Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Envoy Brahimi's Mission is "Dead in the Water"

Friday's message from protesters in Kafranbel in Syria to United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi

See also Syria Feature: The Growing Crisis in Health Care
Turkey Opinion: Democracy v. "Erdogan's Personal Lust for Power"
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Brahimi's Futile Mission to Moscow?

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2137 GMT: Syria. Activists are claiming, supported by video of bodies, that five children and two women were among 10 people killed by shelling of the Damascus suburb of Douma today.

1829 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees is now including 220 people "field-executed" in the Deir Baalba section of Homs (see 1749 GMT) in its claim of 364 victims today.

The Committees write more than 20 children and 20 women are among today's deaths.

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Syria Feature: The Growing Crisis in Health Care (IRIN)

Doctor with Syrian Refugees in LebanonThe nearly two-year conflict in Syria has claimed tens of thousands of lives, destroyed entire neighbourhoods, and sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing. More quietly, however, it has eaten away at the country's healthcare system. Pharmaceutical factories, which used to produce more than 90% of the country's drug needs, are down to one-third of their former production.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Brahimi's Futile Mission to Moscow?

2124 GMT: Syria. A message from Kafranbel:

Pac-man makes a debut in Kafranbel, and the message is gold. || #Syriayfrog.com/h7erzhvj

— NMSyria (@NMSyria) December 28, 2012

It may be hard to make out, but the "Pac Man" is really the opposition flag, gobbling up AK-47s on its way to eating Assad. The "ghosts" chasing Pac Man are the flags of Russia, China, Iran, and (perhaps) the US (it's hard to see, but it's red and blue).

2110 GMT: Iraq. Across much of Iraq, large protests have been held today against government policies and behaviors that some Sunni Muslims view as sectarian in nature. In Fallujah alone there may have been tens of thousands in the streets. AP reports:

Tens of thousands of Iraqi Sunnis angry over perceived second-class treatment by the Shiite-led government massed along a major western highway and elsewhere in the country Friday for the largest protests yet in a week of demonstrations...

The biggest of Friday's demonstrations took place on a main road to Jordan and Syria that runs through the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi in the Sunni-dominated desert province of Anbar, west of Baghdad.

Several thousand protesters took to the streets in Fallujah, holding aloft placards declaring the day a "Friday of honor." Some carried old Iraqi flags used during the era of former dictator Saddam Hussein, whose Sunni-dominated government was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion nearly a decade ago.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Why Insurgents Are Fighting Each Other in Aleppo (Abdul-Ahad)

Destroyed Storefront in AleppoIt wasn't the government that killed the Syrian rebel commander Abu Jameel. It was the fight for his loot. The motive for his murder lay in a great warehouse in Aleppo which his unit had captured a week before. The building had been full of rolled steel, which was seized by the fighters as spoils of war.

But squabbling developed over who would take the greater share of the loot and a feud developed between commanders. Threats and counter-threats ensued over the following days.

Abu Jameel survived one assassination attempt when his car was fired on. A few days later his enemies attacked again, and this time they were successful. His bullet-riddled body was found, handcuffed, in an alley in the town of al-Bab.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Aleppo --- Hunger, Disease, & Little Hope (Sly)

Before the War --- Protest at Aleppo University, May 2011

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Some blame the Free Syrian Army for starting a fight it couldn’t finish. Others blame the government for steadily escalating the use of force to try to crush the rebels. Many, like Awuf, blame both. “We are civilians trapped between the two sides, and they are using us like wood on a fire,” he said. “Both sides are wrong.”

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Take Another Town in the North

Fighting in Harem in Syria. late October 2012

See also Yemen Feature: Covering Up the Civilian Deaths from a US Drone Attack
Bahrain Feature: Policeman Slaps Father Holding Infant --- The Video That Went Viral
Bahrain Opinion: "A Regime Trampling Human Rights" --- Detained Zainab AlKhawaja in The New York Times
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 156 Killed as UN Envoy Brahimi Meets Assad

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2145 GMT: Egypt. Having signed the approved Constitution, President Morsi used a televised speech tonight to declare "a free Constitution, not granted by a king, imposed by a president, or forced by a colonial power...[but] chosen by the people of Egypt to give to themselves".

The President said that he is planning for a Cabinet reshuffle of the Government of Prime Minister Hesham Qandil "to face all problems, large and small problems".

