Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - More than 30 prominent Islamic clerics from Saudi Arabia on Monday called on Sunni Muslims around the Middle East to support their brethren in Iraq against Shiites and praised the insurgency.
The clerics said jihad, or holy war, "is one of the most important tenets of religion, and what has been taken by force can only be regained by force."
Their statement warned that Shiite Muslims were taking control of Iraq in a conspiracy with "crusaders" in an attempt to marginalize Sunnis. They called on Sunni Muslims around the Middle East to "stand directly with our Sunni brothers in Iraq, using all appropriate and considered forms of support" and urged clerics to "educate the public about the Shiite threat."
Thousands of Iraqis have been killed this year in sectarian bloodshed between the majority Shiites and the Sunni Arab minority, who lost their dominance of the country to Shiites after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Saudi Arabia, like most Arab countries, is predominantly Sunni but has a significant Shiite minority. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt all have expressed concerns over increasing Shiite power in Iraq and other parts of the region, which they see as an opening for Iranian influence. "After almost four years of occupation, it is clear that the aim behind this occupation is for the crusaders and Shiites to take control of Iraq, paving the way to complete their control over the region," read the statement, posted on a Saudi news Web site.
The statement was signed by more than 30 Saudi clerics — most from Saudi Arabia's top Islamic universities, the centers of the kingdom's hard-line version of Sunni Islam.
The sectarian conflict in Iraq has raised fears of a growing split between the two main sects of Islam around the Middle East as members of each rally around their group. Key Iraqi officials have said that millions of dollars in financing has been sent to Iraq's insurgents by private donors in Saudi Arabia, though Saudi officials have denied this.