ANSD : Latest developments in Arab world's unrest

WED 24 - 4 - 2024

Date: Jun 7, 2011
Source: Associated Press

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest

SYRIA
Armed men attack Syrian security forces in a tense northern city, state television says, and 120 policemen and security forces are killed in a region where the army has carried out days of deadly assaults on protesters calling for the end of President Bashar Assad's rule. Communications are cut to the area around Jisr al-Shughour, and the details of the attack were impossible to verify, but there have been unconfirmed reports in the past by residents and activists of Syrians fighting back against security forces. The government promises a "decisive" response, setting the stage for an even stronger government crackdown against a popular uprising that began in mid-March.
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YEMEN
With the wounded president out of Yemen, the United States and Saudi Arabia scramble to arrange a power transfer ensuring an end to his decades-long rule. But a top official says President Ali Abdullah Saleh, recovering in Saudi Arabia, would return home within days, a step almost certain to spark new, intensified fighting between his forces and opposition tribesmen determined to topple him. Both sides' fighters are deployed in the streets of the capital, and a cease-fire brokered by Saudi Arabia only a day earlier is already starting to fray, with clashes killing at least six.
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LIBYA
Libya's rebels have arbitrarily detained dozens of civilians suspected of supporting ruler Moammar Gadhafi and at least one has died after apparently being tortured while in custody, Human Rights Watch says. Since the uprising started in mid-February, rebels have seized control of much of the country's east and scrambled to set up an administration in their de facto capital of Benghazi. Rebels also hold the western city of Misrata and smaller towns in the western mountains. Both sides have taken prisoners in the fighting. NATO intensifies its airstrikes in and around the capital of Tripoli, targeting military installations and a government building.
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EGYPT
Crowds of Egyptians dressed in black hold demonstrations to honor a young man from Alexandria beaten to death a year ago in a savage attack blamed on police that helped inspire the uprising that brought down Egypt's president. Photographs of Khaled Said's badly disfigured and bloodied face were posted on the Internet and became an instant rallying point for campaigners trying to bring attention to rampant police brutality under the regime of Hosni Mubarak. A Facebook page in his honor called "We are all Khaled Said" was used months later to call for the protests that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11. On Monday's anniversary of his death, crowds held protests in Cairo and Alexandria to remember him and draw attention to continued abuses by Egyptian police.
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BAHRAIN
Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured anti-government protesters during the months of unrest in Bahrain go on trial in a security court on allegations they participated in efforts to overthrow the Gulf country's monarchy. The prosecution of 47 health professionals is a sign that Bahrain's Sunni rulers will not end their relentless pursuit of the Shiite-led opposition despite officially lifting emergency rule last week. The medical workers are charged with participating in efforts to topple Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and taking part in illegal rallies.

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