Free Preview of Members-Only Content
To view the requested intelligence, you must be a Stratfor.com member.
U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet dependents are being evacuated from Bahrain in the wake of recent warnings from both the Departments of State and Defense about potential terrorist threats. With tensions running high in the region and the improved accuracy of recent State Department warnings, the timing is prudent.
U.S. officials issued two warnings on July 1: One from the State Department, calling for U.S. citizens to defer travel to Bahrain and for any citizens already there to seriously consider an immediate departure; the other from the Department of Defense, ordering the mandatory evacuation of all military dependents and non-essential personnel. The State Department issued a second communique on July 2, relocating embassy staff dependents and non-essential workers.
In each case, officials pointed to the possible presence of Islamist extremist groups within Bahrain and to credible intelligence that attacks were being planned against U.S. citizens. Bahrain's geographic proximity to Saudi Arabia -- the two countries are less than 15 miles apart and linked by the King Fahd Causeway -- also factored into the warnings. In fact, even before the alerts were issued, Bahraini authorities had increased security patrols around the causeway, citing credible evidence that Saudi militants might be targeting it for attack.
| Stratfor Members, please log in at the top left hand corner |
