country:bahrain

Hacker ‘Phineas Fisher’ Speaks on Camera for the First Time—Through a Puppet | Motherboard
▻http://motherboard.vice.com/read/hacker-phineas-fisher-hacking-team-puppet

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpyCl1Qm6Xs

Q: … between “authoritarian regimes” and “democratic” governments.

A: The essential function of law enforcement is the same. In all the FinFisher and Hacking Team customers where targets of the spying have been identified in Bahrain, Ecudaor, Mexico, Ethiopia etc, it’s all investigative journalists, dissidents, political opposition etc being targeted, never “standard” crime. The vast majority of law enforcement resources everywhere are dedicated to monitoring threats to those in power

#surveillance #hack #interview #puppet

Are Twitter Bots on Yemen and Bahrain Hashtags linked to News Broadcaster Saudi 24? | Marc Owen Jones
▻https://marcowenjones.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/are-twitter-bots-on-yemen-and-bahrain-hashtags-linked-to-ne

This morning, some fellow Tweeps alerted me to the use of similar bots on the #Yemen hashtag, so I did some preliminary tests. Sure enough, the same bots on the #Bahrain hashtag are using the Yemen hashtag to promote the idea of Iranian influence in Yemen, a common trope in Gulf politics. The accounts are indeed the same, and some have changed from Tweeting about Bahrain to tweeting about Yemen. Many still continue to tweet on the #Bahrain hashtag. The most common Tweets on the Yemen hashtag are;

العوين:مجئ الخوميني هو بداية الشر و اشعال الحروب في المنطقة ▻https://t.co/wkYWbGT3eG … #الشيخ_عيسي_قاسم #ايران #Iran #حزب_الله #yemen #Iraq

(translation: The appearance of Khomeini was the beginning of evil and the spread of wars in the region #Shaykh_Isa_Qasim, #Hezbollah, #Yemen, #Iraq, #Iran

توجيهات خادم الحرمين بايصال رسالة المملكة للعالم كله ومنها برنامج الإمامة في الخارج ▻https://t.co/QZif2VH3PP … #ايران #Iran #حزب_الله #yemen (The custodian of the holy mosques sends a message to the whole world….)

Of the 11,541 Tweets pulled from the Twitter API over an approximately 48 hour period, around 2,493 appear to be from bot accounts. In the sample, there were approximately 1172 individual bot accounts engaged in polluting the Yemen hashtag with the above tweets. You can see the spreadsheet data here. I have used the same methodology as in previous posts, but have not got into it here (happy to answer questions though)

The role of Saudi24?
What is interesting about virtually all the videos analysed on the #Bahrain and Yemen hashtag is that they contain links almost exclusively to the YouTube channel Saudi 24. Saudi 24 is a satellite channel that I am still trying to find more information on. Their Twitter account was set up in July 2012, before the automated Twitter activated seemed to begin. Their live link can be found here. Their website can be found here. The email address given on their Twitter bio is Info@saudi24.tv. They joined YouTube in January 2015, after many of the bot account had been created (On Youtube they have 12,501 subscribers and over 3,743,929 views ). This appears to be the Twitter account of the main presenter, Mohammad Rashid. Their rhetoric seems loosely aligned with state rhetoric. They are anti Islamic State, but antagonistic towards Iran, and sectarian towards the Shia. At the moment the link is speculative, but it does seem unusual that the bots should almost exclusively choose news clips from Saudi 24, when there are plenty to choose from that broadcast a particularly anti-Shia, anti-Iran, sectarian agenda.

Torture, imprisonment and killing – so what would it take for Bahrain to be criticised by Philip Hammond?
Once considered one of the more liberal Arab monarchies, Bahrain is turning into a police state as vicious and arbitrary as Egypt

Patrick Cockburn @indyworld Friday 8 July 2016 The Independent
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/bahrain-torture-imprisonment-killing-philip-hammond-human-rights-a712

Bahrainis are calling their government’s intensified repression of all opposition “the Egyptian strategy”, believing that it is modelled on the ruthless campaign by the Egyptian security forces to crush even the smallest signs of dissent.

In recent weeks leading advocates of human rights in Bahrain have been jailed in conditions directed at breaking them physically and mentally, while others, already in prison, have been given longer sentences. The Bahraini citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qasim, the spiritual leader of the Shia majority in Bahrain, was revoked and the headquarters of the main opposition party, al-Wifaq, closed and its activities suspended.

