Beirut, Lebanon ? The timing and drama surrounding Saddam Hussein’s execution make it likely that he will become a martyr for Sunni nationalists fighting U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government.

By executing Saddam at the start of Eid Al-Adha, the holiest of Muslim holidays, the Shiite-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 Saddam’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 Shiites already are strained by the regional ascendance of Shiite-led Iran, its growing influence on the Iraqi leadership and its involvement in other countries with large Shiite communities, especially Lebanon.

“Holding this execution at the start of Eid is only going to make relations worse between Sunnis and Shias,” said Nazem al-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 Saddam so quickly.

There were always serious risks to bringing Saddam 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, Saddam 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. airstrike in June, but members of his al-Qaida in Iraq still are carrying out suicide bombings against civilians and security forces.

Saddam’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 Saddam 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 pardon prisoners on the eve of Eid and delay any execution until well after the holiday.