| | | Date: Jun 6, 2011 | | Source: Associated Press | | |  |  |
| | Latest developments in Arab world's unrest |
YEMEN
The departure of Yemen's battle-wounded president for treatment in Saudi Arabia sets off wild street celebrations in the capital, where crowds danced, sang and slaughtered cows in hopes that this spelled a victorious end to a more than three-month campaign to push their leader from power. Behind the festive atmosphere, many feared Ali Abdullah Saleh, a masterful political survivor who has held power for nearly 33 years, will yet return — or leave the country in ruins if he can't. Saleh, who was taken overnight to a military hospital in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, underwent successful surgery on his chest to remove jagged pieces of wood that splintered from a mosque pulpit when his compound was hit by rockets on Friday.
___
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
Israeli troops battle hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters who TRY to burst across Syria's frontier with the Golan Heights, killing a reported 20 people and wounding scores more in the second outbreak of deadly violence in the border area in less than a month. The clashes, marking the anniversary of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war, draw Israeli accusations that Syria was orchestrating the violence to shift attention away from a bloody crackdown on opposition protests at home. The marchers, who organized on Facebook, pass by Syrian and U.N. outposts on their way to the front lines.
___
SYRIA
The death toll in a government security crackdown in two northern Syrian towns rises to 35. Exiled opposition figures said any dialogue now with President Bashar Assad's regime would be a joke. The deaths in the town of Jisr al-Shughour and nearby Khan Sheikhoun included six policemen. The operation is part of a crackdown that began Saturday. Human rights groups say more than 1,200 people have died in the brutal crackdown against anti-government protesters since March.
___
LIBYA
A Libyan woman who claimed she was raped by Gadhafi troops has left Libya on her way to the United States, her sister says. Marwa al-Obeidi says her sister Iman was flown out of Benghazi early Sunday morning. It was not immediately known where she was going in the U.S. Wearing gray pajamas and sitting with her mother in a cramped hotel room in Benghazi, Marwa al-Obeidi said she had spent the day crying because it was hard to see her sister leave, but knew this trip was best for her. "We just want a chance for her to be treated psychologically and to rest. My sister has just been through so much," Marwa told The Associated Press.
|
| | |
|
