Saudi Arabia has completed the demolition of al-Musawara neighborhood in the Shia town of Awamiyah, says a local official.
Saudi Arabia has completed the demolition of al-Musawara neighborhood in the Shia town of Awamiyah, says a local official.
According to Eastern Province’s secretariat on Tuesday, the demolition of the neighborhood has been fully completed in preparation for the commencement of removal work.
Local reports claim that some 60 bulldozers were engaged in the operations. Since May, Riyadh has imposed a deadly crackdown on Awamiyah — the hometown of late prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution by the Al Saud regime sparked condemnation and protests throughout the Middle East.
Saudi authorities call the clampdown a “security campaign” against the gunmen there, and used it as a pretext to launch almost daily attacks against the town, destroying residential areas, setting fire to buildings, and reportedly threatening the residents to either leave or face potentially deadly swoops.
