2124 GMT: Earlier we reported that cell phone communication was shut down in the Salahaddine district, near the center of Aleppo (Map). Now we may know why.
This video is impossible for us to verify, but activists claim that it was taken from a protest on the Salahaddine district:
Click here to read article in Arabic. Thanks to مترجِم 14 فبراي for the translation.
Visiting the website of Condor Technologies, a Brazilian "non-lethal" arms company accused this week of exporting tear gas to Bahrain, one is instantly impressed that they have thought very hard about how to present their business. The front page picture asks us to ponder: what on earth is "Lethality Reduction"?
On Sunday in Bahrain, a funeral was held for Abdulali Ali Ahmed, a 73-year man who choked to death in his home from tear gas inhalation. The funeral itself was attacked by police with tear gas.
The journalist Lamees Dhaif draws on the latest protests, arrests, and violence to put out a video message to the authorities in Bahrain: "Shame on You!"
2205 GMT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist network said at least 15 civilians were killed by Syrian security forces today in Homs Province, the Jabal al-Zawiya area, and Maaret al-Numan in the northwest.
The Observatory earlier claimed that six soldiers, including an officer, were slain by defecting troops in Qusair in Homs Province, near the border with Lebanon: "Three armored vehicles were destroyed, and those inside were killed and wounded."
On the diplomatic front, the Qatari Prime Minister reportedly said that the Assad regime will agree to an Arab League plan allowing observers into the country. The Omani foreign minister of also said he is "optimistic" that Syria will sign the protocol within 24 hours "and save the Arab world from foreign intervention".
This weekend the League said Syria must accept the agreement or it would refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council.
Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted Assad, speaking in front of an Iraqi delegation, that Damascus has "dealt positively with proposals presented because it's in our interest for the world to know what is happening in Syria".
Throughout the day, we have been tracking the response of the security forces to protesters gathering at Budaiya in Bahrain, with vivid pictures and videos of the use of tear gas and batons. This three-minute clip is the lengthiest and most vivid depiction of the assault:
2100 GMT: One Egyptian soldier beats a protester while another soldier wields a handgun:
2005 GMT: An EA source is reporting another death from the activities of the security forces in Bahrain. Abdali Al Mawaly, a 58-year-old man, suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation in Mugsha village on Friday and died this evening. People are now gathered around his house.
2345 GMT: It has been another important, memorable, historic, messy Friday. By the end of the day, tear gas clouds were still settling in Bahrain, fires still burning around the Egyptian cabinet building, and, in the most under-covered story of the day, 23 people died today in Syria, "among them are 4 children and 4 women, 9 martyrs in Homs, 5 martyrs in Hama, 4 martyrs in Daraa, 2 martyrs [in the] Damascus Suburbs and one martyr each in both Deir Ezzor and Idlib."
In Egypt, we have reached yet another turning point, with the news that many members of the advisory council to the ruling Supreme Command of Armed Forces. will resign over today's violence. This is yet another sign that the old ways have yet to be erased, and the revolution, taken for granted for many months now, is far from over.
In Bahrain, protests have not "returned," as some completely out-of-touch headline writers have suggested, but it is fair to say that recent violence, and the arrest of some prominent activists, will further fuel a protest movement that has been exponentially growing for several months.
But what happened in Syria? Missing in the "more deaths" headline that the mainstream media keeps running, is a serious analysis of the conflict. Even in Homs, besieged for months now, the brutality of attacks in Baba Amr marks yet another escalation, or perhaps even a sign of a desperate regime that has run out of tools besides shells and bullets. In Hama, we see yet more signs that the city may be facing Homs's fate. In the Damascus suburbs, the strength the security forces in the streets suggests that the Assad regime is also desperate to keep the protests from growing any further close to the capital. The reports from Deir Ez Zor, a serious crackdown against protesters and an escalation that we have not seen in several months, suggests that the regime is worried that if it does not continue to rotate its targets then it will lose control.
However, today's media coverage had far more problems than bad headlines. The media struggled to keep up on stories in Egypt, a location with a large media presence. Furthermore, coverage of stories like Syria and Bahrain have been nearly non-existent. In fact, a major Syrian activist voiced his displeasure at the media's coverage, then turned to EA to keep the story rolling.
This lack of coverage can have significant consequences. Bahrain, Syria, and Egypt (just to name the three that were busy today) all play key roles in the world, and in US and European economic and geopolitical strategy. Beyond that, the activists in those countries, and the citizens in those countries, deserve to have these stories covered. The media, once again, has failed in that respect.
We thank EA's readers for helping to change that, and we'd ask that, as things continue to develop here, you keep in mind how important independent media organizations like EA are in changing and influencing how the media covers the Middle East, and beyond. EA's writers depend on you, but the people in the places that we cover depend on you too.
We're closing the LiveBlog for the day, though we'll be reporting again in the morning. Again, thanks for reading and contributing.
This morning the regime's Bahrain News Agency runs the banner, "Happy National Day", with the headline, "Wise Leadership Congratulated", citing the "cables of congratulations from leaders of Arab, Islamic and friendly countries marking the National and Accession Days".
No doubt there will be the perfunctory statements today --- perhaps we will even see them from Washington and London, who are dedicated to a strategy of "regime adjustment" to ensure that vital links with Bahrain are not strained --- but when National Day formally opened in Bahrain at 12:01 a.m., it did so to continuing protests and clashes in the kingdom's villages.
Zainab Alkhawaja is still in prison, along with many other political detainees, and Ali Alqassab will join the list of "martyrs" as he is buried. And the smell of tear gas --- which, according to an EA correspondent was "over most of Bahrain, except Rafa' and parts of Moharraq" --- lingers.
2329 GMT: Two important visual pieces of evidence from Bahrain. The first, too graphic to post here, is a picture of the body of young Ali Al Qassab, who was reportedly killed earlier when he was run over. Activists claim he was run over by a police jeep, the government tells a different story.
The second piece of evidence is a video, reportedly taken today, that claims to show a police jeep accelerating towards a group of protesters who are near the side of the road. We've seen many videos like these in the past, and have already posted another video that shows a near-miss between a police vehicle and a pedestrian (see video at 1918):
Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times was allowed back into Bahrain last week to observe the situation on the ground, although he and his cameraman were briefly held by police amid secuity forces' attempts to disperse protests. His report on the clashes and political situation accompanies his column today, "If this repression were unfolding in Iran or Syria, the White House would thunder with indignation. When it is our pals who behave this way, it is even more essential that we speak out."
Among those interviewed by Kristof are regime supporter Saqer Al Khalifa, activist Zainab Alkhawaja, Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Center of Human Rights, and Sadiq Al Ekri, a plastic surgeon severely beaten this spring by security forces.
Monday, December 19, 2011 at 10:17 | 
