Syria 1st-Hand: 4 Days in Idlib Province with the Insurgents (Hall)

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There are large parts of Syria's northern region that are under tentative rebel control. The army does not patrol these areas very often, as Assad's men dislike leaving the safety of their armored vehicles. This means that the rebels have been able to set up checkpoints, which allow them to monitor the movement of people in the region and, more importantly, to travel with a vague degree of freedom. But this goes wrong constantly, and on many days cars leave without ever coming back, having been shot up at random. The great fear, however, remain the Shabiha; gangs of pro-Assad thugs who can appear at any time looking to cave your skull in.

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Turkey Live Coverage (4 June): No Kurdish Problem At All?

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: President Assad's "Real War"

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1800 GMT: According Turkish daily Today's Zaman, Ankara welcomes political efforts to unseat Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as politicians in the Iraqi Parliament have collected enough signatures to hold a non-confidence vote. 

1710 GMT: President Abdullah Gul met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul. Abbas is also expected to talk to Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu. Nothing specific regarding the content of the meetings has been revealed so far. 

1600 GMT: Syrian opposition activits declared the formation of a new military coalition named "the Syrian Rebels Front". Khaled al-Okla, a member of the new group, says it coordinates with the Free Syrian Army.

1440 GMT: The first Mavi Marmara court hearing is scheduled for 6 November. As known, the indictment charging four Israeli commanders for full life sentence was accepted last month.

1335 GMT: Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag says that Turkey already has a semi-presidential system which needs to be upgraded to the presidential system.

1245 GMT: An air-supported operation against PKK is continuing in the Beytussebap district of the province of Sirnak. Sikorsky and Cobra helicopters are bombarding the Kato Mountain.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: President Assad's "Real War"

2027 GMT: Syria. All day there have been reports that multiple towns across Daraa province have been heavily attacked by the Syrian military. Now, those reports continue to come in, despite the late hour. Let's sort the reports.

There are reports that Tafas has been subjected to heavy machine-gun fire coming from various outposts and checkpoints controlled by the Syrian military.

Yesterday, videos reportedly showed large fields of crops that were lit on fire by "shabiha," paramilitary supporters of the Assad regime.

Earlier there were reports of wounded and dead in El Naymah, closer to Daraa city. Earlier videos showed tanks rolling through the town and heavy gunfire ringing out, reportedly from dug-in army positions:

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protest Renewed in Cairo, Ever-Present Beyond Damascus

Al Jazeera English on Saturday's events in Egypt, from the sentencing of former President Mubarak to mass protests

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: "I Was Tortured by Prince Nasser"
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Largest Protests Ever?

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2025 GMT: Libya. Members of an elite unit set up by the Government to rein in militias have been accused of kidnapping and severely beating a prominent surgeons.

Salem Forjani, a heart surgeon working for the Ministry of Health, was seized on 17 May when he went to Tripoli Medical Centre to carry out the Ministry's order to remove the director, who was accused of links with the Qaddafi regime.

Instead, Forjani was confronted by members of the Government's Supreme Security Committee, who dragged Forjani through the hospital, beating him unconscious in front of the staff.

A fellow medic photographed Forjani being carried, shirtless and spreadeagled, down the hospital's ambulance ramp while an SSC soldier threatened to shoot unarmed hospital security staff giving chase.

The SSC troops bundled the doctor into a car and incarcerated him in a base at Naklia, a suburb of Tripoli, where he was beaten and kicked so hard in the groin that he was left with a ruptured testicle. For five days neither his family nor the Ministry of Health could find him or get confirmation that he was still alive.

Finally, after Forjani had been moved to a second facility, at Tripoli's Mitiga Airport, the SSC contacted the Ministry and released him.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Largest Protests Ever?

Homes burn as gunfire rocks the Khalidiyah district of Homs on Friday night.

See also Egypt Live Coverage: Former President Mubarak Learns His Fate
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Another Mass Execution?

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1943 GMT: Lebanon. The toll from today's clashes in Tripoli between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime has risen to nine dead and 42 wounded, according to residents and a doctor.

1919 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria has said that 27 people died across the country today, including 11 in Homs Province and eight in Idlib Province.

A reporter for State TV, presenting live, is hit with a shoe by a man who shouts, "The Syrian TV is a liar!".

