Egypt, Yemen, Syria, & Beyond LiveBlog: Challenging the Regimes

Tahrir Square in Cairo today. See our separate video entry, "Syria Video Special: Friday Protests"

1536 GMT: Security forces attempted to break up protests in Banias, Syria, and protesters respond by throwing stones.

1530 GMT: Besides the armed conflict (and truce) between Saleh and Yemen's largest tribe (noted below), and beyond the massive protests in Sana'a (noted below), there were also large protests elsewhere in Yemen. This video shows protesters in Taiz's Freedom Square chanting "The people want to prosecute the butcher."

1521 GMT: In Bahrain, the military prosecutors have asked the highest civilian court to review the death sentences of two anti-government protesters.

James Miller makes this analysis: Now that the protests have been squashed, perhaps the government feels that it can afford to show some mercy while also mending ties with the United States, which has been critical of the crackdown against protesters of late.

1506 GMT: Eyewitnesses are reporting that security forces have opened fire on protesters in Deir Ezzour, eastern Syria. According to the reports, at least 3 people have been shot.

1456 GMT: Massive anti-government crowd in Sana'a, Yemen today, after Friday prayers:

As many as 20,000 in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt:

1438 GMT: The casualties in Syria today may not have reached the level of the last several weeks, but people have been killed in multiple locations across the country:

"Activists say at least three people have been killed in Qatana after Syrian security forces used live fire to disperse hundreds of demonstrators.

Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr says according to Syrian cyberactivists, five were shot dead by security forces in Dael and one other in Zabadani, a town not far from the Lebanese border."

1430 GMT: A medic in Western Libya tweets about withdrawing from Zintan after pro-Gaddafi forces attack the city:

"Electricity disappeared in Zintan 2 days ago. Indiscriminate shelling of town from pro Gadhafi forces this week.

"Several rockets hit 100-200 meters from the hospital. Totally unacceptable. MSF cannot work under such circumstances. We left Zintan today.

"We all felt very bad leaving Zintan few hours ago. I have been there now continuously for 4 weeks.

"The situation for patients in the hospital became very unsafe. Last night there was heavy shelling around the city."

1423 GMT: A large crowd of anti-government protesters marches in Al Bayda, Yemen.

1418 GMT: An Egyptian activist gives us this image from the streets of Alexandria.

1416 GMT: In a sudden turnaround, Russia has joined the calls for Colonel Gaddafi to step down. Barack Obama declared today that NATO will finish the job they had started.

This news comes as NATO is accusing Gaddafi forces of laying landmines in and around Misurata.

1406 GMT: The Guardian's Tom Finn has this report from a compund under control of Al-Ahmar. The defiance of the tribesmen is clear, as is their motivation. They are fighting to free Yemen from Ali Abdullah Saleh, but they are not attacking, only fighting when they are attacked. Shiek al-Ahmar appears at the end of the video, and he predicts that the ceasefire will fail because Saleh is not trustworthy.

1355 GMT: Since the conflict in Libya began, refugees have been pouring over the border into Tunisia. At least two people have been killed, and at least 4,000 refugees have had their camp destroyed, as local Tunisians clashed with Libyan refugees. The living conditions in this camp have decayed, as fire, looting, and violence have wracked the refugees who have nowhere to go.

1347 GMT: Eyewitnesses have reported that workers from a construction company owned by the Syrian military have attacked a crowd of about 300 protesters with clubs and stones in Berze. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, and heavy gunfire could be heard. 

One protester makes an interesting observation:

“'This is not the first time tax payer’s money has been used against civilian protesters,' said the second eyewitness in Berze to Al Jazeera. 'They are beaten by a government calling itself reformist. This is daylight robbery: We pay them to beat us.'”

1340 GMT: In Syria, large crowds have gathered in Berze where protesters chant: “Oh great Syrian army, don’t mix your blood with shame!” and “You soldier, son of my homeland, you are the protector of my honour and my sons.”

1334 GMT: Protesters in Tahrir Square are chanting "Where is the Brotherhood, Tahrir is here." 

But the protests today have spread far beyond Cairo. Protesters have gathers in Luxor and Aswan, Suez and Alexandria, and El-Sakia Square in Fayoum. 

1330 GMT: Before the leader of Yemen's largest tribe announced a truce, tribesmen loyal to al-Ahmar had taken control of two military compounds outside of the capital of Sana'a. The military deployed 7 aircraft to attack the bases. 

According to the Yemeni Post, at least 20 people were killed in the clashes outside of Sanaa. 

1324 GMT: A truce in Yemen? According to Al Jazeera, Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar spoke at a funeral for 30 of his soldiers and announced that there is a cease-fire in effect between the Hashid federation and the Saleh security forces. The peace, however, comes with a warning:

"If the Saleh regime wants a peaceful revolution, we are ready for that. If he chooses war, we will fight him."

James Miller takes the helm.

1300 GMT: Eight people have been killed in today's protests in Syria, according to lawyer and human rights activist Razan Zeitouneh. Four were killed overnight in Dael in the south (see 0900 GMT), one in Zabadani, close to the Lebanese border, and three in Qatana near Damascus.

