This martyrdom gradually took on an enormous significance for Hussein's former followers, who would become the sect of Muslims known today as the Shiites. ... Many of the Muwali joined forces with the Khariji and became Shiite Muslims. Even among the Arabs there was factional fighting. ... They favored financial equality for non Arab peoples, and decentralization of Caliphal power. ... They joined forces with the Shiites and destroyed the Umayyad caliphate in 750. ...

• Word Count: 1470
• Approx Pages: 6

The Baath party's basic principles were unity and freedom inside an Arab nation. The party also believed that Arabs had a special mission to end western colonialism. ... In 1978, Saddam had been working with other Arab nations to expel Egypt for its diplomatic proposal in resolving the Israel/Arab question. ... In 1980, since it seemed that the Shiites could be a threat to Saddams presidency, Iraq invaded Iran and conducted an eight-year war against one of its closest neighbors and the home of the Shiite fundamentalist Muslims. ... The Iraqis also perceived revolutionary Iran's I...

• Word Count: 2280
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

-632), the Arabian Peninsula was inhabited by nomadic Bedouins and city-dwelling Arabs. ... At his death in 632, Muhammad was the leader of an Arab state growing rapidly in power. ... The Shiites are the only surviving major sectarian movement in Islam. ... The Shiites believe in a series of 12 Imams, beginning with Ali. The 12th and last imam disappeared in 880, and the Shiites await his return, at which time they believe the world will be filled with justice. ...

• Word Count: 1764
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

In the 12th century a group from Iran called the Ismailis or Shiites Muslims were responsible for terrorist acts against religious and political leaders of the Sunni Islam. ... The Sunnis were wiped out of the Arab nations after numerous attacks by the Ismailis. ...

• Word Count: 553
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

But Iraq continued to back Palestinian terrorist groups that sought the destruction of Israel, even as it paid service to supporting the idea of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. ... But experts also include other reasons, including a lack of preparation for and reluctance to run a post-Saddam Iraq; reluctance to fight house to house in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities; concern that Iran would take advantage of further regional instability; fears that Iraq would fragment, with the Kurds in the north seeking independent statehood and the Shiites in the south seeking to join Iran; and expectations ...

• Word Count: 1077
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Fundamentalism in Judaism is less relevant to us, except to the extent that it fuels the conflict between Arabs and Israelis. ... Two main branches of Islam: Sunni and Shiite. Shiites believe that Muslims must be led by a descendent of Muhammad. ... In the 16th century, and the beginning of what we consider to be the modern age (1492), three great Muslim empires were established: Ottoman empire in Asia Minor, which wielded substantial world power until after World War I; Safavid Empire in Iran (the major Shiite nation); and the Moghul empire on the Indian subcontinent. ...

• Word Count: 3937
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

The Persian Gulf War-the Feat of the Western Countries On August 2nd, 1990 Iraqi military forces invaded and occupied the small Arab state of Kuwait. ... Iraq accused Kuwait, and also the United Arab Emirates, of breaking agreements that limit oil production in the Middle East. ... The military coalition consisted of Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungar...

• Word Count: 5975
• Approx Pages: 24
• Grade Level: High School

Bin Laden was able to recruit Islamist Jihadists to fight as Arab Afghans against the Soviet Union. Bin Laden trained the Arab Afghans while the CIA and the Pakistani ISI trained mujahidin in training camps in Pakistan. ...

• Word Count: 2185
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Under the 1975 Algiers Agreement, Iraq ceded 518 km2 of oil-rich borderlands along the Shatt al-Arab in exchange for an Iranian agreement to stop supporting Kurdish rebels in Iraq. But after the fall of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi which resulted in a weak Iranian military, Iraq decided to reclaim the Shatt al Arab. By 1979, however, Saddam Hussein had clawed his way to the top of the ruling junta of Iraq and took advantage of the chaos unleashed by the recent Iranian Revolution to shift the disputed border back in Iraq's favor, with the excuse being that the predominantly Arab population...

• Word Count: 2748
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

Introduction Tehran, the Shah of Iran-Iraq War in the period 1980-1988 as well as initiated and sometimes in spite of the suspension of Iran's nuclear program, which nevertheless remained committed to domestic and foreign policy, sees this as an important element of the instrument and continuity. Ir...

• Word Count: 2793
• Approx Pages: 11