according to iraqi officials some car bombs have exploded in shiite neighborhoods in the capital city of baghdad now we're hearing that they took place at outdoor market places at bus stops and on the streets of shiite areas on monday morning also on monday morning before these attacks there were two degree car bombs that targeted a bus station and a restaurant in the southern city of basra which is close to the arabian border in that attack at least ten people were killed some twenty seven people wounded not no one has immediately table sponsibility for these blasts but they do have all the signs and the hallmarks of al qaida attacks in the mainly shia muslim bus route which was previously relatively peaceful have increased recently back in march a car bomb in that city killed ten and wounded many others these situations that he does seem to be spiraling out of control tensions have been intensifying since the country's minority sunni population says that it's mistreatment at the hands of the shiite led government has been increasing including random detentions and also neglect not p

hezbollah is a shiite group that backs bashar al assad shiite's regime.ls on the other hand are sunnis. today's rocket attack in beirut was likely the work of sunnis in lebanon. their way of saying if hezbollah wants to fight us in syria, we can fight back in lebanon. it is a very dark sign of what to come. lebanon suffered through 15 years of civil war, mostly in the 1980s and has never really recovered. beirut is a popular tourist destination but tensions between sunni, shiites and christians are just below the surface. and now, because of syria, they're boiling over again. lester? >> richard engel in turkey, thanks. >>> in northwest oregon tonight, attempted murder charges have been filed against a 17-year-old student. he's charged with planning to detonate homemade explosives at his high school. police identified the suspect at grant accord of albany, oregon south of portland. they say he manufactured at least two devices which they discovered hidden under a floorboard in his mother's house. >>> when "nbc nightly news" continues this memorial day week

they targeted predominantly shiite neighborhoods. nick is in turkey. nick, first of all, president bush sold the iraq war as an opportunity to bring peace to the middle east but the sunnis overthrew saddam hussein in 2003 become politicalically marginalized by the shiite, the prime minister, calling for an end to the violence seems pretty ineffective here. now you've got violence happening. i mean, what has changed since the u.s. invaded iraq? >> what has changed is that the sunnis don't feel that they're being properly represented by the shiite-led government. they feel that the prime minister, nour al mall ki by going after people like the sunni vice president who has now fled iraq completely wanted on various charges, many sunnis feel an indication that this shiite led government was against sunniism. that fueled a deeper sectarian division. on friday, for example, there were attacks on sunnis. over the weekend you saw some random attacks on shias. and then on monday today these much more organized multiple car bombs attacking neighborhoods, again,

followed by another string of deadly explosions in the capital the five blasts in baghdad iraq's shiite neighborhoods killing sixteen in reading scores more least ten people died earlier blasts in a town near the border with iran. the situation let's cross to paula what more

. >> the country is beset with corruption, widespread poverty, sunni-shiite divisions and a constant struggle against the taliban and its allies. >> woodruff: mark shields and michael gerson analyze the week's news. >> brown: and we close with a story of loss, recovery and courage in her own words, from a victim of the boston marathon bombing. >> i have to move forward. i-- i can't-- there's no-- no way to look back and say anything negative about it or "i can't do that" or "i can't do this." i'm going to try to do whatever

dwindling support for the prime minister has been mired in crisis over how to share power between shiite muslims sunni's and kurds so here to talk about what might lay ahead for a nation or sectarian lines are hardening politics even more polarizing i'm joined by evan garvey a professor of international relations at american university thank you so much for coming on thank you so give us a sense of what the political representation looks like right now in the wake of the election right now what we have seen is that there's been a change prime minister murdered by the cue with his third. coalition remains the leading. seat when he has the biggest number but he has lost the large number of votes a number of problems including the southern provinces which provided him with some support significant support in the past he has some very large cruise last actually something like. eighty seats although there are a number of people who likely to enter into a coalition with. the few in decent or county probably would have lost somewhere between fifty and sixty seats there's also another. party whi

the country's role and what we've seen is a spike of bombings recently targeting either sunni or shiite civilian targets especially in the last week according to the united nations april was the most violent month in iraq since two thousand and eight and this is fueling fears of a return to the civil war of two thousand and six two thousand and seven when widespread sectarian violence left tens of thousands of people did. possible the militants have joined forces with pro asa droops in the fierce fight for control of a rebel stronghold on syria's border with lebanon the town of qusayr is considered a key entry point for smuggling arms into syria local journalist dog always told us more about what's happening on the ground. syrian army managed to make a full circle around the city fighting position position five is the main achievement is to stop that line of supply chain between lebanon and syria most of the fighters from different areas and syria in order to gather in course sokol said become the capital of pollution this operation move very slow but it's wise for these studies to addi

