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".

2055 GMT: The Wall Street Journal is claiming news of an important development in Sanaa tonight:

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the country's top general [Al Mohsen al-Ahmar] are hashing out a political settlement in which both men would resign from their positions within days in favor of a civilian-led transitional government, according to three people familiar with the situation....

"Both sides have agreed on the main points of departure, and Saturday is expected to be the day that Saleh and General Ahmar both step down," according to a senior official familiar with the negotiations.

Publicly, Saleh stood firm on Thursday while offering an amnesty to military personnel who have defected to the opposition and called for his resignation.

"I announce a general amnesty for those who committed foolishness before and after Monday," Saleh said on State television. "We consider it foolishness and a reaction to what happened on Friday," when security forces killed 52 protesters.

2050 GMT: A doctor has told AFP that 109 people have been killed and more than 1300 wounded in a week in the city of Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, the centre of a battle between the opposition and regime forces.

2045 GMT: A deal for NATO to take command of operations in Libya has finally been struck, reportedly after a four-way telephone conference between US Secretary of State Clinton and the Foreign Ministers of Turkey, France, and Britain.

2043 GMT: Despite the crackdown by security forces that killed 15 people yesterday, thousands are reportedly demonstrating in Daraa tonight.

2040 GMT: Pentagon officials have said that all missions in the no-fly zone today were carried out by US jets.

2035 GMT: According to Reuters, Syrian security forces have left the main mosque in Daraa, having cleared out protesters who used it as a base over the last six days of demonstrations (see 1535 GMT).

2030 GMT: Back from a break to find a report from a United Nations working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances voicing concern that, in Libya, "according to the information received, hundreds of persons have been taken to undisclosed locations where they might have been submitted to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or executed".

The working group said that, taken collectively, the "wave of enforced disappearances" could amount to a crime against humanity.

"The cases to which we are referring are directly attributable to state agents, either security forces or groups under their control," said Olivier de Frouville, a member of the working group. "Most of the allegations concern either people who called for demonstrating, thereby publicly showing their opposition to the regime, or members of the security forces who refused to fire on demonstrators or sought to join the revolt."

De Frouville added, "We have launched an urgent appeal in the direction of the government, but to my knowledge we have not had a reply."

1535 GMT: A mosque in the Syrian town of Deraa, which has been the base of anti-regime protests over the last week, is now under the control of security forces, according to AFP.

At least 25 people have been killed in the last week by security forces, who stormed the mosque yesterday morning.

1411 GMT: The first test of the no-fly zone: a French jet has shot down a Qaddafi warplane headed towards Misurata, Libya.

Over the last two days, coalition airstrikes have focused on striking Qaddafi's heavy weapons, armor, and artillery. This is evidence that Qaddafi might be increasingly frustrated at his losses, enough to risk launching his airforce.

1220 GMT: More clashes in Yemen between military units loyal to the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and those who have followed defecting commanders.

The latest incidents occurred in Mukalla in eastern Yemen today. A colonel was wounded, but it was not clear which side he was on.

General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, commander of the military in the Northwestern Zone and now seen as a rival of Saleh and his son for power, said earlier this week that he was supporting pro-democracy protesters.

1205 GMT: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Yemen and US planning (or lack of it):

I think things are obviously, or evidently, very unsettled in Yemen. I think it's too soon to call an outcome. We've had a good working relationship with President Saleh. He's been an important ally in the counter-terrorism arena," Gates said, speaking in Cairo.

But clearly there's a lot of unhappiness inside Yemen. And I think we will basically just continue to watch the situation. We haven't done any post-Saleh planning.

1200 GMT: China has called on all sides to observe a ceasefire in Libya. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the aim of the UN resolution for a no-fly zone and measures to protect civilians was "to provide humanitarian protection rather than creating an even greater humanitarian crisis". She said the "sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Libya should be respected".

China abstained in the vote on the UN resolution.

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1155 GMT: French fighter jets have attacked a Libyan air base 150 miles inland from the Mediterranean coast overnight, according to French military officials.

Al Arabiya reports that coaliton jets have struck Sabha, a town which is a major base for regime fighters, in south Libya.

