Yemen Feature: Drones & the Killing of an American Teenager (Greenwald)

Salon's Glenn Greenwald explores the moral and legal issues surrounding the use of drone strikes against militants by the United states. As the US draws down the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the use of drones is the newest iteration of the "War on Terror", and Anwar Awlaki's 16 year old son is one of it's most recent collateral casualties:

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Two weeks after the U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen — far from any battlefield and with no due process — it did the same to his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, ending the teenager’s life on Friday along with his 17-year-old cousin and seven other people. News reports, based on government sources, originally claimed that Awlaki’s son was 21 years old and an Al Qaeda fighter (needless to say, as Terrorist often means: “anyone killed by the U.S.”), but a birth certificate published by The Washington Post proved that he was born only 16 years ago in Denver. As The New Yorker‘s Amy Davidson wrote: “Looking at his birth certificate, one wonders what those assertions say either about the the quality of the government’s evidence — or the honesty of its claims — and about our own capacity for self-deception.”

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Yemen 1st-Hand: The Field Hospital Inside the Mosque

The calm inside the mosque quickly turned to mayhem as the first victim of a deadly attack on a protest march was brought in on a stretcher. The young man grasped at his abdomen with bloodied hands.

Soon there were dozens of gunshot victims, clutching wounds as they were rushed into the room designed for prayer and reflection, but now functioning as a field hospital for protesters gunned down by their government.

“What are the reasons to kill people? You can’t justify this,” said Ghada Qassim, a doctor, overwhelmed by the scene before her. “They have no weapons. It is a disaster.”

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Syria, Yemen (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The "New Normal" of Daily Deaths

A fighter for Libya's National Transitional Council plays guitar while battle rages in Sirte (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

See also Middle East Video: US Embassy Promotes Opposition's "Support Yemen" Campaign

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1930 GMT: Videos of protest and clashes across Syria today....

In Homs, where 21 people reportedly died, bystanders shelter from gunfire:

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Middle East Video: US Embassy Promotes Opposition's "Support Yemen" Campaign

Last week, opposition activists posted the video "Support Yemen --- Break the Silence" on YouTube. 

In the two-minute production, a series of men and women powerfully put out the message of a peaceful call for change, defying the repression of the regime --- "My heart beats to the tune of Yemen" --- steadily stating their demands for basic rights and asking, "Will you support us and break the silence?"

The initiative is notable in itself, but there is a diplomatic twist. The video's activists may claim, "The world is blind to Change Square," but the US Embassy in Yemen certainly is not. Yesterday it put the video on its Facebook page.

The Embassy makes no political comment but urges, "Check out this video by alumni of the MEPI LDF program." That is a reference to the Middle East Partnership Initiative, started under the George W. Bush Administration, and its Leaders for Democracy Fellowships. The annual three-month programme works with 20-25 "civic leaders", between the ages of 25 and 40, from the Middle East and North Africa.

The homepage for the programme sets out the combination of academic work and an internship in Washington: "participants gain a practical understanding of the interactions between government and civil society, while also gaining valuable knowledge, skills, and professional contacts to benefit their professional pursuits in their home countries".

Syria, Yemen (and Beyond): The Drumbeat of Protests and Killings

Claimed footage of snipers firing on protesters today in Sana'a, Yemen

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Life with Assad's Alawites

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2105 GMT: Al Jazeera English's Rula Amin reports via Twitter that at least seven people have died in Homs in Syria today.

Meanwhile, in Harasta, northeast of Damascus, an anti-regime protest chants in solidarity with those in other cities:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Crackdown Expands

1811 GMT: The claim made in the title of the video: "Syrian actor Jalal Al Taweel leads protest during martyr Ibrahim Shayban's funeral." Ibrahim Shayban was a 10-year old boy who was reportedly killed yesterday in Midan, Damascus.

1745 GMT: Claimed footage of Bahraini police beating a protester in Nuwaidrat after arresting him on Friday:

1735 GMT: Footage of the clashes in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, in which at least 12 protesters were killed by regime forces:

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Yemen 1st-Hand: In Taiz, Even the Women Carry Guns

Young Woman in Taiz "You've Got a Problem?" (Yemen Times)For the inhabitants of Taiz the first hours of the night are a living hell as they anxiously anticipate the armed conflict between the regime and armed opposition to start once again. Nights have been like this for months.

