Hassan Nasrallah and Moqtada al-Sadr are both deeply religious Shi'ites who say they believe Islam holds the answer to the problems facing Muslim societies. They head organizations with a militant wing and a network that provides social services for thousands of the poor in their countries. Both are powerful politicians. They believe in armed resistance.

Both men are anti-American and anti-Western. The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq says Moqtada al-Sadr is responsible for much of the violence in Iraq, including a mob killing of a pro-American Shi'ite cleric in 2004. And Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is blamed for a large number of deadly attacks, hijackings and the kidnapping of Westerners, and the bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 people in 1983...

"Moqtada [al-Sadr] is still very inexperienced," says Nir Rosen, a Middle East expert at the New American Foundation in Washington.

"Moqtada's movement began as a reaction to the U.S. occupation [of Iraq] and its leadership. And they [al-Sadr's followers] don't have a real agenda yet, except for being against things. They are against the U.S. occupation, against all Sunnis. Nasrallah is much more of a uniting figure. You see a guy with a big beard and a turban talking about Jihad, you don't think of his potential as a uniting figure - - someone who can be a national symbol. But for many Lebanese, that's what Nasrallah is," says Rosen...

For the complete article, please visit the Voice of America Radio website.