Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Regime Forces Try to Recapture Damascus Suburb

Footage from the Damascus suburb of Darayya last month

See also EA Special: 10 Predictions for 2013 --- Assad Gone, an Angry Middle East, and Little Change on "Human Rights"
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: On Verge of "Hell" or "Sacred Birth"?

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2035 GMT: Bahrain. Claimed footage of police throwing tear gas canister near a 4 year-old child in Jirdab village:

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protesters Maintain the Pressure on Morsi

Protesters in front of Egypt's Presidential Palace on Friday night

See also EA Caption Competition: Turkey PM Erdogan's Lovely Home-Made Cake
Middle East Feature: Gulf Regimes Crack Down on Dissent in Social Media
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: Is This the End for Assad?
Friday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Morsi Defies Protesters and Warns "Infiltrators"

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1855 GMT: Bahrain. Leading human rights activist Zainab Alkhawaja tweets about a recent incident involving her and Said Yousif Almuhafda, Head of Monitoring for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights:

Now me and @saidyousif held by riot police in Sitra, they have taken our car keys #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

After taking the car keys the officer started mocking, said to @saidyousif "So wat village is under siege now u liar" #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

@saidyousif asked "well why arnt u letting us in to Mhazza" officer kept getting calls asking if there r journalists with us #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

An hour before, the two human rights activists had gone to Salmaniya hospital to visit Aqeel AbdulMohsen in Salmaniya hospital. Aqeel was severely injured in Bani Jamra on Wednesday night after security forces shot him in the face:

Security stopped us from seeing him & told us anybody who wants to visit Aqeel must get visitation rights from Budaiya police #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

When I ran into the room to see Aqeel security were right behind me, I saw him only for a minute, it was heartbreaking #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

Be4 I was forced to leave I said to Aqeel, not sure if he can hear me "Ur our hero, we're all so proud of u, plz stay strong 4 us" #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

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Middle East Feature: Gulf Regimes Crack Down on Dissent in Social Media (Law)

A recent decision by the United Arab Emirates to tighten restrictions on internet use has highlighted attempts by the authorities in Gulf states to staunch the flood of comment and criticism appearing on social media websites.

The amendments to the UAE's existing law on internet crime were announced last month in a decree by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nuhayyan, the ruler of Abu Dhabi.

It says citizens who create or run a website or use the internet to deride or damage the state or its institutions face up to three years in prison. Foreign nationals will be deported.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Insurgents Challenge the Regime in the Air

2122 GMT: Syria. The Free Syrian Army has captured yet another anti-aircraft base near Aleppo, this time near Assan, south of the city (map).

#Syria #Aleppo Rebels seized next air-defence near #Asan -using captured AA-guns immediatelyyoutube.com/watch?v=wOCxE8… wikimapia.org/#lat=36.057098…

— Mark (@markito0171) November 28, 2012

Another source suggests that this base is the headquarters of the 608 regime, though that is unclear. Still, there are plenty of videos that have been posted in the last few hours:

Another major victory? There's also a trend. The FSA is targeting relatively small anti-aircraft bases, capturing equipment that can be used against the Assad regime, but also looking for ways to confront the Assad airforce. Furthermore, there is a suspicion that they may have received encouragement to specifically target anti-aircraft bases, as this removes a threat to any foreign aircraft that could potentially engage in a no-fly zone.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A "Ceasefire" With Fighting, Car Bombs, and 103 Dead

Homs, Syria at daybreak this morning

See also Syria Audio Feature: Why Insurgent Advance Is More Important Than The Ceasefire --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgent Advance in Aleppo Overtakes "Ceasefire"

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2253 GMT: Syria. Claimed footage of the Free Syrian Army firing on a Kurdish demonstration in Aleppo today:

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UAE Feature: Nervous Leaders Crack Down on Dissidents (Transfeld)

UAE President Sheikh KhalifaIn the last months, the UAE has further cracked down on potential opposition groups, arresting, deporting, or revoking the citizenship of dozens of Islamists.

In an apparent attempt to justify these measures, officials have argued that Islamists were plotting to overthrow governments of the Gulf states.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Is Aleppo Out of Control?

People grieve over some of the dozens killed on Wednesday in Jdeidet Artouz near Damascus (see 0515, 0625, and 0705 GMT)

See also Bahrain Opinion: US Needs More Than Words About the Regime
Syria Revealed: Inside the Obama Administration's Discussions About the Insurgency
Syria and Turkey Analysis: Ankara Looks to Iraq's Barzani Amid the "Kurdish Spring"
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Aleppo --- This Does Not Look Like Regime "Victory"

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2042 GMT: Syria. Martin Chulov of The Guardian writes:

FSA colonel told me 1000s of refugees from Idlib & #Aleppo sleeping in fields near Jebel al-Zawiya. "We can't feed them. Help us."

— Martin Chulov (@martinchulov) August 2, 2012

2037 GMT: Bahrain. Footage of police gathering and arresting people in Bilad Qadeem tonight:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Story is Beyond Damascus

Mural on a wall in Aleppo, Syria: "Revolution is A Female"

See also Syria Audio Feature: "Assad May Be Slipping from Power" --- Scott Lucas with the BBC
Syria Revealed: The Quiet Planning for a Country After Assad
Sudan Feature: Can Activists Maintain Hope Amid Waning Protests?
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 217 Die Amid Question, "Where's Bashar?"

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2113 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria claims that 131 people, including 18 defectors and 11 children, have been killed by security forces today.

2051 GMT: Syria. A large anti-regime demonstration tonight in central Aleppo:

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UAE Interview: The Latest Crackdown on Human Rights Activists

Professor Nasser bin Ghaith, prosecuted in 2011Since 16 July, at least 10 activists have been arrested and deports in the United Arab Emirates, allegedly for planning to undermine the country's national security. According to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, most were seized from homes or businesses after the State prosecutor claimed on 15 July that a plot had been discovered.

The latest arrests follow a wave earlier in the year and the prosecution of five prominent dissidents --- Ahmed Mansoor, an engineer and blogger; Nasser bin Ghaith, an economist and university lecturer at Sorbonne Abu Dhabi; and online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul-Khaleq, and Hassan Ali al-Khamis --- in 2011.

EA WorldView attempted to contact several Emirati activists and commentators. None were willing to speak on the record but one activist agreed to be interviewed under a pseudonym.

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Josh Shahryar: Which emirates are the arrests concentrated in?

Abu Israar: The latest arrests were in Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman, Sharjah and Dubai. These arrests are done on a federal level and local Emirates have no hand in it. It's all done by the state security based in Abu Dhabi.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Talks, Damascus Fights

1958 GMT: Syria. Defections have been occurring at a faster and faster pace, but today there were reports that a relative trickle, perhaps a hundred ot a few hundred soldiers every week, may have finnaly reached flood-stage, with unconfirmed reports that hundreds of fighters jumped ship.

There are reports that a single new brigade of Free Syrian Army soldiers, the "Unification Brigade" claiming to be made up of soldiers from many different backgrounds, contained more than 100 soldiers, all of whom appear to be heavily armed, and that those soldiers are also equipped with multiple vehicles armed with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons.

Massive Brigade of the FSA formed in #Aleppo - "Unification Brigade" - youtube.com/watch?v=AGIky5… #Syria

— Sami al-Hamwi (@HamaEcho) July 18, 2012

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