Crackdowns fail to deter protesters

Dubai Despite widening crackdowns across the region on anti-regime protesters, today 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'.

"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.

Libyan attache defects

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.

Meanwhile, a Libyan military attache at the country's embassy in the UAE told Al Arabiya television yesterday he was quitting his post to join the rebel ranks.

"I announce my split from the regime and my joining and wholehearted support for the February 17 revolution," said air force brigadier Ammar Bilqasem, who was wearing a badge of the rebel flag on the lapel of his jacket.

"Victory is near," he said.

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wealth probe

mubarak, wife quizzed

Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne were questioned yesterday over alleged illegal acquisition of wealth, the investigator's office told AFP.

"A team of investigators from the illicit gains department headed by Khaled Salim is currently questioning the former president and his wife" in the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Shaikh, it said.

It was the first time the Mubaraks have been questioned by this branch of the justice ministry, which is looking into "charges that they used their position to acquire wealth illegally," the office said.

Mubarak, who is in custody in a Sharm Al Shaikh hospital, has already been interrogated by the state prosecutor's office over several charges including ordering the shooting of anti-regime protesters.

— AFP