EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT CALLS ELECTIONS FOR SPRING
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has announced that parliamentary elections will be held from April 27th to the end of June; an announcement he hopes will quell a wave of mounting protests and demonstrations against his rule. Due to a lack of sufficient supervisors to oversee the elections, the voting will take place in four stages organized by region. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party won around 40% of the vote in last January’s parliamentary elections but in June the parliament was disbanded after the courts deemed the election laws governing the poll to be unconstitutional. In December 2012, a new constitution was adopted that was criticized for failing to protect key rights and for being drafted by politicians and bureaucrats with Islamist sympathies. [Update: the elections were subsequently moved forward by five days to April 22 after Egypt’s sizable Coptic Christian minority protested that the original date conflicted with Easter.] (BBC World, February 21, 2013)
AL-QAEDA AFFILIATE TAKES BLAME FOR IRAQ BLASTS
An Al-Qaeda’s affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, has stated that the spate of recent attacks that killed at least 28 people and injured 100 were, “in revenge for criminal acts by the Shi’ite-led government in Sunni areas of the capital.” The wave of bombings that occurred in Sadr City, Habibiya, Qahira, and two other Baghdad districts are said to be a retribution for the government’s discrimination against the Sunni minority. Iraq has seen more than 10 suicide bombings since January and Sunni protesters have taken to the streets blocking key transportation routes. (Radio Free Europe, February 19th, 2013)
HEZBOLLAH ATTACKS SYRIAN VILLAGE
Hezbollah fighters have crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border and attacked three villages in the Qusayr region of Homs in support of the Syrian government, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) reported. Hezbollah confirmed that three Lebanese Shi’ites were killed in the clashes that also claimed the lives of five Syrian rebels. SNC members said the Hezbollah “invasion” was the “first of its kind.” Lebanese officials have accused the military wing of Hezbollah of aggravating the conflict in Syria which has killed an estimated 70,000 people and the United States believes that Hezbollah is providing training and logistical support to the Syrian military. Hezbollah remains a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and there are mounting fears that Lebanon may become ensnared in the Syrian civil war. A recent UN report concluded the conflict was becoming “increasingly sectarian… radicalized and militarized” and a UN human rights investigator is calling for the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court for war crimes. (BBC World News, February 18th, 2013)
IRANIAN MILITANTS EXPAND PRESENCE IN IRAQ
The Iranian backed Shiite group Asaib Ahl al-Haq – the League of the Righteous – has been reinventing itself as a political group in order to enhance Iran’s influence in Iraq. The group was, “founded as an Islamic resistance movement to fight the American occupation” but is currently focused on raising its political profile. Shortly after its creation in 2006, Asaib Ahl al-Haq was responsible for some 6,000 attacks on U.S. forces. Since the December 2011 departure of Western forces, the group has redirected its efforts toward becoming a mainstream political party. The group’s senior leaders have returned to Iraq from exil in Iran, established social services programs and launched a network of religious schools, mimicking the strategy of the Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah in nearby Lebanon. Asaib Ahl al-Haq members have been preparing for the upcoming provincial elections in April and parliamentary elections due in early 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is said to have embraced the party as a check on the influence of rival Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al Sadr, whom Maliki has been unable to control. (Washington Post, February 18th, 2013)
FAMILIAR FACES IN YEMENS POLITICAL STRUGGLE
Even after Arab Spring-inspired protests forced the resignation of Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemeni politics remain under the influence of three influential families: those loyal to Saleh, those loyal to Maj General Ali Mohsen, and those loyal to the Al-Ahmar tribal family. Saleh once relied on the support of the Al-Ahmars and General Mohsen, who was Saleh’s top military commander, to maintain order over the unstable country. When a popular uprising against Saleh emerged in March, 2011, General Mohsen and many of the Al-Ahmars supported the revolution. Saleh now remains in the capital and is said to be stacking a national conference being held next month with supporters. However General Mohsen remains in control of the 1st Armored Division, which is occupying part of the capital, while the Republican Guard troops are loyal to the Al-Ahmar family. (Washington Post, Feb. 13th, 2013)