Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: President Assad's "Real War"

2027 GMT: Syria. All day there have been reports that multiple towns across Daraa province have been heavily attacked by the Syrian military. Now, those reports continue to come in, despite the late hour. Let's sort the reports.

There are reports that Tafas has been subjected to heavy machine-gun fire coming from various outposts and checkpoints controlled by the Syrian military.

Yesterday, videos reportedly showed large fields of crops that were lit on fire by "shabiha," paramilitary supporters of the Assad regime.

Earlier there were reports of wounded and dead in El Naymah, closer to Daraa city. Earlier videos showed tanks rolling through the town and heavy gunfire ringing out, reportedly from dug-in army positions:

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Activist Alkhawaja Ends His 110-Day Hunger Strike

Claimed footage of a convoy of security forces scattering a demonstration by women in A'ali on Sunday

See also Monday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Activist Nabeel Rajab Released from Detention

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1525 GMT: Activists are reporting that their colleague Zainab Alkhawaja, detained since 21 April, has been released.

Alkhawaja, the daughter of detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, has been briefly held on several occasions since the start of mass protests in February 2011, but this was her first extended stay behind bars. She was fined last week for alleged assault of a policewoman and was being held for participation in illegal marches.

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Bahrain Live Coverage: "Union" with Saudi Arabia?

Saudi King Abdullah and Bahraini King Hamad, 18 April 2010

See also Bahrain Live Coverage: Challenging the US Arms Sale

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1652 GMT: The lawyer of detained Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 96 of a hunger strike, is reported that the human rights activist has been moved from military hospital back to Jau Prison.

Alkhawaja's wife reported, after a two-hour visit on Sunday, that Alkhawaja was taking water and juice.

1650 GMT: An interesting turn in the Saudi Arabia-Bahrain "union" story, as the Saudi Foreign Minister appears to quash the idea at today's Gulf Co-operation Council meeting in Riyadh --- from Andrew Hammond of Reuters:

as plain as could be said - saud al-faisal: 'there was no step to have a special relationship between #bahrain and #saudi'. the fuss is over

— Andrew Hammond (@Hammonda1) May 14, 2012

union idea seems to have been majorly squashed at this meeting, not even clear declaration of intent for next summit. #saudi #bahrain

— Andrew Hammond (@Hammonda1) May 14, 2012

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Challenging the US Arms Sale

See also Bahrain Feature: A Very British System of Repression
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Pause in the Conflict?
Saturday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Marches and US Arms Sales

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Cartoon: Carlos Latuff1914 GMT: The wife of detained human rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, who is Day 95 of his hunger strike, has seen him for two hours today.

Khadija Almousawi said her husband appears in better condition, but he is still only taking water and juice.

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Bahrain Live Coverage: The Regime Plays for Time

Detained activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, on Day 83 of his hunger strike, with BBC correspondent Frank Gardner (see 1241 GMT)

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Idlib Explosions Raise the Stakes
Monday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Enter the Observers

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1710 GMT: Blurred but still notable footage of protesters scattering in Bani Jamra after a charge by police firing tear gas:

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Gathering of the "Friends of Syria"

A march in Bilad Alqadeem in Bahrain today, expressing solidarity with political leaders in prison

A protester amidst the tear gas in Salmabad in Bahrain on Saturday

See also Syria Document: Beginner's Guide to The 27 Points of the "Friends of Syria" Meeting
Syria Feature: An Insurgency Running Short of Ammunition
Bahrain Video Interview: Nabeel Rajab on BBC HARDTalk "Why This Regime and This Revolution Are Different"
Bahrain Video Special: A Tribute to Ahmed Ismail Hassan, Citizen Journalist of Salmabad
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Teenager is Shot to Death in Salmabad

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2005 GMT: CNN posts a video profile of prominent Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat --- abducted and badly beaten by gunmen in Damascus last August, he left the country but now hopes to return:

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Bahrain Opinion: The US and "The Wrong Side of History"

There used to be a saying, "History is written by the victors." That does not hold anymore. Though Bahrain's protest movement may have been suppressed, history is not going to remember this as the a valiant defence by Bahrain's regime against a violent minority, aided by malevolent foreign powers. This will be remembered as an apartheid regime crushing a democracy movement, assisted by its biggest foreign ally still portraying itself as a beacon of liberty and justice.

The White House appears unaware of this re-writing of history. That failure will not just land it on the wrong side of history. It will also put it, on a daily side, on the wrong side of those who observe and wonder for what "America" really stands. 

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Yemen Interview: President Saleh "I Will Retire When There Are Elections"

Six days after returning  to Yemen from medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, President Ali Abdullah Saleh spoke on Thursday with Aryn Baker of Time magazine and Sudarsan Raghavan of The Washington Post.

Beyond the standard rhetoric --- Saleh has authorised his Vice President to conduct dialogue with the opposition, even though that opposition is linked to Al Qa'eda, note two things.

First, any talk of negotiation is limited by Saleh's insistence that his main opponents, General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar and tribal leader Sheikh Sadegh al-Ahmar, cannot not have any influence: "[The initiative] says to remove all the elements causing tensions. Because if we transfer power and they are there, this will mean that we have given in to a coup."

And second, Saleh is playing up the image of his "alliance" with the US --- note how often he refers to co-operation with American intelligence.

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: So What Does Protest Mean?

See also Libya Snapshot: The TV Producer Keeping Qaddafi on the Air
Turkey-Israel Feature: Why There is a Downward Spiral in Relations
Friday's Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Expecting Defiance, Watching for Defections

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2035 GMT: Footage of a protest in Idlib in northwest Syria tonight:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: "Scare Tactics"

2040 GMT: Protest tonight in Homs in Syria:

2035 GMT: Notes of defiance in a New York Times summary of the regime's military incursion into Hama today (see 1030 GMT)....

“People here are ready with rocks,” said Omar Habbal, an activist....

In past weeks, Hama, a city of 800,000 on the corridor between Damascus and Aleppo, has emerged as a symbolic center of the nearly four-month uprising against 41 years of rule by the Assad family. Protests have gathered momentum, with a remarkable demonstration of tens of thousands on Friday, and youths have turned out nightly to taunt the government in Aasi Square, which they have renamed Freedom Square.

Though some have ambitiously described the city as liberated, the city’s administration still functions, and the military remains in force on Hama’s outskirts.

Residents said about 20 military vehicles and several buses carrying armed men in plain clothes, arrived in the early morning. As they entered, some of the security forces chanted in support of President Bashar al-Assad; some residents in the streets responded with, “God is great,” a religious invocation meant as defiance.

“The whole city woke up to defend against the raid,” Mr. Habbal said.

Some activists said residents threw rocks, and others tried to build roadblocks and barricades with whatever was available — burning tires, stones and trash dumpsters.

The plainclothesmen carried out dozens of arrests, mainly on the outskirts. One activist said 43, another put the number at 65, though the estimates seemed more guesswork. Residents reported gunfire, but the forces soon retreated.

“The security forces entered, then they left quickly,” said a 24-year-old student who gave his name as Abdel-Rahman. Like many, he insisted on partial anonymity. “People are waiting. They can’t control Hama unless they wipe out the people here.”

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