SYRIA: 25 killed in violence, activists say.
Violence across Syria killed at least 25 people Wednesday, including eight soldiers who were gunned down by army defectors in a retaliatory ambush after government troops destroyed a civilian car, activists said.
It was the second day in a row in which an attack by President Bashar Assad’s forces on civilians appears to have brought a quick and deadly act of revenge by anti-regime fighters. The ambush was the latest sign that the once-peaceful protest movement is growing into an insurgency.
ISRAEL: Al-Assad’s ouster now a welcomed scenario.
In a shift, Israeli officials are welcoming the prospect that Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, will be overthrown, an event Defense Minister Ehud Barak says could be weeks away.
The officials’ new tone contrasts with conventional thinking here in years past, when Assad was credited with maintaining calm along the frontier with the Israeli-held Golan Heights and considered a stable alternative to a possible takeover by Islamic fundamentalists.
EGYPT: Blogger jailed for 2 years by military court.
A prominent Egyptian blogger was sentenced to two years in jail by a military court Wednesday, as Egyptians cast ballots in the second phase of parliamentary elections, the first vote since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
Maikel Nabil, who had been given a three-year term after his arrest almost nine months ago, was sentenced at a retrial on charges that included insulting the military, based on comments he made on his blog and Facebook page. Human-rights groups called the new sentence a disturbing reminder of the extent of power wielded by the military leadership. More than 12,000 people have been convicted in hasty military trials since top Egyptian generals assumed power Feb. 11.
LIBYA: National council seeks unfreezing of banks’ assets.
Libya’s National Transitional Council has asked the U.N. Security Council committee monitoring sanctions against the country to unfreeze the assets of two banks.
Council diplomats said the new Libyan government sent a letter to the committee requesting an end to sanctions on the Central Bank of Libya and its subsidiary, the Libyan Foreign Bank.
If none of the 15 council members object by Friday evening, the committee will order the assets to be unfrozen, the diplomats said. They were speaking on condition of anonymity because the procedure is private. The Security Council froze assets of the two banks and three other financial institutions linked to former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in March.
Diplomats say unfreezing the banks’ assets will help Libya repatriate assets from overseas.
YEMEN: Security plan aims to disarm militias.
Yemen’s vice president has presented a security plan to remove all militias and weapons from the capital and other cities. This would be a step to restore order in the country torn by months of protests and clashes.
The detailed plan released by official media Wednesday requires all security units and tribal fighters who have spread across the capital and in other cities to return to their barracks. They would have to withdraw from civilian buildings they seized.
Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said implementation would begin Saturday and last a week. He is to assume power Dec. 23 according to a power transfer deal signed by President Abdullah Ali Saleh last month after long delays.
Al-Qaeda-linked militants have taken advantage of the turmoil to solidify their positions. Denver Post wire services
