As the Sunni v. Shia war heats up in Syria, the revival of the ancient rivalry is starting to have consequences in the world of terrorism:
Shia Iran, which is backing Bashar al-Assad, has cut off funding to Sunni Hamas.
The rupture has been caused by Hamas's refusal to toe the Iranian line by
supporting President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite regime is religiously
loosely related to the Shia Islam practiced by Iran's ruling theocracy.
Hamas - which runs the Gaza Strip - has sided with its Sunni co-religionists
trying to unseat Mr Assad, in common with other mainly Sunni countries like
Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Ghazi Hamad, Hamas's deputy foreign minister, described relations with Iran
frankly as "bad" before adding: "Diplomatically, I have to
use other words."
Asked about Iranian funding, he said: "I can say it is not like the past.
I cannot give you the exact amount. For supporting the Syrian revolution, we
lost very much.
"I cannot deny that since 2006 Iran supported Hamas with money and many
[other] things. But the situation is not like the past. I cannot say that
everything is normal."
He added: "I cannot say there is military cooperation."
While Hamas officials have previously said they would not retaliate on Iran's
behalf if Israel attacked the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities - citing
disagreements over Syria - they have previously been coy about funding from
a country that is Shia and non-Arab.
Iran gave Hamas an estimated £13-15 million a month after its victory in the
2006 Palestinian legislative elections - enough to cover its governing
budget, said Dr Adnan Abu Amer, assistant professor of political science at
Gaza City's Ummah University.
Tehran still sends a "tiny amount" to maintain ties and keep its
much-trumpeted support of the Palestinian cause alive, he said. But
relations have been all but severed.
Faster, faster....
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