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Bahrain Internal Security
Many of the domestic strains in Kuwait arise from the
disparities between the living standards of Kuwaiti
nationals and
the majority of Kuwait's foreign population. Palestinian
workers
presented problems for the Al Sabah rulers for several
decades,
but, during the 1980s, militants and terrorists advancing
the
Khomeini brand of Islamism overshadowed the Palestinians
as
troublemakers. Kuwait's support for Iraq in the Iran-Iraq
War
accounted for much of the violence that disturbed internal
stability during the 1980s. A series of terrorist bombings
in
1983 aimed at Kuwaiti installations and the United States
and
French embassies were ascribed to Iranian retaliation. A
network
of Hizballah terrorists was uncovered, and, in the spring
of
1984, seventeen Shia were sentenced to long prison terms,
and
three were condemned to death. Airplane hijackings,
explosions,
car bombings, and an assassination attempt against the
amir
ensued. Kuwait steadfastly rejected demands for release of
terrorists in its custody, most of whom were still in jail
at the
time of the Iraqi invasion and subsequently disappeared. A
number
of Kuwaiti Shia were sentenced for setting fires at oil
installations in 1986 and 1987. The attacks declined in
1988, and
no attack was recorded in 1989 or 1990 after Iran's
decision to
accept a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War, which was
followed by
an attempted reconciliation with its neighbors.
Data as of January 1993
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