Libyan rebel forces launched a successful offensive to drive Moammar Qaddafi's troops from the key eastern oil port of Brega on March 2. "Brega is liberated. We have forced them to 30 kilometers west," said rebel fighter Khalid al-Aqoly. At dawn, Qaddafi's forces, backed by tanks and heavy weaponry, had seized the airport and oil terminal in Brega, the westernmost town held by the comparatively poorly armed opposition. As the battle for Brega raged in a day of fierce fighting, Qaddafi went on television to deny there is any opposition to his 41-year rule. (Middle East Online, March 2)

With much of his army defecting to the opposition that now holds Libya's east, Moammar Qaddafi is notoriously making use of mercenaries from countries to the south in Africa. Recent reports indicate that these prominently include Tuareg fighters from Mali and Niger who flocked to Libya in the 1970s and '80s, recruited into an "Islamic Legion" modeled on the French Foreign Legion. A Tuareg leader in Mali, Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh, said some 16,000 Tuaregs remain in the Libyan security forces. "We've been getting updates from some of them by phone," Assaleh said by telephone. "They say their orders are to protect Qaddafi and they will defend him to the end." (CP, March 1)

Iranian opposition websites say more than 200 people were arrested March 1 while attempting to protest in Tehran, with another 40 detained in Isfahan. Opposition groups had called for rallies over the reported imprisonment of their leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The two men had been placed under house arrest several weeks ago as authorities cracked down on protests staged in solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. Their families say that on Feb. 28 they were taken to prison, although the government denies this. (BBC News, March 2)

UN Special Representative to Iraq Ad Melkert issued a statement March 1 expressing concern about reports of human rights violations in the nationwide protest campaign now shaking the country. Melkert said reported violations included "disproportionate" use of force by security forces against protesters. "Fundamental changes are needed for creating stability and trust," said Melkert, who is the head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). (AP, UN News Centre, March 2)

Although the regime has effectively suppressed press accounts, dissident websites in Syria say security forces have dispersed three demonstrations in the past weeks. The last, on Feb. 29, reportedly involved hundreds of women protesting against price hikes. Authorities also arrested a number of people for supposedly organizing demonstrations, while others were beaten while protesting outside the Libyan embassy. The government has imposed a curfew to prevent protesters from gathering, and ordered closed the websites that have reported on them. (YNet, March 1)

The sexual abuse of reporter Lara Logan in Cairo's Tahrir square was certainly worthy of all the worldwide media coverage it has received, and raises disturbing questions about misogynist and xenophobic elements in the Egyptian revolutionary movement. But the incident's propagandistic exploitation by Islamophobes to discredit the Egyptian revolution altogether has also been a lugubrious spectacle. By way of contrast, there has been no global media outcry over the killing of a young Palestinian man in Jerusalem, apparently at the hands of a Jewish mob in an anti-Arab frenzy sparked in reaction to the revolutionary rising in Egypt. Joseph Dana noted on his +972 blog Feb. 23:

Israeli prosecutors are preparing a $275,000 lawsuit against Bedouin families for the cost of removing them from government land they tried to take over northwest of Beersheba, national media reported March 2. The suit is said to target the sheikh of a Bedouin tribe that has staged 13 attempts to occupy government land near the Bedouin town of Rahat. A Knesset member has also proposed a bill providing for the immediate imposition of a fine against Bedouin who try to grab government land. Officials estimate there are thousands of "illegal" Bedouin settlements, also known as "non-recognized communities," with tens of thousands of illegally constructed buildings, in the Negev.

A special court in India sentenced 11 Muslims to death Feb. 28 in connection with the Godhra train burning in 2002 that killed 59 Hindu nationalists and started the 2002 Gujarat riots. Special judge PR Patel handed down death sentences for 11 of 31 convicted last week of murder, attempted murder and/or criminal conspiracy. The remaining 20 all received sentences of life imprisonment, and 63 others were acquitted. The convictions were for setting on fire the S6 coach of Sabarmati Express, killing 59 people, mostly Vishwa Hindu Parishad members, returning from Ayodhya. The incident triggered riots in Gujarat in which more than 1,200 people were killed, mostly Muslims, in some of the worst violence between Hindus and Muslims in India since independence in 1947. The prosecution had sought the death penalty for all 31 convicted. The defense plans to appeal the death sentences and is prepared to take the matter to India's highest court.