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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Islamic State fires mortars at Shi’ite shrine, Middle East experts fear it could lead to sectarian conflict

Jul 1, 2014 11:22 am By Robert Spencer

1280px-al_askari_mosque“And as The New York Times notes, ‘any serious damage to it could unleash sectarian forces that would be hard to control.'”

“‘The recent utilization of the so-called ‘Shrine Defense Narrative’ reflects an actual threat to the shrines (particularly in Iraq), but helps push a broader line to make Iran appear as the protector of the Shi’a and their interests,’ Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland and expert on Shia militias, told Business Insider.”

It’s a mystery how these people hold their jobs. It’s a marvel that they get paid to do what they do. It’s a wonder they can even feed themselves. From Iraq to Syria to Lebanon, Sunni-Shi’ite jihad is roiling the Middle East, and they’re worried that an attack on this shrine “could unleash sectarian forces that would be hard to control”? Iran has already declared that it would help Shi’ites in Iraq and has operated through Hizballah for years, and now an attack on this shrine “helps push a broader line to make Iran appear as the protector of the Shi’a and their interests”?

This is one of the reasons why we’re in the fix we’re in: the learned, tenured, respected analysts are still making sure they color within the lines and put all the crayons neatly back in the box, while the world outside their daycare center is engulfed in flames.

“ISIS Has Attacked A Flashpoint Capable Of Plunging Iraq Into Full-Blown Civil War,” by Jeremy Bender and Michael B Kelley, Business Insider, June 30, 2014:

ISIS terrorists fired mortars on one of the holiest sites in Shi’ite Islam today, nearly hitting a potential tripwire for a larger sectarian conflict in Iraq.

Terrorists from ISIS, the Sunni extremist group that’s taken over much of Iraq’s north and west, attacked the Samarra shrine, one of the holiest in Shi’ism. ISIS lobbed three mortar rounds at the shrine, which landed near the complex’s gate and wounded nine people.

The al-Askari Mosque contains the mausoleums of two Shia Imams, making it a key pilgrimage point and one of the most significant sites of worship for Shia worldwide.

The bombing of the mosque in 2006 set off a vicious cycle of violence that was followed by Shiites carrying out revenge attacks against Sunni mosques and religious leaders.

ISIS follows a deeply puritanical Sunni thread of Islam that believes shrines are antithetical to Islam and should be destroyed — a practice they have carried out in areas they control in Syria.

ISIS has tried to take control of Samarra before. But they’ve always been forced back by a coalition of the Iraqi Army and the Shiite militias which now guard the shrine and the city. This has not stopped ISIS’ from lobbing mortars at the shrine in an attempt to demolish it.

And as The New York Times notes, “any serious damage to it could unleash sectarian forces that would be hard to control.”

American officials have said that ISIS is dedicated to destroying the shrine and that battle lines have been drawn at Samarra. Given the violence that occurred in 2006, the importance of the shrine is well understood.

“Clearly, everyone understands that Samarra is an important line,” Secretary of State John Kerry said at a recent news conference in Baghdad.

ISIS’ strategy for Iraq is aimed towards inflaming sectarian tensions. Any Shiite attacks against Sunnis would play into ISIS’ hand as it could use the attacks as further proof of repression of Sunnis by Iraq’s Shiite majority.

At the same time, the mayhem plays into the hand of Iran, which has been mobilizing Iraqi militias since January to “protect shrines” in Iraq after doing the same in Syria.

“The recent utilization of the so-called ‘Shrine Defense Narrative’ reflects an actual threat to the shrines (particularly in Iraq), but helps push a broader line to make Iran appear as the protector of the Shi’a and their interests,” Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland and expert on Shia militias, told Business Insider. “Simply put, it helps serve their narratives, particularly the one casting themselves as the ‘defenders of Shi’ism,’ but there also hard power concerns. With their own build-up and infiltration of the Iraqi government’s security establishment, it allows them even more abilities to project.”

Consequently, any further destruction of the al-Askari mosque is guaranteed to lead to an even more intense cycle of violence in Iraq upon which both sides will capitalize. With today’s attack, the country had an alarming brush with exactly that situation.

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Filed Under: Iraq, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Sunni-Shi'ite Jihad Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. squeezethejuice says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 11:31 am

    Once upon a time we Muslims used to convert synagogues and churches that have fallen into disuse into mosques instead of destroying them, preserving their beauty. These ppl who only know how to destroy are not well seen in the eyes of Allah (swt).

