Kingdom Condemns Iranian Statement
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned a statement issued by Iranian authorities that demanded Saudi Arabia to pull its forces out of Bahrain and describing the Saudi policy in the Gulf as playing with fire.

An official source of the Saudi government said, "It condemned in strong terms the irresponsible statement issued in the name of the Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy of the Council of Iranian Islamic Shoura which described the Saudi policy in the Gulf region as playing with fire and demanded the Kingdom to withdraw its forces from Bahrain," the Saudi Press agency reported on Friday.

"The statement (of the Iranian committee) ignores the premeditated interference in the internal matters of the countries in the region violating the sovereignty and independence of those countries. It also attempts to stoke sedition and incite trouble with hostile policies contravening international laws and norms and principles of good neighborliness. The latest instance of Iran's brazen interference was in Kuwait where it used a network, linked to the Iranian mission, to plot against that country," the Saudi statement said. Continue reading and comment » | ARAB NEWS | Friday, April 01, 2011

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Iran Calls on Saudi Arabia to Pull Forces Out of Bahrain
PEOPLE’S DAILY ONLINE: Iran's Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Thursday called on Saudi Arabia to pull its forces out of Bahrain, the official IRNA News agency reported.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the lawmakers warned Saudi Arabia "not to play with fire" in the Persian Gulf and asked Saudis to pull their forces out of Bahrain, the report said.

The statement urged Saudi Arabia not to follow "the wrong polices of the U.S. in the region," consider its own interests as well as the interests of the Muslim world and help restore tranquility and security to the region, according to the report. » | Source: Xinhua | Friday, April 01, 2011

Saudi Deployment in Bahrain Risks Sectarian Conflict
THE JERUSALEM POST: Analysts say the unique Saudi move has crossed a red line for Iran which may prompt it to intervene as a counterweight.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to deploy security forces in embattled Bahrain threatens to escalate a domestic political dispute in the island state into a sectarian confrontation with Iran, whose reverberations may be felt as far afield as Iraq and Lebanon, analysts said.

Saudi Arabia, together with security personnel from the United Arab Emirates operating under a mandate from the Gulf Cooperation Council, has placed 2,000 soldiers and police in Bahrain. At the cost of four lives, scores of injured and the imposition of martial law, calm has been restored. A week after the March 14 deployment, businesses, the stock market and schools were re-opening.

But analysts said the Saudi move – the first ever by one Arab state intervening militarily in another since the onset of the so-called Jasmine Revolution three months ago – has crossed a red line for Iran and may prompt it to intervene as a counterweight.

A tiny country with no oil of its own, Bahrain nevertheless holds a strategic place in the Gulf. It is home to the US Fifth Fleet and is adjacent to Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil fields. Its Sunni Islamic monarchy is close to the Saudi ruling house as well as the US, but some 70% of its population shares the Shi'ite faith of Iran, Riyadh’s rival for regional supremacy.

“Iran sees it as an attack on the international Shi'ite community,” Theodore Karasik, director for research and development at the Dubai-based Institute for near east and Gulf Military Analysis. “Also, they have claimed Bahrain in the past, as a historical claim, is Iran’s 14th province. That kind of rhetoric is a portent for the future.” » | David Rosenberg / The Media Line | Monday, March 21, 2011

Saudi Shi'ite Protests Simmer as Bahrain Conflict Rages
REUTERS: Hundreds of young Shi'ite men marched down a commercial street in the Saudi city of Qatif, near the heart of the kingdom's oil industry, pounding their fists in anger over their country's military intervention in Bahrain.

"With our blood and soul we sacrifice for you, Bahrain," they chanted as they walked, according to videos of a recent protest posted on the internet. Some wore scarves to conceal their faces. Others waved Bahraini flags.

"People are boiling," one Shi'ite activist in Qatif told Reuters by phone, asking not to be named for fear of arrest. "People are talking about strikes, demonstration and prayer to help the Bahrainis."

The protests were in response to Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and most powerful Gulf Arab state, sending troops to Bahrain last week to help quell weeks of protests by majority Shi'ites in the Sunni-led monarchy. Bahrain's opposition called it a declaration of war.

