2006 AD - Sectarian rivalries exploded in Iraq between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, with each side targeting the other in terrorist acts, and bombings of mosques and shrines

DAMASCUS, Syria, Aug. 3 — To one Damascus University professor, the faint echo of Israeli bombs exploding in the lower Bekaa Valley brings two fears. He recoils at the destruction he imagines across the border, less than 10 miles from his village home, but deeper down he worries that any Hezbollah triumph will come at the expense of his own Sunni branch of Islam.

“Since the Americans invaded Iraq we have all become aware of the danger from the Shiites,” said the professor, who asked not to be identified by name because discussing sectarian rivalry is taboo in Syria, an authoritarian state run by a religious minority. “Ordinary people only think of Hezbollah as fighting against Israeli aggression. But the educated classes think that if Hezbollah controls the region, then the Sunnis will be abused.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/world/middleeast/04muslims.html