Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Renewed Shelling of Homs

Claimed footage of shelling of the Khalidiya section of Homs in Syria this morning

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Who are the Al-Farouq Brigades?
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Anticipating A Friday of Protests and Clashes

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1900 GMT: Israel. The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed into southern Israel on Saturday, military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said on Saturday.

It is unclear who despatched the aircraft, first spotted above the Mediterranean Sea in the area of the Gaza Strip to the west of Israel.

The drone was followed by Israeli air force jets, travelling east about 35 miles across Israel's southern Negev desert, before it was shot down in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank about 10 a.m. (0700 GMT).

1700 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees report that 82 people have been killed by security forces today, including 28 in Damascus and its suburbs and 24 in Homs Province.

1638 GMT: Bahrain. An indication of the size of the crowd, with symbolic coffins for those killed in the conflict, trying to reach Pearl Roundabout --- the symbolic centre of last year's protests --- on Friday:

1523 GMT: Yemen. A military official has said that the Yemeni army foiled a car bomb attack today on the Anad air base, used by US soldiers to train Yemeni forces in combating terrorism.

The official said about "15 American soldiers have been on the base for two months training Yemeni forces in combating terrorism.".

1316 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees report that 52 people have been killed by security forces today, including 10 members of the Free Syrian Army. Twenty-three of the casualties were in Homs Province, most of them in Houla.

1308 GMT: Syria. Claimed footage of an insurgent brigade displaying weapons seized from a regime airbase in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus:

1114 GMT: Bahrain. Writing for Foreign Policy magazine, Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch has named detained activist Ebrahim Sharif as one of the "unsung heroes" in fights for justice:

The head of the National Democratic Action Society Wa’ad Party...played a leading role in the pro-democracy protests last year and was imprisoned for the crime of calling for a change in the island monarchy’s system of government. He’s since been sentenced to five years in jail.

Most supporters of the opposition in Bahrain are members of its disenfranchised Shiite Muslim community. But Sharif is a Sunni, as are many members of his pro-reform political party. His existence, as an opposition leader and political prisoner, undermines the Bahraini government narrative that the crisis in the country is purely sectarian, that the protest movement is part of an Iranian/Hezbollah plot to establish a Shia theocracy, and that the country’s Sunni population is unalterably opposed to compromise. That a prominent Sunni, with some support in the Sunni community, is calling for constitutional monarchy in Bahrain appears to have deeply embarrassed the hardliners around the country’s king.

1048 GMT: Syria. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has appealed for the release of 48 Iranians held hostage by insurgents.

The men were seized near Damascus this summer. On Friday, an insurgent brigade say they would begin executing them one by one if the Syrian regime did not halt violence against civilians and its forces from the Eastern Ghouta area of Damascus province.

"We also have other secret, military demands. If the regime does not fulfill them we will start finishing off the hostages," said the commander, Abul Wafa, of the Revolutionary Military Council in Damascus Province.

0616 GMT: Syria. Al Jazeera English's Anita McNaught reports that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has denied claims, circulating on Friday, of an agreement with Damascus for a 10-kilometre (6-mile) "buffer zone" inside the Syrian border, free of regime forces.

Referring to an Israeli website which often carries dubious "reports", the Ministry said, "It's Debka File mischief."

0600 GMT: Syria. Al Arabiya has posted footage from insurgents claiming to be of three members of the Revolutionary Guards, captured near Aleppo.

(Cross-posted from Iran Live Coverage)

0540 GMT: Syria. Tension continued on the Syrian-Turkish border on Friday, as Ankara's troops returned fire after a mortar shell from Syria crossed the border and landed in a rural area.

The significant news, however, were the regime attacks on and around several cities. In addition to operations in the Damascus suburbs and in Aleppo, President Assad's forces carried out the heaviest shelling in months on Homs.

Much of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, was decimated early this year as the regime tried to crush the opposition. 

An activist in Homs said Friday, "Around dawn, the regime went crazy and started shelling hysterically. An average of five rockets a minute are falling."

The activists said rockets and heavy mortars struck the neighbourhoods of Old Homs, Khaldiya, Qusour, and Jouret el-Shayah.

The Local Coordination Councils said 127 people were killed by security forces on Friday, including 36 in Aleppo Province, 28 in Damascus and its suburbs, 19 in Daraa Province, 16 in Deir Ez Zor Province, 12 in Homs Province, and 11 in Idlib Province.