Awamiya: Hundreds flee clashes in Saudi town

[AmirPatriot]

Hundreds of people have reportedly been fleeing a town in eastern Saudi Arabia after weeks of clashes between the security forces and armed men.

The authorities have been trying since May to demolish the old quarter of Awamiya, saying Shia militants use its narrow streets as a hideout.

Activists accuse security forces of trying to force out residents.

It is the latest intensification of sporadic unrest in the Eastern Province, which is largely Shia.

At least seven people, including two police officers, have been killed in the clashes, Reuters news agency said.

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY
Image captionA homage to executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Awamiya
Local activists say Saudi forces have been firing randomly towards homes and cars, and that buildings have been damaged or burned in the fighting.

"No one is going out. If you go out, you will be shot by snipers," one activist told the BBC.

People in the town are running out of drinking water and electricity has been cut off in stiflingly hot temperatures, a resident told the BBC's Newshour programme, with the young, the old and the infirm especially badly affected.

"All of Awamiya is encircled and under siege," the resident said, adding that food is also in short supply.

Awamiya is one of the richest areas in Saudi Arabia because of its oil resources, the resident said.

"What we are talking about is the issue of forced migration [of Shia people] under the pretext of fighting armed resistance," he said, "with people not being allowed to return once they have left."

Some residents have appealed to the Saudi authorities to help them leave and families have been given accommodation in a nearby town, Saudi media reported.

• Saudi Arabia's hidden uprising
• Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Figurehead Shia cleric

Shia residents of the region around the city of Qatif have long complained that they are marginalised and discriminated against by the Sunni authorities.

In May the UN criticised the Saudi attempt to demolish Awamiya's 400-year-old al-Masora quarter, home to between 2,000 and 3,000 people, saying it threatened historical and cultural heritage.

The Saudi authorities had imposed power cuts on residents to try to make them leave, said the UN Special Rapporteur on housing, Leilani Farha.

Anti-government demonstrations in Eastern Province began after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, and protests and attacks have become more frequent since the January 2016 execution of the prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40800261

 

[The SC]

They want this area from this:

To this:

Saudi government had paid compensations to all the people owning houses in the Area, but some still do not want to leave..

The smallest house in Al-Awamiyya area of less than 400 meters has been compensated by 3 million and a half million Saudi riyals, and most of the houses are not suitable for accommodation!
سفيان السامرائي‏ @SufianSamarrai

 

[Ceylal]

The beginning of the end of the Kingdom of darkness..Finally the Saudis have had enough .

 

[Muhammed45]

Hundreds of people have reportedly been fleeing a town in eastern Saudi Arabia after weeks of clashes between the security forces and armed men.

The authorities have been trying since May to demolish the old quarter of Awamiya, saying Shia militants use its narrow streets as a hideout.

Activists accuse security forces of trying to force out residents.

It is the latest intensification of sporadic unrest in the Eastern Province, which is largely Shia.

At least seven people, including two police officers, have been killed in the clashes, Reuters news agency said.

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY
Image captionA homage to executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Awamiya
Local activists say Saudi forces have been firing randomly towards homes and cars, and that buildings have been damaged or burned in the fighting.

"No one is going out. If you go out, you will be shot by snipers," one activist told the BBC.

People in the town are running out of drinking water and electricity has been cut off in stiflingly hot temperatures, a resident told the BBC's Newshour programme, with the young, the old and the infirm especially badly affected.

"All of Awamiya is encircled and under siege," the resident said, adding that food is also in short supply.

Awamiya is one of the richest areas in Saudi Arabia because of its oil resources, the resident said.

"What we are talking about is the issue of forced migration [of Shia people] under the pretext of fighting armed resistance," he said, "with people not being allowed to return once they have left."

Some residents have appealed to the Saudi authorities to help them leave and families have been given accommodation in a nearby town, Saudi media reported.

• Saudi Arabia's hidden uprising
• Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr: Figurehead Shia cleric

Shia residents of the region around the city of Qatif have long complained that they are marginalised and discriminated against by the Sunni authorities.

In May the UN criticised the Saudi attempt to demolish Awamiya's 400-year-old al-Masora quarter, home to between 2,000 and 3,000 people, saying it threatened historical and cultural heritage.

The Saudi authorities had imposed power cuts on residents to try to make them leave, said the UN Special Rapporteur on housing, Leilani Farha.

