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From: Middle East Update [middle.east.update@hotmail.com] Sent: 6/1/2011 10:47:23 PM To: Middle East Update [middle.east.update@hotmail.com] Subject: Middle East Update - May 25-31, 2011 Middle East Update May 25-31, 2011 Syria International pressure on Damascus is mounting. After the US imposed sanctions on the Syrian leadership earlier in May, the EU foreign ministers agreed to impose travel bans and to freeze the assets of President Assad and nine other Syrian senior officials. Within days of the EU announcement, Canada invoked similar travel and economic sanctions. While Russia blocked any reference in the G8 communiqué to the possibility of deferring the issue of Syria to the UN Security Council, the communiqué’s compromise language illustrates the international community's increased pressure on the regime. The G8 leaders stated that they were “appalled” by the death of peaceful protesters and called on the Syrian leadership to immediately stop using force against its people or the G-8 countries would “consider taking further measures’. At the same time, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallan—the leader of the Lebanese party Hizbullah—called on the Syrian people to give the government time to effectuate reforms, arguing that President Assad believes in reforming the system and is determined to implement change. The Hizbullah leader denied that his party has dispatched fighters to assist the Syrian regime in quelling the protest movement. Anti-lran and -Hizbullah slogans were chanted in a number of Syrian cities in response to Nasrallah’s defense of the regime and his pictures were burned in Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria. Syrian protesters declared Friday “the day of the Guardians of the Homeland’—a reference to the Syrian armed forces—in an effort to encourage the army to join the uprising. Security and military forces appear, however, to be stepping up their campaign in an attempt to end the protests. Tens of people were killed or wounded over the weekend and tanks have entered two suburbs of the city of Homs, Rastan, and Talbiseh. The heavy-handed repression by police and military officials may lead demonstrators to consider a recourse to arms. The government is cracking down on protesters’ use of social media, but, in contrast to what occurred in Egypt, it has refrained from a general shut down of the internet. Security officials are forcing dissidents to turn over their Facebook passwords and have switched off 3G mobile networks in order to prevent the uploading of protestor videos to YouTube. The electricity and phone service has been cut off in neighborhoods where discontent is mounting. Facebook and, in particular, its “Syrian Revolution 2011” page, has been a vital platform for activists to mobilize protests and to disseminate information. Syria has over 580,000 Facebook users. In response to government measures, protesters have created multiple Facebook pages under different names and have given their Facebook passwords to friends in case they are arrested or disappear and their comments opposing the Assad regime need to be quickly removed from personal webpages. Syrian activists acknowledge their debt to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions, further improvising and improving on their tactics on a daily basis in an effort to avoid retribution by the regime and to sustain the protest movement. Daytime demonstrations have moved to the evening in order to make it more difficult for security forces to identify individual protesters and to single them out for arrest. After dark, protesters can disperse to unlit alleyways to escape arrest—a tactic Syrian activists call “tayyara” or flying. Yemen The authority of President Saleh’s government continues to erode rapidly and Yemen appears to be edging closer towards a_ civil war. Tribal fighters in the capital of Sanaa, have gained control of key ministries, including the Interior Ministry. Brigades from the Republican Guard—the President’s main forces—have surrendered to tribal fighters east and west of the capital who have succeeded in blocking their deployment to Sanaa. According to well-informed sources, the Vice President, the Prime Minister, and the Speaker of the Yemeni Consultative Council have tried to convince President Saleh to sign the agreement mediated by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031329