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Throughout the Middle East, Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran compete for influence and supremacy via proxy wars in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. Produced by Reem Makhoul, Mark Scheffler and Arielle Ray.

When Arab Spring protests broke out in Saudi Arabia in 2011, the government reacted quickly, pumping $130 billion into the economy and cracking down on dissent. While this approach has worked in some cities, the Shiite Muslims in the Eastern Province continued to demonstrate.

Rising tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia were given fresh fuel Monday with both sides issuing tit-for-tat verbal volleys. Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have been trading blows in an escalating war of words since Saturday following the former's move to execute prominent Shiite opposition cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Iran's Shiite leaders blasted the Sunni kingdom verbally, while protesters in Tehran stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy.

The Hezbollah movement in Iraq said the new deployment of US marines is a plot to help IS terrorists. The shiite group added that if these troops are not withdrawn, Hezbollah will treat them as IS forces

"kingdom of Bahrain on Monday published a list of 68 Islamist groups it classified as "terrorist," according to the state news agency BNA Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement, already branded as "terrorist" by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League, topped the list approved by Bahrain's cabinet, BNA said."

ISIS is not the only group that is causing conflict in Iraqi territory. There is a shiite armed group called Kataib Hezbollah that everyone knows is in control of Jarf al-Sakhr.

Human rights groups have sharply condemned Saudi Arabia in the days since it executed 47 prisoners, including the reported beheading of an influential Shiite cleric. Such brutal executions, which in Saudi Arabia can include beheading, firing squad and even crucifixion, often follow dubious trials and arbitrary charges, according to Geoffrey Mock, the Middle East country specialist for Amnesty International USA.

This article talks about the women of ISIS and what are some factors that lead to them joining ISIS or other rebellion armies around the world. The article also speaks about how for women, gender and politics overlap in a way that is doesn't for men. Sometimes in times of conflict women have to join these group in order to survive. 

This article basically states that since the US's withdrawal from Middle Eastern affairs, regional actors were left to fight over who will lead the region's future. The fight is baiscally a run off between Turkey, Qatar, Saudi, and the UAE, each country doing their part intervening in conflicts aiding their supported side. Rather than achieving goals, these proxy wars have fueled the violence, chaos, and polarization deepening the problems they originally sought to mend. While the US has succeeded in abstaining from Mid East affairs, the question now is whether or not they should continue this resignation or step in to urge for order and peace. 

This article touches on an array of ideas but for the sake of my research I focused on the "Thirty Years War" section. Douglass Murray from The Spectator conveys the perspective that the Middle East is likely to be going through a similar 17th century European 30 years war, when Protestant and Catholics launched a full fledged war against one another. This means that religious war in the Middle East is so much bigger than just al-Qaeda and similar groups. The conflict will re-align the region, but also the entire religion of Islam. Douglass says the outcome would call for a Treaty of Westphalia-style solution, redrawing boundaries of a region where they've been bursting for decades.  For the time being the drivers of the conflict is a standoff between the two regional powers and their affiliated proxies, Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

Counter efforts have been made by Iran as the country expands its influence in Iraq. In late November 2014, Iran launched airstrikes in eastern Iraq to push back ISIS militants. Since then, Iran and Iraq have been involved in a series of proxy wars as Iran furthers its influence over major Shiite groups in Iraq.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has shown great interest in the Middle East over recent months. His involvement with both Sunni and Shiites put him in a place of diplomatic mediator for the two groups.

This article provides evidence that the Houthis, a group of Shiite Muslims who have recently staged a rebellion, have close ties with Iran. The country has provided military and political support to the rebels.

More Middle Eastern countries are following Saudi Arabia and cutting ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia severed all diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday. "The move comes after Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran, ransacking and setting fire to the building in retaliation for Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others on Saturday," Business Insider's Natasha Bertrand reports.

This article goes briefly over the history of the Yemen and gives information on the present conflict. The future of this country looks grim as the war between the Shiites in the north and Sunnis in the south will divide the country.

Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the most influential figures in Iraq, especially in Shiite circles. Here he is return to the political scene again after a long absence