Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Relative "Calm"?

Syrian security forces fire on students at Aleppo University, killing at least four (see 1015 GMT)

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2025 GMT: Yemen. After holding out for a month against his dismissal, the nephew of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh has finally departed as head of the Presidential Guard.

"I witnessed the handing over of the command of the Third Brigade from General Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh to Abdulrahman al-Halili, who was appointed by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi," United Nations envoy Jamal Benomar told reporters. "This measure takes place based on orders by Hadi and I am confident that the president will lead the country towards the shore of safety."

President Hadi had issued the order last month for General Saleh and Air Force Commander General Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, a half-brother of President Saleh, to leave their posts.

Saleh al-Ahmar refused, with troops loyal to him at one point laying siege to Yemen's international airport, but finally relented on 14 April.

2015 GMT: Syria. Back from a break to find confirmation that Alepppo University, after the death of four students at the hands of regime forces and arrests of dozens more, has suspended classes for 10 days:

Dear students, due to the current situation, classes of theory-based majors will be suspended until the beginning of exams.

Classes of practice-based majors and institutes will be suspended until 13-5-2012, in order for the practice-based exams to take place.

1625 GMT: Syria. Another clip of Syrian security forces mobilising at Aleppo University, where at least four students were killed last night in raids:

1618 GMT: Tunisia. A Tunisian court has convicted the head of a private TV station for disrupting public order and violating moral values by airing the animated film Persepolis, which some religious leaders say insults Islam.

The court in Tunis ordered Nabil Karoui to pay a 2,400 dinar (£964) fine after his station Nessma TV aired the movie, which includes a depiction of God, in October.

The court convicted Karoui of causing "troubles to the public order" and "offence to good morals" but threw out a charge of "offence against a sacred item".

Karoui said the ruling was a negative signal that "strikes a blow not only at freedom of expression, but creative freedom": "You can't be half-guilty and half-innocent."

The US Ambassador, Gordon Gray, has also commented, "I am concerned and disappointed by this conviction...[which] raises serious concerns about tolerance and freedom of expression in the new Tunisia."

1548 GMT: Syria. An amazing video --- in the last week of January, the Free Syrian Army had taken up positions across many suburbs of Damascus, particularly in Irbeen, east of Damascus. In the first week of February, the Syrian army stromed those locations and retook control. At the time, activists said that soldiers fired thousands of rounds to intimidate the public into submission. Now, we have this video, dated February 1st, that appears to have been leaked from a dissident soldier, showing the storming of Irbeen:

1526 GMT: Syria. The LCCS reports that 22 have been killed so far, including 6 students in Aleppo:

6 martyrs fell in the dorm of Aleppo University ,6 martyrs in Homs, 3 martyrs fell in Damascus Suburbs, 2 martyrs in Daraa, 2 martyrs in Hama,1 martyr in Idlib, 1 martyr in Hasakeh.

1500 GMT: Syria. Funerals have been held of the son of a major opposition political leader and another high ranking member of Syrian Social Nationalist Party after they were killed last night.

Ismail Haidar, son of Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) President Ali Haidar, and Fadi Atawneh was killed on the al-Mahnaya junction on the road between Homs and Masyaf, according to Syria's official news agency, SANA.

The car was reportedly mobbed by unknown gunmen, who riddled the vehicle with bullets, killing the pair instantly, Mohammad Zahweh, SSNP head of the Syria branch, told Al-Akhbar

The Syrian government says terrorists killed the two, but the opposition has claimed that they were killed by the government, or Assad sympathizers, and has held a large funeral today in Masyaf today:

1445 GMT: Syria. Syria activists make a shocking claim about the death of one of the students in Aleppo:

Samer Qawas, a student in the first year of Islamic Studies from Idlib, was martyred after shabiha threw him from the fifth floor in the 17th unit in the dorms.

1433 GMT: Syria. The Syrian Uprising 2011 Information Center posts some additional context about the raids in Aleppo, and a possible explanation of the "evictions":

University students have always played a key role in the revolution, especially the students of Aleppo University. To avoid embarassment during the presence of the UN observers the regime has now decided to close the university grounds "for maintenance" until their mission expires on 13/05/2012.

