Libya, Syria (and Beyond) Liveblog: Where is Qaddafi's Family?

1954 GMT: NATO has conducted 120 sorties today, 42 of them hitting ground targets near Sirte, Bani Walid, and Hun, the last remaining areas with a heavy pro-Qaddafi presence.

1800 GMT: The World Food Programme [WFP] is tendering for 250,000 tonnes of gasoline on behalf of Libya's ruling interim council. The official statement reads:

At the request of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), WFP is looking to procure 250,000 metric tons of gasoline that would cover immediate life-saving humanitarian needs for one month. Fuel supplies have been disrupted by the fighting, and water and electricity supplies depend on fuel-run generators. Fuel is also required for hospitals, ambulances and vehicles to distribute critically needed medicines, food, water, and other supplies.

1730 GMT: Following the Eid prayers, Muslim Brotherhood called on Egyptians to protect the "freedoms" against "any manipulation of the people’s will or choice" and reemphisezed the importance of handing over power to a civil government as soon as possible.      

1710 GMT: Asset freezes and bans on business interactions were imposed on Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, top presidential advisor Bouthaina Shaaban, and Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, the US Treasury Department announced.

1645 GMT: Four video footages showing demonstrations in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo respectively.

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Iraq Flashback: Bush and Blair's Agreement to By-Pass the UN for War

Tony Blair and George W Bush, April 2002Britain and the US were planning to take action against Saddam Hussein without a second UN resolution five months before the invasion of Iraq, a newly released letter from Tony Blair's office shows.

A letter from Blair's private secretary reveals that "we and the US would take action" without a new resolution by the UN security council if UN weapons inspectors showed Saddam had clearly breached an earlier resolution. In that case, he "would not have a second chance".

That was the only way Britain could persuade the Bush administration to agree to a role for the UN and continuing work by UN weapons inspectors, the letter says.

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The Latest from Iran (30 August): "Conflict & Retaliation"

Former President Mohammad Khatami (left) to Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest since February: "Just make a false confession, and Seyed Ali [the Supreme Leader] will pardon you (like me)" [by Eghbal Mahvari]

See Also, Iran Special: Assessing the Latest Cyber-Threat --- The "Rogue Certificate" (Arseh Sevom)
The Latest from Iran (29 August): Catching Up

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2009 GMT: Elections Watch. Akbar Torkan, Minister of Defence in the Rafsanjani Government of the 1990s, said today that the power of the military, the state, and even the Supreme Leader depends on republicanism and the ability for people to vote freely. He also said that the institutions of Iran are threatened if they have no free elections backing them, and thus no popular support.

1958 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Parvin Baharzadeh, assistant professor at Al-Zahra University and member of the "Gnosis Group, and several other people have been arrested by intelligence forces and sent to Evin Prison.

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Closing In on Qaddafi's Hometown

2018 GMT: Al Arabiya, Sky News, and our earlier report seem to be all leaning on a single source that Khamis Qaddafi has been killed. Andy Carvin asks, and we echo, where is the body? Why the rush to bury him? Are there pictures? Video? DNA samples?

The outside world has been burned by these sorts of reports before. During the fall of Tripoli, there were multiple reports, from sources inside the NTC, that many of Qaddafi's sons were detained. Those reports turned out to be false, and the only reliable report, that Mohammed Qaddafi was captured, was undone by his escape.

So far, we remain skeptical.

1911 GMT: Al Jazeera provides us this update, details on the claimed killing of Qaddafi's son and military commander, Khamis Qaddafi:

Khamis Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi's son, was killed in a battle between Tarhoni and Bin Walid on Sunday, according to a rebel commander in Tripoli who spoke to Al Arabiya.

Senior rebel officer, Colonel Al-Mahdi Al-Haragi, in charge of the Tripoli Brigade of the rebel army, told the Reuters news agency he had confirmation that Khamis was badly wounded in the clash near Ben Walid and Tarhoni.

He was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds and was buried in the area, Al-Haragi told Reuters, without giving the timing.

No independent confirmation of the death was available.

1900 GMT: A very safe, very dry James Miller finally has internet access, and so is able to update the readers on two major developments in Libya...

The first development is that Algerian Foreign Minister is claiming that Muammar Qaddafi's wife, daughter, two of his sons, and their children have crossed over the border into Algeria:

The Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, had reported from Tripoli over the weekend that six armored Mercedes sedans, possibly carrying Gadhafi's sons or other top regime figures, had crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria. Algeria's Foreign Ministry had denied that report.

Ahmed Jibril, an aide to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said if the report of Ghadafi relatives in Algeria is true, "we will demand that Algerian authorities hand them over to Libya to be tried before Libyan courts."

