In an extremely rare move, a top Bahraini official on Thursday voiced support for an Israeli strike on Iranian assets in Syria, saying all Middle East nations, including Israel, have the right to respond to Iranian aggression in the region.
Iranian militias in Syria fired 20 rockets at Israeli military posts in the Golan Heights shortly after midnight between Wednesday and Thursday. In response, the Israeli Air Force bombed some 50 Iranian targets in Syria – the most intensive military confrontation between Israel and Iran to date and Israel's heaviest airstrike in Syria in years.
Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa endorsed the Jewish state's right to self-defense in a Tweet Thursday, saying, "As long as Iran has breached the status quo in the region and invaded countries with its forces and missiles, any state in the region, including Israel, is entitled to defend itself by destroying sources of danger."
Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia and the United States, considers Iran a regional threat. The tiny island nation has often accused Tehran of arming and training Shiite Bahraini protesters with the aim of destabilizing the Sunni monarchy's regime.
Bahrain was also one of the Gulf nations to welcome U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.
Israel and Bahrain do not maintain official diplomatic ties, but Jerusalem and Manama's interests have increasingly aligned as Iran began posing a growing threat to the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.
Arab media was quick to note the historic significance of Al Khalifa's comment.
"The Bahraini foreign minister's support for the Israeli strikes marks a rare, if not unprecedented public stance by an Arab government," Beirut's Daily Star newspaper said.
Bahrain is considered particularly vulnerable to Iranian interference and its rivalry with the Islamic republic dates back to 1981, when Iranian-backed terrorists staged a failed coup d'etat there.
