Syria 1st-Hand: With the Monitors in Zabadani "A City Under Siege" (Robertson)

A rally in Zabadani awaits the arrival of Arab League monitors

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CNN's Nic Robertson has been sending a series of Twitter messages today from Syria:

With the Arab League monitors on road to Zabadani, near Syria's border w/ Lebanon....Main road betwn Damascus and Beirut seems quiet with no checkpoints, but 10 kilometres from Zabadani onwards like ghost town, looks like front line. See people fleeing on foot, no possessions, say running from gunfire. People also fleeing in small vans, tell us Army shooting. They afraid and leaving now. Say tanks in central square being pulled because Arab League monitors coming.

Inside Zabadani now, deserted where we are. Lots of destruction, downed power line, see a few pro-Assad forces. Lots of Army checkpts to get into town, have seen dozens of people fleeing on foot and in cars....

We are with the Arab League monitors at a huge anti-Assad rally in the center of Zabadani....

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The Latest from Iran (15 January): Sound and Fury over "Intelligence" and Assassinations

See also Iran Photo Feature: Former Revolutionary Guards Commander Warns the Supreme Leader --- What Happened Next?
The Latest from Iran (14 January): Dealing with the Currency

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2225 GMT: Elections Watch. An EA correspondent makes an important addition to our earlier news (see 2015 GMT) that the Ministry of Interior had reinstated three MPs and prominent critics of President Ahmadinejad --- Ali Motahari, Hamidireza Katouzian, and Ali Abbaspour --- as candidates in March's Parliamentary election:

The Khabar Online item has been since updated --- it is now saying that it is unclear on which list those names featured. The Minister has passed on separate lists containing approved and disapproved candidate to the Guardian Council: so it could be that the Interior Ministry stood firm on its initial decision.

2045 GMT: Protest Watch. Green Voice of Freedom reports on more protests through graffiti on Iranian banknotes, such as this reference to Neda Agha Soltan and Sohrab Arabi, slain in the post-election conflict, "Respecting Neda and Sohrab's blood, we don't participate in the elections (for Parliament in March)":

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Iran Photo Feature: Former Revolutionary Guards Commander Warns the Supreme Leader --- What Happened Next?

This week, former Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Alaei dared to warn the Supreme Leader about the consquences of represssion. In an article in Etelaat, Alaei wrote of the Shah's response to the Qom uprising of 9 January 1978, noting, “The wrongful behaviour of the Shah’s security forces...amplified the people’s dissatisfaction with the monarchy and helped maintain it. As the number of people killed on the streets, imprisonments and political prisoners rose, the Shah’s regime essentially lost its valour too.”

This weekend, the regime offered its response to Alaei. As 12 current Revolutionary Guards commanders denounced Alaei as an agent of the "enemy", a crowd gathered in front of his home, chanting derisory slogans and covering the property in graffiti.

Alaei's reaction? "I will spend my whole life to fight against tyranny".

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Syria Interview: Activist "LeShaque" on Social Media and the Syrian Revolution

LeShaque's Avatar on TwitterIn Syria, we are unbelievably dependent on social media. For organizing, you create a Facebook group. For calling a protest, you create a Facebook page. For reporting news, you create a Twitter account. For communicating with other activists, you use Skype. For showing the protest to the world, you use YouTube. There are signs in Syria that say, “Thank you, YouTube.”

If this didn’t exist, the revolution would’ve been crushed immediately. There would’ve been another Hama massacre [the killing of tens of thousands in a rising in 1982] and the regime would have gotten away with it. Look at their behavior. Listen to the regime’s spokespersons. Listen to how much they complain about the media. They don’t complain about the protests as much as they complain about media.

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Bahrain Propaganda 101: The Countess of Wessex, a New PR Firm, and a Former British Ambassador (Whitaker)

Countess of Wessex and Prince Edward with King Hamad, 21 DecemberThis week, another PR company working for the Bahrain government emerged in Britain: Big Tent Communications, run by David Cracknell, former political editor of the Sunday Times.