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Full Text of Leaked UN Document on Post-Gaddafi Libya

The full text of the leaked UN report on post-Gaddafi Libya calling for the deployment of military observers and police force for the transition period for elections:

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Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

We reported last week on the sentencing of 26-year-old Majid Jamali Fashi to death after he was convicted of the assassination of physicist Masoud Alimohammadi in January 2010.

The case always had intriguing elements, given Alimohammadi's supposed connections with Iran's nuclear programme; however, in January 2011, EA uncovered an entirely new dimension.

Jamali Fashi, a professional kickboxer, supported the regime by beating up protesters after the 2009 Presidential elections --- so how could he have be an enemy of the regime by working for Israel to murder an Iranian scientist and hinder Tehran's nuclear research?

Read on....

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Syria Document: New Leader of the Opposition Ghalioun "We Must Act Swiftly and Decisively"

It is paramount that we act swiftly and decisively to erode and completely isolate the Syrian regime --- until it is compelled to lay down the tools of excessive violence it is using against the peaceful protesters and opens up serious channels of negotiation under Arab or international auspices. This must be done with a view to abandoning the current formula for rule that is predicated on the monopolisation of power, corruption and a brutal security apparatus. It must be done with a view to moving towards a multiparty democratic system that guarantees the rights of all Syrians and ensures their freedoms and the future of their children.

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The Latest from Iran (29 August): Catching Up

Maya Neyestani's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

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2035 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President (cont.). More on Ayatollah Khamenei's apparent chiding of the Government (see 1555 GMT) in a meeting with the President and Cabinet....

Ayatollah Khamenei, demanding amicable relations amongst Government bodies, called on the Ahmadinejad Administration to refrain from "conflict and retaliation" in the face of criticism".

The Supreme Leader also insisted on a focus on post-Islamic Iran rather than the pre-Islamic era of the country. The President's Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has been heavily criticised for suggesting that other countries can follow an "Iranian" rather than an "Islamic" model.

Khamenei said, "In the issue of culture including books, art, art organizations, we must relentlessly maintain the Revolutionary and Islamic direction."

ni's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

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2025 GMT: Protest Watch. Kalemeh reports that at least 16 Bazaaris were arrested this weekend for inciting and leading the protest at the Bazaar against the Government's value-added tax policy.

2010 GMT: The Battle Within. The strange tale of the regime "eulogist" who offered to pay anyone who would kill the President's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, continues.

Majid Reza Fouladi has rejected the report in Fars that he had announced a "big fitna (sedition) in mid September", to be launched by the Ahmadinejad camp. The Government is reportedly filing a complaint against the newspaper.

yestani's old man shows Libya's former leader Muammar Qaddafi to a young boy, "Our zoo is soon complete"

See also Wikileaks & Iran Flashback: How A Kickboxing Champion Became "Israeli Spy" & Was Sentenced To Death

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1555 GMT: Supreme Leader v. President. Khabar Online, the website of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, reports an apparent jab by Ayatollah Khamenei at President Ahmadinejad. The Supreme Leader said the Government had problems in its contact with elites. He added that Ahmadinejad's administration should discuss economic matters with experts and said that "defying criticism leads to nowhere".

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Restoring Order to Tripoli

Children in Zabadani, west of Damascus, call for the execution of Syrian President Assad

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1200 GMT: Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman for Muammar Qaddafi, has said that the former Libyan leader is ready to negotiate with the insurgents to form a transitional government, as opposition fighters continue their push toward Sirte, Qaddafi's hometown, east of Tripoli.

Ibrahim called the headquarters of the Associated Press in New York late on Saturday. He said he was calling from Tripoli and Qaddafi was still in Libya. Ibrahim claimed Qaddafi had appointed one of his sons, Saadi, to head the negotiations.

A top official in the National Transition Council, Ali Tarhouni, said the new government will not negotiate with Qaddafi unless he surrenders.

The opposition claimed claimed victory in Bin Jawad, east of Sirte, late on Saturday. The success opens the way for an advance of Qaddafi's remaining stronghold from multiple directions.

1105 GMT: An overnight demonstration in Tafas in southern Syria:

1100 GMT: A clip of Syrian troops keeping watch in the centre of the al-Bayada section of Homs:

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The Latest from Iran (28 August) It's the Ecology, Stupid

An overview of the ecological problems facing Lake Orumiyeh in northwest Iran

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1420 GMT:The US Hikers. The lawyer for US citizens Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, sentenced earlier this month to eight-year prison sentences on charges of espionage and illegal entry has said that he has filed an appeal.

Fattal and Bauer were arrested, along with American Sarah Shourd, who in July 2009 while hiking along the Iran-Iraq border. They had 20 days to appeal the sentence.

Shourd was freed on $500,000 last September and did not return for trial.

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