Libyan rebels are reported March 28 to be advancing on Moammar Qaddafi's heartland of Sirte after seizing the eastern coastal towns of Ras Lanuf, Brega, Uqayla and Bin Jawad. The rebels re-captured the ports of Ajdabiya and Brega on March 26. The rebels, on the verge of losing their eastern stronghold city of Benghazi before Allied air-strikes began on March 19, have turned the tide and pushed westwards towards Tripoli. (BBC News, Middle East Online, March 27)

Evacuation and demolition orders were handed out to a Bedouin family east of Tubas on March 27, local officials told Ma'an News Agency. The orders come amid concern from UNRWA officials who noted a near two-fold increase in home demolitions during the first two months of 2011. Nabil Mustafa Daraghmeh, the head of a Bedouin family in the Ein Al-Hilwa area outside of Tubas in the northern West Bank, was served papers demanding he and his family evacuate their tent home and move their herds elsewhere. Palestinian security officials said several Israeli military patrol cars arrived in the area to serve the papers, which gave Daraghmeh one day to leave the area.

For a third day in a row, Israeli forces appeared in large numbers around the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar March 28, installing road gates and fence posts in a move residents fear will close them in and stifle the population center. Local activist Mohammad Ayyad Awad told Ma'an News Agency that the installation of the infrastructure is impeding freedom of movement in the town, saying residents with cars were not permitted entry and exit for most of the day. Awwad said the installations were part of Israeli military preparations to fence the town in, and prevent residents from accessing the surrounding areas.

Sharply elevated radiation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex on March 27 forced an emergency evacuation of of the Number 2 unit. The concerns began when a worker attempting to measure radiation levels of water puddles there saw the reading on his dosimeter jump beyond 1 sievert per hour, the highest reading. Michiaki Furukawa, a nuclear chemist and board member of the Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, a Tokyo watchdog group, said exposure to 1 sievert of radiation would induce nausea and vomiting, while levels between 3 to 5 sieverts an hour could be lethal. Yukio Edano, the Japanese government’s top spokesman, told a press briefing that it appeared the radioactive puddles had developed when the No. 2 unit’s fuel rods were exposed to air but that "we don’t at this time believe they are melting. We’re confident that we are able to keep them cool." (NYT, March 28)

Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on targets in Gaza City late March 24, injuring one person, witnesses and medical personnel said. Drones fired four missiles at the Palestinian Authority intelligence headquarters and an Al-Qassam Brigades site. Warplanes carried out raids on an agricultural area east of Beit Hanoun and four artillery shells were fired around the Karni crossing. One young man was injured by shrapnel, medical sources said. He was taken to Ash-Shifa Hospital for treatment of light wounds. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the airstrikes targeted a "terror activity site" in northern Gaza. The attack came in response to the barrage of projectiles fired at Israel in the past week, she added. (Maan News Agency, March 23)

NATO agreed March 24 to take control of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after lengthy negotiations: "We are taking action as part of a broad international effort to protect civilians against the Qaddafi regime." Rasmussen said the NATO operation was limited to enforcing the no-fly zone, but reports indicated that NATO members reached a "political agreement" to also command all other operations ostensibly aimed at protecting civilians—meaning strikes against Qaddafi's ground forces. The UK's Defense Secretary Liam Fox said that British Tornado jets launched missiles overnight at Libyan armored vehicles in the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya.

Clashes were reported at Mukalla in southeast Yemen between the regular army and elite Republican Guard loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh March 24, leaving three wounded. It was the second such clash reported this week, pitting Republican Guards against soldiers under the orders of a regional commander who has rallied to the side of anti-Saleh protesters, Gen. Mohammed Ali Mohsen. Two soldiers were killed as the rivals clashed near a presidential palace in Mukalla on March 21. (Middle East Online, March 24) At least 15 people were killed as security forces opened fire on a thousands-strong protest march in Daraa, Syria, on March 25. Hundreds also gathered in the capital, Damascus, after Friday prayers. (CNN, NYT, March 25)

As Allied bombardment of Tripoli continued, Libyan rebels advanced on Ajdabiya March 24 in their bid to retake the strategic eastern oil town from troops loyal to Moammar Qaddafi. The rebels, whose weapons range from Kalashnikovs to knives, face cordons of tanks guarding approaches to the city, and the populace is fleeing en masse. In Benghazi, rebel spokesman Ahmed Omar Bani said: "We are trying to negotiate with these people [Qaddafi troops] in Ajdabiya because we are almost sure that they have lost contact with their headquarters. Truthfully some of the Ajdabiya militias have asked to surrender, to be left alone and to go back home. But we cannot leave them to go without interrogation because the answers we get from them will be useful in saving lives." (Middle East Online, March 24)