Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Hello to Ramadan, Hello to Turmoil

Despite violence, a large crowd protests last night in Lattakia, Syria.

See also Syria Video Essay: 1st Day of Ramadan was a Day of Chaos
Egypt Video Special: Military Breaks Up Tahrir Square Sit-In
Live Audio From Hama: Shelling Continues for Second Night

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2056 GMT: We close the liveblog with this last collection of audio and video. We will be collecting night protest videos and posting them either late tonight or early tomorrow. {Editor's note --- collection now moved to separate entry, "Syria Video Special: Another Defiant Night of Ramadan Protests".]

2015 GMT: A loud, and large, group of protesters leave a mosque and pour into the streets of Midan, in the heart if Damascus tonight:

2011 GMT: Night protests in Bosr Al Harir, Horan province, near Daraa.

2007 GMT: Italy has withdrawn its ambassador from Syria in response to the violence is recent days. Al Jazeera has this report:

1931 GMT: Rumors are that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been moved to Cairo to start his trial tomorrow. Al Jazeera is reporting that they, along with other news agencies, have been banned from televising the trials.

1859 GMT: Worried activists are reporting that the Syrian military has surrounded a neighborhood in Homs with tanks. We are monitoring carefully and looking for confirmation...

1850 GMT: Supporters of the Assad regime attacked protesters outside the Syrian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, injuring 5. The protesters fled to a restaurant, and when the building was surrounded by Assas supporters, the restaurant owners called the police.

1819 GMT: The Libyan opposition has discovered a list of their own leaders that were to be targetted, presumably for assassination, by pro-Gaddafi militias:

AFP reports that Libya's rebels have uncovered a 'hit list' of 60 rebel leaders that a pro-Gaddafi militia was keeping on hand in Benghazi.

"There were around 60 people (on the list)," deputy interior minister Mustafa al-Sagazly told AFP, including "members of the (National Transitional Council), the military council, the cabinet of the NTC executive."

"There were names and addresses," he said, "some of the addresses were correct."

The list was found during an operation against the al-Nidaa Brigade.

1745 GMT: UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, via a spokesman, said today that he thought Syrian President Bashar al Assad had lost "all sense of humanity," another sign that UN action may be right around the corner (see updates below):

"I know that the secretary-general believes that what’s happened, in recent days in particular, is totally unacceptable", Martin Nesirky said. "And he is deeply concerned about what has been happening recently, not the least the number of people killed and injured in the last few days. The secretary-general believes that President Assad has lost all sense of humanity."

1741 GMT: The human rights group Avaaz is reporting that 5 have been killed and 36 injured in Hama today, matching and adding to reports from activists that we've already covered:

"Two people were shot by snipers and three died after tanks shelled the areas of Janoob Malaab and Qusoor. 19 people were admitted to Hawrani Hospital, and the rest treated in private clinics and in their own homes, all suffering from shrapnel wounds following the blasts," the group said in a statement.

1727 GMT: Al Jazeera has reported that Hama has again been shelled by Syrian tanks today, and an eyewitness told them that a woman and two children have been killed. An activist in Syria has this unconfirmed report of casualties in Hama.

Hama: Martyrdom of Abdallah Al E'tr, Abdalaleem Uroob, Faisal Uday, & 2 brothers Fateh & Khaled Kateel today by shelling this morning

1722 GMT: This video, uploaded today, shows tanks firing into Hama. SeekerSK provides this translation:

Artillery shelling of Hama on 8-1-2011 before/when people break their fast- Vid was uploaded today

1555 GMT: Reuters is now reporting that 7 freedom fighters have been killed and 65 wounded in today's fighting in Zliten, Libya (updated from earlier). Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports from a hospital in Misurata:

"[The hospital] is coping, [it's] very difficult, because there was a really [large] amount of wounded that have been coming here throughout the day. It is a little bit calmer now ... I spoke to some of the fighters who have just arrived from the front line. [...]

"Apparently, early this morning, when the fighters were off guard really, they admit to that, the Gaddafi forces, with tanks according to what they say, flanked them in a sort of a way to isolate them. And that's when they came under attack. They were taken by surprise, it was an all-out offensive according to several of the fighters I spoke to, along the entire line they had on the outskirts of Zlitan.

"At this particular moment I can't tell you how much they pulled back. Earlier, several fighters told me they had pulled back - the situation is still extremely fluid. It is also a time of the day where usually the fighting sort of slows down a bit because of the heat, and I think it's expected that in a couple of hours it will pick up again.

"It's so hard for several reasons. First of all, Zlitan is strategic. Not only for the opposition fighters but for the government forces as well. It is the last major urban area I would say before Tripoli, 150km away from Tripoli. And after that there are really small towns. So Gaddafi forces are there in big numbers. We are told that actually the 32nd Brigade of the Gaddafi forces are there, and that's a brigade that comes under direct control under one of [Muammar Gaddafi's] sons, Khamis.

