These are unhappy times in the Middle East for relations between Islam's two main branches, the majority Sunnis and minority Shias. The ugly sectarian undertones of the civil war in Syria, where the death toll may now have passed 100,000, are echoing far more widely than during Iraq's similar tragedy a few years ago. Yet the bitter old schism may also provoke a quieter resurgence of common sense. Bullet casings litter the empty tree-lined streets of Sidon, a Lebanese port city, after three days of fighting that left perhaps 35 dead. The clashes started on June 23rd when armed followers of Sheikh Ahmed Assir, a firebrand Sunni preacher of a Sala-fist bent who seeks supposedly to emulate the ways of the Prophet Muhammad, attacked a Lebanese army checkpoint.
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机译：对于伊斯兰的两个主要分支，多数逊尼派和少数什叶派之间的关系，在中东，这是不愉快的时期。叙利亚内战的丑陋宗派色彩使死亡人数现在已经超过10万人，其回响远比几年前伊拉克类似悲剧发生时大。然而，古老的痛苦分裂也可能激起常识的悄然复兴。经过三天的战斗，大约35人丧生，子弹壳在黎巴嫩港口城市锡顿（Sidon）的空空绿树成荫的街道上乱扔垃圾。冲突始于6月23日，当时武装力量的酋长萨尼拳头逊尼派传教士谢赫·艾哈迈德·阿西尔（Sheikh Ahmed Assir）的武装追随者袭击了黎巴嫩军队的一个检查站，据说他是想效仿先知穆罕默德的方式。
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