SYRIA: Activists say mass grave found.
A mass grave allegedly filled with the bodies of as many as 40 anti-government demonstrators killed by Syrian forces was found Monday near the southern city of Dara, where a popular uprising began two months ago, according to activists and accounts from others.
Activists also said Syrian security forces continued to attack the city of Tall Kalakh, near Lebanon’s northern border. According to witness accounts, clashes have broken out between members of the armed forces who refused to fire on protesters and pro-government “shabiha,” bands of armed men recruited from the ruling elites’ Alawite Muslim sect.
BAHRAIN: Security court delays trial of opposition leaders.
Bahrain’s special security court postponed until next week the trial of 21 mostly Shiite opposition leaders and political activists accused of plotting against the state.
The suspects — 14 in custody and the others being tried in absentia — are accused of attempting to overthrow the 200-year-old Sunni dynasty and of having links to “a terrorist organization abroad.” That is an apparent reference to Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Bahrain’s rulers have claimed was involved in the strategic island kingdom’s Shiite-led protests earlier this year.
Authorities are seeking to prosecute opposition leaders and others after months of clashes and protests in Bah rain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
IRAN: Activists set sail to Bahrain.
Two ships carrying 120 Iranian hard-line activists have left for Bahrain, part of an effort to show solidarity with the Shiite majority population of the tiny island nation.
The leader of the group, Mahdi Eghrarian, was quoted by the semi-official Fars news agency as saying the two ships left the port of Dayyer on Monday. It’s not clear whether they will be stopped by Iranian authorities, as two ships were during a similar attempt last month.
Eghrarian said one-third of the activists are women and 10 of them children. The group is carrying messages of support, he said.
ISRAEL: Netanyahu says changes to Arab world pose short-term problems.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said clashes with Arab demonstrators on four of his country’s borders Sunday show that the changes sweeping the Arab world will pose problems for Israel in the near future.
“In the long term, these will be changes for better” that “will advance the chances for peace,” Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem on Monday. “But in the short term, in the transition period, our situation is likely to be more problematic and challenging.”
At least nine protesters were killed in the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip Sunday during the observance of what Palestinians call the “naqba,” or catastrophe — the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel.
EGYPT: Riot police disperse pro-Palestinian protesters.
Egyptian riot police fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. At least 185 demonstrators were arrested over allegations of attacking police and vandalism. The rally in Cairo follows marches on Israel in support of the Palestinians.
Denver Post wire services