followed by another string of deadly explosions in the capital the five blasts in baghdad iraq's shiite neighborhoods killing sixteen in reading scores more least ten people died earlier blasts in a town near the border with iran. the situation let's cross to paula what more do we know about these attacks. well according to iraqi officials some five to six car bombs we're hearing different figures have exploded in the shiite neighborhoods of the capital city of baghdad now police officials say that the blast struck bus stations as well as outdoor markets on monday morning what officials are also saying is that each bomb happened in a different place to be looking at some five to six different locations now earlier in the day on monday to didley car bombs targeted a bus station and a restaurant in the southern city of basra which is close to the iranian border soon afterwards these bombs were reported to have struck several parts of the capital city of baghdad now attacks in mainly shia muslim which have been previously relatively peaceful areas have been increasing in recent months. pau

nouri al maliki's government in iraq is a shiite government in effect the majority people in iraq have voted for all candidates who supported him and in a way we're seeing a strain shift whereby the people who the americans claim to be liberating from saddam's sane sunni tyranny in two thousand and three now perceived to be geo politically uncomfortable for the united states and the very sunni fundamentalist groups who are seen as the enemies of the state from two thousand and one onwards and then in reach and he american assistance of two thousand and three have become allies so we have a very cynical game of power politics going on at the same time as we have unfortunately our street level santeria larger war about syria and focus on the sectarian violence there are which has been on their eyes lately so in your opinion how much do you think syria's civil war is becoming secretary and in nature rather than anti-government conflict will the anti-government forces are almost entirely drawn from the sunni part of population which is roughly speaking sixty to sixty five percent of the sy

are accusing the shiite of marginalizing them in treating them unfairly. >> they have been bombarding an important city in the west. opposition artists say at least 52 died on sunday. the government appears to be trying to secure areas close to the lebanese border. major supplyn a route for riders moving to and from lebanon. government also wants to cut off supplies to homs. >> it is a massacre, he says. there are 30 including children. these are some of the dozens of people killed on sunday according to this activist. beenyrian army has bombarding the town for several weeks in an attempt to recapture it from rebel hands. witnesses say hezbollah fighters have been helping the army pounding the town with mortar fire. it is another clear indication assad has brought in foreign fighters to help him win the war. it is not clear who is winning the latest battle. activists tell al jazeera government forces had retaken the town and were now pressuring rebel fighters. it is a clean the free syrian army denies, insisting it still had the upper hand. it is the proximity to lebanon that makes th

. >> a wave of bomb blasts in iraq has killed more than 70 people in both shiite and sunni areas around the country. among the targets was the mainly shiite city of basra, where two car bombs exploded near a crowded square. a series of bombs went off in the capital of baghdad. tensions have been rising in iraq since minority -- minorities began protesting what they see as repression by the government. prime minister nouri al-maliki promised to overhaul security to prevent further sectarian violence. and china and india's leaders are trying to iron out their differences. chinese's -- china's premier li keqiang is on a state visit to india. >> the area in question is in kashmir. in mid april, indian and chinese troops moved into th region and looked ready for conflict. tensions have been defused, but it is still a major sticking point. economic ties have been at the top of the agenda. india and china are the two most populous countries in the world and the most important emerging economies. >> this visit is about boosting trade ties. before arriving, li stressed that cooperation was essen

. >> a wave of bomb blasts in iraq has killed more than 70 people in both shiite and sunni areas around the country. among the targets was the mainly shiite city of basra, where two car bombs exploded near a crowded square. a series of bombs went off in the capital of baghdad. tensions have been rising in iraq since minority -- minorities began protesting what they see as repression by the government. prime minister nouri al-maliki promised to overhaul security to prevent further sectarian violence. and china and india's leaders are trying to iron out their differences. chinese's -- china's premier li keqiang is on a state visit to india. >> the area in question is in kashmir. in mid april, indian and chinese troops moved into the region and looked ready for conflict. tensions have been defused, but it is still a major sticking point. economic ties have been at the top of the agenda. india and china are the two most populous countries in the world and the most important emerging economies. >> this visit is about boosting trade ties. before arriving, li stressed that cooperation was esse

