sect

On Sept. 5, Beirut declined to adopt explicitly its own army’s disarmament plan to avoid Shiite discontent after five cabinet ministers from that sect, including the ostensibly “independent” Fadi Makki, walked out of a meeting.

How could a department be competent when its faculty sees that variety only from the standpoint of a narrow political sect?

The main targets are Alawites, the sect of the ousted Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.

During the Assad era, belonging to this sect – an offshoot of Shia Islam - could bring benefits.

Hegseth is also a member of an extreme far-right sect called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches that also believes in militant Christianity.