Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Standing Down

View LccSy: Syria Protests June 17, 2011 ‎ in a larger map Activists records a map of today's protests in Syria.

See also Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests

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1655 GMT: Anthony Shadid summarises for The New York Times:

Tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets of Damascus’s suburbs and three of Syria’s five largest cities on Friday, in a weekly show of defiance against President Bashar al-Assad. Activists said at least 19 people were killed.

Security forces fired on protesters in Homs, one of Syria most restive locales, and the police and protesters fought in Deir al-Zour, a large city in the east. But thousands were permitted to demonstrate in Kiswa, a town south of Damascus and carry banners that read, “Leave!” and “The people want the fall of the regime.”

Some opposition figures had speculated that the government might try to bring down the weekly death toll, which surged past 100 on one Friday, in anticipation of a speech Mr. Assad is expected to give as early as Sunday. Syrian officials have portrayed the address as significant, though many in the opposition said their expectations were low.

1620 GMT: 1 person has been killed and 7 or more injured in Lebanon during an rally against the Syrian regime. At the rally, Alawites and Sunnis clashed and the army was deployed around the event in order to stop it from spreading.  

1606 GMT: In Yemen, perhaps 100,000 have protested against the regime in Taiz, the second largest city, in an attempt to "restore legitimacy to the revolution."

1555 GMT: According to the Syrian Revolution Coordinators’ Union (SRCU), 3 people have been killed and 18 have been wounded in Homs when protesters were fired upon by security forces. 

The injured include a 12-year-old girl who was hit by a tear gas canister while standing on her balcony, the activist said.

Security forces also reportedly broke into homes in the Jourat Shiaa neighbourhood, scene of protests today, arresting people, including three children aged between 10 and 13 who have gone missing, said the SRCU.

The SRCU is also reporting that a student has been beaten to death by secret police in a raid on Aleppo University.

1550 GMT: Todays anti-gvoernment protests in Hama.

1525 GMT: The death toll in Syria has been updated to 16, including the first protester killed in the business center of Aleppo.

1512 GMT: Celebrity Watch (yes, on this blog) - US Actor Angelina Jolie has visited the Syrian refugees in Turkey. 

1500 GMT: Large demonstrations are taking place in Homs, Syria. According to the Shaam News Network, protesters marched from Alkhalidia to Bab Alsibaa, where security opened fire on the crowds. Demonstrations at the Khalid Mosque were also under fire. There is a report that a sniper has claimed one victim in Homs.

There are also reports of large protests in Alna'ura and Bansh, Idlib province.

The name of a 16 year old, reportedly killed in the village of Dael, near Daraa, earlier today, has been released by activists: Anas Mohammad Al Hariri,

1455 GMT: In Libya, 10 people have been killed in a renewed assault against the city of Misrata:

"Gaddafi forces bombarded Misurata today from the eastern and western sides. At least 10 civilians were killed and more than 40 wounded," rebel spokesperson Ahmed Hassan said.

1414 GMT: Reuters offers more information on the situation in Deir al Zor:

The two demonstrators were shot dead in the eastern provincial capital on Friday as they ripped posters of President Bashar al-Assad, witnesses and residents said.

The two were part of a large crowd shot at by military intelligence agents as they climbed the walls of an army garage to bring down the posters of Assad and his father, they said.

Syrian state television said an officer was injured by armed men in Deir al-Zor, which residents say witnessed on Friday one of the largest demonstrations demanding political freedoms and removal of Assad since an uprising against autocratic rule erupted three months ago in southern Syria.

1409 GMT: Activists are already reporting that 8 people have been killed by Syrian security forces today, including a 16 year old boy.:

The toll was reported Friday by the Local Coordination Committees, a group that documents the protests, and by rights activist Mustafa Osso.

Three people were killed in the central city of Homs, two in the eastern town of Deir el-Zour and two in the Damascus suburb of Harasta.

The 16-year-old died in the southern village of Dael.

1345 GMT: Reuters reports from the front lines in Libya:

A Reuters team in Dafniya, the outskirts of the rebels' western bastion of Misrata, described rebels firing artillery and rocket launchers with a range of about 20 kilometers (miles). Rebels said they were aiming for tanks and munitions in Naimah near Zlitan.

"We had a strategy to finish everything today but some of the fighters think it's a game," a rebel unit commander called Mohammed Ali told Reuters. "They shot when they weren't supposed to shoot and they have ruined it," he said after rebels took cover at the main Dafniya front from heavy mortar barrage.

Warplanes could also be heard in the skies above, although it was unclear if there had been strikes.

Meanwhile, NATO has resumed daytime air strikes against targets in Tripoli.

1335 GMT: Former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak and Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass have been accused by the director of Egypt's archaelogical sites of misappropriating funds from the King Tut exhibit. 

1329 GMT: Jason Burke reports from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, about today's Women-to-Drive protests:

1324 GMT: Saudi Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed has tweeted that he supports the women drivers' right to drive:

I'm all for #Saudi #women2drive on #June17 and I support the movement and #freedom of choice for my sisters in Saudi.

1316 GMT: Abdu al-Janadi, Yemen's deputy information minister, has told Reuters that President Saleh will be returning soon and is in good health. Just an hour ago, a high ranking Saudi Arabian official told the AFP that Saleh would not be returning home, and would be staying in Saudi Arabia. 

In any case, there are reports of protests all across Yemen (see videos below).

1308 GMT: Over 150,000 have gathered to protest in Hama, but no violence is yet reported there. In Homs, large crowds of protesters have gathered, and gunfire can be heard in the video below, but it is not clear how violent the situation there has become.

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

There is a report that 1 person has been killed in a suburb of Damascus, and 2 have been killed in Deir al Zor, where this graphic video has just been posted, reportedly showing a shot protester.

