Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Iraq War Refugees Recreate Baghdad's Enmities in an Uneasy Damascus Exile

(Bloomberg) -- In Iraq, Shiite and Sunni Muslims
live uneasily close to each other as bitter foes in a bloody
conflict. In Sayeda Zeinab, a working-class district on the
outskirts of Damascus, they live uneasily close as refugees.

More than a million Shiites and Sunnis have crossed the
border into Syria, where the ruling Baath Party pursues a pan-
Arab ideology. Even though they now live under a government that
downplays religious differences, the two groups have created a
little replica of Baghdad in the Syrian capital -- one so
reminiscent of the city they left that mainly Sunni and Shiite
areas are segregated by a thoroughfare called Iraq Street.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

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