Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 45 Dead amid Regime Attacks on Homs and Idlib

The Syrian regime's attack on Saraqeb in Idlib Province on Saturday

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Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Surge of Protest

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2015 GMT: Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has defended its handling of Egypt's political transition against criticsm from a Parliament led by Islamist parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party has the biggest bloc in Parliament, described Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri's cabinet as a failure and criticized the army for continuing to support it, in a statement on Saturday.

"We understand that the government's performance may not satisfy public aspirations at this critical stage," SCAF said in a statement read on state television. "But we emphasize that the nation's interest is our first concern and we will not spare any effort and will take any measures or decisions needed for the sake of the nation and its citizens."

SCAF and the Ganzouri Government has been criticised for failing to halt the slide in the shattered economy and for heavy-handed tactics in dealing with protests against its rule.

The Brotherhood said the Cabinet of Ganzouri, who also served as Prime Minister in the Mubarak regime in the 1990s, had been worse than its predecessors.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Surge of Protest

Protesting women greet armoured personnel carriers with peace signs; police respond with sound grenades

See also Palestine Opinion: The Hunger Strike of Hana Shalabi --- "Will Anyone See It?"
Middle East Feature: Why are Arab Journalists The "Unknown Soldiers" in Battle for Truth?
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: This is "Peace" --- Another 90 Die

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1818 GMT: The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claims that 45 people have died today, including three women and four children. Twenty-four of the deaths were in Homs, where several neighbourhoods are being shelled, and 13 in Idlib, where regime forces have moved into the Saraqeb district.

1641 GMT: Andrew Hammond of Reuters writes, amidst reports of widespread use of tear gas by Bahrain's security forces:

back after Sitra. all i can say is that was really insane. cld have been worse too if media hadnt been around

— Andrew Hammond (@Hammonda1) March 24, 2012

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: This is "Peace" --- Another 90 Die

Thursday night's protest rally in the Douma suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus

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2200 GMT: We're closing yet another crazy Friday. Here's a summary.

In Bahrain, there were nine very large protests, most or all of which were attacked by police who used teargas to disperse the crowds. Though protests were planned, they were larger and more energetic today after the news that a man died last night from tear gas inhalation.

Some protesters destroyed closed-circuit TV cameras and threw rocks at police. Apparently, there was at least one occurrence of youth throwing Molotov cocktails.

This anger was sparked by what the activists consider widespread police brutality. Large parts of the island nation were covered in teargas again today, and riot vehicles reportedly chased down protesters in an attempt to run them over. There are also more unconfirmed reports of injured children, and another unconfirmed report that police sexually molested a young girl. Earlier in the week activists say that the police molested and tortured a 16-year-old boy, Ali.

At the end of the day, resolution to this conflict seems further away than it has ever been.

In Syria, the primary headline was arguably the use of helicopters to attack ground targets for the first time that we can confirm. There were several instances of this today and last night, all of them between Aleppo and the border with Turkey.

At nightfall, there are more reports of widespread fighting between FSA soldiers and the Assad military, specifically in Hama and to the east of Damascus.

The other noteworthy video was posted at 1544 GMT, showing an IED attack against Assad infantry in Hama.

However, once again the fact that will be lost to most headline writers is that there were large and widespread protests across the country, including in Damascus and Aleppo. Once again the Syrian opposition has used another Friday to prove that their resistance to the regime cannot be shot or shelled into submission.

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Iran & Turkey Feature: Tehran v. Ankara in Battle for Hearts and Minds (Akyol)

Turkish President Erdogan & Supreme LeaderThe Arab Spring has heightened the ideological tension between Ankara and Tehran, and Turkey's model seems to be winning. Last spring, Iran often claimed that the Arab revolutions were akin to the Iranian one decades before and would usher in similar governments. Yet in Tunisia and Egypt, for the first time, leading figures in mainstream Islamist parties have won elections by explicitly appealing to the "the Turkish model" rather than to an Iranian-style theocracy. What's more, in December 2011, the Palestinian movement Hamas salted the wound when a spokesman announced the organization's shift toward "a policy of nonviolent resistance", which reflected its decision to distance itself from Syria and Iran and to move closer to Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Peace Plan?

