"Pigs Fly Moment" - Arab World Precedent: Bahrain Adds Hizbullah To List Of Terrorist Organizations.

"Pigs Fly Moment" - Arab World Precedent: Bahrain Adds Hizbullah To List Of Terrorist Organizations.HT: Memri.By: R. Goldberg.


On April 7, 2013, the Bahraini government approved a proposal by parliament to compile a list of terrorist organizations and to enter Hizbullah onto it, and ordered the interior and foreign ministries to take steps to implement this resolution. This is an unprecedented move in the Arab world, which comes after the exposure of terrorist cells and attacks in Bahrain that are attributed to this Lebanese Shi'ite organization, and following Shi'ite protests in the kingdom that began in February 2011, which the Bahraini government claimed had been guided and funded by Iran and Hizbullah.
The Bahraini authorities' fear of involvement in the country by Hizbullah and Iran stems from their fear that Iran could use Bahrain's largely Shi'ite population to take over the country and make it an "Iranian province." In this context, it should be mentioned that a July 2007 article published by the editor of the Iranian daily Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari, stated, among other things, that "Bahrain is part of Iran's soil, having been separated from it through an illegal conspiracy [spawned] by... Shah [Pahlavi, in conjunction with] the American and British governments. The principal demand of the Bahraini people today is to return this province, which was separated from Iran, to its mother, Islamic Iran..."[1]
The Bahraini government press praised Hizbullah's inclusion in the list of terrorist organizations and saw it as "the fulfillment of a popular demand;" conversely, the Shi'ite opposition, led by the Al-Wefaq movement, condemned the move, claiming that the Bahraini regime is the one that uses terrorism against the Bahraini people and against those demanding reforms. It should be mentioned that Iran also condemned the Bahraini move, but Hizbullah itself has yet to comment.
Following the Bahraini decision, voices were heard calling for the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to take a similar step, and the Bahraini parliament speaker disclosed that such a move is, in fact, being considered.
Bahraini Authorities: Iran And Hizbullah Behind Shi'ite Terrorist Elements In Bahrain
Since 2011, mass Shi'ite protests have been taking place in Bahrain against the Sunni Al-Khalifa regime and in demand of political reforms. The Bahraini regime does not see these protests as an authentic expression of popular demands, but rather as a blatant interference by Iran in Bahrain's internal affairs, meant to topple the regime and transform Bahrain into an extension of Iran. In the same vein, Bahrain accuses Hizbullah of acting on Iranian orders to destabilize the country. In April 2011, two months after the start of the protests, the Bahraini government sent a report to the UN secretary-general accusing the Shi'ite Hizbullah of striving to topple the Bahraini royal family and of training Bahraini opposition activists in Lebanese and Iranian camps. The report claimed that Bahraini Shi'ite opposition officials had met with Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other officials in the organization.[2] The Al-Wefaq opposition movement denied these accusations in a statement: "[The demands for political reform] have been made for a long time and did not emerge in the recent period, nor are they motivated by any external element."[3]
Hizbullah and Iran have often been accused of working to destabilize Bahrain. The Bahraini press has reported on the exposure of Iranian espionage and terrorism cells that planned attacks on vital Bahraini and U.S. installations in the country. Thus, for example, in November 2011, the Qatari interior ministry announced the discovery of a terrorist cell tied to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which had planned to carry out various attacks in Bahrain, including on the Saudi embassy and the King Fahd Bridge, which connects Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.[4] The daily Al-Emarat Al-Yawm revealed that the cell members had received military training from an individual affiliated with the IRGC and the Iranian Basij.[5] Several months later, in July 2012, the Bahraini authorities accused Hizbullah of orchestrating the escalation of violence in the country and of planting 100-kg bombs that were discovered in Bahrain.

In November 2012 several blasts occurred in the Bahraini capital of Manama, which killed several Asian foreign laborers. Here as well the Bahraini authorities pointed the finger at Hizbullah, claiming that the explosives carried the organization's "fingerprints." Following the blasts, Bahraini Information Minister Samira Rajab said: "The blasts were carried out by terrorist groups that were trained outside the country and were based in several countries, including Lebanon."[7] Several months later, in February 2013, the Bahraini authorities announced the apprehension of a terrorist cell of eight members, all Bahraini, called Jaysh Al-Imam.[8] According to the Bahraini interior minister, the members of the cell had been trained in IRGC bases in Iran and Hizbullah bases in Iraq, and had planned to carry out attacks on vital and sensitive sites in Bahrain, including American ones, and also target Bahraini officials to destabilize the country's security and economy.[9]
Bahraini Government Spokeswoman: Adding Hizbullah To List Of Terrorist Organizations – A Vital Move To Protect Bahrain
On April 7, 2013, the Bahraini government approved the parliamentary proposal, submitted on March 26, 2013 by MP Jassem Al-Sa'idi, to compile a list of terrorist organizations which would include Hizbullah.[10]
Addressing the government's decision, Information Minister and Government Spokeswoman Samira Rajab told journalists that Bahrain operates according to international standards in order to protect itself from terrorism, and that the government had "taken a step forward in protecting Bahrain against terrorist organizations" and had "charged the authorized bodies to take decisive steps against these dangerous organizations." She also mentioned the international list of terrorist organizations, and stated that Bahrain is benefitting from global experience in this matter.Read the full story here.