Dubai: Despite widening crackdowns across the region on anti-regime protesters, Friday will yet again be an ‘explosive day' with massive protests planned in Syria, Yemen and Libya where the deathtolls keep rising daily.
Speaking on the widening crackdown in Syria, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday blasted Syria's use of strength as ‘a sign of remarkable weakness'.
Special coverage on unrest in Middle East
"Relying on Iran as your best friend... and your only strategic ally is not a viable way forward," she said of Syria. Clinton said since the start of the Syrian uprising in mid-March, hundreds had been killed and that unlawful detentions, torture and denial of medical care to the wounded had taken place.
"The recent events in Syria make it clear that the country cannot return to the way it was before," she said. While Syrian President Bashar Al Assad promised reforms in the hope of dampening dissent, tanks advanced in the southern towns of Dael, Tafas, Jassem and Al Harra ahead of Friday protests — the Muslim day of prayer which has become a major day of Arab protest.
Unity rally
In Homs, Syrian security forces arrested veteran human rights campaigner Naji Tayara, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A former political prisoner, Tayara played a leading role in a movement demanding political freedoms known as the Damascus Spring that was crushed in 2001.
Syrian soldiers and tanks surrounded the city of Hama yesterday, where shelling and heavy gunfire could be heard. It is estimated that dozens have been killed in the past two days. In Libya, massive protests are planned against the Gaddafi regime in Tripoli, Benghazi and Tobruk. Libyan rebels yesterday made significant gains, capturing the city of Misrata and forging ahead to Brega. In Egypt, Muslims and Christians are to gather for a ‘unity rally' in the symbolic Tahrir Square to denounce the recent sectarian attacks on Cairo churches.
Yesterday the military warned that it would strike down on sectarianism, after violent clashes on Saturday left 15 people dead. "The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces warned of the dangers facing Egypt through sectarian discord, affirming that this is a red line," the official Mena news agency quoted a military spokesman as saying.
Mubarak to be quizzed
Egypt's anti-graft agency was to interrogate former President Hosni Mubarak and his wife for the first time yesterday evening, to examine charges they had enriched themselves illegally, the state news agency said. An investigation team has moved to the Sinai resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh where Mubarak and his wife Suzanne are staying, the agency said, quoting Assem Al Gohari, a senior justice ministry official.
"Al Gohari said the team of investigators will begin the first session of its investigations with Mubarak and his wife this (last) evening," the Mena report said.
"The two face accusations that they took advantage of the president's influence to accumulate massive wealth not commensurate with their legally established sources of income".
