Elsewhere in the Middle East

Al Jazeera office in Cairo torched by protesters

Egyptian protesters firebombed one of the offices of satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera today and attacked a police chief who tried to negotiate an end to three days of violent protests in central Cairo.

  

NZ Herald
 22 November, 2012


The protesters hit the TV studio overlooking Tahrir Square with firebombs, engulfing it in flames. In a televised interview from inside the gutted office, reporter Ahmed el-Dassouki said around 300 protesters approached the building before noon, shouting obscenities.


He said they set the place on fire, stormed the building and looted the studio. "They accuse our network of being biased and not objective," he said. Many protesters had accused the channel of bias in favor of the country's most powerful political force, the Muslim Brotherhood.

After the attack, a crowd assaulted Cairo Police Chief Osama el-Saghir, who went to Tahrir Square to diffuse the situation, a security official said. Protesters drove El-Saghir from the square with punches and kicks, the official added, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

Fire crews rushed to put out the office blaze as dozens of onlookers watched smoke and flames shoot from the balcony.


Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin said police had arrested 118 protesters since clashes broke out Monday (local time).


"We have more than once restrained ourselves... and our forces have been wounded, but we will not stay with our hands tied or else people will hold us responsible," he said during a press conference in Cairo.


Scores of protesters have been wounded with birdshot and tear gas fired by police.


The Brotherhood's political party said in a statement on Facebook Wednesday that the protests were aimed at creating chaos as part of a wider scheme to derail the revolution. The language of the statement was similar to that of the transitional military council that administered Egypt after the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak last year, when the military was in power and its forces were entangled in clashes with protesters.


The protesters Wednesday demand retribution for last year's deadly confrontation between police and demonstrators when security forces moved to break up a sit-in by people injured during last year's uprising. It set off days of violence that left 42 dead and hundreds wounded.


Monday was the anniversary of those clashes.


"The scenario repeats itself every time, but we are aware of this. People are calling on us to use force and occupy Tahrir Square," Gamal Eddin told reporters, "but we have policies that see the purpose behind this and what it would mean for us to go into Tahrir."


The Interior Minister admitted that his police forces have been unable to determine who was behind past protests, including last year's attacks on government buildings that protesters blamed on paid thugs.


"The problem is we reach a certain point and then the link in the chain breaks because these people are trained and have trainers who know how to hide," he said.


Last year's violence was before Mohammed Morsi of the Brotherhood was elected president, while the country was run by the military. Morsi took office in late June.


This week's protesters, mostly disgruntled youth, feel Morsi has done little to address their demand that security officers be held accountable for the killings of protesters.


Demonstrator Walid Farag said the president was too busy with foreign policy and had not delivered on his domestic promises.


"How come he (Morsi) doesn't come out and speak with the youth," Farag asked.
Some of the protesters called for an open sit-in starting Friday to also demand the dissolution of the Islamist-led body writing the country's new constitution. Liberals and seculars have denounced proposed changes in wording about the role of religion.


"We came here to demand the rights of our martyrs. The security forces wanted to award them with more martyrs," protester Samuel Sobhi said.

Libya: Gunmen Assassinate Benghazi Security Chief

Libya’s deputy interior minister says gunmen assassinated the security chief of the eastern city of Benghazi overnight

Time,

21 November, 2012

Omar al-Khadrawi says National Security Chief Col. Farag al-Dersi was shot dead while returning from work on Wednesday.

“Three men opened fire, killed him and then fled the scene,” he said, adding that it was unclear who is behind the killing.

The country’s second largest city has witnessed a series of assassinations and car bombs over the past months by unidentified assailants targeting mainly security officials who worked under the rule of ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

On Sept. 11, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an hours-long assault on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Islamic extremists are believed to be behind the attack.

From the propagandist-in-chief for the jihadists in Syria.

Syria opposition appeals for massive aid

Leading opposition figure says $60b needed to prevent economy from collapsing within six months if Assad's regime falls

al-Jazeera,

21 November, 2012

The Syrian opposition has said it will need $60b in aid to prevent the country's economy from collapsing if it takes power from President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

George Sabra, a prominent opposition leader, told reporters on Wednesday in Dubai, the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, that the economy could collapse within six months without the money.