Mass protest in Jarjanaz in Idlib Province in northwest Syria today

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2130 GMT: A disturbing close to our coverage today --- footage has been posted claiming to be of women executed by regime "shabiha" (plainclothes forces) in Addawia in Homs in Syria.

2057 GMT: An evening demonstration in Kharab Al-Shaham in Daraa Province in southern Syria:

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Turkey Live Coverage (21 March): New Year Celebrations Turn into Deadly Clashes

1725 GMT: It is reported that Turkish border security units and gendarmerie forces have tightened security measures along the country's border with Syria in order to prevent Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) members and Syrian refugees from entering Turkey.

On Tuesday, it was reported that gendarmerie forces were questioning coming refugees on the border to see if they were really escaping from the violence in Syria. Besides, alongside the refugee camp in Hatay, two more camps were said to be formed in two other cities, Sanliurfa and Kilis. 

1645 GMT: At a conference, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that Turkey would not allow any Cold War-like sectarian confrontation in the region. 

1625 GMT: Fifth police officer killed in the ongoing operation in Cudi, Sirnak. 

1610 GMT: One policeman injured in an explosion near the provincial office of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. 

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Assessing the Insurgency

1931 GMT: Another video reportedly shows the shelling in Homs today. This was reportedly taken in the Hamidiya district, in the center of Homs:

1918 GMT: According to the LCCS, the death toll today has risen to 80, including 14 children:

In Homs city, there were 42 martyrs, 11 in Hama, 6 in Daraa, 9 in Idlib including one family from Kasanfra town),7 in Deir Ezzor and one martyr in each of Raqqa,Lattakia, Damascus Suburbs (Moudamieh) and a defected recruit from the Occupied Golan who was martyred in Hama.

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Syria Music Video: #SYRIA (Offendum)

The artist Omar Offendum offers a tribute to and hope for the Syrian protests --- lyrics, taken from his blog, below the video:

Audio Sample taken from the largest Syrian protest to date, in Hama on 22 July 2011 --- "alsha3b yureed isqaa6 al-nitham (the people want to overthrow the regime)"

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"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." --- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Verse 1

The purpose of these verses is to unify the masses

7oms up to 7assakeh … Banyas to Damascus

City streets to countrysides

Mountaintops to coastal tides

Muslim / Christian / women / men & children

Lets keep hope alive

Stand in solidarity with all your fellow citizens

Peacefully protesting for an end to all the militance 

Torture & imprisonment

Murdering of innocence

Proving that this lying/lion leader's rule is illegitimate

Like father --- like son

Mobster or president?

Censoring their people

Trying to stop the embezzlement 

Heavy-handed iron fists

Dropped on the residents

Déjà vu... 

'82 - '11...

We are all Deir Ezzor … We are all Dar3aa

We are all Jisr il-Shughoor … 7alab & the 2al3a's (castles)

We Are All 7amza ... We Are All 7ama ... 

We Are All Syrian … Hands to the samaa2 (sky) saying:

 

"alsha3b yureed isqaa6 al-nitham"

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US Politics: Romney Wins Big in Illinois (Smith)

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With a decisive win in the Illinois presidential primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sets his sights on the bayou where Louisiana holds the next Republican primary.

"We thank the people of Illinois for this extraordinary victory," Romney told supporters in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg. "Elections are about choices. Today, hundreds of thousands of people in Illinois joined millions of people in this country in this cause."

With 99% of precincts reporting, Romney led former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum by a 47%-to-35% margin. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was running third at 9%, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 8%.

With the victory, Romney was poised to win at least 41 of the 54 delegates up for grabs in the state, giving him a total of 562, according to CNN's estimate. Santorum is second with 249, Gingrich third with 137 and Paul last with 69.

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Syria Special: Welcome to Phase Two Insurgency

Claimed footage of a regime tank destroyed by insurgents in Idlib Province last week

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The new attacks by the Free Syrian Army are the opening moves of "phase two insurgency". The opposition may be a long way from outright victory, but no one in the Assad regime should sleep well knowing that, seemingly out of nowhere, the opposition can strike.

In the long-run, a wiser FSA will weaken the regime. In the short run, though, get ready for a far more violent, more disruptive, and less predictable conflict.

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