Fighting continued in Syria between rebels and President Assad’s forces. In Tripoli, Lebanon, at least 10 people were killed in spillover clashes between supporters and opponents of Assad’s regime.
Egypt’s president Mohammed Morsi purged the upper ranks of the military by forcing Defence Minister Field Marshall Mohammed Tantawi to retire. He was replaced by former intelligence chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Fighting intensified in Syria in its capital Damascus and second city Aleppo. Riyad Hijab, the former prime minister who had fled the country, said that President Bashar Assad’s regime was collapsing. A UN investigation into the Houla massacre in May found that war crimes had been committed by both government and opposition forces.
A suicide bombing at a funeral in the southern province of Abyan in Yemen killed at least 40 people. Yemen’s government blamed Al Qaeda for the attacks. The bombing might have been in retaliation for the killing of five Al Qaeda members by an American drone.
A group of jihadists killed 16 Egyptian soldiers in an attack near the border with Gaza and Israel. Egypt later launched air strikes against suspected jihadists nearby an claimed to have killed over 20.
Fierce battles continued in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. Syria’s prime minister Riyad Hijab defected to Jordan.
Clashes continued in Aleppo, Syria’s second city, between rebels and government forces, while Damascus remained in government hands.
Hisham Qandil was appointed as prime minister of Egypt, and announced a cabinet of largely technocrats and a few Islamists. The existing foreign and finance ministers remain on board, while Field Marshall Tantawi was named defence minister.
Mohamed Morsi, president of Egypt, appointed the irrigation minister Hisham Qandil as prime minister.
Violence intensified in Aleppo, Syria. President Bashar Assad’s government said it would use chemical weapons only against foreign forces, and never against opponents within Syria.
Around 130 people were killed in various bombings and gun attacks in 18 towns across Iraq.
A bomb attack on Syria’s national security headquarters in Damascus killed several high-ranking officials, including the defense minister and the brother-in-law of President Assad. The UN Security Council pondered a new resolution, however with Russia being resistant to any proposal that might undermine the Assad regime.
The National Forces Alliance, a broad secular party led by former Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, won 39 of the 80 seats in Libya’s first election in four decades. An Islamist party won 17, while the remaining 120 are reserved for individuals without party affiliations.
At least 22 people were killed in Yemen when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a police academy in Sana’a.
Opposition leaders in Syria met in Moscow to discuss a political solution to the crisis. Nawaf al-Fares, the Syrian ambassador to Iraq, defecting.
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court rejected President Mohamed Morsi’s move to reinstate the parliament. It was dissolved last month after the court ruled the election was partially unconstitutional.
Preliminary results suggested that a party deemed to be secular and fairly liberal won the most votes in Libya’s firt post-Qaddafi general election.
A group of nine countries, including the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey, agreed that a “transitional governing body” should be formed in Syria by “mutual consent”. No specific referecence was made to President Bashar Assad to step down as part of any agreement.
According to Human Rights Watch, Syria’s government was practising a widespread policy of state-sanctioned torture, amounting to a crime against humanity.
Violence and tension in Syria escalated. A Syrian missile downed a Turkish aircraft that allegedly entered Syrian airspace, raising tensions between Syria and Turkey. President Bashar Assad admitted his country was “at war”.
Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi narrowly won the final run-off for the Egyptian presidency, beating Ahmed Shafiq, a Mubarak crony. The election commission took a week to announce the result, raising suspicions that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had struck a deal with the Broterhood to let the generals retain many powers.
Large demonstrations took place in Kuwait, where Islamist members of the recently dissolved parliament called for proper democracy.
The winner of Egypt’s presidential election is yet to be announced. Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brother, and Ahmed Shafiq, a Mubarak crony, both declared victory. The day before the elections, the constitutional court dissolved the Brotherhood-dominated parliament, citing technical grounds. A power struggle between the army and the Muslim Brotherhood is likely to persist.
Conflicting articles about the death of former Egypt president Hosni Mubarak added to the tense situation. An official report said he was clinically dead, yet his lawyer contested this. Mubarak was transferred to a police hospital in an affluent area of Cairo.
Following the death of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Nayef, his 76-year old brother Prince Salman was announced as the next heir to King Abdullah. The King is believed to be 89 years old.