Syria Snapshot: Douma Under Siege (The New Yorker)

Protest Last Week in DoumaOften called a suburb of Damascus, Douma is a mostly lower-middle-class town of about 112,000 people struggling with unemployment. There are some doctors, lawyers, and professionals, and students who commute to Damascus University, but most residents are workers and lower-ranking government employees. Those who don’t use the Internet have at least some friends or relations who do, and certainly have access to mobile phones. The younger generation is, of course, more technologically savvy; many know how to keep in touch with people in and outside Syria, and therefore have taken the lead in the protests. Demonstrations began early on in Douma, both in solidarity with the people of Daraa, and because its residents had similar grievances against the Syrian government’s political corruption and oppressive security state.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Persistence

Benghazi Residents Celebrate Claimed Death of Qaddafi Son (Photo: Reuters)Because of the developing news of the NATO airstrike that reportedly killed Seif al-Arab Qaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, and three of Muammar Qaddafi's grandson, we have moved the LiveBlog to an entry at the top of the page.

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Demonstrations and Deaths

2030 GMT: Thanks to Ali Yenidunya for handling the LiveBlog while I was away on academic business.

Reuters reports that a large candlelit protest is taking place in the Syrian town of Baniyas this evening.

1610 GMT: After UNHRC had called for an urgent investigation by the UN high commissioner for human rights into killings and other human rights violations in Syria, Human Rights Watch said today that Syria should end its violent repression of peaceful protests following unequivocal condemnation of its actions by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

1600 GMT: An update regarding the latest situation in Syria.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond): Shutting Down Protest?

Syrian Protest, 22 April 20111835 GMT: The Government of Bahrain has blocked one of its own websites, the homepage of the Jaffaria Waqf (Endowments) Directorate.

The Directorate was established in 1927 as an independent organization and reports to the Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs. The activities of the Directorate focus mainly on the supervision of 724 mosques and 632 Matams (congregation halls).

An activist speculates the site may have been blocked because it referred to the recent destruction of dozens of mosques by authorities, who claim they were unlicenced.

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US Analysis: What General Petraeus' Move to CIA Means for Pro-Democracy Movements

Expect Petraeus to use his new position to build bridges with pro-democracy movements, and expect the US to back more opposition movements soon. Because if there is one thing that the Arab Spring has taught us, it's that the only certainty right now is that the people have all the power. Petraeus understands this, he's built his career on the concept, and I predict that this is exactly what Obama is counting on him to do as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Occupation

2110 GMT: Witnesses and an activist report that two divisions of the Syrian army clashed with each other on Monday as the military occupied the southern town of Daraa.

Battalions of the 5th Division reportedly were trying to protect civilians and clashed with battalions of the 4th Division, commanded the President's brother, Maher al-Assad.

The battle reportedly lasted for several hours.

2100 GMT: Two photos from a protest today in Nawa, near the occupied town of Daraa in southern Syria. Posters include "80,000 people are under siege for five days, No water, no food, no electricity, no communications" and "No water, no medicine, no food":

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Syria Snapshot: Life Under Siege in Daraa (Al Jazeera English)

As darkness fell across it, Deraa was a city under siege.

Tanks and troops control all roads in and out. Inside the city, shops are shuttered and nobody dare walk the once bustling market streets, today transformed into the kill zone of rooftop snipers.

Trapped and terrified inside their homes, families are running low on food and drinking water, with many water tanks shot and emptied. Electricity has been cut, as have all mobile and fixed phone lines. The internet, so vital in broadcasting images of the regime's armed crackdown on peaceful protestors, is down.

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Syria Snapshot: US Official "Our Problem --- Assad Wasn't Brutal Enough"

On Tuesday, The Cable blog of Foreign Policy magazine posted an entry, "Inside the Obama Team's 'Shift' on Syria". In fact, there was little of substance on current US policy --- far more interesting was this revelation, tucked away halfway down the article:

"A lot of people were wrong. The general assessment [inside the administration] was that this wouldn't happen, that Assad was too good at nipping these movements in the bud and also that he was not afraid to be brutal," one administration official said. "All of these things combined made this more of a surprise and made it much harder to deal with."

For the first three weeks of the protests, the analysts told the policy makers that it was unclear whether the opposition had wide support throughout the country and whether the protest movement would be able to sustain itself and grow.

"Then, gradually, every day we saw the protests get larger, and we realized this is going to get worse and that [Assad] wasn't going to listen to anyone else," the official said, explaining the administration's recent stream of increasingly harsh condemnations of the Syrian government's actions. "It was a reaction to the events on the ground."

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Slowing of News

2120 GMT: After restrictions and attacks on its staff, Al Jazeera has suspended its operations inside Syria indefinitely.

Syrian authorities have expelled Cal Perry, a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in Damascus, and prevented reporters from entering the town of Daraa in the south. Authorities also told staff "not to communicate with Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, and not to appear on air to present the news from the bureau, even if by telephone", producer Hassan Elmogummer Taha told the Committee to Protect Journalists in an e-mail.

For the past three days, unknown assailants have pelted Al-Jazeera's Damascus bureau with eggs and stones. Men in plainclothes have harassed and intimidated employees since then, Taha told CPJ.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Army Moves In

1859 GMT: At least three people have died and fourteen have been wounded in shelling by pro-Gaddafi forces of the port of Misurata today. Large fires raged, and the shelling has also interrupted humanitarian aid efforts. A UN ship was supposed to dock there, unload food and medical supplies, and evacuate the most vulnerable refugees, but the ship has been unable to dock because of what many reporters are describing as "indiscriminate fire." 

1842 GMT: In Bahrain, Al Jazeera is reporting that more medical facilities, and perhaps several schools, have been raided by government security forces. More details when we have them...

1835 GMT: Protesters gathered in Banias, Syria today, and chanted anti-regime slogans. Sheikh Anas Airout, a local preacher, told the crowd, "Our demands are peaceful. If they kill us, our souls will rise from our graves and demand freedom." 

This video was reportedly taken there today.

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