Editor's Note: Back in 2007, NPR reported on the Shiite-Sunni split that was contributing to conflicts in many parts of the Muslim world, including Iraq. In light of the current fighting in Iraq ...

The division of Islam into Sunni and Shiite branches goes far back in Muslim history to the aftermath of the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Its repercussions have rippled through history ...

(RNS) Confused about the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, whose conflict has accelerated in Iraq again? Here's a primer so you can sound smart at the water cooler. (RNS) Sunni and ...

Syria is the only Middle Eastern country that has a majority Sunni population but is ruled by a Shiite minority. The Assads, who took power in 1970, are Alawites, a subsect of Shia Islam that ...

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran that date back decades have heated up this week after the Saudis executed a prominent Shiite opposition ... in a rift between the Sunni and Shia disciplines ...

Several young men in Adhamiya, the Sunni neighborhood on the eastern bank, dived in to help. One of them, Othman al-Obeidi, 25, rescued six people before his limbs gave out from exhaustion and he ...

Sunni-led allies of Saudi Arabia have cut diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran, further polarizing the Middle East along the two major branches of Islam. But while almost all of the governments are ...

During Syria’s civil war, protecting the revered Sayyida Zeinab shrine was a rallying cry for some Shiite fighters and groups ...

The battle against Islamic State is the latest chapter in the conflict between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni minority, which was unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The war ended decades ...

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s large and well-armed Shiite militias are now running many of the Sunni areas they helped liberate from the Islamic State, fostering local resentments that could fuel a ...

For months, Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the area have been fighting intermittently over land disputes, the latest flare-up in a conflict that has simmered for decades, paralleling two wars in ...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) -- Fighting between armed Sunni and Shiite groups in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 37 people and injured 25 others, a senior police officer from the region said ...