Bahrain sends back home Lebanese Nasrallah supporters

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

BEIRUT - Bahrain has expelled 16 Lebanese, 14 of them Shiites, over "security concerns" amid persistent unrest in the

Expect more retaliation

Manama expels Shiites in retaliation of Hezbollah backing protesters.

 

Sunni-ruled Shiite majority Gulf state, a foreign ministry official said Monday.

"The foreign ministry has been notified by Lebanon's ambassador to Bahrain Aziz Kazzi that the authorities there on Sunday asked six Lebanese to leave the country, after having expelled 10 Lebanese last week," the official said.

Kazzi told local media the Lebanese were expelled over "security concerns."

The news came after Bahrain's foreign minister accused Lebanon's Hezbollah of backing Shiite protesters against the Sunni monarchy in Manama.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had called on Bahrain on Saturday not to expel any Lebanese working in the kingdom, after Manama accused him of being the "leader of a terrorist organisation."

Hezbollah has also rejected accusations that it has been training members of the Shiite opposition involved in anti-government protests in the strategic kingdom and earlier this month denounced Saudi Arabia's military intervention.

But Nasrallah has repeatedly voiced support for the demands of the protesters.

Bahrain's security forces on March 16 crushed demonstrations on the streets of the capital Manama, two days after a joint armoured contingent from its Gulf Arab neighbours moved into the archipelago to back the government.

Security forces razed Manama's Pearl Square monument where demonstrators had been camped out for two months before being forcibly evicted.

The Shiite-led opposition says about 400 people have since been arrested.

Bahrain accused Iran and Hezbollah of fomenting sectarian protests.

 

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