Syria Live: Islamist Insurgents "Merging" with Al Qa'eda in Iraq?

2029 GMT: Syrian Jet Bombs Lebanon. Once again, a Syrian jet has dropped bombs in northeastern Lebanon, according to the AFP:

"A Syrian jet dropped five shells on the outskirts of Sarjal Ajram. No one was hurt," the official said.

Sarjal Ajram lies northeast of Arsal, which is home to a majority Sunni population, and whose residents support the uprising in neighbouring Syria against President Bashar al-Assad.

2019 GMT: Rebel Attack on Hama Airport. Earlier we reported that rebels were attacking Hama airport with homemade rocket launchers (see update 1733). According to Now Lebanon, which cites activists, the regime has evacuated its helicopters from the airport in response:

The activist Syrian Media Center said that regime forces moved helicopters from the under-fire airport to a base in Dair Shamil, a small Alawite-populated village west of Hama.

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Syria Video Feature: The Bombing of al-Bara (Lambert)

Filmmaker Olly Lambert, in a documentary for the Frontline series of the US Public Broadcasting Service, offers a compelling portrait of the aftermath of an October 2012 airstrike:

Syria Live: A Car Bomb in Damascus

State TV footage of the aftermath of Monday's car bomb in central Damascus

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Monday's Syria Live: The Back-and-Forth Battle in Aleppo

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2142 GMT: Cyber-Attacks. The website of State news agency SANA has apparently been hacked tonight, with the entire service replaced by a generic "Site Under Construction" page.

1616 GMT: Massacre in Homs. In the last week of March we posted evidence of a massacre in Abil, outside of Homs (map). Between 13 and 18 burnt bodies were found in the town, and eyewitnesses said that "shabiha," pro-regime militia, were the culprits.

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Syria Live: The Back-and-Forth Battle in Aleppo

2150 GMT: Video of Al-Bouti's Assassination. Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti, often considered Syria's top Sunni cleric, was a staunch supporter of the regime and was killed on the 21st of March by a bomb in a mosque in Damascus. Now, a video, we believe originally posted to a Facebook page, reportedly shows his assassination. The video may be disturbing to some viewers.

Here's what we know. That is Mohamed al-Bouti, and that looks like the Eman Mosque. From this video, this event shows none of the marks of a car bomb, which matches our initial suggestion that the bomb looked like it went off inside the mosque. More interestingly, this may put to rest the question of whether Bouti was assassinated or whether he was collateral damage - he appears to be the target of this attack.

There are many questions about this bizarre video, however. For starters, we appear to be watching video of another screen, perhaps a cell phone or camera, that is playing the video. In other words, we're watching a video of a video. The camera inside the mosque may be hidden. When the explosion goes off, a hole can be seen, perhaps the hole through which the camera is taking the video. In fact, the camera appears to be pushed back and knocked slightly off angle by the explosion. But who filmed this and why was it kept secret? Where is this camera and why does the "hole" visible in the middle of the vido then disappear. We have theories, but we're still analyzing the video.

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Syria Live: Deadly Airstrike in Aleppo

Image from a video of the aftermath of Saturday's regime airstrike on the Sheikh Maqsoud area of Aleppo

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Saturday's Syria Live: A Funding Crisis for the Refugees

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2025 GMT: Aleppo. Journalist Jenan Moussa posts a series of telling observations about the Islamist insurgency Jabhat al-Nusra:

Services much better in #Aleppo city now. People thank Jabhat Al Nusra for that. The group is cleaning streets/ collecting garbage. @akhbar

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) April 7, 2013

Jabhat Al Nusra solved the bread crisis in #Aleppo as well. No lines anymore infront of bakeries. @akhbar

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) April 7, 2013

Jabhat Al Nusra solved transport problem in #Aleppo. They started bus service for 10 Liras per person. Ppl over 50 ride bus for free @akhbar

— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) April 7, 2013

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Syria Live: A Funding Crisis for the Refugees

See also Syria Feature: US Considering Military Steps for No-Fly Zone
Syria Video: President Assad's Interview with Turkey's Ulusal TV
Friday's Syria Live: The Regime's Warning Over the Foreign Base in Jordan

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2015 GMT: Casualties. Local activists claim a regime airstrike on a mainly Kurdish area in Aleppo has killed 15 people, with the toll likely to rise because of a large number of serious injuries.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine children and three women were among those killed in the Sheikh Maksoud neighbourhood.

The Observatory asserted that, after the airstrike, Kurdish fighters killed five regime soldiers in an attack on an army checkpoint on the outskirts of Sheikh Maksoud.

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Syria Feature: US Considering Military Steps for No-Fly Zone (Entous/Barnes)

Patriot Anti-Missile SystemThe White House, under pressure from key allies and U.S. lawmakers, is reviewing a new set of potential military options for assisting rebels in Syria, according to U.S. officials.

Among the ideas were proposals to bomb Syrian aircraft on the ground and to use Patriot antimissile batteries in Turkey to defend swaths of northern Syria from the regime's Scud missiles, they said.

Defense officials said those two options faced potentially insurmountable technological and legal hurdles, however — underscoring the difficulty of finding a plausible way to address increasing international pressure to weigh in more forcefully on the side of the Syrian rebels. Other options were also presented to the White House but officials declined to discuss them.

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Syria Video: President Assad's Interview with Turkey's Ulusal TV

A 40-minute interview with President Assad on Turkish TV channel Ulusal, conducted on Tuesday and broadcast on Friday night:

Syria Live: The Regime's Warning Over the Foreign Base in Jordan

2040 GMT: Grad Rockets In Ma'arrat al Nouman. We've been talking a lot about Ma'arrat al Nouman in recent days. On the front lines of Idlib province, the rwebel stronghold is flanked by two important bases, both of which have proven impossible for the rebels to breach despite months of bombardment. The bases are equipped with heavy bunkers, dug in artillery, and are being provided air support by Syrian jets.

Interestingly, however, we've seen a lot of new rebel equipment show up near Ma'arrat al Nouman, including several Do-It-Yourself launchers for 122mm rockets, better known as Grad rockets. Even more interestingly, some of these weapons and rockets appear as if they have been shipped to the area, perhaps from other Assad bases where they have been captured. This suggests that the rebel command organization may be making the capturing of Wadi al Daif and the Hamidiyeh bases a priority:

2017 GMT: Wounded Rebel Commander Recovering. Riad al Assad, a rebel commander who was injured in Deir Ez Zor, is recovering in a Turkish hospital, according to a prominent activist:

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Israel, Turkey (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A New Israeli-Turkish Relationship?

Recep Tayyip Erdogan & Benjamin Netanyahu1425 GMT: Palestine. Thousands of mourners have turned out for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in Tulkarm.

On Tuesday, Maysara Abu Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail, died from cancer.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of delaying treatment for Hamdeya and gave him full military honours at the funeral in Hebron, where masked gunmen fired into the air as his body arrived at a mosque.

Amer Nassar, 17, and Naji Belbisi, 18, were killed in the wave of disturbances that followed the announcement of Hamdeya's death.

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