
Armed Saudi-led forces moved into Bahrain on March 14 to assist in providing security. The small island nation lies off the Saudi coast and is connected to Saudi Arabia by the 25-kilometer (16-mile) King Fahd Causeway. Officially, the force belongs to the Gulf Cooperation Council's (GCC) joint Peninsula Shield Force, a coalition created by the GCC in the 1980s formed largely of Saudi troops but also including Kuwaiti, Qatari, UAE, Omani and Bahraini forces. The deployment currently appears set to focus on infrastructure security — especially the financial installations that Shiite protesters aimed to block during protests March 13 — rather than direct involvement in crowd and riot control in the streets. This will at the very least free up additional Bahraini forces to handle those responsibilities. Bahrain's population is only about 1.2 million — about one-fifth the population of Cairo — of which the capital of Manama encompasses about a quarter. While the Bahraini military and security forces are small, Saudi Arabia and its other GCC allies have the raw numbers to attempt to impose security in the country and have additional troops and resources to call upon if needed. And Saudi Arabia is no stranger to keeping a lid on domestic unrest and dissent. Though there are issues with the quality of manpower, Saudi internal security forces are well-funded and well-schooled in managing crowds and riots.