Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Battle of Baba Amr

2127 GMT: A new Tweet by the activist "Sami" who is inside Homs:

Electricty is back to many of #Homs 's districts after 3 days of its cut off #BabaAmr & #Inshaat are still in darkness.#Syria

— Samsom homs (@Samsomhoms) March 1, 2012

Earlier, Sami spoke to NPR's Andy Carvin, and said that electricity, and water, was cut for much of the city.

2111 GMT: Reuters, citing several sources, says that wounded French journalist Edith Bouvier has arrived in Lebanon. French President Sarkozy also told Reuters that he spoke to Bouvier, and she will be flown back on a government plane.

Sarkozy sparked a false rumor earlier this week that Bouvier was free, but this seems like a legitimate report.

2103 GMT: An explosive allegation from a major opposition group in Syria tonight:

Qunaitara: Jabatha: Regime forces stormed the town which lies on Israel's border with Syria. They are not permitted to enter this specific area without an Israeli permission or without the observation of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) . The regime's forces killed 7 citizens during their operation, among them 3 brothers of the Marweed family and one woman with her daughter, as well as a man from the Hariri family.

Click to read more ...

Syria Interview: Kurdish Leader Abdulhakim Bashar "We Demand the Right to Self-Determination"

Last Friday's protest in Qamishli, in the largely-Kurdish area in northeast Syria

---

We demand the right to self-determination in a form that would be decided in a national Kurdish referendum, but also within the integrity and unity of the Syrian land. When Syria was formed, it was formed by the Sykes-Picot agreement, it wasn't our choice. But we want to keep the current borders. With a new social contract between ourselves and all the Syrian components.

Second, if we talk about federalism in the Kurdish areas, from the northeastern part of Syria, up to the border with Iraq until Afrin, near where Aleppo is --- the Kurds form about 75% of the population of that region. That land is the Kurdish land.

Click to read more ...

Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Violence Continues Through the Night...

In Bayada, Homs, protesters run through the trash to escape sniper fire.

See also Friday 23 December LiveBlog: Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Damascus Bombs
Bahrain Special: Last Night It Rained Tear Gas

---

1710 GMT: The "Strike of Dignity", shutting down shops and schools in support of protests against the regime, continues across Syria. Footage from Kisweh outside Damascus:

1635 GMT: Upsetting scenes continue to unfold across the Middle East today, whilst the suffering wrought by yesterdays events comes to us through videos and reports. None of this violence has stopped the spirit of protest, with demonstrations taking place in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and beyond.

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: An Armed Insurgency Builds

Footage of security forces suddenly firing --- those posting the clip claim it was a rocket-propelled grenade --- at a rally in Homs Province in Syria last night

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Observations from Damascus "The Subtle Signs of Turmoil"
Egypt Feature: The Political Battle Beyond Cairo
Tuesday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Declaring Reform

---

2100 GMT: Bikyamasr has more details on the food poisoning suffered by protesters at #OccupyCabinet --- the group that is gathered outside the cabinet building to protest against the Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. According to their reporters, two of whom were victims as well, the perpetrator is being singled out a woman who showed up before the cases broke out and offered protesters hawawshi, a popular Egyptian meat dish. 

Hundreds started vomitting and dozens have been hospitalized. However, Bakyamasr denies that anyone has died so far. Full report here. 

1930 GMT: Reuters has raised the number of people killed in today's violence across Syria to 30. Their report on Syria also covers the army's assault on the city of Hama to break a 3-day long strike called "The Strike of Dignity". Soldiers fired machineguns and burnts shops that had been closed down in solidarity with the strike. At least 10 people were killed as a result of the assault. 

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Uncertainty and Deaths in Homs

A march last night in the Al Bab section of Aleppo in Syria

Bahrain Feature: Today's Revival of Mass Protests
Syria Opinion: Beyond the "Sectarian" Spectre --- Everyone in Homs is a Victim
Bahrain Opinion: The US and "The Wrong Side of History"
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: As Dozens Die in a Kidnapping, Damascus Responds to Arab League

---

2110 GMT: Another video complementing our special feature on today's renewal of protests and clashes in Bahrain --- security forces mobilise in Aldaih in front of the house of the Vice President of Al Wefaq, the largest opposition group:

Meanwhile, Bahrain authorities, having initially said that a package detonated at the national airport contained explosives, now say that it had "tools used to make explosives".

