The borders of the Middle East were drawn during World War I by a Briton, Mark Sykes, and a Frenchman, Francois Picot. The two diplomats' pencils divided the map of one of the most volatile regions in the world into states that cut through ethnic and religious communities. Later dubbed the Sykes-Picot treaty, the secret agreement was signed by Paris and London on May 16, 1916, to become the basis