The Shia insurgency in Bahrain is an ongoing

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...

militant groups, supported by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, to topple the

Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...

minority government of

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

History

Timeline

2011

*The insurgency began in 2011, with the start of the

Bahraini uprising of 2011 The 2011 Bahraini uprising was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the Shia-dominant and some Sunni minority Bahraini opposition from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and prot ...

2012

*On 10 April 2012, a bomb attack injured Seven policemen in Akr. *On 5 November 2012, at least five homemade bombs exploded in the nation's capital, killing 2 Asian workers and injuring another.

2013

*On 12 July 2013, a home-made bomb wounded Bahraini policemen outside the Shiite village, according to the interior ministry. State-media claimed it was "planted by terrorists" near the capital, Manama.

2014

*On 15 February 2014, one policeman was killed in a bombing. *On 3 March 2014, three policeman were killed in a bombing by

Al-Ashtar Brigades The al-Ashtar Brigades (''Saraya al-Ashtar'', named after Malik al-Ashtar), or AAB for short, is a Shiite militant group in Bahrain designated as a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, ...

, including an Emirati officer. *On 19 April 2014, two men were killed and another injured after their car exploded. They were suspected to be militants transporting explosives. *On 5 July 2014, policeman Mahmud Farid was killed in a bombing in

Eker Eker ( ar, العكر) is an area in Bahrain, located near the villages of Nuwaidrat, Ma'ameer and the island of Sitra. It is divided into 2 regions: East Eker and West Eker, with Shias making up the majority of the former's population.

village.

2015

*On 28 July 2015, a bomb killed two policemen and wounded six in Sitra.

2016

*On 30 June 2016, 1 person was killed and 3 injured after a roadside bombing. 2 people were arrested who were suspected of planting the bomb. Bahrain accused Iran's Revolutionary Guards for being behind the bombing, although this is only an accusation, and does not rule out the possibility of terrorism. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden expressed his concerns after the attack. The bombing was described as a "terrorist bombing". *On 1 July 2016, one woman was killed and three children injured in a bombing.

2017

*On 1 January 2017, one policeman was killed and a second injured in a jailbreak conducted by four-six armed men at

Jaww Jaww ( ar, جو) is a village on the south eastern coast of Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, an ...

prison. 10 inmates convicted of terrorist offenses escaped. *On 15 January 2017, three militants (Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima and Ali al-Singace) were executed for the 3 March 2014 bombing. *On 29 January 2017, a police officer in Bahrain was shot dead in an attack claimed by a Shi'ite militant group. *On 18 June 2017, a member of the security forces was killed and two others were wounded after a bombing in Diraz. *On June 19, a Shia militant accidentally blew himself up with an

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...

. *In June 2017, Saraya al-Mukhtar performs a

cyberattack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

on a former government official's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. *On 2 October 2017, five policemen were injured in a bombing in the village of Daih on Budaiya road. *On 27 October 2017, one policeman was killed and eight wounded in a bombing of a bus near the Jidhafs area. *On 10 November 2017, a bomb caused a fire at Bahrain’s main pipeline near Buri village.

2018

*On 7 February 2018, four members of the cell behind the bomb attack on the oil pipeline were arrested. *On 3 March 2018, 116 militants who were part of cells established by the

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

were arrested.

2019

*On 27 July 2019, two alleged militants were executed by the state on charges of terrorism. Both were allegedly involved in the January 1, 2017 killing of a prison guard that helped let 10 detainees escape, as well as the for the killings of two other police officers that month. The two were arrested in February 2017.

2020

*On 15 December 2020, the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

added the Saraya Al-Mukhtar (aka. Bahraini Islamic Resistance, aka. Al-Mukhtar Brigades, etc.) to the Specially Designated Nationals list, subjecting it to economic sanctions imposed by the United States. The sanctions were imposed due to their connections with Iran.

2021

*In November the

Bahraini government The Cabinet of Bahrain is the chief executive body of the Kingdom of Bahrain. According to Article 32 (b) of the 2002 Constitution, "executive authority is vested in the King together with the Council of Ministers and Ministers". The Council of M ...

says it has foiled an attempted attack by insurgents.

2022

References

{{Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict Rebellions in Bahrain 2010s conflicts 2020s conflicts 2010s in Bahrain 2020s in Bahrain Conflicts in 2011 Conflicts in 2012 Conflicts in 2013 Conflicts in 2014 Conflicts in 2015 Conflicts in 2016 Conflicts in 2017 Conflicts in 2018 Conflicts in 2019 Conflicts in 2020 Conflicts in 2021 2011 in Bahrain 2012 in Bahrain 2013 in Bahrain 2014 in Bahrain 2015 in Bahrain 2016 in Bahrain 2017 in Bahrain 2018 in Bahrain 2019 in Bahrain 2020 in Bahrain 2021 in Bahrain Wars involving Bahrain Shia–Sunni sectarian violence Bahrain–Iran relations Iran–Saudi Arabia relations Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict