War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Unified only by their sympathy for Lebanon, violence between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq has surged since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resulting in a civil war in all but name.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Unified only by their sympathy for Lebanon, violence between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq has surged since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resulting in a civil war in all but name.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-07-26T00:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/maliki_bush.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/\",\"name\":\"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-07-26T00:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-07-26T00:23:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\"},\"description\":\"Unified only by their sympathy for Lebanon, violence between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq has surged since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resulting in a civil war in all but name.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\",\"name\":\"zahedamanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"zahedamanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages","description":"Unified only by their sympathy for Lebanon, violence between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq has surged since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resulting in a civil war in all but name.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages","og_description":"Unified only by their sympathy for Lebanon, violence between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq has surged since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resulting in a civil war in all but name.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2006-07-26T00:23:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/maliki_bush.jpg"}],"author":"zahedamanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"zahedamanullah","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/","name":"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-07-26T00:23:00+00:00","dateModified":"2006-07-26T00:23:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba"},"description":"Unified only by their sympathy for Lebanon, violence between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq has surged since the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, resulting in a civil war in all but name.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/07\/in_the_shadow_of_lebanon_iraqs_sectarian_violence_rages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"War in Iraq: In the shadow of Lebanon, Iraq’s sectarian violence rages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba","name":"zahedamanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"zahedamanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Don\u2019t ask me about Lebanon<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

It has been fading from the front pages due to news fatigue, and has finally been pushed off by the continuing Israel\/Hezbollah conflict, but the bloodshed in Iraq continues to grow in the absence of a media spotlight. Though it looks and smells like civil war, most outside observers are still calling it sectarian violence<\/a> for now. Nevertheless, here is where the real conflict in the Middle East lies \u2013 with Iraq\u2019s Sunnis and Shias going at it like there\u2019s no tomorrow. (And at this rate \u2013 who knows?) Iraq\u2019s Prime Minister, on a visit to the US Tuesday, confirmed that 100 civilians are dying every day, though he has yet to label the killings a civil war<\/a>. As in the past, the active participation of 55,000 US troops in Baghdad alone hasn\u2019t helped calm things down. (In other parts of the country, US forces are fighting fierce battles against Moqtada al-Sadr\u2019s<\/a> Mahdi Army.) The killings of civilians follow a familiar pattern \u2013 50 Shias were killed near an Iraqi shrine<\/a>, unashamedly random attacks (some targeting men on the streets looking for work) claimed 60 lives<\/a> on July 23rd with 7 more<\/a> gunned down the day before. On July 19th, 20 Sunnis were seized<\/a>, a day which the Washington Post called a quiet day<\/a> \u201cwith no single reported attack in Iraq claiming more than 13 lives\u201d. July 18th claimed 53 lives<\/a>, and the 17th claimed 48<\/a>, and so on. The surge in violence is notable, given that the killing of Zarqawi was expected to break the back<\/a> of the insurgency. Before a post-Zarqawi security crackdown, which began June 14, there were an average of 23.8 attacks daily. Since then, the average has increased to 25.2, and this upsurge may not be due to the new US-identified Iraqi Al Qaeda chief, who may be in an Egyptian jail<\/a>. While Shias have been driven to defend themselves against an onslaught of al-Qaida-directed violence against them (the Sunni organization considers Shias \u201cinfidels\u201d to be tolerated at best), Sunnis are driven by a fear of a \u201c Shia Crescent<\/a>\u201d controlling a wide swath of the Middle East (and beyond). Despite the calls by both Ayatollah Sistani and al-Sadr<\/a> for an end<\/a> to the violence, Sunnis (with guns) opposed<\/a> to the rebuilding of an historic Shia shrine have been targeted<\/a> in return by the Mahdi army. Complicating matters for US forces in Iraq is the fact that, all sides have been unified<\/a> by their opposition to Israeli actions in Lebanon \u2013 and all see the US as endorsing the violence in Lebanon. \u201cI will continue defending my Shi\u2019ite and Sunni brothers,\u201d said al-Sadr. \u201cAnd I tell them that if we unite, we will defeat Israel without the use of weapons.\u201d In the meantime, Iraq risks being defeated from within \u2013 with lots of them.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.\u00a0 He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"