Iran Live Coverage: Tehran Mayor --- Why We Are Engineering the Presidential Election

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Monkey in Space, Journalists in Prison< /br>
Thursday's Iran Live Coverage: Imprisoned Journalists, Elections, & the BBC

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2015 GMT: Free Elections/Sedition Watch. Still 4 1/2 months until the Presidential election, but this was a Friday for many in the regime to throw rhetorical punches at "sedition" --- first, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami:

Be careful for slogans in the next elections. "Free elections" completes the enemy’s puzzle because all elections have been free and competitive. One should not undermine the achievements of the system by using slogans, so be awake and aware because future seditions will begin with such words.”

Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, the Cultural Deputy of the Revolutionary Guards on people's insight countering sedition: "This revolution took place among a people who are insightful and follow the velayat, and with self-awareness and through following the velayat they have familiarized the world with the revolution.”

Hossein Naghavi of Parliament's National Security Committee on the recent arrests of journalists:

American and British intelligence agencies are attempting to identify information sharing agents in the country and use it against the Iranian nation in a security puzzle through their dependent networks such as BBC and Voice of America, but proper vigilance and awareness and the praiseworthy Intelligence Ministry neutralized this conspiracy.

American and British intelligence agencies have been no match for the Unknown Soldiers of the Imam of the Age [Ministry of Intelligence agents].

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Syria Audio Feature: The Israeli Airstrikes...Now What? --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

Defense Research Facility Hit by Airstrike on WednesdayI joined BBC Radio Scotland this morning to assess the aftermath of Wednesday's Israeli air attacks on Syrian targets.

The take-away line: the primary effect of Israel's airstrikes will not be on the Syrian conflict --- that outcome still turns on the battle between the Assad regime and the insurgency --- and it will not be "retaliation" by Iran and Syria against Israeli territory.

Instead, the likely impact will be on the region beyond Syria. Watch in particular for an escalation of tension between Israel and Hezollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The discussion begins at the 2:18.12 mark.

Syria Live Coverage: Fighting in and Near Damascus

Britain Channel 4's Jonathan Miller on the flight of a group of Syrians to Jordan

See also Syria Audio Feature: The Israeli Airstrikes...Now What? --- Scott Lucas with the BBC
Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Declares Jewish Settlements in West Bank "Illegal"
Thursday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will There Be a "National Dialogue"?

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2215 GMT: Where is the Aid Money Going? Al Jazeera's James Bays reports:

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Iran Live Coverage: Imprisoned Journalists, Elections, & the BBC

Journalists Arrested Last Weekend2136 GMT: Currency Watch. Radio Farda supports the report in Kalemeh (see 1746 GMT) that the Iranian Rial has dropped sharply to break the 40000:1 level vs. the US dollar.

The site also says that the price of gold is rising, with a 15% premium on prepayment for gold coins to be delivered next month.

2036 GMT: Press Watch. The mother of journalist Saba Azarpeyk, speaks of her daughter's arrest:

Fifteen to twenty minutes after Saba left the house, someone knocked on the door, I asked who it was and I heard Saba saying, "Mum don't open the door, they do not have a warrant." After some very tense moments, she was taken down to the car.

Then my son arrived, and one of the officials that was standing behind the door slapped him on the face several times.

The mother then ran to Azarpeyk as she was being taken away and urged her to remain strong.

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Syria Live Coverage: Israeli Jets Strike Inside Syria --- But What Was the Target?

Mass funeral prayer for some of the 80 executed men pulled from the Quweig River near Aleppo on Tuesday

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2059 GMT: The Israeli Attack. The White House has given implicit support to the Israeli airstrikes by shifting responsibility to Damascus and invoking the chemical weapons threat.

"We've been very clear that Syria should not further destabilize the region by transferring, for instance, weaponry to Hezbollah," said Deputy US National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. "We also, of course, have been very clear beyond that that we're closely monitoring Syria's chemical weapons as well."