Bahrain, once considered one of the more liberal Arab monarchies, is turning into a police state as vicious and arbitrary as anywhere else in the region. Mass protests demanding an end to the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty’s monopoly of power during the Arab Spring period in 2011 were violently suppressed with Saudi military and financial help. The authorities agreed to an international investigation into what had happened that revealed widespread use of torture, unjust imprisonment and killings of protesters. Repression continued over the following five years but failed to eliminate entirely the protest movement, despite imprisoning at least 3,500 Bahrainis.

The Automation of Sectarianism: Are Twitter Bots Spreading Sectarianism in the Gulf? | Marc Owen Jones
▻https://marcowenjones.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/the-automation-of-sectarianism

The relevant thing is that hundreds of what seem to be automated Twitter accounts are repeating propaganda that conflates acts of violence, terrorism, and unrest, with both Arab Shia and Iran. This strongly suggests that institutions, people, or agencies, with significant resources, are deliberately creating divisive, anti-Shia sectarian propaganda and disseminating it in a robotic, but voluminous fashion. The problems here are numerous, yet such accounts can not only contribute to sectarianism (hard to infer causal relations from this), but create the impression that polices, such as the denationalisation of Isa Qasim, have widespread popular support.

It is also interesting to note that among the many hashtags used by these accounts are Da’ish, the derogatory term used to describe the Islamic State. It could be that they wish to tap into that wider audience, in the hope that the message gets out – entirely possible given the generous hashtagging the accounts engage in. While the notion of bot accounts is probably not news to anyone, the evidence here hopefully highlights that much online sectarian discourse is perhaps inflated by those groups or individuals with specific ideological agendas, and the means to do so. Of course we know PR and reputation management companies offer such services, yet their work is often done secretively and behind close doors. Would be interesting to find out who is behind this.

Bahrain revokes top Shia cleric Isa Qassim’s citizenship - BBC News
▻http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36578000

Bahrain has stripped the Sunni-ruled kingdom’s most prominent Shia cleric of his citizenship.
An interior ministry statement accused Sheikh #Isa_Qassim of using his position to “serve foreign interests” and promote “sectarianism and violence”.
The cleric, who holds the religious rank of ayatollah, has backed protests led by the majority Shia community for greater civil and political rights.

#Bahrein

Master Frames of the Syrian Conflict: Early Violence and Sectarian Response Revisited – Project on Middle East Political Science
▻http://pomeps.org/2016/06/09/master-frames-of-the-syrian-conflict-early-violence-and-sectarian-response-r
Un propose de Reinoud Leenders qui intéressera bcp de seenthisiens.

The narrative on defections

The master frame of the Syrian opposition on the conflict leaves a lot to explain. Starting with accounts of anti-regime violence embedded in army defections, the latter appear to have gained sizeable proportions only after anti-regime violence reached significant levels during the first few months of the uprising. We can roughly approximate the onset and evolution of anti-regime violence by looking at estimates of regime fatalities documented by the Violation Documentation Centre in Syria (VDC, see Figure 1) that, contrary to most other Syrian human rights organisations, does not limit its documentation to ‘martyrs’ of the revolution.[9]

Figure 1 Fatalities among regime forces by month (2011)

Figure1

http://pomeps.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Figure1-1.png

By and large, these estimates are congruent with the regime’s own claims of casualties suffered until August 2011 due to ‘terrorist’ activities.[10] Albrecht and Koehler’s estimates of desertion trends, based on their extensive interviews with deserted soldiers and officers, suggest that desertions only reached significant and growing levels by early 2012 while they were limited to much more isolated incidents prior to this date.[11] They add that only half of respondents effectively defected to the opposition, or actively joined armed rebel groups, thus further narrowing down the relevant numbers of deserters before the end of 2011. It thus appears implausible to attribute significant levels of early anti-regime violence solely or even predominantly to them.

[...]

