Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Is Aleppo Out of Control?

People grieve over some of the dozens killed on Wednesday in Jdeidet Artouz near Damascus (see 0515, 0625, and 0705 GMT)

See also Bahrain Opinion: US Needs More Than Words About the Regime
Syria Revealed: Inside the Obama Administration's Discussions About the Insurgency
Syria and Turkey Analysis: Ankara Looks to Iraq's Barzani Amid the "Kurdish Spring"
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Aleppo --- This Does Not Look Like Regime "Victory"

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2042 GMT: Syria. Martin Chulov of The Guardian writes:

FSA colonel told me 1000s of refugees from Idlib & #Aleppo sleeping in fields near Jebel al-Zawiya. "We can't feed them. Help us."

— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) August 2, 2012

2037 GMT: Bahrain. Footage of police gathering and arresting people in Bilad Qadeem tonight:

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Syria Feature: The Next Challenge --- Running a Liberated Town (Abouzeid)

Demonstration in Saraqeb, 29 June 2012

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Saraqeb is still at the mercy of the tanks of President Bashar Assad, just as it has been for about a year. The military invaded during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in 2011. It re-entered on March 24 for a couple of days. It also shelled Saraqeb on July 19, in response to an attack by local elements of the rebel Free Syria Army on a checkpoint on the outskirts of the town. Some 25 people were killed in several hours of shelling on that night. It is Ramadan once again and the tanks every now and then lob a shell in the direction of town to remind Saraqeb that Assad’s forces are still around.

But a different flag flies in Saraqeb: the three starred one belonging to the rebels. And the local government works. The Baladiye, or local council, in this Sunni town of some 40,000 in northwestern Idlib province is still functioning. Its 90 or so civil servants still show up for work and still draw their salaries.

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Syria: A Note on the Local Coordination Committees

The Local Coordination Committees (LCC) is an activist network operating both inside and outside of Syria. They claim to use stringent verification processes to ensure that a member of the LCC can vouch for any information posted either on their Facebook page or their website. The LCC also cooperates with an independent organization to populate database of those killed in the Syrian conflict, which can be seen at the website for the Center for Documentation of Violations in Syria.

The LCC's casualty figures are often a mix of insurgents and civilians, and never include regime casualties. Syrian State Media has stopped reporting regime casualty figures.

Also see our description of the Local Coordination Committees and how we utilize their reports in the Columbia Journalism Review.

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 140 Die as US and Russia Talk of "Plan B"

Claimed eyewitness testimony to Wednesday's mass killings in al-Qubair in Syria's Hama Province

See also Syria Transcript: Kofi Annan's Speech to the UN General Assembly
Palestine Feature: The "Lost" Refugees on the Iraq-Syria Border
Yemen Feature: Who are the Competing Factions?
Turkey Live Coverage (7 June): Politics and Pressure over the Kurdistan Talks
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Spread of the Conflict

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2030 GMT: Syria. Back from an extended academic break to find that UN monitors returned to their base in Hama after being unable to visit the site of Wednesday's mass killing in the village of al-Qubeir.

Meanwhile, State news agency SANA has posted the regime's presentation of the slayings:

Several people from Mazraat al-Qubeir and Marzaf villages in Hama countryside narrated the horror and crimes which were committed by the armed terrorist groups against them, revealing the reality of the horrific crime which took place in their village last night as 9 citizens were killed with cold blood.

In phone calls with the Syrian TV, Abu Hawash, a citizen from Mazraat al-Qubeir village, said that armed terrorists who had RPG launchers and PKC machineguns stormed the area and attacked children and women, calling on the Syrian army and law-enforcement forces to protect them from the terrorists.

Another citizen denounced the bloody satellite channels which are counterfeiting the truth to serve their interests.

For his part, Abu Mohammad said an armed terrorist group infiltrated to Mazraat al-Qubeir and killed 9 citizens, adding that after the crime took place, the residents called the authorities to protect them.

