Middle East: Obama Plans a Speech, But Little Prospect of Substance (Landler/Cooper)

Mr. Obama had considered laying out American parameters for a peace deal [between Israel and Palestine], several officials said — a move that [Secretary of State] Clinton favored, but one that would have put him at odds with his national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, and his top Middle East adviser, Dennis Ross.

But the unity accord between Hamas and Fatah, the party of President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, effectively killed the plans to try to push through an American proposal, one administration official said. “It’s hard to imagine how we do that when Hamas hasn’t agreed” to recognize Israel’s right to exist and to forswear violence against Israel, the official said.

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Syria Video Special: This Friday's Protests

Girls' March Calling for Removal of President Assad:

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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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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Now, Back to the News

At Funeral of Qaddafi's Son (Photo: Reuters)

1852 GMT: A Bahraini official has denied that the government is targeting Shi'ite mosques for destruction. Bahrain's Justice and Islamic Affairs minister, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ali Al Khalifa, claims that many buildings that were built illegally are being destroyed, but mosques were not being singled out:

"By taking action against illegal buildings that have accumulated over the years, the municipality should be praised, not criticised," he said. "We are not targeting mosques, but any building that was put up in violation of the laws and regulations. Claims that some of the buildings were more than 200 years are also untrue because under Bahrain's laws, any real estate that is more than 60 years old is duly recorded in the country's registers. We should not fall for baseless allegations and should learn to co-exist peacefully," he said.

He also took offense to the classification of Shiite and Sunni mosques.

1830 GMT: Algeria has approved a big wave of government spending, subsidies for food staples and the removal of duties, in order to pacify growing discontent there as well. The move will increase public spending by 25%.

1620 GMT: Switching to Bahrain, 47 medical professionals are facing prosecutions, some of them for the death of two protesters. The two deceased were injured during the anti-government protests, and some of the medical professionals are being accused of providing "unnecessary" treatment on them, leading to their deaths.

It is widely thought that the government is cracking down on the doctors and other medical professionals because they have credibility, and have witnessed many of the wounds that the protesters have suffered at the hands of government security forces.

Also, two former MPs, both members of the opposition group Wefaq, have been arrested.  

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Syria Snapshot: Life Under Siege in Daraa (Al Jazeera English)

As darkness fell across it, Deraa was a city under siege.

Tanks and troops control all roads in and out. Inside the city, shops are shuttered and nobody dare walk the once bustling market streets, today transformed into the kill zone of rooftop snipers.

Trapped and terrified inside their homes, families are running low on food and drinking water, with many water tanks shot and emptied. Electricity has been cut, as have all mobile and fixed phone lines. The internet, so vital in broadcasting images of the regime's armed crackdown on peaceful protestors, is down.

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Syria Snapshot: US Official "Our Problem --- Assad Wasn't Brutal Enough"

On Tuesday, The Cable blog of Foreign Policy magazine posted an entry, "Inside the Obama Team's 'Shift' on Syria". In fact, there was little of substance on current US policy --- far more interesting was this revelation, tucked away halfway down the article:

"A lot of people were wrong. The general assessment [inside the administration] was that this wouldn't happen, that Assad was too good at nipping these movements in the bud and also that he was not afraid to be brutal," one administration official said. "All of these things combined made this more of a surprise and made it much harder to deal with."

For the first three weeks of the protests, the analysts told the policy makers that it was unclear whether the opposition had wide support throughout the country and whether the protest movement would be able to sustain itself and grow.

"Then, gradually, every day we saw the protests get larger, and we realized this is going to get worse and that [Assad] wasn't going to listen to anyone else," the official said, explaining the administration's recent stream of increasingly harsh condemnations of the Syrian government's actions. "It was a reaction to the events on the ground."

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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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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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Another Centre of Protest?

2045 GMT: The opposition party Wefaq has issued a statement that security forces arrived at two medical centers, Ibn Sina and al-Razi, and seized an unknown number of people.

"They detained doctors, nurses and other staff and brought them to an unknown location. We are worried what happened to them," said Wefaq politician Mattar Ibrahim Mattar. "I cannot reach by phone my brother who works in Razi."

An activist who works for the government said he saw more than a dozen members of the security forces surrounding al-Razi medical center while arrests were made inside.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protests and Battles

2100 GMT: Developments in Syria tonight....

The Syrian Minister of Interior says protests amount to "armed insurrection" and has called on citizens to "report terrorists".

The statement comes after more than 5,000 anti-regime protesters took over the main square of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, vowing to occupy the site until President Assad steps down. More than 10,000 mourners had marched in funeral processions for some of those killed in clashes on Sunday.

A video of protest this evening:

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