SYRIA
Syrian forces intensify their crackdown on an eastern city as they try to keep an anti-government uprising from escalating during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The assault and similar operations in at least two other towns kill at least 52 people. The worst violence is in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, where troops step up a siege already been going on for days.
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YEMEN
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh leaves a hospital in Saudi Arabia more than two months after being severely wounded in an attack on his palace compound in Sanaa. Saleh, badly burned in the June 3 blast, is discharged from the hospital in the Saudi capital of Riyadh and moved to a government residence in the city to further recuperate, It is not clear when — or if — Saleh would return to Yemen, which has been rocked by more than six months of mass protests calling for his ouster.
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BAHRAIN
Two former lawmakers from Bahrain's Shiite opposition are freed from jail along with several other detainees arrested in the wake of widespread anti-government protests. Their release appears to be aimed at diffusing tensions in the small island country, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, Washington's main counterweight against Iran's influence in the oil-rich Gulf. It comes after Bahrain's king accepted political reforms drawn up by a government-sanctioned national dialogue committee created to address grievances that emerged during this year's protests.