The Syrian regime’s counter-revolutionary responses have been both brutal and perversely sophisticated as it unleashed an array of tactics and strategies against unprecedented challenges since 2011.[28] Arguably, virtually all of its responses and adaptations have been premised on its master narrative emphasizing a violent jihadist conspiracy fuelled by sectarian bigotry. It is not alone in this as other authoritarian regimes in the region, from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, similarly framed their clampdown on mass dissent and anti-regime mobilization by labelling their opponents as sectarian-driven, violent zealots or ‘terrorists.’ While from a scholarly perspective we should loudly reject such narratives as deceptive and self-serving, it does not follow that we should uncritically embrace revolutionary master frames. Apart from Nayruz Satik, as cited above, a few Syrian writers have courageously started to reassess the role of sectarianism and anti-regime violence. Yet ironically, some of their accounts tend to adopt the very cultural framework correctly resisted by activists and scholars alike.[29] More generally, we need to know how and why Arab regimes’ counter-revolutionary framing turned out to be so successful and enduring, at least in serving their determination to persist at all costs. Some of the answer, as I argued in the case of Syria, lies in the ways in which sectarianism resonated in existential fears triggered by the prospect of profound political change and fears of regime brutality. It points up to the ways in which regime repression was intentionally cast to trigger boundary activation and violent responses where sectarian threats were sensed at their most intimate level. It also features a revolutionary leadership that valiantly emerged out of decades of authoritarian rule but failed to prevent the cycles of sectarian violence that ensued. Pursuing this analytical perspective does not force us to trespass the slippery slopes of culturalism or to deny the regime’s brutality. Yet it may contradict revolutionaries’ own narratives.

Gulf Lobbyist Fails to Disclose Ties to Qatar in Media Appearances « LobeLog
▻http://lobelog.com/gulf-lobbyist-fails-to-disclose-ties-to-qatar-in-media-appearances

On Monday, MapLight’s Andrew Perez published an excellent investigation into Ed Rogers’ advocacy against the Iran nuclear agreement while working as an undisclosed lobbyist for Saud Arabia. Rogers’ behavior is particularly troubling since he registered as a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) seven months after signing a contract with the Saudis. In the time period between signing the contract and registering under FARA, Rogers published two columns in The Washington Post criticizing the Obama administration’s nuclear diplomacy with Iran, neither of which identified him as a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia.

Rogers’ actions may have violated the law due to the gap between the contract’s signing date and his registration under FARA. But other lobbyists for Sunni-Arab Gulf states have been slow to identify their paid roles when quoted as experts criticizing the White House’s Iran diplomacy.

One of the most prominent examples of this trend is J. Adam Ereli, U.S. ambassador to Bahrain from 2007 to 2011, a lobbyist for Qatar since January 2015, and an outspoken critic of the Obama administration’s efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

"#experts" et #incurie des #MSM

For archives purposes:
toile de fond de la situation à Bahreïn: 208 dénaturalisations en 2015 10 fois plus qu’en 2014 (21).

Bahrain: Alarming spike in expulsion of citizens arbitrarily stripped of their nationality | Amnesty International
▻https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/03/bahrain-alarming-spike-in-expulsion-of-citizens-arbitrarily-stripped-of-the

Breaking : Bahrain Regime Issues 9 Year Sentence against Sheikh Ali Salman - Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society
▻http://alwefaq.net/cmsen/2016/05/30/45360

Breaking: Bahrain Regime Issues 9 Year Sentence against Sheikh Ali Salman
in English Section, Slides en May 30, 2016

The First High Criminal Appeals Court in Bahrain has issued a 9 year sentence against the opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, also Secretary General of Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, today.
Al Wefaq said the sentence against Sheikh Ali Salman is unacceptable and provocative. Furthermore, it said the sentence indicates the regime’s insistence to ignore the calls for a solution to the crisis and entrenches the exacerbating political crisis in Bahrain.

U.S. Navy Fires Commander Over Iran’s Detention of 10 Sailors - ABC News
▻http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-navy-fires-commander-irans-detention-10-sailors/story?id=39079977

http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/ht_soldiers_video_02_jc_160113_12x5_1600.jpg

The U.S. Navy has relieved of command the head of a Riverine Squadron who oversaw the 10 American sailors who in January were held by Iran for 15 hours after straying into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

“Commander, Coastal Riverine Group (CRG) 1, relieved Cmdr. Eric Rasch of his duties May 12 as commanding officer of Coastal Riverine Squadron (CRS) 3,” said a statement issued by the Navy on Thursday.

According to the statement, “Rasch was relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.”

Rasch has been temporarily reassigned to another unit. He was responsible for the training and operational readiness of the 400 sailor squadron. Riverine boats provide maritime security in harbor areas as well as conducting escort support for U.S. Naval vessels.

Capt. Gary Leigh, commander of Command Riverine Group 1, relieved Rasch after his review of the results of the Navy’s investigation into the incident.

On January 12, two Navy Riverine craft and the 10 sailors aboard were detained by Iran after the craft strayed into the territorial waters off of Farsi Island. The two craft were en route from Kuwait to the U.S. Naval base in Bahrain. A Navy investigation found that faulty navigation equipment did not indicate the craft’s position in Iranian waters. Furthermore, one of the craft had mechanical problems that delayed their potential transit out of those waters.