"It is also very difficult for the opposition fighters for the very simple reaosn that they've been getting very mixed messages from the residents of Zlitan. Some of them clearly support Col Gaddafi, and have told the opposition fighters. Others have told them that if [they] come closer to Zlitan - the suburbs of Zlitan, which is where they had reached until this morning - then there are rebels inside Zlitan that will rise and help you. Well that did not happen. And so the fighters of Misrata are very reluctant to go into Zlitan more at this stage, because they could be perceived by many of the people inside that town as invading their town, and bringing the fight to their town. So unless they get an invitation, as they call it, from the tribes of Zlitan it's very difficult for them to go in."

1544 GMT: A Syrian military checkpoint in Homs:

Also, an update, the videos that we posted of overnight raids in Homs (1442 and 1427 GMT) took place near the Stadium District. It is unclear if that is where the three people were killed in Homs.

1532 GMT: A large protest in Lattakia today, at a funeral for one one the 24 civilians who were killed yesterday:

1515 GMT: This news that Russia will not block a UN resolution on the Syrian violence is just another blow to the Assad regime, and a possible sign that a Security Council resolution could be on the way.

There are other signs as well. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet today with members of the Syrian opposition, the first time this has happened since the beginning of protests in March. A news conference has also been scheduled for 1900 GMT.

Also, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has also condemned the violence today:

The Government has been trying to keep the world blind about the alarming situation in the country by refusing access to foreign journalists, independent human rights groups and to the fact-finding mission mandated by the Human Rights Council," Pillay said.

"But they are not succeeding. The world is watching and the international community is gravely concerned. I stand in solidarity with peaceful protestors who are demanding that the persistent violation of their human rights ends now. I also stand in solidarity with the families of all the victims who have lost their lives since the crackdown began, and condemn in the strongest terms the reprehensible violence this Government is using against its own people."

1508 GMT: The Guardian has a very important update about Syria:

Russia's foreign ministry said today that it would not oppose a United Nations resolution to condemn violence in Syria as long as it did not include sanctions and other such "pressures".

The security council is to announce today what action – if any – to take against Syria after the government's escalation of violence against protesters.

Russia has a veto in the UN security council.

The foreign minister's Middle East and North Africa department chief, Sergei Vershinin, said Russia was not "categorically" against adopting a resolution on Syria:

"We are not formalists, we are not categorically against anything in particular. If there are some unbalanced items, sanctions, pressure, I think that kind of pressure is bad because we want less bloodshed and more democracy."

Two months ago a draft resolution criticizing Syria was dropped when it became clear Russia and China would veto it.

Moscow, a close ally of Damascus in Soviet times, currently has $4bn (£2.46bn) worth of arms contracts with Syria, according to Russia's Vedomosti newspaper.

1501 GMT: There are reports of funerals and protests in many regions of Syria today, where 24 were killed yesterday:

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief, Rami Abdel Rahman, said 24 people were killed across Syria on Monday, including 10 in Rama.

Six died in the Damascus suburb of Erbin and three in the central province of Homs.

Two people - one a 13-year-old boy - were killed in the eastern town of Albu Kamal, two the coastal city of Latakia and one in Maadamiyah near Damascus, the group said.

We have also received reports that the Syrian military is moving heavy convoys of troops and tanks to the city of Zabadani, on the border with Lebanon.

1457 GMT: A funeral for another portester, this one killed in Saraqib, Idlib Province, Syria:

1449 GMT: The BBC journalist, Shaimaa Khalil, was who arrested yesterday in Cairo has been set free. She was arrested as the military was clearing Tahrir Square, just moments after she had herself warned people over Twitter that they were arresting anyone who was taking pictures.

It is still unclear why she was arrested, or whether she will face any charges.

1442 GMT: More video from overnight raids in Homs. Plain-clothed men and police stand next to each other and throw stun grenades and rocks. By the end of the video, however, a fast series of large bangs can be heard, and heavy vehicles are deployed to the scene.

1433 GMT: Protesters celebrate the defiant funeral for two people killed yesterday in Homs:

1427 GMT: This video was taken in Homs. Men who are clearly military or heavily-armed police coordinate with plain-clothed men, who were bussed in and are carrying batons and AK-47's, in order to conduct house-to-house raids last night. The video clearly shows men being arrested and taken away. At the end of the video, it becomes clear that the security was still in the streets by morning.

1421 GMT: This video, posted today, claims to show a funeral for protesters, "martyrs," in the Irbeen district of Damascus:

1336 GMT: Al Jazeera is reporting that the rebels never actually controlled Zliten, and that the fierce fighting today was sparked when the freedom fighters made a move towards the center of the town.

