WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Security forces in Syria are reported to have fired teargas and shots in the air as anti-government protests flared again in the southern city of Daraa. The unrest follows clashes in Latakia over the weekend that killed at least 12 people.

50 protestors shot in Yemen on Friday swung momentum firmly against President Ali Saleh. Longtime Saleh supporter General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and a slew of military officers said yesterday they now support the protestors.

When small protests began in Damascus, Syria in February, many observers believed Syria was unlikely to see the kind of revolutions that Egypt or Tunisia experienced. But now the movement appears to have picked up steam.

Four days of protests in Oman have raised eyebrows. Unlike many leaders in the region, the sultanate has been widely admired for reforms.

No region in the world is as ripe for revolution as the Arab Middle East. Its political, economic and social mix could not be more explosive: longstanding political repression, high poverty and unemployment rates, and diminishing hope for a youthful, rapidly rising and ever more educated popula

Exactly one month after Tunisia ousted their long-time leader, neighboring Algeria attempted to do the same. Thousands of Algerians descended on the capital Algiers last Saturday calling for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down. More protests are expected this weekend.

So far, Morocco hasn’t seen the kind of widespread street protests that countries like Tunisia and Egypt have experienced. The rating agency Standard and Poors has said the country of nearly 32 million is the least likely in the region to be affected by widespread political unrest.