Riyadh, facing Shi'ite protests of its own, fears a sustained revolt in neighboring Bahrain could embolden its own Shi'ite minority, which has long grumbled about sectarian discrimination, charges Riyadh denies.

The military intervention, however, appears to have only deepened Shi'ite resentment in the kingdom, where between 10 and 15 percent of the 18 million Saudi nationals are Shi'ites.

Leading Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Hassan al-Saffar has called for Gulf leaders to find a political solution.

Saudi Shi'ites, inspired by pro-democracy protests across the Arab world that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia, have held sporadic protests in a handful of eastern towns over the past three weeks.

"Before the start of revolution in Tunis, people felt rather incapable of making a difference," activist Tawfiq al-Seif said. "They (now) feel they can make a difference." » | Cynthia Johnston | QATIF, Saudi Arabia | Monday, March 21, 2011

Qatar Has Sent Troops to Bahrain
AHRAM ONLINE: Qatar officials acknowledges sending troops to Bahrain as part of GCC forces

Qatari troops are part of the Gulf forces deployed to Bahrain to put down Shiite-led protests against the Sunni dynasty there, said a Qatari military official.

"The duty of the Qatari force participating in the Peninsula Shield force is to contribute in restoring order and security" in Bahrain, Qatar news agency QNA quoted Colonel Abdullah Al-Hajri as saying late Thursday.

This is the first official confirmation of Qatar's contribution to Gulf troops in Bahrain.

"As a Qatari force we are receiving our orders from the head of the joint Peninsula Shield Force. There are no Qatari forces outside the Peninsula Shield" in Bahrain, Hajri said.

Earlier this week, more than 1,000 Saudi troops and around 500 Emirati troops entered the strategic Gulf kingdom, home to the US Fifth Fleet.

The move was met with strong criticism from Iran and followed by Tehran and Manama withdrawing their respective ambassadors. » | AFP | Friday, March 18, 2011

Inside Story - Foreign Troops in Bahrain
As neighbouring countries send troops to Bahrain, are they containing instability or spreading it?

Inside Story - Saudi Intervention in Bahrain
The world's eyes on threatening white clouds billowing over damaged nuclear plants in Japan, but at another point of crisis a continent away Saudi-led troops cross the border into their Gulf neighbour Bahrain. Is the core of sectarian divide about to be exposed? And could the fallout become regional?

Why Has Bahrain Decided to Call in the Troops?
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Bahrain monarchy's reflexive fear of Iran drove its decision to call out Saudi Arabian troops

"That programme must be stopped," thundered Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Bahrain's King, in 2009. "The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it."

King Hammad's deep fears about Iran's nuclear programme, contained in a leaked diplomatic cable recording his conversation with a US military commander, help explain his decision call in Saudi Arabian troops to help quell the protests now sweeping the tiny Gulf emirate.

The protests are modest by standards of the protests sweeping the Middle East: there has been no violence, like in Libya, nor a giant, regime-threatening mass mobilisation, like in Egypt. Last month, seven protesters were shot dead by police – but most experts agree the violence was caused by the excessive use of force by authorities, not uncontrollably-large protests.

Bahrain, though, sees the protests through the prism of its relationship with its militarily-powerful neighbour – which it fears could use the religious affiliations of the majority of the emirate's population to sweep the monarchy aside.

The central issue is this: Bahrain's rulers are Sunnis, the descendants of the central Arabian Bani Utbah clan who seized power in 1783. Four in five people they rule, though, are Shi'a, linked by faith and politics to Iran. For decades, Bahrain's rulers allowed raiders from central Arabia to pillage Shi'a villages – and Bahrain's democratic movement isn't, its leadership has been pointing out, exclusively Shi'a: the two sects haven't had significant problems coexisting, and share concerns ranging from unemployment to housing.

The Shi'a do, however, have a unique problem with the monarchy. Even though four in five of Bahrain's citizens are Shia, for example, they make up just 60 per cent of the military, a consequence of fears that the community had been radicalised by the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

Bahrain's Shi'a are also under-represented in the bureaucracy, which is increasingly staffed by puritanical Salafists hostile to Bahrain's majority on theological grounds. » | Praveen Swami, Diplomatic Editor | Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Bahrain Declares Martial Law as Protesters Clash with Troops
THE GUARDIAN: Kingdom's rulers tell police and army to take all measures against uprising but deny Saudi soldier was killed

The streets of Bahrain's capital, Manama, have again erupted in violence as the kingdom's besieged monarch declared martial law and ordered troops - including Saudi forces - to take all measures to quell a festering rebellion.

