Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Heavy Fighting in Damascus?

Workers in front of a building in Aleppo, Syria, damaged by a Sunday car bomb --- three people reportedly died

See also Syria 1st-Hand Video: Secretly Meeting the Activists
Turkey Live Coverage (19 March): New Year Celebrations, Clashes, and the Syria Crisis
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: After the Damascus Explosions

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2056 GMT: An energetic evening demonstration in Qosour in Homs has a message for President Assad, "We're coming, curse your soul, we're coming!":

2006 GMT: I've been discussing this video with several sources. According to the description, the video shows Free Syrian Army soldiers destroying a tank in Deir Ez Zor. We never see the tank, but we do see the RPG launch at an unknown target.

I showed this video to Ahmed al Omran, from NPR, who says that the videographer appears to say today's date. Also, another source says that this video shows a battle in the Ghassan Abboud roundabout, an area where we have received reports of heavy fighting today:

Video said to show clashes between FSA fighters and gov security forces in Deir ez-Zour youtube.com/watch?v=RTMY4i… #SYRIA (via @JMiller_EA)

— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) March 19, 2012

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: After the Damascus Explosions

Claimed footage of Syrian security forces firing on men in Raqqa on Saturday

See also Bahrain Opinion: Letting Torturers Go Free?
Bahrain Exclusive: Reliving the Clashes and Rallies on the Anniversary of the Regime Crackdown
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Explosions in Damascus

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1933 GMT: An evening demonstration in the Qosour section of Homs in Syria:

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The Latest from Iran (15 March): OK, Folks, Show's Over....

See also Iran Analysis: Who Won Ahmadinejad's Non-Interrogation? The Supreme Leader.
Iran Feature: What a Joke(r) --- Replaying Ahmadinejad's Defiance in Parliament
The Latest from Iran (14 March): Questioning Ahmadinejad

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1545 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Obama Administration officials are putting out the line that sanctions may be imposed on India for failure o reduce its purchases of Iranian oil.

The officials said a decision to levy penalties could come as early as 28 June.

In response to the pressure, Indian officials said Delhi has not significantly cut imports because refiners’ annual crude term deals with Iran typically run from April to March. The planned reductions will start when new annual contracts begin next month.

Curiously, Bloomberg reports that "the U.S. government may not be aware that India’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, state-owned Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL), plans to import less from Iran starting next month, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak".

MRPL's plans are far from private --- EA reported on them earlier this month.

India bought an average of 328,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude in the first six months of last year, making it the third-largest customer, behind China and Japan.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Intervention?

2109 GMT: Another important video, reportedly taken in Aleppo today. This comes via NPR's Ahmed al Omran:

Video shows security forces (or thugs) opening fire, reportedly in Aleppo today youtube.com/watch?v=KwvLMM… #SYRIA

— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) March 15, 2012

2101 GMT: A Syrian activist sends us this video, reportedly showing a night protest in the Abu Rammaneh district of Damascus, one of the wealthiest areas of the capital city.

2050 GMT: An EA source Tweets that there has been a shooting in Raqqa, and 2-5 have been killed in the incident:

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Yemen Feature: Why is President Obama Insisting on Imprisonment of an Honest Journalist?

Abduelah Haider Shaye (Photo: Iona Craig)On February 2, 2011, President Obama called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The two discussed counterterrorism cooperation and the battle against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. At the end of the call, according to a White House read-out, Obama “expressed concern” over the release of a man named Abdulelah Haider Shaye, whom Obama said “had been sentenced to five years in prison for his association with AQAP". It turned out that Shaye had not yet been released at the time of the call, but Saleh did have a pardon for him prepared and was ready to sign it.

It would not have been unusual for the White House to express concern about Yemen’s allowing AQAP suspects to go free. Suspicious prison breaks of Islamist militants in Yemen had been a regular occurrence over the past decade, and Saleh has been known to exploit the threat of terrorism to leverage counterterrorism dollars from the United States.

