Peaceful protesters killed in Bahrain today

[High_Gravity]

Protestors doubt Bahrain dialogue will end crisis

(Reuters) - Bahrain launches a national dialogue on Saturday but majority Shi'ites are skeptical the ruling Sunni monarchy is willing to offer the sort of concessions that could heal wounds caused by a crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The kingdom, which hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has accused its majority Shi'ite population of leading pro-democracy protesters according to a sectarian agenda backed from Shi'ite power Iran, across Gulf waters.

In March, Bahrain's Sunni rulers imposed emergency law, inviting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send troops and tanks into the island as local forces cleared the streets of protestors.

Inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that toppled rulers in those countries, Bahrain's Shi'ites called for fairer political representation as a way to end what they believe was systematic discrimination in access to jobs and social services.

"We need to ensure this dialogue quickly offers real political situations to create stability," said Wefaq spokesman Khalil al-Marzouq. "Otherwise the situation will explode again."

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa said "all options" were on the table" for negotiation at the conference on the tiny Gulf island nation, which is expected to last for at least a month.

But with protests erupting daily in the Shi'ite villages ringing the capital Manama, opposition groups complain they are under-represented at the meeting and warn democratic reforms must come quickly to avoid more unrest.

Reflecting the deep societal divide and mistrust of the talks, Wefaq, the leading Shi'ite opposition group, had not decided whether to attend the gathering just 24 hours before the start.

Bahrain has offered some concessions ahead of Saturday's talks. It established a panel to investigate deaths and arrests that Shi'ites bore the brunt of after the protests, and plans to withdraw most, though not all, Saudi troops.

National dialogue spokesman Isa Abdulrahman said the dialogue offered an opportunity for reform and easing Sunni and Shi'ite divisions that threaten the country.

"The goal is to reach a consensus with everyone, it's not about a vote. This is about bringing together all elements of Bahraini society to heal this nation so that it can move forward to a brighter future," he told Reuters.

The forum has received hundreds of proposals for discussion and if delegates agree some reforms, the king could later sign them into law.

However, critics are skeptical much will come of a forum. Just 35 of the 300 seats have been given to opposition groups, who say they will be unable to push for increased powers for a lower parliament whose authority is neutered by the king's appointed upper Shura council.

Protestors doubt Bahrain dialogue will end crisis | Reuters

 

[bareed]

High_Gravity, how can I thank you?

 

[Ropey]

High_Gravity, how can I thank you?

You just did.

 

[High_Gravity]

High_Gravity, how can I thank you?

You don't have to man, I'm just trying to keep this story alive.

 

[High_Gravity]

Saudi Arabia will dominate Bahrain talks

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia doesn't have a seat at Bahrain's crisis talks, but it carries a critical voice in everything from the tone of debate to the eventual offers on the table.

After four months of Shiite-led protests and harsh crackdowns, Saudi Arabia has become the protector, patron and political gatekeeper for Bahrain's Sunni monarchy in the Gulf leadership's front-line fight against the Arab Spring.

How Bahrain's rulers approach the talks — whose first official session is scheduled for Tuesday — largely depends on how far Saudi Arabia is willing to allow concessions on its tiny Gulf neighbor. For the powerful Saudi royal family and its Gulf partners, Bahrain represents a line that cannot be crossed.

Any setbacks by Bahrain's 200-year-old ruling Al Khalifa dynasty is considered a threat to all monarchs and sheiks in the Gulf — and a possible opening for Shiite power Iran to make headway among the pro-Western Gulf states anchored by Saudi Arabia.

"Bahrain is crucial to Saudi national interest and Riyadh will provide it with all they have to show they are committed to preserving the rule of the Khalifas," said Ayham Kamel, a Middle East analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington.

Bahrain's Shiites account for about 70 percent of the kingdom's population, but claim they are the target of systematic discrimination including being effectively blocked from top military and political posts. Their protests in February — inspired by wider Arab uprisings — have been by far the biggest challenge to any Gulf ruler in decades.

