Navigate to News section

Daybreak: Egypt Crisis Ends*

Plus safer Sinai, Human Rights Council acts on Syria, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
August 23, 2011
The Syrian ambassador to the U.N. last night.(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Image)
The Syrian ambassador to the U.N. last night.(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Image)

• Egypt formally withdrew its threat to pull its Israeli ambassador, even as it became clear that the post-Mubarak calculus means the Egyptian government must take or threaten steps against Israel to satisfy its people, so, therefore, this past weekend’s crisis will likely not be the last. [NYT]

• Egypt said it will form a new region in Sinai near the Israeli border in order to increase the security there. [Reuters/Jewish Journal]

• The U.N. Human Rights Council voted 33-4 to call on Syria to halt violence and dispatch a team to examine potential abuses. Russia and China forced the resolution to be watered down, and still voted against. [AP/WP]

• With the fall of Libya, Syria is now on the cutting edge of the Arab Spring. [NYT]

• U.S. intelligence is investigating whether the perpetrators of last week’s attacks in southern Israel had Al Qaeda connections. [Washington Times]

• Jerry Lieber, lyricist of the famed Lieber and Stoller songwriting duo, died at 78. [NYT]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.