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The Latest from Iran (1 June): Through the Syrian Looking Glass

See also Iran Feature: Obama Ordered Cyber-Attacks on Tehran
Iran Feature: 17 NGOs Protest "Government Assault on Academic Freedom"
Iran Audio Feature: "Tehran's Troubled Relationship with China" --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Thursday's The Latest from Iran (31 May): Towards a Diplomatic Crash in Moscow?

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2010 GMT: Clerical Intervention. An extract from the statement of Grand Ayatollah Mousavi Ardebili criticising elements in the regime for letting down the people --- we are watching to see if this causes ripples in Iranian politics and society:

Now I see some deeds and outcomes and wonder if we have been negligent in our responsibilities or are culpable. When our friends were struggling, they had much higher expectations....

I want to use this opportunity to tell the honourable people of Iran, the families of martyrs, and all the people who worked hard that we stepped in this path in good faith, but perhaps we were negligent, and if any of the current problems and failures are results of my actions, I apologize to everybody....

I am speaking for myself. I am concerned about my own actions and inactions. If we all had acted appropriately, we would not have reached this situation. I am afraid that all of us, former and current officials of the country, have to apologize to the people, more so those of us that wear the cloak of spiritual leaders....

Mousavi Ardebili urged the Islamic Republic's leaders to "honestly apologise for their mistakes" without fear of the consequences, as honesty and a serious attempt at making amends would result in understanding and reconciliation.

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Iran Video Interview: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with France 24

President Ahmadinejad's interview with France 24 on Wednesday, covering topics such as Iran's nuclear programme and the violence in Syria:

Turkey Live Coverage (31 May): Erdogan "World Cannot Remain Silent About Syria"

1900 GMT: Danish EU affairs minister Nicolai Wammen says the biggest problem of Turkey's EU accession process is the matter of the freedom of press.

1830 GMT: Addressing to the nation, Prime Minister Erdogan said:

Due to the recent bitter incident happened in Uludere, our security forces, institutions and government are being targeted alltogether. Even not these; but our brotherhood is being targeted through the exploitation of Uludere and of the pain. 

Unfortunately, the opposition also shows such a problematised approach at this matter. Unfortunately, some media organisations don't and even can't take side with the nation in such an important, national and essential matter like terror.

Those who do not trust in the institutions, politicians and administrators of this country go and carry this exploitation policy to its peak by believing in those intentional publicaitons of foreign countries. Be sure of this, my dear citizens... The state does its part and will do so following the Uludere incident.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Bye-Bye to the Illusion of the Ceasefire

See Also, Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assad Shoos Away UN Envoy Annan

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2100 GMT: Syria. The names of 12 of the 15 men whom, according to insurgents, were executed in a fertiliser plant outside Homs today:

1 - Mohammad Tawfik Bakkar
2 – Ibrahim Ismail Bakkar
3 – Khaled Abdel Najib Barro
4 – Adnan Omar al-Yassin
5 – Sulaiman Abdel Qader Satto
6 – Samer Mohammad Bakkar
7 – Abdel Kafi Hasan Bakkar
8 – Mohammad Abdo al-Zirai
9 – Maher Ahmad Taleb
10 – Hamed Saadiyeh
11 – Mohammad Mahmoud Satouf
12 – Yehia Sabri Buzan

1946 GMT: Syria. Insurgents claim 15 men have been executed at their workplace, a fertiliser plant, in Buwaydah Al Sharqiyah, outside Homs.

A Facebook account linked with the Free Syrian Army in Baba Amr claims that the FSA found the men:

This picture is from the first to arrive of the massacre committed in Albuweyda Alsharqiyah today where 15 men from the fertiliser plant were abducted by regime thugs, tortured and executed with close-range bullets.

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Turkey Live Coverage (30 May): The European Link to the Kurdish Problem?

1800 GMT: One again, Turkish Foreign Ministry calls on Turkish citizens not to travel to Syria for their own safety.

1720 GMT: When asked about his opinion regarding the government's plan to prepare an abortion law, Health Minister Recep Akdag said: 

Some say, 'what  if something happens to the mother'. If necessary, the state will take care of that baby. If we are to make law on this, we need to take measures accordingly.

1455 GMT: The families of civilians killed in Uludere are reportedly going to stage a sit-in protest in the same area Turkish jets bombed since the murderers have not been found in the last five months. 

1420 GMT: It is reported that Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)'s special units coupled with around 200 vehicles and Cobra helicopters are sent to the province of Sirnak while operations are continuing flat out in another province of Mus.

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