Nowhere to run: Palestine marathoners race on short track - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/palestine-marathon-freedom-movement-women-inheritance.html

South African Mervin Steenkamp was the overall winner with a time of 2:35:26. Last year’s winner, Nader Al Masri from Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, was unable to defend his title.

Masri, along with more than 100 other Palestinians from Gaza, was not granted permission to make the 90-minute trip to Bethlehem. Speaking by phone from Gaza, Masri told Al-Monitor that he was disappointed not to come to Bethlehem after training very hard over the last four months. He said, “I was able to train on terrain similar to that of hilly Bethlehem and was able to bring down my time to 2:40.” Masri, who participated in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and 30 other races, said that he was also denied to travel to Bahrain and Baghdad to compete.

#palestine

The Gulf, explained in 40 maps - part 2

▻http://www.bq-magazine.com/economy/2013/09/gulf-explained-40-maps-part-2

http://www.bq-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Proven-oil-reserves.png

Middle East is the home of more than half of all proven conventional crude oil reserves in the world. However the single largest reserves do not lie in Saudi Arabia, but in Venezuela. As a region, GCC accounts for 34% of all proven reserves in the world, with Saudi Arabia possessing 18%, Kuwait 6.9% and UAE 6.6%. Other three GCC countries do not have such large quantities, with Qatar holding about 1.7% of world’s reserves, while Oman and Bahrain have a much smaller base.

#golfe #arabie_saoudite #énergie #pétrole

Sunday 21 February 2016 for archives

Britain lobbied UN to whitewash Bahrain police abuses | Politics | The Guardian
►http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/21/britain-lobbied-un-bahrain-human-rights-abuses

Britain lobbied UN to whitewash Bahrain police abuses
Documents indicate UK and Saudi Arabia worked to water down human rights statement

A Bahraini protester during clashes with riot police following a demo to mark the fifth anniversary of the Arab spring-inspired uprising. Photograph: Mohammed Al-Shaikh/AFP/Getty Images
Jamie Doward

Britain has been accused of waging a behind-the-scenes PR offensive aimed at neutering United Nations criticism of Bahrain for its human rights record, including the alleged use of torture by its security forces.

Bahrain’s young people mark fifth anniversary of Arab spring
Read more
Documents shared with the Observer reveal that the UN’s criticism of the Gulf state was substantially watered down after lobbying by the UK and Saudi Arabia, a major purchaser of British-made weapons and military hardware.

Singing the Qur’an : Blasphemy or religious devotion ?
▻http://www.al-bab.com/blog/2016/march/singing-the-quran-blasphemy-or-devotion.htm#sthash.AM4XhKXe.Nxsw7XE8.dpbs

The video above, from 2014, shows an Indonesian opera company giving the Qur’an a full choral and orchestral treatment. And – horror of horrors – it even includes female singers.
In Islamic terms, or at least the more puritanical interpretations, this is certainly controversial but it is difficult to argue that the intention behind it is in any way irreligious or disrespectful.

A few months later, Egypt’s highest religious authority, al-Azhar, issued a ruling on the Indonesian performance, describing it as “a deviation and a distortion”. Recitation of the Qur’an differs from singing, it said – and singing the Qur’an to a tune is forbidden. According to al-Azhar, adding a tune makes the Qur’an comparable to songs and reduces the capacity of the readers and listeners to understand the true meaning of the verses. (The full Arabic text of the ruling is here.)

Al-Azhar, of course, has no control over what happens in Indonesia, though its ruling was cited in the case of the Bahrain “singer”.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_q5EXpe4GI

Si vous n’êtes pas touché par la foi après ça ! Brian Whitaker propose deux autres « interprétations musicales » du Coran dans le mêmearticle.

#coran #islam #musique

You Need to Know About Bahrain’s Loneliest Tree - Facts So Romantic
▻http://nautil.us/blog/you-need-to-know-about-bahrains-loneliest-tree

http://static.nautil.us/8473_023d0a5671efd29e80b4deef8262e297_314x177.jpg

Bahrain’s “Tree of Life” is a beauty. Low and wide, its thick, craggy branches dive under the surface of the desert before curving back up toward the hot sun. Delicate, feathery leaves flutter at its edge.It’s also profoundly alone. Diminutive shrubs dot this sandy wasteland, but there’s not another tree in sight, across miles of open terrain.The Tree of Life is one of Bahrain’s major tourist destinations, located in the middle of the desert. Somehow, it has survived for hundreds of years with no obvious source of water.WikicommonsThe mystery of this old, lonesome tree has captivated locals, perhaps for centuries; today it is one of the Bahrain’s top tourist attractions, adorning souvenir mugs and drawing visitors like me from around the world to this barren part of the country. One local (...)

