Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Bombardment Continues

A demonstration last night in Hama in Syria

See also Bahrain Propaganda 101: Bringing the "Right" Youth Delegation to Washington
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Defiance

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2040 GMT: Medics and officials in Yemen have said that at least 35 soldiers have been killed in clashes with insurgents near Zinjibar in the south of the country.

Dozens of troops were also reportedly wounded. A local offical said 12 insurgents were slain.

2035 GMT: The head of a Libyan militia has said that two British journalists working for Iran's Press TV, detained on 22 February in Misurata, are being held on suspicion of espionage.

Faraj al-Swelhi, commander of the Swelhi Brigade, said that, among the possessions of Nicholas Davies and Gareth Montgomery-Johnson, there was footage of them firing weapons and equipment used by the Israeli military.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Defiance

An insurgent fires at a regime tank in Idlib Province in the northwest

See also Syria Video Special: Interview of Paul Conroy, Survivor of Baba Amr
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Assad Will Have to Kill Us All"

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2200 GMT: After clashes in Sitra in Bahrain today, a police SUV lost control and hit a wall, then burned. The Ministry of Interior reported that four policemen were injured.

An EA correspondent reports, "Sitra is now blocked by police am trying to find away in. Expectations of raids on houses & arrests on the island".

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Syria Video Special: Interview of Paul Conroy, Survivor of Baba Amr

Sky News interviews The Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy, injured in the attack in Baba Amr, Homs, that killed American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

See Also Syria Opinion: "There Are Many Others Who Await Homs' Fate"
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Assad Will Have to Kill Us All"

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The Guardian partially transcribes the interview:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Battle of Baba Amr

2127 GMT: A new Tweet by the activist "Sami" who is inside Homs:

Electricty is back to many of #Homs 's districts after 3 days of its cut off #BabaAmr & #Inshaat are still in darkness.#Syria

— Samsom homs (@Samsomhoms) March 1, 2012

Earlier, Sami spoke to NPR's Andy Carvin, and said that electricity, and water, was cut for much of the city.

2111 GMT: Reuters, citing several sources, says that wounded French journalist Edith Bouvier has arrived in Lebanon. French President Sarkozy also told Reuters that he spoke to Bouvier, and she will be flown back on a government plane.

Sarkozy sparked a false rumor earlier this week that Bouvier was free, but this seems like a legitimate report.

2103 GMT: An explosive allegation from a major opposition group in Syria tonight:

Qunaitara: Jabatha: Regime forces stormed the town which lies on Israel's border with Syria. They are not permitted to enter this specific area without an Israeli permission or without the observation of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) . The regime's forces killed 7 citizens during their operation, among them 3 brothers of the Marweed family and one woman with her daughter, as well as a man from the Hariri family.

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Syria Feature: War is Good...For Lebanon's Arms Dealers (Constantine)

Free Syrian Army in Idlib ProvinceHis phone rings almost non-stop, and he can barely keep up with the demand for his goods.

The war next door in Syria has been good for the Lebanese arms dealer, and the clamour from his phone promises it is going to get even better.

As the fighting in Syria escalates and pressure grows on the international community to provide the means for Syrians to repel the onslaught by government forces, his rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles become more precious commodities by the day.

Asked where the weapons are bound, Abu Jihad, who asked that his real name not be used, placed his hands over his eyes in a display of mock ignorance.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Remembering All the Dead

A montage of more than 70 people who have died in violence in Bahrain since the start of mass protests in February 2011

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2127 GMT: A member of the Syrian National Council, Mulham al Jundi reports on the situation in Baba Amr, Homs:

In a phone call with Abu Haneen from the heart of Baba Amr, he informed us of the following:

Baba Amr has faced multiple attempts of being stormed by the Syrian National Army. Activists worked hard to save the neighborhood and protect the civilians. In the meanwhile, Baba Amr was still being shelled. Clashes continued until the evening. The Free Syrian Army succeeded in affecting loss in the Syrian National Army, both people & supplies. Some of the leaders of the Farooq Division left the site of the clashes to securely transport women and children to safer regions. Activists are still defending the neighborhood against the army that was essentially defeated at its attempts. The activists have seized control of Baba Amr and the Assad army is positioned at the outskirts of the region.