it is as you know a shiite population and shiite government. but remember, wolf, during the bush administration we faced this same sort of unraveling of civilian strife, sunni on shia violence. what we look to are our allies in the region, the saudis, the jordanians. we looked to our sunni arab allies to try and aexert their influence on tribes there. but this is very difficult, wolf. it's made especially difficult now there's no u.s. presence there. we were unable to associate a status of forces agreement with the iraqi government. so we withdrew very precipitously. this vacuum that was created was bound to cause the sort of fracturing where minority populations like the sune wnis t very vulnerable. >> is there something more the u.s. can do or simply forget about iraq? >> wolf, we can't forget about iraq. we obviously have regional interest there. we'll continue to engage the iraqi government, but more than anything i think you'll find this administration, like the prior administration, will have to look at arab allies in the region to exert

four coordinated attacks monday in four shiite cities south of baghdad killed more than 35 people.tiple attacks yesterday killed 22 more. >> ( translated ): do allah and prophet mohammed accept this? no one is safe. you do not know if you will come back to a house or not when you go to work! >> suarez: the attacks-- dozens in the last month-- are the most-serious spasm of violence since american troops left nearly 18 months ago. today, the united nations mission in iraq said april was the deadliest month since june, 2008: more than 700 people were killed, almost all in baghdad. coupled with the sunni-shiite bloodletting in neighboring syria, all this has rekindled fears of sectarian war in iraq. years of such violence tore the country apart after the american invasion, and killed tens of thousands. >> ( translated ): the explosions have escalated nowadays in the south and the middle of the country, especially since hawija events, when the iraqi troops stormed a protest site. >> suarez: that attack in hawija by the predominantly-shiite security forces last week resulted in 20 dead s

the anti-israel shiite militia that effectively runs lebanon. the missiles were taken out by american-made israeli f-16s, untouched by syrian air defenses. rebels tell nbc news syrian army headquarters were also attacked. assad's crack fourth division, the revolutionary guard. [ speaking in a foreign language ] a blatant act of aggression, said syria. self-defense, said the white house. >> the israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like hezbollah. >> reporter: israel was on alert today, deploying anti-missile batteries and tanks near the syrian and lebanese borders. is israel trying to topple assad? it says no. it only wants to stop hezbollah from getting more weapons. but it is becoming difficult to know where the assad regime ends and hezbollah begins. last summer in syria, we traveled with rebels who attacked a government base. they discovered hezbollah flags and other paraphernalia, proof they said that hezbollah and syria were working together. [ speaking in a foreign language

deadly violence between sunni and shiite muslims is skyrocketing.f blitzer talked with arwa damon about the turmoil. >> our seen i can't remember international correspondent arwa damon is on the ground in baghdad, has been there many, many times over recent years. arwa, how bad is the situation in iraq now? >> reporter: it's as bad if not worse than it has been in years, wolf. many iraqis are understandably incredibly fearful the country is moving down a path that will see the type of violence that transpired here back when the attacks were at their worst, 2005 to 2008, although for many iraqis, tit for tat attacks, violence comes as no surprise. seeing a steady increase f attacks since the u.s. military withdr withdrew, those intensified in the last week. the tension that exists has also been intensifying, in part aggravated by actions of the predominantly shiite government. we have been seeing for months demonstrations in the sunni areas. we have been seeing clashes and right now, especially when we look at what's been happening in recent times, m

dwindling support for the prime minister has been mired in crisis over how to share power between shiite muslims sunni's and kurds so to talk about what might lay ahead for a nation or sectarian lines or hardening politics even more polarizing i'm joined by ivan garvey a professor of international relations at american university thank you so much for coming on thank you so give us a sense of what the political representation looks like right now in the wake of the election right now what we have seen is that there is going to change the prime minister murdered by the cue with his third. coalition remains the leading. seat when these he has the biggest but he has lost the large number of votes a number of the provinces including the southern provinces which provided him with some supports rivkin support in the past he has some very large crews last actually something like. eighty seats although there are a number of people who like you to enter into a coalition with them. and if you're in a decent or county probably would have lost somewhere between fifty and sixty seats there's also ano

shiites are a minority, iran is a majority shiite country, over 90%.iraq is a majority shia country but only 60%. bahrain is a majority shia country, and lebanon is split between -- there's no majority, but there are a lot of shias. iran from the beginning of the revolution made an active decision to go and support shia groups wherever they were. so, obviously, we now know but very few people did know even in our government that the iraq can key shiites were very closely allied to iran. we discovered that after war. but, so they have a lot of influence in iraq. hezbollah is particularly a, is actually a very i'd lodge call -- ideological kansas there. hamas is less of an ideological connection. but in pote instances -- in both instances i think rapp has looked, as i said, from the very beginning of the revolution to spread its influence among not just shiites, but among places where they could have -- and hamas is not a shiite organization -- where they could have influence, where they could have soft power because they knew they were always going to b

