Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Airstrikes in Sinai Kill 20

Al Jazeera English reports from a hospital in al-Atareb in Aleppo Province, Syria

See also Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Crumbling Regime?
Syria Analysis: The Local Coordination Committees Issue a "Code of Conduct" for Free Syrian Army
Iran Snap Analysis: Scrambling Over Syria

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2025 GMT: Syria. Is Iran also planning for a Syria without Assad? EA's Scott Lucas thinks so, and he's written an analysis that suggests that the Iranian government is strengthening ties with Lebanon, repairing ties with Turkey, and even building bridges with Saudi Arabia --- all to make sure that if the Assad regime falls, Tehran is buffered against the shock.

Then there is this piece of news in our Iran Live Coverage:

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has published a statement "announc[ing] Iran’s readiness to host a meeting of countries committed to immediately implementing these steps in hopes of ending the violence...[and] reiterat[ing] our willingness to facilitate talks between the Syrian government and the opposition and to host such a dialogue".

That is not new --- Salehi has said this on several occasions in recent weeks. What is new is the outlet: an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

And what is even more distinctive is Salehi's recognition --- the first I can recall from a high-ranking Iranian official --- of the legitimacy of protest against the Syrian regime:

"When the Islamic Awakening — also known as the Arab Spring — began in December 2010, we all saw people rising up to claim their rights. We have witnessed the emergence of civic movements demanding freedom, democracy, dignity and self-determination.

"We in Tehran have watched these developments with delight. After all, a civic movement demanding the same things that many Arabs want today is what led to the emergence of our Islamic Republic in 1979. During the past three decades, Iran has consistently underlined that it is the duty of all governments to respect their people’s demands. We have maintained this position as the Islamic Awakening has unfolded."

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Planning for Life After Assad

An 8-minute drive through "liberated" parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, on Friday --- "Quiet but devastated streets. Tons of garbage. And a long bread queue that I was told was actually short --- they get much longer than this later in the day"

See also Syria Feature: US Plans for a Post-Assad Country
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Has the Regime Lost Aleppo?

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2007 GMT: Egypt. Security officials have said at least 15 Egyptian policemen have been killed and seven wounded in an attack on a police station in north Sinai on the border with Israel.

Egyptian state television said an Islamist group was responsible but did not give details.

A border police patrol was reportedly breaking their fast when they were ambushed by armed men.

A senior security official said the attackers seized an armoured vehicle before driving away.

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Bahrain Opinion: US Needs More Than Words About the Regime

US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner after a visit to Bahrain, 14 June 2012

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The only leverage the White House has is a real threat to withdraw support --- the support of arms sales and other political and military links --- from their regime. Its alternative is no more than persisting in "suggestions"...and hoping Bahrain's police runs out of tear gas.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Heavy Fighting in Aleppo

2125 GMT: Syria. We're closing today's live coverage, but it has been an eventful day.

Most of the focus has been on Aleppo. Even though we've repeatedly talked about the strength of the Free Syrian Army, even we are surprised at how well they are fighting in Syria's largest city. The regime has no choice but to launch a full-out attack on the insurgents if they ever wish to free the city. As the BBC says it will soon air footage of jets bombing the city, that has already begun. Despite this, insurgents are closing in on the city, the Syrian military appears to be evacuating parts of Idlib in order to gain more forces for the fight for Aleppo, and the battle will likely rage for days.

In the end, the FSA was never capable of holding Damascus. It just may be capable of holding Aleppo. But this does not matter. The regime has ruined the economy of its two largest cities during this fighting, and the regime is bleeding territory to the FSA elsewhere.

We've lost track of the narrative in two other important areas. The violence in Daraa and Hama provinces is staggering. Despite the heaviest fighting in this civil war being elsewhere, the amount of civilians being killed by regime forces in Hama and Daraa is very high. These areas are constantly under attack, efforts to ensure that the FSA never gains a foothold in these areas. But the opposition still thrives in both cities, and in their suburbs, and in the countrysides. The strategy is not working, and one has to wonder what will happen the minute the thumb is let off of the necks of the two provinces that started this uprising nearly 17 months ago.