"The rebels advanced today inside Zlitan to control the centre. Now there is a vicious fight with Gaddafi's forces," said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, a military spokesman based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

1327 GMT: In Libya, Gaddafi's forces have attacked the city of Zliten, which fell into the hands of the Freedom Fighters yesterday. So far, 5 opposition fighters have been killed and another 31 wounded. According to the Guardian, the front is being hit hard by rocket attacks, but it is unclear who is winning the battle.

Chris Stephan also adds this last note, "Zlitan's Fowater tribe has not agreed to let the rebels take control of the town."

1316 GMT: Brazil has condemned the civilian deaths in Hama and the rest of Syria, and has expressed concern that the Assad government is not meeting it's public commitments.

Henneth Roth, the Execuive Director of Human Rights Watch, asks an obvious question:

"Brazil condemns Syrian violence against civilians, so why isn't it supporting a UN Security Council condemnation?"

The Security Council is expected to meet today, for a second day in a row, to discuss the situation in Syria. France has already ruled out military involvement.

1304 GMT: James Miller starts off his day with an update on where he ended his last. In our separate video essay, we have posted a video, claiming to show the bodies of protesters being thrown into a river near Hama by pro-Assad plain-clothed agents.

Our newest update is that the video has also been shown on Syrian State TV, but has been doctored to appear as if the protesters were throwing the bodies of dead soldiers into the river.

1230 GMT: Footage of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, on State TV on Monday. He tells the small crowd, "Fighting will not stop until every one of you can return safely to your farm, house, job and family. If that does not happen we will not stop fighting even if we are all killed."

See also Syria Video Essay: 1st Day of Ramadan was a Day of Chaos
Egypt Video Special: Military Breaks Up Tahrir Square Sit-In
Live Audio From Hama: Shelling Continues for Second Night

1225 GMT: A funeral in the Syrian coastal city of Lattakia for a protester killed yesterday:

1215 GMT: Back from a break for media work to find that BBC journalist Shaimaa Khalil has been detained in the military's clear-out of Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Witnesses said demonstrators were beaten and their mobile phones broken. They added that anyone taking photographs was targeted.

0840 GMT: We've posted an update on our special video entry, "1st Day of Ramadan was a Day of Chaos" --- the same footage claimed to be of pro-Assad men throwing bodies of protesters into a river is said by Syrian state TV to be "rioters" dumping soldiers over the bridge.

0835 GMT: Claimed footage of a march in Abu Saiba in Bahrain last night:

0815 GMT: Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said this morning that at least 24 civilians were killed by security forces across Syria on Monday.

Rahman said 10 people were slain after evening prayers on the first day of Ramadan -- six in Irbeen northeast of Damascus, one near the capital, two in the coastal city of Latakia, and one in Homs. He claimed ore than 150 people were detained for questioning.

0805 GMT: Firing of tear gas to break up a demonstration in Homs last night:

0800 GMT: A small march last night in Sitra in Bahrain, calling for the removal of the regime --- footage has also been posted of demonstrators in Diraz:

0755 GMT: A rally last night in the Damascus suburb of Moadamieh, after Syrian security forces withdrew:

0745 GMT: With the news from Libya overshadowed by events elsewhere, a reminder from Monday of the insurgents' claimed victory in taking Zliten, the town between Tripoli and opposition-held Misurata:

0730 GMT: State news agency SANA shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visiting wounded army officers on Monday:

Photo: EPA via Al Jazeera

0725 GMT: Protest last night in Hama, led by a child --- "Leave Bashar, may your Baath party collapse":

0715 GMT: Shaky footage of a demonstration last night in Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city:

0545 GMT: One of the chants heard from Syrian protesters with the arrival of the month of Ramadan was a message for President Assad, "Hello Ramadan, Good-bye Bashar". But yesterday, on Ramadan's first day, it was more of a hello to turmoil. 

After more than 150 people were killed on Sunday, at least 11 were slain as the military continued its crack-down on areas such as Hama and Deir Ez Zor. Graphic footage emerged of the dead and of claimed incidents such as the dumping of bodies by Assad supporters into a river, while a live audio transmission from Hama testified to the conflict there. Equally important, the first full night of Ramadan brought a defiant reaction from those demanding reform and the removal of Assad, in demonstrations across the country.

In Egypt, another kind of conflict and authority, as the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces once again cleared out the protest camp in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Security forces, using batons, swept aside tents and demonstrators, leaving the question --- for both supporters and critics of the Egyptian leaders --- "What next?"

And in Libya, an event that would have been headline news on any other day: insurgents reportedly took control of Zlitan, a key town between the capital Tripoli and opposition-held Misurata.