Titan ;x Posted August 2, 2016 Posted August 2, 2016 Hamada Bayloun is not particularly religious, but across his entire upper back spreads a large tattoo of the most revered saint in Shiite Islam, Imam Ali. He is one of a growing number of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon who have inked themselves with Shiite religious and political symbols as a show of pride in their community since neighbouring Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, fanning hatreds between Shiites, Sunnis and other faiths across the region. The 30-year-old Bayloun got his tattoo a few months after the war began, partly as a response to attempts to bomb Shiite shrines in Syria and Iraq. (Text and Photo: AP) "We can't respond with car bombs, but (through tattoos) we can show our strength and love for the prophet and his family," he said, referring to Islam's Prophet Muhammad, who was Ali's cousin and father-in-law. (Text and Photo: AP) In Pic: Ali Hussein Nasreddine, 50 The Syrian conflict, which began with government forces crushing protests against President Bashar Assad, became a fight between predominantly Sunni rebels against Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism. The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah has sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to support Assad, alongside Iranian, Iraqi and other Shiite a. (Text and Photo: AP) In Pic: Alodi Issa, 22.
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