Oman Port Targets Bigger Iran Shipping Ties - gCaptain
▻https://gcaptain.com/oman-port-targets-bigger-iran-shipping-ties

Oman aims to expand shipping and trade links with Iran and get ahead of rivals after the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran, leading port officials involved say.

Measures were lifted last month as part of a nuclear deal with world powers, ending years of isolation which saw the international shipping sector cut ties and disrupt supplies to import-dependent Iran.

The United Arab Emirates previously enjoyed greater shipping activity with Iran but Oman’s nearby Sohar port is looking at expanding ties.

Oman could also benefit from a spat between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran which saw Riyadh cut ties last month and others like the UAE to downgrade relations. Annual UAE-Iran container trade pre-sanctions was estimated at 1.5 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units).

Reports cited by ship insurers pointed to a ban on all Iranian flagged ships calling at Saudi ports and neighbouring ally Bahrain.
[…]
Sohar, a 50-50 joint venture between the government of Oman and the Dutch port of Rotterdam, acts as the port authority and landlord and runs its 45 km freezone.

#Yémen : près de 40 morts dans un raid de la coalition menée par l’#Arabie_saoudite
▻http://www.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20160227-yemen-40-morts-raid-coalition-menee-arabie-saoudite-marche-sanaa

Des raids aériens menés par la coalition conduite au Yémen par l’Arabie saoudite auraient fait près de 40 morts samedi près de Sanaa. L’attaque a touché un marché de Nehm, dans la province de Sanaa. La plupart des victimes seraient des #civils.

#victimes_civiles

Britain lobbied UN to whitewash Bahrain police abuses | Politics | The Guardian
►http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/21/britain-lobbied-un-bahrain-human-rights-abuses

Documents shared with the Observer reveal that the UN’s criticism of the Gulf state was substantially watered down after lobbying by the UK and Saudi Arabia, a major purchaser of British-made weapons and military hardware.

The result was a victory for Bahrain and for Saudi Arabia, which sent its troops to quell dissent in the tiny kingdom during the Arab spring.

Bahrain’s five-year plan of repression | Middle East Eye
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/bahrain-s-five-year-plan-repression-1903103504

By the year’s close, Bahraini authorities had revoked the citizenship of at least 208 people, showing no distinction between activists, average people, and actual terror suspects.

Once stripped of their citizenship, these people are left with three choices: find a sponsor willing to risk government pressure, go to jail, or face exile. Simply put, the Bahraini government is now wielding citizenship as just another weapon in the fight against dissent, willfully abandoning its own people to statelessness in retaliation for free expression.

Bahrain denies ‘inaccurate’ Syria remarks | GulfNews.com
▻http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/bahrain-denies-inaccurate-syria-remarks-1.1666836

The ambassador stressed that these remarks were inaccurate and reiterated the Kingdom of Bahrain’s commitment to fighting terrorism alongside its allies. Bahrain is ready to commit ground troops to Syria as part of a US-led coalition against Daesh, the country said on Friday, a day after its larger neighbour and close ally Saudi Arabia announced a similar pledge.

On Friday, Reuters published comments attributed to Shaikh Fawaz that Bahrain would commit troops to operate “in concert with the Saudis” under what he called a unified military command of Gulf Arab states.

According to the statement, he added that the UAE was also ready to commit troops, echoing an assertion made late last year by UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash.

Bahrain, Oman Cut Gas Subsidies | Al Jazeera America
▻http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/12/bahrain-oman-cut-gas-subsidies-as-oil-hits-12-year-low.html

On Tuesday, gas prices at the pump rose by up to 60 percent in Bahrain, climbing to $1.25 per gallon for regular gasoline and $1.60 per gallon for premium fuel. Hundreds of people lined up at gas stations a day earlier to fill their cars before the higher prices went into effect.

The tiny island-nation in the Gulf ended subsidies on meat and poultry in October, increasing consumer prices between three and four-fold. Bahrain plans to make further cuts in electricity and water subsidies in March.

Earlier this month, Bahrain cut government subsidies for diesel and kerosene. 

Meanwhile, Oman said it would reduce gasoline subsidies starting Friday, with prices set to rise by 33 percent for premium fuel and 23 percent for regular fuel.

