Claimed footage of a mass funeral procession for Ezzat al-Baidee, the teenager whose death in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Monday was captured on video
Protesters in Homs last night give a satirical "welcome" to Syrian President Assad's birthday
2115 GMT: More criticism for the Syrian regime to consider tonight....
Three prominent Syrian clerics of the Alawite sect, to which President Assad belongs, have denounced the “atrocities” committed by the regime against protesters.
“We declare our innocence from these atrocities carried out by Bashar al-Assad and his aides who belong to all religious sects,” Mohib Nisafi, Yassin Hussein, and Mussa Mansour said in a joint statement from Homs.
The clerics continued, “The daily reports of kidnappings, killings and harassment of members of the Alawite sect are all untrue. They are designed and spread to cause divisions among people united against the regime....“The children of Homs, Sunnis, Alawite and Christians, have lived and will continue to live in coexistence and harmony.”
Then the clerics came out in opposition to the regime:
Six months have passed in this revolution and people have been killed or wounded. The climate is ripe for victory. There is no other way left to save the self except by joining the peaceful demonstrations.
This regime and its president will not rule you forever.
And then there are the nightly demonstrations --- the Kisweh section of Damascus:
A new UN fact-finding delegation is on the ground in Syria, accepting an invitation by the Assad regime to see for themselves what life is like. So far, the UN is not impressed. Some have debated whether the presence of the UN is causing Assad to step up attacks on civilians in order to discourage them from speaking to the UN mission.
Meanwhile, Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made a statement to the Human Rights Council during the 17th Special Session on the “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic” on August 22nd. Here is the full statement:
"Six soldiers and an officer were killed and 30 others wounded when Al-Qaeda militants attacked the camp of the 201 Brigade in Dofes," south of Abyan, capital of Zinjibar, the officer said.
The attackers had used the cover of a wooded area around the base to approach a unit of the brigade and opened fire with rocket-launchers and automatic weapons.
An official from a military hospital that took in the casualties confirmed the toll.
On Monday, government warplanes killed six presumed al-Qaeda fighters in Arkub, another village in Abyan province, that they had seized a day earlier.
1439 GMT: Al Jazeera is reporting that 18 people were killed across Syria yesterday, mostly in Homs. They are also reporting that 55 tanks are deployed in Deir Ez Zor (matches our reports), and Syrian security forces are dropping troops, via helicopter, in al-Khowria.
"We have given martyrs and some of us are injured... With all these efforts and sacrifices, as a result of this responsibility, a sense of unity has been formed," activist Ahmad Ramadan said.
"The council will convene in about two weeks to elect the chair and secretary... When it convenes it will adopt its bylaws," added Louay Safi, a US-based political scientist.
The dissidents declined to give out the names of council members and said the body, which brings together all opposition groups both from inside and outside Syria, will elect them after its first meeting.
"Coming together of all groups is a must despite all dangers. This delegation will bring different groups together," said Halis Halihi.
It is unclear, at this moment, whether the group actually represents the protesters in the streets of Syria.
Navi Pillay (2nd from left) with Bahrain officialsThe UN High Commissioner would like to stress that she made no such statement, and is disturbed by this blatant distortion of her words. She will formally request the Government officials who attended the meeting to issue a correction.
2115 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. Ali Akbar Javanfekr, former media advisor to President Ahmadinejad and now managing director of State news agency IRNA, reinforces his paper's line (see 2030 GMT): "The lying media, claiming the aupreme leader has refused the change of the intelligence minister, are executing new scenarios against the government and pretending the president isn't loyal to the supreme leader. Changing a minister in such a strategic and important ministry is impossible without coordination between the president and the dear supreme Leader."
2050 GMT: Claim of Day. Tahavol-e Sabz asserts that a domestic flight was cancelled because of the high price of fuel, which has tripled recently. The website says a senior deputy of the Ministry of Oil stopped the flight at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, even though President Ahmadinejad ordered payment on credit for domestic airlines.
0522 GMT: We can now confirm that there will be a countrywide protest in Egypt on Friday. The day has been dubbed the "Friday of Departure" and it aims to force President Hosni Mubarak to once and for all quit and leave the country.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 15:37 | 
