• France says Gaddafi can stay if he quits politics
• Key Syrian opposition activist arrested
• Call for Palestinian million-man march
• Egypt constitution to exclude role for military
Thousands gather to demand the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad Photograph: Reuters
9.04am: Welcome to Middle East Live. The focus continues to be on Syria and Libya.
Syrian forces killed 16 people in an apparent escalation of a security crackdown in Homs on Tuesday.
Eight rebel fighters were killed in the strategic eastern oil town of Brega on Tuesday as rebel forces attempts to take the town have been frustrated by minefields.
Syria
• Nour Ali, a pseudonym of a journalist in Damascus, and the Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, write that the deaths in Homs which bring the number of killed in the past few days alone to at least 40, add to mounting concern that events in the city are taking on a dangerously sectarian character.
Many claim that pro-government gangs of Alawis from surrounding villages have been threatening people and fuelling tensions. Homs, hometown of Assad's Sunni wife Asma, has seen an influx of Alawis in recent years as the minority tightened its hold on security and other public sector jobs.
Residents in Homs and the coastal cities of Latakia, Banias and Jableh have reported Alawis being armed by the regime and armed gangs known as shabiha (ghosts) roaming the streets and helping to crush protests.
The use of these groups has increased the propensity for violent conflict and sectarianism as Syria's protests enter their fifth month. Many Homs residents have armed themselves with guns and homemade molotov cocktails after warning that the regime's crackdown could lead to wider violence.
Pro-democracy activists say they are struggling to deal with conflicting accounts of what is happening, while stressing the need to keep the uprising peaceful and non-sectarian.
Members of the network of local co-ordinating committees have claimed that sectarianism is being deliberately stoked by the regime.
• Syrian activists in the US capital have been warned about their safety by the FBI, the Washington Post reports.
Abdul Aziz, who said her father was fatally shot by government security forces in the southern Syrian city of Deraa in April, said she contacted the FBI through her lawyer after receiving a call from a man who threatened her daughter and other family members.
"I assumed that the threat came from the embassy," Abdul Aziz said. She and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in May seeking damages from the Syrian government, drawing television news coverage.
She met twice with an FBI agent, who said that he would look into who made the call, and who has been in touch with her by telephone several times since.
The FBI has called and met with other prominent Syrian and Syrian American activists in recent weeks, asking questions about the situation in Syria and their roles in the opposition movement and voicing concern for their safety.
An official at the Syrian embassy in Washington told the Post no such threats had been made.
Libya
Government forces in trucks disguised with rebel flags shelled opposition positions near Brega, killing eight rebel fighters and wounding dozens more, officials said. From AP:
Rebel forces have been pushing to seize the front-line town of Brega, which is home to an oil refinery and terminal, for nearly a week, but they say fields of land mines planted by Muammar Gaddafi's forces have slowed the advance.
The rebels are fighting in a residential area on Brega's eastern side and control about one-third of the town, spokesman Mohammed al-Rajali said.
Field commander Ahmed Maysawi said rebel forces were working to clear the mines so they can move forward while government troops are occasionally approaching in trucks disguised with rebel flags to shell rebel positions with mounted rocket launchers.Mohammed Idris, a doctor at the hospital in the nearby city of Ajdabiya, said eight rebels were killed and dozens wounded Tuesday. That raised to at least 34 rebels killed in five days of fighting, according to Idris.
He said the rebels had taken four prisoners, and one dead government soldier had been taken to the rebel hospital.
Egypt
The committee with the responsibility of drafting guidelines for a new Egyptian constitution has unexpectedly excluded any provisions about the role of the military, the New York Times reports, citing two members of the committee. It writes:
The military said last week that it planned to impose its own "declaration of basic principles" to guide the drafting of a constitution, apparently yielding to liberals' requests for some binding statement of rights to protect them against the possibility of an Islamist takeover. But as further insurance against that possibility, senior officers and some legal experts involved in the drafting also suggested that the declaration should grant the military broad authority to intervene in the elected government to protect national unity or the secular state ...
But the drafting committee, meeting on Tuesday, elected not to include any provision about the military, deciding to limit its proposed declaration to points of agreement like basic individual rights, said Judge Tahani el Gibali, a leader of the group who herself had previously argued for giving the military a broad mandate to intervene in the civilian government.
"We went through all the proposals and took the principles that are agreed upon," she said. "The role of the military can be mentioned in the constitution in the detailed articles addressing state institutions." Mr. Farahat, a legal scholar in the group who had questioned the proposals for a Turkish-style model, confirmed the decision.