The moves come as crude prices closed Monday at $31.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — the lowest in 12 years.

The dip in global oil prices has cut into the revenues of oil-exporting countries, including many Gulf Arab states where citizens have become accustomed to generous government subsidies and state handouts.

Saudi Arabia in December raised petrol prices by 50 percent as part of subsidy cuts for petroleum products, power and water, after the country posted a record $98 billion budget deficit for 2015.

The United Arab Emirates has liberalized fuel prices, while Kuwait lifted subsidies on diesel and kerosene from the start of 2015.

Deux navires de la marine américaine appréhendés par l’Iran
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2016/01/12/deux-navires-de-la-marine-americaine-apprehendes-par-l-iran_4846171_3218.htm

http://s2.lemde.fr/image/2016/01/13/534x0/4846173_6_471a_cette-photo-fournie-par-l-armee-americaine_f2c59b3538a6d47d2225ed975dd9407e.jpg

Deux bateaux légers de la marine américaine, avec à leur bord 10 marins, ont dérivé dans les eaux territoriales iraniennes et ont été appréhendés par Téhéran, mardi 12 janvier.

Les Etats-Unis ont obtenu de l’Iran l’assurance que les marins étaient « en sécurité » et pourraient « rapidement » poursuivre leur voyage, a indiqué le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche.

Selon un autre responsable américain, le secrétaire d’Etat John Kerry a été en contact téléphonique avec son homologue iranien Mohammad Javad Zarif sitôt qu’il a eu vent de l’incident pour tenter de trouver une issue. Les deux diplomates ont noué, au fil des longues négociations sur le nucléaire, des relations personnelles malgré l’interruption, il y a 35 ans, des relations diplomatiques entre leurs deux pays.

Le commandement américain a perdu le contact avec les deux bateaux alors que ces derniers effectuaient une patrouille, de routine selon Washington, entre le Koweït et Bahreïn. Aucune explication n’a été fournie sur les raisons pour lesquelles les navires se sont retrouvés dans les eaux iraniennes. Un responsable américain, toujours sous couvert d’anonymat, a évoqué l’hypothèse d’une panne touchant l’un des deux navires, les faisant dériver tous deux vers l’île iranienne de Farsi, au milieu du Golfe persique.

On Iran-Saudi rift, Gulf Arab states tread with caution
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-iran-gulf-states-idUSKCN0UP1TL20160111

Gulf Arab states rallied dutifully behind Saudi Arabia when it cut relations with Iran last week, recalling their ambassadors and cancelling flights to Tehran in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters.

But all apart from Bahrain stopped short of severing ties, responses that suggest these small states - energy powers but military minnows - wish to safeguard strategic interests and avoid a full-blown conflict with Iran in which they would fare poorly.

#Arabie_saoudite #Iran #Golfe

Non traduit en français.

19 DECEMBER 2015
Bahrain warns of fake activists after UK convicts Bahraini dissident of terrorism | Middle East Eye
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/bahrain-warns-fake-activists-after-uk-convicts-bahraini-dissident-ter

Abdul Raof al-Shayeb, 51, was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison by a court in East London.

Shayeb was convicted of terrorism charges after police found a cache of material on his computer, which included military files on bombs, missiles, and destruction, as well as images of him wearing army clothes.

Some of the material was found when Shayeb was stopped four months ago at Gatwick Airport after arriving on a flight from Baghdad.

The prosecution said he possessed information “to bring down [the Bahraini] regime by stealth and force, and by terror tactics".

Shayeb was awarded asylum in the UK on the basis that he was a human rights activist in Bahrain, where, he said, he was imprisoned on numerous occasions and tortured for taking part in anti-government protests.

Gunmen attack Shia center in Bahrain | Al Bawaba
▻http://www.albawaba.com/news/gunmen-attack-shia-center-bahrain-791856

Armed assailants have attacked a Shia religious center in Bahrain, inflicting severe damage to the building.

Local residents and witnesses said the attack was carried out in the village of Wadyan, Sitra, which is located south of the capital, Manama, during the early hours of Monday.

They said the attackers, riding a vehicle, fled the scene after spraying the building of Al-Marzouq Hussainia hall with bullets.

Photos circulated on social media networks show the building badly damaged and its windows shattered.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the incident. However, activists have accused some operatives of the ruling Al Khalifah family of carrying out the latest attack.

Several Shia religious gatherings and centers have come under attack in Bahrain and neighboring Saudi Arabia in recent months.