Unconfirmed reports from activist in the eight-month-old uprising of the people of Syria say that 50 people were killed in a violent ambush Monday, making it “the highest death toll on a single day in months,” according to a journalist from the New York Times.

Similar reports have been coming in from around the country this month and the United Nations estimate that more than 3.500 people have been killed by the regime so far. The clash on Monday happened in the southern province of Daraa where security forces were confronted by armed insurgence.

Human rights groups have warned that the regime is covering up its violent crackdown on dissidents and have failed to comply with the agreed peace plan. The situation is extremely pressing for President Bashar Assad as his long-time allies are turning their backs to the regime’s continuous crackdown on protesters.

Turkey and Iran have used firm rhetoric, advising Mr. Assad to step down. During talks at the weekends, the Arab League decided to suspend Syria’s membership in response to the regime’s inability to solve the political uprising.

This is a massive blow to the Syrian position in the Middle East but an interesting overall development to the sanction imposed on Syria by western communities — the European Union imposed more sanctions on individuals suspected of aiding the oppression of protesters, according to VoAnews.com.

On Tuesday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that his country has lost confidence in the Syrian regime and warned that the brutal crackdown will put Assad on the “list of leaders who ‘feed on blood’.”

A harsher remark came from King Abdullah, the monarch of Jordan, who has faced Arab Spring-fueled protests in his country as well. In an interview with the BBC, King Abdullah said: “If Bashar has the interest of the country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life.”

Syria has responded to the Arab League step by denouncing it as a “dangerous step,” says VoAnews.com. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem has also accused the country’s Arab opponents of “conspiring with the United States.”

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Some progress is being made under King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia to give women more rights, especially in the political arena. The right to vote, which has historically been banned from women, was granted this past week to Saudi women. Along with the right to vote, the King also announced that women would be able to run for municipality council positions and serve on the Shura council, which is currently all male.

There have been other promises from King Abdullah that have not been  carried out in previous years, such as in 1999 when he promised equal rights for all women. Since his entrance in 1995, the right to vote is one of the most dramatic changes the King has made thus far, and many hope it is just the beginning.

King Abdullah’s actions were influenced by religious motives and relating back to the role women played historically in Islamic culture and for the prophet Muhammad. He states, “Muslim women in our Islamic history have demonstrated positions that expressed correct opinions and advice.

But it seems with every step forward that Saudi Arabia takes to progress towards a more equal society, there has recently also been a step in the wrong direction. Probably the biggest event of unequal rights occurring in Saudi Arabia is women not being able to drive and the recent arrest of Shayma Jastaniah.

Jastaniah was arrested for driving a car and sentenced to ten lashings as her punishment. Two other women are also to appear in court later in the year on charges for driving. They will have to pledge not to drive again to escape punishment.  Backlash almost immediately arose from women’s rights groups throughout the world, viewing the punishment as a letdown for the country, especially after the announcement that women would have the right to hold political positions just days before.

“Saudi Women for Driving” was a petition launched and organized by Change.org and received more than 1,600 signatures when they heard about the lashings that were scheduled for Jastaniah. The same group also is starting a petition calling on King Abdullah to let women drive in Saudi Arabia.

Organizations across the world and within Saudi Arabia have put pressure on the government to cancel the lashings of Jastaniah and King Abdullah finally canceled the flogging. Many women’s rights groups were pleased with the decision and although it was a setback to progress in women rights in country, there was a sigh of relief.

Even though the introduction of a few rights to women is a monumental step in Saudi Arabia, there is a long way to go in giving women complete equality with men. The election will not take place until 2015 and there is hope that these steps taken by King Abdullah are just the beginning of change for women to gain more rights in Saudi Arabia.
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Amidst violence and upheaval in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah’s recent announcement that women will be granted the right to vote seems a refreshing development. In fact, the 87 year-old monarch’s decree includes not only voting rights for women, but the ability to run in municipal elections, and to join the King’s Shura Council.

However, many worry that this apparent step forward in women’s rights is not all that it appears to be, as similar promises have been alluded to before and never seen fruition. Although encouraging, no changes will take place immediately — if implemented at all, elections won’t be affected until 2015.

By that time, the conservative nation of Saudi Arabia might have a new leader, with an entirely separate agenda from the comparatively liberal King Abdullah. Sarah Leah Whitson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, was quoted by ABC news saying this about the announcement;

It is a promise, it is not actually a legislative reform…It’s not sanctified in any kind of law. The risk is if the next king comes in and says, ‘We won’t do that after all.’ One of the biggest problems of King Abdullah as a reformer is that the actions that will last beyond his lifetime are really at question and at risk.

In addition, even if women are granted the right to vote, the legislation as it is being discussed now would do nothing to address the tribally rooted guardianship system which all Saudi women must comply with. The guardianship system extends over practically every aspect of a grown woman’s life.

Without a male’s permission, she cannot travel, go to school, marry, or even have medical surgery. In court, the testimony of one male equals that of two women, and a woman who is raped is considered a guilty party in the crime.

One of the aspects of the guardianship system most hotly contested by women’s rights activists is the law which prevents Saudi women from driving. According to a recent update from the BBC, women around the country have been illegally taking to the streets over the past months in a near unprecedented display of protest.

Last May, seven women were arrested for driving, and a small, secondary protest followed in June. Just this week, King Abdullah overturned a sentence of ten lashes levied against a female driver.

However, in the name of fairness, the BBC also spoke with a Saudi man who claimed, “There are hundreds and thousands of guys and they get the same or more if they do bad things…If I am in the mall and I bother some girl, I will get more than [10 lashes] from the court.”

Most Saudi women’s activists are under no illusion that the right to vote will change everything overnight. Many believe that no improvement will occur until women can drive themselves to the polls, but at the very least, it’s a step forward somewhere and that’s cause enough for celebration.

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