MANAMA, March 14, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to help put down weeks of protests by the Shi’ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island called a declaration of war.
Analysts saw the troop movement into Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, as a mark of concern in Saudi Arabia that concessions by the country’s monarchy could inspire the conservative Sunni kingdom’s own Shi’ite minority.
About 1,000 Saudi soldiers entered Bahrain to protect government facilities, a Saudi official source said, a day after mainly Shi’ite protesters overran police and blocked roads.
“They are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) force that would guard the government installations,” the source said, referring to the six-member bloc that coordinates military and economic policy in the world’s top oil-exporting region.

Bahrain said on Monday it had asked the Gulf troops for support in line with a GCC defence pact.
Thousands of mainly Shiite protesters occupied Manama’s business district, turning the regional banking hub into a ghost town as they pressed their calls for democratic change from the Sunni Muslim monarchy.
The Saudi government said it had responded to a call for help from its neighbour as Saudi-led forces from the Gulf countries’ joint Peninsula Shield Force crossed the causeway separating the two countries.
“The council of ministers has confirmed that it has answered a request by Bahrain for support,” the Saudi government said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency.
It said that under an agreement of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), “any harm done to the security of a member state is considered a harm done to the security of all members.”
The exact make-up of the force was not known, but the United Arab Emirates also confirmed it was participating in the operation. The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Convoys
Television footage showed convoys of unmarked, desert-brown coloured armoured vehicles crossing the causeway from Saudi’s Eastern Province into Bahrain, the home of the US Fifth Fleet.
The Shiite-led opposition alliance said any foreign force would be treated as an invading army.
“We consider the arrival of any soldier, or military vehicle, into Bahraini territory... an overt occupation of the kingdom of Bahrain and a conspiracy against the unarmed people of Bahrain,” said an opposition statement.
Helicopters buzzed overhead as protesters blocked access roads to the Financial Harbour business complex, a day after more than 200 people were injured there in clashes between riot police and demonstrators.
Sunday was the worst day of violence in the tiny Gulf kingdom since seven people were killed at the start of anti-regime unrest a month ago.

The United Arab Emirates has sent around 500 police to neighbouring Bahrain amid escalating anti-regime protests there, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said on Monday.
“The Bahrain government asked us yesterday to look at ways to help them to defuse tension in Bahrain,” Nahyan told journalists when asked about the UAE decision to send security forces in.
“We have already sent roughly around 500 of our police force who are there,” he said at a gathering of Group of Eight foreign ministers in Paris, where the UAE is representing the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Nahyan went in to talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after talking to journalists.
The Emirati state minister for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said earlier in Abu Dhabi that the UAE was joining a Gulf contingent being sent in to Bahrain to “participate in strengthening security and internal stability.”
Gargash said that the UAE urged the Bahraini opposition to engage in dialogue with the government without any preconditions, and to answer “positively” a call by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman for open talks.

Warning
The United States warned Gulf states on Monday to respect the rights of the people of Bahrain, after troops from nations including Saudi Arabia crossed into the violence-wracked kingdom.
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said that the White House was aware that Saudi Arabia had sent security forces to Bahrain and that other Gulf Cooperation Council nations were also planning such steps.
“We urge our GCC partners to show restraint and respect the rights of the people of Bahrain, and to act in a way that supports dialogue instead of undermining it,” Vietor said.
“We urge calm and restraint on all sides and call on all parties to seize immediately the invitation to dialogue and ensure that there is a peaceful process of democratic change that benefits all of Bahrain‚Äôs citizens.”

Vietor also condemned violence in Manama on Sunday and said the White House was concerned that some violence was instigated by demonstrators.
The GCC move came just days after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates left the kingdom after talks with the king and the crown prince.
Gates said he was hopeful the government would take “far-reaching steps” but warned that countries across the region could no longer ignore popular demands for democracy.
Although there were no signs Shiite-led Iran was behind unrest in the Gulf kingdom or elsewhere in the region, Tehran would likely work to meddle in Bahrain’s politics amid sectarian tensions, Gates said.
“I expressed the view that we had no evidence that suggested that Iran started any of these popular revolutions or demonstrations across the region,” said Gates.

Violence
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Monday demanded that Bahraini leaders be wise and not use violence in their handling of anti-government protests, the state-run Fars news agency reported.
Salehi said the Bahraini authorities should avoid using “violence and force against the population”, adding that Iran expects “the Bahraini government to be wise in responding to the demands of protesters and respecting their rights.”

Protests flared up in Bahrain on February 14 and seven people died in a subsequent crackdown on demonstrations, according to an AFP tally based on relatives of victims and opposition officials.
Opposition protesters are demanding far-reaching democratic reform in the mainly Shiite country which has been ruled by a Sunni Muslim dynasty for more than 200 years.
Australia on Monday issued a strong warning to citizens not to travel to Bahrain due to unstable security and the risk of terrorist attacks in the Gulf state.

The foreign ministry issued a “do not travel” notice, its highest level of travel advisory, following violent weekend clashes in which police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters demanding the government resign.
“Australians are advised not to travel to Bahrain at this time due to the unpredictable security situation and threat of terrorist attack,” the advisory said.
“Statements by international terrorist groups have called for attacks against Western interests in the Gulf region, including residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests,” it added.
Australia has also warned its citizens not to travel to Libya amid the unrest there, with rebels seeking to oust leader Muammar Gaddafi facing a huge military onslaught from pro-regime forces.