Both Syria and Yemen aria in large part shia vs. sunni, or to be precise kind-of-shia (both the Alawites and the Houthis are shia heretics/sects) vs. sunni.
Interesingly, for some reason Kurds are not considered sunni and in their identity the ethnic takes precedence over religious.
You are correct in the top-down hierarchy, both in terms of religious structure and terrorism, but there are some crucial differences. It’s a slippery slope comparing terrorism to terrorism but I’ll try nevertheless.
Shia Islam doesn’t have the proselytizing element - they’re not seeking converts. Which means they’re not trying to convince a petty criminal of Arab descent from the suburbs of Brussels to blow himself up. Likewise, all terrorist acts were organized and carried out by the Iranian regime, which makes them more similar to the former USSR than to Sunni radicals.
Also Shia Islam is amenable for change, which means that they don’t have to be stuck in literal interpretation of a 7th century religious text. This can be both good or bad.
I have to disagree with this.
Perhaps your experiences were shaped by Sadr City, but I’ve worked in construction in most of the ME countries and the rank-and-file Iranians are by far the most pro-American of all ME nations, perhaps excluding Lebanon.
The Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis on the other hand… much, much worse.
In Iran, the religiousness is imposed from above by the regime while the regular people are opposed to this. Also, they pretty low on the religious devotion scale, . Another parallel with the USSR - everybody repeats the official dogma but very few believe in it, including the people in power.
Again, have to disagree. Most of the people running Iran are more interested in staying in power, running their family side businesses and oppressing the people because they know that a noose like Saddam or a metal rod up their ass (Qaddafi) awaits them from the Iranians should they loosen their grip on power.
Not one of them is interested in apocalyptic self conflagration. Neither is Assad Jr. for that matter.
They’re a bunch of ruthless cynical bastards but they’re not insane. The only person who kind of believed in part of the official dogma was Ahmadinejad (his popularity in the countryside was primarily due to the fact that he wasn’t corrupt) so they ruling elite immediately barred him from this Presidential Election. They don’t want someone who might be crazy in charge.