Syria: The Necessary Spark of the Daraa Protests (Arar)

Ethnic divisions make it extremely challenging to have a unified popular voice, but what is encouraging is the fact that the Syrian youth who are leading this nonviolent reform movement have made it clear that it is purely secular in nature and they will not allow it to be hijacked by any opportunist ethnic group or opposition party.

It is too early to ascribe the "revolution" label to this Syrian youth movement. But what is clear from the Tunisian example is that revolutions need a spark and it seems Assad has already ignited it in Daraa.

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Interventions and Protests

Daraa, Syria2105 GMT: Libyan State TV is reporting airstrikes target residential and military areas in Tripoli and firing from anti-aircraft positions.

2100 GMT: About 500 Jordanians have set up a protest camp in a main square in the capital Amman to press their demands for the removal of the Prime Minister (see 0805 GMT), wider public freedoms, reforms over the selection of the Parliament, and dissolution of the security services.

The group is calling itself "Youth of March 24".

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North Africa-Middle East-Iran-Everywhere Video: United We Rise

Brought to you by Charlie Chaplin, Peop1e, and those in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Algeria, Iran, Jordan, Somalia, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia seeking rights, justice, and reforms -- "United We Rise":

(Hat tip to @paparatti)

Libya: Opposition Minister of Finance "We Have Only 1000 Trained Fighters" (Fahim)

Photo: Scott NelsonUPDATE 0815 GMT: Opposition spokesman Mustafa Gheriani, a former construction worker, has told the BBC that there are 17,000 insurgents in the field, but most of them are not proper soldiers. Many are civilians, such as music teachers, pastry cooks and accountants. Replying to the suggestion that the fighters are chaotic, Gheriani says, "That's not fair. A learning curve is taking place right now."
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After the uprising, the rebels stumbled as they tried to organize. They did a poor job of defining themselves when Libyans and the outside world tried to figure out what they stood for. And now, as they try to defeat Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s armed forces and militias, they will have to rely on allied airstrikes and young men with guns because the army that rebel military leaders bragged about consists of only about 1,000 trained men.

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Israel-Palestine Latest: Mortars and Airstrikes on Gaza & Jerusalem Bus Bomb (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera English summarises latest developments:

Israeli jets have staged three air strikes over Gaza, hours after a bomb struck a crowded bus stop in West Jerusalem, killing at least one person and wounding 30 in what authorities said was the first major attack in the city in several years.

Palestinian sources said early on Thursday two of the raids targeted the city of Gaza while another was aimed at a tunnel near the Egyptian frontier at Rafah. No casualties were reported.

An Israeli defence spokeswoman confirmed the sorties, saying: "The air force targeted two tunnels at the south of the Gaza Strip and a terrorist target in Gaza."

Jerusalem blast

The strikes came after a bomb ripped through a Jerusalem bus, killing one and wounding more than 30 on Wednesday.

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Top This, Fox: Reading the News in Libya...With an AK-47

I'm not saying that the news on Libyan State TV is far from "fair and balanced", but this fellow seems to out-do even Mr Glenn Beck for a unique perspective on events. In the middle of the news, he pulls out an AK-47 and declares, "In the name of Almighty God, I pledge to you, my Dear Leader, that I will sacrifice my last breath, my last bullet, my last drop of blood, last baby and child for you."

The Latest from Iran (23 March): New Year's Break

1700 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has thrown another jab at the Government in his website message for the New Year: "We unfortunately witness the pursuing of indecent methods by those in charge, such as making lies and giving empty slogans to the people....The Iranian people are educated and well-informed and neither deserve lies nor promises which are impossible to be implemented....Those in charge should listen to criticism, and either convince the critics through logic or correct their policies.

Rafsanjani, who lost his post as head of the Assembly of Experts this month, even had a poke at the post-election repression: "What we should, however, definitely not do as Muslims is acting beyond ethics and eventually expose an Islamic society as disgrace."

1640 GMT: The Battle Within. Promient MP Hojatoleslam Hossein Sobhani-Nia has declared that the further the Government goes, the more dissent there is within the camp of the hardliners.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Pounding Away

2215: A resident of Daraa in southern Syria says, after a day in which 15 people were killed by security forces:"The city is empty, only the army is in the street. Tomorrow we will be more and more in the streets."

2200 GMT: At least 40 people have been killed in clashes between pro- and anti-regime tribesmen in the northern Yemeni governorate of Al-Jawf over the last five days.

Anti-regime tribesmen took over control of the 115th Infantry Division after its commander, Brigadier Abdurabu Hussein, refused to hand over the division to Brigadier Ali Haidara al-Henshi, appointed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh as a replacement.

An official with a non-government organisation said, "Strategic military positions in the governorate are now controlled by anti-government tribesmen and Houthi gunmen. About 20 troops and Houthi gunmen were killed in the latter's attack on the contingent."

2145 GMT: Video from Zintan in northwest Libya, as opposition fighters celebrate atop the regime's tanks and military vehicles. Soon after the filming, the cameraman was killed in the fighting:

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WikiLeaks & Bahrain 2008: Assessing Iran's "Threat"

Feb 2009: Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa and Manouchehr Mottaki In the context of the Bahraini regime's claims that Tehran is behind the wave of protests that started 14 February, Western media's depictions of a US concern with Iranian intervention, and Tehran's propaganda campaign highlighting Bahrain, this August 2008 cable for the US Embassy in Manama takes on significance.

Those who have noted the WikiLeaks document, from WikiLeaks, have seized on the Embassy's observation: "Bahraini government officials sometimes privately tell U.S. official visitors that some Shi'a oppositionists are backed by Iran. Each time this claim is raised, we ask the GOB to share its evidence. To date, we have seen no convincing evidence of Iranian weapons or government money here since at least the mid-1990s."

Yet the wider setting for Bahraini-Iranian relations deserves at least as much recognition: here are two regimes that are not necessarily enemies, but are willing to use each other as the "threat" for domestic consumption: "Bahrain's Sunni rulers view Iran with deep suspicion, and support USG efforts to pressure Iran to change its behavior. But the Al-Khalifas also seek to keep channels open, and make occasional gestures to placate their large, touchy neighbor."

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Iran Feature: The Limbo of the Refugee Journalists (Arjomand)

Nima biked to Turkey. He'd been in and out of the Iranian prison system on political charges for the past decade. He was sure he was on the no-fly list and the police were monitoring buses and trains leaving the capital, so he rode his bicycle more than 500 miles from Tehran to Tabriz in eastern Iran. From there, he got on a train to Van on the Turkish side of the border, bribing his way through customs with what money he'd been able to bring with him. From Van he biked almost 900 miles to Ankara to register for refugee status with the United Nations.

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