Middle East

By Sue Turton in Middle East on February 11th, 2012
[Al Jazeera]

The sprawling housing estate of Bab al-Tebbeneh north of Tripoli sits cheek-by-jowl alongside the Jabal Mohsen estate. They are neighbours but their allegiances are worlds apart.

To get to the street that split the two communities we have to dart in and out of side streets and alleyways, workshops and backrooms. We sprint through the gaps between the high rise apartment blocks, lest the snipers pick us off. Even the dogs run faster here, sensing the fear.

At times the gunfire is deafening as the residents let off a few rounds to let the guys sitting in the opposite estate know that they're still there. Snipers reply, sometimes inadvertently hitting the minarets of one of the estates' many mosques.

Inner city estates all over the world have gangs that fight against other estates, but rarely with RPGs and AK-47s, and rarely in the name of another country's conflict.

Tags: Assad
By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 11th, 2012
Demonstrators gather during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Homs on Friday [Reuters]

People continue to take to the streets across Syria, where the uprising is becoming increasingly militarised. Activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed since protests began in March last year. The government blames "armed gangs" for the unrest and says more than 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed.

We bring you the latest news from various sources.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on February 10th, 2012

Last year, on February 11, I was standing next to the main stage in Tahrir Square when the evening call to prayer rang out.  

All you could see was a sea of people in lines, using Egyptian flags as prayer mats. When news filtered through to the crowd that Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt's president, had stepped down, people started shouting, saying that nobody could celebrate until prayers had finished.  

On the final prostration, as they stood up, tens of thousands of people looked up to the sky and shouted in unison “Allahu Akbar”: "God is Great".  It was the single most incredible moment of my career, and I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

That moment wasn’t just about a change of regime, it was about the fact that Egyptians had made it happen. They took on their president and they brought him down. Egyptians, who had gained a reputation in the Arab world as political passive, had done the seemingly impossible in just 18 days.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 10th, 2012
Anti-government protesters in Yemen march to show solidarity with the Syrian people [Reuters]

Al Jazeera staff and correspondents update you on important developments in the Yemen unrest.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

Tags: Yemen
By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 6th, 2012
A municipal worker cleans Mohamed Mahmoud street in central Cairo, the scene of deadly riot police clashes with protesters [AFP]

Al Jazeera staff and correspondents update you on important developments in Egypt.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

Tags: Cairo
By Jane Ferguson in Middle East on February 5th, 2012

Within half an hour of arriving at the activists’ office in Homs, I was in a car and careering past the sound of sniper fire.

These citizen journalists wanted to waste no time in showing an international reporter what they’re up against.

Climbing the stairs of an abandoned building, they push forward in front of me with their small, hand-held video cameras.

While this area of the city - Bab Amr - has been pounded by President Assad’s tanks, almost all of the footage seen on the world’s TV screens has come from this small team of self-made cameramen.

The Arab Spring has clearly shown revolutionaries that they can fight an aggressive government by exposing it to the outside world.

But in that regard, Syria is very different from Egypt, Yemen, or Libya where access for foreign journalists was tough, but by no means impossible.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on January 31st, 2012
Anti-government protesters clashed with Bahraini riot police in Sitra, southeast of Manama, on January 30 [Reuters]

Despite numerous government crackdowns, Bahrain's Shia-led protest movement continues to call for more political rights.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

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By Zeina Khodr in Middle East on January 27th, 2012

Every Friday since the start of the uprising almost a year ago, Syrian activists have called for nationwide protests. And, there is always a slogan.

For the past weeks and months, protesters took to the streets demanding international intervention, a no-fly zone, a safe area ...

By Benedict Moran in Middle East on January 24th, 2012
Syrian protesters have called on Russia to changes its position in the Security Council [Reuters]

By Benedict Moran

Sunday’s Arab League proposal may breathe a gust of fresh air into the hallways of the UN Security Council, which has been long deadlocked on the issue of Syria.

Western countries in the 15-member body, including the UK, France, the US, and Germany, have long backed strong condemnation of what they perceive as a blatant violation of human rights in the country, and seek sanctions or an arms embargo as punitive action against Damascus.

Russia, and to various degrees China, India, and South Africa, have opposed involvement, saying the West is overstepping its bounds and is interfering in the sovereign affairs of a state.  They have continued to call for political dialogue.

In part, the deep divisions over the role of the international body stem from a degree of regret that some members feel since it mandated international intervention in Libya.  

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on January 12th, 2012
Fatma, a vegetable vendor with six children, says inflation has hit Egypt's poor [Adam Makary]

It is hard to believe it has almost been a year since Egypt’s uprising began. 

In the last 12 months, the concentration has been on the politics; the governments that have come and gone, the actions of the military rulers and violence on the streets.

But some analysts predict it is the economic, and not the political, situation in Egypt that may end up being the biggest problem and destabilizing factor in years to come.

The Egyptian prime minister, Kamal El Ganzouri, seems to speak about little else these days. He’s described the economy as a disaster and said people don’t realize the scale of the problem.

So, what is the problem and how does Egypt fix it? The data speaks for itself, and bear in mind 40 per cent of Egyptians are already living on $2 a day or less. 

'Ash, horreya, adela'

Fatma is a street vegetable seller.

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