years before the U.S. illegally invaded and then occupied Iraq, plans were circulating within the Pentagon to partition the country along “sectarian” lines, with the express purpose of allowing the U.S. and its regional allies to better control oil resource production and movement within the Middle East.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Iraqi Special Operations Forces wear fake beards after playing the part of ISIS militants during a training exercise in Baghdad, Iraq.(AP/Maya Alleruzzo)

A still from a video released from Al Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) showing battles with Houthi rebels in Baydha Province, Yemen.

Anti-Assad protesters burn a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with ‘Corruption’ written across his face. (AP/Kostas Tsironis)
SYRIA — While the nearly seven-year-long sectarian “civil war” in Syria is widely believed to have started in 2011, revelations in recent years have shown that the sectarian war that has sunk Syria into chaos actually precedes the “official” start of the conflict.

 

By Sharmine Narwani
 
Many observers are correct in noting that the Middle East is undergoing yet another seismic shift – that the Russian-brokered destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, a US-Iranian rapprochement, the diminished strategic value of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and a US withdrawal from Afghanistan will all contribute to changing regional dynamics considerably.