Supporters of ousted Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri clashed with army troops in the Sunni strongholds of Tripoli and Sidon Jan. 25, as his replacement Najib Miqati took office. The vanquished Hariri and the man being widely hailed as the kingmaker, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, both made live addresses appealing for calm. But Hariri threatened to boycott the new government. "Me and my allies, we will represent the opposition," he said. "What has happened is virtually a coup d'etat, a political coup d'etat." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said a Hezbollah-run government would "have a clear impact" on ties with the Washington, which had strongly backed Hariri. (The Guardian, Jan. 25)

Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with police in Cairo Jan. 25, in the largest demonstration in Egypt in a generation. Thousands of demonstrators stood their ground in downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square, promising to camp out overnight in a vigil to demand that long-ruling President Hosni Mubarak step down. The occupiers of Tahrir Square have withstood baton charges, water cannons and tear gas. Protests have also broken out in Alexandria, and roads are being blocked by demonstrators in the Sinai Peninsula. Large rallies are reported across the Nile Delta and the Suez Canal region. The government has blocked Twitter communications in a bid to thwart the movement's coordination. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Egypt's government is stable despite the demonstrations, but—in what will surely be interpreted as an ominous signal by Mubarak—added that Egyptians have the right to protest. (Tripoli Post, The Guardian, LAT AP, Jan. 25)

In the first major opposition protests ever seen in Yemen's capital, some 2,500 rallied at the University of Sanaa Jan. 22, demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years. In a daring act in authoritarian and impoverished Yemen, protesters mockingly compared Saleh to Tunisia's ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, chanting: "Get out, get out, Ali! Join your friend, Ben Ali!" Grievances include proposed constitutional changes that would allow Saleh to rule for lif. Police responded with tear gas, and some 30 protesters were detained.

More than 5,000 took to the streets across Jordan in "a day of rage" to protest escalating food prices and unemployment Jan. 14—the same day that Tunisia's president fled after weeks of violent demonstrations. Angry protests are reported from Amman, Irbid, Karak, Salt and Maan, demanding that Prime Minister Samir Rifai step down. "We are protesting the policies of the government—high prices and repeated taxation that made the Jordanian people revolt," former Karak mayor Tawfiq al-Batoush told Reuters at the protest outside Karak's al-Omari mosque. (The Guardian, Jan. 15; Reuters, Jan. 14)

For the first time, Coptic Christians took to the streets in Egypt in a series of angry protests after a bomb blast during New Year's Eve midnight mass at Alexandria's al-Qiddisin (Saints) Church left 32 dead and some 100 injured. Chanting "With our souls and blood we save the cross," Copts marched through Cairo and tried to storm the Radio and TV headquarters in Maspero.

A Lebanese military court on Nov. 12 convicted cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed of terrorism and sentenced him to life in prison. Bakri was found guilty of belonging to an armed group that plotted to carry out terrorist acts against Lebanese soldiers and was sentenced along with 54 others who fought in clashes with the Lebanese army in 2007. Tried and convicted in absentia, Bakri was reportedly surprised when his lawyer informed him of the verdict. He claims to have never received a summons or an arrest warrant. As Bakri lives openly in Tripoli, a city in the north of Lebanon, and appears regularly on television, it is not immediately clear why he was not arrested. Bakri maintains that the charges are fabricated and has refused to turn himself in.

President Hosni Mubarak on Nov. 6 condemned threats by the al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq against Coptic Christians in Egypt and promised to protect them. The Islamic State of Iraq, claiming responsibility for a bloody hostage taking in a Baghdad church last weekend, threatened to target the region's Christians if the Coptic church did not release two women the group claimed had were being held against their will after converting to Islam. Mubarak told Pope Shenouda III in a phone call that he rejected "pushing Egypt's name into the terrorist act that targeted a church in Baghdad."

A suicide bomber struck Istanbul's Taksim Square the morning of Oct. 31, injuring at least 32 in the city's busiest node. The apparent targets were police officers at a substation at the square's north end. At least 15 of those injured were police. The attack came on the last day of the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The so-called "no-action period" had been extended for one month on Sept. 30. (LAT, EÖ/VK, Oct. 31)