Sabra also urged delegates at a "Partnership to Invest in Future Syria" meeting in Dubai to immediately launch a Marshall Plan for the Arab country, along the lines of the huge post-World War II recovery programme for Europe.

Syria has been battling armed groups in a conflict that started as an uprising against Assad in March 2011 but has degenerated into a civil war that has left more than 38,000 people killed, according to activists.

Over the "first six months we need $60b" as immediate funding for reconstruction of the country, Sabra told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting

The country has been devastated mainly by the government's use of aerial bombardments and artillery fire in its bid to crush the uprising.

Sabra said the money must come in the form of aid from "our Arab brothers and the international community on whom we count to fulfill their responsibilities towards the humanitarian crisis our country is facing".

Funding is needed to "resolve the most sensitive and outstanding issues," starting with "securing housing for people after 2.5 million homes have been destroyed" in the conflict, said Sabra, the president of the Syrian National Council.

"What can be described as an economic 'Marshall Plan for Syria' cannot be delayed until the current regime fully collapses. It must be initiated immediately," Sabra told the meeting.

He called for the "Arab and international business community's support" of "fully or almost completely" liberated zones in Syria's northern cities of Aleppo, Idlib and Tal Abyad.

"The regime is in the stage of decline and will not last long," he told the AFP news agency.

'Cash for banks'

Farah Atassi, a prominent opposition activist, said cash was needed in Syrian banks and the central bank to ensure that vital services such as water, electricity and health continue to be provided.

Sabra also called for the setting up of an "immediate coordination bureau either inside Syria or in any city near the Turkish-Syrian border" to secure the flow of aid and offer rebels "administrative and technical expertise".

The meeting was the second of its kind this year, co-chaired by the United Arab Emirates and Germany.

Over 500 regional and international delegates were meeting in a series of sessions to study strategies for private-sector engagement in helping to rebuild the war-torn country.

German representative Volkmar Wenzel said "we must start with relief and go through many phases before reaching to foreign investment".

Sabra's SNC is a main component of the Syrian National Coalition formed in Doha, Qatar, on November 11. The group has so far gained recognition from Britain, France, Italy, Turkey, the EU and six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council.

"We hope the American stance moves forward towards supporting the Syrian revolt and recognising the National Coalition as France and Britain did," said Sabra.

In a separate development, four Syrian women, wearing long white dresses, have been arrested for staging a demonstration in a Damascus market calling for an end to the conflict.

"Syria is for all of us," one banner carried by the women said. "For the sake of the Syrian human, the civil society calls for stopping all military operations in Syria," another one read. "You're tired and we are tired. We want to live."

23 Bahraini health workers sentenced to prison

Press TV,

22 November, 2012

Twenty-three medics have been convicted in Bahrain for their role in anti-regime protests that kicked off in 2011.

On Wednesday, a court in the Persian Gulf kingdom sentenced the medics to three months in jail for treating Bahraini protesters and taking part in demonstrations.

The medics are among the 95 health workers who were arrested between February and March 2011.

Prosecutor Abdulrahman al-Sayyed said the medics have "committed crimes and violations, breaching the law and norms."

According to the verdict, the health workers can pay 200 Bahraini dinars each to have their prison terms suspended.

Earlier in the day, Amnesty International released a report about repression in the country, stating that “the authorities in Bahrain do not have the will to take the steps necessary to reform.”

“As the country is engulfed in entrenched unrest and instability looms, the international community, and especially Bahrain’s allies, have a duty to condemn what is happening in the country,” the report added.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used 'excessive force' in the campaign of suppression and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

Bahrain has witnessed regular anti-regime protests following a popular revolution in the island nation in February 2011. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent security and military forces to the neighboring country upon a request from Manama to help the Bahraini government quash the peaceful protests.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.

Despite the Al Khalifa regime’s ban on all demonstrations and public gatherings across the state, Bahraini protesters say they remain resolute to continue demonstrations until their demands for the establishment of a democratically elected government are met.