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Syria Snap Analysis: Lessons from the Resignation of the Syrian National Council's Burhan Ghalioun

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assad Says, "No Chaos, Please"

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The crisis marches on, regardless of how well, or poorly, things go in the expatriate community. Politically, the status quo is unlikely to change in the near-future. Do the Syrians, or the international actors, really want to latch their entire plan to end the crisis on a strong, officially-recognised leadership? If so, how will that plan adapt if the Syrian crisis deepens, or even closes in on a conclusion, before the legitimacy of that leadership is established inside the country?

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assad Says, "No Chaos, Please"

1910 GMT: Syria. Away from Aleppo, the news was as ugly as ever in some places. Activists report that several shells fell on Douma, an important suburb of Damascus. According to the LCCS, at least one man was killed by sniper fire, and at least 5 people were killed when shells fell on several homes. A graphic and disturbing video claims to show an entire family dead or dying, being evacuated on a truck after a shell reportedly fell on their home.

1905 GMT: Syria. An amazing picture, from a day to remember, at Aleppo University:

Aleppo University today #Syria twitter.com/KareemLailah/s…

— Ḱ@яℯℯм ℒαḯł@н (@KareemLailah) May 17, 2012

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 45 Dead amid Regime Attacks on Homs and Idlib

The Syrian regime's attack on Saraqeb in Idlib Province on Saturday

See also Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Surge of Protest

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2015 GMT: Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has defended its handling of Egypt's political transition against criticsm from a Parliament led by Islamist parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party has the biggest bloc in Parliament, described Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri's cabinet as a failure and criticized the army for continuing to support it, in a statement on Saturday.

"We understand that the government's performance may not satisfy public aspirations at this critical stage," SCAF said in a statement read on state television. "But we emphasize that the nation's interest is our first concern and we will not spare any effort and will take any measures or decisions needed for the sake of the nation and its citizens."

SCAF and the Ganzouri Government has been criticised for failing to halt the slide in the shattered economy and for heavy-handed tactics in dealing with protests against its rule.

The Brotherhood said the Cabinet of Ganzouri, who also served as Prime Minister in the Mubarak regime in the 1990s, had been worse than its predecessors.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Massacre in Homs?

2018 GMT: Another video reportedly taken this evening in al Rastan, Homs. A massive explosion can be heard about 40 seconds in:

1945 GMT: EA's Ali Yenidunya writes on our Turkey liveblog:

UN peace envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Ankara. Annan met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and is scheduled to meet with Syrian opposition members on Tuesday. Annan said:

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Syria Feature: Obama Administration Quietly Backs Arms to Insurgents?

We have assessed, based on weeks of reports, that foreign governments and groups have been sending supplies --- including communications equipment, night-vision goggles, and bullet-proof vests --- to Syrian insurgents. We also suspect, though we cannot establish, that foreign actors are ensuring small arms get to the Free Syrian Army.

Now Josh Rogin, writing for The Cable blog of Foreign Policy magazine, gives an indication that the Obama Administration has been or is on he verge of supporting these efforts:

The Obama administration is moving to provide direct assistance to the internal opposition in Syria for the first time, marking a shift in U.S. policy toward a more aggressive plan to help oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Last week, a group of senior Obama administration officials met to finalize a package of options for aiding both the internal and external Syrian opposition, to include providing direct humanitarian and communications assistance to the Syrian opposition,

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 144 Dead on Monday

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Claimed footage of the insurgent Free Syrian Army protecting the Khalidiya neighbourhood in Homs

See also Saudi Arabia Feature: A Growing Rebellion?
Yemen Feature: The Houthi Movement and the Revolution
Syria Audio: Scott Lucas with the BBC on Political and Military Situation
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Referendum Amidst the Deaths

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2118 GMT: An activist in Syria reports, "5 p.m. until now: electricity has been cut off in a great deal of Homs, especially Western regions. Meanwhile, intense shelling continues."

2118 GMT:The Egyptians judges presiding over the trial of 43 people, including 16 American citizens, whose NGOs are charged with manipulating the political and electoral process have refused to hear the case. The trial started on Sunday, but now that the judges has recused themselves, the appeals court will likely pick new judges, potentially delaying the trial further.

This may give room for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to negotiate the release of the Americans.

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