Bahrain Feature: The Clouds of Tear Gas and Death Gather Once More

Clouds of tear gas cover Dar Kulaib village last night

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Yesterday began as just another day in Bahrain, from cool to mild. By night, however, things had gone cloudy across the country --- clouds which signalled tear gas rather than impending rain. On the latest occasion in two months, Bahrain's protesters found themselves beaten back and collectively punished, not just on the streets but also inside their homes. Despite the regime's proclamations of "reform" and "national dialogue", since December, the situation has gone from bad to worse.

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The Latest from Iran (27 January): Pilgrims and Soldiers

A photo of five abducted Iranian "engineers", with their Syrian cook --- are they the five captured "Iranian soldiers" shown in a video from Syria?

See also Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures "Iranian Soldiers"

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1730 GMT: Sanctions Watch. A significant note from Bloomberg explains the potential impact of the new European restrictions on Tehran's trade:

European Union sanctions on Iranian oil will extend to about 95 percent of tankers because they are insured under rules governed by European law. The International Group of P&I Clubs insures all but 5 percent of the global tanker fleet and its 13 member clubs follow European rules to participate in the claim-sharing pool, said Andrew Bardot, the London-based secretary and executive officer. Carrying Iranian oil would invalidate the ships’ cover against risks including spills and collisions, he said.

“Any EU-regulated insurer will not be able to provide insurance to cover any ship engaged in the carriage of Iranian oil and petrochemicals to the EU and elsewhere,” Bardot said by phone yesterday. “We have already notified ship owners of the effect on their trading activities and our ability to cover.”

While the embargo on Iranian oil only covers the EU’s 27 member states, the extent of the region’s role in insuring ships will curb trade globally....

Vessels carrying oil from the nation will have to use “questionable” insurance, said Simon Schnorr, the London-based marine client director at Aon Risk Solutions, a unit of the world’s largest insurance broker....

“The EU ban on related insurance and re-insurance means that owners or operators with no EU link who seek to transport Iranian oil will be caught even if there is no EU element to the shipment itself,” Michele White, Intertanko’s general counsel, said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. “This is now a highly restrictive and volatile environment in which we feel our members cannot trade without risk of breaching EU or indeed the myriad of other sanctions against Iran.”

Ship owners will struggle to find insurance that doesn’t comply with EU law and whose provider has the funds needed to meet the “standard cover provision” of $1 billion for pollution liabilities, Schnorr said. Ships without valid insurance would be barred from entering most ports, he said.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Blanket of Tear Gas, A Battle in Homs

1832 GMT: As we continue to investigate the case of the captured Iranian engineer/soldiers in Syria (see our latest updates), a former auditor for the Syrian military has said that the Syrian government was paying Iranian snipers, some affiliated with Hezbollah, as military "consultants," but their real job was to act kill protesters and members of the opposition:

SYRIA is deploying large numbers of Hezbollah and Iranian snipers as "military consultants" to murder anti-regime protesters, a senior government defector has told The Times.

The salaries of the marksmen are paid through a slush fund replenished with US dollars flown in from Iran, according to Mahmoud Haj Hamad, who was the treasury's top auditor at the Defence Ministry until he fled Syria last month.

The same fund is used to pay the Shabiha, the gangs of thugs who have joined the state security services in torturing and killing protesters...

"The Syrian intelligence weren't qualified, they didn't have decent snipers or equipment," he said in an interview. "They needed qualified snipers from Hezbollah and Iran."

Both have tight military ties with the regime of President Assad, a member of the Alawite sect, a sub-group of the Shia branch of Islam.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Getting Behind the Stories of "Revolution" (Aissa)

Claimed footage of a crowd in Homs greeting defecting troops of the 4th Brigade

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Given the weaknesses of all the Syrian opposition and activists groups at present, however, it is critical to avoid even the suggestion that the opposition could transform into something of a monolithic force in the near future. This discounts the reality of its divisions and the significance, both symbolically and practically, of debates between its members. To that end, it is also unrealistic to expect Syrian dissidents and activists in and outside of the country to develop, agree upon, and advance a plan for the overthrow of the regime and the subsequent political reconstruction of Syria, in a matter of months. Syrians have spent some four decades under the depoliticization program of the Baath Party, unable to organize or openly discuss the political future of the country. For those inside Syria, the onset of the revolution has shattered the barrier of fear keeping many from expressing their views - but it has done nothing to mitigate the reality that those attempting to organize against the government, do so under threat of violence. Even in the best of circumstances, such issues would take months and years to sort out.