But this case was different. Abdulelah Haider Shaye is not an Islamist militant or an Al Qaeda operative. He is a journalist.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A "Pretty Devastated" Section of Homs

2009 GMT: The UN/Arab League special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, has said that a political process, not a military one, is the only way to end the crisis in the country:

"I hope that no one is thinking very seriously of using force in this situation. I believe any further militarization will make this situation worse. We have to be careful that we don't introduce a medicine that's worse than the disease, and we don't have to go very far in the region to find an example of what I'm talking about," said Annan.

Compare these statements to those made by a high-ranking commander in the Free Syrian Army, Colonel Riad al-Asaad, made earlier today:

"The Syrian people will not accept any form of dialogue with this criminal regime. The Syrian people want to bring this regime down and will never give it another chance."

1916 GMT: The shelling today in Al Rastan, Homs, might have been more intense than the initial reports suggested. Activists post this video, showing heavy damage in a single neighborhood:

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Yemen Feature: The Houthi Movement and the Revolution (Wells)

Walking last month into the Shabaab al-Sumud tent in Yemen's Maydan Taghayr --- Change Square --- I was greeted by eager faces and talkative qat chewers. "We love Americans," a Houthi supporter nodded his head vigorously, and, in doing so, revealed an enormous poster on the tent flap behind him on which the group's infamous slogan was inscribed: "God is Great, Death to America, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews." Seeing my eyes widen, he offered, "We hate American policies, notpeople. The roots of the slogan lie in America's war on the Iraqi people and support for Israeli policies against the Palestinians. Let me tell you what it is that the Houthis want...."

Even the dedicated observer of Yemeni affairs can be forgiven for not fully grasping the complexity of the country's political milieu during this shaky revolutionary period.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Death of A Journalist

Marie Colvin, the journalist for The Sunday Times killed in Syria today, speaks to CNN on Tuesday about the death of a baby in Homs

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: US Activist Radhika Sainath "Joining the Protests, Being Detained"
Syria Feature: Homs --- Dying Without Food, Medicine, or Supplies

Syria Special: Points to Consider When Arming an Opposition
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "A City of Torture"

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2015 GMT: In Idlib in Syria, a gunman fires in the direction of the cameraman who screams, "Damn it, that was right beneath me!":

Protesters at Aleppo University raise the Syrian "Flag of Independence" today:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "A City of Torture"

Vehicles and a house set on fire by regime shelling of the Baba Amr section of Homs in Syria on Monday

See also Palestine Breaking: Israel Frees Hunger Striker Khader Adnan
Bahrain Analysis: The Anti-National Dialogue
Bahrain Opinion: No Reform, So Why is the Grand Prix Going Ahead?
Monday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Watching the Protests

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2053 GMT: Activist Zilal translates this video from Homs which shows the now-famous doctor, Mohammad al-Mohammad, speaking about the death of citizen journalist Rami Ahmad Al Sayed:

The doctor says that Ramy Sayed died after he hemorrhaged for 3 hours. He was hit by shrapnel from a rocket in the chest, abdomen, thigh and feet. He was injured while accompanying a family (4 member of the family also died). He also says that Rami was one of the most important cameraman and activist in Baba Amr and that he was killed because he was filming the reality in Baba Amr.

The man who speaks at the end of the video is Rami's brother. He says that Rami asked him to give him his phone to film demonstrations the first times, and after that he said to his brother "Bring me a camera, I want to film."

The video may be disturbing to some viewers.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Watching the Protests

Security forces, using hot water, scatter protesters in Aldaih in Bahrain after dispersing a funeral procession (see 1347 GMT)

See also Bahrain Opinion: No Reform, So Why is the Grand Prix Going Ahead?
Syria Audio Feature: Iranian Rappers Sing for the People of Homs
Sunday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Violence Escalates
Syria Live Coverage: Defiance in Damascus

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2225 GMT: Apologies for limited service tonight, as EA staff have been travelling and giving presentations. We will be back from 0600 GMT with latest news.

1805 GMT: A Bahraini court has acquitted former MP Matar Matar, a leading member of the opposition society Al Wefaq, of taking part in "unlawful" protests.

The last of three charges, "undermining public security by assembling with a group of more than five people", was dropped on Monday by a court in Manama.

Authorities had released Matar and another Al-Wefaq member, Jawad Fayruz, in August after three months of detention.

1730 GMT: Protesters makes another dash for Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain as security forces fire sound bombs:

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