Saudi King Abdullah deployed about 1,000 troops to lead a Gulf military force to reinforce Bahrain's monarchy, which launched widespread arrests and martial law-style rule to smother the protests for greater rights. At least 32 people have been killed in the unrest in the strategic nation, which is home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The Saudi king also sent millions of dollars to pull the tiny neighbor's royals from the brink of bankruptcy and even married off one of his sons to a daughter of the Bahraini monarch.

"It's a powerful act, the royal wedding," said Rima Sabban, a Dubai-based sociologist. "It has nothing to do with love or passion. A marriage like that is strictly political."

Iran has relentlessly assailed Bahrain's rulers for crackdowns against the country's Shiite majority and called the Saudi-led Gulf force an "occupation" army.

There is no strong evidence of any Iranian links to Shiite political groups in Bahrain, however. Opposition leaders repeatedly denied Iran had any role in the uprising and demanded that the Saudi-led force leaves the kingdom before any talks begin.

"The presence of foreign troops is part of Bahrain's problem, not the solution," said Ali Salman, the leader of Bahrain's largest Shiite opposition party, Al Wefaq.

The Associated Press: Saudi Arabia will dominate Bahrain talks

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain jails three for spying for Iran

DUBAI — Bahrain has sentenced one of its citizens and two foreigners to 10 years in prison for spying for Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Bahrain's high criminal court sentenced "three defendants to 10 years in prison for spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, one of them a Bahraini and two others" who worked as diplomats in Iran's embassy in Kuwait and were sentenced in absentia, the daily reported.

The prosecution said the three "spied from 2002 until April 2010 in the Kingdom of Bahrain and abroad," and gave the Guards economic and military information, including the locations of military, industrial and economic installations, Akhbar al-Khaleej said.

The Bahraini was recruited while visiting relatives in Kuwait, it said, adding the Iranians had also spied on the Kuwaiti military, US forces in Kuwait, and oil installations in the emirate.

In Tehran, a foreign ministry official rejected the reports as "incorrect".

"There is no information regarding arrest or sentencing of Iranian nationals in Bahrain," a ministry official in charge of Middle East affairs, Hossein Amir Abodolahian, told Mehr news agency.

"There had been past reports that an Iranian national had been arrested and tried by a Bahraini court... Our consul then met with him and it turned out he did not have Iranian nationality," he added.

In early April, Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats it accused of working for an Iranian spy ring, reportedly since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Iran in response expelled "several" Kuwaiti diplomats. The row also prompted the Gulf state to recall its ambassador from Tehran.

Iran and Kuwait have, however, reportedly exchanged ambassadors again.

Manama has along with other Gulf states repeatedly accused Iran of interference in Bahrain in connection with Shiite-led pro-reform protests in the tiny Gulf kingdom that were crushed in a bloody March crackdown by security forces.

AFP: Bahrain jails three for spying for Iran: report

 

[High_Gravity]

Reconciliation talks between Bahrain govt., opposition futile: cleric

TEHRAN, July 8 (MNA) – The leader of this week’s Friday prayers in Tehran has said that the reconciliation talks between the Bahraini government and the opposition are futile, emphasizing Muslims should come to power in the strategic island bordering the Persian Gulf.


“They hold reconciliation meetings to divert attention, but this is of no use. Bahrain should be conquered by Islam and Muslims,” Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said.

“The Unites States forces in Saudi army clothes should be expelled from Bahrain and Islam should prevail in the country,” he noted.

“What are the Bahraini people demanding? They only say each person should have one vote… Why are they being killed?”

On the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s indictments against four Hezbollah members over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Jannati said the U.S. and Israel are seeking revenge for the Zionist regime’s ignominious defeat during the 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006.

“Hezbollah is powerful… and the Americans should know that Hezbollah is invincible,” the Guardian Council chairman said.

He also described the UN tribunal as a “rubber-stamp” one, saying the Americans and Zionists are manipulating SLT to attack Hezbollah.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=243801

 

[High_Gravity]

Iraq appeals to Bahrain for footballer's release

BAGHDAD — Iraq appealed to Bahraini authorities to release an Iraqi football player who was detained in the Gulf kingdom this year during anti-government protests, Iraqi football officials and diplomats said Sunday.

