Bahrain: Five Ashtar Brigades Convicts Sentenced to Life-sentence

Police and security officials stand guard at a checkpoint on a highway in Sanabis west of Manama, Bahrain on February 9, 2017. Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters
Police and security officials stand guard at a checkpoint on a highway in Sanabis west of Manama, Bahrain on February 9, 2017. Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters
TT

Bahrain: Five Ashtar Brigades Convicts Sentenced to Life-sentence

Police and security officials stand guard at a checkpoint on a highway in Sanabis west of Manama, Bahrain on February 9, 2017. Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters
Police and security officials stand guard at a checkpoint on a highway in Sanabis west of Manama, Bahrain on February 9, 2017. Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

The Bahraini judiciary issued Thursday life sentences in the case of five convicts for charges of forming a terrorist cell affiliated with al-Ashtar Brigades, which is designated a terrorist by the Arab anti-terror quartet.

The sentence also targets two convicts from the same organization who were sentenced to seven years in prison.

Chief of Terror Crime Prosecution Advocate General Ahmed al-Hammadi stated that the fourth High Criminal Court awarded varying jail terms to seven terror suspects found guilty of running and joining a terrorist organization.

Hammadi added that the court sentenced the first five suspects to life in jail and handed down the sixth and seventh suspects seven-year jail terms.

The court also ordered the confiscation of the seized items. The suspects were charged with possessing and manufacturing explosives, possessing firearms and ammunition without a license, receiving training on weapons and explosive materials and funding terrorism.

Court files say the first suspect, a member of the “Al-Ashtar Brigades”, recruited the fourth suspect to commit terror crimes against Bahrain’s kingdom. He received training in 2017 with the assistance of the sixth and second suspects. The fourth suspect also recruited the fifth.

The files say Iraqi “Kataib Hezbollah” also trained the fifth suspect in 2016 to make explosive materials and devices.

The fourth suspect was instructed by the first to receive the explosive device and monitor the security patrols accompanying oil tankers to target them. The third suspect instructed the fifth to receive and transport firearms and materials for terrorist purposes.



Series of Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut, At Least 11 Dead

Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
TT

Series of Israeli Airstrikes Hit Central Beirut, At Least 11 Dead

Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Rescue workers and people search for victims at the site of an Israeli airstrike that hit central Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Powerful Israeli airstrikes targeted central Beirut on Saturday, resulting in a large number of fatalities and injuries and destroying an eight-story building, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Footage broadcast by TV stations showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it in the Basta neighborhood.

At least 11 people were killed and dozens injured. Lebanon's civil defense said the death toll was provisional as emergency responders were still digging through the rubble looking for survivors. 

Israel used bunker buster bombs in the strike, leaving a deep crater, said NNA. Beirut smelled strongly of explosives hours after the attack.
The blasts shook the capital around 4 a.m.

NNA said at least five bombs were dropped in the attack.
It marked the fourth Israeli airstrike this week targeting a central area of Beirut, where the bulk of Israel's attacks have targeted the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs.

On Sunday an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif in the Ras al-Nabaa district of central Beirut.

The Israeli military did not issue a warning for Basta's residents to evacuate prior to the strike and did not immediately issue a statement on it.

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.

Meanwhile, heavy ground fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants was ongoing in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops have pushed farther from the border.