Middle East Today: Tunisia --- Clashes as Salafist Conference Banned

Iraq: Death Toll Rise from Car Bombs

The death toll from today's car bombs is now at least 68, with 195 injured.

More than 200 people have been slain in the past week.

The heaviest-hit area today was Baghdad, where ten car bombs hit open-air markets and other areas of Shia neighbourhoods, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 150.

Photo: Reuters

Click to read more ...

Middle East Today: Iraq --- Bombs Kill More than 35 on Wednesday

Photo: Ako Rasheed/ReutersIraq: Security Forces Raid Farm of Sunni Tribal Leader

Security forces have raided the farm of prominent Sunni tribal leader Sheikh Ali Hatem al-Suleiman, seeking to arrest him.

Al-Suleiman, emir of the Dulaim tribes, has been instrumental in setting up the "Army of Pride and Dignity", a tribal force in Ramadi and elsewhere in Anbar Province, west of Baghdad.

The emir said that dozens of Army of Pride and Dignity members later tracked down the Iraqi army convoy that conducted the raid and clashed with it, freeing three farmers who had been seized.

"This is it; enough is enough. We will attack every Iraqi army checkpoint in Anbar if they don't withdraw from Anbar province immediately," Al-Suleiman said. "We will not accept any talks or negotiations with the government anymore."

Click to read more ...

Libya Feature: Optimism Gives Way to Jitters in Benghazi (Fitzgerald/Khan)

Protest in Benghazi against militias, 21 September 2012 (Photo: Abdullah Doma/AFP)

---

More than three months after the storming of the U.S. mission, and with the Libyan investigation into the attack that killed Amb. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans all but ground to a halt, Benghazi remains jittery and tense. Even in affluent neighborhoods, gunfire and explosions form an almost nightly soundtrack. Many residents are wary about where they venture after dark. The American drones that circle overhead prompt bitter complaints -- as well as the occasional attempt at black humor. "That's my brother-in-law up there keeping an eye on me," one man said with a laugh as he pointed skywards.

But there is little levity when it comes to confronting Benghazi's dense knot of security challenges --- which include rogue militias, frequent assassinations, and a fraught political environment made even more flammable by the ready availability of weapons. "I think the security situation is going from bad to worse after the consulate attack," says Wanis al-Sharif, the top Interior Ministry official in eastern Libya. Why that is depends on whom you ask.

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Opposition Meeting in Damascus Brings Questions and No Answers

1812 GMT: Syria. The Syrian Information Ministry has denied firing its ambassador to Lebanon, a story which it claims was the result of hackers:

"The email account of the ministry was hacked in order to publish inaccurate information" about the reported dismissal of the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali, the ministry said in a statement carried by state television.

According to the Ministry of Information, Ambassador Ali is still working at his post.

1805 GMT: Syria. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 72 people have been killed today nationwide:

25 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 19 in Aleppo, 14 in Daraa, 9 in Homs, 2 in Lattakia, 1 in Hama, 1 in Deir Ezzor, and 1 in Idlib.

See our note about the casualty figures posted by the LCC.

Click to read more ...

Libya, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protesters Take Over Militia Bases in Benghazi

Police arrest protester during Friday demonstration in the Bahraini capital Manama --- 29 people were detained (Photo: Mahmood Alshaikh)

See also Syria Video Documentary: "The Heart of the Battle"
Bahrain Letter: Detained Zainab Alkhawaja Accepts Freedom Award "For The People Who Fight Against All Odds"
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assad Proclaims, "We Will Defeat Armed Groups", as His Planes Kill 100s of Civilians

---

1940 GMT: Syria. Residents and activists report fighting and snipers throughout Aleppo today.

In Suleiman al-Halabi, one of Aleppo's main streets, the army prevented residents from venturing into the area amid steady gunfire in the third day of fighting.

One resident said, "Almost 80 percent of the people in Suleiman al-Halabi left their homes after rebels entered the area."

Locals warned of snipers in the adjacent neighborhood of Midan, held by the regime, as streets were empty, shops were locked up, and several buildings and apartments were destroyed.

"The battle is now between snipers," Sheikh Walid, the head of an insurgent brigade in the southern Amiriya district said, as only few hundred meters separated the rival forces.

In Maysar, nine people were reportedly killed, including five members of the same family. Residents said insurgents reinforcements were pouring into the eastern district of Sakhur and Shaar.

Click to read more ...

Libya, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Extraordinary Death, "Everyday" Death

1829 GMT: Egypt. As predicted, things have turned ugly in Cairo:

Clashes between protesters and police outside the US embassy in Cairo have left hundreds injured, according to the health ministry, which last put the number of injured at 224.

1535 GMT: Egypt. Anti-US sentiments, protests, riots, embassy stormings, RPG attacks... it's all very dramatic and scary stuff right now...

But really, protests against the US have been pretty small today. Besides Tuesday's protests in Cairo, the terrorist attack conducted by a relatively small amount of insurgents in Libya, and the few hundred angry rioters in Yemen, we haven't really seen widespread protest against the US.

Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell states what's been on our minds:

Friday could prove me wrong but so far, isn't the real story how small all these anti-U.S. protests have been?

— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) September 13, 2012

Click to read more ...

Yemen Feature: The Unresolved Economic Crisis (Salisbury)

Yemen's economy, fragile and sclerotic at best, effectively ground to a halt in 2011. A series of explosions damaged a major oil pipeline which is the source of most of the country's fuel. The ensuing shortage of diesel fuel, used to transport goods across the country and to pump most of the country's water, led to a sharp increase in the price of food and water. The government was forced to import fuel and hemorrhaged foreign currency reserves normally used to settle the hefty import bill that covers most of the wheat and rice eaten in the country.

Click to read more ...

Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Teenager is Shot to Death in Salmabad

After Bahraini police attack funeral procession for Ahmed Ismael Hassan (see 1445 GMT), youth respond by throwing Molotov cocktails at armoured vehicles

See also Bahrain Feature: The Killing of Ahmed Ismail Hassan
Libya Feature: With the "Islamists" in a New Country
Syria Flashback: The Schoolboys Who Sparked an Uprising
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Friday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: No Sleep Until....

---

2150 GMT: The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria report that 65 people have died today across the country, including six children and 10 defected soldiers. Twenty-seven of the deaths were in Daraa Province, including 18 claimed executions; 19 perished in Homs Province, and 12 in Idlib Province.

2145 GMT: Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, detained earlier this evening in the Bahraini capital Manama, has been released:

Rajab facing a policeman before he was detained (Photo: EPA):

Click to read more ...