We've already received dozens of new videos, night protests in defiance of the massacres. How many people will Assad have to kill before he realizes that killing his own people is only swelling the ranks of the protesters? As the night wears on, we will add more videos to this list
1921 GMT: Lattakia is under attack, but both pro and anti-Assad protests took place in Damascus today. What are the pro-Assad protests like? One activist, Omar S. Dahi, visited a pro-Assad protest in the last month, out of curiosity, and this is what he found there:
"As I approached the main square, which had several hundred people in white shirts all carrying or wearing Syrian flags, with loud pro-Bashar music blaring from loudspeakers, I finally realized what fascism really looks like.
"The belief or claim by some opposition members outside the country that pro-regime demonstrations are entirely forced is not accurate. Many state (and private sector) employees are made to go, but many show up on their own and do not fit neatly into categories such as ‘regime beneficiary’ which some members of the opposition like to throw around.
"These were people, on their own will, coming to support a regime’s brutal crackdown by security forces that they themselves have long dreaded and despised. I saw and spoke with several people in attendance, all of whom insisted the events were necessary to ‘confront the conspiracy,’ to ‘preserve national unity’, and to ‘oppose extremists.’"
1906 GMT: We've uploaded a new video on our separate entry, showing security surrounding the Almhati mosque in Lattakia, preventing people from entering for Taraweeh prayers.
1749 GMT: Reuters is now reporting that the Libyan opposition forces may have occupied the town of Surman, to the west of the embattled Zawiya. This is unconfirmed, but would potentially give the Libyan opposition forces the ability to flank Gaddafi's forces and cut off supply lines from Tunisia:
For the third night in a row, civilians in Syria attend their local mosques to pray Taraweeh, part of their Ramadan tradition. After the prayers, the protests begin. We've already received reports of casualties and violence, and we will update this video list as video filters in.
UPDATED Thursday, 0503 GMT: We have received over 50 videos of protests tonight, here are just a sampling. Notice that there has been very little video, or news, out of Hama since this morning, where the military action has only intensified, and most forms of communication have been shut down.
Artillery shelling of Hama on 8-1-2011 before/when people break their fast- Vid was uploaded today
UPDATE 1245 GMT: James Miller here, with two additional updates about this first, and now infamous clip.
The first is that if you compare the audio from the original to the audio of the State TV version, the State TV version is worse (the state TV version starts at about 08:22). They have added a low-level buzz, and then the audio drops out and the buzz swells. As an audio professional in a previous life, I can testify that a battery operated camera will not get an audio buzz, only a broadcast camera, and it never sounds like that. It is our assessment that the Syrian State TV is obviously, and clumsily, doctored.
The second update comes from the Guardian's Paul Owen, who links to us and provides a translation for the video:
Some of (the bodies) seemed to have had their throats slit - (are) being thrown into the Al-A'assi river by Shabiha ("ghosts" – pro-Assad militia). The dead people are described in the caption as "heroes of Hama". The people around the Shabiha can be heard encouraging them, and insulting and cursing the dead people. The Shabiha shout "God is greatest" as they throw the bodies in the river. "Don't film" is also heard.
The video was uploaded on 31 July. The Arabic caption reads: "Is there any crime worse than killing someone and then throwing the body in the river? Where are human rights? Where is world opinion? Where is Amnesty International?" There is no way to properly verify the clip. Many thanks to my colleague Mona Mahmood for translation.
UPDATE 0830 GMT: And now a twist in the tale....
This 11-minute clip from Syrian state TV starts with footage which claimed to be of gunmen in Hama shooting at military from the streets and rooftops.
It is the final minutes, however, that are of immediate interest. The clip uses the same footage, posted by James Miller below, of what has been claimed as pro-Assad "thugs" throwing the bodies of protesters into a river near Hama. On state TV, however, the footage is protesters throwing dead troops over the bridge --- the sound has the men talking about the bodies as "soldiers".
Bashar al Assad,