Syria Video Special: Prayer & Protest on the Feast of Martyrs

Heavy security presence at a checkpoint today in Idlib:

In Hama, soldiers can be seen outside a shop. The camera man describes them as looting, though if that is so it happens out of the frame. Gunfire can be heard in the distance.

The dramatic part comes at the end of the video. Right before the video ends, a soldier levels his AK-47 to shoot at the camera man:

A large security presence deploys in Khalidiya, Homs:

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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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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Closing In on Qaddafi's Hometown

2018 GMT: Al Arabiya, Sky News, and our earlier report seem to be all leaning on a single source that Khamis Qaddafi has been killed. Andy Carvin asks, and we echo, where is the body? Why the rush to bury him? Are there pictures? Video? DNA samples?

The outside world has been burned by these sorts of reports before. During the fall of Tripoli, there were multiple reports, from sources inside the NTC, that many of Qaddafi's sons were detained. Those reports turned out to be false, and the only reliable report, that Mohammed Qaddafi was captured, was undone by his escape.

So far, we remain skeptical.

1911 GMT: Al Jazeera provides us this update, details on the claimed killing of Qaddafi's son and military commander, Khamis Qaddafi:

Khamis Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi's son, was killed in a battle between Tarhoni and Bin Walid on Sunday, according to a rebel commander in Tripoli who spoke to Al Arabiya.

Senior rebel officer, Colonel Al-Mahdi Al-Haragi, in charge of the Tripoli Brigade of the rebel army, told the Reuters news agency he had confirmation that Khamis was badly wounded in the clash near Ben Walid and Tarhoni.

He was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds and was buried in the area, Al-Haragi told Reuters, without giving the timing.

No independent confirmation of the death was available.

1900 GMT: A very safe, very dry James Miller finally has internet access, and so is able to update the readers on two major developments in Libya...

The first development is that Algerian Foreign Minister is claiming that Muammar Qaddafi's wife, daughter, two of his sons, and their children have crossed over the border into Algeria:

The Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, had reported from Tripoli over the weekend that six armored Mercedes sedans, possibly carrying Gadhafi's sons or other top regime figures, had crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria. Algeria's Foreign Ministry had denied that report.

Ahmed Jibril, an aide to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said if the report of Ghadafi relatives in Algeria is true, "we will demand that Algerian authorities hand them over to Libya to be tried before Libyan courts."

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Restoring Order to Tripoli

Children in Zabadani, west of Damascus, call for the execution of Syrian President Assad

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1200 GMT: Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman for Muammar Qaddafi, has said that the former Libyan leader is ready to negotiate with the insurgents to form a transitional government, as opposition fighters continue their push toward Sirte, Qaddafi's hometown, east of Tripoli.

Ibrahim called the headquarters of the Associated Press in New York late on Saturday. He said he was calling from Tripoli and Qaddafi was still in Libya. Ibrahim claimed Qaddafi had appointed one of his sons, Saadi, to head the negotiations.

A top official in the National Transition Council, Ali Tarhouni, said the new government will not negotiate with Qaddafi unless he surrenders.

The opposition claimed claimed victory in Bin Jawad, east of Sirte, late on Saturday. The success opens the way for an advance of Qaddafi's remaining stronghold from multiple directions.

1105 GMT: An overnight demonstration in Tafas in southern Syria:

1100 GMT: A clip of Syrian troops keeping watch in the centre of the al-Bayada section of Homs:

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Rotting Bodies, Beaten Protesters

Ali Ferzat, a Syrian cartoonist who was beaten by masked gunmen earlier this week. 

See Also, Statement on Syria by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Social Media Revolution (Qualman)

Friday's Liveblog: Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The State of the Uprisings

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1700 GMT: Disturbing video footage. A doctor is reportedly taking a bullet off a man's arm who was wounded during the clash in the Rifai mosque.

1655 GMT: Gaddafi's recruited African mercenaries have started leaving Libya.

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Statement on Syria by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

A new UN fact-finding delegation is on the ground in Syria, accepting an invitation by the Assad regime to see for themselves what life is like. So far, the UN is not impressed. Some have debated whether the presence of the UN is causing Assad to step up attacks on civilians in order to discourage them from speaking to the UN mission.

Meanwhile, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made a statement to the Human Rights Council during the 17th Special Session on the “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic” on August 22nd. Here is the full statement:

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The State of the Uprisings

2118 GMT: The LCCS is reporting that live ammunition and tear gas has been fired at protests in Douma, Damascus, in front of the Al Watani hospital. Also, a reliable activist in Syria who uses the pseudonym "Alexander Page" has an unconfirmed report that security forces are using ambulances to drive into protests in Qatana, Damascus, and they are shooting at the protesters from the back of the vehicles. Many activists are reporting that protesters are being arrested and harassed in and around Damascus tonight.

2110 GMT: Protests after Taraweeh prayers tonight, Zabadani, Damascus, Syria:

2103 GMT: Activists are reporting the presence of 30,000 protesters on the streets of Homs. We can't verify that number, but what we do know is that the amount of video coming from the city, like this one, from different sources and from different areas, suggests that in Homs, and around Damascus, the crowds tonight are very large:

2050 GMT: A very large anti-government demonstration in an important suburb of Damascus, Harasta, earlier today:

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The Latest from Iran (25 August): Does Tehran Face an Oil Crisis?

2010 GMT: Currency Watch. The Iranian toman has now dropped on the free market to 1200 v. the US dollar, a significant gap from the Central Bank rate of 1068:1.

The toman is nearest the low point it reached last autumn, when Iranian authorities intervened with the release of US dollars from foreign reserves.

2000 GMT: Unity Watch. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, head of the Expediency Council and one of the driving forces for conservative/principlist unity, has said, "We accept no conditions of the [Islamic] Constancy Front", which has reportedly said it will not join talks if representatives of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf are involved.

Meanwhile, it is reported that representatives of a leading MP, Rouhollah Hosseinian, did not attend the meeting of the 7+8 unity meeting.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: More of the "New Normal"

Protest last night in the Qosour section of Homs in Syria

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1810 GMT: Earlier today we reported on the beating and abduction of Syria's leading political cartoonist Ali Farzat (see 1301 GMT) by pro-regime gunmen. A website features his work and latest news about him.

1805 GMT: Claimed video of Yemeni regime reinforcements heading towards the capital Sana'a from Hodeidah, but being blocked by opposition tribesmen:

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