Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Long Haul

2015 GMT: Associated Press reports that NATO warplanes have bombed command centres near Tripoli and in Libya's southwest, trying to cut communications links between the Qaddafi regime and his battlefield units.

2005 GMT: Video of a protest in Idlib in Syria during the funeral of a demonstrator killed on Friday:

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Back to Business After Obama

2105 GMT: Protestors in the far eastern town of Albou Kamal, on Syria's border with Iraq, have reportedly have set fire to offices of the ruling Baath Party.

A tribal leader said, "People want to overthrow the regime. There can be no dialogue with tanks and soldiers, no dialogue with security men who kill, arrest and smash the homes of civilians. We want democracy and freedom. We want to feel we are real citizens, not numbers."

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Syria, Libya, Palestine (and Beyond) LiveBlog: While Obama Speaks....

2100 GMT: Claimed video of a demonstration in Homs tonight, "The people want to topple the regime":

2040 GMT: A day after balking at an agreement to transfer power, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said --- through a spokesman --- that he will sign the arrangement.

Spokesman Ahmed al-Sufi said Saleh will accept Sunday during the celebration of Yemen National Day at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa. Al-Sufi said Abdul-Latif al-Zayyani, the head of the Gulf Co-operation Council, would return to Yemen for the event.

The GCC, which brokered the agreement, said in a statement that its foreign ministers would meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday and al-Zayyani would attend.

The Yemeni opposition dismissed Saleh’s promise to sign.

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Syria, Yemen, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Blood in the Streets

Gunfire erupts as security forces clash with protesters in Yemen on Wednesday

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2125 GMT: Witnesses in Oman say soldiers and police have moved into protest camps in the capital of Muscat and the southern city of Salalah, arresting dozens of demonstrators calling for reforms.

The witnesses say there were no serious injuries in the raids.

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Yemen Video Feature: A Day in the Life of an Uprising

A short documentary of a day in the life of the protests against the Yemeni regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh --- 12 March 2011 in "Change Square" in the capital Sanaa:

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Persistence

1730 GMT: Opposition accounts and video indicate regime forces in Libya have been scattering land mines in Misurata.

Human Rights Watch has verified the use of Chinese anti-vehicle mines, dropped by mini-parachutes from rockets.

1650 GMT: Another image of the regime airstrike on oil storage tanks of the opposition-held city of Misurata in Libya:

Photo: Bryan Denton (New York Times)

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Failure to Suppress

2030 GMT: Hundreds & possibly thousands of protesters marched after Friday Prayers in Oman's southern port of Salalah, calling for democratic reform and an end to corruption.

Residents said between 300 and 400 people took part in the protest, but some activists claimed several thousand were present.

2015 GMT: Facing claims that more than 40 medical personnel are missing or detained in Bahrain, the regime is trying a new tactic tonight.

As State TV denounces doctors for lying about their treatment of injured protesters, the Bahrain News Agency has put out this request for people to add their criticisms:

The Health Ministry has called on people in Bahrain who may experience any problem or inconvenience at any medical centre or by any Health Ministry employee to lodge their complaints, supported with their personal information, on the ministry’s e-mail: Report2MoH@gmail.com so that all necessary measures could be taken.

The ministry has asserted that everything is functioning naturally, including Salmaniya Medical Complex and medical centres, after return of life back to normal in Bahrain thanks to the wisdom of the leadership.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Catching Up

1845 GMT: Reuters posts the accounts of residents of the southern town of Daraa about the "inhumanity and criminality" of the military that occupied the town: "They occupied several mosques, including the Omari mosque and Sheikh Abdul Aziz (mosque), to ensure that even volunteers or imams cannot use minarets to ask for blood or urge medics to help the wounded....They stationed tanks even in public gardens and security patrols seem to have orders to shoot on the spot."

One activist said at least 18 people were killed by gunfire and tank shelling.

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Syria, Yemen, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Waiting for Confirmation

2300 GMT: Apologies for the suspension in service --- EA staff have been on a holiday break this evening with family and friends. We will be back from 0530 GMT with all the latest news.

1700 GMT: AFP summarises today's protests for reform in Morocco....

Nearly 10,000 people, according to an an AFP correspondent, massed in the city centre and marched to Mohammed VI Square. Organisers put the turnout at nearly 20,000. More than 500 people took to the streets in Marrakesh, while more than 2,000 marched in Tangiers to demand the resignation of the mayor, Fouad El Omary.

Key demands of the marchers included curbs on the powers of the king, an independent judiciary, and steps against corruption.

A video of the rally in Casablanca:

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: An Escalation

1910 GMT: A doctor and residents have confirmed that four people died in Barzeh, a neighbourhood of Damascus, today.

That raises the overall death toll of protesters in Syria today to 14.

1900 GMT: A spokesman for the Yemeni regime says it has informed the Gulf Cooperation Council that it accepts a proposal for transition in power: "The ruling party informed the foreign ministers of the GCC of their acceptance of the Gulf initiative in full."

Under the plan, President Ali Abdullah Saleh will hand over power to his Vice President one month after an agreement is signed with opposition forces and will be granted immunity from prosecution.

1729 GMT: This video, reportedly filmed today, depicts civilians pinned down by gunfire in the streets of Syria. None of these men appear armed.

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