The president of the Iraqi Football Association, Najeh Hamoud, told The Associated Press that Baghdad is trying to "secure the release" of Zulfiqar Naji, a 16-year-old player on the junior team for Bahraini club Al Muharraq.

"We are working quietly on this matter with Bahrain's government and with Bahraini sports representatives," Hamoud said.

The player's father, Abdulameer Naji, told the AP in a phone interview on Sunday that his son was taken into custody from their Bahrain home in April on suspicion of participating in protests against the monarchy.

Abdulameer Naji denied his son took part in demonstrations.

"He never left the house, he was always at home," the player's father said. "He was arrested because some of his friends in prison mentioned his name when they were questioned. They said that their friend, Zulfiqar, was in protests on the street. But he was not."

Bahraini football and government officials could not immediately be reached to comment.

Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abbawi confirmed the country's ongoing efforts to obtain the release of the young player from Bahrain's custody.

"The Iraqi foreign ministry asked in a letter to Bahraini foreign ministry about the case of Iraqi football player, arrested in Bahrain," Abbawi told the AP on the phone Sunday.

"We are following up this subject and efforts continue to secure his release," Abbawi said.

At least three players for Bahrain's national team have been detained since February when Bahrain's Shiite majority started a wave of demonstrations for greater freedoms in the Sunni-ruled island nation. One of them was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

Hundreds of opposition supporters, protesters and at least 150 athletes and sports officials have been detained since Bahrain imposed martial law in March to quell dissent. Dozens have been tried in a special security tribunal with military prosecutors, including Bahrain's two national team players, Mohammed and Alaa Hubail.

Earlier this month, Mohammed Hubail received a two-year prison sentence for joining anti-government protests.

Iraq appeals to Bahrain for footballer's release - USATODAY.com

 

[Ropey]

The house of Saud is powerful indeed. The war (Sunni / Shia) is being fought on many levels and the buildup is clear.

Follow the military shipping routes.

 

[High_Gravity]

The house of Saud is powerful indeed. The war (Sunni / Shia) is being fought on many levels and the buildup is clear.

Follow the military shipping routes.

The Saudis are all up in Bahrains business, the Saudis will not allow the Bahrain regime to fall because a new Shite Bahrain on their doorstep would pose a problem, and give Iran even more reach in the arena.

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain Shiite Muslims Walk Out Of Political Talks With Sunni Monarchy

MANAMA, Bahrain -- Two senior members of Bahrain's biggest Shiite party say its delegates have walked out of talks with the island kingdom's Sunni rulers, saying they are not serious about addressing Shiite demands for greater rights and political freedoms.

Hadi al-Mosawi says Al Wefaq members left Tuesday's session after a Sunni delegate referred to Bahrain's Shiite majority with derogatory terms.

Khalil al-Marzooq says he's advised the party's top leaders to withdraw from the U.S.-backed talks entirely and a final decision will be made by Thursday.

Al-Marzooq told The Associated Press the government is not interested in political reform, making the dialogue meaningless.

The U.S. has encouraged dialogue after months of protests by Shiites and a crackdown that has killed at least 32 people.

Bahrain Shiite Muslims Walk Out Of Political Talks With Sunni Monarchy

 

[High_Gravity]

Bahrain Shiites reiterate call for majority-led govt

DUBAI — Bahrain's main Shiite opposition bloc has reiterated its demand for a government led by the parliamentary majority, in a statement released after a dispute during a national dialogue.

"The solution to the political crisis is through the acceptance of (its) demands," and that "any other option would only deepen the crisis," the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Since the July 2 debut of the national dialogue, which is aimed at forwarding political reforms after Shiite-led protests were crushed in a bloody crackdown in March, Al-Wefaq has called for a government led by the parliamentary majority.

The group won 18 of 40 seats in the most recent parliamentary elections, but its MPs resigned to protest violence against demonstrators.

On Tuesday, a Sunni representative in one of the dialogue sessions called Shiites "naturalised rejectors (of Islamic orthodoxy)," in reference to the Iranian origin of some members of the community to which a majority of Bahrainis belong, Al-Wasat newspaper reported.

In reaction, Al-Wefaq's representatives walked out of the meeting, which was dealing with reforming naturalisation laws.

