The region’s newly assertive Sunni Arabs perceive Israel and the West as being only one threat, the other comprising the so-called “Shia crescent” – the arc of land extending from Lebanon to Iran through Syria and Iraq that is inhabited by the allegedly heretical Shia. Saudi Arabia’s rulers, as custodians of the Muslim faith’s holiest places in Mecca and Medina, perhaps feel this threat most keenly.
该地区新近咄咄逼人的逊尼派阿拉伯人认为以色列和西方只是一个威胁，而另一个威胁则包括所谓的“什叶派新月”，也就是从黎巴嫩到伊朗经过叙利亚和伊拉克由被指称为异教徒居住的弧形的大片土地。沙特的统治者们作为穆斯林信仰圣地麦加和麦地那的守护者可能更加深切地感受到这一威胁。