Anti-government demonstrations in Eastern Province began after the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, and protests and attacks have become more frequent since the January 2016 execution of the prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40800261

Saudi army attacks and bombs Al-Awamiyeh,

Video shows Saudi forces firing rockets at Shia homes in Awamiyah
Mon Jul 31, 2017 9:2AM

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A footage circulating on social media shows Saudi soldiers atop rooftops in Awamiyah firing a full array of weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades, at residential buildings in the besieged Shia-populated town.

More than people have been killed and many others wounded in more than 80 days of tensions in Awamiyah, as the regime continues with its heavy-handed crackdown in Eastern Province.

Awamiyah has witnessed an increase in anti-regime protests and an ensuing crackdown, with the Saudi regime pushing ahead with its controversial razing of the al-Masoura neighborhood.

Authorities claim the district's narrow streets have become a hideout for militants which they accuse of being behind attacks on security forces in Eastern Province.

Security forces equipped with heavy weapons have been deployed in Awamiyah since May 10, following fierce clashes between the regime forces and locals protesting against the destruction.

Bulldozers escorted by heavily armored military vehicles have demolished several houses, businesses and historical sites across the Shia-majority region over the past few weeks.

Ali al-Dubisi, the head of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, on Sunday expressed serious concerns over the situation in Awamiyah.

He said the regime forces were following a scorched land policy in the region, launching endless rocket attacks and shelling residential buildings and civilians there.

Residents, he said, are barricaded in their homes but they are resisting Saudi pressures to evacuate the area.

Saudi officer killed in restive Qatif

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said a policeman had been killed in a rocket attack in the Qatif region

A ministry statement, carried by state news agency SPA, said the officer was killed as a police patrol came under a rocket attack in al-Masoura on Sunday.

According to the statement, the attack also left six other policemen wounded. The ministry noted that the injured were hospitalized and in a stable condition.

Since February 2011, Saudi Arabia has stepped up security measures in the Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which has been rocked by anti-regime demonstrations, with protesters demanding free speech, the release of political prisoners, and an end to economic and religious discrimination.

The protests have been met with a heavy-handed crackdown by the Saudi regime. Over the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism law so as to repress pro-democracy movements.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/08/02/530534/saudi-arabia-shia--awamiyah-killed

 

[El Sidd]

Violent anti state elements

 

[Gothic]

wishful thinking

 

[Muhammed45]

Violent anti state elements

Anti state elements do not operate from inside the homes.

For the people who see it from outside, yes it may be a rebel against central government but truth is Saudis have attacked a city that had no violence.

These attacks are being done under media silence,

Saudis have digged their own grave. Attack on Yemen, Awamiyeh and seemingly Qatar. Add their ISIS mercenaries in Iraq and Syria then you can see the true nature of kingdom of darknesses.

 

[El Sidd]

Anti state elements do not operate from inside the homes.

For the people who see it from outside, yes it may be a rebel against central government but truth is Saudis have attacked a city that had no violence.

These attacks are being done under media silence,

Saudis have digged their own grave. Attack on Yemen, Awamiyeh and seemingly Qatar. Add their ISIS mercenaries in Iraq and Syria then you can see the true nature of kingdom of darknesses.

Let them deal with it themselves.

Every country has these and some even more

 

[Full Moon]

The actions taken so far by the state are too soft for those who combined terrorism with treason. They are funded, armed to the teeth, and daily instructed by the IRGC. Some air bombardment could be considered as well.

 

[Aramagedon]

What next?! Suadis want also to bomb Oman, Qatar etc... !?

Suadi family is getting wilder day by day especially towards Shia Muslims.

 

[raptor22]

One said they are local whom have refused to leave their homes despite being paid ..
The other one said these are people whom combined terrorism with treason. They are funded, armed to the teeth ..
While BBC says "Activists accuse security forces of trying to force out residents." or "issue of forced migration under the pretext of fighting armed resistance," or "People in the town are running out of drinking water and electricity has been cut off in stiflingly hot temperatures" and "All of Awamiya is encircled and under siege"

So which narration is valid?

 

[Ceylal]

The actions taken so far by the state are too soft for those who combined terrorism with treason. They are funded, armed to the teeth, and daily instructed by the IRGC. Some air bombardment could be considered as well.

Bullshit! Time to taste your own médecine!

 

[SALMAN F]

Bullshit! Time to taste your own médecine!

When bashar used to do that they called him a murder

 

[Rizwan Alam]

I wish a peaceful settlement. May Allah Protect the land of Prophet (PBUH) from all sorts of evil.

 

[Aramagedon]

I wish a peaceful settlement. May Allah Protect the land of Prophet (PBUH) from all sorts of evil.

Land of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is only Medina. If you check Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), some parts of Arabia like Najd [Riyadh] are cursed as birthplace of Satan.