The violence against American diplomacy in the Middle East does not subside. What unleashed the anger of some extremist fringes of the population, which yesterday cost the life of the US ambassador in Benghazi, Chris Stevens, and three officials, was the screening of the film "Innocence of Muslim", considered by the Islamic community " blasphemous".
While trying to shed light on the assault on Benghazi, behind which there would be the hand of Al-Qaeda, today other violence has been committed from Egypt to Yemen. In Cairo, the clashes between protesters and the police that took place in front of the US diplomatic headquarters cost the toll of 13 wounded, while in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, protesters managed to enter the embassy and set fire to some cars. The police tried to disperse the crowd by shooting into the air: a Yemeni rebel was killed by a bullet fired by the police.
Parades were also held in Iran: about 500 people gathered near the Swiss embassy (which currently manages American interests in the absence of relations between the United States and Ahmadinejad's country) in Tehran. The peaceful demonstration lasted about two hours.
Meanwhile, the climate of terror reaches Europe. The consulate in Berlin was partially evacuated: according to the firefighters, three men experienced breathing difficulties after opening a package containing a suspicious substance. "We take this incident very seriously," a spokesman for the representation said. But after a few hours, the emergency returned: it was "a false alarm - said a police spokesman - there is no dangerous substance". The agents also carried out checks on a man deemed suspicious, who will be released.
The situation is therefore increasingly tense, forcing US President Barack Obama to forcefully intervene in the matter: already yesterday evening the White House ordered, as a simply "precautionary" measure for now, the sending of two warships to Libya . The two US military destroyers (carrying Tomahawk missiles and with a crew of 300) march towards Tripoli, but at the moment there is no specific mission assigned.
However, President Obama has not hidden his concern, especially in a delicate moment like this, just over a month and a half before the next American elections, scheduled for November. The leader of the Democrats, who will run for the White House again, called the leaders of Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan, asking Egypt to strengthen its commitment to defend US embassies in the country and to Libya to work with the American authorities. Egyptian President Morsi has condemned the violence and promised that both embassies and tourists will be protected, stressing however that Mohammed "is a red line that no one must touch".
As for Afghanistan, Obama also spoke on the phone with President Karzai: in the Asian country, the authorities have ordered the indefinite closure of the YouTube video sharing portal to prevent other people from seeing the disputed video.
Meanwhile, attempts are being made to clarify the death of the four officials in Benghazi. According to an initial reconstruction of the attack in Libya, two diplomats were killed in a building near the US consulate, where they had taken refuge. This was reported by the deputy interior minister of the eastern region of Libya, Wanis el-Sharef, explaining that the first information shows that there were two separate episodes of aggression. Initially, el-Sharef explained, a crowd of several thousand demonstrators, armed with automatic rifles and rocket launchers, stormed the consulate headquarters.
The few Libyan security officers protecting the building fired into the air to disperse the crowd, but withdrew shortly after. At that point, the demonstrators broke into the villa, ransacked it and set it on fire. The other consulate staff members managed to flee to a nearby building. At dawn they had to go to Benghazi airport and from there leave for Tripoli. A few hours after the assault on the consulate, a second group of armed men attacked the building where US personnel had been taken. The attackers opened fire on about 30 people inside the building, Americans and Libyans, killing two US citizens. The reconstruction of the events was confirmed by the US State Department, which specified that two other Americans were injured in the second assault.
