Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Showdown Looms?

Residents of Sanabis in Bahrain clear up the debris after security forces went through the village

See also Bahrain Video: The Police Attacks on the Women and Men of Sanabis
Wednesday's Syria, Bahrain, Yemen (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Libyan-Style Civil War?

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2003 GMT: The leader of the transitional government in Libya, Mahmoud Jabril, will not be part of the permanent government, the formation of which will be delayed until the conflict is over:

Asked at a news conference in Tripoli about the timetable for the government's announcement, Jibril said: "I hope that soon we will free Sirte and Bani Walid to begin negotiations on the formation of the transitional government, of which I will not be a part."

1953 GMT: A source in Bahrain informs us that there were protests in 25 villages today, including Sanabis, Al Eker, Karbabad, Nabih-Saleh, Al Dair, Barbar, Bani-Jamra, North & South Sehla, Jabalat-Habashi, Saddad, Bori, A'ali, Salmabad, Nuwaidrat, Alma'ameer, Al Juffair, Tubli, and Al Mugsha. In Sitra, there were protests in Al Qarya, Al Kharjia, Wadyan, Mhaza, Sufalah, and Markkuban. Below is a map of the protests:

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Return to Violence in Tahrir Square

A protester in Cairo's Tahrir Square last night

2055 GMT: Back to the lead story to wrap up today --- Ahram Online's video recording the clash in Cairo's Tahrir Square between security forces and protesters:

See also Egypt Feature: Clashes in Cairo

2100 GMT: Bahraini authorities have released 20 more medical staff who were detained in connection with the uprising against the regime, but they will still face military trial.

The 20 are among 48 doctors, nurses, and paramedics who were arrested. All by 14 have now been released, although the court proceedings, which have taken place over the last two weeks, will continues.

The release comes days before a "national dialogue" hailed by the regime as a chance for reconciliation.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Finding the Dead

Candle-lit demonstration in the Damascus suburb of Saqba last night

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2045 GMT: Activists says Lebanon has detained at least two Syrian soldiers who crossed the border to escape clashes between security forces and protesters.

The soldiers reportedly fled after opening fire on regime troops attacking civilians near a border checkpoint that they were manning. One soldier is said to have been killed.

2040 GMT: Libyan officials said they have been trying unsuccessfully to contact Minister of Oil, Shukri Ghanem, who has reportedly defected (see 1030 GMT), for the past 24 hours.

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Bahrain, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Deaths and Disappearances

2030 GMT: My thanks to James Miller for taking you through the afternoon and early evening on the LiveBlog. With news slowing today, we are already looking forward to a lively Friday, with the prospect of mass protests in countries such as Syria and Yemen.

We will be back at 0600 GMT.

2030 GMT: Syrian activist Suhair Atassi writes that the Army has entered with tanks into Tahrir Square (formerly Clock Square) in Homs.

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Bahrain Snapshot: An Activist Writes President Obama "I Will Go on Hunger Strike"

Abdulhadi Al-KhawajaZainab al-Khawaja --- @angryarabist on Twitter --- writes an open letter to President Obama about the situation in Bahrain, including ;ast week's detention of her father, activist Abdulahdi al-Khawaja, her husband, and two other relatives:

Mr. President,

I write to you from Bahrain, after living through horrible injustice that I would never wish upon anyone in the world. Security forces attacked my home, broke our doors with sledgehammers, and terrified my family. Without any warning, without an arrest warrant and without giving any reasons; armed, masked men attacked my father. Although they said nothing, we all know that my father's crime is being a human rights activist. My father was grabbed by the neck, dragged down a flight of stairs and then beaten unconscious in front of me. He never raised his hand to resist them, and the only words he said were "I can't breathe". Even after he was unconscious, the masked men kept kicking and beating him while cursing and saying that they were going to kill him. This is a very real threat considering that in the past two weeks alone three political prisoners have died in custody. The special forces also beat up and arrested my husband and brother-in-law.

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Egypt, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Turn in the Protests

1955 GMT: C.J. Chivers of The New York Times summarises the day's fighting near the opposition-held Ajdabiya in east Libya:

Colonel Qaddafi’s forces began the attack late on Saturday morning with barrages of rocket or artillery fire onto the city’s center. Then, as the smoke rose and confusion reigned, they sent a contingent of ground troops into the city , where a gun battle broke out.

The loyalists’ assault was more determined and organized than the ambushes and exchanges of rocket and artillery fire of recent days. Barrage after barrage of incoming fire thudded and exploded in the city, and loyalist troops advanced behind it. Thick smoke rose and drifted from central parts of Ajdabiya, and by noon, doctors were evacuating the city’s hospital as explosions shook the streets.

Many of the rebels fled once again, streaming north up the highway toward Benghazi, horns honking. One rebel shouted at vehicles as they passed: “Qaddafi’s forces are coming! Go! Go! Go!”

But at least a small cadre of lightly armed local residents remained to fight, stopping the advancing loyalists on the central Istanbul Street.

“We killed 10 of them,” said Said Halum, who stood in the morgue in the late afternoon over the body of his brother, Abdul Ghadir, who had been shot between the eyes. “Our group split into two groups on Istanbul Street and fought them. The firing was very heavy.”

As the gun battle within the city raged, the main rebel force rallied about 10 miles north and by evening was flowing back into the city, where they briefly re-established a degree of control of Ajdabiya’s eastern and central areas.

Gunfire started to ebb in these areas in the evening, but skirmishes could be heard at the city’s southern and western side, and then the barrages started again, prompting many rebels to flee again.

NATO airstrikes came into play in the battle --- at least one large mushroom cloud rose from the city’s western side at about 1:25 p.m. as pro-Qaddafi forces were barraging the city. But again the allied air campaign was unable to keep the colonel’s military from pressing the rebels, as has been the case throughout a week of fighting that saw the ragged opposition forces losing key footholds on the main coastal road, including the city of Brega.

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