Alwaght- Backed by the armored vehicles and helicopters flying low overhead, the Bahraini forces stormed into Diraz village from several directions to reach the home of the country’s top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim.
The security operation aimed at ejecting people from the site of an encampment outside house of Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim where the prominent cleric's followers have been holding sit-in since June 20, 2016, when the authorities revoked his citizenship.
Bahraini activists on social media say regime forces have killed at least one civilian and injured hundreds during the ongoing clashes.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Kadhem Zainuldine. The 39-year youth was an environmental activist who sustained several gunshot injuries in his body.
The violent attack came 3 days after a Bahraini criminal court sentenced the spiritual leader of the revolution to one-year suspended jail term for what it called illegal fundraising and other charges.
He denied the charges, saying that he only collected khums, an Islamic tax spend on charity work.
Sheikh Isa Qassim’s representative in Iran Sheikh Abdullah al-Daghagh told Alwaght "over 200 people were injured" with five being in a "critical condition".
"The security forces pressed ahead with their raid and detained all of the youths holding sit-in outside Sheikh Qassim's home. And the sheikh is now surrounded by regime's forces, and we do not know what happened to him. We of course hold the king of Bahrain accountable for life of Sheikh Qassim and the other detainees," he warned.
Daghagh stressed the security operation" is going on, with the security forces keeping storming other houses in the neighborhood to arrest more people.
Sheikh Isa Qassim and his family were at home. He refused to move out, insisting that he wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sit-inners to the last breath. We do not know if the authorities want to detain him or put him under house arrest. "
According to Bahraini cleric "Only the young protesters were arrested, and it is unclear what happened to him".
Touching on Bahraini people reaction to Al Khalifa regime's incursion to top cleric's home, Sheikh Daghagh said "There have been clashes going on in Al-Diraz and other areas of the capital Manama since last night. Al-Ma’amir, Sitra, and other areas witnessed the same confrontation. Clerics have demanded people to wear cerements and face the security forces. The Shiite clerics in the country released a statement, saying if the regime wants the scene to be like (the events of) Karbala, it is ok, we are the sons of Karbala. We call on the people, men and women, to rally across their neighborhoods while wearing cerements."
Karbala, located in present-day Iraq, was a desert where the troops Yazid, second Umayyad Caliph, martyred Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein and 72 of his companions in 680 AD.
