Open Letter to the Arab Spring: 10 Ways to Avoid US Mistakes (Cole)

The blood of your martyrs for revolution is too recent and too precious, and too often belonged to young people who sacrificed a bright future, for you to squander this once-in-a-century opportunity to put liberty and democracy on a firm foundation in your countries. You are young, and you still weep at the thought of freedom, and of those who died for it. You are having your weddings at Tahrir Square to celebrate a new beginning. Be careful. Be very careful. In my lifetime I have seen the American state spiral down into a brutal tyranny that tortures, spies, union-busts, engages in illegal wars, and plays dirty tricks on dissidents. We used to have something much more like a democracy. Maybe we can learn from you how to safeguard something so precious.

Click to read more ...

Syria Snapshot: Inside and Outside Hama (Yassin-Kassab)

For days Syrian security forces stayed out of Hama; not even traffic police were seen in the city. During these days, no armed gangs emerged from the shadows to terrorise and loot. Christians and Alawis were not rounded up and shot. Nobody was whipped for wearing an un-Islamic haircut. All that happened was day and night demonstrations against the regime swelled into crowds of hundreds of thousands --- men and women, adults and children.

Perhaps the security forces stayed out of the city on the request of Hama’s governor, and perhaps that’s why he was sacked. Now security forces have entered the city and brought plenty of insecurity in their wake.

Click to read more ...

Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Insurgents Advance, Resistance Continues

2106 GMT: The people of Sana'a, Yemen, protesting tonight in anticipation of more protests tomorrow:

Tonight's protests in the Qaboun district of Damascus, Syria:

2100 GMT: The people of Tahrir Square, Egypt, get ready for tomorrow's protests.

2040 GMT: The US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has traveled to the city of Hama and plans on spending the next 24+ hours with the protesters there. The State Department Spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, elaborates:

Click to read more ...

Latest Syria Video: The Hama Resistance

Video which has come in overnight testifies to the loud, large resistance to the Assad regime's probing attempts --- through raids and arrests by security forces and troops --- to control Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city. In the first clip, protesters shout to President Assad, "O Bashar, you are not Syrian; Syrians don't kill other Syrians":

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Regime's Dilemma in Hama

Claimed footage of a protest last night in Hama, telling the President, "To Hell with You, Bashar"

2015 GMT: David Smith reports for The Guardian of London, "Tripoli: A Stronghold by Day, A Battleground at Night":

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there are now regular night-time clashes in the Libyan capital. .

The raids have turned parts of Tripoli, a city with no shortage of privately owned firearms, into a no-go area after dark. The man, who said he has stocked up on diesel in readiness for "zero hour", added: "Normally wedding parties go on until 2am, but now they finish at 8pm. No one goes out after sunset. They all stay at home."

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Regime v. People with Rocks

2040 GMT: Claimed footage of protesters throwing stones at security forces in Hama today:

1700 GMT: Activists of the Local Coordination Committees of Syria claim the death toll in Hama today is now at least 13, including a 15-year-old boy.

The activists also claim 67 people are in hospital with serious injuries, with another 200 treated and discharged.

Among those reported killed are Ahmad Bitar, Emad Mohammad Khallouf, Baha Halbosy Nahar, Hasan Saraqbi, Mohammad Swaid, Foad Al Mukhallalati, Maher Sharabi, Mohammad Qasem Owair, Mahmoud Mahalle, Omar AlDalati, a martyr from Yousfan family, Omar Bahah and Bilal Mohammad (15 years old).

Click to read more ...

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: "Scare Tactics"

2040 GMT: Protest tonight in Homs in Syria:

2035 GMT: Notes of defiance in a New York Times summary of the regime's military incursion into Hama today (see 1030 GMT)....

“People here are ready with rocks,” said Omar Habbal, an activist....

In past weeks, Hama, a city of 800,000 on the corridor between Damascus and Aleppo, has emerged as a symbolic center of the nearly four-month uprising against 41 years of rule by the Assad family. Protests have gathered momentum, with a remarkable demonstration of tens of thousands on Friday, and youths have turned out nightly to taunt the government in Aasi Square, which they have renamed Freedom Square.

Though some have ambitiously described the city as liberated, the city’s administration still functions, and the military remains in force on Hama’s outskirts.

Residents said about 20 military vehicles and several buses carrying armed men in plain clothes, arrived in the early morning. As they entered, some of the security forces chanted in support of President Bashar al-Assad; some residents in the streets responded with, “God is great,” a religious invocation meant as defiance.

“The whole city woke up to defend against the raid,” Mr. Habbal said.

Some activists said residents threw rocks, and others tried to build roadblocks and barricades with whatever was available — burning tires, stones and trash dumpsters.

The plainclothesmen carried out dozens of arrests, mainly on the outskirts. One activist said 43, another put the number at 65, though the estimates seemed more guesswork. Residents reported gunfire, but the forces soon retreated.

“The security forces entered, then they left quickly,” said a 24-year-old student who gave his name as Abdel-Rahman. Like many, he insisted on partial anonymity. “People are waiting. They can’t control Hama unless they wipe out the people here.”

Click to read more ...

Syria Snapshot: Trying to Get the Truth in Aleppo (Nisbet)

Organisers had hoped three groups of protesters would gather in the north, the west and the east of the town, but the turnout was low.

Was it just fear of reprisals, or do the anti-government campaigners lack the support in affluent Aleppo they attract elsewhere?

I put that to several professionals in a nearby cafe. They believed they represented the silent majority: holding a deep respect for President Assad, but aware he must reform government and tackle the corruption which is endemic in Syria.

Click to read more ...

Iran-Syria Poster: Two Movements, One Message "No to Violence, Yes to Freedom"

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Has the Assad Regime "Lost" Hama?

Security forces use tear gas against protesters trying to march from Sanabis to Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain

1950 GMT: Developments in Jordan, as King Abdullah II approved a Cabinet shuffle after thousands of protesters rallied in Irbid, Maan, Karak, Tafileh, and the capital Amman, demanding transparency and an end to corruption.

The Minister of Interior, Saad Hayel Srour, was the biggest casualty of the shuffle. He is blamed for the use of excessive force by police against demonstrators and for allowing a wealthy businessman, serving a prison term for corruption, to leave the country for supposed medical treatment.

The Ministers of Health, Justice, and Information were also replaced.

Click to read more ...