Nine countries in the Middle East where 'winds of change' are blowing

Those who said that "winds of change" were blowing through the Middle East were right. The past few weeks have seen a series of political shifts in response to widespread discontent and popular opposition that once went unacknowledged. On Friday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ceded to protesters in Cairo and stepped down. As Egyptians' cries, first of anger and now of jubilation, beam into living rooms throughout the Middle East, here is a look at where those "winds of change" are taking us. (Editor's note: This is an updated version of a story that originally ran on Feb. 2)

- Ariel Zirulnick, Correspondent

Egypt

Mubarak's fall last week, after weeks of mass protests in Cairo and throughout the region, has electrified the Arab world in a way that even Tunisia did not. In less than a month, protesters ousted one of the Middle East's longest-serving leaders. Now strongmen leaders throughout the region are nervously watching their citizens for signs that they too could be pushed out the door.

“What has changed is that Arabs know that they can change their own situation without the help of the US, without the help of the international community, they can just go out on the streets and do it on their own – and no one can take that away from them,” Shadi Hamid, the director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, told the Monitor.