Latest developments in Arab world’s unrest
Anti-Syrian regime protesters of Islamic group, protest after the Friday prayer to show their support to the Syrian protesters who demonstrate against the Syrian President Bashar Assad. AP
SYRIA
Syrian soldiers fire on tens of thousands of protesters who flood the streets shouting for the ouster — and even the execution — of President Bashar Assad as his embattled regime tries to crush a five-month-old uprising despite broad international condemnation.
At least 14 protesters are killed across the country: five outside the capital, Damascus; one in Homs and two in Hama; four in the major northern city Aleppo; one in Deir el-Zour; and one in eastern Idlib province, according to multiple activist groups. Military raids earlier in the day kill at least two people.
EGYPT
Hundreds of protesters rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, briefly scuffling with riot police and defying Egypt’s military rulers who are eager to prevent any demonstrations in the iconic square since forcefully clearing a weekslong sit-in by youth activists last week.
Protesters throw bottles and stones at the columns of police in riot gear before other demonstrators form a human chain in front of the police to stop the violence.
The rally by youth activists and Sufis, a mystical order of Islam that has generally stayed out of politics, is a counterpoint to a mass demonstration by hard-line Salafi Muslims last month who called for the imposition of Islamic law.
LIBYA
Rebels battling Moammar Gadhafi’s troops along the country’s Mediterranean coast claim they have captured part of the strategic oil terminal town of Brega, which has repeatedly changed hands in the six-month-old civil war.
YEMEN
Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis pour into the streets of major cities and towns across the country, keeping the pressure on the nation’s embattled president to step down.