yes, i would like your guests to explain the difference between sunis and shiites.t: the differences between them and why it is significant guest. guest: the split goes back thousands of years. he wanted a different line. basically it is from real centuries old splits of the power after the profit, died and who would lead an islamic state. what you have seen is particularly in recent years, real battles for controls. country shiite-dominant trying to split and spread the influence us major backers. they are major backers of the militias and political parties inside iraq. the conflict, while so old, if you trace it back to the real crucial point in the past few centuries, it was the work where you have the united states in the gulf states backing saddam against the iranians. that was right after the islamic revolution inside iran and that fed what we've seen since 1979 in the rise of the islamic republic. we have seen them really try to spread the influence. levitan and the palestinians territories and a rock and syria. and syria. you see them try to push back the in

the group listened and received dozens of off shiite. they finley -- an moving the school, they say, would be like letting the gunman wins. >>> people who live in a struggling city will decide how their tax money will be spent? starting today, vallejo becomes the first woman in the nation to vote. what's behind the experience and dem mockery, resident, 16 and old,. >> we're used to a voter a, to improvement to ppg. >> to fit the equipment at the waterfront, many are voting for street repair. for peer port,. >> critically so your. >> it's the first city of the country to do this. they've been narrowing the choices every window. >> we're rig you to be made are oak advise p/e. >> and they have some tough choices on their hands. they have a computer -- proscwected 5.5 million deficit because of next we're. >> honor the will of the voters. >> no, it's not going to be -- it's like, yes toed. >> they need to start lifting. >> even though the pot lar. >> i'm actually part of something, but. >> two discussions on plans for the future. >> we want

there is the perception that the prime minister has really created a sectarian government led by the shiite community which represents about 60% of the population, as opposed to being an inclusive government. what you also have now is the sectarian crisis, the unfolding crisis in syria has exacerbated a political process. this has been fuelled by sectarianism. what you have in iraq is that the country is looking at all out communal strife between the shia led buckman by nouri al maliki and by the sunni community. this particular crisis, until it is a dress, taking political steps, in forming -- reforming the judicial process, basically iraq will basically go to all- out sectarian strikes. has responded after soldiers were abducted. the egyptian president has held emergency meetings. they are calling for the release of political detainees. this has been ruled out. all options were on the table. our goal is clear. the goal is to free the kidnapped soldiers. therefore, we will carry out any option available that will lead to achieving the goal. the negotiations that you referred to, we said fr

has blood as a militant shiite organization that has israel as his arch enemy. it is allied with iran and syria. there are unconfirmed reports that israeli jets flew over lebanon to launch the attack. the lebanese army says pairs of israeli planes entered its airspace three times on thursday. shortly before the first reports of the attack, u.s. president barack obama said he was worried about syrian chemical weapons being delivered to has blood -- hezbollah. there is no sign he will send in troops. >> i do not see a scenario in which on the ground in syria, american boots, when only be good for america, but also would be good for syria. instead, the united states is considering giving arms to syrian rebels to a them in the civil war. obama says if hard evidence emerges of the syrian government using chemical weapons, that would be a game changer. the uss five of the soldiers have been killed in a guinness five of its.s. says soldiers have been killed in afghanistan. authorities,afghan the soldiers vehicle was struck in the volatile district in the kandahar distr

how does the sunni dare marry a shiite is the worst thing as yet but what if the alternative is to getdivorced or die you know if you don't agree to get divorced you risk death thinking you know and yet here in our neighborhood they shot a woman in front of her husband and children for the unique reason she was shia and he was sunni said that she. this morning i'm not just leaving baghdad i'm fleeing baghdad. but the city gates the soldier who checks our passports tells us yet another attack a scar to the capital. another checkpoint on the road to babylon we present our passports and passes and i enter a shia country apprehensive. the sky is like twilight i feel like i'm wandering in the kingdom of the dead it's raining sand. khaled's prayers of punctuated each day on the road i sleep while he converses with his god. amidst the wind blown sand appears the mythical city of babylon. in his delusions of grandeur saddam hussein emerged himself to be its king the heir to throw the president of the iraqi republic saddam hussein in one thousand eight hundred eight inaugurated the restored cit

oh, yes, and the militant army of shiites, they say they will fight completely to the death against theebels to make sure the syrian government stays in power. that's syria, lebanon, israel, russia, the european union and john mccain. all in the soup together now, all working on the theory that more weapons and faster escalation is the right way forward now. this does not seem to me like it is going to end well. but what do i know? joining us now from beirut in lebanon is richard engel. thank you for staying up into the middle of the night for us. again, it's great to see you. >> it is great to see you and it's hard to see how this is going to end well or how it is going well right now. there are really no good options here. because the conflict is spreading. it is already inside lebanon. it is certainly inside syria, it is certainly in iraq, a country you didn't mention where there were just about a dozen car bombs the other day. something needs to happen. whether it's the maximalist approach, the diplomacy that the white house is pushing for, whether it is the continued option which i

