Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Regime's Deadly Gamble

Lattakia in Syria last night: "The people want to overthrow the regime"

See also Live Audio From Hama: Shelling Continues for Second Night

Syria Video Special: The Military Assault on Hama
Sunday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Battle for the Cities

2010 GMT: An update on casualties tonight, as the people of Syria are still in the streets. An activist is reporting that 11 people have been killed so far across Syria. With 5 killed earlier, this could put the number at 16 for the day.

In Lattakia, "Three were injured by security forces' fire near Al-Rahman mosque in Tabiyat, and two other injured near Abi-Dardaa mosque tonight," according to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria.

In the suburbs of Damascus, there are multiple reports and videos of protests, as well as of violence. Here is the latest from the LCCS:

Damascus suburbs: Irbeen: Tayseer Qalesh was killed and many were wounded after security forces and shabiha (regime's armed thugs) fired at the night demonstration today

Activists are reporting that there are over 30 injuries in Irbeen.

2203 GMT: Universitystduents protest tonight in Damascus:

2155 GMT: It is unclear, but we believe this video was taken in Homs, where protesters can be seen running from gunfire this evening.

2150 GMT: An important, though unconfirmed, report from Aleppo:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Battle for the Cities

Latest death toll in military operations in Syria today: 136

2020 GMT: Pro-reform demonstration today in Casablanca in Morocco:

2015 GMT: Silent, candle-lit vigil in Amuda in northeast Syria tonight for the victims of today's violence:

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Syria Video Special: The Military Assault on Hama

Hama covered in smoke at 6 p.m. local time

A tank in Hama

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Who Killed Abdel Fattah Younes?

1555 GMT: Insurgent claim they have surrounded Tiji, the last stronghold of regime forces in the western mountains of Libya.

An estimated 500 regime troops are stationed in Tiji. The blasts of gunfire and shelling by tanks could be heard from the nearby town of Hawamid, taken by the opposition on Thursday as it moved through the mountains, claiming several towns and villages.

1550 GMT: A Syrian army colonel has allegedly said that he has defected with "hundreds" of soldiers and has warned the regime against launching a crackdown on the eastern city of Deir Ez Zor. The man, identifying himself as Colonel Riad al-Asaad, said in a telephone call to AFP that he was speaking from inside Syria "near the Turkish border".

Al-Assad delcared, "I warn the Syrian authorities that I will send my troops to fight with the (regular) army if they do not stop the operations in Deir ez-Zor."

Earlier the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said soldiers shot dead three stone-throwers as a convoy of 60 military vehicles made its way towards Deir Ez Zor.

1350 GMT: A series of videos of the actions of security forces on Friday....

Near Daraa in the south, a man is apparently hit by gunfire from Syrian troops --- others in the group pull him away and put him on a motorcycle:

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Syria Analysis: An Opposition Without a Leadership...or a Strategy...or Organisation (Sly)

That ordinary Syrians have braved bullets and tanks to take to the streets for 18 consecutive weeks seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad is an indicator of their movement’s resilience. Courage is one quality the protesters do not lack.

Just about every other ingredient that usually goes into building a revolution — organization, strategy or leadership — is still missing, however.

The nationwide uprising that erupted spontaneously on the streets of Syrian cities remains a largely ad hoc affair, inspired by the revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, driven by anger and frustration with decades of dictatorship, but lacking a clear direction or structure beyond the unanimous demand that Assad should go.

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Latest Syria Videos: Friday's Protests Across the Country --- Set 2

Midan section of Damascus

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Latest Syria Videos: Friday's Protests Across the Country

Hama

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond): Can You "Disappear" All the Protesters?

2030 GMT: Big news from Libya tonight as the opposition National Transition Council has announced the death of its military commander, General Abdel Fattah Younes and two other officers.

The three men appear to have been slain by an assassination squad, possibly a "sleeper cell", in the opposition centre of Benghazi.

Earlier today the opposition had announced that Younes, the former Minister of Interior under Muammar Qaddafi, was going to be detained for questioning over his family's ties to the regime. Tonight the Council said Younes had been killed before he was interrogated.

The Council has announced three days of mourning for the slain commander.

1940 GMT: Back from a break to find claimed footage of a general strike today in Daraa in southern Syria:

And in Hama:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Zombie March

2010 GMT: A protest tonight in Harasta outside Damascus, with chants, "Syria is ours, not for Assad´s family" and "Leave, Bashar".

And in Tal Kalakh in southern Syria:

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Syria 1st-Hand: Debating the Future in Homs (Shadid)

Clock Square in Homs, 15 May 2011Syria is awash in such stories of solidarity these days, bridging traditional divides that have colored the country’s politics for generations. But far from disappearing, the old divisions of geography, class and, in particular, religious sect are deepening.

Syrians offer different explanations. Protesters blame the cynical manipulation of a government bent on divide and rule, and the government points to Islamist zealots seeking to impose a tyranny of the majority.

Which prevails — new loyalties born of revolution, or old rivalries entrenched in smaller identities — may decide the fate of Syria’s four-month revolt.

Colliding along the front lines of the uprising, and especially here in Homs, these forces suggest a grim reality of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad: the longer his government remains in power, the less chance Syria has to avoid civil strife, sectarian cleansing and the kind of communal violence that killed at least two dozen people in Homs last week. Unlike in Egypt, and despite the protesters’ hope and optimism, time is not necessarily on their side, a point that some of them admit.

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