Hezbollah praises protesters in Bahrain

Hezbollah praised over the weekend Bahraini protesters seeking reforms in the Arab island kingdom and urged the government to respond positively with the rightful demands of the people. “What demands great respect with regard to the Bahraini people’s uprising is the [people’s] steadfastness and insistence on the peaceful nature of the movement, including today’s [Saturday], despite the brutality of the regime in its crackdown on isolated protesters that led to the deaths of 10s of martyrs and wounded,” Hezbollah said in a statement Saturday. Tensions have remained high in Bahrain since a deadly crackdown last year after a month of Manama street protests. According to an independent probe, 35 people were killed in last year's unrest, including five security personnel and five detainees tortured to death while in custody. Over the weekend Bahrain police fired tear gas at protesters following the funeral for a 22-year-old man whose family claims he was fatally wounded in clashes earlier this month. The resistance group called on Manama to meet the demands of the protesters. “Hezbollah pays tribute to this popular wave [of protests] that has continued over several months and sees that the Bahraini authorities need to respond to the rightful demands of the people in order to prevent bloodshed of the innocent as well as to save the country from the state of oppression that it suffers from.” Hezbollah came under heavy criticism last year from Lebanon and Manama for statements it made against the Bahraini government that prompted the country’s two airline carriers – Gulf Air and Bahraini Air – to suspend flights between Manama and Beirut for at least four months. The decision to suspend flights came after Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah criticized Bahrain's monarchy for brining in troops from neighboring Gulf countries to help put down the Shiite-led protests there. Hezbollah has asked the Bahrain government to grant Shiites their rights and end violence against protesters.