The recent dramatic executions of a prominent Shiite cleric and 46 other prisoners was the worst way Saudi Arabia could have started what promises to be a grim and tumultuous year in the kingdom and across the Middle East.

Saudi’s leaders were aware that playing such a dangerous game would upset their long-time rivals in Iran. In fact, this drama has inflamed sectarian passions and is undermining the slim chances for regional peace. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran plummeted: protesters in Tehran ransacked Saudi Arabia’s embassy; in retaliation, Saudi Arabia promptly severed diplomatic ties. More severe fallout could follow soon – possibly even war!

As time goes by, the tangled and volatile realities of the Middle East are getting really frightening, considering that more trouble is likely to be in store. These in turn will delay international efforts to resolve the wars raging in Syria and Yemen and to combat the Islamic State and other Islamist terrorist organizations.

But why on earth did Saudi Arabia choose this dangerous path? Is it because of oil prices, on which the economy depends almost entirely and are plunging by the hour? Do the Saudi royals think that stoking hatred of Shiites will keep them in power forever?

The danger in Saudi Arabia’s ongoing incitement against sectarian and anti-Iranian is that now it looks uncontrollable. As is clear in Syria, Iraq and even further afield, sectarian hostility has taken on a life beyond what the kingdom’s architects are able to manage. This has already proved to be the case in Saudi Arabia, where terrorists aligned with the Islamic State have carried out several suicide bombings on Shiite mosques in the past year.

Unfortunately for everybody, 2016 promises to be another disastrous year for the European Union and the United States’ efforts to restore law and order and bring about peace in the Middle East... an everlasting peace we all crave for.

Jos Edmond Zarb

Birkirkara