1258 GMT: A crowd of protesters in the port city of Hodeidah, a major trade center and location of an important university in Yemen, chant for the formation of a transitional council.

A large crowd of people in Dhamar, west-central Yemen, gather to demand the establishment of a transitional council.

1252 GMT: Video of a large demonstration in Horan, Syria, taken today.

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

1249 GMT: We have reports of protesters gathering in the dormitories of Aleppo University, and the video below shows protesters taking to the streets in Syria's second largest city today. (UPDATED 1436: This video may have been taken in Hretan, a few kilometers away from Aleppo)

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

1241 GMT: We don't have the location yet, but this video, claiming to have been uploaded today, shows children running away from gunfire as a military convoy maneuvers down a narrow street.

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

1216 GMT: People demonstrate in the embatted Idlib province in northwest Syria.

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

1209 GMT: Bashar al Assad's cousin, Rami Makhlouf, one of the most powerful men in Syria's economy, has announced that he would be leaving the business world and entering the nonprofit one. Makhlouf's telecommunications company, Syriatel, has had its offices bruned by protests, and Makhlouf may have been unable overcome a combination of public backlash and UN sanctions:

"Mr. Makhlouf said that he would offer shares of Syriatel, Syria’s largest phone company, to the poor and that profits would go, in part, to families of people killed in the uprising. He said profits from his other endeavors would go to charitable and humanitarian work. He vowed not to enter into any new business that would bring him personal gain."

1200 GMT: James Miller takes the liveblog...

A demonstration today outside of Deir al Zor in northeast Syria.

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

1125 GMT: Facing protests for reform, Morocco's King Mohammed VI will address the nation on television and radio at 9 p.m. (2000 GMT) Friday.

A week ago, a commission appointed by the monarch handed in proposals for constitutional reforms.

An official told AFP, "The king is going to present the broad lines of the constitutional revision which has been submitted to political parties and will be made public after the speech....[He] will also call for a 'yes' vote for the plan to revise the current constitution."

1120 GMT: Footage of the gathering in Ibb in southern Yemen after Friday Prayers:

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

1115 GMT: In Libya, there are reports of NATO airstrikes over Tripoli today. A witness has told Reuters of six explosions; a journalist reports hearing three loud booms and seeing thick, black smoke.

Foreign media were restricted to the Rixos Hotel, their main base, in the capital this morning, preventing them from covering Friday Prayers and any demonstrations afterwards.

1110 GMT: Back from an academic break to find reports of protests across Syria, including Idlib, Daraa, Sueidaa, Baniyas, Homs, Deir al Zor, and Aleppo.

Al Jazeera has been showing live pictures of the demonstration in Daraa in the south.

There is also a claim of further military deployments across the north, including 162 armored vehicles and 30 tanks in villages near Jisr Al-Shughour.

Footage of one of the demonstrations:

0915 GMT: Claimed footage of a woman behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia early this morning in the Women2Drive protest:

0910 GMT: From The New York Times:

Hundreds of displaced Syrians were gathered at a makeshift refugee camp in a plum orchard near the Turkish border on Thursday, growing increasingly anxious after Syrian security forces attacked two nearby towns.

The attacks on the towns of Shighr and Armala, just a few miles away, represent the security forces’ closest advance to the border with Turkey, which is strung with a necklace of refugee settlements similar to the clump of tents and cars here in the fields and orchards of Khirbet al-Jouz.

Syrian forces entered the two farming towns, opening fire in the streets and driving still more people to seek safety across the border with Turkey, or within sight of the border, according to local residents and human rights activists. Turkish officials say they have taken in more than 8,000 refugees since fighting began in Idlib Province about two weeks ago.

0900 GMT: A >message from Saudi Arabia, "My wife, Maha, and I have just come from a 45-minute drive. She was the driver through Riyadh streets."

0730 GMT: A march in the Qattana section of the Syrian capital Damascus last night:

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

And protest in Douma on Thursday:

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.

0720 GMT: An organiser of the Women2Drive protest says a Saudi woman drove around the capital Riyadh before dawn Friday without incident. Web message boards set up by campaigners say other women also have been driving.

A reminder of the videofrom Manal al-Sharif, later detained for driving and posting the footage on YouTube, that helped launch the campaign:

0510 GMT: We await for a Friday of protest in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain(?), and Saudi Arabia, where the Women2Drive movement is hoping that women across the country will take the wheel to defy the regime's ban. Meanwhile, we begin with this story out of Syria, which may or may not indicate that President Assad and his men are buckling under pressure:

Syria’s most powerful businessman, a confidant and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad, announced on Thursday that he was quitting business and moving to charity work, Syrian television said....

The businessman, Rami Makhlouf, a 41-year-old tycoon who has emerged as a lightning rod in the three-month uprising against Mr. Assad’s rule, is almost synonymous with the excesses of the Syrian leadership. Offices of his mobile phone company, Syriatel, were burned in protests, and his name was chanted in denunciation in demonstrations....

In a news conference carried by the Syrian state news agency, Mr. Makhlouf portrayed his move as an act of generosity, though it was unlikely that any such decision could take place without the consent and perhaps the insistence of Mr. Assad.

Mr. Makhlouf said that he would offer shares of Syriatel, Syria’s largest phone company, to the poor and that profits would go, in part, to families of people killed in the uprising. He said profits from his other endeavors would go to charitable and humanitarian work. He vowed not to enter into any new business that would bring him personal gain.

Claimed shooting by security forces in Hama in Syria on Thursday, followed by a defiant "Allahu Akbar (God is Great)":

This video has moved to our a separate entry, Syria Video Special: The Latest from Friday's Protests.