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Syria Live Coverage: Fighting Near Damascus and Its Airport

2200 GMT: Al Safira. Earlier we reported about heavy fighting on the outskirts of the Al Safira military base, a massive base east of Aleppo that houses a massive suspected chemical weapons stockpile (update 1526). The LCC reports that the people of the town have paid a heavy price:

The number of martyrs in the towns of Tal Aaran and Tal Hasel has risen to 20 martyrs and 40 wounded people during the air strikes by regime forces using cluster and vacuum bombs.

However, it's not just civilians who have paid a heavy price. According to various opposition sources, 7 armored vehicles and a jet fighter have been destroyed by the rebels. This video reportedly shows some of the destroyed vehicles, part of a larger convoy:

This video is entitled "Mujahideen heroes are targeting Assad tanks."

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Syria Live Coverage: "Chances of Assad's Preservation Are Smaller and Smaller"

2123 GMT: Death Toll Rising. The LCC now reports that 114 have died so far today:

31 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 24 in Idlib (most of them in Ariha), 18 in Hama (most of them in Hawejah), 17 in Aleppo, 11 in Homs, 7 in Daraa, and 6 in Deir Ezzor.

However, this number will very likely rise further. Heavy fires are raging in Jdeidet Artouz, less than 15 kilometers west of the capital, as a explosion has trapped residents inside some of the burning buildings.

Furthermore, heavy fighting is reported across Hama province. According to the LCC's latest reports, many were killed in Baridij, 35 kilometers northwest of Hama, and "dozens" were killed in the nearby village of Magher after intense shelling.

2054 GMT: Rebels Attack Near Damascus Airport. Earlier we reported that there was fighting near the Damascus International Airport. Now, this video, shared on Facebook, reportedly shows an infantry-supported tank of the Ansar al Islam brigade attacking a "shabiha" location near the airport:

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Syria Live Coverage: Deaths from Shelling Near Aleppo

Devastation and casualties after Saturday's aerial shelling of Al-Bab near Aleppo (Warning: Graphic Images)

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Spectre of War Reaches "Coastal Retreat" of Latakia
Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 30 Killed in Port Said Fighting
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Storm The Prison in Idlib

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2150 GMT: Casualties. The Local Coordination Committees report that 103 people have been killed today, including six women and 11 children. Forty-one of the deaths were in Damascus and its suburbs, 18 in Homs Province, and 16 in Aleppo Province.

1650 GMT: A Russian Criticism. In unexpectedly critical remarks, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev has said, "It seems to me that [President Assad's] chances of staying (in power) are shrinking day by day."

Medvedev said Assad had made a mistake early in the two-year conflict, "He should have acted much more quickly and reached out to the peaceful opposition, which was ready to sit at the negotiating table with him. It's a grave error on his part, perhaps fatal."

Medvedev maintained Russia's position against foreign intervention, "I repeat once again: It is for the Syrian people to decide. Not Russia or the United States or any other country."

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Syria 1st-Hand: Spectre of War Reaches "Coastal Retreat" of Latakia (Chulov)

"We are afraid, very, very afraid," said Loubna, a final-year university student and resident of the city. "For so long the regime has been saying we will be safe here. That nothing will happen to us. Nothing can happen to us. But people are leaving, people are dying. Death is so near."

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Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Storm The Prison in Idlib

Detainees in Idlib greet insurgents as they battle to take the prison

See also Syria 1st-Hand: An Emotional Road Trip Through Idlib Province
Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 7 Killed in Clashes on Anniversary of Uprising
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: The Refugee Emergency Grows

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2049 GMT: Casualties in Homs. Local doctor Mohammad Mohammad has said that more than 20 people, including a family, were killed in Homs, amid fighting around a road junction on a supply line to regime forces in the interior of the country.

In a video statement from a makeshift hospital, Mohammad displayed the bodies of five people whose remains had been charred.

"They are the Uzam family. The father, mother and three children --- the shabiha [pro-regime militia# burnt them completely, as part of the annihilation the regime is bringing on the area of Jobar-Kfar Aaya."

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