Topic: Syria

An anxious Israel watches neighboring Egypt unravel

'We are anxiously monitoring what is happening in Egypt and [elsewhere] in our region,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet Sunday morning.

Egyptians flood the streets, defying police and calling for regime change

Many Egyptian protesters came out for the first time, despite fears of violent confrontation as police cracked down hard, to call for the fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Yemeni protesters fill streets, calling for president's ouster

The thousands of Yemenis who turned out to protest President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule were met with counterprotests by government supporters.

Egypt protests and the demonstration effect of Tunisia

Shouts of 'Tunis' and 'down with Mubarak' at Egypt protests.

Sunnis launch 'Day of Rage' to protest Hezbollah's 'soft coup' in Lebanon

A Hezbollah-backed billionaire is poised to become prime minister, edging out Saad Hariri, whose government collapsed after Hezbollah ministers withdrew in protest two weeks ago.

Suddenly the statesman, Hezbollah's Nasrallah calls for Lebanon unity government

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the militant Shiite group, Hezbollah, called on Sunday for the creation of a national unity government to usher Lebanon out of a political crisis.

Israel concerned about possible fallout from Lebanon government split

As regional efforts to mediate Lebanon's political standoff fail, Israelis nervously watch their border with Lebanon and wonder whether potential violence will spread to Israel.

Hezbollah ministers' resignations prompt boost in Lebanon security

Hezbollah denies any role in Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's killing and forced the collapse of the government last week when Prime Minister Saad Hariri — the son of the slain leader — refused to renounce the tribunal and pull Lebanon's funding for the court.

How 5 revolutions got their names

Questions are cropping up about the appropriateness of calling Tunisia's uprising the "Jasmine Revolution" – stemming from the fact that the term has been used in reference to Syria in 2005 and even the path that brought ousted Tunisian President Ben Ali to power. But the moniker could stick, at least partially because it's become a tradition of sorts to name the revolutions of the 2000s after colors and flowers and even household items. Here's an overview of some of the popular revolutions – and their nicknames – that preceded Tunisia's ... whatever you want to call it:

Tunisia: Not a Jasmine Revolution, not a twitter revolution but an....

Hariri tribunal launches legal case, prompting protests in Lebanon

The Hariri tribunal indictments submitted yesterday mark the first time that a legal case has been launched against suspects on a political assassination in Lebanon.

US sends ambassador to Syria for the first time in six years

US ambassador Robert Ford faces a daunting list of diplomatic concerns in Syria. If he fails to make headway, the Senate could bring him home by year's end.

The Monitor's View: Lebanon government crisis also shows the seeds of peace

The militant Shiite group Hezbollah toppled the Hariri government peacefully, even if it was to avoid a possible indictment by a UN panel for an assassination. Using violence now to get its way would only make Hezbollah look guilty for the 2005 bombing, eroding its legitimacy.

What Hezbollah wants from Lebanon's next government

Talks in Lebanon to form a new cabinet are set to begin Monday. Hezbollah pulled support from the government over opposition to a tribunal investigating the 2005 Rafik Hariri assassination.

Lebanon 101: Why Hezbollah hates the Hariri tribunal.

The collapse of Lebanon's coalition government has pushed the country, once again, to the brink of upheaval. The heavily-armed Hezbollah is furious that Prime Minister Saad Hariri is coperating with a United Nations tribunal investigating the assassination of his father Rafik. Here's what the tribunal is all about, and why Hezbollah opposes it:

Hezbollah and allies withdraw, Lebanon government collapses

Hezbollah: President Michel Suleiman asked Saad Hariri to stay on as caretaker prime minister after the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah and its allies resigned Wednesday and brought down Hariri's government.

Hezbollah-led pullout brings down Lebanon's government

Fearing the international indictment of some of its leaders for the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hezbollah ministers resigned Wednesday, causing the collapse of Lebanon's coalition government.

Opinion: Would a nuclear-armed Iran really be so dangerous?

Advocates of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities assume that a nuclear-armed Iran would be able to blackmail its neighbors. History suggests that's wrong.

Lebanon government set to collapse over Hariri tribunal

Hezbollah was expected to pull out of Lebanon's government today over the country's involvement in the Hariri tribunal, which is expected to indict Hezbollah members in the prime minister's 2005 assassination.

In Syria, a kernel of democracy

The Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria helped open the door for aid and rights groups, serving as one catalyst in the strengthening of civil society.

Who are Egypt's Copts, and the Middle East's other Christian populations?

Recent attacks against Christians in Egypt and Iraq have drawn attention to the Middle East's Christian populations, which are dwindling as Christians flee violence, political strife, and persecution. Christians made up more than 20 percent of the region's population in the early 20th century, but today, they make up less than 10 percent. Here is a look at the status of Christians in seven key countries, from Egypt to Iran.

Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon becoming less of a hotbed for militancy

The recent murder of a top Al Qaeda-inspired militant and an exodus of other militants may signal increased stability, due in part to cooperation between Fatah and Islamist factions.

Ideas for a better world in 2011

In many ways, 2010 is a year you may want to relegate to the filing cabinet quickly. It began with a massive earthquake in Haiti and wound down with North Korea once again being an enfant terrible – bizarrely trying to conduct diplomacy through brinkmanship. In between came Toyota recalls and egg scares, pat downs at airports and unyielding unemployment numbers, too little money in the Irish treasury and too many bedbugs in American sheets. Oil gushed from the floor of the Gulf of Mexico for three months, mocking the best intentions of man and technology to stop it, while ash from a volcano in Iceland darkened Europe temporarily as much as its balance sheets. Yet not all was gloomy. The winter Olympics in Canada and the World Cup in South Africa dazzled with their displays of athletic prowess and national pride, becoming hearths around which the world gathered. In Switzerland, the world's largest atom smasher hurled two protons into each other at unfathomable speeds. Then came the year's most poignant moment – the heroic and improbable rescue of 33 miners from the clutches of the Chilean earth. There were many transitions, too – the return of the Republicans in Washington and the Tories in Britain, the scaling back of one war (Iraq) and the escalation of another (Afghanistan), the fall of some powers (Greece) and rise of others (China, Germany, Lady Gaga). To get the new year off to the right start, we decided to ask various thinkers for one idea each to make the world a better place in 2011. We plumbed poets and political figures, physicists and financiers, theologians and novelists. Some of the ideas are provocative, others quixotic. Some you will agree with, others you won't. But in the modest quest to stir a discussion – from academic salons to living rooms to government corridors – we offer these 25 ideas.

Iraqi Christians face a somber Christmas

Iraqi Christians are canceling services or scaling back celebrations out of concern for safety. Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation church, which was brutally attacked on Oct. 31, is now surrounded by blast walls.