Surf Arab States

Arab States Weekly Review 30 Jan – 5 Feb 2010

Iraq’s electoral commission reversed a ban on the participation of 500 candidates with Baath party ties in the next elections. Sunni politicians welcomed the reversal of the ban. Suicide bombs in Baghdad and Karbala meanwhile killed more than 60 Shia pilgrims.

Yemeni government forces reported to have killed 16 Houthi rebels in Saada. An agreement on a truce between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government earlier broke over an extra condition that Houthi’s stop attacking Saudi forces across the border.

The Mossad (Israel’s secret service) was suspected of the recent assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior military commander of the Hamas.