Shiite

An Iranian delegation has left Saudi Arabia without an agreement for its citizens to attend the Muslim hajj pilgrimage this year, Saudi media have reported, a second failure by the rival Middle East powers to strike a deal. Relations between the two countries plummeted after ...

Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has exposed the dangerous political, religious and socioeconomic fault lines that run through the kingdom and the Gulf.

The war on Islamic State and other extremist groups cannot possibly be won as long as corrupt, violent regimes remain the only alternative to radicalization and extremism.

Will an Arab military alliance leave the Middle East better or worse off, particularly given today's growing Sunni-Shiite divide?

U.S. and allied airstrikes against Islamic State might unseat the group's fighters in critical areas of Iraq, but as things stand, troops from a rebuilt Iraqi Army will be needed to hold and govern liberated territory.

Islamic militants have overrun northern Iraq, taking control of the country's second-largest city and sparking fears of the collapse of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

As long as Sunnis and Shiites refuse to think about their past together, it is difficult to foresee a tranquil future for Iraq.