Oh boy....

[musouka]

It's official. Several witnesses saw hundreds of Saudi military vehicles headings towards Bahrain in the afternoon. One said that the road to the causeway was blocked after the last traffic light from Abu Hedrea road to allow the troops to cross

Comments

[burning_phoneix]

They're part of the "peninsula shield" joint command set up in the late 80s I think. Basically, it's a "break glass in case of emergency" for GCC rulers and if anyone one of them asks for the troops, the others must oblige.

They're also National Guard so they don't have access to Tanks.

Most likely, these troops will guard key infrastructure locations to free up more Bahraini policemen to face protesters.

Also, Turkey has warned Iran against interfering in Bahraini affairs. So I don't think that Iran would like taking on Turkey, the entire GCC and the US for the sake of a small island.

[musouka]

Well, the situation is tricky. It's hard to gauge the true intentions, but a brutal use of force is unlikely. There are tanks, though.

[burning_phoneix]

The videos above don't show tanks, they show Infantry Fighting Vehicles, a sort of armoured personal carrier.

[musouka]

Well, they are like tanks except on wheels but they still have cannon barrels in front so they are sort of light tanks...

[burning_phoneix]

That is a fair assessment, they're pretty close to light tanks however, true light tanks don't function as troop transports and have guns capable of knocking out other tanks (IFV guns are used to knock out other light vehicles like Hummers and trucks)

[musouka]

You're the military expert :)

Tanks aren't needed in any case. There is no opposing army to fight and these lighter vehicles should be quick to move around in.

[burning_phoneix]

They are also good for moving troops around (which is what they were designed to do after all!)