All Stories: Shi'ites

GHAZNI: Nineteen of 31 Shiite Muslims abducted in Afghanistan were released Monday in exchange for scores of Uzbek militants in government prisons, officials said, ending a two-month ordeal which marked a rare attack on ethnic minorities.

SANAA: A first Iranian flight landed in the Yemeni capital on Sunday, a day after officials from the Shiite militia-controlled city signed an aviation agreement with Tehran.

CAIRO: Thirty-one defendants are to go on trial in Egypt later this month on charges related to the 2013 killings of four Shiites outside Cairo, a court statement said on Thursday.

LONDON: A flood of anti-Shiite propaganda online and on satellite television is spreading bigotry and violence to countries which have so far had little experience of the sectarian hatred that has set the Middle East alight.

SANAA: Yemeni Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters backed by government forces drove the local wing of al Qaeda from one of its last strongholds in central Yemen on Friday in intense fighting that killed at least 35 people, tribal sources said.

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Friday unveiled plans to send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to help Baghdad government forces strike back at Islamic State jihadists, roughly doubling the number of US soldiers in the country.

RIYADH: The Shi’ite Muslim minority in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province have long felt marginalised by the Sunni ruling dynasty, and protests for greater rights as part of the 2011 Arab Spring brought a crackdown on both protesters and demands for reform.

BAGHDAD: Sunnis and Kurds abandoned the first meeting of Iraq's new parliament on Tuesday after Shi'ites failed to name a prime minister to replace...

BAGHDAD: Iran's president vowed on Wednesday to defend Shi'ite holy sites in Iraq, where Sunni militants battled their way into the biggest oil refinery...

MOSUL/WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama considered options for military action to support Iraq's besieged government on Monday, and U.S. and Iranian officials held talks to...

An offensive by insurgents that threatens to dismember Iraq seemed to slow on Saturday after days of lightning advances as government forces regained some...