Sunni & Shia Tensions Rise in Middle East
Protesters stormed and ransacked Saudi Arabia’s embassy on Sunday after gathering to denounce the kingdom for executing a prominent Shia cleric. They stormed the embassy, smashed furniture, setting the embassy on fire, and threw papers from the roof. They were eventually cleared away by the police, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced it had executed 47 prisoners convicted of terrorism charges, including al-Qaeda detainees and Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who had rallied protests against the government. It was the execution of al-Nimr which had been expected to increase sectarian tensions across the entire region and deepen the hatred between Sunnji and Shia minority in Saudi Arabia’s not to mention with the Shia in Iran.
Indeed, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Jaberi Ansari had been quoted on the state-owned English-language Press TV warning that the Saudi monarchy would pay a heavy price for its policies while a Iranian cleric, Hossein Nouri Hamedani, said this would raise significant tensions.
