Yemen's Parliament enacted several emergency measures March 23 at the request of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in an effort to end anti-government protests. The new laws give the government greater power to arrest and detain protesters and to censor the media. The new laws follow Saleh's declaration last week of a 30-day state of emergency. The measure passed easily as many minority party members of the 301-seat parliament did not attend the session. Saleh warned that Yemen could face a civil war after opposition leaders rejected his offer to step down by the end of this year. The emergency laws expire in 30 days. despite an appeal from youths at the forefront of anti-regime protests that it could lead to a new "massacre." (Jurist, March 23)

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Cairo March 23 that the UN Security Council resolution authorizing a no-fly zone in Libya is "not time-limited" and that it was unrealistic to expect military action to be over in a matter of weeks. "So I think that there is no current timeline in terms of when it might end," he told reporters. The comments came as nearly 12 hours of Allied air-strikes broke the Libyan regime's five-day siege of the key rebel-held town of Misurata. Aerial bombardment destroyed tanks and artillery, sending the bulk of Moammar Qaddafi's besieging forces fleeing, and securing the town for the rebels. The battle for Misurata is said to have cost some 100 lives from shelling, snipers and street fighting. (Middle East Online, The Guardian, March 23)

An Israeli woman critically wounded when a bomb ripped through a bus near Jerusalem's central bus station on March 23 died of her injuries after being hospitalized. The attack was the first major bombing in Jerusalem since 2004. More recent deadly attacks involved gunmen, as in the case of the Mercaz Harav attack in March 2008 that left eight yeshiva students dead, or Palestinians commandeering bulldozers or cars and using them as weapons. (Maan News Agency, JTA, March 23)

Syrian security forces killed 15 people March 23 in the city of Deraa, witnesses and rights activists said. Seven were killed when security personnel fired on a group of protesters that gathered after dawn prayers outside al-Omari mosque. Later, about 3,000 protesters from neighboring towns gathered outside Deraa and clashed with an army unit. Syrian state television reported the government fired the governor of Deraa province, and promised reforms. The protest wave in Deraa was apparently sparked after local schoolchildren painted a mural depicting scenes and slogans from the recent revolutions in other Arab countries, and were detained by police. (CNN, FT, March 23)

As air-strikes continue on Libya, Tripoli on March 21 accused both Allied forces and rebels of breaking a ceasefire, which it had announced late the previous day—but rebel sources said Qaddafi's troops continued to attack their western enclave of Misurata. Qaddafi's troops retreated 100 kilometers from the rebel capital of Benghazi after being strafed by coalition aircraft, but beat off a rebel advance on their new positions in Ajdabiya. Gen. Carter Ham, head of the US Africa Command, said US forces have no mission to support a ground offensive by the rebels—but that Qaddafi's troops in the Benghazi area show "little will or capability to resume offensive operations."

Israeli warplanes targeted sites across the Gaza Strip late March 21, injuring at least 17 people including seven children, witnesses and medics said. Ten people arrived at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and seven others were taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north. An airstrike in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City caused considerable damage but no injuries, residents said. An Israeli military spokesman said that the attack targeted two "terror tunnels, two weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, and two additional terror activities sites." The official emphasized that the attack came in response to the barrage of projectiles fired toward Israeli territory over the past week, including 50 on March 19 for which Hamas claimed responsibility. Among the targets were a police post and a training facility of Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, which a day earlier offered to stop cross-border fire into Israel if the Israelis halted attacks on Gaza.

Hamas' armed wing said March 21 that it would commit to a truce if Israel stops bombarding the Gaza Strip. However, the al-Qassam Brigades vowed to resist if Israel continued to attack the enclave. Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said the group had fired mortars into the Western Negev on March 19 in response to Israeli aggression. Three days earlier, two of its members were killed in an Israeli air strike. The call for a ceasefire came as Israeli warplanes struck garages by a mosque east of Ash-Shuja'iyeh near Gaza City. No injuries were reported, but residents said Israeli fighter jets were circling above the besieged strip.

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalif announced March 21 that "a foreign plot" against the small Gulf state has been foiled. "There is a foreign plot that has been in the making for at least 20 to 30 years so that the ground is ready for its execution," said the king, in a clear allusion to Iran. But the crackdown on protesters in Bahrain has left many angry with the United States. At the Sadiq Mosque in Manama, Sheikh Issa Qassim said of the US: "They have influence they're not using to save the people here." One of the worshippers, Isa Ashoor, agreed: "Everybody is thinking America gave them the green light to beat the Bahraini people." (AGI, NPR, March 21)