Brian Dooley stressed that the sale will encourage further repression in the island kingdom of Bahrain, which, in turn, will cause greater instability and violence in the country.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that the United States would sell Saudi Arabia and Kuwait defense equipment, including monitoring blimps to Riyadh, in a bid to enhance US-Gulf alliances.

US halt of arms deal with Bahrain, due to Manama’s deteriorating human rights record, was the highlight of foreign events that came in line with internal Bahraini affairs in 2016.

Bahrain has fallen short in implementing a series of political and human rights reforms, according to the State Department, undermining efforts to stabilize the tiny island kingdom after its Sunni-ruled government crushed Arab Spring protests five years ago.

Bahrain Mirror: The former Member of Bahraini Parliament Ali Al-Aswad stated that "there is clear division between Washington and London on how to address the Bahraini situation. The stances also varied among European Union countries."

Bahrain Mirror: Bahraini and Foreign activists chose to build a symbolic monument, a huge balloon resembling the Pearl (LuaLua) Roundabout, in Washington to voice their support for the protest movement that was launched in Bahrain in 2011.

A poll showed that 21% of Bahraini youths said that Jihadi organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda “sometimes bring up issues that we agree on.” This came in the results of a survey conducted by the Washington-based Zogby Research Services (ZRS).

Bahrain Mirror: The Secretary-General of Bahrain Federation of Expatriate Associations (BFEA), Betsy Mathieson, said that the next round of “This is Bahrain” roadshow events is to be held in Washington and New York at the end of next September.

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): The US State Department said that the arrest of recently released Bahraini opposition leader Ibrahim Sharif, detention of opposition figure Majeed Milad, and reports about the re-opening of case against Al-Wefaq Secretary-General Sheikh Ali Salman “raise serious concerns.”

Bahrain Mirror: The US State Department spokesperson, John Kirby, said that the security assistance to Bahrain’s ministry of defense would be normalized now but that restrictions on assistance to the ministry of interior would remain over human rights-related issues.