Sunnis

If Sunnis and Shias did not cease their wrangling, he said, Muslims would end up turning to secularism as their saviour.

"Before, the Sunnis did not join the Iraqi security forces because of a fatwa against doing so, " he said.

At the local level, Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds are beginning to come together to reclaim their communities and rebuild their lives.

In a statement issued by his office, al-Sadr called for peaceful celebrations and urged people not to attack Sunnis.

Its agents were trying to convert Sunnis and spread Shia texts that insult historic figures revered by Sunnis.

But over time, the White House realized they were exacerbating tensions between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and once-dominant Sunnis.

You and the rest of the royal family are Sunnis, and you're scared to death of Shiite extremism and an Iranian-backed Shiite insurgency.

Passing the "crippled amnesty" to Parliament means that Sunnis will have to wait some time to see its results.

He shrugged. "The Sunnis have no leaders, " he said.

Sunnis are a minority in Iraq, and many Sunni leaders say the country is not secure enough to hold the vote.

In London, analyst Chris Doyle says Sunnis have long felt sidelined by the country's Shi'ite-led government.

The Sunnis make up about one-fourth of the population, but won only a few parliamentary seats, because of a boycott of the elections.

All the main non-sectarian alliances are headed by Shias, for Sunnis and Kurds have no chance of electing a prime minister.

Seen last summer as the vanguard of the struggle against Israel, it is now viewed by many Sunnis as little more than a cat's paw for Iran.

Sunnis tend to carry out ambushes like the one that damaged an American tank in this Baghdad district a fortnight ago.

Much of his support comes from disaffected Sunnis in the north and west and from pragmatic, secular-minded Shias in Baghdad.

One unconfirmed account says fighting began when a group of Sunnis confronted Shi'ites and accused them of tearing up a sacred Sunni flag.

But unlike Sunnis in Iraq, the Pashtun and the Taliban represent the majority of Afghans, at least in the south.

The Sunnis hold a majority in four provinces and any government will have to respect them if they wish to administer a stable state.

The main Shia party has called it an "invasion" , whereas many Sunnis see it as a "brotherly" intervention to restore order.

Iran was failing to stop the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad's Sunnis, he was told. It persecuted its own Sunni minority.

Iraqi Sunnis in general feel he is trying to flout the people's will expressed at the ballot box.

Many Sunnis have resisted cooperating with Iraq's unity government for fear they would be discriminated against by Iraq's Shiite majority.

A few Sunnis, motivated by Islam or simple resentment of foreign military occupation, continue to attack American forces.

A few months ago, hopes were rising that cross-sectarian parties, appealing to both Sunnis and to the majority Shias, were gaining strength.

This would deepen the rifts between Iraq's Sunnis and Shias, which had slowly been healing after the sectarian bloodbath of 2006 and 2007.

The outnumbered Sunnis feel locked out of a new Iraq dominated by Shias.

Once again, one of the world's great religions has a bloody divide (this time it is Sunnis and Shias, not Catholics and Protestants).

In short, the new establishment of Shias, Sunnis and Kurds sorely needs to build a sense of nationhood.

He noted that many more Sunnis cast ballots in the referendum than in the elections in January for a transitional government.

He still has to try to appease the regional Sunni community (Turkey included) by working towards rapprochement with Iraq's Sunnis.

Sunnis, Shias and Kurds alike still see their respective militias as a hedge against an uncertain future.

A constitution has been written, but this has not resolved the big differences between Shias, Sunnis and Kurds.

Many Lebanese Sunni Muslims sympathize with the fifteen-month-old uprising in Syria. Syria's majority Sunnis have led the uprising.

One year after U. S. troops left Iraq, observers say the fragile network of Sunnis, Shias, and Kurds may be unraveling.

Shias and Sunnis embrace at press conferences as they present electoral alliances.

Thus they helped shift power in Iraq from the Arab-Sunnis to the Arab-Shiites, all the while strengthening Iran.