    • Bradamante says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 11:35 am

      Once upon a time, Muslims used to convert churches that were fully in use into mosques, after killing, driving off or forcibly converting the inhabitants. And I expect they will be doing so again, if they aren’t already.

      • Lookmann says

        Jul 1, 2014 at 12:04 pm

        Well said , Bro.

      • Mike Ehlert says

        Jul 1, 2014 at 12:56 pm

        Exactly!

    • johnspielman says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 3:19 pm

      these people who destroy the churches synagogues and mosques and of which YOU speak are highly favored by Allah, for Allah is a deceiver (and you have been deceived) and a murderer and a liar just like your” prophet” Muhammed pbuh( perpetual banishment unto Hell!)

    • Hindu American says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 7:23 pm

      Hey Squeezethejuice,

      You are a sad piece of in-bred excuse for a human being. Your kind massacred 80 million Hindus (yes, that’s a verifiable fact!) between 1000 AD and 1525 AD, demolished or converted thousands of temples in ancient India, and subjected my ancestors to extreme humiliation, degradation and poverty. Yet, we are still here. And you have the temerity to claim that your “kind” used to “convert synagogues and churches” into mosques, thereby implying that your filth actually did the rest of the world a social favor? Look around, you moron. Your cult is doomed, and I have no problem accepting that. In fact I look forward to the infighting between your cults every night on TV with beer and pork sausages.

    • Mychal says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 9:14 pm

      Dude that was a classic. I haven’t stopped laughing yet.

  2. Bradamante says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 11:33 am

    The description of how hapless these “journalists” are made me laugh — it’s spot on. I also really like the part in the article itself where it says that Iraq *could* be pushed into a civil war. Half the country’s gone already. It’s a little late to start a civil war. A little late for “the country” to have an alarming brush with anything, in fact. Kind of like saying the Titanic had an alarming brush with water an hour after hitting the iceberg.

  3. mariam rove says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 11:40 am

    For some reason I am getting a pleasure out of this!!!! M

  4. Jaladhi says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 11:45 am

    Ha, ha, these so called ME pseudo-experts are morons. They don’t understand Islam and its factions and go on pronouncing the oncoming “sectarian violence”. Hell the sectarian violence in ME has been going on for almost 1400 years!! Sunnis and Shias have fought since the death of Mo/allah. Have(experts) they forgotten the battle of Karbala and the reason for it?? Yet they don’t hesitate to give their expert opinion. This fight between Shias and Sunnis will continue until Isslam is eradicated from this earth.

    Let them kill eachother off for the betterment of this world!!

    • Mychal says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 9:23 pm

      I am good with that. The more they kill each other the better everyone will be. But tell me – how does this behavior define a “peaceful” religion. You sound Muslim (I could be wrong. Apologies if you aren’t) but how do you explain a religion/way of life that behaves like this?

  5. jewdog says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 11:59 am

    Articles like this one play into the hands of those who claim that today’s Mideast experts are a bunch of idiots.
    Actually, why should Americans worry about Sunnis and Shiites killing each other? What do we want to see, a united Shiite Iraq in lock step with Iran while big bad Iran-Iraq becomes another nuclear super-power?
    I consider ISIS to be a good friend of us Zionists. Thank you ISIS, and keep up the good work.

    • umbra says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 10:30 pm

      While Islamists may do a favour for Israel now (in iraq and syria) and then, they are no friend of Israel. Once they are done with their present preoccupation, they will once again turn their attention to Israel. The ideal solution is if they cancelled each other out entirely once and for all.

    • umbra says

      Jul 2, 2014 at 1:51 am

      islamists are no friend of Israel. While they have turned against one another, their attention would eventually go back to Israel. The best possible outcome for them to totally annihilate one another. Failing that, the next best thing is for them to physically and zealously maintain their feud indefinitely, sparing the non-islamic world (as much as possible) from their 7th century behaviour and practises.

    • Porky The Crusader says

      Jul 3, 2014 at 4:12 pm

      Lolllll 🙂

  6. Rezali Mehil says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    All,

    It has to be said that none of this would have happened under Saddam. …albeit that he was a sunni…he had lines that he would not cross. The real reason for getting rid of him was because he wanted to sell oil using the Euro …or any other currency really ….endangering the whacko “dollar” standard which gave World domination to the USA….Quadaffi was killed by the same reason.

    Bush was an idiot …came in thinking that he can influence the area through democracy ….but Islam does not work that way …it works through the Calipaha system…or through several individual Calipahas. Why break something that works?