Judge Gibali said that the military retains the authority to change or revise the draft guidelines before issuing them.
Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters
9.33am: The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe, has reportedly told the French television station LCI that Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he quits politics. Juppe is quoted as saying:
"One of the possibilities being considered is that he stay in Libya but on the clear condition that he steps aside from Libyan political life. That is what we are waiting for before we start the political process for a ceasefire."
Juppe's comments could create a wedge between the position of France and that of the UK (which together with France led the call for military intervention in Libya) and the US. There have already been a suggestion of strains between the Nato allies regarding their respective positions on Libya. Earlier this month, French defence minister, Gerard Longuet, said it was time to "get round the table" amid concerns that progress was not being made in the rebel campaign to oust Gaddafi. Longuet said the talks could take place with Gaddafi "in another room in his palace with another title". The position of Nato and the rebel Transitional National Council (TNC) has always been that there can be no negotiations while Gaddafi is in power and the UK and US appeared to reject Longuet's comments.
10.13am: More video has been posted on YouTube purporting to be of the attacks by the security forces on protesters in Homs, in Syria, on Tuesday.
This one, with English subtitles, shows people crawling along the ground while heavy gunfire can be heard.
Part one of this video - like much of the footage posted – is very graphic (WARNING:
YOU MAY FIND THIS UPSETTING), showing people bloodied and being carried away, having apparently been shot.
Picture from http://www.dchrs.org/news.
10.49am: George Sabra, a key Syrian opposition figure and member of the National Democratic party, has been arrested in Damascus today, according to opposition activists, Saudi News Today reports.
It is the second time Sabra has been arrested since the protests against Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March. He was previously arrested by Syrian security forces on 10 April 2011.
Saudi News Today reports that the the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, which organise and report protests, "added that the Syrian forces carried out a campaign of 'arbitrary' arrests in several areas across the country including suburbs in Damascus and the central city of Homs".
11.11am: The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Bahrain to end "harassment and contrived legal proceedings against critical journalists". Its says that since February critical journalists have been intimidated, interrogated, smeared in government-owned and -aligned publications, and harassed and sued by government supporters".
The CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme co-ordinator, Mohamed Abdel Dayem, said:
Bahrain's government has a responsibility to protect journalists from those who resort to threats of violence, intimidation, or fabricated criminal charges to influence coverage. The government should halt the smear campaign in pro-government publications against critical journalists.
The CPJ highlighted the case of Reem Khalifa, a journalist who was charged with verbally abusing and physically assaulting a government supporter after a scuffle at a press conference. A woman accused Khalifa of hitting her but the CPJ said CPJ's its review of video footage and still shots from the event indicate that Khalifa did not strike her. The CPJ adds:
Khalifa has frequently been a target of government supporters on social networking sites. In some instances, anonymous individuals wrote entries tracking her whereabouts, indicating where she could be harassed. In one posting, a Twitter user announced when and where Khalifa picks up her children from school, imploring readers to "go say hello."
11.30am: Syria's foreign minister has warned the US and French ambassadors not to travel outside Damascus without permission, the Associated Press reports.
Walid al-Moallem said Wednesday that if the ambassadors defy the orders, Syria will ban all diplomats from leaving the capital.
Earlier this month, the US and French ambassadors travelled to the restive city of Hama, a stronghold of opposition to the Assad regime. The Syrian government criticised the visit and said it was unauthorised, accusing the envoys of interfering in Syria's internal affairs.
On that occasion global campaign group Avaaz responded by urging ambassadors to travel to potential hotspots as it said their presence could prevent the security forces from attacking protesters.
Stephanie Brancaforte, Avaaz campaign director, said at the time:
Ambassadors in Damascus must mobilise across the country to observe the protesters. Their presence in protest towns and cities could prevent the regime from inflicting further terror and killing innocent protesters.
12.05pm: BBC foreign editor Jon Williams tweets an Iraqi viewpoint on the "no-fly zone" over Libya:
Senior Iraqi official says warned #Libya no-fly zone futile. "Saddam lasted 12 years despite no-fly zone. Don't start what can't finish."1/2
Says Qatar & UAE "impatient" on #Libya - not prepared to bankroll indefinitely. Best he offers is NATO position "not quite hopeless" 2/2
Of course, what Nato allies are doing in Libya in reality amounts to much more than enforcing a no-fly zone. On Monday, Nato reported 32 military vehicles, including tanks, rocket launchers and armoured personnel carriers, had been destroyed in three days of intensive air strikes.
