Egypt’s ruling military council announced the early retirement of more than 600 senior police officers on July 13, in a bid to appease demonstrators who have for the past six days held a new thousands-strong protest encampment in Cairo's Tahrir Square. The Interior Ministry said 18 police generals and 9 other senior officers were forced into early retirement because they were accused of killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. Additionally, 54 lower-ranking officers implicated in repression during the uprising were shifted to jobs where they would no longer interact with civilians, officials said. Mansour el-Essawy, the interior minister appointed after Mubarak’s ouster, called the moves "the biggest shake-up in the history of the police," citing popular demands "to get rid of all of the leadership that is accused of killing protesters." The new Tahrir Square occupation, led by families that lost loved ones in the repression, has adopted the slogan, "The revolution goes on!"

An attack July 12 on a Sinai gas pipeline pumping Egyptian natural gas to Israel and Jordan interrupted supply for the fourth time this year. A guard was wounded in the attack, which witnesses said was carried out by men driving two SUVs, and targeted a monitoring station near the airport in al-Arish, north Sinai’s largest town. The incident comes a week after a separate bomb attack on the pipeline reduced the flow of gas to Israel. No group has claimed responsibility for of the attacks, but authorities suspect Sinai-based Bedouins. The pipeline has long been a source of political controversy in Egypt, particularly since the signing of a 20-year gas export deal with Israel in 2008. (OnIslam, FT, The Guardian, July 12)

Tens of thousands of people again rallied in the army-beseiged Syrian city of Hama on Friday July 8, calling for the downfall of President Bashar Assad. Activists said security forces shot dead 13 people elsewhere in Syria during Friday protests, including six in the town of Dumair near Damascus. Amid the continued repression, a Human Rights Watch report based on interviews with defecting soldiers found that troops have been ordered to disperse unarmed protesters with a "shoot to kill" policy. HRW said it "interviewed eight soldiers and four members of the security agencies who had defected since anti-government protests erupted in March 2011... The soldiers...reported participating in and witnessing the shooting and injury of dozens of protesters, and the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds."

On July 4, clashes again broke out between protesters and security forces in Cairo after a court released on bail seven police officers accused of killing 17 protesters in Suez during the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February. After an initial outburst of violence at the Cairo courthouse, protesters blocked the highway linking the Egyptian capital to the city of Suez. (Bikyamasr, July 5) As popular patience is growing short with Egypt's interim military rulers, comes word that the White House has sought contacts for dialogue with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Reuters on June 30 quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:

Syrian troops are reported to have shot dead at least six anti-government protesters in the city of Hama on July 5, the second day of street clashed in the city center, with residents erecting barricades and burning tires to prevent tanks from advancing. The tanks have been deployed in a ring around the city, with government forces attempting to close the circle on protesters in the downtown area. "Tens of people are being arrested in neighborhoods on the edges of Hama. The authorities seem to have opted for a military solution to subdue the city," Rami Abdel-Rahman, president of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters Hama was the scene of the 1982 bloody repression of an Islamist-led uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez Assad, in which an estimated 30,000 were killed and parts of the city razed. (BBC News, July 5; Reuters, July 3)

Security forces in Syria are reported to have killed 24 civilians in Friday protests on July 1, as tens of thousands marched to demand the resignation of President Bashir Assad in some of the biggest demonstrations of the three-month uprising. Lawyer Razan Zaitouna told Reuters by phone that the 24 dead included seven protesters in the central city of Homs, and 14 villagers in the northwestern province of Idlib, where troops backed by tanks and helicopters have been deployed. "Bashir get out of our lives," read placards carried by thousands of Kurds who marched in the northeastern city of Amouda, according to a video taken by resident.

The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on June 30 released to Lebanese authorities an indictment with four arrest warrants in relation to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. The warrants were issued for Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Hasan Aineysseh and Asad Sabra, who are alleged members of Hezbollah. Lebanon has 30 days to arrest the suspects before the STL personally summons them and makes the indictment public. In a press conference, Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated that "the indictments, from whatever source, [are] not sentences, and the charges need to contain compelling evidence beyond any doubt, and that every defendant is innocent until proven guilty." Many have interpreted this statement as an indication that Hezbollah members will not be arrested. Although Mikati was endorsed in the election by Hezbollah, he said he will not "take sides."

Egyptian security forces fired tear gas at some 3,000 protesters, some of whom hurled back stones, in Cairo's Tahrir Square the evening of June 28. The clashes were apparently triggered when family members of the more than 800 protesters killed during the campaign to oust Hosni Mubarak attempted to storm a theatre where a memorial service was being held for those fallen in the uprising. Activists said the families of the victims had been denied entry to the memorial, and were beaten by police when they tried to force their way in. Activists have called for a massive rally on July 8 aimed at keeping up the pressure for democratic reforms. (Middle East Online, June 29; AlJazeera, June 28)