Sectarian Relapse: Lessons of the “Shia House”

November 01, 2023

Read in Arabic / اقرأ باللغة العربية

Read in Arabic / اقرأ باللغة العربية

This commentary was published only in Arabic. Click “read in Arabic” above to read the commentary.

Tags: iraq, Iraqi politics

Thanassis Cambanis, Senior Fellow and Director of Century International

Thanassis Cambanis is an author, journalist, and director of Century International. His work focuses on U.S. foreign policy, Arab politics, and social movements in the Middle East.

Report Century International

Century’s New Democracy Meter Shows America Took an Authoritarian Turn in 2025

Children play in Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque at sunset on Eid al-Adha in Yarmouk camp, Damascus, on June 6, 2025.

Commentary Century International

Syria’s Reconstruction Risks Cutting Out the Syrian People

Report Century International

The Foreign Aid Wipeout: A Shadow Revolution in America’s Middle East Policy

DAMASCUS, SYRIA - DECEMBER 21: Ahmed Muhammad Al-Nawa (L) is greeted by a neighbourhood friend after returning home from Lebanon to his family’s home in the village of Harran for the first time in 10-years on December 21, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. 36-year-old Ahmed, was imprisoned and tortured by the regime for a year and half in the Mezzah Military Prison in 2012-2013, after his release, his wife and daughter were displaced from their home in the village of Harran, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, during the Assad regime’s siege of the region in 2014. They fled to Lebanon where they have been living in a tent in the Hosh Al-Hareem camp for the past 10-years. Ahmed’s mother Umm Marwan stayed behind in Syria due to a heart condition that stopped her from travelling. While living in Lebanon, Ahmed and his wife had four more children that were born in Lebanon and have never meet their grandmother, other relatives or seen the family home. After the fall of the regime Ahmed decided to return home bringing all his possessions from Lebanon and giving his mother the chance to meet her grandchildren face to face for the first time. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Commentary Century International

Lebanon and Syria’s Detainee Dilemma

ADRE, CHAD - APRIL 24: Newly arrived refugee from Darfur in Sudan, sit on donkey as they head to their shelters on April 24, 2024 in Adre, Chad. Since the beginning of the recent conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the the Sudanese Armed Forces, (SAF), which began in March 2023, over 600,000 new refugees have crossed the border from Darfur in Sudan, into Chad. The total number of refugees, including those from previous conflicts, now stands at 1.2 million. Aid agencies, including The World Food Programme, (WFP), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), already struggling with acute supply shortages, have warned that the life-saving programmes in Chad, will ‘grind to a halt in a matter of weeks without urgent funding’. Chad is now home to one of the largest and fastest-growing refugee populations in Africa. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Report Century International

The Horn of Africa Needs an End to the Gulf’s Proxy Wars. Cooperation Is Key.

Commentary Century International

Sectarian Relapse: Lessons of the “Shia House”

Thanassis Cambanis, Senior Fellow and Director of Century International

Latest

Century’s New Democracy Meter Shows America Took an Authoritarian Turn in 2025

Syria’s Reconstruction Risks Cutting Out the Syrian People

The Foreign Aid Wipeout: A Shadow Revolution in America’s Middle East Policy

Lebanon and Syria’s Detainee Dilemma

The Horn of Africa Needs an End to the Gulf’s Proxy Wars. Cooperation Is Key.

Apathy and Skepticism Cloud Iraq’s Upcoming Election