Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will the US Aid the Opposition?

2002 GMT: A late-afternoon surprise from the State Department. While we could have guessed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be traveling to Turkey for the "Friends of Syria" meeting, we were not aware that she would be traveling to Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria first:

ecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from March 30-31, 2012. While in Riyadh, she will meet King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. She will also attend the First Ministerial Meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council-U.S. Strategic Cooperation Forum. In her conversations, she will discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues, including ongoing security cooperation in the region, as well as the international community’s continuing efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

Secretary Clinton will then travel to Istanbul, Turkey from March 31-April 1 to attend the second meeting of the “Friends of the Syrian People.” This meeting will build upon steps that our friends, allies, and the Syrian opposition continue to take in an attempt to halt the slaughter of the Syrian people and pursue a transition to democracy in Syria. While in Istanbul, Secretary Clinton will also conduct bilateral meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu and other foreign leaders.

What does this mean? We could read a lot into a short statement, but it certainly means that Clinton is seeking regional unity on Syria. Remember that Saudi Arabia walked out of the last "Friends of Syria" meeting because of a lack of perceived progress in ending the crisis. Whatever the FoS decides, they will look weak and illegitimate without the backing of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and the other major regional players.

1957 GMT: The Syrian government has banned all male citizens under the age of 42 from traveling internationally:

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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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Tunisia Feature: Islamists, Faith, and Democracy (Shadid)

An Ennadha Party Supporterjani, a senior member of the Ennahda Party:

The epiphany of Said Ferjani came after his poor childhood in a pious town in Tunisia, after a religious renaissance a generation ago awakened his intellect, after he plotted a coup and a torturer broke his back, and after he fled to Britain to join other Islamists seeking asylum on a passport he had borrowed from a friend.

Twenty-two years later, when Mr. Ferjani returned home, he understood the task at hand: building a democracy, led by Islamists, that would be a model for the Arab world.

“This is our test,” he said.

If the revolts that swept the Middle East a year ago were the coming of age of youths determined to imagine another future for the Arab world, the aftermath that has brought elections in Egypt and Tunisia and the prospect of decisive Islamist influence in Morocco, Libya and, perhaps, Syria is the moment of another, older generation.

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Egypt Anniversary Opinion: J'Accuse the Military Rulers and Muslim Brotherhood (El Amrani)

Tahrir Square, Cairo, 11 Feb 2011Fact: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in its stewardship of Egypt's post-Mubarak transition, has not restored security, stability, economic growth.

Fact: The SCAF's transition plan has been so badly thought out that they have made a successful democratic transition extremely difficult, and the timeline for this transition appears still undecided.

Fact: While no political party has particularly shone during this transition, the Muslim Brothers in particular had a decisive influence in backing SCAF's transition plans from an early date.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die But Opposition Slowly Advances

The Free Syrian Army protects protesting civilians in the town of Madaya on Friday

See also Bahrain Feature: Obama Administration "Quietly Sells Arms to Regime"
Syria Video Analysis: "Beginning of End of Regime is At Hand"
Bahrain Feature: The Clouds of Tear Gas and Death Gather Once More
Friday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Blanket of Tear Gas, A Battle in Homs

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2220 GMT: A boy in Dael in southern Syria holds up a poster, "Come kill us and leave the people of Homs and Hama":

2155 GMT: John Horne writes:

Bahrain's Minister of Interior has called tonight for prison sentences of up to 15 years for anybody caught attacking a police officer.

The call by Lieutenant-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalif comes after a week of violence and bloodshed in Bahrain. On Tuesday, a fightback by some demonstrators, mostly youths, resulted in an officer being attacked and wounded. Images of the incident were broadcast across the world.

However, today's call by the Minister of Interior is likely to raise many eyebrows, given the documented attacks by police against both protesters and civilians this week. There have been at least four Bahrainis killed as a consequence of police action, with reports that one of the victims was abused in police custody. Thursday night also saw security forces covering towns and villages with tear gas, bringing concern both for mmediate conequences and also long-term health risks.

The Minister of Interior's call also follows the announcement that the police are to be given more equipment with which to defend themselves against attack. That equipment, which may be used in far more than a defensive manner, includes "gas and sound bombs as well as guns that fire rubber bullets".

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Egypt Feature: The Rise and Fall of the 6 April Youth Movement? (Fadel)

The April 6 youth movement has shrunk in stature against a backdrop of economic woes and instability, including months of clashes between security forces and demonstrators that have disrupted daily life. Although the group once had near-heroic status, its troubles have been compounded by the ruling military’s success in portraying the group as agents of a foreign-backed insurrection.

Together with other youth groups and activists, the group is trying to organize mass protests Jan. 25 to demand the immediate transfer of power from the military to the newly elected parliament, which is expected to be seated soon.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A University Under Curfew

A crowd in Tunisia marks the first anniversary of the downfall of the President "Ben Ali, assassin!"

See also Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: How Long Can This Go On?

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1550 GMT: A Friday night protest in Imbaba against Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces:

1540 GMT: Footage of arrival of Syrian military in Kafrsita in Hama Province today:

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Egypt Feature: Is the US Now Seeking Out the Muslim Brotherhood? (Kirkpatrick/Myers)

With the Muslim Brotherhood pulling within reach of an outright majority in Egypt's new Parliament, the Obama administration has begun to reverse decades of mistrust and hostility as it seeks to forge closer ties with an organization once viewed as irreconcilably opposed to United States interests.

The administration’s overtures — including high-level meetings in recent weeks — constitute a historic shift in a foreign policy held by successive American administrations that steadfastly supported the autocratic government of President Hosni Mubarak in part out of concern for the Brotherhood’s Islamist ideology and historic ties to militants.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Actress's Message

A message from actress and activist Fadwa Suleiman about justice, freedom, and identity in Syria

See also Syria Feature: The Sanctions Close In
Saturday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Prosecution Creep?

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2045 GMT: Two of the videos of demonstrations across Syria tonight, in Hama and in Tadmour in Homs Province:

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Egypt Analysis: So What Happens Now? (El Amrani)

Dawn Near Tahrir Square In Egypt you get the feeling that the upper class has completely ignored the social roots of the January uprising, and at the same time backed a return to similar kinds of politics of patronage, where parties and movements try to buy the poor with handouts and cheap meat at Eid. People don't want to be given charity, they want to be given social rights. This too is political — it's not about economic mismanagement. It's not about an uprising of the poor. It's about the political vision for a social economy.

Whether it's about police brutality, social change or politics, my feeling is that Egyptians want to feel like they've actually had a revolution. Whoever gives them that feeling might win the people in Tahrir over.

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