EA's intern, Josh Moss, and I have been compiling an interactive map of today's events. Most of the locations of the map link back to the individual updates, and vice versa. Click on the link below the map to see it in its own window:

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Bahrain Exclusive: An Interview with Maryam Alkhawaja

Nabeel Rajab gets arrested, imprisoned for periods [weeks] at a time, and yet nothing from the State Department; nothing from the US administration. The situation right now as it is is that Nabeel is in prison, possibly for a little more than two months; Zainab Alkhawaja, who is also one of the most active activists, is unable to walk without crutches for at least six weeks afer she was directly targeted and shot in the leg at close range, which not only shattered her thigh bone, but removed all skin and tore the muscle. Removing two of the most well-known activists from the streets at this time seems to be too convenient right before Ramadan to be a coincidence.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Annan Calls for "One Authority, One Gun"

1812 GMT: Egypt. In the latest chapter of the battle between Egypt's President Morsi and the former regime(see update 0535), Morsi has no said that he will respect the latest court rulings, despite disagreeing with them, over the parliament issue:

In a statement Wednesday, the president says he will seek dialogue with political forces and judicial authorities in an effort to ease tensions over the dispute.

CNN's Ivan Watson has this analysis - "Morsi blinks."

1722 GMT: Syria. Shells fall in a neighborhood of Deir Ez Zor:

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Bahrain Opinion: This is "Reform" --- The Imprisonment of Nabeel Rajab

Interview with Nabeel Rajab, moments before he was taken to prison on Monday

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand Special: The Coupled Suffering of Younis and Amina Ashoori

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Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been arrested once again. This time, he is going to serve a three-month prison sentence for his messages on Twitter,  found guilty of "insulting" the people of Muharraq village.

This is "reform".

This is a reform where a man is repeatedly detained and then convicted for 140 characters on social media but no one has been convicted of:

- The murder of dozens of protesters. 
- The torture in Bahrain's prisons. 
- The teargassing of residential areas where children have choked to death. 
- The trial and imprisonment of doctors for treating injured protesters. 
- The killing of Bahraini citizen journalists.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Assad-Annan Plan?

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand Special: The Coupled Suffering of Younis and Amina Ashoori
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Envoy Annan Returns to Damascus
Syria 1st-Hand: Not Quite Angels --- Making the Free Syrian Army Work as An Institution (Rafeeq)
Syria Audio Feature: "Assad's Latest Performance" --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Syria Video Feature: President Assad's Latest Interview "I Still Have Public Support"

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2044 GMT: Saudi Arabia. Earlier we posted video reportedly showing large protests in Qatif, a response to a series of clashes between police and activists, the death of a protester, and the imprisonment of a prominent cleric.

Those protests have grown considerably:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Insurgents Advance

Insurgents claim victory in Hayan in Aleppo Province (Warning: Graphic Images)

See also Sudan Opinion: Why the Khartoum Regime Will Fall
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assad Declares, "We Are In a Real State of War"

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2125 GMT: Syria. In an interview on Iranian state television, President Assad has drawn a line against an outside solution for the Syrian political crisis: "We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria's problems as well as we do."

Assad also offered no sign of relenting in the military campaign against opposition:

The responsibility of the Syrian government is to protect all of our residents. You have a responsibility to eliminate terrorists in any corner of the country. When you eliminate a terrorist, it's possible that you are saving the lives of tens, hundreds, or even thousands.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assad Declares, "We Are In a Real State of War"

View Syria - 2012 June 26 - EA Worldview in a larger map

An interactive map of Tuesday's developments in Syria

See also Syria Audio Feature: Scott Lucas with Monocle 24 "No Negotiation Possible --- This is War"
Bahrain Document: Court Testimony of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja "I Have Been Subjected to Torture"
Saudi Arabia Feature: Interview with the "Eastern Province Revolution"
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: NATO Meets Over Downing of Turkish Jet

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2220 GMT: Syria. Below we have posted an interactive map, compiled by myself and our intern, Josh Moss. Each flag on the map links to a specific live entry, an effort to impose order on a bloody and chaotic day in Syria. You can click on the link below the map to see it in a large window.

View Syria - 2012 June 27 - EA Worldview in a larger map

2210 GMT: Syria At least 104 people have been killed today, including at least 20 children, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria:

42 martyrs were reported in Idlib, 15 in the Damascus Suburbs, 14 in Deir Ezzor, 10 in Daraa, 10 in Homs, 8 in Qamishli, 3 in Hama, 1 in Hasakeh, and 1 in Aleppo.

The numbers are staggeringly high, as they have been all week, and most of last week. The number of dead children is just heartbreaking, however. Among the dead, 10 year old Badreddine Sadeq, killed today in Aleppo:

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