1981 coup attempt by Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
As the Iran-Iraq war gained regional dimensions in the early 1980s, Iran looked for ways to outthinking Iraq and its regional backers. Iran had always laid claim to Bahrain as its “14th province” and tiny Bahrain was seen as an obvious first step towards making inroads on the Arabian peninsula.
In December 1981 the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, with Iranian funding and logistical support, staged a coup attempt against the Government in Bahrain. Their aim was to install Ayatollah Hadi Al-Mudarrisi as Bahrain’s supreme leader.
The plan was for commandos to arrive from Iran who would assassinate key officials and take over strategic institutions. They believed that the coup would be followed by a mass popular uprising in support; a theory adopted by other extremist Islamic groups which lacked a sufficiently wide support base to achieve any kind of popular uprising.
Although some Islamic Front personnel had received training alongside Palestinian militants during the 1970s, there was a lack of Bahraini Shirazi activists with military training. So many of the “commandos” were Saudis, Kuwaitis or Arabs of other nationalities who had flocked to Iran after the revolution and had been organized as the “Movement of Vanguard Missionaries”.
Militants from this Movement also were fighting for Iran against Iraq, making use of their Arabic skills for espionage activities. The Islamic Front’s own military commander was killed in the Iran-Iraq war.
The coup plot was uncovered in its early stages when suspicions were aroused by a group of men behaving suspiciously at Dubai airport. The plot unraveled as those already in Bahrain were rounded up, and their weapons and uniform stashes were uncovered
The 1981 coup attempt by the IFLB was a complete failure. Many members of the Front were arrested and the majority went abroad, to locations like London, Lebanon and Iraq.
Following related attempts to stir up unrest and revolution in other countries in the region, the Arab Gulf states came together and declared that the Iran-linked coup attempt in Bahrain was an attack against them all, giving further momentum to the embryonic Gulf Cooperation Council project, which had largely come into being as a result of the treat from Iran.
Origins of the Bahrain opposition: Other sections
A major divide within Shia Islam: Al-Da’wah and the Shirazis
Al-Da’wah and the Shirazis in Bahrain
The Da’wah current in Iraq
The Da’wah current in Bahrain
Why do Al-Da’wah & the Islamic Enlightenment society matter?
Origins of the Shirazi current in Bahrain
Consolidation and radicalization of the Shirazis
Differences between the Da’wah & Shirazi factions in Bahrain
Beginnings of labour activism and civil society movements
1953-56 unrest and the Higher Executive Committee
Emergence of left-wing, Marxist and Baathist parties
Whatever happened to Bahrain’s left-wing?
Who were the People’s Bloc?
Who were the Religious Bloc?
Religious Bloc versus the People’s Bloc in the National Assembly
Eclipse of the left
Politicization of Bahraini Shia
The influence of political Islam movements elsewhere
The influence of Ayatollah Khomeini
Politicization of religious festivals
The radicalizing influence of Iran’s Islamic revolution
Growing Shirazi radicalism
Exporting Iran’s Islamic Revolution
Al-Da’wah contacts with Iran’s revolutionary leadership
Changing Iranian allegiances
Saudi oppositionist movements
Announcing the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
Islamic Front aims and ideology
1981 coup attempt by Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain after the failed coup
The Shirazi movement loses favour in Iran
Declining influence: The Islamic front in the 1990s
Iranian support for Bahrain’s Al-Da’wah movement
Moving into the Iranian ideological orbit
What is Welayat Al-Faqih?