Following the news that the Countess of Wessex had accepted lavish gifts of jewellery from Bahrain's royal family, The Guardian published an article on its website looking at the long and cosy relationship between Britain and the despotic regime in Bahrain. Cracknell then contacted The Guardian, describing himself as "an adviser" to the government of Bahrain and saying that it had asked him to request a right of reply.

Cracknell offered an article presenting "the counterview" of Bahrain. But the "counterview" he proposed would not come from some Bahraini spokesperson; it would come from Sir Harold "Hooky" Walker, a former British ambassador. This unwittingly reaffirmed the point made in the original article – that relations between Britain and the Bahrain regime are too close for comfort.

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Bahrain Document: A List of 56 People Killed Since 14 February 2011

Ali Alsheikh (killed Sept 2011) & Sayed Hashim (killed Dec 2011)Activist Mohammed Ashoor gives the names and claimed cause of death of 56 people slain since the start of the uprising in Bahrain on 14 February 2011. The list does not appear to include five policemen who have died in the violence:

1- Martyr Ali Mushaima - 14 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot in Al Daih
2- Martyr Fadhil Salman Al Matrook - 15 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot during the funeral of martyr Ali Mushaima
3- Martyr Ali Mansoor Khudair - 17 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot during the first Lulu attack [the assault by security forces on Pearl Roundabout, the symbolic centre of the protests]
4- Martyr Mahmood Abu Taki - 17 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot during the first Lulu attack
5- Martyr Ali Mo'men - 17 February 2011 - Killed near Lulu and left to die on the street
 near Al Gufool traffic lights
6- Martyr Isa Abdul Hussain - 17 February 2011 - Killed by splitting his head open near SMC [Salmaniya Medical Centre]

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A University Under Curfew

A crowd in Tunisia marks the first anniversary of the downfall of the President "Ben Ali, assassin!"

See also Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: How Long Can This Go On?

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1550 GMT: A Friday night protest in Imbaba against Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces:

1540 GMT: Footage of arrival of Syrian military in Kafrsita in Hama Province today:

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The Latest from Iran (14 January): Dealing with the Currency

See also Iran 1st-Hand: Detained Activist Mahdieh Golroo to Her Imprisoned Husband "Our Best Days Are Yet to Come"
Iran Feature: Israel's Mossad, Posing as CIA Officers, Recruited Anti-Regime Insurgents
The Latest from Iran (13 January): Beyond "Safe and Sane" --- Watching The Economy

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1744 GMT: At the Movies. Asghar Farhadi, director of the acclaimed Nader and Simin: A Separation, has written the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, challenging the order to close the House of Cinema, Iran’s largest organisation for cinema professionals.

Farhadi wrote, in an excerpt published by the reformist newspaper Shargh, “If the decision to dissolve the House of Cinema is based on the idea that the majority of the film community and members of the guild are in agreement with your method, then I suggest that you take a vote on this decision among the few thousand members of the House of Cinema.”

Dozens of directors, actors, and others in the film industry have signed open letters challenging the closure. The Ministry of Culture withdrew the ban earlier this week, saying it would await the decision of an administrative court.

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Iran 1st-Hand: Detained Activist Mahdieh Golroo to Her Imprisoned Husband "Our Best Days Are Yet to Come"

Sometimes, I stand for hours behind the wall --- like the Berlin Wall or the Great Wall of China --- that separates us. I stand there and talk of our memories --- of these ruthless torturers. The memories don’t allow me to be alone for even a second. I talk about the days ahead when we will build something better than what we had already built. Our best days are yet to come!

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Iran Feature: Israel's Mossad, Posing as CIA Officers, Recruited Anti-Regime Insurgents (Perry)

Jundullah leader Abdolmalek Rigi, executed June 2010Buried deep in the archives of America's intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush's administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives -- what is commonly referred to as a "false flag" operation.

The memos, as described by the sources, one of whom has read them and another who is intimately familiar with the case, investigated and debunked reports from 2007 and 2008 accusing the CIA, at the direction of the White House, of covertly supporting Jundallah -- a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization.

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