most of them in poor shiite neighborhoods. this is another sign despite years of american sacrifice the civil war in iraq appears to be coming back. but violence is not just in iraq now but also here in lebanon but of course in syria. and syria is at the center of this. the war in syria is dragging the countries around it back into chaos. senator john mccain put himself right in the center of this storm. he visited syria. he visited in secret. it was a surprise visit. he stayed on the ground just for a few hours. senator mccain wants more to be done for the rebels. senator mccain specifically wants weapons to start flowing to the rebels and today that may look a little bit more likely after the european union announced it's lifting an arms embargo on syria making it legal for european nations to give or sell weapons. to the syrian opposition. richard engel, nbc news, beirut. >>> in the wake of controversy plaguing the white house, president obama is taking a detour to the jersey shore today. he'll survey of progress of rebuild

. >> iraq has been struggling to maintain a growing sectarian conflict to between shiite and sunni muslim's. there has been a wave of bloodshed that has killed more than 300 people in the last two weeks alone. the chinese premier, li keqiang, said his country is pressing ahead with economic reforms in efforts to open up to the global economy. he was speaking in berlin as he wrapped up his visit to germany. chancellor angela merkel assured him that germany would help avert a trade war between america and china. they are accused of selling solar products to cheaply in an attempt to dominate the market. >> the chinese prime minister received a warm welcome in germany. business is booming between the two economic powerhouses. german economics minister -- the german economics minister is -- at a meeting with university representatives, the prime minister predicted a bright future. >> china still needs to develop the name "made in china." germany has already established "made in germany" as a mark of quality. together, we could be a dream team. >> but there are wide-ranging difficulties as well.

whoever shiites in the world today who are paranoid already and feel threatened -- >> not justifiably threatened. >> we already attack them everywhere. what they will do, they will start attacking american and maybe even kidnapping americans around the world in response to this. because this picture actually shows that we are not only condoning, that we are standing by them. the syrian civil war is becoming our war and this should never become our war. >> one thing that rand paul pointed out in his op-ed was that, hey, these are the same people who are calling for arming the rebels who are calling for arming libyan rebels and they were assuring us, oh, there's no connections to al qaeda, there's no islamic terrorism involved. that has turned out to be false. >> they turned on a dime once the benghazi thing went down. al qaeda, al qaeda, al qaeda. >> and they're also the same people mccain in particular who was cozying up to gadhafi in 2009. >> that's right. >> he has, since 1999 or so, he introduced this idea of rogue state rollback where basically if there's a dictator, we will arm t

killed in a string of bombings around baghdad in iraq's deadliest day in months as tension between the shiite led government and the sunni minority spiraled out of control. on a suspected terrorist is arrested in the us. through the country's security net raising fears america's poor security isn't up to scratch despite millions of names on its list of suspects.

. >> the country is beset with corruption, widespread poverty, sunni-shiite divisions and a constant struggle against the taliban and its allies. >> woodruff: mark shields and michael gerson analyze the week's news. >> brown: and we close with a story of loss, recovery and courage in her own words, from a victim of the boston marathon bombing. >> i have to move forward. i-- i can't-- there's no-- no way to look back and say anything negative about it or "i can't do that" or "i can't do this." i'm going to try to do whatever i can do. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> more than two years ago, the people of b.p. made a commitment to the gulf. and everyday since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we shared what we've learned so that we can all produce energy more safely. b.p. is also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. w

more than 150 wounded in a wave of bombings in shiite neighborhoods of baghdad. and in the southern city of basra. >>> hours ago reports say north korea has fired its fifth missile in just three days. the south korean government says the north fired a short-range projectile missile into waters off its eastern coast around 11:00 this morning local time. it follows four recent launches including three on saturday. the north says it's exercisingity right to test rockets as part of regular military drills. >>> video captured a deadly hot air balloon crash in central turkey going down right there. after it collided with another sightseeing balloon. one brazilian tourist was killed, and 24 others hurt. >>> the fbi is looking into the deaths of two of its agents over the weekend. this happened during a training exercise. both were members of the elite hostage rescue team based in quantico, virginia. >>> he was a guest at president obama's first address to congress after being praised for his bravery is actually behind bars this morning. richard decoatsworth is accused o