Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, which fears unrest may spread to its own Shi'ite minority, said it was following developments in Bahrain with interest and hoped for the return of peace and stability, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, supporters of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to break up a demonstra-tion by opponents of the government Sunday, and shots were fired as unrest in the country entered its ninth straight day, but no casualties were reported.

In Morocco, thousands of protesters gathered in Rabat demanding that King Mohammed give up some of his powers and clamp down on government corruption.

Wang Jinglie, a research fellow with the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that countries hit by riots in the region are experiencing social transformations, as they are confronted with similar problems, such as corruption.

"For example, like former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, Gaddafi has ruled Libya for more than 30 years. Similar to the overthrown Tunisian government, the Moroccan authorities also face corruption problems," Wang said.

He dismissed speculation that Saudi Arabia will be the next victim of political unrest, saying lavish state welfare and high income in the country can help ease social problems.

Li Weijian, director of the institute's research center, suggested that the decline of US influence in the re-gion is also indirectly facilitating the anti-government movements.

"Based on Obama's policy, Washington is strategically hiding its presence in the region, with a shrunk budget compared with the Bush administration's," Li said.

"Unlike Bush's aggressive approach, Obama pulled the US back from the political frontline in the Middle East and adopted a 'wait-and-see' stance. One of the reasons for the change is that the economic crisis has hindered the White House's ability to initiate major political movement in the region," Li added.