Mr Maliki is unloved, especially by Sunnis and by many Kurds. Sunni Arab leaders of neighbouring countries distrust him.

Shiites set up two minarets above their mosques, whereas Sunnis set only one. That's the difference between Shiites and Sunnis mosques.

On the other side of Baghdad, in the Sunni area of Adhamiya, dozens of Sunnis had a different take on the situation.

Many Sunnis however are petrified of the group which they accuse of carrying a relentless ethnic cleansing campaign against them.

The Sunnis, in particular, are now so fractured that no political deal, however broad, can hope to draw them together.

Some Sunnis are calling for a boycott of the election.

Sunnis and former supporters of Mr Hussein had complained about his treatment.

Even as America tries to reduce sectarian violence, its soldiers still come under attack by Sunnis and Shias alike.

If indeed Iran and Sadr now truly want mutual respect with Sunnis, then the path toward peace in Iraq may become easier.

This angered many Iraqi Sunnis and increased sectarian tensions, even though more Shias are on the list.

It took time for the Sunnis to realise they should be inside the political process.

The Sunnis won, but battles, betrayals, and intrigue had left Muslims bitterly divided.

Retreat would leave anarchy in Iraq and quite possibly lead to a regional war of Sunnis against Shi'ites.

Both groups say they are keen to include other parties in their government of national unity, especially Arab Sunnis.

The ousted dictator's fellow Sunnis paraded through his hometown vowing to avenge the verdict.

Build and sustain strategic partnerships with moderate Shi'a, Sunnis, and Kurds.

The group alleges the persecution of Sunnis, and has targeted Iranian soldiers and Revolutionary Guard officers in the past.

This time, not only did Maliki fly off to Britain, but he also sparked more animosity by proposing a limited amnesty for Sunnis.

The surge has yet to dampen down the civil war between Sunnis and Shias.

So why are many Shias for federalism and many Sunnis for centralisation?

Many Sunnis have taken up arms against the new Shia-dominated order.

In Bahrain, the conflict between Sunnis and Shiites is clearly central.

And what would the Sunnis in Iraq's centre gain once partition cut them off from Iraq's oil riches?

The Iranians should stop egging on their fellow Shias to humiliate the Sunnis.

He says the government's use of social media to help identify opponents has pushed the country's Sunnis and Shi'ites farther apart.

As far as Sunnis are concerned, the Kurds must not get it - under any cost.

Sunnis have called on Christians, Alawites and other minorities to join them on the streets.

He may get some votes from Sunnis who think he should be rewarded for stabilising the country after the sectarian bloodbath of 2006.

Mr Maliki is unloved, especially by Sunnis and by many Kurds.

Two of Saddam Hussein's codefendants were executed this morning in Iraq, bringing more anger to Iraqi Sunnis.

Through Sunnis in his government, such as the defence minister, he has been seeking out insurgent groups that might parley.

War-torn Iraq was represented by both Shi'ites and Sunnis.

Death-squad killings of Sunnis would rise.

More than anywhere else in the world, Sunnis and Shias still fear each other in Iraq.

Many Sunnis, Saddam's people dwell on the past to enjoy the preferential treatment under the rule.

Their fear is that milder-minded Sunnis and Shias will be pushed to extremes, risking the island's destabilisation.

That is better than last time, in 2005, when the divide was between Shias, who voted en masse, and Sunnis, who largely boycotted the poll.

He is also taking a risk by blaming conservative Sunnis for the recent troubles, linking them to militant Islamists such as al-Qaeda.

In Iraq's case, that is primarily Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

The Sunnis are US allies in most Arab states, but also enemies, in Al-Qaeda.

There are many Sunnis and Shiites, they are very well.

Instead the Saudis should press Iraq's Sunnis to play a full part in rebuilding the state.

Relations between Iraq's Shias and Sunnis have again been badly damaged