In June 2017, the al-Ashtar Brigades were designated as terrorist organizations by Bahrain, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.[5] The United States Department of State has designated the group as a terrorist organization, as of July 2018.[5][9] Canada classified the Brigades as a terrorist organization in 2019.[8]
In March 2024, the Department of State of the United States designated the organization as a terrorist organization, stating that the group wants to destabilize and threaten the security of Bahrain.[10]
The al-Ashtar Brigades has stated that it is loyal to the government of Iran, and has adopted branding consistent with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.[11]
The group its suspect for over 20 attacks in Bahrain, primarily targeting police and security forces.[5]
The first attack of the group was on May 29 of 2013, when a remote-controlled explosive device which blasts near police officers that they were removing a barricades in the village of Bani Jamra, Northern Governorate. The attack wounds at least seven officers.[12][13] The authorities raised alarm bells over this attack, arresting ten militants the next day.[14] On July 17, a car bomb blasts Shaikh Eisa Bin Salman Mosque in Riffa, Southern Governorate. The attack only left material damage.[15] On the next month, a car bomb detonated in front a recreational area in Budaiya, Northern Governorate.[16]
The group was designated a terrorist organization by Bahrain after the 2014 Daih bombing.[17][8] Months later, on December 8, an improvised device blasts in Dumistan, Northern Governorate, killed a police officer.[18][19] In the next day, an improvised device blasts in Karzakan, Northern governorate, killing a civilian and wounding other.[20][21]
On January 31, 2015 a bomb blasts near a police patrol in Muqsha, wounding two officers.[22] Two months later, the group claimed an attack in the settlement of Karrana, Northern Governorate, which left two officers wounded.[23]
On January 14, 2017, after a pause of a year, members of Al-Ashtar Brigades attacked a officer in the village of Bani Jamra. The attack happens when authorities announces the execution of three militants.[24][25] On January 29, an off duty security officer was killed by an AAB attack in Manama.[8][26]
On May 2, 2024, the organization claimed to have launched a drone targeting the Israeli city of Eilat on April 27, targeting the headquarters of the company Trucknet “in support of the Palestinian cause and our resisting people in Gaza,” during the Israel–Hamas war.[27]
^ abcdCanada, Public Safety (2018-12-21). "Currently listed entities". www.publicsafety.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
^Wess, Caleb (February 23, 2018). "Bahraini militant group adopts IRGC branding". Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018. At the same time, Saraya al Ashtar reaffirmed its loyalty to the Islamic Republic of Iran. "We believe that the commander and ruler of the Islamic religion is the line of the two imams, Khomeini and Khamenei, which is in the original Muhammad approach in confronting the oppressors and fighting back against the tyrants," the group's statement reads.
Iran (claimed by Bahraini gov.)
Hezbollah (claimed by Bahraini gov.)
Bahrain
United Arab Emirates[3]
Saudi Arabia
Israel
Canada[4]
Egypt
United Kingdom
United States
