Syria Live Coverage: UN Human Rights Chief Calls for War Crimes Investigation

Claimed footage of a regime tank firing in the Damascus suburb of Darayya

See also Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Hostage Situation Continues at Gas Plant
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: Another Mass Killing, Another Dispute of Responsibility

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2146 GMT: Regime Calls on Insurgents to Stop Fighting. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem has called on insurgents to lay down their weapons and take part in a national dialogue, saying everyone who participates will be included in a new Cabinet with wide executive powers.

"I tell the young men who carried arms to change and reform, take part in the dialogue for a new Syria and you will be a partner in building it. Why carry arms," al-Moallem said in an hour-long interview. "Those who want foreign intervention will not be among us."

The Foreign Minister accused Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey of arming and financing insurgents. He asserted that the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra, which the US has declared a terrorist organisation, has brought fighters from 27 countries.

Meanwhile, Turkey's State news agency Anadolu said the Assad air force killed and wounded dozens on people when it targeted a mosque and a school building that was sheltering displaced Syrians in the town of Salqin, about four miles (six kilometres) from the border with Turkey in Idlib Province.

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Syria Live Coverage: Another Mass Killing, Another Dispute of Responsibility

Today's demonstration in Kafranbel in Idlib Province

See also Syria Feature: Who Carried Out the Mass Killing in Haswiyeh?
Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: At Least 30 Hostages Killed in Rescue Attempt
Thursday's Syria Live Coverage: Who Bombed Aleppo University?

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2015 GMT: Al Jazeera Reporter was Activist. Al Jazeera English provides more information on the Al Jazeera reporter who was killed in Daraa:

"The Syrian journalist, 33, used the pseudonym of Mohamed Al-Horani, was shot with three bullets, during covering the fights at the front lines in the town of Busra Al-Harir in the countryside of Daraa." the news channel said in a press release on Friday.

An Al Jazeera Media Network spokesperson affirmed that "targeting its collaborating journalists and crews will not change the editorial method and guidelines adopted by the network since it was launched 16 years ago for the sake of delivering the truth".

AJE's liveblog says that Horani was a "freelancer."

Al Jazeera says that this is another example of the regime targeting journalists. But here's the problem. A video shows the minute he was shot. The first and obvious problem is that he was traveling with armed combatants, which means that he was vulnerable to being targeted by an opposing faction. Rules of war dictate that journalists and medical professionals should not be specifically targeted, but if they are traveling with combatants then this prohibition is more or less out the window. The second problem is the method in which he was killed. Horani, his cameraman, and a group of insurgents arrive at a street. First, an armed (and fast moving) insurgent runs across the street. After a pause, Horani then runs. He is not as fast, and the sniper has had time to line up a shot. The sniper opens fire, and Horani falls.

The sniper may not have known that a member of the press was in the area, expected an insurgent to cross the road, and likely did not have enough time to properly discern that Horani was not an insurgent. A combat veteran we showed the video too shook his head, because the folly of Horani's decision was so obvious to him.

This begs another question. According to Al Jazeera, this is a freelance journalist who was first an activist in Syria. He began to work for Al Jazeera after he was arrested and then released from prison. Did this man have any training in journalism? Was he objective? Was he properly trained by Al Jazeera to protect himself in a warzone? Or was he just given a camera and set loose?

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Syria Feature: Who Carried Out the Mass Killing in Haswiyeh?

1650 GMT: I've just finished a long conversation with ITV's Bill Neely, where we compared notes between his observations and BBC's Lyse Doucet's own reports.

Neely says that both reports seem similar. However, Neely has clarified many aspects of his report which I will summarize below:

Hasiyweh (here on the map) is a village primarily made of Sunnis. According to Neely, the river divides the village, half of which the rebels control and the other half of which the military controls. The rebels use the orchards and nearby homes to attack the Intelligence Headquarters to the east:

View Reported Massacres in Hama/Houla in a larger map

He says that the village has become host of refugees who have fled other parts of Homs, and it is a mix of people, including rebels.

Neely says that he talked to people away from the soldiers, and they made a compelling case. They said Jabhat al Nusra did this.

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Syria Live Coverage: Who Bombed Aleppo University?

Claimed footage of shelling of Homs today

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2110 GMT: What Happened in Haswiyeh? With Bill Neely's arrival in Haswiyeh (see previous update below) we have also received several new updates today. First, let's recap what has happened over the last week.

Two days ago rumors began circulating of a "massacre" in the villages of Hawiyeh,just north of Homs, as well as dozens killed in Houla to the west of Homs. These rumors came at the same time as confirmed reports of heavy shelling of Homs itself, as well as the cities to the north (Talbiseh, Al Rastan). See our initial coverage here, which includes many links to videos and claimed eyewitness claims.

A problem was immediately apparent. The claims made by some activists included beheadings, knife attacks, and summary executions. But the evidence didn't initially show any of this. Instead, it was obvious that the villages had been heavily bombed, likely by aircraft but also possibly by tanks and artillery, and the reports of knife-wielding shabiha and bodies hanging in trees were exaggerated. But with rumors such as these, it was still important to keep an open mind to the possibility that these reports had some merit.

