BEIRUT (Reuters) – From Israel to Iran, Syria’s neighbors are starting to contemplate the possibility of a future without the Assad family as Lords of Damascus, and, whether friends or foes, some don’t like what they see.

Indeed, some are in denial about what they are witnessing.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite movement widely seen as an Iranian proxy in the Middle East, purports to believe the government of President Bashar al-Assad is putting down an insurrection by armed gangs of Salafi or Sunni Muslim fanatics.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad is in a quandary as the challenge to his autocratic rule grows in the streets of Syria: more concessions could signal weakness, but harsher repression risks radicalising a growing opposition.

While some analysts believe Assad can contain the revolt through bold reforms, others believe he missed the chance to open up Syria’s dictatorship when he inherited the presidency from his strongman father, the late Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad is in a quandary as the challenge to his autocratic rule grows in the streets of Syria: more concessions could signal weakness, but harsher repression risks radicalizing a growing opposition.

While some analysts believe Assad can contain the revolt through bold reforms, others believe he missed the chance to open up Syria’s dictatorship when he inherited the presidency from his strongman father, the late Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are trying to broker a deal to have Yemen’s president step down and hand over power, possibly to an interim council of tribal and political leaders, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Ali Abdullah Saleh’s at times bloody response to protests, inspired by those in Egypt and Tunisia, against his 32-year rule has tried the patience of his U.S. and Saudi backers.

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are trying to broker a deal to have Yemen’s president step down and hand over power, possibly to an interim council of tribal and political leaders, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Ali Abdullah Saleh’s at times bloody response to protests, inspired by those in Egypt and Tunisia, against his 32-year rule has tried the patience of his U.S. and Saudi backers.

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are trying to broker a deal to have Yemen’s president step down and hand over power, possibly to an interim council of tribal and political leaders, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

Ali Abdullah’s Saleh’s at times bloody response to protests, inspired by those in Egypt and Tunisia, against his 32-year rule has tried the patience of his U.S. and Saudi backers.

LONDON (Reuters) – Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday a new era was sweeping the Middle East and it was up to its leaders to embrace change or risk being cast away.

He dismissed allegations by many Arab autocrats that an unprecedented wave of uprisings that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and inspired masses across Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria was the work of “foreign elements.”

LONDON (Reuters) – The scene is eerily similar, everywhere you look in the Middle East. The physical geography may be different but the political geography is the same.

Switch on any Arab satellite TV channel and you can watch pro-democracy demonstrators openly defying the rulers who have controlled their lives for decades. But it may take more than a moment to figure out whether you are seeing Libya or Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia or Syria, maybe Morocco, Bahrain or perhaps Oman.

LONDON (Reuters) – The scene is eerily similar, everywhere you look in the Middle East. The physical geography may be different but the political geography is the same.

Switch on any Arab satellite TV channel and you can watch pro-democracy demonstrators openly defying the rulers who have controlled their lives for decades. But it may take more than a moment to figure out whether you are seeing Libya or Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia or Syria, maybe Morocco, Bahrain or perhaps Oman.

LONDON (Reuters) – By the time the outside world agrees on a response to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s bloody onslaught against a popular revolt, it could all be over.

The advance of Gaddafi’s better-armed forces, who seem to have shown little regard for civilians when storming in to retake rebel strongholds, has outrun the slow pace of hesitant initiatives being discussed by European, U.S. and Arab leaders.