The Bahraini authorities on 6 January announced the arrest of members of the Basta Group, which received support and training from Iran’s Republican Guard and Hezbollah. The group was reportedly responsible for attacks in July last year which left two policemen dead.
One member of this group, Ali Fakharawi, had travelled to Iran where he arranged for logistic and financial support for the network. Fakhrawi reportedly met Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah during this visit who donated $20,000.
Iran has been seeking to increase tensions inside Bahrain and other GCC states, following Saudi Arabia’s execution of the cleric Nimr al-Nimr, alongside others who had been involved in acts of terrorism inside the Saudi Kingdom.
The international media widely reported protests in Bahrain following Al-Nimr’s death. However, most of the images relate to a couple of rallies in Sinabis and Jidhafs which contained a handful of individuals; along with a few minor skirmishes with police. Major opposition organizations like Al-Wefaq Islamic Society didn’t even appear to officially comment on these developments.
This indicates that only a tiny number of people were willing to go out on the streets at Iran’s behest in Bahrain. However, at the same time the activities of terrorist cells like Basta and Al-Ashtar shows that there are still small numbers of militants willing to do Iran’s bidding in order to murder policemen and stir up trouble.
Meanwhile, almost a year has gone by without us hearing anything substantive from Bahrain’s main opposition groupings. It is as if they have given up the aspiration to be politically relevant and are merely resorting to issuing periodic statements on their websites. In fact, a similar story can be related from most of Bahrain’s other political societies which were largely consigned to irrelevance during the November 2014 elections.
Some Western media outlets have been quick to accuse the Bahraini authorities of being opportunistic in announcing the arrest of members of the Basta terrorist cell only days after the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador. However, in reality this development occurs in the context of continuing activities by such groups and continuing efforts by the Bahraini authorities to halt them, as can be seen when looking at a catalogue of the major incidents over the past year:
Major terrorism incidents in Bahrain during 2015
- In mid-March the Bahraini authorities revealed details of a captured shipment of weapons originating from Iran intended for a terrorist group in Bahrain which had received training by Iran.
- In late March, a suitcase of explosives being transported from Iraq, headed for Bahrain, was impounded on the Saudi causeway. A month later more explosives were confiscated in the same location, this time headed from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.
- A 6 June raid on a house in the Bahraini village of Dar Kulaib resulted in the seizure of weapons including large quantities of C4 explosives, detonators and advanced circuitry. The location was revealed by an operative working for a cell formed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
- On 7 June the authorities announced that they had broken up the terrorist organization Al-Ashtar Brigades, which had been behind a series of attacks. Several members were arrested, while others took refuge in Iran.
- In mid-June, yet another seizure was announced of explosives originating from Iran and destined to be used in attacks in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
- On 14 July a militant was killed in Al-Eker while trying to plant a bomb to ambush policemen.
- On 25 July a shipment of weapons and explosives was impounded arriving from Iran. This follows earlier discoveries of several carloads of bomb-making materials on the causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
- On 28 July Bahrain endured the single worst terrorist atrocity in the Kingdom for well over a year, with two policemen dead and several fatally injured, following an explosion in Sitra.
- Police officer Wajdi Saleh was killed in a terrorist bombing in Karranah on 28 August.
- In late September the Bahraini authorities discovered a massive bomb-making factory in Nuwaidrat, stacked with several tonnes of materials provided by Iran. In the following days, Bahrain withdrew its ambassador to Tehran and Iran’s ambassador was expelled.
- On 7 January 2016 the Bahraini authorities apprehended a terrorist cell linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah. The cell went by the name of the Basta Group and was responsible for 28 July 2015 attacks which killed two policemen.