Syria:

The 36-year-old, university educated Asma Assad is the British-born wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad. She was born to a prominent Syrian family and grew up in the affluent west London suburbs. Before the uprising that erupted in Syria last year, her image as an attractive and sophisticated woman helped boost Assad’s own as a modernizer. An article in Vogue in March, 2011, published just as protests began, hailed her as a “Rose in the Desert.” EU foreign ministers have since slapped sanctions on her, and she has been criticized for standing by Assad.

Qatar:

Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser is the most prominent of the three wives of the Emir of Qatar. The university educated Sheikha Moza has been ranked by Forbes magazine among the world’s 100 most powerful women. She is believed to have influenced policies through the Qatar Foundation, which she heads. The 52-year-old is mother of seven children. Rated in Vanity Fair’s International Best Dressed List last year, Sheikha Moza is widely known for her elegance and expensive custom-made designer clothes. While she covers her hair with a turban in line with Islamic custom, her form-hugging dresses and lavish jewels stand out among the black robes worn by many women in Gulf Arab countries.

Jordan:

Queen Rania, born to Palestinian parents in Kuwait and educated at the American University in Cairo, is mother of four children with King Abdullah II of Jordan. She is active on Twitter and has her own YouTube channel to raise awareness about education and other social issues. She has written a children’s book to promote cross-cultural dialogue. The 42-year-old is considered one of the world’s most attractive women, according to Harper’s and Queens magazine. Her Western, high-end style has landed her among the world’s best dressed women.

Egypt:

The 50-year-old, bespectacled Naglaa Ali Mahmoud, also known as Umm Ahmed, is a longtime Muslim Brotherhood member along with her husband, Egypt’s newly elected Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi. She has a high school diploma and once worked in the United States as translator. The mother of five does not dress in the coiffed and polished style of Egyptian first ladies before her, instead donning a long, traditional headscarf and black abaya, or robe, worn by many women in Egypt’s impoverished villages and towns. She told The Associated Press she does not want to be called “first lady,” rather Egypt’s “first servant.”

March 25, 2011: A Qatari fighter jet flew the country’s first sortie alongside a French jet on to enforce the no-fly zone operation.Arab and African nations raised the international pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, with Qatar flying the Arab world’s first combat missions over Libya and the African Union imploring Gadhafi to move toward democratic elections. The Qatar military operation against Gadhafi, included airstrikes by British and French jets.  Qatar has been a great ally from Day One,” stated Mustafa Gheriani, spokesman for opposition Benghazi city council. “It’s an Arab country to be proud of.”

Aside from the United Arab Emirates, which has pledged 12 warplanes, the international effort to protect Gadhafi’s opponents has no other countries from the Arab League, a 22-member group that was among the driving forces behind the U.N. Security Council decision to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. The United States has provided millions of dollars in equipment to many of the league’s countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

A Libyan delegation met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with five African heads of state to discuss a solution to the crisis. A Libyan government delegation meeting in Ethiopia with African leaders stated Gadhafi is ready to talk with his opponents and accept political reform, possibly including elections. But the delegation also stated Libya is committed to a cease-fire that Gadhafi’s forces have flouted since the government announced it, and blamed the current violence on “extremists” and foreign intervention.

African Union commission chairman Jean Ping stated the AU favours a transition period in Libya that would lead to democratic elections. The statement is the strongest to come out of the AU since the Libya crisis began, and could be seen as a strong rebuke to Gadhafi, who has long been well regarded by the continental body.

Libyan negotiator Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi blamed the violence in Libya on “extremists” but stated the government was willing to consider talks. “We are ready to discuss what the Libyan people want,” he stated. “What kind of reform do they want? If it is elections we are willing to discuss about the details. We are willing to negotiate with anyone. These are our people. There is no division between the Libyan people; there is a division between extremists and the Libyan people.”

The U.N. Security Council authorized the operation to protect Libyan civilians after Gadhafi launched attacks against anti-government protesters who demanded that he step down after 42 years in power. The airstrikes have sapped the strength of Gadhafi’s forces, but rebel advances have also foundered, and the two sides have been at stalemate in key cities.

The UN sanctioned operation remains a U.S.-led operation, though NATO was preparing to assume some command and control responsibility within days. NATO named Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard to lead its Libyan operation, finalizing what it hopes will be a unified command to oversee military action against the North African nation.

Envoys from NATO’s 28 member countries agreed to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya. The alliance expects to start doing so, as well as co-ordinating naval patrols in the Mediterranean to enforce the U.N. arms embargo against Gadhafi’s forces. With further approval expected, NATO will take over the responsibility for bombing Gadhafi’s military to protect civilians from attack.

March 27, 2011: Qatar seized two Iranian boats carrying weapons, Kuwait’s Al-Aan News reported. The boats were held near Zubara in the northeast of Qatar where the territorial waters of Bahrain and Qatar converge, according to a source whom Al-Aan did not name.

Iran has been accused of fuelling tension in Shiite-majority Bahrain after its leaders issued statements supporting Shiite protesters in the tiny kingdom and harshly criticising the Bahraini government and the deployment of Peninsula Shield’s forces in Bahrain.

Tensions between the Sunni-ruled Arab Gulf nations and Shiite Iran have run high since popular revolutions started sweeping through the Arab world like a brush-fire earlier this year.

Qatar is a member of the Peninsula Shield, the military arm of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which this month sent units to Bahrain in support of its Sunni-minority monarch.