BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The timing and drama surrounding Saddam Hussein's execution makes it likely that he will become a martyr for Sunni nationalists fighting U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government.

By executing Hussein at the start of Eid Al-Adha, the holiest of Muslim holidays, the Shia-dominated Iraqi government made a strategic blunder: It further angered the Sunni minority that formed the core of his regime and now is driving the insurgency.

As news of Hussein's hanging spread Saturday across the Sunni-dominated Middle East, many Arabs criticized the timing -- even those who despised the dictator. Relations between Sunnis and Shias are already strained by the regional ascendance of Shia-led Iran, its growing influence on the Iraqi leadership and its involvement in other countries with large Shia communities, especially Lebanon.

"Holding this execution at the start of Eid is only going to make relations worse between Sunnis and Shias," said Nazem Jassour, an Iraqi political analyst. "There was no good reason why the execution could not be delayed until after Eid ... It's going to be perceived by Iraqi Sunnis as one more example of how the Shia government is trying to humiliate them." The Iraqi government did not explain why it decided to execute Hussein so quickly.

There were always serious risks to bringing Hussein to justice while Iraq faces a raging insurgency. Some Iraqis warned that any trial -- especially one that Sunnis perceived as being unfair and dominated by U.S. and Iraqi officials -- would further inflame sectarian tensions. In death, Hussein could be an even more potent symbol than Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, particularly for the nationalist strain of the insurgency. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. air strike in June, but members of his al-Qaida in Iraq still are carrying out suicide bombings against civilians and security forces.

Hussein's supporters were quick to declare him a martyr, and some vowed revenge against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who signed the death warrant.

"The president, the leader, Saddam Hussein is a martyr and God will place him in paradise along with other martyrs," Sheik Yahya al-Attawi said at a prayer service in a Sunni mosque built by Hussein in his home region of Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad. "Do not grieve or complain because he has died the death of a holy warrior."

Many Arab rulers, including Hussein, usually pardon prisoners on the eve of Eid and delay any execution until well after the holiday. Exiled members of Hussein's Baath Party appeared on Arab satellite channel throughout the day and accused the Shia-led government -- especially al-Maliki's Dawa Party -- of being U.S. and Iranian puppets.

"Iraq will be ruled again by honorable people, not like it is today, by a group of spies who work for Bush," an Iraqi Baath member who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad told the Al-Arabiya channel.

It has never been clear how much influence Hussein had on the course of the insurgency, and whether he was coordinating it in a concrete way beyond sending out audiotapes to Arab media. After his arrest three years ago, the insurgency gained momentum.

While insurgents include former Baath loyalists and ex-members of the Iraqi army and intelligence services, others are Islamic militants from Iraq or neighboring Arab countries. Those militants have little allegiance to Hussein and are motivated by a desire to destroy the Shias and drive foreign troops out of a storied Arab land.

In a statement issued after Hussein's execution, al-Maliki tried to reach out to Sunnis involved in attacks on U.S. troops but not in killing Iraqi civilians. "We strongly reject considering Saddam as a representative of any sect in Iraq because the tyrant only represented his evil soul," al-Maliki said. "The door is still open for those whose hands are not tainted with the blood of innocent people to take part in the political process and work on rebuilding Iraq."

But most attempts at national reconciliation have failed, and Sunnis are likely to reject new overtures by al-Maliki because of the way he handled Hussein's execution.

The Sunni-Shia struggle in Iraq is largely political. Sunnis had dominated the country since its independence in 1932, despite making up only a fifth of Iraq's population. Hussein's regime brutally repressed the Shias, who constitute 60 percent of the country's 25 million people.

Since early 2004, insurgents have targeted Shia mosques, wedding parties and religious ceremonies across Iraq. They also have relentlessly attacked the Shia-dominated police and army. Iraq's most revered Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, long has urged his followers not to retaliate against Sunnis. But as attacks on Shia civilians mounted, Shia militias and vigilantes began to fight back last year with tit-for-tat killings.

Hussein's influence reached beyond Iraq -- especially to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In more than 30 years as Iraq's ruler, he showed mastery at the politics of symbolism in the Arab world, and few symbols are as potent to Arabs as the Palestinians killed or injured while fighting Israel.

After the second Palestinian uprising in 2000, Hussein began distributing payments of up to $25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and $10,000 for each Palestinian killed in clashes with Israeli forces. In all, Hussein sent about $35 million until he was ousted by the U.S. invasion in 2003.

The Iraqi checks reinforced the mix of hard-line nationalists and Islamic militants who oppose negotiations with Israel. The payments also helped Hussein restore his prestige among Arabs as the one true pan-Arab leader who refused to make concessions to Israel and the West.

Signs of Hussein's popularity could be found throughout the Palestinian territories. Mourners in funeral processions often waved Iraqi flags and posters of Hussein. Young men shouted his name while throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, chanting "Oh Saddam, Oh Saddam, come and blow up Tel Aviv."

As Hussein stood on the gallows, among his last words reportedly were: "Palestine is Arab" -- a message to Arab masses that he was dying a martyr for the most persistent Arab cause.