Syria, Libya (and Beyond) Liveblog: Homs Under Siege

1939 GMT: More video claiming to show protests in Al Kiswah, Syria:

1929 GMT: Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the UN, spoke with NPR today. (Audio will be available here after 6 PM ET). NPR's Andy Carvin gives us a rolling a transcript, with commentary, including a back and forth with EA's James Miller and Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell, via Twitter:

Syrian ambassador to US: "Extreme fundamentalist Muslims are waging a war of insurgency" against

Syria ambassador: We've allowed reporters into Syria "time and again." Hmm.

Syrian ambassador on Syrians: "What unites us is far more than what divides us apart."

Syrian amb to man who says brother was killed. "This is unfortunate and I don't want to spend my time discussing preposterous stories."

Syrian man not buying it; he argues back. Ambassador ignores comments, complains media gives license to false stories.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) Liveblog: Defections Up, Dictators Down

1931 GMT: Two more videos of the large protests in Aleppo, at the funeral for Sheikh Alsgayna. Now Lebanon also has received reports of the same protest.

This could be VERY significant. The death of a religious leader, at the hands of the Syrian security forces, will not go lightly. The size of the funeral procession, and the presence of protests, combined with reports that the protest was broken up inside the cemetery, would suggest that this could become a local rallying call:

1924 GMT: A key piece of evidence. Earlier we reported that a large protest for a slain protester was disrupted in a cemetery in Aleppo. This video appears to show a very large protest at the funeral for Sheikh Alsgayna, killed by security forces in recent days. It's not video of the clashes, but it's evidence that there was a very large rally today in Aleppo:

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Expect More Funeral Protests

See also Saturday's Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Won't Give Up, Won't Back Down

1520 GMT: Yesterday we received a picture from an activist showing a man, reportedly in Sitra, Bahrain, standing in front of a police convoy at protests. Frankly, I don't like pictures, as they are hard to verify, but today we have received and EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of the same scene, and more. Protesters take to the streets, but tear gas, and what appears to be rubber bullets (though it's possible that live ammunition was also used) is fired towards the protesters. Amidst the smoke an chaos, the police convoy can be seen, and the man with no shirt stands in front of it.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Won't Give Up, Won't Back Down

1911 GMT: Al Jazeera offers their latest summary of the events in Syria, which echos much of our own coverage:

1907 GMT: This video was reportedly taken today in Homs, where State Run SANA TV claims 1 soldier was killed. In the video, we see plain-clothed Shabiha ("ghosts", paramilitary) walking along with Syrian military and firing at unseen targets. None of the Syrian security forces seem too nervous, as if their targets are unarmed. I repeat a question posed by an activist earlier, do these people look like they are being shot at?

1842 GMT: Multiple sources and activists are reporting that Joabr, Damascus, has been sealed off by security forces.

1839 GMT: A video claiming to show a large protest today in Hama:

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Prayers, Protests, and Pressures

View Syria - Friday 02/09/2011 in a larger map

Interactive Map of today's protests in Syria posted by The Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Centre.

See also, Syria Video Special: Death Rather Than Humiliation

Israel-Gaza-Turkey Special: Taking Apart the UN Report on the Attack on the Freedom Flotilla

Syria Video Special: A Protest Movement Renewed
Syria, Libya (and Beyond) Liveblog: Cracks in the Regime
Syria Special: The Resignation of Hama's Attorney General

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0030 GMT: Scott Lucas dropping in to post this video from Al Jazeera English of Friday's demonstrations by women in Martyrs Square in the heart of the Libyan capital Tripoli, celebrating the fall of the Qaddafi regime:

2007 GMT: That wraps up our liveblog for the evening. We will be posting analysis of today's developments in Syria, but the bottom line is that the opposition movement has taken some significant steps forward in recent days, and it has shown by how large and widespread the protests were today.

And they are far from over. We'll also collect more videos and reports and make those available soon.

Please tune in tomorrow, and enjoy our features (links above).

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Syria Video Special: A Protest Movement Renewed

A massive anti-Assad protest in Douma, an important Damascus suburb, during the funeral of Yusef Al-Toukhi.

Just two weeks ago, I was beginning to think that the protests were losing steam. Every passing day, since the fall of Tripoli, we see larger and larger protests in Syria. Protests in some locations were becoming smaller. In other places, the activists who were protesting seemed almost defeated. Reports from contacts in the country hinted that the spirit of the protesters was very low. At least 473 people had been killed by the Assad military since the beginning of Ramadan, according to rights groups. The bloody month had proven that the protests were not going away, the genie of Arab Spring would never be returned to the bottle in Syria, but it had also proven that the violence had taken its toll.

Some activists in Syria had even begun to question whether a peaceful revolution would be successful

All of that has changed in the last two weeks.

