The paper said that "despite the calm situation in Saudi Arabia and the fact that popular uprisings that toppled other Arab regimes it were not exported, the massive protests by the Shiite minority rises controversy and concern about the instability of the situation in Saudi Arabia."
The newspaper pointed out that "these protests by the Shiite population in the city of Qatif continued and increased considerably, after Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain to help the Sunni ruling family and end the anti-government uprising after protests led Bahrain’s Shiite majority there."
The newspaper pointed that "the Saudi Interior Ministry claimed that they would use an iron fist against hooligans’ who attacked security sites, suggesting indirectly to Iran’s involvement in stirring up trouble and problems in Saudi Arabia, but the Shia activists denied the accusations and called on the government to address issues of their community."
The newspaper found that "the Shiites in Saudi Arabia have always complained of discrimination by the Sunni and the lack of job opportunities in the military and security functions and high-level ministerial, the government denies these allegations asserting that the Shiite minority enjoy equal opportunities."
The British newspaper "Financial Times" drew that political change caused by the Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East have touched all countries in the region and created a sense of optimism and hope to conduct socio-economic reforms and while most of the focus was on security and political implications of these changes, they also had repercussions on the health and well-being and on social protection systems.
The newspaper pointed out that many of the countries of the Arab Spring face significant health risks in the short term, which was a result of these revolutions. This includes cases of death and injury, which are still on the rise, at least in Syria. The displacement of the population is also a growing problem, especially in the neighboring countries of Syria, out of which fled an estimated half a million people, the effects include post-traumatic stress disorder, especially among children, and the biggest danger in the short term is the collapse of the health systems in the countries of the Arab Spring.
It continued: "Although the total collapse of these systems is unlikely in countries that are still stable, but it is more likely in Libya and Syria. There is available evidence also from Iraq, which refers to the deterioration of health services.”
