Thread: Sarkozy Warns Arab Rulers of More Libya-Type Intervention

Saturday, March 26, 2011 3:44 PM

Libyan Rebels Retake Ajdabiya; Scores Killed in Syria Protests; French President Warns Arab Rulers of More Libya-Type Intervention; Ivory Coast Next?

In top Mideast and regional news...

• Libyan rebels have retaken the strategic town of Ajdabiya

• Scores are dead in violent protests in Syria

• French president Nicholas Sarkozy has warned all Arab rulers that they risk Libya-type intervention if governments cross a certain line of violence against their own people.

Sarkozy suggested the Ivory Coast could be next in line for a UN vote on intervention.

Libyan Rebels Retake Ajdabiya

The New York times reports Qaddafi Forces Pull Back as Rebels Retake Ajdabiya http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/world ... ya.html?hp

In Ajdabiya, the charred hulls of government tanks hit by allied missile strikes and strafing runs through the night were still smoldering on Saturday at the city’s gates, where they had driven back rebel assaults over the past few days. But on Saturday, hundreds of rebels streamed in, honking their horns, shooting weapons into the air and waving their tricolored flags in celebration.

As night fell, rebel forces had not only recaptured Ajdabiya, a crucial hub city in eastern Libya, but had also driven almost uncontested to the town of Brega, erasing weeks of loss as the airstrikes opened the way.

There was evidence on Saturday that the allied military effort was having an effect not just in the rebel-held east, but in the west as well. In Misurata, where Libya’s military has kept up a tight siege against the last opposition redoubt in the western part of the country, rebel commanders said the allied airstrikes had allowed them to hold out.

Fighting around Misurata erupted again on Saturday, according to a rebel spokesman using the name Aiman. He said tanks and artillery resumed firing into the city on Saturday morning until three waves of airstrikes forced them back.

Protests Continue in Syria, Scores Dead

Bloomberg reports Assad's Promise Fails to Halt Syria Unrest as Scores Die During Protests http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-2 ... -says.html

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s security forces clashed with protesters in several cities after his promises of freedoms and pay increases failed to prevent dissent from spreading across the country.

The protests that started earlier this month in the southern province of Daraa may have resulted in the deaths of 55 people, London-based Amnesty International said in a statement on its website yesterday. Security forces opened fire on protesters in the town of al-Sanamein in Daraa and carried out arrests in the capital, Damascus, it said.

Protests began earlier this month, making Syria the latest Middle Eastern country to be hit by the wave of uprisings that ousted longtime rulers in Egypt and Tunisia, and sparked a civil war in Libya. Assad’s regime is an ally of Iran and a key power broker in neighboring Lebanon, where it supports Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group that has a guerilla army.

“Security elements are firing live bullets on protesters,â€

Sarkozy indicated that he is ready to tolerate a certain level of violence, but that any country which orders its army to open fire on crowds will cross a red line.

Wow! President Sarkozy is the kind of person I like!!