    That system has been wrecked by the Americans and there is a real possibility that al-Askari mosque could be all but destroyed….beauty that I saw as a child on pilgrimage….possibly to be unavailable for upcoming Shia generations….a most sobering thought.

    One has to wonder about the following regarding the yabba dabba do Americans:

    1) Why did they attack Iraq (and no it was not WMD…it may have been the $ standard stability…but was there more)?

    2) Was it the American’s intention to set the whole of the ME on fire…for what purpose?

    3) Is there a favored (set of) scenarios that the Americans are now looking for?
    The likelihood is that oil supplies/wells will be damaged/destroyed in the fighting that will make for a permanent hike in energy prices…so is this really in your favor? Any repairs will be destroyed again and controlled by war lords.

    4) I do not think that the Americans can control the fate of the ME ….that will be the will of Allah, SWT Ali (RA) and the twelvers….what do the Americans here think?

    5) Is the American now tired of democracy…they don’t have it in their own backyard and yet want it for all.

    6) Iran will be the top dog in the ME ….they will destroy the IS without help from the USA and dogs like the Saud will not be able to stand up against them. I do believe that in the process much of Iraq’s treasures and religious buildings will be destroyed….as will many sunni buildings in retaliation.
    Is this the reason that American wants to be friends with Iran …even to try and ditch Israel to achieve that?

    7) Is anybody still listening to that wanna be sunni Obama?

    8) IS anybody going to throw Dubiya in jail for crimes against humanity and Islam in particular?

    More Later ….

    Rezali

    • Uri says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 1:12 pm

      @rezali

      Why Shia smell like dog shit?

    • Oliver says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 1:33 pm

      And Hussein was paying parents $25,000 or their children, so their children could blow up Israelis, other infidels and themselves.

      A true humanitarian.

      And the mass graves that were found?

      And just about a week ago, a report that his Weapons of Mass Destruction–chemical weapons- were found in some desert area (by ISIL, I believe).

      Canisters that were 20 or so years old, but definitely around at the time of Bush.

      • The Levite says

        Jul 2, 2014 at 2:43 am

        what chemical weapons???

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_chemical_attack

        • Oliver says

          Jul 2, 2014 at 8:08 pm

          Somewhat over a week ago, or thereabouts, on the Yahoo news page (I was surprised it was there, as it vindicated President Bush) .

          I forgot the name of the newspaper- but they had pictures of the ISIL and the chemical canisters, and the black flag of the ISIL.

          The scene was in a desert area. No buildings observable.

          If go to yahoo news, and type in checmical weapons or wealons of mass destruction, might find it.

        • Oliver says

          Jul 2, 2014 at 8:09 pm

          last lines chemical and weapons

          sorry for the typos.

    • john spielman says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 3:31 pm

      dear Rezali: if you haven’t noticed islam is a “house divided” and as Jesus, who is the God incarnate said, ” a house divided will not stand”. Did you know that Islam WILL FALL.
      When Jesus returns He will destroy your mahdi(antichrist) once he appears to deceive the world along with all who worship Allah/Satan?
      Time to come to the knowledge of the the real Jesus one who can really forgive your sins by His blood sacrifice on the cross.

    • John C. Barile says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 3:34 pm

      You must mean, “why break something that is already broken?” Glad to help you clarify that.

    • CogitoErgoSum says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 8:17 pm

      Bush, Jr. had an intense dislike of Saddam Hussein because Saddam once ordered an assassination attempt upon Bush, Sr. which almost succeeded. “He tried to kill my dad.” So “Dubiya” wanted Saddam’s scalp…and he got it. But Saddam would not have lived forever anyway. He would be 77 if he were alive today and possibly would have been a target of the “Arab Spring” same as Gaddafi, Mubarak and Assad. If Saddam had died of natural causes one of his two maniac sons would probably have taken over. So what is done cannot be undone and there’s no way to know what might have been. These events playing out now may have been inevitable. The real thing that still bothers me about Bush is his spreading of the idea that Islam is a religion of peace and that we all worship the same God. If he never admits to any other mistake, I hope someday he admits that he was mistaken about that.

    • Jax Tolmen says

      Jul 2, 2014 at 10:01 am

      What crime against humanity did GW Bush commit? The war may not have been a brilliant idea, but then again – bombing the Americans and not expecting an extreme retaliation was stupid of Al Qaeda as well.