Marwan Barghouti in 2003. Photograph: Eitan Hess-ashkenazi/AP
12.38pm: Jailed leader Marwan Barghouti has called on Palestinians to stage mass rallies in September in support of a diplomatic bid to gain UN membership for a state of Palestine, Reuters reports.
Barghouti, seen as the the Palestinians' most popular potential leader, said taking the statehood quest to the United Nations was part of a new strategy that would open the door to "peaceful, popular resistance". In a statement written from his jail cell in Israel, he said:
I call on our people in the homeland and in the diaspora to go out in a peaceful, million-man march during the week of voting in the United Nations in September.
The Palestinians, backed by the Arab League hope UN recognition would restore some momentum to their struggle as the Middle East peace process remains at a standstill.
Israel is wary that the September bid could serve as a trigger for protests inspired by uprisings across the region.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli military commander said on Tuesday Israel would reinforce its border defences in anticipation of such protests.
The United States, the main sponsor of the two-decade-old peace process, has objected to the Palestinian diplomatic offensive, instead calling for a resumption of negotiations that were derailed by an impasse over Jewish settlement expansion. Israel says the Palestinians aim to isolate and delegitimise it. A US veto at the security council is likely to thwart the Palestinian bid for full UN membership for a state of Palestine in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In such a scenario, the Palestinians have indicated they will table a UN General Assembly resolution that would elevate their status to that of "a non-member state" from an "observer".
Barghouti, a leading member of the Fatah movement led by President Mahmoud Abbas, called on all Palestinian parties to back the diplomatic offensive and "to confront the American-Zionist veto".
Barghouti is sometimes described by outsiders as a Nelson Mandela for the Palestinians. His release is said to have been discussed by both sides in recent years as part of a possible prisoner swap.
Barghouti was convicted in May 2004 for his role in three separate attacks that left four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk dead. The judges said he provided weapons and money for the attacks, but for the most part did not have direct contact with those carrying out the killings.
He was also given two consecutive terms of 20 years for a failed car bombing at a shopping centre in Jerusalem and membership of a banned "terror organisation", Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which was responsible for many suicide bombings. His justification for attacks on Israeli troops and settlers as "legitimate resistance" caused outrage among the Israeli public.
1.03pm: More than 50 rebels have been killed in six days of fighting with Libyan government forces over the strategic eastern oil town of Brega, the Associated Press reports:
The new toll comes after Mohammed Idris, a doctor at the Ajdabiya hospital where the casualties were taken, raised the number killed in Tuesday's fighting to 27, with 83 wounded. Idris said Wednesday that most had been shot in the head and chest.
1.30pm: The situation in the Syrian city of Homs, where 40 people have died over the past few days, remains tense, an activist in the city has told the Associated Press:
In Homs, a father and his four sons were among those pulled from their homes overnight, said an activist in the city. He asked that his name not be published for fear of reprisals.
He added that soldiers and armuored personnel carriers were patrolling the city, along with plainclothes security agents carrying automatic rifles.
There have also been arrests in Damascus today (see 10.49am).
2.37pm: The local co-ordinating committees (LCC) in Syria says the Damascus suburb of Douma is "under complete siege".
They say houses have been stormed and residents detained, including 15 from a building in Bwaidany. Also, communications were cut between 4am and 11am and heavy checkpoints established across Douma to prevent people leaving.
This video purports to show a protest in Douma in response to this morning's crackdown.
_
2.56pm: The local co-ordinating committees (LCC) also report that a group called the Syrian electronic army published the phone numbers on Tuesday of Syrian actors who have expressed their opposition to the Assad regime.
The Atlantic Wire describes the electronic Syrian army as "the Syrian regime's own cyber activists":
In an address to the nation in June, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated the anonymous network for serving as "a real army in virtual reality." The regime claims e-army members are simply patriotic youth, but dissident Rami Nakhleh tells AFP that they are regime "thugs" and Iranian activists (the article identifies one e-army member: the son of a powerful Syrian intelligence officer and ambassador to Jordan). The University of Toronto's Ronald Diebert, who's been researching the Syrian Electronic Army, tells PRI that the organization must have at least "the tacit approval of the government," and adds that the group's IP addresses have been traced to an NGO formerly run by Assad.
The LCC name the actors whose phone numbers were published as Fares al-Hilou, Mai Skaaf, Muhammad Aal-Rashi. Other activists have also been threatened by the Syrian electronic army, according to the LCC.
