Syria Today: The Insurgent Attacks on Regime Airfields

1811 GMT: Russia Passenger Plane Attacked.

Interfax News reports that a Russia passenger plane on its way back from Egypt has been fired on while over Syria:

"The Syrian side informed us that on Monday morning unidentified people had fired two land-to-air missiles which exploded in the immediate proximity of a civilian plane belonging to a Russian airline," the source was quoted as saying.

"The crew has been able to move the aircraft to the side on time and save the lives of the passengers," the source said, adding that it was unclear whether the attackers knew that the plane was Russian.

The plane was returning from a resort in Egypt, a popular destination for Russian tourists.

There is debate, however, as to whether MANPADS, shoulder-fired missiles, could have the range to hit a target at this altitude. If MANPADS are ruled out, then it's extremely unlikely that rebels could have fired the weapons.

1804 GMT: Chemical Weapons Attack.

Some opposition activists are now saying that the victims of today's reported chemical attack have been stopped at the Turkish border:

Click to read more ...

Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Spying on the Opposition

See also Egypt Feature: Activists' Statement on Detention of Alaa Abd-El Fattah
Syria Special: The Assad Regime's PR Campaign with British Journalists
Bahrain 1st-Hand: Saturday's Opposition Rally in Al Hajar for the "Arab Uprisings"
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Deaths Return to Hama

---

2220 GMT: Three Saudi filmmakers, detained earlier this month after posting a YouTube video showing poverty in the kingdom, were released today.

Firas Baqna, Khalid al-Rasheed, and Hussam al-Darwish were arrested on 19 October 19 after their documentary was shown by the London-based opposition TV channel Al-Islah.

The series is entitled "Malub Aleina (We Are Being Cheated".

2120 GMT: Yemen's international airport outside the capital Sana'a has been shut after the explosions that shook the nearby al-Daylami airbase tonight.

Flights have been diverted to Aden in the south of the country.

2110 GMT: The next hearing in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his two sons, and his Ministers and aides has been delayed to 28 December. The postponement occurred after lawyers for alleged victims of Mubarak petitioned the court demanding that Judge Ahmed Refaat be replaced.

2000 GMT: We are overrun with footage of Syrian protests tonight --- a demonstration in Ma'arat Numan in the northwest:

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Deaths Return to Hama

Video of Friday's killings in Hama in Syria outside a mosque

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: The People of Sitra "We Are Still Here. We Are Demanding. We Exist"
"Yes, We Will Tweet": How a Flashmob Took Over a New Media Conference in Lebanon
Bahrain Feature: The Freedom Torch Protests
Syria Video Special: Today's Protests Across the Country
Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Back on the Streets?

---

1950 GMT: Activists say 10 Syrian security agents and an army deserter were killed on Saturday when a bus transporting security agents between the villages of Al-Habit and Kafrnabuda in Idlib Province, in northwestern Syria close to the Turkish border, was ambushed "by armed men, probably deserters".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said that 17 soldiers were killed late on Friday in the central city of Homs when gunmen, believed to be deserters, attacked two checkpoints.

Elsewhere on Saturday, according to the Observatory, five civilians, including a woman and a 15-year-old teenager, were killed and several wounded by gunfire from Syrian forces and snipers in Homs Province (see 1915 GMT).

Click to read more ...

Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Goodbye to Qaddafi, Hello to....?

2104 GMT: The United Nations has passed a security council resolution calling for Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stop killing civilians and to step down in accordance with international plans. According to the AFP:

The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling on Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a deal to end deadly attacks on protesters and under which he would quit.

The resolution, on Friday, unanimously agreed by the 15 members, "strongly condemns" government violence against demonstrators and backs a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) peace plan under which Saleh would end his 33 years in power.

2028 GMT: Before this week, we were not aware of a particularly vibrant opposition in al Harak, Syria, in Daraa province. Now, the place looks like a military base. This video shows tanks positioned by the side of a major road:

2016 GMT: This video was reportedly taken in Al Tal, Damascus, today. A large amount of security can be seen wandering the streets, and gunfire can be heard off screen:

1958 GMT: This is another video from Bab Amr, Homs. It shows what we believe to be facing the opposite direction from the one that we posted at 1820 GMT. In otherwords, from the videographer's position, the entire neighborhood is on fire:

Click to read more ...