News Brief: Qaddafi forces report success, rebels claim to hold their ground

Qaddafi forces report success while rebels say they are holding their ground
Libyan leader Qaddafi and his forces renewed their attacks against strategic cities near the capital on Sunday, insisting that the attacks were successful. The regime’s forces launched air strikes on the oil port of Ras Lanuf on Monday, and continue to use tanks, guns and helicopters on Zawiya and Misurata, killing scores of civilians. According to witnesses, however, the rebels maintained their stronghold in Zawiya and Misurata.

“They brought tanks inside the city and found themselves trapped,” said 60-year-old architect Salah Abdel Aziz. “All you need is light guns and Molotov cocktails to defeat them. People jumped inside the tanks and killed the people inside with knives.” Libyan State TV is reporting that the regime’s forces were able to regain Misurata, Zawiya and Tobruk — more than 600 miles east of Tripoli.

On Monday, Libyan rebels said they will be re-grouping to bring in heavy weapons in order to counter Qaddafi’s forces. Nearly 200,000 people have already fled from Libya, according to the UN.

• Egypt PM appoints new key ministers.
• Qaddafi seeks a UN probe into the unrest in Libya.
• Shiite protesters in Bahrain besiege PM office.
• Saudis monitor Bahrain as protesters demand change.
• BP backs off on plans to sell assets in Algeria.

Daily Snapshot

An Iraqi Ademonstrator holds a sign that reads in Arabic ‘we regret’ and points his ink-stained index finger in refrence to someone who had voted, during a protest in Baghdad on March 7, 2011 to mark one year since Iraq’s parliamentary polls, railing against what they said were politicians’ broken promises. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images)

Arguments & Analysis
‘The sturdy house that Assad built’ (Michael Broning, Foreign Affairs)
“It is true that Assad has even fewer enthusiastic supporters beyond his small group of co-opted elites than did former Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but the regime’s opposition has even less popular support. Unlike other dictators in the region, Assad is seen by many as a counterweight to sectarian disintegration rather than as a champion of sectarian interests. Moreover, Syrians have had frequent and direct exposure to the devastating outcomes of sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon. In 2005 and 2006, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Iraqi refugees flowed into Damascus, reminding Syrians of the dire consequences of religiously fueled carnage. And seeing how sectarianism has stunted Lebanon and Iraq, Syria’s equally pluralist society has good reason to acquiesce to Assad’s leadership. Moreover, Assad’s comparable youth (he is 45, Ben Ali is 74, Mubarak is 82, and Qaddafi is 68) and his record of staunch anti-Westernism give him a layer of protection that the other leaders did not enjoy. Many Syrians perceive his opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and his anti-Israel policies as desirable and in the national interest. In fact, Assad’s reputation in the West as an unyielding pariah has translated into popularity in his own country. In a somewhat twisted way, his willingness to stand up to the United States comports with the theme of Arab dignity that has rallied protesters throughout the region. While a similar anti-Western stance was taken by Qaddafi, Syria’s geographical proximity to the Arab-Israeli conflict (and its direct involvement) has lent Assad’s rhetoric of resistance much greater credibility than Qaddafi’s, especially after Qaddafi improved relations with the United States in the 2000s.”

‘How the U.S. can best help Yemen’ (Joshua Foust, The Atlantic)
“President Obama has thus far only called for “restraint” on the part of the Yemeni government. Were he to instead call for Yemen’s government to allow full political participation by Yemen’s many communities, it might weaken Saleh’s ability to crush dissent, forcing him to govern more justly and effectively. After all, the Yemeni president depends on the U.S. for much of his operating budget – the prospect of losing U.S. support could push Saleh in a bette direction. His regime might not survive a free election in Yemen, but with political marginalization driving so much unrest — including, most importantly, domestic tolerance and support for AQAP — advocating democratic reforms is not just a nice idea but an urgent security priority.”

‘The key to re-starting Turkey’s E.U. engine’ (Hugh Pope, Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review)
“The time has come for Turkey to rebalance its policies toward Europe – whatever the current leaders of France and Germany do and say. A Turkish attitude of “love us or leave us” is not working and is alienating even Turkey’s traditional allies in the EU and NATO. Turkey’s reform program is stumbling without the discipline of the EU accession process. Scorning the EU because of political dysfunction or the euro crisis is premature: Europe still enjoys an average income double that of Turkey, a gap that will take at least a generation, and probably two to close. But tuning up the steady engine of the EU relationship and accession process means that Turkey has to do something about Cyprus. The EU-Turkey-Cyprus triangle of issues is inter-locked: all rise and fall together. The Cyprus dispute is used as an excuse to do nothing difficult by politicians not just in Europe, but also in Turkey. Another reason that the Cyprus talks since 2008 have not gone far is that both Turkey and Greek Cypriots – the main powers in the dispute – simply do not believe that the other side wants to do a deal, while in fact they do.”

‘As Arabs rise, Tehran trembles’ (Karim Sadjadpour, International Herald Tribune)
“Tehran’s ascent in the Arab world over the last decade has been partly attributable to Cairo’s decline. The potential re-emergence of a proud, assertive Egypt will undermine Shiite Persian Iran’s ambitions to be the vanguard of the largely Sunni Arab Middle East. Indeed, if Egypt can create a democratic model that combines political tolerance, economic prosperity and adept diplomacy, Iran’s model of intolerance, economic malaise and confrontation will hold little appeal in the Arab world….Elsewhere in the Arab world, Iranian proxies like Hezbollah will increasingly find themselves in the awkward position of being a resistance group purportedly fighting injustice while simultaneously cashing checks from a patron that is brutally suppressing justice at home…The uprisings may not all end happily. As history has shown time and again – notably in Iran in 1979 – minorities that are organized and willing to use violence can establish reigns of terror over unorganized or passive majorities. Whatever ensues, however, the Arab risings have revealed that Iran’s revolutionary ideology has not only been rendered bankrupt at home, but it has also lost the war of ideas among its neighbors.”

Other recent pieces on uprisings in the Arab world include:

• ‘Why Egypt has to be the U.S. priority in the Middle East’ (Michele Dunne & Robert Kagan)
• ‘Constitutions matter! is the Arab cry’ (Rami Khouri)
• ‘Egypt and Tunisia’s unfinished revolutions’ (Issandr El Amrani)