Naturalisation was a major issue in the February-March protests in Bahrain, where many Shiites accuse the kingdom's Sunni rulers of naturalising Sunnis in a bid to change Bahraini demographics.

Al-Wefaq said in the statement that it would, however, not be "intimidated by manoevers of sabotage" at the dialogue.

Shiites are a majority of the population of Bahrain, which is ruled by a Sunni dynasty.

The bloc decided at the last minute to participate in the dialogue, encouraged by the international community, including the United States, whose Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain.

AFP: Bahrain Shiites reiterate call for majority-led govt

 

[High_Gravity]

Jailed Bahraini poet released

DUBAI — A Bahraini activist jailed for reading a poem at a pro-reform protest has been freed, Amnesty International said on Friday, calling for conditions allegedly attached to her release to be dropped.

"Ayat al-Qarmezi, a poet and university student at the Faculty of Teachers in Bahrain, sentenced to one year in prison for reading a poem, was released on July 13," the rights group said in a statement.

"Shortly after her release, Amnesty International talked to her lawyer and family, who said that Ayat was well and happy to be free. However, her release is reportedly conditional on not travelling outside Bahrain or speaking to the media about her detention," it said.

"Amnesty International is calling on the authorities to remove any that have been imposed, to annul her conviction and to clarify her current legal status," the statement said.

Qarmezi read a poem addressed to Bahrain's King Hamad at a February protest in the capital Manama.

"We are the people who will kill humiliation and assassinate misery / Don't you hear their cries, don't you hear their screams?" it said.

Shiite-led protesters calling for reforms in Shiite-majority but Sunni-ruled Bahrain demonstrated from mid-February until mid-March, when security forces carried out a bloody crackdown on the demonstrators.

Authorities said that 24 people, mostly protesters, were killed in the unrest. Hundreds of activists were arrested in sweeps that continued after the protests were quashed.

AFP: Jailed Bahraini poet released: Amnesty

 

[bareed]

Zainab AlJuma died after suffocation from extensive use of tear gases today in Sitra

 

[High_Gravity]

The other side of radicalization in Bahrain

In a July 6 interview with Egyptian journalists carried in the Al-Ahram daily, a leading Bahraini revealed that his country's February uprising was "by all measures a conspiracy involving Iran with the support of the United States," the latter aiming "to draw a new map" of the region. "More important than talking about the differences between the U.S. and Iran," he insisted, are "their shared interests in various matters that take aim at the Arab welfare."

Who is this Bahraini conspiracy theorist? A radical Arab nationalist, perhaps? Or a leader of the popular Sunni counter-revolution that mobilized successfully against the Shia-led revolt? Not exactly. In fact, he is none other than Marshall Khalifa bin Ahmad Al Khalifa: Minister of Defense, Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defense Force, and, as his name indicates, a prominent member of Bahrain's royal family. His outburst decrying American duplicity in Bahrain is but the latest in a string of similar incidents and public accusations that once more raise the question of political radicalization in Bahrain. But this time, in contrast to the usual narrative, the radicalization is not emanating from the country's Shia majority.


The rise of this anti-American narrative among Bahrain's pro-government Sunnis can be traced back, ironically, to a March 7 protest in front of the U.S. embassy in Manama organized by Shia political activists. Those present condemned the muted if not outright hostile American response to their then still-hopeful popular revolution. A seemingly trivial detail of that demonstration -- a box of doughnuts reportedly brought to the protesters by the embassy's then-Political Affairs Officer, who had ventured outside to hear their complaints -- provided fodder some weeks later for a widely-circulated online article portraying the official as a veritable enemy combatant. Photographs of him and his family, along with his local address and phone number, would soon appear on militant Salafi forums, where readers were urged to take action against this Hezbollah operative. Within a few weeks, the U.S. embassy had a new Political Affairs Officer; the old one had been very quietly sent home.

