Surf Arab States

Arab States Weekly Review 16th – 22nd April 2011

A coalition of mainly Western forces continued to bomb pro-government military targets in Libya as Colonel Qaddafi’s intensified their siege of Misrata – the closest city to Tripoli that is in rebel hands. US president Barack Obama was urged by the rebels and many in the west to provide more aircraft that can attack targets with more precision.

Protests continued in Syria where the government blamed the rising violence on an “armed insurrection” by extreme Islamists. Security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in Homs, killing 15 people. President Bashar Al-Assad lifted the decades-long emergency law and promised to free political prisoners.