Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Let's Make It All About Iran

Presidents Assad and Ahmadinejad2040 GMT: Reuters reports a protest of about 300 people in the Druze city of Sweida in Syria. Police with sticks dispersed the demonstrators.

2020 GMT: An opposition fighter describes today's bombardment by regime forces of Misurata:

The port area was heavily shelled today and the destruction there is huge. I was there and saw for myself. Over 200 Grad missiles fell on the port area, including residential neighborhoods near the port. They shelled this area because the port is Misurata's only window to the outside world.

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Tunisia Snapshot: Turning Repression Into People's Art (Sandels)

Photo: Jonny Wallstrom (Zero Silence)Wassim Ghozlani is part of a collective of Tunisian artists and photographers called Artocracy in Tunisia who are aiming to bring the voices of the people back to the streets of the country, breathe new life into places like the police station in La Goulette and shed old images of government repression through a photography project called "Inside Out."

In several places inside La Goulette's former police headquarters hang portraits of regular Tunisians. They're young, old, women and men. One of them, flanked by a police stop sign and graffitti thrashing Ben Ali, shows a young woman staring angrily at the camera. Outside the station, passers-by are greeted by the portraits showing a young man and woman making funny faces, below.

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From Tunisia/Egypt to Libya/Iran: Notes of Caution on Sudden Change

Events will move to the breaking point, when someone holds a gun to someone else's head, and everyone is forced to react. With Mir Hossein Mousavi under house arrest, Mehdi Karroubi under the constant guard of security forces in his own home, Hashemi Rafsanjani's power being challenged on the Assembly of Experts, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term expiring, and the 2009 spirit of dissent reviving, the question is when that point is reached.

The earthquakes of Egypt and Tunisia built up for a long time on softer ground. It has taken, and will take, much longer for the fault lines to break the foundations of Iran's government. When it happens, the regime is likely to go quickly, and like a high-magnitude earthquake, the results will be felt far and wide.

We're already feeling the foreshocks, but the whole world is waiting for the big one.

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An EA Caption Competition: 4 Regime Leaders in Happier Times

Four gentlemen in happier times: deposed Tunisian President Zine Abedine Ben Ali, current Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, still-current Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, and ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Over to you, dear readers, for the appropriate inscription/epitaph: 

Libya, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Contrasts Heightened

2340 GMT: That, quite frankly, was a bizarre experience. No word on what has happened to Muammar Qaddafi, but Saif al Islam Qaddafi did appear to concede that some of the country is in the hands of the opposition. At the same time, there was the combination of the surreal threat --- drug dealers, foreign media, outside powers, Arabs and Africans --- and defiance.

More tomorrow. Meanwhile, coverage continues on our Live Feed from Al Jazeera English.

2338 GMT: Qaddafi's son concludes, "Our morale is high. May God make Libya a safe country. May God be with you."

2337 GMT: "We will fight to the last," he continues "We will not leave Libya." The Qaddafis will not allow Al Jazeera or Al Arabiya or the BBC to triumph.

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From Tunisia to Egypt to ???: The Demise of the Dictators

The revolts in the Middle East remind me of a beautiful Pashto poem from the lands that are now plagued by the Taliban: "Zay zay, abazo la ba ra-zay" --- "No matter where you go or are, you’ll show your true nature eventually.

Such is the case of the dictators of the Middle East. No matter what they call themselves ---, President, king, sheikh, emir, sultan or even the preposterous Guide of the Revolution --- at heart, they’re just cowardly, greedy, heartless tyrants. They are dictators who try to hide behind different guises, but in the end, they all show their true coloirs no matter how much they try to glorify their actions on their way to their demise.

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Tunisia Feature: An Interview with Rached Ghannouchi (Abedin)

Yesterday Rached Ghannouchi, the head of the al-Nahda Party, returned to Tunisia after more than 20 years in exile.

Al-Nahda, banned by the Ben Ali regime, is generally labelled an "Islamist" party, and there has been a lot of chatter about its intentions and policies. Ghannouchi has been giving a series of interviews to try and assuage any concerns and to set out the possibilities for the party.

Last Thursday, Mahan Abedin interviewed Ghannouchi for the site Religioscope....

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Tunisia (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Scorecard for the Protests

Saturday's Protest in Algiers1655 GMT: Egypt's Minister of Industry and Commerce Rachid Mohammed Rachid has raised worries over investment because of the effects of the situation in Tunisia, which "worries lots of people" and "raises questions about political stability". Rachid told reporters he was instructing assistants to issue daily statements about new foreign investment to give a reassuring message.

Egypt's stock market dropped 8% last week.

1650 GMT: In Tunisia, Larbi Nasra, the owner of Hannibal TV, and his son have been arrested and charge with high treason and conspiracy against state security.

The broadcasts of Hannibal TV have been suspended.

Nasra was close to the family of Leila Trabelsi, the wife of former President Ben Ali.

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Iran Snapshot: How Do You React to a Country Like Tunisia? (Tehran Bureau)

Earlier this week Tehran Bureau posted a series of first-hand reactions from Iranians to the fall of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia. A selection....

Text message circulating around Iran: "Tunis tunest [did it], Iran natunest [couldn't do it]."

Journalist, 28: "It's okay to celebrate for now. We did the same thing.... I'll tell you in about 20 years what you got yourselves into."

Anonymous on Persian-language website: "We revolted with a leader and an ideology and this is how it turned out for us. I feel sorry for the Tunisians, who brought about a revolution without leadership or an ideology."

Basij member, 37: "Agha [the Supreme Leader] was right about Islamic awakening and the Muslim world learning from the successful example of our revolution. Inshallah, the values of the Revolution will reach every corner of the Muslim world."

Tehrani joke: "Ben Ali, please tell Seyed Ali [Khamenei] to follow you wherever you go!"

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Tunisia Snapshot: US Media Try to Interpret the Uprising

UPDATE 0830 GMT: Mona Eltahawy, one of the most prominent activists on Twitter, has filmed a report for Time magazine on Tunisia, Youth, and Social Media:

Now that President Ben Ali has been toppled in Tunisia, international media are putting reporters into Tunis and interpreting what has and what will happen.

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