LATEST: Bahrain — Clashes and Protests

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An attack on a convoy carrying members of the group Hezbollah killed one man and wounded three on TuesdaY, according to security sources in Lebanon.

The convoy, travelling to Damascus, was hit near the Syrian border by a roadside bomb and then fired on by gunmen.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last week, at least 51 people were injured when a car bomb exploded in the Hezbollah-led neighborhood of Bir Al-Abed in south Beirut.

Meanwhile, a Syrian political analyst, Mohammad Dirar Jammo, was killed by gunmen in front of his house in the southern Lebanon town of al-al-Sarfand early Wednesday morning.

Jammo was head of the political and international relations in the Global Arab Expatriates Organization.


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Bahrain: Clashes and Protests

Claimed footage of clashes between anti-regime protesters and police on Tuesday night in Abu Saiba:

Activists report marches challenging the regime in Diraz today:

Egypt: Military Spokesman “Morsi Not Detained But Held For Own Protection”

A military spokesman has said former President Morsi, deposed by the military on July 3, cannot be detained because there is no court order against him.

Instead, the spokesman said Morsi is being held “for his own protection”.

Morsi has not been seen since the night of the coup. Reports indicate he is under effective house arrest at the Republican Guards Headquarters.

Meanwhile, three aides to Morsi have been released after they were held on the night of the coup.

The aides were among 18 detained on July 3. Some leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat El-Shater, Saad al-Katatni, and Mahdi Akef are still being held.

Egypt: Large Marches for Former President Morsi

Mass marches for deposed President Mohamed Morsi are underway in Cairo, moving near the anti-Morsi protest in Tahrir Square.

Photojournalist Aaron T. Rose:

Yemen: Deputy Head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Killed by Drone

The Saudi second-in-command of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been killed in a US drone attack in Yemen, AQAP said on Wednesday.

US officials said Said al-Shehri was one of the most important men to be released from the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba, where he was taken in January 2002 after Pakistan handed him to American authorities.

In January, Yemeni authorities said he had died after suffering from injuries in an operation by Yemeni security forces the previous November.

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Rejects Interim Cabinet

The Muslim Brotherhood has rejected the 35-member interim Cabinet sworn in on Tuesday.

Essam El-Erian, accused the new Government of “usurping authority” and of being subordinate to the military.

A Brotherhood spokesman, Ahmed Aref, confirmed, “The Muslim Brotherhood refuses to take part in this cabinet. It came about via military tanks”. He declared, “Egypt is not living a political crisis but rather a coup d’état and an insertion of the armed forces into political life.”

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, formed to support the overthrown President Mohamed Morsi, called on supporters to protest in a “day of determination” on Wednesday.

The Alliance said it would press for the release of Morsi from his de facto house arrest. The former President has been held in Republican Guards Headquarters since the coup on July 3.

At least two people were injured in clashes in Daqahliya Governorate in the Nile Delta late Tuesday between supporters and opponents of Morsi. The local headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party was set on fire in response to a pro-Morsi march.

Egypt: “Morsi Could Have Saved His Presidency”

“Egyptian politicians and Western diplomats” have said that Egypt’s former President Mohamed Morsi could have retained his office if he had according a political deal brokered by the European Union with opposition parties in April.

Morsi was removed by the military on 3 July.

Under a compromise crafted in months of shuttle diplomacy by EU envoy Bernardino Leon, six opposition parties would have recognized Morsi’s legitimacy and agreed to participate in parliamentary elections they had threatened to boycott.

In return, Morsi would replace Prime Minister Hisham Kandil and five other key ministers to form a technocratic “national unity” Cabinet, fired the Prosecutor General whom he appointed in November 2012, and amend the election law to satisfy Egypt’s Constitutional Court.

The deal would also have endorsed a stalled $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan for Cairo’s troubled economy.

People familiar with the talks said Saad el-Katatni, leader of the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood — the key faction behind the Morsi Government — helped negotiate the deal but could not sell it to Morsi and Brotherhood leaders.

“We did our best to reach an agreement. We came very close, but in the end Mursi’s position didn’t change,” Hamdeen Sabahy, leader of the Popular Current Party, said. “He demanded an unconditional dialogue without prerequisites, agenda or objectives.

Sabahy asserted, “If Mursi had accepted these confidence-building steps, the opposition pledged to fully acknowledge his legitimacy and enter parliamentary elections.”