Obama’s State of the Union address praised the Tunisian protesters—now that the dictator has fled. Meanwhile, his administration connives with other Arab dictators facing protest movements.
Supporters of ousted Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri clashed with army troops in the Sunni strongholds of Tripoli and Sidon as his replacement Najib Miqati took office.
Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with police and occupied Cairo’s Tahrir Square, pledging to establish a vigil to demand that long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak step down.
In the first major opposition protests ever seen in Yemen’s capital, some 2,500 rallied at the University of Sanaa, demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Thousands took to the streets across Jordan in “a day of rage” to protest escalating food prices and unemployment—the same day that Tunisia’s president was toppled by protesters.
The US House of Representatives passed Joint Resolution 37, calling for the withdrawal of US armed forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen. The resolution states that only Congress has the authority to declare war, and notes that Congress has not made any declaration of war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are the target of Saudi-led forces. US armed forces have supported Saudi Arabia through aerial targeting assistance, intelligence sharing, and mid-flight aerial refueling. The resolution gives President Trump 30 days to withdraw forces from hostilities in or affecting Yemen. Forces which are involved in operations directed at al-Qaeda in the region are exempt from the resolution. The resolution also does not restrict the sharing of intelligence. It also specifies that the resolution does not impact military operations undertaken in cooperation with Israel. (Photo via Jurist)
Coptic Christians took to the streets in Egypt in a series of angry protests after a deadly blast during New Year’s Eve midnight mass at Alexandria’s al-Qiddisin Church.
A Lebanese military court convicted radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed in absentia on terrorism charges and sentenced him to life in prison.
Islamic leaders in Eygpt, including the Muslim Brotherhood, have condemned threats on the country’s Coptic Christian minority by the al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq following bloody attacks on Iraqi Christians.
A suicide attack on Istanbul’s Taksim Square, injuring at least 32, came on the last day of a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
A Kuwaiti appeals court upheld the acquittal of eight men accused of attempting to form an al-Qaeda cell and planning to attack a US base. The court also found that the men had been tortured.
Talk about strange bedfellows! This week witnessed the surreal spectacle of US National Security Adviser John Bolton, the most bellicose neoconservative in the Trump administration, visiting Turkey to try to forestall an Ankara attack radical-left, anarchist-leaning Kurdish fighters that the Pentagon has been backing to fight ISIS in Syria. "We don't think the Turks ought to undertake military action that's not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States," Bolton told reporters. Refering to the Kurdish YPG militia, a Turkish presidential spokesman responded: "That a terror organization cannot be allied with the US is self-evident." Bolton left Turkey without meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who then publicly dissed the National Security Adviser's stance as a "serious mistake." YPG spokesman Nuri Mahmud, in turn, shot back: "Turkey, which has been a jihadist safe-haven and passage route to Syria since the beginning of the conflict, has plans to invade the region end destroy the democracy created by blood of sons and daughters of this people." (Photo: ANF)
