Tanks surround Jisr al-Shughour in northwest Syria
2015 GMT: A protest in Idlib Province in northwest Syria condemns military occupations:
1925 GMT: Back from a break to find that Spain has expelled the Libyan Ambassador, Ajeli Abdussalam Ali Breni, "because the Qaddafi regime has lost all legitimacy due to its continual repression of the Libyan population."
2046 GMT: An activist posts this photo online, claiming to show a pharmacist, who fled from Jisr al-Shughour and set up this "clinic."
2024 GMT: In Yemen, hudreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets in every major city, calling for the arrest of the family and close advisors of President Saleh (see videos below). There were protests reported in Hadramawt, Hodeida, Ibb, Damar and Saada, as well as Taiz (the second largest city in Yemen) and the nation's capital, Sana'a.
Tens of thousands of protesters also gathered outside of Vice President Hadi's residence, vowing to stay until he establishes a transitional council.
President Saleh's health is still debatable, but according to one official, he is having an undisclosed problem with his throat.
1942 GMT: Al Jazeera documents regime thugs beating peaceful protesters in Damascus, and the cries of women and children in Jisr al-Shughour.
1937 GMT: Liberia is now the latest country to withdraw diplomatic recognition of the Gaddafi regime:
"The Government took the decision after a careful review of the situation in Libya and determined that the Government of Colonel Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to govern Libya."
1929 GMT: As Syrian tanks approach the eastern town of Deir Ezzor, the Arab League has released a statement condemning the violence in Syria. The Assad regime, however, dismisses the condemnation as politically motivated. The Syrian envoy even suggested that outgoing Arab LEague Secretary General, Amr Moussa, was advocating military intervention in Syria:
"Days before leaving his post, Moussa calls for a kind of foreign intervention in the Syrian affairs, when the Libyan blood, shed by Nato air strikes as a result for a [UN] security council resolution, based, regrettably on an Arab demand in which Moussa's efforts immensely contributed, isn't dry yet," he said.
1940 GMT: A witness has said six rockets hit an oil refinery near the port of the opposiiton-controlled Libyan city of Misurata.
The rockets appeared to have hit the refinery's power generators and did not strike storage facilities.
1935 GMT: Back after an extended academic break to note that 11 male doctors went on trial today in Bahrain, accused of taking control of a hospital during anti-regime protests, storing weapons, and detaining people.
One of the doctors tried to tell the judge that his confession had been extracted under torture, but the judge told him to stop and that he would be able to give evidence later in the trial.
Defense lawyers asked for civilian doctors to examine their clients, who have only been seen by military medical staff. The judge agreed and adjourned the until next week; he denied a request from some defense lawyers that the doctors be released while the trial is ongoing.
The 11 doctors are among 47 medical staff facing trials.
1745 GMT: Regime forces and insurgents have been fighting in Zawiyah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Tripoli, shutting the coastal highway to Tunisia.
Activists on social media are claiming at least 30 people have been killed.
"The situation is very bad in Zawiyah. There's been fierce fighting since the morning between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels," said a resident.
The opposition held Zawiyah for a few weeks this spring before the town fell to the regime.
The provincial capital Zinjibar was occupied by insurgents last month.
1730 GMT: Residents and refugees from the besieged Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour report ongoing fighting. One said, “Helicopters and tanks are bombing Jisr from all the sides and the situation is extremely miserable --- they are even targeting cars carrying civilians and the wounded.”
Claimed footage of attack helicopters above the town:
Activists have created this map of protests today during "Syria's Day of Clans"
2055 GMT: A doctor has told Reuters that the death toll from the regime bombardment of opposition-held Misurata, Libya's third-largest city, has risen to 31. More than 110 people are wounded.
1739 GMT: Earlier, we reported that helicopters were being used to shoot civilians in the streets of Ma'ara Al Nu'man. Another source now says that security forces are going door to door, searching for defected sodliers.
2003 GMT: Something is happening in the Yemeni capital Sana'a.
Yemen State TV has announced that President Saleh's operation was successful. Ain News is reporting that a crowd of President Saleh's supporters have started shooting into the air. Panicked opposition members are reporting that they are fleeing into their homes to escape any potential violence.
Rumors appear to be spreading that Saleh has returned to Yemen, but these are almost certainly false, sparked by the celebration.
By blocking internet access for the entire country last Friday, the Syrian regime demonstrated yet again just how out of touch it is with its own people and with the times in general. But the regime is not alone in failing to move with the times. The so-called Syrian opposition in exile – most prominent of which is the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood --- also seems blissfully unaware that things have changed.
At the recent Antalya conference in Turkey, an attempt was made by the various exiled opposition groups to hammer out a unified front and a vision for a post-Assad democratic Syria. Most worryingly, the Brotherhood remained quite staunch in its opposition to a secular future government, and only gave its consent much later in the conference.
2030 GMT: Video of the march to the Acting President's house in the Yemeni capital Sana'a today:
2025 GMT: The Syrian Ambassador to France, Lamia Chakkour, has denied in a phone call to Al Jazeera Arabic that she has resigned.
Earlier today (see 1814 GMT), a person claiming to be Chakkour told France 24 that she had quit Syria's diplomatic service. However, the Ambassador is now saying that she will sue France 24 for the erroneous report.
Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 20:42 | 
