Bahrain suspends Lebanon flights as tension rises

Bahrain has suspended its flights to and from Lebanon a day after it warned its nationals not to travel there following declarations of support by Iranian-backed Shia  group Hezbollah for protests by Bahrain’s Shia .

The decision highlights growing tensions in the world’s largest oil-exporting region between Sunni-ruled Arab countries and non-Arab Shia  power Iran, just across Gulf waters.

Bahrain’s state-run Gulf Air also said in a statement on its website that all flights to Iran and Iraq had been suspended until March 31, without giving a reason.

Iran, which supports Shia  groups in Lebanon and Iraq, has strongly criticised the intervention in Bahrain by its neighbouring Sunni-led Arab states.

Street protests against the intervention have also been held in Iraq and Lebanon, which along with Bahrain, are of the few Arab states where Shia s outnumber Sunnis.

‘This decision was taken after the irresponsible comments and stances from Lebanon against Bahrain, its people and leaders,’ state-owned Bahrain news agency cited a statement from the Civil Aviation Affairs department as saying.

Flights by Gulf Air and Bahrain Air to and from Lebanon have been suspended indefinitely, it added.

On Tuesday, Bahrain’s foreign ministry warned Bahrainis not to travel to Lebanon for their own safety and said the ban was due to threats and interference.

The ferocity of Bahrain’s crackdown on demonstrators, which banned protests, imposed martial law and called in forces from the island’s fellow Sunni-ruled neighbours, has stunned its majority Shias.

Saudi to hold municipal polls in April

Saudi Arabia is to hold municipal elections from April 23 at a time of pro-democracy uprisings across the Arab world, the official SPA news agency announced.

‘A committee has been formed... to oversee next month’s municipal council elections,’ it said in an official announcement late on Tuesday, adding that polling by regions would kick off on April 23.

The oil-rich absolute monarchy held landmark first men-only municipal polls in 2005, when Saudis elected half the members of 178 municipal councils across the Gulf state.