1650 GMT: I've just finished a long conversation with ITV's Bill Neely, where we compared notes between his observations and BBC's Lyse Doucet's own reports.
Neely says that both reports seem similar. However, Neely has clarified many aspects of his report which I will summarize below:
Hasiyweh (here on the map) is a village primarily made of Sunnis. According to Neely, the river divides the village, half of which the rebels control and the other half of which the military controls. The rebels use the orchards and nearby homes to attack the Intelligence Headquarters to the east:
About 1,600 Palestinian prisoners are fasting to protest administrative detention, under which Israel can hold people indefinitely without charge. They are also challenging solitary confinement, detention without charge and restrictions on family visits, education, and other privileges.
Two of those protesting, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, are on th 72nd day of hunger strikes.
The Addameer official said, after a meeting on Wednesday night in Nafha Prison between the Prison Service and leaders of the hunger strike, "There might be a positive response in the next few days." She said the Prison Service "agreed to allow visits for families from Gaza" and to revoke a range of restrictions on prisoners, including a ban on education and other privileges. She added that an agreement on moving prisoners out of solitary confinement was also on the table.
Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman confirmed the Nafha meeting, saying it was part of an ongoing process of consultations between detainees and a committee examining prison conditions.
1905 GMT: A man claiming to be Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman for former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, has denied claims that he was captured this week by forces of the National Transitional Council, outside of Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte.
"This information is a lie and does not reflect reality," the man said in a live telephone interview with Syrian-based Arrai television, an outlet for declarations by Qaddafi and his allies.
On Thursday, NTC field commanders said Ibrahim had been captured as he attempted to flee Sirte in a car. A spokesman for the NTC's Misrata military council said the next day: "We cannot confirm he was arrested."
Meanwhile, the NTC has declared a two-day truce to allow civilians to leave Sirte, as its forces continue to try to take one of Qaddafi's last two strongholds.
And in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the first commercial flight since March --- a jet from Istanbul --- has landed.
Flags representing Turkey and Libya's new leadership flew outside Mitiga International Airport as the plane touched down.
A U.N. Security Council resolution had imposed a no-fly zone in March.
1855 GMT: An EA reader asks if there has been any footage of protests in the Deir Ez Zor area of northeast Syria this weekend --- a couple of answers among many clips, beginning with the Al Arfi neighbourhood:
Friday, February 1, 2013 at 9:26 |