1145 GMT: Witnesses say at least 20,000 people, chanting demands for freedom, are marching in a funeral procession for nine protesters killed in Deraa in southern Syria.

AFP is reporting from witnesses that more than 100 people were slain in the town on Wednesday. Earlier accounts put the death toll at 15.

0845 GMT: The Egyptian Stock Market has fallen more than 5%, and trading has been suspended for the second time in two days.

The market opened on Wednesday for the first time since 27 January, but trading was halted when the index fell 10% within two minutes.

0835 GMT: A Tunisian Government source says Tunis has frozen the assets of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and five family members.

0805 GMT: Jordan's King Abdullah II has blamed Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit for delaying changes to the political system, proposed by the monarch as a response to calls for reforms.

The changes include a new electoral law --- critics have claimed the current system for Parliament favours the king's supporters.

Abdullah wrote al-Bakhit, in a letter published in Jordanian newspapers,that the reform process needs "decisive and quick" measures and he "will not accept any excuse" for delays.

Al-Bakhit was appointed on 1 February, replacing Samir Rifai, after the King dismissed the Cabinet amidst protests by thousands of Jordanians.

0800 GMT: In the Algerian capital Algiers, police have used tear gas to disperse about 100 young men who threw stones and petrol bombs as they tried to stop bulldozers demolishing dozens of illegally-built homes.

A police spokesman said 50 officers were injured in the clashes. El Watan said at least five vehicles were set on fire, including a police truck.

The confrontation, in the Oued Koriche suburb, began when local officials ordered the demolition of more than 30 houses built on publicly-owned land without a permit. After a few hours, the illegal buildings were knocked down.

0650 GMT: Claimed footage of an attack by security forces on Cairo University students, calling for the ouster of the University President, faculty deans, and other figures associated with the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak:

0640 GMT: The coalition flew 175 sorties in 24 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, 113 by US jets.

0630 GMT: Laura Kasinof of The New York Times reports from Sanaa on more trouble for President Ali Abdullah Saleh, "Weakening Web of Tribal Support Softens Yemen Leader's Grip":

Tribesmen from rural areas now make up the majority of the tens of thousands spending day and night at the demonstration in Sana. Many say that they are fed up with the dance. Their mobilization built gradually, spread by word of mouth and — to those with electricity — opposition television broadcasts. Few had access to the Internet or social networking sites.

With large numbers of them unemployed, their vow to stay at Sana’s encampment until Mr. Saleh steps down carries weight.

“He gives money to the sheik who rules the people, but it’s not for the people,” said Majid Mohagary, a shy man in tattered clothes from Mr. Saleh’s own tribe, Sinhan, whose members are found in villages close to the capital.

0555 GMT: Video from Misurata in Libya on Tuesday testifies to the casualties and the efforts to save the injured, as a doctor does a tour of the ward. 

The footage was presumably taken before yesterday's clashes around and in the hospital.

0540 GMT: Little change overnight in Libya....

The coalition carried out another wave of night-time attacks in Tripoli, focusing on targets in the eastern suburbs, reportedly including an airport. Libyan officials have taken journalists to a Tripoli hospital this morning to see what they claim are the bodies of 18 military personnel and civilians killed in the strikes.

Perhaps even more signficantly, the coalition's jets also attacked regime forces in and near Misurata, east of Tripoli, and Ajdabiya in east Libya.

In the former case, the coalition is trying to help opposition fighters stave off a regime take-over of Libya's third-largest city. There was more heavy fighting on Wednesday, and a fluid and confusing situation in the centre, with the regime troops at one point said to have taken over Misurata's hospital.

In Ajdabiya, the coaliation is trying to help the opposition seize the town, the next major stepping stone west of Benghazi, the base of the insurgency and "Free Libya". So far, however, opposition forces have been too disorganised and lacking firepower to claim Ajdabiya, which they held earlier in this conflict.

Meanwhile, we are also watching Syria. Protests and bloodshed escalated on Wednesday, the sixth consecutive day of demonstrations, in Daraa in the south. At least 15 people were killed by the security forces, who stormed the central mosque (see video in separate entry), but demonstrators have promised an even greater presence on the streets today.