The Ministry of Interior initially claimed that a group had sent explosives from Britain via Dubai, but it now asserts that the package was a "dummy" to test Bahrain's defences.

2010 GMT: More protest video from Syria tonight --- a rally in Bousr Al Harer in Daraa Province:

Click to read more ...

Syria Feature: The Arrest of Activist Razan Ghazzawi

---

News broke yesterday that Razan Ghazzawi --- prominent Syrian blogger, activist, and Media Officer at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression --- had been arrested as she was trying to enter Jordan at the Syrian border post of Nassib.

Soon the story was racing across the Internet, with a #FreeRazan hashtag trending on Twitter and people lining up to pay tribute: "Razan inspired me not be afraid of using my real name online when I was in #Syria. Her courage is incredible"; "[She] had pointed opinions & disagreed w/ many folks (including me!) but SHE WAS ALWAYS THERE for whoever was attacked"; "Friends in Egypt, [she] was with us in #Tahrir through the tear-gas on June 28th & other demos".

This is one of her blog entries, from August, "Rumor Has It [That] This Revolution is Faceless":

 I was asked this question: "The hard thing with Syria is we don't have faces/groups to support. WHO do we back?"

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: More Die as Embassies Are Stormed

Police clash with protesters after breaking up a march in Nabeeh Saleh in Bahrain on Friday night

---

1955 GMT: One protester was killed and 12 others injured on Sunday when Egyptian security forces clashed with protesters staging a sit-in for the sixth day against the expansion of the MAPCO-Agrium fertilizer plant in Damietta.

Confrontations began on Saturday night and continued into early Sunday morning, with security forces using tear gas bombs to disperse protesters.

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Launch of an Opposition?

A woman with a Bahrain flag and then other protesters defy security forces, who respond by firing tear gas

See also Syria Video Special: The Protests of Eid Al-Adha

Syria 1st-Hand: A Motorcycle Ride to Homs
Syria Video and Transcript: The Speech by Opposition Leader Ghalioun
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Running Down a Protest

---

2040 GMT: A special video from Syria today, with tens of thousands of people turning out for a protest rally in Jebel el Zawiya in the northwest:

1720 GMT: Activists have raised today's death toll at the hands of Syrian security forces to 11 --- nine in Homs, one in Hama, and one in Idlib Province.

Click to read more ...

Syria Video and Transcript: The Speech by Opposition Leader Ghalioun

Saturday night's televised address of Burhan Ghalioun, the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, to the Syrian people:

The great people of Syria,

I address you today on the eve of Eid al-Adha, as our country reels from the violent actions of an unjust regime which has transformed our country over the decades into a kingdom where power is inherited, where rights are deprived and where dignity and freedom are beyond reach of its people.

Click to read more ...

Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Catalyst of Alaa's Detention

See also Egypt Letter: Returning to Mubarak's Prisons (Alaa)
Libya Special: Creating Armies out of Militias (Sheridan)
Libya Special: National Transitional Council Struggles to Remain the "Good Guys" (Malone)
Syria Special: Should We Treat Calls for a No-Fly Zone Seriously? (Zenko)

---

2015 GMT: Egypt's military leaders have announced plans to free 334 people detained since the fall of the Mubarak regime in February.

Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, giving no details of who would be pardoned or when, said the releases would support "continued communication with the great Egyptian people and the youth of the revolution".

Human rights groups estimate that more than 12,000 civilians have been processed by military tribunals this year. This week brought international attention to the detentions with the military court's order to hold blogger and activist Alaa Abd-El Fattah (see separate entry).

1945 GMT: Claimed footage from Al Dair in Bahrain this evening, as protesters chant, "The martyr said, 'I sacrificed my soul to my country'" and "We will sacrifice our blood and souls to the martyrs":

Click to read more ...