Around the same time, Bahrain's most hawkish government newspaper, Al-Watan, ran a series of editorials detailing the U.S.'s alleged duplicitous dealings in Bahrain. Titled "Washington and the Sunnis of Bahrain," the articles chronicled a wide range of U.S. policies and institutions meant to undermine Sunni rule of Bahrain and of the Arab Gulf more generally. These include the State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative, the National Democratic Institute, Human Rights Watch, and the (subsequently "reorganized") American Studies Center at the University of Bahrain.

In late June, this series gave way to a new and even less-subtly titled one: "Ayatollah Obama and Bahrain," which draws on the president's Muslim name to portray not only a country whose strategic interests have led it to abandon the Arab Gulf to Iran, but a U.S. president who harbors personal ideological sympathies for the Shia. Spanning nearly a dozen issues from June 26 to July 6, the articles ended only after an official protest by the U.S. embassy.

This is more than a mere media campaign. Bahrain's largest Shia opposition society, al-Wifaq, held a festival last weekend to reiterate its demand for an elected government to be submitted at this week's sessions of an ongoing National Dialogue conference. Loyalist Sunnis countered with a rally of their own, one aimed not at domestic policy but at ending U.S. "interference" in Bahraini affairs. A 15-foot-wide banner hung directly behind the speakers' podium bore the flags of "The Conspirators Against the Arab Gulf," -- the United States, al-Wifaq, Hezbollah, and Iran. Below it was the message: "Bahrain of the Al Khalifa: God Save Bahrain from the Traitors."

The Other Side of Radicalization in Bahrain | The Middle East Channel

 

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To everybody who want to now how riot police killing people now,watch this video

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-9l_b0AmyY]‫[/ame]

 

[bareed]

Rockets on standby near Riffa #Bahrain , what for ? yfrog.com/kgxpcej

 

[High_Gravity]

Charity urges Bahrain to stop targeting medics

Human Rights Watch has urged the Bahraini authorities to halt what it said was a “systematic campaign” to intimidate doctors and other medical staff suspected of sympathising with recent anti-government protests.

The New York-based rights group said on Monday that more than 70 medics have been arrested since March in a crackdown that followed unrest in Bahrain. Forty-eight medical staff are currently on trial, charged with inciting attempts to overthrow the ruling Al Khalifa family and other offences under Bahraini law.

“The Bahraini government’s violent campaign of intimidation against the medical community and its interference in the provision of vital medical assistance to injured protesters is one of the most egregious aspects of its brutal repression,” Human Rights Watch said in a report and open letter to the government.

The Bahraini authorities have denied that they are targeting members of the medical community. However, at the time of the unrest the authorities accused doctors and others treating demonstrators, drawn mainly from Bahrain’s majority Shia community, of deliberately inflicting additional wounds.

The government responded to the youth-driven protests by forcibly clearing the Pearl roundabout, the rallying point of the demonstrations. About 30 people died as a result of the violent unrest in February and March. Nearby Salmaniya hospital, where many of the medics now on trial worked, was another focal point of the unrest.

The protests by the Shia enraged the island’s large Sunni minority, which has rallied more fiercely than ever around hardliners in the monarchy and is even less willing for the Shia to be granted more rights

The Human Rights Watch report was released after Wefaq, Bahrain’s largest Shia opposition group, said on Sunday it was withdrawing from a national dialogue set up by the government in an attempt to defuse lingering tensions. Wefaq said that it was under-represented in the council which is conducting the national dialogue.

Troops from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council remain in the country after they were sent to maintain security, although a state of emergency has been lifted. Protests have largely subsided, but a government crackdown against suspected sympathisers has continued.

Facing international pressure, King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa last month formed an independent commission to investigate the violent unrest. Officials said the five-strong commission will be headed by Cherif Bassiouni, a US-based UN war crimes expert and law professor nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The king will be sent the commission’s public report by October 30.

Charity urges Bahrain to stop targeting medics - FT.com

 

[High_Gravity]

BAHRAIN: Iran's Khamenei sabotaged dialogue talks, official claims

A top Bahraini official accused Iran of scuttling a potential deal between the government and the opposition during a weekend dialogue that went nowhere.

Fahad Ebrahim Shehabi, a spokesman for the Bahraini parliament, said the talks were going well until the main Shiite Muslim opposition, Wefaq, pulled out because of Iran, which opposes Bahrain's Sunni monarchy.

