LEBANON: Lebanon's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah blames U.S. policy for Shi'ite-Sunni conflict in the Muslim world

Lebanon's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah accused the United States of sowing discord between Sunnis and Shi'ite Muslims in the Muslim and Arab worlds in an attempt to control the region politically and economically. Fadlallah claimed U.S. efforts to increase pressure on Shi'ite Iran over Tehran's atomic programme was part of what he called Washington's drive to control Middle Eastern politics and economic resources. "This is what we have noticed about the way the U.S. administration is running its policies in the region. It encourages this type of sectarian tension throughout the Arab and Muslim world, because it wants to stir up the Iranian front, regarding the Iranian-US issue, because of the Shi'ite nature of Iran and the role it plays in Iraq and region, so as to incite Shi'ite-Sunni strife," Fadlallah told Reuters in an interview in his office in Beirut. "We'd like to preserve unity amongst all Muslims, and to explain to them that these matters are not meant to benefit Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims but are meant to promote the US plan to sow sectarian discord amongst the Muslims in order to control their economics, politics and security," Fadlallah said. The U.N. Security Council in December imposed sanctions on Tehran over suspicions that the Islamic Republic was seeking nuclear weapons, which Iran denies. The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Sectarian attacks, bombings and mortars are killing hundreds of people every week in Baghdad, the epicentre of violence in Iraq. Tens of thousands of both Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs have fled their homes amid threats and violence on both sides. Tension increased after the Shi'ite-led government hanged former president Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, on Dec. 30 and video emerged showing Shi'ite officials taunting him on the gallows. But Fadlallah did not expect the tension in his own country between the Lebanese government and the Shi'ite opposition movement Hezbollah to lead to any in-fighting in Lebanon. "The conflict between Lebanese is not sectarian but political. There are dangers inherent in building barriers between the Sunnis and Shi'ites and also between Muslims and Christians. But I think this problem will not escalate to an extent which would cause any security problems, and the issue will remain political rather than cause security instability," Fadlallah said. On Tuesday (January 9), Egypt urged Lebanese factions to refrain from acts which could be seen as sectarian provocation as Hezbollah began the first day of an anti-government campaign. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also warned of dire consequences if Lebanese factions "are dragged into mistaken calculations", said a written statement. The opposition, led by Hezbollah, took the first step in a wider campaign to topple the Western-backed government, with a protest against economic reforms proposed by the cabinet.

ITN Source | January 11, 2007

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