Morsy then called for unity through discussion, “Dialogue has become a necessity. I renew the call to all parties and political forces to participate in the national dialogue, which I personally sponsor, to complete the road map for this stage. Ahead of us are days of work, effort, diligence and production from everyone.”

Morsi promised "to do my best to boost the economy, which is facing huge challenges". He said he "will respect the law and the Constitution, safeguard the interests of the people fully, and preserve the nation and its territorial sovereignty."

2055 GMT: Syria. Minister of Interior Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar has returned to Damascus, after treatment in Lebanon for wounds sustained in an insurgent bombing near the Ministry earlier this month.

Al-Shaar was wounded in his shoulder, stomach and legs when an explosives-rigged car and two other bombs were detonated, killing at least five people.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 156 Killed as UN Envoy Brahimi Meets Assad

See also Israel-Palestine Feature: Jerusalem's "Extreme Makeover" & "Perilous Decline"
Syria 1st-Hand: Attempting to Live a Normal Life in Insurgent-Held Yabroud
Monday's Syria Live Coverage: "94 Killed" in Regime Airstrike on Bakery Queue

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2100 GMT: Egypt. The US State Department has reacted to today's official declaration of the approval of the Constitution:

The future of Egypt’s democracy depends on forging a broader consensus behind its new democratic rules and institutions. Many Egyptians have voiced deep concerns about the substance of the constitution and the constitutional process. President Morsi, as the democratically elected leader of Egypt, has a special responsibility to move forward in a way that recognizes the urgent need to bridge divisions, build trust, and broaden support for the political process. We have called for genuine consultation and compromise across Egypt’s political divides. We hope those Egyptians disappointed by the result will seek more and deeper engagement. We look to those who welcome the result to engage in good faith. And we hope all sides will re-commit themselves to condemn and prevent violence.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Attempting to Live a Normal Life in Insurgent-Held Yabroud

A wall in Yabroud: "Take off your shoes as Yabroud's sand is our blood"

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The city is currently run by two councils. One is military and is mainly concerned with holding back the regime's forces. The other is a civilian one and is responsible for securing health care and food supplies for residents.

If it were not for the air strikes, I would have said we live like people in any other normal city. There's no shortage of food here, for instance.

But prices have increased dramatically, especially fuel. A litre that used to cost 25 US cents two years ago now costs $1.20 (£0.75).

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Syria Live Coverage: "94 Killed" in Regime Airstrike on Bakery Queue

See also Syria Video Discussion: The Dwindling Resources of the Regime (Al Jazeera English)
Sunday's Syria Live Coverage: Starving in Aleppo

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2103 GMT: The Local Coordination Committees report that 115 people have been killed today, including 35 in Damascus and its suburbs, 28 in Homs Province, 18 in Aleppo Province, and 16 in Hama Province.

2017 GMT: Colonel Abdel-Jabbar Oqaidi, the head of the insurgent military council in Aleppo Province, has spoken to Reuters of the change in strategy from fighting regime forces in the cities to surrounding bases in the countryside:

At the beginning...we were forced to attack the forces in the districts to kick them out so that they do not harm civilians.

After achieving fighting experience, we went back to the countryside to liberate the big military bases. These bases are fortified with tanks, rockets, artillery, mortars, in addition airplanes. The siege...cuts off the supply lines to these bases and most importantly it helps elements to defect.

Oqaidi said the remaining obstacle for the insurgents was Assad's warplanes:

We have no problem except for the air force. We're used to the tanks fighting and their shelling, we have no problem except for the air force.

We're used to taking over military bases that have tanks and APCs (armored personnel carriers) but we haven't been used to take over control yet of airplanes and God willing we'll have control of them soon.

Oqaidi estimated that the regime has less than 100 functional planes left.

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The Latest from Iran (24 December): All-Is-Well Oil Alert...But With a Confession

See also The Latest from Iran (23 December): Ahmadinejad on Economy "Everyone is Wrong Except Me"

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Minister of Oil Rustam Qassemi1750 GMT: Currency Watch. Without providing sources, Radio Zamaneh claims that the Iranian Rial has slipped to 33500:1 vs. the US dollar, its lowest point since Central Bank and Government intervention in October.

The Rial had lost 70% of its value this year before the intervention --- suspension of the open market and a special "trade room" backed by injection of foreign reserves --- bolstered it, according to some reports as strong as 27000:1. However, EA sources in Iran have been reporting that the Rial began sliding again this month, reaching about 31000:1 last week.

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