Breaking with Shia quietism
Ayatollah Isa Qassim and Welayat Al-Faqih
A new generation of Shia clerics
Hezbollah in Bahrain
References
Ali Alfoneh, 2012: Between reform and revolution: Sheikh Qassim, the Bahraini Shi’a, and Iran
Charles Belgrave, 1960 Personal Column; Hutchinson
Thomas Fibiger: The role of shrines among Shi’a Muslims in Bahrain; University of Aarhus
Thomas Fibiger, 2010: ‘Ashura in Bahrain: Analyses of an Analytical Event; Social Analysis: The International Journal of Social and Cultural Practice
Nelida Fuccaro, 2009: Ordering space, politics and community in Manama, 1880s–1919
Justin J. Gengler, 2011: Ethnic Conflict and Political Mobilization in Bahrain and the Arab Gulf; University of Michigan
Anissa Haddadi, 2012: Bahrain Uncovered: Divided Political Landscape
Bashar al-Hadi, 2005: Ulema’ wa adiba’ al-bahrain; Bait al-Bahrain lil-Darasat wal-Tawthiq
Hasan Tariq al-Hasan: Role of Iran in the Failed Coup of 1981: The IFLB in Bahrain; Middle East Journal; 2011
Timothy Insoll, 2007: Changing identities in the Arabian Gulf: The Archaeology of Identities: A Reader; Routledge
Mansour al-Jamri, 2010: Shia & the State in Bahrain; Integration & Tension
Sandy Russell Jones, 2007: The Battle over Family Law in Bahrain; Middle East Report
Miriam Joyce, 2012: Bahrain from the twentieth century to the Arab Spring: Palgrave Macmillan
Khalid Kanoo, 1998: The House of Kanoo: A Century of an Arabian Family Business; Tauris
Abdulhadi Khalaf, 1998: Contentious politics in Bahrain: From ethnic to national and vice versa
Fuad Khouri, 1980: Tribe and State in Bahrain, University of Chicago Press
Jane Kinninmont, 2012: Bahrain: Beyond the Impasse
Fred Haley Lawson, 1989: Bahrain: The Modernization of Autocracy; Westview Press
Laurence Louer, Political Impact of Labor Migration in Bahrain; Centre for International Studies and Research
Laurence Louer, 2008: Transnational Shia Politics; Columbia University Press
Abdul-Hameed Salem al-Mahadin, 2007: From the memory of Bahrain; Al-Markaz al-Arabiya lil-Dirasat wal-Nashr
Falah al-Mdaires, 2002: Shiism & Political Protest in Bahrain
Yitzhak Nakash, 2011 Reaching for Power: The Shi’a in the Modern Arab World; Princeton University Press
Katja Neithammer, 2007: Avenues of Political Participation in Bahrain
Sophia Pandya, 2010: Women’s Shia Maatams in Bahrain; Middle Eastern Women’s Studies
Fahim I. Qubain, 1955: Social Classes and Tensions in Bahrain; Middle East Journal
Hassan Ali Radhi, 2003 Judiciary and Arbitration in Bahrain: A Historical and Analytical Study; Brill
Mohammed Ghanim al-Rumaihi, 1973: Social & Political Change in Bahrain Since the First World War; Durham University
Mohammed al-Rumaihi, 1976: Qadaya al-taghayyr al-siyasi wa al-ijtima’I fi-al-bahrain; Al-Wahdah
Jean-Francois Seznec, 2012: Is Reconciliation in Bahrain Possible? Middle East Institute
Joe Stork, 1997: Bahrain’s Crisis Worsens; Middle East Report
Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir, 1987: Bahrain, 1920–1945: Britain, the Shaikh, and the Administration; Croom Helm
Dr Amal al-Zayyani: Bahrain; from political independence to international projection
Bahrain Wikileaks:
Reform in Bahrain: Mansour al-Jamri (re. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja)
Wafaa: New Shia rejectionist movement
Bahrain’s Shia opposition: Managing sectarian pressures
Some potential new leaders in Al-Wefaq
Bahrain al-Wefaq hails Iran Supreme Leader’s support
About Muharraq: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/7687/4/Ch-2_AboutMuharraq.pdf
Naturalization issue: http://gulfnews.com/4-971-asians-given-bahrain-nationality-in-56-years-1.253763
General regional references
Paul Aarts & Gerd Nonneman eds. 2005: Saudi Arabia in the Balance; Hurst
Nazih Ayubi, 2001: Overstating the Arab State; Tauris
David Commins, 2012: The Gulf States: A Modern History; Tauris
F. Gregory Gause, 2009: International Relations of the Persian Gulf; Cambridge
Fred Halliday, 1985: The Arabian Peninsula Opposition Movements; MERIP Reports
Khair El-Din Haseeb ed. 1998: Arab-Iranian relations: Centre for Arab unity studies
Mohammad Khalid A. Al-Jassar, 2009 Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City; Proquest
Toby Craig Jones, 2006: Rebellion on the Saudi Periphery: Modernity, Marginalization, and the Shiʿa Uprising of 1979; International Journal of Middle East Studies
Dr Christin Marschall, 2003: Iran’s Persian Gulf Policy: From Khomeini to Khatami; Routledge
Toby Matthiesen, 2012: A “Saudi Spring?“: The Shi’a Protest Movement in the Eastern Province 2011—2012; Middle East Journal
Toby Matthiesen, 2010: Hizbullah al-Hijaz: A History of The Most Radical Saudi Shi’a Opposition Group; Middle East Journal
Eric McCoy, 2008: Iranians in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates: Migration, Minorities, and Identities in the Persian Gulf Arab States; Proquest
Helem Chapin Metz, ed, 1993: Persian Gulf States: A Country Study: The Constitutional Experiment
Khaldoun Nassan Al-Naqeeb, 2012: Society and State in the Gulf and Arab Peninsula; Routledge
Madawi Al-Rasheed, 2005 Transnational Connections and the Arab Gulf; Psychology Press
Rush, ed. 1991: The Ruling Families of Arabia
Frederic Wehrey, 2013: Sectarian Politics in the Gulf: From the Iraq War to the Arab Uprisings; Columbia University Press, Dec 13, 2013