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US Opinion: Do Drones Undermine Democracy? (Singer)

In democracies like ours, there have always been deep bonds between the public and its wars. Citizens have historically participated in decisions to take military action, through their elected representatives, helping to ensure broad support for wars and a willingness to share the costs, both human and economic, of enduring them.

In America, our Constitution explicitly divided the president’s role as commander in chief in war from Congress’s role in declaring war. Yet these links and this division of labor are now under siege as a result of a technology that our founding fathers never could have imagined.

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Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures "Iranian Soldiers"

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UPDATE 1430 GMT: EA's James Miller makes a significant discovery --- this is not the first time that a unit in the Free Syrian Army, the "Al Farouk Brigade", has displayed the five Iranian "engineers"/"soldiers".

In early January, about a week after the five Iranians were abducted the French magazine Paris Match published a two-page pictorial feature on the Iranians --- four are visible --- with the brigade commander "Abdul Razzaq Talas". The photos of the men match up to those of the "engineers" in the Iranian publication Mehr (see below).

Paris Match did not explain how it obtained the photograph, merely saying that the Iranians were suspected of being snipers supporting the Syrian military.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurrection?

See also, Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures Iranian Soldiers

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2133 GMT: Bahraini police have released claimed footage, released by Bahraini police, of 17-year-old Mohammad Ebrahim (see 0555 and 1700 GMT), who was allegedly hit by a police jeep on Wednesday and later died in hospital.

The video shows an alert Ebrahim, but he is in great discomfort, apparently from pain in his lower body, and needs to rest on the person next to him; also pain seems to be stemming from lower part.

This would appear to match up with the video we posted this morning, where Ebrahim appears to be limping away after being struck by the police jeep.

Curiously, the video --- like the one released by police earlier this month in which they denied beating activist Nabeel Rajab --- has no sound, limiting what we can learn of the incident.

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The Latest from Iran (26 January): Tehran Issues an Oil Warning

See also Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures Iranian Soldiers
Iran Feature: How Do You Cope with Award-Winning Director Farhadi?
An EA Special: Taking Apart Talk of "War With Iran"
Wednesday's Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Year After the Uprising

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2109 GMT: An EA Special --- The Syrian Front. Some context for the claimed footage, posted on EA tonight of five Iranian soldiers who were captured by the Free Syrian Army while operating inside the country.

Hours before the footage was posted, Press TV reported, "A group of armed militants have attacked an Iranian bus on the road connecting the capital, Damascus, to the northwestern city of Aleppo."

Press TV said 11 male "pilgrims" were kidnapped and taken to an unknown destination, leaving behind the women.

The website further says, "The gunmen contacted the relatives of a kidnapped passenger in Tehran, confirming the abduction of the Iranian nationals and demanding a ransom."

No direct connection has subsequently been made to the claimed video.

2105 GMT: An EA Special. EA's Josh Shahryar has provided English subtitles to a video, in Farsi, that reportedly shows Iranian soldiers inside Syria who have been captured by the Free Syrian Army. Shahryar says that he is certain, based on their accents, that these men are Iranian.

See Syria Video Special: Free Syrian Army Captures Iranian Soldiers

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Iran Feature: How Do You Cope with Award-Winning Director Farhadi?

Maya Neyestani: "Asghar, take your award and run before Madonna kisses you!"

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Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has been on a roll lately, winning the Best Foreign Language Film awards at the BFCA [Broadcast Film Critics Association] and the Golden Globe. He is on his way to the Oscars. But while many in Iran are congratulating Farhadi and celebrating his success, this has infuriated the hardliners....

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Bahrain 1st-Hand: Journalist Lamees Dhaif "I Can't Be Silent Knowing My People Are Being Oppressed"

Lamees DhaifI can't live my life knowing that my own people are being oppressed like this and I'm not saying or doing anything. I am a successful journalist and I had a bright future.

But I have thrown that away. I don't care about my future anymore. I care about those people. They are giving their lives, hoping for a better future - not for them, for their coming generations.

And what Bahraini people are doing is very brave. Bahraini people are really brave and they deserve for the world to see how brave they are. They are people who have nothing to defend themselves and they are facing the money of the petrol and the armies of many countries, and yet they are standing with their heads high and saying: "We will not obey. We will not go back."

Bahraini activist and journalist Lamees Dhaif speaking to Maia Newley

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