Latest Syria Video: The "Azadi" (Freedom) Protests --- Set 2

Kisweh in Damascus:

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Syria, Libya, Palestine (and Beyond) LiveBlog: While Obama Speaks....

2100 GMT: Claimed video of a demonstration in Homs tonight, "The people want to topple the regime":

2040 GMT: A day after balking at an agreement to transfer power, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said --- through a spokesman --- that he will sign the arrangement.

Spokesman Ahmed al-Sufi said Saleh will accept Sunday during the celebration of Yemen National Day at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa. Al-Sufi said Abdul-Latif al-Zayyani, the head of the Gulf Co-operation Council, would return to Yemen for the event.

The GCC, which brokered the agreement, said in a statement that its foreign ministers would meet in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday and al-Zayyani would attend.

The Yemeni opposition dismissed Saleh’s promise to sign.

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Middle East Video and Transcript: The Obama Speech

See also Middle East Special: Live Analysis of Obama Speech as It is Delivered

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Please, have a seat.  Thank you very much.  I want to begin by thanking Hillary Clinton, who has traveled so much these last six months that she is approaching a new landmark -- one million frequent flyer miles.  (Laughter.)  I count on Hillary every single day, and I believe that she will go down as one of the finest Secretaries of State in our nation’s history.

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Syria 1st-Hand: "Daraa Changed Everything" (Streets, Inc.)

Protest in Daraa, SyriaFadi went to visit his family over the weekend but did not show up to work on Monday as he typically does. He did not come back until Friday. He was stuck in Daraa as the army laid siege to it and had to sneak his way back via Damascus. Fadi was suddenly talking about toppling the regime. This simple man who had never bothered with politics before started talking about regime change.

Fadi returned to Daraa just in time for the burial of a relative of his. It was a mass burial of fifteen people who were gunned down the previous night by security forces and the army. The funeral quickly turned into a protest against the regime, the first protest Fadi had ever participated in. As the march proceeded over a narrow bridge, the security forces opened fire again, killing a further four. He escaped unscathed, but the event changed him. Later that day he joined a group that marched on a police barracks and torched it.

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Syria & Iran Video: Freed Journalist Parvaz "The Beatings in Syria Were Savage"

Al Jazeera English journalist Dorothy Parvaz describes her detentions and interrogations in Syria and Iran over the last three weeks. 

Parvaz offers contrasting stories of the two countries. She was treated "fairly and in accordance with the law in Iran" but her experience of the Syrian prison before that was one of hearing savage beatings "around the clock".

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Occupation and Defiance

View Syria - Tuesday 17/05/11 in a larger map

Map of protests on 17 May

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Today's videos have moved to a separate entry "Syria and Yemen Video Special: The Protests of Defiance

2045 GMT: Within this summary of the Obama Administration's diplomatic push ahead of the President's speech on Thursday is this nugget:

White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan has been busily firming up the administration's stance on Yemen, where protesters have been pressing the government to fulfill promises of a leadership change. Brennan called President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Wednesday to urge him to implement the Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered agreement, which would see Saleh step down from power.

"Brennan noted that this transfer of power represents the best path forward for Yemen to become a more secure, unified, and prosperous nation and for the Yemeni people to realize their aspirations for peace and political reform," the White House said in a statement about the call.

The US intervention did not work, at least in the short-term: Saleh pushed away the deal this evening.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Finding the Dead

Candle-lit demonstration in the Damascus suburb of Saqba last night

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2045 GMT: Activists says Lebanon has detained at least two Syrian soldiers who crossed the border to escape clashes between security forces and protesters.

The soldiers reportedly fled after opening fire on regime troops attacking civilians near a border checkpoint that they were manning. One soldier is said to have been killed.

2040 GMT: Libyan officials said they have been trying unsuccessfully to contact Minister of Oil, Shukri Ghanem, who has reportedly defected (see 1030 GMT), for the past 24 hours.

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Syria, Palestine, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Arab Spring Intersects with Nakba Day

2120 GMT: James Miller posted a video earlier depicting Baath Party members running out of a building as protesters attacked it. He has been contacted by the author of the video. The video was taken on Friday, May 13th, in Jisr Alshugour, in Idleb province, northern Syria. The building is the official headquarters of the Bath Party in the region (see video at 1730 GMT).

2000 GMT: Egypt's former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak has told prosecutors that she will turn over $3 million to the country, claiming this is all she has.

The wife of deposed President Hosni Mubarak was questioned last week over corruption charges before being hospitalised with a heart condition.

1945 GMT: Claimed footage of a Syrian armoured vehicle outside the Omari Mosque in the southern town of Daraa:

1930 GMT: Syrian soldiers repeatedly punch and kick two men:

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Israel-Palestine-Syria Video: Hundreds March into Golan Heights on Nakba Day

Israeli forces in the occupied Golan Heights try to prevent hundreds of marchers crossing the border fence from the Syrian-controllled side on Sunday.

Hundreds of residents watch and cheer the marchers, who were protesting on Nakba Day, marking the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians from their lands. Some chant “Filastin Arabiyeh wal Jawlan Suriyeh” (“Palestine is Arab and the Golan is Syrian”).

At the 9-minute mark, a large group of marchers who have just crossed the border fence can seen taking cover while gunfire is heard. The gunfire continues as Israeli soldiers approach the group. More marchers arrive, as the Israelis bring in reinforcements.

(hat tip to jawlany.com and Electronic Intifada)

A 2nd video of the crossing:

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Advancing?

1945 GMT: Claimed demonstration in Homs in Syria tonight:

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