Signs of militarization have spread through the streets and even the women are carrying guns and rifles. The violence has spilled over from the revolution’s Freedom Square and security installations to almost every street and alley. And many innocent civilians have been killed in the process.

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Victors as Abusers?

Protesters in the Barzeh district of Damascus chant, "We don't bow down except to God"

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2034 GMT: The Local Coordinating Committees of Syria have released a statement describing the events that took place today in Syria:

The Governorate of Idlib has witnessed a fierce military campaign that involved the death of several dozen martyrs from the village of Binnish alone, along with dozens of forced disappearances and arrests. Most of the villages and towns in the Idlib Governorate reported gunfire and a complete shutdown of telephone, satellite, and Internet communicatons.

In Binnish, a massive number of mourners, including more than 10,000 people who were able to travel in from neighboring villages, came out to hold funerals for the martyrs.

Nighttime demonstrations began all over Saraqeb and Idlib proper, and continued in a number of Governorates. In the Damascus suburbs, protesters came out in Douma, Harasta, Saqba, Zamalka, Daraya, Irbeen, Kafrbatna, and Jdeidet Artouz. Protesters were chanting for the toppling of the regime and for the victory of Homs and the cities under siege.

Homs, Daraa, and other neighborhoods were also subjected to a major military campaign, according to activists and confirmed by the LCCS:

Homs, as usual, did not fail to hold nighttime demonstrations; protesters came out in most neighborhoods. Security forces responded by firing on protesters in Dablan, Insha’at, and Khaldieh. In Hawla, Ghouta, and Qasir, security forces injured two protesters. Even Rastan held nighttime demonstrations, and today Homs experienced new kidnappings: Mrs. Sawsan Al-Saghir, her daughter Qamar Al-Rajab, and Mrs. Al-Rajab’s 1-year old twins Bahaa and Diaa were kidnapped.The Shabbiha kidnapped them from their home in Bayada.

In Qamishli, Deir Ezzor, Bokamal, Daraa, Basr Al-Harir, Hirak, Hara, and Daeel, thousands protested. Security forces fired on protesters in the Jabileh neighborhood to disperse them.

People in Douma, the Qadam neighborhood in Damascus, Homs, and Rastan were all subjected to a campaign of random arrests.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: An Activist's Death Sparks Protests

Demonstration in Aleppo, Syria last night, expressing solidarity with the slain Meshaal Tammo

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Bahrain Special: Zainab Omran Tells Her Story of Abuse in Detention --- Part 2
Yemen Feature: Nobel Prize Winner Karman "Our Revolution is Uniting Yemen"
Bahrain Special: Zainab Omran Tells Her Story of Detention at City Center Mall
Saturday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Celebration in Yemen, A Killing in Qamishli

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2217 GMT: Mohammad Sudam, a Reuters correspondent in Yemen, was kidnapped on Saturday night in Sana’a by forces loyal to defected General Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, according to Ministry of Defence announced on Sunday.

Sudam, who is also a translator for President Saleh, was arrested at a checkpoint run by Al Ahmar’s troop as he travelled from Sana’a airport to his house.

The Yemen Journalist’s Syndicate condemned the arrest of Sudam and called for his immediate release.

2215 GMT: We are getting unconfirmed reports that the Syrian military is shelling Homs, the country's third-largest city, tonight. It is impossible to verify this at the moment, as almost all communication with the city is cut off.

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US Feature: The Secret Memo Justifying The Assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki (Savage)

A personal note on this story by Charlie Savage of The New York Times --- on Saturday, I heard a well-placed US official express pride that the Obama Administration had abolished the phrase "War on Terror" and then, moments later, declare that Washington fought itself in an ongoing wars with extremists and terrorists.

The official then proceeded to lay out the rationalisation summarised below for drone strikes from Pakistan to Yemen and the killing of Anwar al-Awalki, though he insisted that this was not "assassination": anyone "taking part in the war between the United States and Al Qaeda and posed a significant threat to Americans" is a legitimate target.

Note, however, this sentence in the article --- a point which was not addressed by the official I heard --- "the memorandum does not independently analyze the quality of the evidence against" someone marked out for death....

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