MANAMA, Bahrain — More than 1,000 troops from Saudi Arabia entered Bahrain on Monday at the request of the ruling family, a move that further polarized the tiny island nation and raised the chances of a violent confrontation with protesters demanding far-reaching reforms.
A line of armored vehicles carrying Saudi troops was shown Monday evening on Bahrain television crossing the 16-mile causeway that links the two countries. The force began taking up positions at strategic locations around the country, including the neighborhood that is home to the royal family, according to witnesses and Western diplomats.
The arrival of Saudi forces represents a major escalation of the crisis that has consumed Bahrain over the last month as protesters have demanded reforms aimed at ending what they claim is systematic discrimination against majority Shiite Muslims by the country’s Sunni rulers. There was no immediate sign that troops were positioning themselves near Pearl Roundabout, the traffic circle that protesters have occupied since last month.
The intervention came as protests intensified in recent days, with demonstrators closing down a major highway into Manama, the capital, raising questions about the future of the ruling Khalifa family. It came only two days after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Bahrain’s rulers and urged rapid and genuine reforms to meet the protesters’ demands.
But Bahrain’s turn to outside help appeared to raise concerns in the White House that Bahrain was preparing for a crackdown to quell the unrest. In a statement, the White House urged Saudi Arabia and any others countries dispatching troops “to show restraint and respect the rights of the people of Bahrain and to act in a way that supports dialogue instead of undermining it,” said Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
Bahrain is home to the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, and since the unrest began last month, U.S. officials have made clear their desire to see stability in the country. That position has sometimes appeared to put Washington at odds with the more militant protesters, who favor removing the royal family from power.
Saudi Arabia has long feared that unrest in Bahrain would spur protests among Saudi Shiites, who form a majority in the eastern part of the country, where the largest oil reserves are found.
A statement by the official Bahrain news agency described the Saudi troops as the first wave of a larger intervention by Bahrain’s Persian Gulf neighbors, whose mission, it implied, would be to restore stability.
Protesters near Pearl Roundabout were bracing for a possible crackdown Monday afternoon. “If they send them, they will kill us,” protester Abdullah Ali said of Saudi troops. “We are ready to be killed. Everyone’s ready here.” All around him, young men, some carrying sticks, milled around the tent city that has arisen in the roundabout.
