Erstellt am: 24. 7. 2012 - 15:18 Uhr

Is sectarian conflict in Syria spreading?

Reality Check: the connection between Syria and Iraq; pioneering astronaut Sally Ride.

EPA/Ali Abbas

Syria & Iraq

When protesters in Syria started to voice their criticism of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad early last year, and security forces moved in to stop the demonstrations, onlookers began asking where this would lead and were we seeing an uprising similar to the one in Libya? Could there be an international intervention here too? “No” was the answer we got from the experts – Syria was very different, riven with sectarian divides and too tied up in the complicated web of allies and enemies which make up the politics of the Middle East. If Syria unravels, the experts warned, it could inflame sectarian conflict that will spill across the borders and affect a much wider region.

More than a year has passed since then, with ongoing and escalating violence, which is estimated to have cost 19,000 lives. And there are signs that the scenario the experts warned about is beginning to materialise. In neighbouring Iraq, violence has been on the rise in recent months and on Monday, more than a hundred people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks. They were carried out by Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group which is hostile to the Shiite led government. There are parallels with the situation in Syria: Assad is from the Alawite sect, which is closely aligned to the Shiites, and the uprising against his regime is predominantly Sunni. International Security expert Paul Rogers explains the parallels and the concerns:

Sally Ride

The first US woman in space has passed away. But she was someone who not just broke new ground for American women, her legacy extended far beyond that trip on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Riem Higazi reports:

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