Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Exclusive in Zabadani, A Rally in the Kingdom

Jeremy Bowen of the BBC reports from "free" Zabadani in Syria

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2010 GMT: As anticipated, the final results of Egypt's elections confirm what many believed would be a landslide victory for Islamist parties. Reuters reports that the Muslim Brotherhood coalition has won 38% of the list seats while the salafist Nour Party 29%. This gives the Islamist parties a two-thirds majority in the party list-based vote. New Wafd and the Egyptian Coalition came third and fourth, respectively.

2000 GMT: Bahraini security forces harshly suppressed a protest held in A'ali was harshly suppressed today. The protest was held to demand the release of detainee Fadeela AlMubarak. An image of the procession before it was attacked:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: From Defection to Insurrection

2156 GMT: Bahraini human rights activist Said Yousif Almuhafda shares two videos, which he has described as "foreign mercenaries attacking ladies with soundbombs in manama for no reason." We're not able to confirm any of those claims, and the quality of the video makes it difficult to determine what exactly is happening.

This video, however, we can confirm was taken earlier, giving a clear impression of the size of the protest rally earlier today. Though this rally was peaceful, reports of police disrupting protests with teargas and beatings have lasted well into the night:

2136 GMT: The US State Department is preparing to close it's embassies in Syria. According to the Washington Post,

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Syria 1st-Hand: Lifelong Dissident al-Labwani "I am Seeing My Long-Time Dreams Come True"

One of Syria's most prominent dissidents, who worked for years against the Assad family regime, stepped out of prison two months ago to discover that his country was aflame with the revolution he long hoped for.

Jailed since 2005, Kamal al-Labwani had heard hints about what was happening on the outside the past year from visitors and even from guards. But prison authorities kept him and other prisoners under an information blackout — no newspapers or TV news over the past 10 months when hundreds of thousands of Syrians were taking to the streets nearly daily despite a relentless and bloody crackdown, demanding President Bashar Assad's ouster.

So he was stunned to see the full extent of the revolt when he was freed in November as part of an amnesty Assad's regime ordered as a reform gesture.

"I am seeing my long-time dreams come true, even better. For years, I dreamt of revolution, change. I was astonished to see it all happening," the 54-year-old al-Labwani told The Associated Press this week in the Jordanian capital Amman, his voice welling with emotion.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The "Free Syrian Army" Makes An Impression

Women and children rally in "free" Zabadani in Syria last night (see 0740 GMT)

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2110 GMT: The Local Coordinating Committees of Syria have posted graphic, and leaked, pictures of Hussam Ahmed Naboulsy, who was reportedly tortured during interrogations in a prison in Syria after being arrested several weeks ago. Several sources close to EA have said that they believe in the validity of the report. The LCCS posted this statement:

He wasn’t charged for any crime, there are no legal cases against him. Hussam is from Banyas city and a father of 7 kids, he is facing daily all kinds of insulting, abusing and torturing. Some video clips leaked from the prison by one of the security elements that attended the investigation and filmed it. The video clips shows his face swollen, bleeding and he is daze. This records another brutal crime of the Syrian regime inside the prison while the Arab League Committee is still in Syria and supposed to be protecting people from the regime’s crimes. The Local Coordination Committees in Syria (LCC) condemning this egregious violation of the human rights and the International protocols that Syria’s government is committed to. The LCC is calling to release Hussam immediately and all the opinion detainees and carries the regime the responsibility on their safety.

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Syria 1st-Hand Video: Inside the Besieged City of Zabadani

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EA sources provide English subtitles for an interview with soldiers from the Free Syrian Army stationed in the embattled city of Zabadani, 20 miles northwest of Damascus.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Liberation Near Damascus?

1954 GMT: Bahraini activists are calling for an interesting protest. Starting Thursday night, activists have called for the release of glowing "sky lanterns" across Bahrain for the next three night, part of a peacuful protest against the establishment of the 2012 Bahrain International Airshow.

EA's John Horne has also discovered this funny little video. An activist, dressed in typical "terrorist garb" gives instructions, in a high-pitched voice, on how to build these lanterns... and also, how to cook potatoes.

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Syria Special: Zabadani - The First Liberated City?

Tanks burning in a field in Madaya, near Zabadani, after being destroyed by soldiers from the Free Syrian Army

See Also, Tuesday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The State of the Uprising, Continued

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UPDATE: Shelling has resumed in the city of Zabadani for a 6th day, as the cease-fire has apparently broken. Please see today's live coverage for the latest details.

The broken cease-fire, however, does not erase the significance of this event. The Free Syrian Army did win a military victory, if only for a day. Even more evidence is surfacing that testifies to that fact.

This video reportedly shows a burned-out hull of a tank, allegedly destroyed by the FSA yesterday:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The State of the Uprising, Continued

A large anti-regime rally in Barzeh, near the Syrian capital Damascus

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2053 GMT: After the violence and deaths in Homs today, one of a series of demonstrations tonight in nearby areas, in this case, Deir Ba'alba:

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The Real Net Effect: How States Fail at the Manipulation of Social Media (York)

When a state --- be it Bahrain, Israel, Syria or China --- needs to stoop to the level of paying citizens to fight its public relations wars, it has already lost.

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Syria Special: The State of the Uprising, 10 Months On --- The Protests

Friday protests in the Akramiye neighborhood in Aleppo, once thought to be an Assad stronghold

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With Arab League observers in Syria, the Ministry of Information sponsoring a trip for Western journalists (which led to the death of France reporter Gilles Jacquier), and with the reporting of eyewitnesses and activists, the world has its sharpest look into the crisis in Syria. But what does it see, 10 months into the crisis?

Initially, the protests in Syria were fairly large, and reports of violence were far less. It was unclear whether the violencat against the protesters was the work of local leaders of security forces, individual police officers, or a systemic approach by the regime to deter dissent.

As the violence escalated, the third answer was the right one, but what was remarkable was that the protests continued.

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