While we can't verify the specific details of the report, there are two key points that continue to be repeated by all the trusted sources EA has made contact with - the FSA has been clashing with Assad soldiers, especially in the northeast of Baba Amr, and the troops have not fully occupied the neighborhood...

Yet. The third detail that is in nearly every report - Assad's military is capable of taking Baba Amr. It is possible that they are holding out to lessen the media attention, or because they want to avoid heavy losses, but the entire city is surrounded by extremely large amounts of pro-Assad military forces, and tonight they are closer to Baba Arm than they have been since the siege started.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 144 Dead on Monday

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Claimed footage of the insurgent Free Syrian Army protecting the Khalidiya neighbourhood in Homs

See also Saudi Arabia Feature: A Growing Rebellion?
Yemen Feature: The Houthi Movement and the Revolution
Syria Audio: Scott Lucas with the BBC on Political and Military Situation
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Referendum Amidst the Deaths

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2118 GMT: An activist in Syria reports, "5 p.m. until now: electricity has been cut off in a great deal of Homs, especially Western regions. Meanwhile, intense shelling continues."

2118 GMT:The Egyptians judges presiding over the trial of 43 people, including 16 American citizens, whose NGOs are charged with manipulating the political and electoral process have refused to hear the case. The trial started on Sunday, but now that the judges has recused themselves, the appeals court will likely pick new judges, potentially delaying the trial further.

This may give room for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to negotiate the release of the Americans.

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Syria Audio: Scott Lucas with the BBC on Political and Military Situation

Destruction in HomsI spoke with BBC West Midlands this afternoon about the latest developments and future prospects in Syria. Included is a discussion of international intervention --- which is already occurring behind the scenes --- in support of the opposition, after Russia and China blocked action by the UN Security Council.

The item starts at the 9:50 mark.

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Referendum Amidst the Deaths

Residents of Baba Amr in Homs, under siege for the 24th straight day, stage their version of Sunday's referendum on a new Constitution

See also Turkey Special: The Government Supports a Hyper-Nationalist --- and Threatening --- Protest
Sunday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "I'm So Hungry. I Think I Will Die" --- Then the Line Went Dead

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2153 GMT: At the end of the day, the two Western journalists who remain injured in the Baba Amr district of Homs have not been rescued. However, the Red Cross did manage to remove three injured Syrians from the besieged district:

A negotiator in the evacuation efforts said they fell through "at the last minute after ambulances had entered Baba Amr" but declined to specify if regime forces or rebels had blocked the operation.

2146 GMT: The on-line magazine Mother Jones has received a document that they say was leaked from someone inside the Syrian government and contains more than 700 pages of names of activists who have been placed on a government "kill list." A series of experts whom Mother Jones shared the document with believe it is genuine:

Joshua Landis, a scholar on Syria who has consulted for the State Department and other US government agencies, said he thinks the document merges the records of several Syrian intelligence agencies in order to better coordinate the crackdown. "This is what a secret service does," he said. Actions allegedly taken by individuals in the document—such as setting up a roadblock near Homs or issuing instructions about how to attack a Syrian military outpost—are "the kind of thing that people get whacked for all the time, or at least tortured for."

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "I'm So Hungry. I Think I Will Die" --- Then the Line Went Dead

The rise of protest in Syrian's second city Aleppo --- despite gunfire, demonstrators pursue a police car on Saturday

See also Bahrain Videos: 10,000s at Friday's Opposition Rally "A Nation That Refuses Humiliation"
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Intervention is Here

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2020 GMT: A tour of the streets of Baba Amr in Homs in Syria, damaged by 23 straight days of regime shelling:

1735 GMT: The opposition Syrian National Council has issued a press statement calling for the "rejection of sectarianism" and reached out to the Alawite minority --- of whom President Assad and most of the regime elite are members --- as "an essential part of the Syrian fabric".

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