Syria Live Coverage: The Fighting Around Aleppo

Fire burns over southwestern Aleppo on Friday

See also Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 1 Killed in Continuing Protests in Mansoura
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: Foreign Governments Pledge Support for Opposition --- But How Much?

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1627 GMT: SCUD Missiles. The blog of Brown Moses, one of the leading analysts of weapons in the Syrian conflict, is highlighting what may be the first photographic evidence of the debris of a SCUD missile fired by the regime.

The photo was reportedly taken in Moelh in Deir Ez Zor Province.

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Syria Feature: Razan Ghazzawi's Speech for Her Human Rights Defenders Award

A tribute to Mazhar Tayara, a citizen journalist who died in the regime assault on Homs, 4 February 2012

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I find myself honored to be the person chosen for such appreciation, and to tell you the truth, I believe I don’t deserve such honor, I see the award as an award for Bassel Shehada, for Mazhar Tayyara, for Ghiath Matar, for Bassel Al-Sayed and for all the citizen journalists who died trying to tell the world what’s happening in Syria, when the traditional media have failed to do so. The traditional media that focuses on people’s misery not on their undefeated will to resist. Syrian citizen journalists and filmmakers tell the revolution in all its colors, through the good times and the bad times. And many have died doing so.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Fighting in the Streets of Damascus

Sounds of Friday's night fighting in the Syrian capital Damascus

See also Syria Video Feature: Regime Troops Celebrate Over Bodies in Idlib
Syria 1st-Hand: Journalists Visit al-Qubair "No One Can Deny the Brutal Killings"
Syria Video Feature: Friday's Protests Across the Country
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Annan Plan is Failing --- We Must Have the Annan Plan

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2045 GMT: Bahrain. Images from clashes in Sitra tonight after a rally for political prisoners:

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Failure Beyond the Grand Prix

Bahraini police surround photojournalist Mazen Mahdi and threaten to break his camera as he covers clashes on Sunday

See also Bahrain Analysis: Some Guy Wins Grand Prix, Regime Loses Legitimacy
Bahrain Special: Regime PR Fails at Home But Succeeds in New York Times
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Turkey Live Coverage (23 April): The Kurdish Issue, Iraq, and the Region
Sunday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Death, A Hunger Striker, Injuries, Detentions...and a Grand Prix

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2056 GMT: The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria reports that 80 people died today at the hands of regime forces, including 50 in Hama and 21 in Idlib Province.

2043 GMT: Footage of the funeral today of Bahraini activist Salah Abbas Habib, allegedly slain by police:

2038 GMT: Amnesty International have criticised the further delay in the appeal court hearing for 14 detained opposition activists, declaring that the regime is "toying with the life" of human rights activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, now on Day 75 of a hunger strike.

In a hearing lasting just a few minutes, the Court of Cassation in Manama postponed the appeal until 30 April, apparently without giving any reason. It is the second postponement since the court started considering the case on 2 April.

During today’s hearing the court was fenced off and surrounded by security officials, and each defendant could only have their lawyers and one family member present. None of the 14 defendants were in the court room.

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Syria Interview: Activist "LeShaque" on Social Media and the Syrian Revolution

LeShaque's Avatar on TwitterIn Syria, we are unbelievably dependent on social media. For organizing, you create a Facebook group. For calling a protest, you create a Facebook page. For reporting news, you create a Twitter account. For communicating with other activists, you use Skype. For showing the protest to the world, you use YouTube. There are signs in Syria that say, “Thank you, YouTube.”

If this didn’t exist, the revolution would’ve been crushed immediately. There would’ve been another Hama massacre [the killing of tens of thousands in a rising in 1982] and the regime would have gotten away with it. Look at their behavior. Listen to the regime’s spokespersons. Listen to how much they complain about the media. They don’t complain about the protests as much as they complain about media.

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Syria Feature: Reflections on Razan Ghazzawi, Now Detained (York)

Though Ghazzawi had blogged under her own name for several years, at the start of the Syrian revolution she had a change of heart, changing her name on Twitter and locking down her Facebook account. I never asked, but I assumed she was scared. She left for a while for Lebanon, then Egypt, but ended up back in Syria soon after; I can only assume she felt compelled to return.

Eventually, she decided against anonymity, returning to her former outspoken nature and tweeting, her opposition to the regime coming across loud and clear.  

What I appreciate and respect the most about Ghazzawi (and what I suspect is what irks a lot of other people about her), however, is her honesty and humanity. Though a staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, she has denounced the double standards of Palestinian resistance groups that have expressed support of the Syrian regime. She has not been afraid to speak up against those she disagrees with, even her friends. For that, she is among my heroes.

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Syria Feature: The Arrest of Activist Razan Ghazzawi

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News broke yesterday that Razan Ghazzawi --- prominent Syrian blogger, activist, and Media Officer at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression --- had been arrested as she was trying to enter Jordan at the Syrian border post of Nassib.

Soon the story was racing across the Internet, with a #FreeRazan hashtag trending on Twitter and people lining up to pay tribute: "Razan inspired me not be afraid of using my real name online when I was in #Syria. Her courage is incredible"; "[She] had pointed opinions & disagreed w/ many folks (including me!) but SHE WAS ALWAYS THERE for whoever was attacked"; "Friends in Egypt, [she] was with us in #Tahrir through the tear-gas on June 28th & other demos".

This is one of her blog entries, from August, "Rumor Has It [That] This Revolution is Faceless":

 I was asked this question: "The hard thing with Syria is we don't have faces/groups to support. WHO do we back?"

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