      When will you Muslims wake up to reality? In the war between the civilised man and the savage, the civilised man always wins. Islam will never triumph, your heartland is an unstable sand pit and stuck decades behind the developed world. In any open conflict, any and every Muslim nation would be crushed by the technological superiority of the West. One only needs to look at casualty figures for when Israel decides to fight back, the kill – death ratio is over 20:1 in Israel’s favour.

      There is no conspiracy to destroy Islam, but idiots like you and your leaders are certainly making it seem very desirable to destroy Islam anyway. Islam brings nothing good to the world, and most of the world’s problems can be placed squarely at the feet of you people. Welcome to the real world where the West is Best and Islam will fall like the house of cards it is.

  7. Clare says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 12:16 pm

    After the heavy hand of Saddam H. was removed, Iraq has been (for years already) in a civil war. When did they stop?
    How can a few thousand men take over a third of their country? Because there are people in Iraq who are sympathetic to the IS side and because the Iraq Army doesn’t seem to have sufficient motivation. They don’t seem to be loyal to Iraq. In fact Iraq doesn’t seem like a country. It was divided up not according to ethnic boundaries but according to administrative boundaries. The Muslim nations have either been disintegrating or seeking dominance just as always. Oil has been their bane, not their blessing. It helped their prosperity but didn’t do a thing for their political ethics where they remain roughly poverty stricken.

  8. Richie says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 12:31 pm

    So when Muslims kill Muslims, can Muslims still claim Islam Islam a religion of peace?

  9. Richie says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 12:32 pm

    So when Muslims kill Muslims, can Muslims still claim Islam is a religion of peace?

  10. Beagle says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    I started calling this mess a “regional sectarian war” over a year ago.

    (Global franchising available. Act now!)

    In the immortal words of John McClain, “Welcome to the party, pal.”

    • mariam rove says

      Jul 1, 2014 at 3:49 pm

      and it is one hell of a party!!! M

  11. Carlos Danger says

    Jul 1, 2014 at 5:52 pm

    Will Mr. Obama blunder into this briar patch? I hope not. Do not send money, arms, or any form of aid to either side. The threat against Baghdad is very similar to the Wehrmacht’s assault on Mockba in 1941. No matter which side loses, the side of freedom and sanity wins.

  12. Proud Atheist says

    Jul 2, 2014 at 10:31 am

    It’s funny that Muslim’s call those of us in the West infidel’s because in reality it is Muslim’s who are the real infidel’s.And what is wrong with being an infidel?I’m an infidel,a proud infidel.I don’t believe in any of the god’s Man created,and yes Man created ALL his god’s.There is no empirical evidence that a god created the world we live in or any of it’s inhabitants.Religion is a superstitious belief system.It is not based on evidence or facts.

    • blitz2b says

      Jul 2, 2014 at 7:06 pm

      Mr. Proud Atheist,
      Before you delve into the complexity of philosophical or scientific arguments, and demand evidence for an intelligent designer/creator, I suggest you first concentrate on more simpler ones, like the proper usage of the English language. FYI,

      The use of the apostrophe in a word denotes it’s possessiveness, not plurality….

      Let’s all unite to defeat what we all know is a imminent threat to us all, i.e.: The dangerous cult of Islam, rather than pretending to be intellectually relevant, about things you obviously know little about.
      sheesh!

  13. Anushirvan says

    Jul 2, 2014 at 11:17 am

    “It’s a mystery how these people hold their jobs. It’s a marvel that they get paid to do what they do. It’s a wonder they can even feed themselves. From Iraq to Syria to Lebanon, Sunni-Shi’ite jihad is roiling the Middle East, and they’re worried that an attack on this shrine “could unleash sectarian forces that would be hard to control”? Iran has already declared that it would help Shi’ites in Iraq and has operated through Hizballah for years, and now an attack on this shrine “helps push a broader line to make Iran appear as the protector of the Shi’a and their interests”?

    This is one of the reasons why we’re in the fix we’re in: the learned, tenured, respected analysts are still making sure they color within the lines and put all the crayons neatly back in the box, while the world outside their daycare center is engulfed in flames.”

    Brilliant assessment of what I would call, in a hyphenated word, pseudo-expertise. Or else, play school cognizance, or dumbed-down journalism, or even ifantilized comprehension.

    Take your pick !

    Seems to be the mind disease of the 21st Century.

    • Anushirvan says

      Jul 2, 2014 at 11:24 am

      infantilized

  14. Robert Wagner says

    Jul 2, 2014 at 5:49 pm

    Duh, do you really think so?

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