Qatar Blamed For 2011 Bahrain Coup Attempt

Bahrain has accused Qatar of fanning the attempted coup in 2011 to overthrow the King Hamad regime.

According to a report published by the Bahrain news agency (BNA) Tuesday, Qatar sparked the unrest in February 2011, helped the protesters with financial and logistic support and also supported with media coverage, Saudi press agency (SPA) said quoting from the BNA report.

"Bahrain news agency today disclosed that the regrettable incidents that took place in 2011 in Bahrain were not purely a Bahraini coup attempt accompanied by a limited popular chaos but a systematic subversive plot, behind which Qatar was the mastermind and its security and official arms were the real players," the SPA report said

"Qatari authorities 'started implementing its plan since Jan 26, 2011 right after unrest in Egypt within the so-called Arab Spring," the SPA report stated.

The report also accused Qatar of instigating the mob by classified social media accounts calling upon Bahrainis to "rise against their rulers and sacrifice their blood for their freedom,” the report said.

The report showed the Qatari authorities utilized Al-Jazeera TV to fulfill the goals of its conspiracy. This was proved as the channel worked to internationalize the events through its programmes which falsified the facts, in coordination with the dissolved Al Wefaq Society and other individuals and organizations.

Qatari authorities such as the Amiri Court, Amiri Guard and Interior Ministry would be activated at the same time as other malicious accounts are active on Bahraini political cyber forums, with the aim of spreading calls for violence and threatening the national and civil cohesion in the Kingdom,” the report said.

This is the first time Qatar is being accused of instigating the 2011 events in Bahrain to control which Saudi Arabia sent in its security personnel. Bahrain has a significant Shiite' population while its ruling elite' is by and large Sunni.  Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain had accused Iran of being behind the uprising.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, together with Egypt and the UAE have cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar and imposed an air and land blockade against the tiny but rich gulf kingdom.