The conflict in Bahrain has taken on new regional and sectarian implications, after the tiny Gulf emirate entered into a war of words with the leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement, Hizbullah, and cut off air links between the two countries..
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, which is allied to Iran, opened a new front in the struggle after the Saudi deployment, with sharply critical remarks, calling the Saudi action “murder.” Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry condemned Nasrallah’s statement, calling him a "representative of a terrorist organization," a rare case of an Arab government using that label to describe an Arab militant group. On Wednesday, Bahraini national carriers Bahrain Air and Gulf Air suspended their flights to and from Lebanon indefinitely.
A statement issued by Bahrain’s civil aviation authority made clear that the severing of air links was more than a symbolic movement. Positioning Bahrain within the broader framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), whose membership includes the super-wealthy, oil-exporting Arab countries of the Gulf, the statement hinted it was intending to strike a blow to Lebanon’s economy.
The Bahraini threats were picked up loud and clear by anti-Hizbullah elements, both Sunni and Christian, in Lebanon. Lebanese parliament member Antwan Zahra noted that 600,000 Lebanese worked in GCC states, contributing through remittances to a third of Lebanon’s economy.