1255 GMT: A demonstration by around 400 people in Rukin Adeen, a Kurdish majority suburb of Damascus, has been broken up by pro-regime men and security personnel with iron pipes and electric sticks, according to eyewitnewsses.

Workers from the state-owned Military Construction Company have used sticks and stones to attack a group of around 300 protestors in the Berzeh suburb, according to two eyewitnesses.

The workers arrived in about 12 public buses. Riot police fired tear gas at the demonstrators.

Activists have said internet, landlines, and mobile networks have been cut in Damascus’ suburbs since Thursday morning.

1240 GMT: Estimates of the crowd in Tahrir Square in Cairo vary sharply --- Al Jazeera English's Adam Makary says no more than 15,000, but the correspondent for Al Ahram estimates 100,000.

The protesters are pointing chanting, "Where is the Brotherhood?", deriding the Muslim Brotherhood's refusal to back today's demonstrations.

About 300 members of the January 25 Youth Coalition are demonstrating outside the hospital in Sharm el Sheikh where former President Hosni Mubarak is being treated.The protesters are demanding that Mubarak is transferred to Tora Prison while he awaits trial on charges ranging from killing protesters to illegally acquisition of wealth.

1210 GMT: The families of the martyrs of the January 25 Revolution have now joined the demonstration in Tahrir Square in Cairo. During the Friday Prayer, Sheikh Mazhar Shaheen said that the martyrs should be viewed with the same respect as those who were killed. In his speech, Judge Zakaria Abdel Aziz told the crowd that Egypt should hire special judges to preside over cases where the suspects are accused of killing protesters.

Beyond Tahrir, there are demonstrations of "tens of thousands" in Alexandria and Suez and outside the Governorate’s headquarters in the delta city of Mansoura. There is also a counter-protest in front of the Hussein Mosque in Cairo in support of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.

1155 GMT: A witness has told Reuters that five people were injured when Syrian security forces fired on protesters in Zabadani.

1145 GMT: Back from a break to find reports of demonstrations across Syria. There are claims that posters of the Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrullah are being burned after he gave public support this week to President Assad. Security forces have reportedly fired on protesters in Zabadani and Deir al Zor.

1015 GMT: The scene in Tahrir Square in Cairo this morning:

1010 GMT: The Yemeni air force has reportedly bombed tribesmen who seized a regime outpost.

Fighters from the Nihm tribe said they had taken over an area about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the capital Sanaa, defeating Republican Guard troops loyal to President Saleh. Nihm leader Sheikh Hamid Asim told Reuters his fighters killed the camp commander and wounded other Republican Guard soldiers, while six of his men were slain in the fire fight with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

0900 GMT: The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims at least three people were killed early Friday morning in the southern town of Dael when security forces opened fire to disperse a demonstration. The Syria Local Coordination Committees say four people were slain.

Other overnight demonstrations were reported in the coastal towns of Latakia, Baniyas, and Jableh, in the central cities of Hama and Homs, and in the northern province of Idlib.

0830 GMT: Egypt's former Minister of Housing Ahmed Maghrabi has been sentenced to five years in prison and fined $12 million for corruption.

Earlier this month former Minister of Interior Habib El Adly was given a 12-year sentence for corruption. He is also being tried for his alleged role in ordering the killings of protesters.

0745 GMT: Claimed footage of a women's protest on Thursday in Douma in Syria, calling for the release of political prisoners:

0735 GMT: The Wall Street Journal updates on the situation in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia:

The young people here stopped protesting last week, effectively ending the first chapter of the so-called Arab spring in the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The protesters of Qatif abandoned demonstrations after weeks of unrelenting pressure not only from the government—which arrested at least 150 of them without charges—but also from their own community elders.

Few activists, who seek more say in their government and an end to sectarian discrimination, have given up on their demands. They say they'll be back, confident that time and global trends are on their side.

0710 GMT: Claimed video of a demonstration in Idlib in northwest Syria:

0705 GMT: Qatar is the latest country to close its embassy and withdraw its diplomats from Yemen amidst the escalating violence.

0630 GMT: The political ripple from Libya on Thursday was that the regime, through Spain, has proposed a cease-fire. The initiative was immediately rebuffed by the US.

The British Government has maintained the pressure on Muammar Qaddafi --- as well as justifying the deployment of four attack helicopters "to gun down regime leaders and assets" --- by putting out a report that its foreign intelligence service, MI6, assesses that Qaddafi "is increasingly paranoid, on the run, and hiding in hospitals by night, and that his senior commanders in the regime are unable to communicate with one another".

0600 GMT: It's Friday, so that means protests after Friday Prayers, except for those regimes, such as Bahrain, which have managed to crush public dissent.

We will be looking for a renewal of demonstrations against President Assad in Syria --- and for the response of the security forces, who killed dozens of people last weekend --- and assessing how opposition protest in Yemen sits alongside the military conflict beside President Saleh's forces and those of dissident tribal leaders and generals.

The interesting shift may come in Egypt, however. While there has been continuing challenge to the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, protests had been smaller in recent weeks. However, activists have designed today as one of demonstration against the approach of the military leadership, and that call has been fuelled by mass detentions of protesters.