Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Speaks In Solidarity With The Arab Spring, Equates Gaddafi With Israel

Nasrallah (source)

Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah Speaks in Solidarity with the Arab Spring, Equates Gaddafi with Israel

opednews.com By Mac McKinney

March 21, 2011 at 23:09:24

Hezbollah General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gave a powerful speech on the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and other countries on March 19th, picked up by Press TV. Nasrallah had plenty of criticism for the United States, of course (what else is new), but reserved plenty for all the tyrannies in the Middle East, welcoming their downfall. He reserved much of his scorn for Gaddafi, equating Gaddafi’s attack on his own people with the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza in late 2008-early 2009.

The above Press TV video was also posted at Information Clearing House, of which an excerpt of the accompanying text appears below:

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech on revolutions and unrest in multiple Arab countries:

-Our gathering today is to voice our support for our Arab people and their revolutions and sacrifices, especially in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

-The value of this solidarity is moral, political, and ethical, and its effects are also moral. The origin of what is going on — which could decide the fate of an uprising here, a confrontation there, or a resistance there — the origin is the steadfastness of peoples, linked to their faith and high spirituality.

-You remember that during the July [2006] war, every word and statement in any state and anywhere in the world had its impact on the resistance, the people and the displaced.

-The same is the case with the Arab revolts. We tell them that we support them, that we stand by your side and we are ready to help you toward your interest and ours, with your and our capabilities.

-We have to stress that these revolutions are the will of the people themselves. Any accusation that the US manufactured and launched these revolutions is unjust speech toward these peoples, especially that we are talking about regimes which are allied with the USA, serve the American project and pose no threat to Israel.

(FULL TEXT CONTINUED HERE)

SOURCE

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Updates On Libya And Bahrain

Bahrain/Libya Update

Firedoglake- By: David Dayen

Monday February 21, 2011 7:50 am

Let’s play a little catchup on the two most deadly flashpoints in the Arab uprising right now. In Bahrain, scene of a dastardly attack on protesters while they slept in Pearl Square, the attempt at repression backfired almost immediately. The Shiite al-Wafiq movement left the Parliament and demanded the resignation of the government. Protests grew in size. Sen. Patrick Leahy called for the application of a law he wrote to deny aid to Bahrain for violating human rights. And the protesters took back the square, with police and the Army withdrawing.

The latest is that the government is being pressured to negotiate:

Bahrain’s Sunni Muslim ruling family came under increased pressure to open in-depth negotiations with the Shiite-led opposition, as protesters erected more tents on the capital’s Pearl Square.

Dozens of workers also joined the protesters, and more than 1,000 medics marched on the square to demand the resignation of the health minister, whom they accused of slowing aid to protesters during a deadly police crackdown.

After nightfall, an AFP correspondent reported thousands more people converging on the roundabout, which has been the focal point of demonstrations that have rocked the small but strategic Gulf kingdom since February 14.

The opposition has also called a large protest for Tuesday afternoon in the hope that tens of thousands of people will converge on Pearl Square, according to the INAA, Bahrain’s main Shiite opposition group.

Crown Prince Salman, the heir to the throne in Bahrain, is supposed to be leading reconciliation talks. Bahrain has a Sunni minority in power over a Shiite majority, with predictable results. This is a really good backgrounder from Foreign Policy. In an epic example of bad timing, the State Department praised Bahrain just a few months ago for its movement toward democracy.

Then there’s Libya, where it’s hard to really get a full picture, with most foreign media unable to enter the country. We know there has been a massacre; the extent is not well known. Moammar Gadhafi’s son went on state-run television and vowed to “fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet.” He gave a long, rambling address, blaming Islamists for the provocation, saying that the country was on the brink of civil war, which threatened their oil output and risked colonization by an invading force, summoning up images of Iraq. Protesters have apparently taken control of Benghazi, the country’s second-largest city, and were clashing with police in the capital of Tripoli.

The latest can be found at Al Jazeera’s live blog. Foreign service personnel and even the minister of security have resigned their posts. Protests have become widespread throughout the country. This is the town of Misurata:

MORE HERE

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Morocco Joins Middle East Protests, UPDATES: Bahrain, Algeria, Libya, Kuwait, Egypt

Morocco Joins Middle East Protests: Protesters Demand New Constitution, Economic Reforms

The Huffington Post/AP First Posted: 02/20/11 02:17 PM Updated: 02/20/11 02:17 PM

(SCROLL DOWN FOR LIVE UPDATES)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Thousands of people marched in cities across Morocco on Sunday, demanding a new constitution to bring more democracy in the North African kingdom amid the wave of Arab world upheaval.

Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for economic opportunity, educational reform, better health services and help in coping with rising living costs during a march on central Hassan II Avenue in the capital, Rabat.

The day of demonstration was Morocco’s entree into the series of protests that have swept up North Africa and the wider Arab world after popular uprisings brought down longtime autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt.

The main target of Sunday’s rallies was parliament, where many Moroccans fear their voices are not heard. Still, the protests are likely to pressure King Mohammed VI, who has been seen as a reformer compared to his iron-fisted father, Hassan II, and who still holds absolute authority.

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Bahrain Security Forces Launch Brutal Assault On Sleeping Protesters, Including Women And Children (VIDEOS)

Bahrain security forces launch brutal assault on sleeping protesters

Crooks & Liars By scarce

February 16, 2011 08:26 PM

More unrest in the Middle East is met with state-sanctioned savage brutality, this time in the smaller but militarily significant (it hosts the U.S. Fifth fleet) country of Bahrain. The video above is just as the police attacked. Two have been verified to have been killed, with hundreds more injured.

via The LA Times:

Security forces in tiny but strategic Bahrain launched a brutal assault early Thursday against at least 1,000 defiant anti-government protesters, including women and children, camped out in tents in the capital’s Pearl Square.

A barrage of tear gas canisters thundered across the square about 3 a.m. as dozens of police cars, armored security vehicles and ambulances converged on a makeshift tent city in the center of Manama that was beginning to resemble a smaller version of Tahrir Square in Cairo, where Egyptian protesters this month were successful in overthrowing their president.

Most of the protesters in Pearl Square were asleep when the assault began, witnesses said, noting that no steps had been taken to guard the area against the security forces, even though two people had been killed in earlier clashes with them.

It’s been speculated that by attacking in the middle of the night there would be no foreign journalists around to record and document the event. ABC News’ Miguel Marquez was there and was beaten, as were hundreds of others. Here is his audio account:

MORE HERE

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