In Syria, army tanks shelled the country’s third biggest city, Homs, as security forces continue their nationwide crackdown on weeks of anti-government protests May 11. At least nine people have been killed and dozens wounded in Homs and surrounding villages, activists said. Amateur video footage posted to the Web also appears to show men in plain clothes shooting on the streets of Hama, in central Syria. (BBC News, May 11) In Yemen, security forces also opened fire on protesters in three cities, killing at least nine and wounding scores. In the capital Sanaa, forces fired on a crowd of tens of thousands marching to the cabinet building, killing at least six. In the industrial center Taiz, snipers killed two protesters, while in the Red Sea port of Hudaida, one protester was killed when security forces opened fire on marchers. (Reuters, May 11)
In Bahrain, the government has bulldozed dozens of mosques in Shi’ite villages in recent days as part of a crackdown on Shi’ite-led protests. In the ancient village of Aali, where some graves date to 2000 BCE, the 400-year-old Amir Mohammed Braighi mosque was demolished. At least 28 Shi’ite mosques have been demolished over the past two months since the protests began, under the pretext that they are not “licensed.” (AlJazeera, May 13; McClatchy Newspapers, May 8)
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Updated May 13
