Heavy fighting is reported between the Syrian army and opposition activists in central Homs province, as anti-government protests continue. In Rastan, seven soldiers and police were reportedly killed battling troops who have defected to the opposition.
A military court in Bahrain sentenced a group of medical staff to up to 15 years in prison for treating anti-government protesters. Dr. Fatima Hadji told the BBC she was beaten in custody and threatened with rape before being released on bail.
The sentencing of a woman to 10 lashes for driving a car shows the scale of gender discrimination in Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said. The sentence comes after the monarchy announced that women will be granted the vote in local polls.
Five days of armed clashes in the Yemeni capital Sanaa have left dozens dead and hundreds injured. Rebel tribesmen and defected army units battle Republican Guard troops, while student protesters occupying “Change Square” are under mortar and sniper fire.
At least 24 were killed in Yemen’s capital Sanaa as security forces opened fire on protesters calling for the ouster of longtime president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Pentagon is meanwhile stepping up drone strikes on al-Qaeda insurgents in the country’s south.
Clashes between police and Shi’ite protesters continue in Bahrain, fueled by the killing of a 14-year-old boy by riot police. The new protests erupted on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr festival.
Syrian government forces cracking down on the opposition may be committing crimes against humanity, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is urging an investigation by the International Criminal Court.
The Egyptian authorities must immediately drop charges against Asmaa Mahfouz, a woman blogger and activist accused of defaming the military on Twitter, Amnesty International said in a statement.
Some 5,000 Palestinian refugees have been forced to flee a camp in the Syrian port of Latakia amid shelling by government forces, according to the United Nations Relief and Works agency (UNRWA).
Lebanese singer Zeid Hamdan of the band Zeid and the Wings was briefly jailed on charges of defaming President Michel Suleiman in his single “General Suleiman.” He was released following a Facebook campaign.
Tens of thousands of Syrians returned to the streets in towns and cities across the country for the first Friday protests of Ramadan, declaring their support for residents of Hama, where some 200 have been killed in a military crackdown over the past week.
US drones struck for the first time in 19 days in Pakistan’s tribal agencies, killing four “militants” in an attack on a compound in South Waziristan. That same day, US drones killed 15 presumed al-Qaeda militants in south Yemen.
