Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will the Observers Make A Difference?

1959 GMT: Before today started in Syria, the UN Human Rights investigators had already expressed concern that the violence escalated significantly before the deadline for the ceasefire had arrived.

"The commission is also concerned by reports of new arrests, especially in Hama and Aleppo."

With news that the wholesale shelling of Homs continued, activists reported that Assad's air force was conducting attacks against Idlib and Saraqeb, and that at least 50 people have been killed today, I wonder how long the the UN monitors can keep a straight face when saying that things have gotten better since the ceasefire.

1948 GMT: Activist Zainab AlKhawaja reports that she may be receiving preferential treatment by Bahraini police because she is so high-profile, but there may be a case filed against her for taking pictures of tonight's protests:

The last thing I heard was "you must go to the police station, there's a case against u" apparently for taking pics #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) April 16, 2012

Walking back to my car there was nobody on the streets but riot police started shooting lots of teargas #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) April 16, 2012

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Free Alkhawaja

One of Friday's "Free Alkhawaja" rallies in Bahrain --- see also our Bahrain Video and Photo Special

See also Bahrain Feature: A Call from Hunger Striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to His Family
Bahrain Video and Photo Special: Friday's "Free Alkhawaja Protests"
Lebanon Feature: Is Hezbollah's Syria Policy A Regional and Domestic Mistake?
Turkey Video Feature: Will the "Coup Trial" Heal Political Wounds?
Friday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Kingdom on Edge

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2045 GMT: On Friday night, Bahraini activist Zainab Alkhawaja was seized as she stood outside a military hospital and called out to her father, political prisoner Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, held inside on his hunger strike. She was released this afternoon.

Tonight Zainab returned. According to her mother, she was seized, tied to a wheelchair, and taken to the security room at the hospital.

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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: Intervention is Here

A funeral in the Khalidiaya section of the Syrian city Homs --- the six victims are wrapped in shrouds because there are no coffins left amidst the deaths and regime siege

See also Syria Special: Intervention is Coming --- So How Should It Be Done?
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Meeting in Tunis

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1800 GMT: One of the protests at today's funerals in Aleppo, Syria's second city (see 1148 GMT):

An anti-regime protest in Taibat Imam, Hama Province today:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Meeting in Tunis

Shelling of the Baba Amr section of Homs in Syria this morning

See also Syria Feature: Asking Again, "Will Aleppo Rise?"
Bahrain Feature: The Long Tentacles of the Regime's PR Octopus
Sudan 1st-Hand: Protests and Raids at the University of Khartoum
Thursday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Deaths of The Journalists

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2142 GMT: The Local Coordination Committees of Syria are now reporting that 97 people have been killed today nationwide, including victims of two "massacres."

Two massacres were committed while the Friends' of Syria Conference being held The Syrian regime committed two new massacres today in Homs and Hama; where the number of martyrs in Hama reached 30 in two separate massacres and the number of martyrs in the Khaldieh massacre in Homs reached 33. The number of martyrs in Syria today is 97 so far in different cities. The Local Coordination Committees regrets the world's inability to stop the regime's brutal violence, which is increases steadily and kills more innocent Syrian victims every day

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Yemen Interview: Nadia Al-Sakkaf "The Revolution Doesn't Relate to Daily Lives"

The Media Line's Felice Friedson posts this interview, by phone, with Nadia Al-Sakkaf, the editor-in-chief of The Yemen Times:

TML: Nadia, did Yemen go through a revolution?

AL-SAKKAF: It was a semi-revolution for Yemeni women in terms of being able to participate strongly in the public sphere in a way they had never done before. For certain women, it was the first time ever they had a voice which they could display publicly and feel safe and accepted by the male-dominated society. But other than that, I don’t think it had any sustainable or institutional element so I wouldn’t say it was a revolution, I would say it was a phenomenon that happened for a purpose and doesn’t have any long-term consequences.
 

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Opposition Expands

Claimed footage of Syrian troops and tanks moving into Ghouta suburb, east of Damascus

See also Syria Opinion: "Women Have Been Essential in the Uprising"
Bahrain Feature: Rubber Bullets --- Another "Non-Lethal" Weapon For The Police
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die But Opposition Slowly Advances

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2052 GMT: Earlier today (see 1535 GMT) we posted video of a march in Kafranbel in northwest Syria, with Free Syrian Army soldiers holding their weapons high. Now we are pointed to claimed footage of the insurgents standing in a "liberated" main square:

2045 GMT: Video from Dumistan in Bahrain on Friday, as police shoot tear gas inside a car --- a woman, reported to be driving, faints after she gets out of the vehicle:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Another Bloody Day

2102 GMT: Everything in Syria isn't about the death tolls, however. Because it's been such a busy day, we've neglected to report that there have been a large amount of peaceful protests across the nation. And many of those protests have lasted into the night.

This video was taken in Duma, Damascus, a city that has hosted some of the most impressive protests in the entire uprising in recent days:

This video was taken in Anadan, an important suburb of Aleppo and a stronghold for anti-government protests.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: From Defection to Insurrection

2156 GMT: Bahraini human rights activist Said Yousif Almuhafda shares two videos, which he has described as "foreign mercenaries attacking ladies with soundbombs in manama for no reason." We're not able to confirm any of those claims, and the quality of the video makes it difficult to determine what exactly is happening.

This video, however, we can confirm was taken earlier, giving a clear impression of the size of the protest rally earlier today. Though this rally was peaceful, reports of police disrupting protests with teargas and beatings have lasted well into the night:

2136 GMT: The US State Department is preparing to close it's embassies in Syria. According to the Washington Post,

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