The lack of angry protests over the killing of Osama bin Laden indicates how al-Qaeda has been left behind by the Arab Spring. Only those who fetishize Osama because he fetishized America could fail to get it.
An explosion ripped through a military vehicle in the Yemeni town of Zinjibar, killing five soldiers, while four civilians died in the ensuing firefight—hours after an al-Qaeda leader vowed revenge for the killing of bin Laden.
Syrian army units clashed with each other in Daraa following President Assad’s orders to crack down on protesters. Some 50 were shot dead as tens of thousands took part in “day of rage” protests in Daraa and other cities.
At least nine were killed and more than 100 wounded as troops opened fire on anti-regime protesters in Sanaa, capital of Yemen. Meanwhile, hundreds have fled repression in Syria to take refuge in neighboring Lebanon.
Syrian authorities reportedly arrested hundreds of protesters and dissidents as the military surrounded Daraa and several other southwestern cities and villages. Telephone, electricity and water lines are cut to the besieged towns.
Security forces fired on anti-regime protesters in both Yemen’s city of Taez, where 10 are reported wounded, and Syria’s city of Daraa, where 25 are reported dead.
Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh agreed to leave power after 32 years of rule. But the opposition said it could not guarantee at least one of Saleh’s demands—that demonstrations be halted.
Security forces and gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shot dead at least 70 demonstrators in Syria as thousands took to the streets for Friday protests across the country.
Syria’s government passed a draft decree to lift the emergency law and a bill to dismantle the Supreme State Security Court. But protesters took to the streets in large numbers again the next day in the central city of Homs,
Security forces in Yemen opened fire on protests led by women, many in full face veils, after President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to win support from Islamists by attacking the “mixing of sexes” at demonstrations.
Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who became the hero of the Egyptian revolution, spoke before an International Monetary Fund paenl in Washington DC, chiding the organization for its long support of strongman Hosni Mubarak.
More protesters were killed by security forces in Syria, despite a pledge by President Bashar al-Assad to end emergency rule—in force since 1963 when the Ba’ath party took power—within a week.
