1979 Qatif Uprising
The 1979 Qatif Uprising, also known as the Muharram Intifada was a period of unprecedented civil unrest that occurred in Qatif and Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia, in late November 1979. The unrest resulted in 20–24 people killed in what was described as a sectarian outburst of violence between the Shi'a minority and Sunni majority in Saudi Arabia and the beginning of the modern phase of the Qatif conflict. Background Status of Shiites in Saudi Arabia Following the conquest and annexation of Al-Hasa and Qatif into the Emirate of Riyadh in 1913 by Ibn Saud, Shiites in the region experienced state oppression. Unlike most of Saudi Arabia, Qatif and much of the Eastern Province has a Shiite majority. Despite that, the region is of key importance to the Saudi government due to it possessing the bulk of Saudi oil reserves as well as the main Saudi refinery and export terminal of Ras Tanura, which is situated close to Qatif. Although it possesses the bulk of the oil which funds the Saudi state, the region had traditionally been neglected by central government and left to be a regular community with developmental priority being given to Sunni majority areas, with the region particularly lagging