Last night Assad's forces once again stormed the campus. 4 students were reportedly martyred in the gunfire and dozens have been arrested while the rest have been forced to leave. The video shows the trashed and empty halls of residence - some rooms have been burned.

Videos have surfaced showing the dormitories reportedly ransacked by security:

The Guardian has also posted a collection of videos from the university.

1408 GMT: Syria. Looking to Aleppo, activists reported that large amounts of security forces arrived earlier today, surrounding the campus of the University. This video clearly shows security gathering outside the gates of the University:

Apparently, arrests were made, and there were many clashes. At least 4 students were killed. There are reports that many others are wounded, and have been removed by their peers from the scene.

Apparently, the rest of the students were evicted from the University dormitories, perhaps while police are searching the dorms. This video shows students standing in the streets outside the University. There are rumors that Syrian State TV has arrived, and is filming the actions of police. Already, activists are claiming that police are planting evidence (weapons and other contraband) inside the dorms:

The story in Aleppo is very confusing at this moment, and it appears that things are still developing. We're working to confirm as many details as possible.

1359 GMT: Syria. The protests in Syria have regularly occurred in nearly every city and town for the last 14+ months. And protesting has proven to be a very dangerous activity. Many of the deaths in Syria have followed a familiar pattern - security forces shooting at crowds of dissenters. The presence of peaceful protests threatened the regime enough to spark the first crackdowns, and the first deaths. Today we are seeing more protests, and more direct action against dissenters, in several key cities.

With news that the Syrian regime may have killed 4 students at Aleppo University, we note this protest in Daraa University:

And this protest, reportedly near the campus in Deir Al Zour:

This is reportedly a student protest in Ma'arr Shoureen, a town in Idlib province, in an area routinely raided by soldiers:

It's not just students protesting today. This crowd reportedly gathered in Artouz, a southern suburb of Damascus:

We've also seen videos of many protests across Idlib, in many districts of Hama, Daraa, and several suburbs of Damascus.

1334 GMT: Syria. The death toll nation wide may be relatively small, but the suffering in Homs is always palpable. There are reports of a renewed government assault on several central districts of Homs. According to the LCCS, the death toll there is rising:

"The number of martyrs in the governorate of Homs has reached 5 now, 3 of which were killed by the regime's army and 2 by snipers. One of the martyrs is a defected soldier."

In the Khalidiya district, sniper fire reportedly broke out today, and the LCCS has posted this video, which they say shows a body in the street. Activists cannot reach the body due to the sniper fire, according to the report:

Homs is no stranger to violence, even on a "calm" day. Activists uploaded this video, reportedly showing yesterday's shelling of the Bayada district that left many buildings on fire:

James Miller takes over today's live coverage. Thanks to Scott Lucas for getting us through the morning.

1224 GMT: Syria. Claimed footage of students gathering at Aleppo University to protest last night's attacks by security forces that killed at least of their classmates:

1118 GMT: Egypt. At a press conference, a spokesman for the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces has responded to yesterday's attack on protesters near the Ministry of Defence, killing 11, with the position that the sit-in was "dangerous" as it was by sensitive buildings --- Tahrir Square, he said, would be far better for the demonstration.

The spokesman declared SCAF is committed to handing over power by 30 June or even before: "We are committed to the integrity of the Presidential elections. We have no interests in any specific candidate."

1104 GMT: Syria. A demonstration at an agricultural college in Deir ez Zor Province:

1054 GMT: Egypt. Security forces rescued the Governor of Suez and board members of a local stone quarry late Wednesday after angry workers surrounded the governorate's headquarters.

Protesting the governor's failure to deal with alleged corruption in The Quarry Project, workers chanted that the board members were "thieves". Among their demands was revising inflated salaries of staff who "don't really do anything real," according to an activist.

Suez security forces rescued Hashem and the board members unharmed.

1044 GMT: Tunisia. A Tunisian court has imprisoned two policemen for 20 years each for killing a protester, the first punishment of security officials over the crackdown on the uprising that ousted the Ben Ali regime.

The court also fined the police officers 80,000 dinars ($60,000) each for their role in the death of Salim al-Hadhary. The money will go to the victim's family.

