Saudi Arabia has sent dozens of tanks to Bahrain, where anti-government protests continue for about two weeks, Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper said on Tuesday.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing "15 tank carriers carrying two tanks each heading towards Bahrain" along the 25-km King Fahd causeway, which links the small island nation of Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.
Protestors are mainly Shiites account for about 70% of the Bahraini population, but have long complained of discrimination and other abuses by the Sunni Khalifa dynasty that has ruled the tiny Gulf nation for more than two centuries.
In the worst unrest in the kingdom since the 1990s, a wave of protests swept across Bahrain in the past weeks. At least six people were killed and hundreds injured in clashes with police.
Opposition threatens to hold more protests and a nationwide strike if the government refuses to resign.
MOSCOW, March 1 (RIA Novosti)
