Syria Live: A Fight Against Hezbollah

2045 GMT: Fighting In Al Qusayr. This video reportedly shows rebels firing a Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft gun at Assad fighters near Al Qusayr today:

The feeling in Homs is grim. Contacts we've spoken to reiterate that they have resisted simplifying this conflict along sectarian lines, but that the regime has forced their hand by utilizing sectarian militias, including Hezbollah, to not only attack rebels but also to attack Sunni civilians. Other people who have told us they have contacts in Homs are saying similar things.

By morning, we may see the violence in central Syria explode in the most clearly sectarian fashion since the start of the conflict.

On the other hand, most opposition members have resisted sectarianism so far. Alawite, Druze, and Christian groups fight inside and alongside elements of the Free Syrian Army. While we've never been this pessimistic about sectarian violence in Syria, we're not without hope that the fighting will be limited to the groups that are already involved.

2000 GMT: Regime Kills its Own? This promises to be the most controversial video of the day:

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Syria Live: A Mass Killing Near Damascus

2107 GMT: Death Toll Rises. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 96 people have been killed so far today nationwide:

47 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs; 23 in Aleppo; 9 in Idlib; 8 in Homs; 3 in Daraa; 2 in Deir Ezzor; 2 in Hama; 1 in Raqqa; and 1 in Lattakia.

That number is over an hour old. With the amount of violence reported, expect it to rise by morning.

See our note on the casualty figures published by the LCC.

2059 GMT: Opposition Group Calls for Rebellion to "Correct its Path". The Local Coordination Committee of Douma has called for the unification of all rebel groups under the control of the Free Syrian Army east of Damascus. The goal is not just about combat effectiveness, however. The unification is important " for the sake of supporting and achieving the revolution goals in freedom, and dignity and in toppling the regime and building up a civil democratic state for all Syrians regardless of their backgrounds and religion."

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live: Protests Build Again Before Grand Prix

Police fear tear gas into a market in Sanabis on Thursday

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1605 GMT: Iraq. Two more Sunni Muslim election candidates have been killed less than a week before local votes.

At least 13 candidates, most of them Sunni, have been slain.

Saturday's election to select provincial council members is seen as a measure pf strength of the largely-Shia national government before the Parliamentary elections in 2014.

No group claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks in Baiji town, 180 kilometres (112 miles) north of Baghdad.

Another Sunni candidate escaped a roadside bomb in Balad Ruz, 90 km (55 miles) northeast of the capital, on Sunday.

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1959 GMT: Lebanon. New Prime Minister Tammam Salam has said he will work to unite the country and prevent the civil war in Syria from spilling over the border.

Salam, a former Minister of Culture, was named Prime Minister after receiving the support of 124 of 128 MPs. He was chosen after two days of consultations, following last month's resignation of Najib Mikati.

“I start from the necessity of taking Lebanon out of divisions and political tensions that were reflected in the security situation,” Salam said in his first public statement after being chosen.

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Syria Live Coverage: Fighting on the Lebanon Border

1840 GMT: Rebels attack Bases Near Ma'arrat al Nouman. Why are the rebels moving so slowly? Perhaps the absolute best answer to this question is found by looking at the Ma'arrat Al Nouman, in Idlib province.

The city, a rebel stronghold, is flanked by two Assad bases, one to the south and the other to the east. These bases have been surrounded, isolated, pounded by mortars and rockets, and raked by snipers. But months have gone by, and the bases are still in regime control. Even with captured firepower, the rebels have been unable to crack the bases' outer defenses. Until the bases can be breached, a significant amount of rebel fighters and firepower is tied down. Furthermore, the bases still have the ability to launch attacks, especially artillery attacks, and the bases have been given significant air support by the Assad regime.

Here's some video reportedly taken near the Wadi Deif base, east of the city (map).

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Syria Live Coverage: A Snapshot of the Cost of War in Aleppo

1550 GMT: Today's death Toll. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 75 people have been killed so far today across the country - including 10 children:

27 martyrs were reported in Aleppo; 23 in Damascus and its Suburbs; 11 in Homs; 8 in Dara;3 in Idlib; 2 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Hama.

Several areas are under attack today, shelled by artillery and bombed from the sky, as fighting is intensifying in several districts, including the northeast. That rising violence, and the spread of fighting in some Kurdish districts, has convinced many residents to leave today. A video shared by Red Tornadoes in the comments shows the traffic leaving the Ashrifiyeh district, but it also matches many other reports we've seen today. Orient News interviewed a Kurdish activist who discussed the growing crisis there (video - Arabic):

See our note on the figures published by the LCC.

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Lebanon (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Prime Minister Resigns --- What Next?

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Najib Mikati1825 GMT: Turkey and Palestine. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that he may travel to Gaza and the West Bank in April.

The statement follows Friday's reconciliation between Ankara and West Jerusalem, with Israel’s apology for the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.

“I may eventually visit Gaza and the West Bank in April. This visit would take place in the context of a general effort to contribute to the resolution process [of the Palestinian issue],” Erdoğan told reporters.

1755 GMT: Bahrain. Security forces have fired tear gas to prevent protesters from reaching the house of Nabeel Rajab, the imprisoned head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Riot police clashed with hundreds of people marching for Rajab, sentenced to two years in prison on charges of backing “illegal” protests.

Authorities also set up roadblocks to keep cars from reaching the house.

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Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Concludes Trip with Netanyahu Meeting

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu at the grave of Theodor Herzl at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem (Photo: Getty)

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2002 GMT: Lebanon. The statement of Prime Minister Najib Mikati as he resigned, citing divisions on key issues and calling for the formation of a national unity government: "I announce the resignation of the government, hoping that this will open the way for the major political blocs to take responsibility and come together to bring Lebanon out of the unknown."

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Syria Live Coverage: Fighting Escalates Near Damascus

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1544 GMT: Insurgent Advance Near Golan Heights. Insurgents commanders said they have seized a Syrian military intelligence compound in the southern Hauran Plain near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The compound near the Yarmouk River in the town of Shagara, 8 kilomtetres (5 miles) from a cease-fire line with Israel, fell after a five-day siege, opposition sources said.

"We have completely taken over this security compound this morning. It's a command centre for the shabiha [pro-Assad militia]," said Abu Iyas al-Haurani, a member of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade. "Anyone who was arrested in the Yarmouk Valley was sent to this military intelligence headquarters to be tortured and it has a strategic importance. With its fall we have completed our liberation of the town of Shagara."

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Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus

1930 GMT: Death Toll Nearing 200. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 189 people have been killed so far today:

96 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs most of them in the bombing that targeted Al-Hayat Bridge in the capital, 32 in Daraa, 32 in Aleppo, 11 in Homs, 9 in Idlib, 4 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, and 2 in Raqqa.

"Most of them" in Damascus does not mean all of them. So far the death toll would be a high average amount even if it were not from the car bombs, and the day is not over yet.

1621 GMT: Football Player Killed in Rebel Mortar Attack. Yesterday we reported that rebel mortar attacks hit several locations in the Tishreen district of Damascus, including one of the Presidential palaces. However, the Tishreen neighborhood also contains the most important stadium in Damascus, annd mortars also fell in a front of a hotel housing football players, killing one player, 19 year old Youssef Suleiman of the Homs-based al-Wathbah club, and wounding several others.

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