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Syria Live Coverage: Scores Die in Mass Killings and Aleppo Blasts

1856 GMT: Death Toll Rises. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 142 people have been killed so far today:

41 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 37 in Homs; 25 in Aleppo; 11 in Hama; 6 in Daraa; 15 in Idlib; 4 in Lattakia; 2 in Raqqa; and 1 in Hasakeh.

What's interesting about this number is that it may not include any of those reportedly killed om Idlib's car bomb blasts. The LCC uses their own verification techniques, and they are unlikely to have any access to this site, as it has been controlled by the government since right after the blast. This means that once again the death toll may be nearing 200, an indication of the intensification of the situation in many cities across Syria.

See our note on the casualty figures published by the LCC.

1838 GMT: Iran and Syria Enter Deal. Reuters reports that according to SANA, "Syria and Iran have agreed a $1 billion credit facility between Commercial Bank of Syria and Export Development Bank of Iran," as well as several other agreements on energy. The announcement is bad news for those who have been happy with the effectiveness of sanctions against the Assad government.

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Syria Feature: US Finds "Assad Forces Probably Used Chemical Weapon" in Homs (Rogin)

Testimony of victims of the "toxic gas" incident in Homs on 23 December

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A secret State Department cable has concluded that the Syrian military likely used chemical weapons against its own people in a deadly attack last month....

United States diplomats in Turkey conducted a previously undisclosed, intensive investigation into claims that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons, and made what an Obama administration official who reviewed the cable called a "compelling case" that Assad's military forces had used a deadly form of poison gas.

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Syria Live Coverage: Deadly Bombardment of Damascus Suburbs Continues

Aftermath of today's explosions at Aleppo University

See also today's Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Counter-Attack, Move Closer to Capital

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2210 GMT: Cluster Bombs Dropped on Talbiseh. Beautiful fireworks in the sky? No. As hypnotizing as this light show may be, those are incendiary submunitions from a RBK ZAB clusterbomb falling on the village of Talbiseh below. A local Youtube channel for Talbiseh shows many reported injuries being treated at a field hospital, reportedly the result of cluster bombs.

Meanwhile, in Houla, another video claims to show damage to the roof of a home, clearly the result of a shell or bomb, and another video claims to show tanks in the area.

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Iran Live Coverage: President v. Parliament

See also Iran Analysis: The Real Explanation for the Delay in New Nuclear Talks
Iran Live Coverage: Don't Mention the "Free Elections"

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2220 GMT: Nuclear Watch. After a few days talking down the possibility of renewed nuclear talks --- and putting the blame on Tehran --- Western diplomats said today that discussions could still resume in January.

The shift follows a phone call on Monday between Helga Schmid, the deputy negotiator for the 5+1 Powers, and her Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri.

"Consultations to prepare a next round of talks are ongoing," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said.

"The powers and Iran are still discussing possible dates for nuclear talks in January," one Western envoy said.

See also Iran Analysis: The Real Explanation for the Delay in New Nuclear Talks

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Syria Live Coverage: Worries About "Disorganised" Insurgency and a "Failed State"

2152 GMT: Intense Fighting . The town of Busr al Harir, in Daraa province (map), has been the site of heavy fighting for over a month, but this is a claim, made by the LCC, that we've never read before:

Fierce clashes between the Free Syrian Army and regime army are reported as the Free Syrian Army fights back regime army's attempts to deploy paratroopers by helicopter gunships. The Free Syria Army successfully captured a number of soldiers and pro-regime thugs (shabiha) including an officer who were trying to storm the town.

We are not aware that paratroopers have been deployed before in this conflict. This could indicate that the roads in and out of the town are too unsafe, as roadside IED attacks and ambushes have proven costly to the Assad regime in this region in the past. This could also indicate that the Assad military was hoping to catch the rebels off-guard. If the report is to be believed, the tactic did not work.

This is not the first change in tactics reported today:

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Syria Live Coverage: The Fight Near Damascus

Marianne Gasser of the Red Cross on the situation with health care (see also 1150 GMT)

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Coffee with the Mayor of A Christian Village
Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Israeli Military Overruns Village of Bab al-Shams
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Advance While Brahimi Stalls

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1805 GMT: Casualties. The Local Coordination Committees report 102 people killed today, including 13 children and four women. Forty of the deaths are in Damascus and its suburbs and 28 in Aleppo Province.

1655 GMT: Regime Attacks. Opposition activists claim the Syrian military killed at least 26 people, half of them children, in a bombardment of insurgent-held Damascus suburbs on Sunday.

Video footage showed women weeping over the dismembered bodies of children strewn across a field in Eastern Ghouta, near an air defence base on the edge of the town of Muleiha, 5 kilometres (3 miles) east of Damascus.

Muleiha is the last major fortification east of Damascus held by the regime.

Activist Yasmine al-Shami said residential areas around Muleiha and in the working-class suburbs of Hazzeh, Kfar Batna, and Douma were being heavily hit.

A report by the opposition Damascus Media Centre said insurgents had attacked the Muleiha base with rocket-propelled grenades and mortars for five days, with the army firing more than 600 rockets on the town in response.

A commander in Liwa al-Islam, one of several insurgent brigades fighting in the area, said the compound was well defended: "Our objective is to take it, but it will not be immediate."

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