What we are seeing is protests in locations where there were not protests before, which has in turn caused the Syrian military to kill in those locations, intensifying protests in those locations. While Aleppo and central Damascus still seem elusive targets for widespread protests, the areas around these cities are seeing larger and more widespread protest. Eventually, these protests may very well push into the centers of the last two holdouts of dissent.

Below we're collecting just a sample of videos of the day. We'll add to the list as the day goes on:

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8. Protests in A'zaz, Aleppo (MAP). Earlier we noted daytime protests in Tall Rifat, halfway between A'zaz and downtown Aleppo, and there are also protests there this evening.

7. A puzzling yet impressive video. This clip claims to have been taken by soldiers during the siege of Daraa, and has apparently been set to (what we would assume is) victorious music, by the soldiers themselves. Smoke can be seen rising from the city, and smiling soldiers take up sniper positions on the rooftop.

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Libya Feature: Black Africans Rounded Up by New Government?

There are fresh allegations that Libya's opposition fighters have rounded up black Africans and placed them in detention camps, on the suspicion that they are former Qaddafi mercenaries, just on the basis of their skin color. As other reports of chaos surface after the fall of Qaddafi's government in Tripoli, we ask two questions:

Are these abuses systematically executed by Libya's new government, and when will law and order be restored to Libya?

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) Liveblog: Cracks in the Regime

2003 GMT: We have posted a separate video entry, Syria Video Special: A Protest Movement Renewed.

1927 GMT: There have been massive protests in Maree (Aleppo), Idlib City, Homs, Daraa, Douma (Damascus), Ugarit, and other locations across Syria. We will post a video special in short order, but once again large scale protests have covered many areas of the country today.

1921 GMT: A large protest at another funeral in Maree, 35 km north of Aleppo:

1914 GMT: We've received two videos from activists in Al Hoole, Homs. This first is fairly standard, a large armored anti-aircraft machine gun, a dangerous anti-personnel weapon, positioned in a residential neighborhood. The second video, however, appears to show snipers building defenses on rooftops in the same neighborhood.

1907 GMT: Amnesty International has released new accusations of human rights abuses leveled against followers of Muammar Qaddafi:

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Syria, Libya, (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Feast of the Martyrs

2024 GMT: Activists are reporting protests, and gunfire, in Aleppo. Here is one account:

Aleppo: Security opened fire at the protesters in Izaz, while another two demonstrations were happening in Ikteren and Andan

2018 GMT: Al Jazeera reports on another high-profile defection from the Syrian regime, but this one much closer to the security apparatus:

The attorney general in Hama, Adnan al-Bakkour, has resigned his post in protest over repression exercised by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking in a video footage posted on the Internet by activists, al-Bakkour has accused the Syrian government of killing 72 prisoners who were held in custody at Hama central prison.

1935 GMT: According to multiple Twitter accounts, Said Qaddafi is conducting a phone interview right now. So far, the best quote:

Saif: NTC's head jaleel is a liar, they did not take Bab Azizia, it was bombed many times by NATO and was opened to visitors.

Also, someone quotes Saif and then asks a relevant question:

"we are drinking tea and coffee, am asking everyone to attack the rats." Why not stop drinking and attack them yourself?

1919 GMT: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT VIDEO: Protesters shout anti-regime slogans into the face of soldiers in Angel, Daraa. On a more careful watching, however, the soldiers also appear to be chanting their support for the protesters, though the roadblock is maintained.

Protesters can also be seen waving olive branches at the soldiers.

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) Liveblog: Where is Qaddafi's Family?

1954 GMT: NATO has conducted 120 sorties today, 42 of them hitting ground targets near Sirte, Bani Walid, and Hun, the last remaining areas with a heavy pro-Qaddafi presence.

1800 GMT: The World Food Programme [WFP] is tendering for 250,000 tonnes of gasoline on behalf of Libya's ruling interim council. The official statement reads:

At the request of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), WFP is looking to procure 250,000 metric tons of gasoline that would cover immediate life-saving humanitarian needs for one month. Fuel supplies have been disrupted by the fighting, and water and electricity supplies depend on fuel-run generators. Fuel is also required for hospitals, ambulances and vehicles to distribute critically needed medicines, food, water, and other supplies.

1730 GMT: Following the Eid prayers, Muslim Brotherhood called on Egyptians to protect the "freedoms" against "any manipulation of the people’s will or choice" and reemphisezed the importance of handing over power to a civil government as soon as possible.      

1710 GMT: Asset freezes and bans on business interactions were imposed on Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, top presidential advisor Bouthaina Shaaban, and Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, the US Treasury Department announced.

1645 GMT: Four video footages showing demonstrations in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo respectively.

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