The clashes had been anticipated since more than 1,000 troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states arrived in Bahrain on Sunday, after being invited by the ruling dynasty to help restore order.

Demonstrators and security forces faced off from mid-morning in the Sitra area on the outskirts of Manama. Bystanders reported the sound of gunfire and the scent of teargas by early afternoon, followed by the familiar cacophony of ambulance sirens as they sped casualties towards the city's two main hospitals.

By late afternoon, there were numerous reports of clashes inside Shia villages throughout Manama that had led to dozens of injuries.

At least nine people were admitted to hospital with moderate to serious injuries. Hospital officials reported that two victims had what appeared to be gunshot wounds. Many more appeared to be unconscious as they were wheeled into wards amid chaotic scenes. » | Martin Chulov | Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Related material here and here

Saudi Troops Enter Bahrain
Mar 14 - Analysts say the troop movement signals concern in Saudi Arabia that its own Shi'ite minority could follow the Shi'ite majority in Bahrain. Deborah Lutterbeck reports

REUTERS: Saudi sends troops, Bahrain Shi'ites call it "war": Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to help calm weeks of protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island called a declaration of war. » | Lin Noueihed and Frederik Richter | MANAMA | Monday, March 14, 2011

Saudi Arabia Polices the Region as Trouble Stirs at Home
THE GUARDIAN: The Saudi regime is stepping up its regional security role, but it is clear that it is not immune from 'contagion'

Saudi Arabia's decision to send troops into Bahrain to help stabilise the country following violent anti-government demonstrations marks another stage in Riyadh's reluctant emergence as a regional policeman at a time when the Arab world faces unprecedented turmoil.

The Saudi move, requested by Bahrain's embattled Sunni Muslim royal family, is motivated primarily by self-interest. If Bahrain, with its majority Shia population, succumbed to an Egyptian-style popular uprising then the regime in Riyadh would fear, rightly, that its oil-rich eastern province, where many Shia live, might be next.

But Saudi actions are also influenced by larger geostrategic considerations. One is Riyadh's close military and economic alliance with the US – its defender of last resort – which in effect embraces Bahrain, home to the US fifth fleet. The move by the Gulf Cooperation Council will not have come without prior consultation with Washington.
Another crucial consideration is Riyadh's intensifying rivalry with Iran, which has powerful political and religious aspects (Iran is majority Shia Muslim, Saudi Arabia is majority Sunni).

The developments in Bahrain follow stepped-up Saudi involvement in other regional flashpoints. They include Lebanon, where King Abdullah tried unsuccessfully last year to persuade Syria and Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah to take a less confrontational line; and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has supported the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, an American ally, against Iranian-backed rebels and al-Qaida infiltrators.

The Saudis have also been actively involved, with the Obama administration, in international efforts to forge an Israel-Palestine settlement, another regional running sore exploited by Iran. The Saudi peace plan of 2002 remains the most likely basis for ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Saudi efforts to keep a lid on unrest in the region extend to Oman – like Bahrain, a relatively poor country that acts as a base for the US military. Read on and comment » | Simon Tisdall | Monday, March 14, 2011

Saudi Arabian Troops Sent to Bahrain as Protests Escalate
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: More than 1,000 Saudi Arabian troops have been deployed in Bahrain, following fresh protests over the weekend that pitted protesters from the tiny Gulf monarchy's Shia majority against riot police.

Local residents say they saw Saudi troops driving across the causeway that links the two countries early on Monday.

There was no official comment on the presence of the troops, but a Saudi official said "the force will work under the directions of the Bahraini government and protect vital facilities like oil and power."

The opposition Wefaq movement, however, described the presence of the troops as "an undeclared war" and "a blatant occupation."

Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bahrain's crown prince offered opposition groups a dialogue on Sunday, but added that "right to security and stability transcends any other consideration." Prince Salman's offer came after protesters after barricaded a road leading into its financial district on Sunday, a working day in the Kingdom, sparking off a two-hour street battle with police.

The clashes were the worst since February 17, when seven protesters were shot dead by police The protests broke out soon after Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, met Bahrain's king to persuade him to undertake reforms Washington believes are necessary to prevent Iran from capitalising on the arrest. » | Diplomatic Editor | Monday, March 14, 2011

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North Korea Masses 50,000 Troops on Border
THE TELEGRAPH: North Korea has completed deployment of about 50,000 special forces along the border with South Korea, amid high tensions over the sinking of a Seoul warship.

The deployment began two or three years ago and seven 7,000-strong divisions are now in place, an unidentified senior government official told Yonhap news agency.

"The threat that North Korea may infiltrate special forces for limited warfare has become real," the agency quoted a separate senior defence ministry official as saying.

The defence ministry refused to confirm the Yonhap report, but President Lee Myung-Bak discussed the North's special warfare capabilities at an unprecedented meeting Tuesday with 150 top officers from all armed services. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Dutch Cabinet, Balkenende's Fourth, Collapses
NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: The Dutch coalition government fell in the early hours of Saturday morning because it could not come to an agreement over whether to extend the Netherlands' military mission in Afghanistan.

Labour, the second largest party in his three-party alliance, is quitting what had always been an uneasy partnership with the bigger Christian democratic CDA and junior partner ChristenUnie, a small orthodox Christian party.

After a 16-hour cabinet meeting in The Hague last night, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende gave a brief press statement explaining the parties have no confidence left in each other. "Where there is no trust, it is difficult to work together," Balkenende said. "There is no road left for this cabinet to walk."

Labour leader, and now ex-finance minister, Wouter Bos had given the cabinet a Friday deadline to confirm it would withdraw all 1,600 Dutch soldiers from the Afghan province Uruzgan no later than December 2010. The CDA and ChristenUnie refused to comply with his demand, which goes against the explicit wish of Nato for the Netherlands to stay longer. The Nato secretary general filed an official request for the extension of the Dutch mission earlier this month. >>> AP, NRC | Saturday, February 20, 2010

NRC HANDELSBLAD INTERNATIONAL: Nato flabbergasted by Dutch reaction to troop request: Dutch politicians asked for an official Nato request to keep troops in Uruzgan. The current political infighting in The Hague is raising eyebrows at the organisation’s headquarters. >>> Petra de Koning in Brussels | Friday, February 19, 2010

More Troops for Afghanistan? Non, Mr President!
MAIL ONLINE: France is to stop sending soldiers to Afghanistan, Nicolas Sarkozy has announced.

It comes as leaders in Germany revealed plans to send more troops - but only to train local security forces and help with elections.

The decisions defy U.S. President Barack Obama's call for more troops from Europe. He had piled pressure on Nato allies after vowing to send up to 30,000 more troops to the country last year.

Mr Obama believed more troops were needed to fight a growing Taliban insurgency.

The French President yesterday said he would consider sending more trainers and civilian helpers in the hope of improving the efficiency of the Afghan Army.

But he ruled out extra soldiers to carry out these duties.

Mr Sarkozy said in a live interview on TF1 television on Monday night: 'If there is a need for more people to train, to help the police to undertake civil engineering, to help the population, to help Afghanisation, why not?

‘But combat troops? No.’ France and Germany risk diplomatic row after snubbing Obama's call to send more troops to Afghanistan >>> Peter Allen and Mail Foreign Service | Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Rudd Sets Date for Iraq Pull-Out
THE GUARDIAN: Australia's new leader, Kevin Rudd, has said he will pull his country's troops out of Iraq by mid-2008, fulfilling a promise he made during the election campaign.

Rudd said he would meet Robert McCallum, the US ambassador to Australia, soon to discuss the precise timing of the withdrawal.

The 50-year-old politician, who will be sworn in as prime minister on Monday, has said he believes the presence of troops in Iraq has made Australia more of a target for terrorism.

"The combat force in Iraq we would have home by around about the middle of next year," Rudd said in a radio interview in the southern city of Melbourne. >>> By Barbara McMahon

Mark Alexander