Security forces opened fire as thousands took to Syria’s streets for Friday protests to demand the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. At least 15 people were killed and many more injured in demonstrations following evening prayers.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned a Bahraini court for sentencing 21 human rights advocates, political activists and opposition leaders to lengthy prison sentences, including life terms.
As bloody repression continues in Syria and the US considers sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency voted to report the Damascus regime to the Security Council for maintaining a secret nuclear facility.
Egypt’s Bedouin, who say they are treated as second class citizens in their Sinai desert homeland, are starting to organize for equal rights. They have long been stigmatized as having collaborated with the Israeli occupation in 1967.
The US is building a secret airbase “somewhere in the Middle East” from which the CIA can launch drone attacks against al-Qaeda targets in Yemen, in a hedge against the CIA being kicked out in a post-revolutionary situation.
Nearly 3,000 have crossed the border from Syria into Turkey as the Syrian army moves to put down an uprising in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughur. Friday protests meanwhile rocked some 50 cities and towns across the country.
As deadly repression continues to mount in Yemen, CIA director Leon Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the US has not halted cooperation with President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s embattled regime.
Beltway neocons are clearly heartened by the bloodshed, and see it as an opportunity to augment it with US bombardment, as in Libya. The Assad dictatorship meanwhile exploits the Israeli-occupied Golan Druze as a base of support.
After days of fierce fighting in Sanaa, President Ali Abdullah Saleh has reportedly fled the country for Saudi Arabia. Amid the chaos, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninusla seized control of the southern town of Zinjibar.
Iran cheers protesters in Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain while apparently backing the repression in Syria—just as the US cheers protesters in Syria while backing the repression in Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain.
The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted a “Day of Rage” protests demanding the ruling military council cede power to an interim civilian body and postpone elections until political parties can be organized.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez phoned Syria’s Bashar Assad to pledge his support in the face of “fascist conspiracies” and “imperialist aggressions”—seemingly a little confused as to who the fascists are.