“The withdrawal of Wefaq came early in the negotiation process, whereas other opposition figures who have been supporters of Wefaq stayed in the negotiation process," he told Babylon & Beyond in an interview. "This is because the decision is not in their hands; it is in the hands of the Wilayet Faqih," a reference to Iran's concept of theocratic rule by its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Wefaq has a different agenda," he said. "They want an Islamic state under Wilayet Faqih and they received a green light from Tehran to withdraw from the negotiations.”

Shehabi did not cite proof. And opposition activists said the talks were disastrous because the entrenched Sunni monarchy of King Hamad Khalifa did not participate in the so-called dialogue, instead dispatching a bunch of toothless intermediaries.

Shehabi's comments may show a paranoid world view by the Bahraini government or be another attempt to paint the opposition as a tool of the country's large and unpopular northern neighbor, casting the ongoing repression against activists and dissidents as an attempt to stamp out an Iranian plot.

Wefaq has strenuously denied that it is a puppet of Iran. Opposition activists criticized the absence of top government officials, including representatives of the monarchy.
"We didn’t participate in dialogue because we knew that it would neither end the political turmoil nor be productive in any way,” said Nabeel Rajab, vice president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, an opposition group. “The problem is between the people, the ones who are protesting, and the ruling family, the king, the prime minister. So then how can a negotiation that does not include one of the parties involved in the conflict be productive?"

Instead of bringing the country's principal players together, "the regime invited civil society organizations to attend who have in the past legitimized the regime to participate. The regime hides behind these civil society groups but aren’t themselves present. What good is that?”

He added, "The regime set the agenda, set the timeframe, set everything, but they themselves were not present. The opposition wants to negotiate with the decision makers not the NGOs. We need to address our demands to the people who are in power — to the ruling family.”

Bahraini security forces, aided by Saudi troops, have largely crushed an opposition movement on the island nation, where a Sunni monarchy rules a Shiite majority. Massive protests this year were inspired by uprisings throughout the Arab world -- including in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Libya, where rebels have the full support of the Arabian Peninsula monarchies.

Shehabi insisted that the protests and crackdown in Bahrain differed from the uprisings across the region.

“Bahrain is an exception," he said. "The protests have been pre-prepared. As far as organization and mobilization is concerned, the protest movement is like Hezbollah," the Lebanese Shiite militant group.

"The protests resemble the Iranian revolution that brought [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini to power," he said. "They want to remove the whole system. We can’t do that."

He also described pictures and videos of hundreds of thousands in the streets as "fabrication" and "acting.”

BAHRAIN: Iran's Khamenei sabotaged dialogue talks, official claims - latimes.com

 

[High_Gravity]

Navy Staying in Bahrain, State Department Says

WASHINGTON -- American officials are denying press reports that the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain, was considering a move out of the strife-ridden port.

“We are aware of these reports, which do not reflect the views of either the departments of State or Defense," a State Department official told The Huffington Post.

"Diplomatically, we regard Bahrain as an important partner, while the U.S. Navy has a long-standing relationship of more than 60 years with Bahrain, which is a vital member of our Combined Maritime Forces, supporting regional maritime security and stability.”

The latest report, which appeared Thursday in The Australian, contends that officials in Washington had grown increasingly wary of the Kingdom’s recent crackdown on anti-government protesters, and was looking for a new home for the fleet.

The Fifth Fleet is the Navy’s central presence in the Middle East, and it stands guard over vital waterways between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. It has also played an instrumental role in combating piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Speculation that the Navy might move the Fleet dates back to this spring’s anti-government protests in Manama, Bahrain's capital. Observers have suggested that the Fifth Fleet's presence in Bahrain has impeded the Obama administration’s ability to take a hard line with the regime.

In contrast to its response to the popular uprisings in Syria and Egypt, the administration has pursued a more gentle approach of engagement in the Gulf, with Obama hosting Bahrain's crown prince at the White House just last month.

“The United States continues to support all of the ongoing efforts that are necessary to promote reconciliation among Bahrainis and to advance necessary reforms,” the State Department official said.

Navy Staying in Bahrain, State Department Says