Yemen, Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Blood Flows in Sana'a

See also Syria: U.S. Is Quietly Getting Ready for Syria Without Assad (Cooper)

Yemen Analysis: The Latest Deaths and the Mistakes of US Policy
Monday's Syria, Yemen, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Children Chant in Damascus, Protesters Die in Sana'a

---

1932 GMT: Expect another busy day in Bahrain tomorrow as well. The 14 February Movement has planned a large protest tomorrow. In a statement (click the thumbnail below) they said:

The busiest roads in Manama will be peacefully beseiged with thousands of cars to press the regime of Bahrain to meet the demands of the people of Bahrain for freedom and true democracy.

The regime of Bahrain have been long ignoring the legitimate demands for freedom and true democracy... We have decided to start this protest on the International Day of Peace to affirm the peaceful attitude of our uprising since February 14, 2011 and refute the false accusations of the regime to our uprising that it was violent and sectarian.

1926 GMT: Yesterday we reported that all the roads into Sitra, Bahrain, were closed. This picture was reportedly shot today, showing concrete barriers that have been placed around the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, in an attempt to keep protesters out:

1924 GMT: An EA source in Bahrain gives this report, accompanied by a video:

Youth of AlAker organized a protests in solidarity with Yemen, which got attacked by police as usual

Once again, we note the reckless use of tear gas, fired by one officer who does not even bother to aim first.

1918 GMT: This video was uploaded yesterday, and claims to show Bahraini riot police shooting tear gas at protesters. Are these well trained men who understand how to use non-lethal force weapons liker tear gas? Apparently not, as a police officer almost gets shot in the face by his team mate, and falls down while the protesters can be heard laughing. It seems funny, but the reckless use of tear gas is costing the Bahraini people lives.:

1739 GMT: Yemen's vice president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has brokered to a truce, which seems to have resulted in a cease-fire in Sana'a as of 4 PM local time.

According to CNN, defected general Ali Mohsen had maintained that he was protecting the protesters, and denied that he was attacking the government forces. However, Reuters adds this stipulation:

But a consensus was emerging among sources on all sides that government forces clashed with those of defected General Ali Mohsen, who has pledged to defend the activists, after his men took control of territory previously under government control. The opposition said Mohsen's troops took the area to fend off security forces they believed would enter the protest camp.

1638 GMT: According to activists in Sana'a, Yemen, this video shows the scene at the field hospital at dawn today. At the beginning of the video, explosions can be heard outside. The injured appear to be a mix of civilians and defected soldiers. It is graphic:

1629 GMT: This video was reportedly taken today in Qosour, Syria. It claims to be "video taken from inside a school in Qosour: security forces open fire randomly and use ambulances." It is hard to tell what is happening, other than the ambulances and security personnel appear to be coordinating, and we've seen other evidence that ambulances have been used to deploy security in order to arrest or attack unsuspecting protesters:

1437 GMT: And beyond - A massive explosion has ripped through Kabul, Afghanistan, killing the former President of Afghanistan and the current chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, as he met with two Taliban officials in order to negotiate peace.

1432 GMT: This footage was reportedly taken this morning in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. AN EA correspondent notes that the shells being used appear to be anti-personnel weapons, as they explode in the air, sending fragmentation below:

1422 GMT: The Associated Press is confirming that at least 4 children have been killed and 18 minors have been injured in Sana'a in the last two days.

According to Al Jazeera, today's death toll has risen to at least 11.

Yemeni death toll rises to 11, with nine people killed by heavy gun snipers as Saleh's forces targeted pro-democracy protesters in Change Square in Sanaa early Tuesday morning.

1308 GMT: Journalist Tom Finn reports from Sana'a, where shells landed today near Change Square:

There were four hours of heavy shelling and explosions this morning. We walked through Change Square and were able to see where a number of stray shells had hit. Six protesters were killed. We saw a restaurant which had been completely crumpled and a library with a huge hole in the roof. A tent which had been crushed as well. Essentially this area is still with protesters living in tents so any shells that drops into that area it is very likely going to hit someone.

I'm seeing soldiers intermingled with protesters, who are marching towards the front line. Most of the injured that I saw today were soldiers in uniform who were being rushed back from the front line into the field hospital in the mosque.

It has shifted from a crackdown on protesters to this all out military conflict for control of large areas of Sana'a. They are shelling each other with anti-aircraft missiles and RPGs. The reason there are so many casualties is because it is taking place in and around Change Square where all these protesters are.

I've seen protesters and soldiers being rushed back on the backs of motorbikes into the field hospital, which is completely over whelmed. There are literally hundreds of people with bullet wounds piled up in this hospital. It is a really desperate situation.

He added that most of the fighting seems to now be focused on an area called "Kentucky Square":

That's where the front line is - Republican Guard headed by Ahmed Ali, the president's son, versus defected troops headed by Ali Mohsen.

At the same time there are conflicts going on in other parts of the capital. This morning the shelling we were hearing was Ali Mohsen's base, which is not far from Change Square, being shelled by the Republican Guard. And they were responding fire.

