Significant Developments

Syria. Moaz al-Khatib, the outgoing leader of the Syrian National Coalition, announced an initiative on Facebook today, proposing a safe exit for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Khatib’s proposal would give Assad twenty days to accept a “peaceful transition of authority,” after which he would have a month to hand over power to either Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi or Vice President Faruq al-Shara’a to then rule Syria for a transitional period of one hundred days. Read more »

“The Lebanese are asking this government to unmask its true face and say to the Arabs and the world that it is the government of Bashar Assad and Hezbollah…in Lebanon.” –Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri

“It is a bad decision for the president and bolsters the feeling that his decisions are never thought out and that his advisers are not competent.” –Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, a Cairo University professor on the Egyptian courts’ decision to delay parliamentary elections Read more »

Significant Developments

Tunisia. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali pledged to announce a government of technocrats tomorrow, following intensive consultations with a variety of party leaders today. Jebali recently sacked his cabinet and called for new elections after the assassination of prominent opposition leader Chokri Belaid on February 6. Read more »

Significant Developments

Tunisia. Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party Ennahda rejected its own prime minister’s proposal today to form a new government of technocrats following the assassination yesterday of Chokri Belaid, a prominent opposition politician. Belaid was gunned down outside his Tunis home immediately sparking massive nationwide protests. Read more »

Significant Developments

Syria. Israel reportedly conducted an airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday for the first time since 2007, igniting protests from the Assad regime as well as Syria’s allies Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. Conflicting reports have emerged about the target; U.S., Israeli, and Lebanese sources have been quoted claiming Israel struck a convoy carrying advanced SA-17 anti-aircraft weapons heading into Lebanon. Read more »

“The Iraqi spring is coming.” – Moqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shiite leader, expressed support for further demonstrations against Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in a speech in Najaf on Tuesday

“The failure of the international community, in particular the Security Council, to take concrete actions to stop the blood-letting, shames us all…Collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns.” – UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay Read more »

Last week I posted my take on the most significant Middle East developments of 2012. The ten developments that I identified, in chronological order, were:

1. The cold war with Iran heats up
2. The Muslim Brotherhood’s election in Egypt
3. Syria’s descent into civil war
4. The Innocence of Muslims anti-American riots
5. The killing of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi
6. Political unrest in Jordan
7. The Israel-Hamas November conflict
8. The United Nations recognition of Palestine as a non-member state
9. International failure to stop Syria’s bloodshed
10. The Muslim Brotherhood’s struggle to consolidate power in Egypt

Read more »

“For decades the Assad regime was talking about the Palestinians’ rights….But Bashar al-Assad has killed more of us today than Israel did in its latest war on Gaza.” – Abu Ammar, Palestinian resident of Yarmouk camp after it was attacked by Syrian fighter jets on December 16 Read more »

Here it is: the second annual Middle East Matters year-end roundup listing the ten most significant Middle East developments of 2012. Since this blog focuses on the interplay between U.S. policy and the region, the items selected were those deemed most noteworthy from an admittedly American foreign policy perspective. This was a tumultuous year in the region, and many items on this list could have been deemed the single most significant. So in roughly chronological order are MEM’s top ten for 2012: Read more »

Significant Middle East Developments

Egypt. The National Salvation Front, Egypt’s newly formed opposition group headed by prominent figures Mohammed El Baradei, Hamdeen Sabahi, and Amre Moussa, urged followers yesterday to vote “no” on Saturday’s referendum on the draft constitution. They conditioned the opposition’s participation in the vote on full judicial oversight at all polling places, independent and international monitors, and adequate security. Read more »