Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Defiance

An insurgent fires at a regime tank in Idlib Province in the northwest

See also Syria Video Special: Interview of Paul Conroy, Survivor of Baba Amr
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Assad Will Have to Kill Us All"

---

2200 GMT: After clashes in Sitra in Bahrain today, a police SUV lost control and hit a wall, then burned. The Ministry of Interior reported that four policemen were injured.

An EA correspondent reports, "Sitra is now blocked by police am trying to find away in. Expectations of raids on houses & arrests on the island".

2125 GMT: A candle-lit march in Jidhafs in Bahrain tonight in honour of those killed in violence since protests began in February 2011:

1445 GMT: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said that the Syrian regime is committing a crime by refusing aid for civilians: "We must defend international values ...while such atrocities continue. The fact that aid is prevented and access is refused to United Nations officials constitutes another crime."

Davutoğlu, who had talks in Istanbul on Friday with representatives of the opposition Syrian National Council, continued, "The international community has the responsibility of sending the strongest message to Syria that this savagery must stop." He confirmed that Ankara was preparing a new "Friends of Syria" conference, expected towards the end of March, following last month's meeting in Tunis.

A Turkish diplomat said the SNC did not request permission to set up an office to send weapons to fighters against the regime inside Syria.

1345 GMT: The bodies of journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik, slain on 22 February in the shelling of the media centre in Baba Amr in Homs in Syria, have been handed over to diplomats in Damascus.

1305 GMT: Residents in Daraa in southern Syria say that an exploding car killed seven people and wounded eight on Saturday.

Syrian State news agency SANA, claimed, "A terrorist suicide bomber on Saturday detonated a car he was driving." It reported two people were killed and 20 wounded.

1245 GMT: It looks like the Bahraini regime is on the defensive about the cancellation of the visit of Amnesty International (see 1050 GMT). The Information Affairs Authority has put out a further statement:

The government of Bahrain would like to provide clarifications about Amnesty visit cancellation.

NGO visas for Bahrain are valid for 5 days excluding weekends. Visa regulations are being revised. Amnesty's request to visit was for 1 week. The Minister of Human Rights personally requested to meet with Amnesty representatives to best assist them and explain the immigration law.

Amnesty could enter Bahrain and there will be no problem even if their visit crossed by a few hours the 5 days allowed. More importantly Amnesty could obtain visas for a repetitive 5 days visit to Bahrain.

Despite these personal insurances Amnesty chose to cancel their visit to Bahrain. Bahrain regrets that Amnesty tried to link this issue to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture delaying his visit;the 2 issues are unrelated.

Bahrain and its government reiterate their commitment to the protection and promotion of Human Rights.

1105 GMT: The Red Cross says it has been told by Syrian authorities it cannot enter the Baba Amr district in Homs until mines and booby traps are cleared.

1055 GMT: Libya's Muslim Brotherhood has joined other Islamist factions to establish a new political party.

Elections will be held in June for a National Assembly that will draft a new constitution.

Lamine Belhadj, who heads the committee that is working to set up the new party, said, "This is the founding conference of a national, civil party with an Islamic frame of reference. It is being established by the Muslim Brotherhood and many independents who are not affiliated with any Islamic organisations."

1050 GMT: Bahraini authorities say Amnesty International staff can have visa for a fact-finding mission but have to leave the kingdom on weekends.

The statement by the Information Affairs Authority follows Amnesty's decision to cancel its trip to the Gulf nation because of the five-day visa limit.

The opposition has called for a major protest march during the Bahraini weekend next Friday.

1040 GMT: In Syria, we are still awaiting news that a Red Cross/Red Crescent aid convoy can enter the devastated Baba Amr section of Homs. The convoy was able to get into Syria's third-largest city on Friday but has been blocked from entered the neighbourhood shelled and taken over by regime forces last week.

On Friday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the General Assembly condemned the "major assault on Homs": "Civilian losses have clearly been heavy. We continue to received grisly reports of summary executions, arbitrary detentions and torture....This atrocious assault is all the more appalling for having been waged by the government itself, systematically attacking its own people."

Meanwhile, there is an unconfirmed report that 44 soldiers who attempted to defect in Idlib Province were executed, as the Syrian army moved on the village of Ain al-Beida, not far from the border with Turkey.

Syrian State news agency said a suicide car bomb exploded today in Daraa in the south, causing "multiple casualties". The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least two people were killed and several others wounded.

0745 GMT: Footage from Thursday of Bahraini police accosting and slapping an elderly man in Aldair:

0725 GMT: At one point during EA discussion of Friday's Live Coverage of Syria, James Miller said simply, "The protests are huge."

After a week dominated by the storyline of the regime siege and takeover of the devastated Baba Amr section of Homs, the message yesterday across Syria was one of resistance. From Qamishli in the northeast to Binnish in the northwest to Aleppo Province to Homs itself, crowds gathered to express solidarity with those who had died and who still face death in Baba Amr, while promising that the challenge to the Assad regime will continue.