The Guardian has also uploaded some footage that Finn took, as he walks with some of the protesters to inspect the damage after a shell hit and at least one man was killed:

1254 GMT: Yemen may be stealing the headlines, and yesterday's exclusive coverage of Bahrain on EA may have provided the best footage and video, but the situation in Syria has not grown any less intense:

A large number of Syrian army tanks have completely surrounded al-Kiswa town, activists said.

13 people were killed on Monday, among them children and soldiers who have defected in Sahl al-Hawla in Homs, Deraa, Hama and Latakia districts, The General Organisation for the Syrian Revolution has said.

In Sahl al-Hawla in Homs, 20 people were injured while security forces arrested 30 others, among them 6 children and two young ladies who were treated at a hospital in Taldo village.

In al-Bayadha, in Homs, a number of defected soldiers fired at three army tanks at Cairo roundabout, and then fled while brandishing their arms.

In the Harasta suburb of Damascus, dozens of military vehicles belonging to the Syrian army and security forces were deployed on the district blocking the Damascus-Aleppo expressway.

Meanwhile, in Deraa, schoolboys from a number of schools rallied in protest and refused to go back to school until the downfall of the Syrian regime.

Deir ez-Zor's al-Sana’a neighbourhood witnessed massive deployment of military police force elements and gunfire shooting by heavy machineguns was heard in Maarata, Arnaba and Joseph villages south-west of Jebel al-Zawiya.

1248 GMT: There are indications that the Obama administration, basing their information on the assessments of the intelligence community, does not expect the Assad regime to survive in Syria. They are already planning for a post-Assad Syria, though they are not actively trying to intervene.

We've posted a separate feature, with analysis: Syria: U.S. Is Quietly Getting Ready for Syria Without Assad (Cooper)

1203 GMT: James Miller taking the helm, and it looks like another busy day in the Middle East.

As Professor Scott Lucas predicted when he named the blog, the busiest place in the region appears to be Yemen. According to the New York Times, at least 10 people have been killed as the government shelled the capital city, Sana'a, for the second day in a row. 60 people have been killed in Yemen since Sunday. As I'm still catching up, and I'm already receiving reports of ongoing violence, that number is probably already lower than reality.

In a conversation with Scott Lucas late yesterday, we both resisted the tight narratives that some analysts leaned towards. Looking at the video, hearing the eyewitness reports, it is impossible to know how this conflict started. But that almost doesn't matter now. What has replaced random chaos is now a systemic kind. What started as random firing on protesters has now escalated into fighting between defected soldiers of the First Armored Division and the Yemeni Military, with the protesters, and the residents of the city, stuck in the middle. The NYT's Alan Cowell explains:

By Monday afternoon, the protest scene was a mixture of chaos and resolve. Motorcycles and ambulances carried mangled bodies away from the center of fighting, a major intersection just south of the site of anti-Saleh sit-ins. But protesters held their ground, despite the risks.

Soldiers from the First Armored Division, commanded by General Ahmar, took over the intersection Sunday evening after clashing with security forces. Protesters erected tents in the intersection, improbably known as Kentucky Square because of a restaurant resembling a KFC that used to be there.

Fighting intensified as rocket-propelled grenades fell near the protesters, and forces loyal to General Ahmar fired artillery at government positions.

Many protesters sat in their tents chewing qat, the leafy green stimulant, as the booms of artillery echoed.

“We are staying here until we die,” said Wuheib al-Youseffy, 32, sitting on a curb with a group of men amid gunfire and artillery explosions. “Why should we be scared? We are used to this.”

0715 GMT: In Libya, the siege of Bani Walid, one of the last Qaddafi strongholds, by forces of the National Transitional Council continues. Al Jazeera English reports on one family who fled the town:

The NTC has claimed that Belgacem Al-Abaaj, a senior general fighting for former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has been seized in the south, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Sabha.

Spokesman Mohamed Wardugu said NTC forces had entered Sabha and taken control of the airport, with fighting was continuing in sections of the town.

0615 GMT: It looks like it will be another deadly day in Yemen. Journalist Tom Finn writes, "Massive explosions still rocking Sana'a....Already there's a black haze hanging over the city." He reports the regime's Republican Guards on Nuqum Mountain are shelling the base of dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar's 1st Armoured Division base, with stray shells landing in Change Square, the main location for protesters.

Finn says a nurse at the field hospital near Change Square has confirmed three shells hit the square, killing two people and injuring five.

0515 GMT: A second day of bloodshed in the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Monday, with at least 23 people slain, and amidst gruesome scenes of death, there appeared to be a significant shift in the fighting. This was not only the men of President Saleh firing on protesters, as they did on Sunday when there were at least 26 death, but Saleh's troops in a fight with the dissident forces of General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and opposition tribesmen.

Syria went through its daily pattern of protests and responses by the security forces. In Houla in Homs Province, at least eight people died.

And then there is the forgotten conflict in Bahrain. After clashes between security forces and protesters in a funeral procession on Sunday, the town of Sitra was effectively locked down on Monday, with police moving in and putting about 30 jeeps at the entrances. Last night, helicopters were flying over the town, searching for demonstrators.