
Officials in the tiny Gulf nation of Bahrain said Wednesday they busted an Iran-backed “terror” cell that was planning imminent attacks inside of the country. Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni monarchy but is populated with a Shiite majority.
by Jordan Schachtel7 Jan 2016, 12:02 PM PST0

On Wednesday, the Sunni nations of Qatar and Djibouti announced they would be severing diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, becoming the 9th and 10th nations to officially cut relations, roll back ties, or condemn the Shiite theocracy in the past week.
by Jordan Schachtel6 Jan 2016, 5:04 PM PST0

The Saudi execution of insurrectionist Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr threatens to touch off a conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims across the Middle East and beyond. Massive Shiite protests have occurred across the region over the past few days and have spread into Asia.
by John Hayward5 Jan 2016, 7:28 PM PST0

When Saudi Arabia executed a Saudi Shiite cleric on New Year’s Eve, the Shiite world ignited in protest. According to the Iranian regime, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr’s execution was not justified. The Saudi government, however, thinks otherwise.
by Jordan Schachtel5 Jan 2016, 6:01 PM PST0

Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s figurehead President who serves the interests of Ayatollah Khamenei, delivered a verbal tirade against the Saudi government on Tuesday after Riyadh executed a prominent Shiite cleric on New Year’s Eve.
by Jordan Schachtel5 Jan 2016, 9:41 AM PST0

The government of Kuwait has become the latest to downgrade its diplomatic relations with Iran after a mob burned down the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran following the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.
by Frances Martel5 Jan 2016, 7:00 AM PST0

The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial on Sunday afternoon titled, “Who Lost the Saudis?” It lays out a convincing case for why Russia and Iran are out to get the House of Saud—which, for all of its many, many flaws, is still an impediment to the agenda of America’s primary geopolitical adversaries.
by John Hayward4 Jan 2016, 9:54 PM PST0

Protests over Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr have spread through Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Pakistan, Lebanon, Turkey, and now India, especially in districts with a heavy Shiite population.
by John Hayward4 Jan 2016, 12:25 PM PST0

Bahrain and Sudan have joined their ally Saudi Arabia in formally severing diplomatic ties with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates has “downgraded” its diplomatic team, recalling its ambassador from Tehran and announcing that it would reduce the number of diplomats assigned to Iran.
by John Hayward4 Jan 2016, 9:14 AM PST0

The most prominent leaders in the Shiite world have issued threatening statements against the Saudi monarchy, pledging that the House of Saud will pay a price for executing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was an influential cleric among the Saudi Shiite minority.
by Jordan Schachtel4 Jan 2016, 7:11 AM PST0

One particular execution carried out by Saudi Arabia this weekend, that of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr, led to violent protests and the sacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
by John Hayward3 Jan 2016, 3:37 PM PST0

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia carried out the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric, along with 46 other individuals, many of whom faced suspect charges, causing a sectarian divide among the two major sects of Islam.
by Jordan Schachtel2 Jan 2016, 2:46 PM PST0

The Tunisian government shut down a jihadist cell that recruited females to marry terrorists in Syria.
by Mary Chastain22 Dec 2015, 9:38 PM PST0

The Islamic State’s affiliate in Bangladesh claimed responsibility for an attack on a Shiite mosque that killed one person and injured three others.
by Jordan Schachtel27 Nov 2015, 10:06 AM PST0

Dozens were killed and around two-hundred wounded in two separate suicide attacks in a Hezbollah stronghold outside of Beirut Thursday night, Lebanese officials said.
by Jordan Schachtel13 Nov 2015, 8:42 AM PST0

Muqtada Al-Sadr, one of the most influential clerics in the Shiite world, has sent out an olive branch to Egypt’s Al-Azhar, a known hotbed for jihadi indoctrination and the most prominent Sunni institution in the world, seeking to unite the sects of Islam against the Jews.
by Jordan Schachtel11 Nov 2015, 10:00 PM PST0

On Friday night, a gunman suspected of working for the Islamic State opened fire on a Shiite mosque in the Saudi city of Qatif, killing five people and injuring nine others.
by John Hayward19 Oct 2015, 8:47 AM PST0

With astonishing speed, American influence—withered by years of Barack Obama’s indecisiveness—is fading, as Iraq realigns around Russia and Iran. Take it from the Iraqis, who are celebrating the arrival of “Putin the Shiite” in Syria, hoping he’ll swing into Iraq to pick up the fight against ISIS.
by John Hayward9 Oct 2015, 4:48 PM PST0

Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels, who threw the country into civil war this year after a coup attempt against exiled president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, have written a letter to the United Nations accepting a seven-point peace plan led by Oman.
by Frances Martel7 Oct 2015, 8:00 PM PST0

A sizable group of Saudi clerics has called for jihad against the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria, and by extension, Assad’s military allies Russia and Iran. The Islamist clerics praised the rebels Russia is currently bombing as “holy warriors of Syria” who are “defending the whole Islamic nation.”
by John Hayward6 Oct 2015, 7:55 PM PST0

Bahrain has ejected Iran’s Ambassador to Manama after uncovering an Iranian bomb-making factory in the tiny Gulf kingdom, officials said, who claimed that the facility was filled with members of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
by Jordan Schachtel1 Oct 2015, 10:17 PM PST0

While Russia has diverted much of the world’s attention to the war in Syria, the Islamic State’s online propagandists are working to divert attention away from the dangers of living under ISIS with the announcement of two new theme parks opening in Iraq and Syria.
by Frances Martel1 Oct 2015, 11:27 AM PST0

The masked gunmen who kidnapped 16 Turkish construction workers from their job site in Baghdad at the beginning of September have released a video of their hostages, showing them alive and well, and they claimed that the captives will be released soon.
by John Hayward29 Sep 2015, 10:15 PM PST0

A new Iranian film about the early life of Muhammad is doing brisk business at the box office even as its creative team faces fatwa threats and some of the Muslim world’s most prominent Sunni clerics have called for it to be banned outright.
by Daniel Nussbaum21 Sep 2015, 12:19 PM PST0

Sunni vs Shiite sectarian violence has long been a defining factor of Middle Eastern conflict; as ISIS has taken hold thorough the region that conflict has waxed rather than waned. But warnings of violence between the groups have now been
by Donna Rachel Edmunds14 Aug 2015, 6:40 AM PST0