More than 300 people were killed during the Tunisian protests that began in December 2010 and toppled President Ben Ali on 14 January 2011.

1030 GMT: Syria. Sammy Katz reports for AFP from Baba Amr, the area besieged and shelled for weeks and then overrun by regime forces at the start of March:

Two months of bombardment reduced this central district of Homs city to nothing more than a heap of ruins. The walls of houses are pocked with bullets holes, punctured by tank shells and gouged by shrapnel.

In a deserted street, a mother with two children carries a green suitcase.

“We have gathered all our things. The house is no longer inhabitable. My husband and I are engineers, but there is no more work in town and so no money to fix it. I think we will emigrate,” sighs 55-year-old Umm Adnan.

Not one house has been spared, as if they had been built of clay and not concrete.

“May God forgive them for the evil they did to us,” Umm Abdo, 35, says, her voice choking with frustration as she and her husband gather their possessions from what was once the family home.

1015 GMT: Syria. Back from an academic break to find the claim of Syrian activists that security forces stormed student dormitories at Aleppo University late Wednesday night, killing at least four students and wounding many others with tear gas and live ammunition.

Around 1500 students were protesting in their quarters adjacent to the main campus late Wednesday when security forces and pro-regime gunmen swept into their residences, firing tear gas and then live ammunition to disperse them (see video at top of entry).

Raids and intermittent gunfire continued until early Thursday morning.

A student activist said dozens of people were wounded, some critically, and around 50 students were arrested. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria said five students were killed and about 200 arrested, while the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four students were slain.

The protest before the attack:

0740 GMT: Egypt. A day after attacks that killed 11 demonstrators, followed by protest marches by thousands, the Supreme Commission for Presidential Elections has referred three candidates to the public prosecutor for violating campaigning rules. Former Muslim Brotherhood member Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi, and former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa are accused of organising campaigning conferences in the Assiut branch of al-Azhar University and the universities of Assiut and Mansura.

Both Fotouh and Morsi suspended their campaigns after yesterday's violence near the Ministry of Defence.

Candidates Khairat al-Shater and Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, both disqualified from the Presidential race, were also referred to the public prosecutor. Many of Abu Ismail's supporters, protesting his exclusion, were in the sit-in attacked on Wednesday.

0730 GMT: Syria. Electronic Frontier Foundation reports a new "upgrade" in the cyber-war against activists:

Since the beginning of the year, Syrian opposition activists have been targeted using several Trojans, which covertly install spying software onto the infected computer, as well as a multitude of phishing attacks which steal YouTube and Facebook login credentials. Last week, TrendMicro's Malware Blog described a website which purportedly offered Skype encryption software, but was actually a Trojan that installed DarkComet 3.3, a remote administration tool that allows an attacker to capture webcam activity, disable the notification setting for certain antivirus programs, record key strokes, steal passwords, and more--and sends that sensitive information to an address in Syrian IP space. This week, EFF has found an almost identical website located at http://skype-encryption.sytes.net.

EFF takes the reader through the process of deception and explains:

This application installs the DarkComet remote access tool on your computer. DarkComet allows an attacker to capture webcam activity, disable the notification setting for certain antivirus programs, record key strokes, and steal passwords from your computer. Unlike the version of DarkComet described in the TrendMicro post, which is detectable by some anti-virus software, this version of DarkComet is not detectable by any anti-virus software at this time.

0550 GMT: Syria and Egypt. Wednesday started dramatically in Syria and Egypt. More than 20 Syrian troops reportedly died in clashes with insurgents in Deir ez Zor Province and in Harasta near Damascus, while in Cairo, 11 protesters were slain by plainclothes attackers near the Ministry of Defence before the police and army stepped in.

In both cases, the headline violence eased, although the deaths continued. In Syria, for example, there was the story of Abdullah Mansour Al Masood, who suffered for two months from a gunshot to the stomach. By the end of Wednesday, 30 more people were dead, with the greatest toll in Aleppo and Homs Provinces.

So we watch the politics that follows. Will the Assad regime make moves towards an accommodation to ease the confrontation, as the first 30 of 300 United Nations observers move through the country? In Egypt, will the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces extend its reported commitment to transfer power to a new President on 24 May?