Recent remarks by a Bahraini cleric exiled to Iran underscore the Islamic Republic’s influence in that Gulf Arab state, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Delivering a eulogy at a funeral of a Shiite militant killed in an exchange of fire with Bahraini security forces, Murtada al-Sanadi said, “The choice of resistance is widening and spreading on the ground.”
“A confidential assessment by Bahrain security officials…names Sanadi as the leader of the Ashtar Brigades, a militant group that has carried out bombings and shootings directed at the kingdom’s police,” Reuters reported.
A Bahraini prosecutor said that fighters in this group receive weapons and explosives training in Iran and Iraq. Bahraini security reports indicate that Sanadi “receives funding from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and commissioned Ghasra [the deceased militant at whose funeral Sanadi was speaking] to organize the military training of Bahraini militants in Iran by the IRGC and in Iraq by the Hezbollah Brigades militia.”
The U.S. State Department designated Sanadi as a global terrorist last month. “This marks yet another step in our continued effort to aggressively target Iran’s destabilizing and terrorism-related activities in the region,” State explained. “AAB [al-Ashtar Brigades] receives funding and support from the Government of Iran – a state sponsor of terrorism. AAB has claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist attacks – some of which have resulted in casualties – mainly against police and security targets in Bahrain.”
“I’m proud that America considers me an enemy,” Sanadi declared last month.
Two months earlier, he called on the Bahraini opposition to use violence: “From today and hereafter, the period has changed. We in the Islamic Wafa Movement announce that we have begun a new phase as a tribute to the martyrs: one grip on the squares and one grip on the trigger!” In 2013, Sanadi said, “We are truly thankful to the Iranians, especially the leader of all Muslims, Ayatollah [Ali] Khamenei.”
[Photo: Tasnim News Agency]