3.23pm: More from Syria, where Assad has been accused of trying to stir up sectarian strife to scupper a unified opposition, Reuters reports. There have been fears that events, especially in Homs, the country's third biggest and most mixed city, are taking on a dangerously sectarian character with clashes between the Sunni majority, who form around three-quarters of the population, and the 10% Alawite minority to which Assad belongs. Sunni and Alawi neighbourhoods sit side by side in Homs although not all Alawis support Assad and some Sunnis do support him.
Emadeddin al Rachid, of the opposition National Salvation Congress, said Syrians would not repeat mistakes made in neighbouring Iraq, where fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims broke out after the fall of Saddam Hussein. He told a news conference in Istanbul:
Syria will not follow the path Iraq went down. All Syrians are committed to the unity of the Syrian nation ...The regime is behind the sectarian clashes in Homs. They are distributing weapons to certain people to escalate sectarian tensions.
Fedaa Majouz, an organiser of the congress, said the peaceful protests showed the Syrian people could work together rather than pursuing any ethnic or sectarian agenda. He said:
We will always work for unity in the Syrian nation, with its different sectarian (groups) and protect the identity, human rights and equal opportunities for all of them.
3.29pm: Libyan rebel forces in Misrata, supported by Nato air strikes, launched an offensive towards the government-held town of Zlitan this morning, with fighters saying they were making gains amid heavy fighting, Chris Stephen reports for the Guardian in Misrata.
Photograph: Eduardo De Francisco/EPA
"We are now one and a half kilometres from Zlitan," said a rebel fighter, Mohammed Ashanobah, of the Shaheed (Martyr) Brigade. "The revolutionaries attacked at eight this morning." ...
Nato said it destroyed six government artillery pieces around Misrata on Monday and planes hit a further 12 targets on Tuesday, marking a sharp escalation in alliance air strikes around the besieged city.
Hikma hospital in Misrata reported seven fighters killed and 14 wounded by midday. Tripoli issued no casualty figures. Among the wounded were two government soldiers brought to the hospital for treatment by the man who shot them.
Hiden Hassan, 37, another Shaheed Brigade fighter, said the two soldiers had driven towards them as they advanced. "They came in a Toyota and they were shooting at us," he said. "We fired back. The Toyota stopped and they jumped out, still firing their weapons. So I shot at them, I hit them both in the legs."
Libyan rebel fighters prepare ammunition on the outskirts of Zlitan, near Misrata's western frontline. Photograph: Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters
He said he called on his comrades to drag the wounded men behind the frontline, and then accompanied them in a rebel pickup truck to the hospital. "They are Muslims, I am Muslim, they are Libyans, I am Libyan," he said. "It was my duty to help."
4pm: Here's a summary of today's developments:
• Syrian activists said there was a wave of arrests of anti-regime figures in Homs and in suburbs of the capital, Damascus. Among those arrested was George Sabra, described as a key Syrian opposition figure and member of the National Democratic party. (10.49am)
• A doctor said the number of Libyan rebels killed in fighting in the strategic oil town of Brega on Tuesday had risen to 27, with 83 wounded. Mohammed Idris, a doctor at the Ajdabiya hospital where the casualties were taken, said that most had been shot in the head and chest.(see 1.03pm)
• The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe, told French TV that Muammar Gaddafi could stay in Libya if he quits politics. His comments appeared to represent another step back from France's initial hawkish position on Libya (the French initially led the bombing campaign and armed rebels, to the consternation of some other countries). (see 9.33am)
• Jailed leader Marwan Barghouti called on Palestinians to stage a million-man march in September in support of a diplomatic bid to gain UN membership for a state of Palestine.(see 12.38pm)
• The committee with the responsibility of drafting guidelines for a new Egyptian constitution has unexpectedly excluded any provisions about the role of the military, the New York Times reported. Some want a role for the military enshrined to protect against an Islamist takeover. The military retains the authority to change or revise the draft guidelines before issuing them.(see 9.04am)
***
Comments in chronological order (Total 94 comments)
sound2monk
20 July 2011 9:30AM
Two days ago there were many articles about Mandela and Gaddafi.
Some wanted to alienate Mandela and Gaddafi:
"This kept me wondering about how Africa would have been better off if it had more liberation movement leaders like Mr Nelson Mandela than those like Colonel Mohamed Gaddafi. "
http://thecitizen.co.tz/editorial-analysis/47-columnists/12963-mandela-and-col-gaddafi.html
Others have noted that Gaddafi has helped Mandela:
"When the West refused to allow sanctions against Apartheid in South Africa and used to call Nelson Mandela a terrorist, Gaddafi was embracing him and funding his fight against Apartheid by training ANC fighters, arming them and paying for their education abroad.
Nelson Mandela always has been very reserved to call anyone “friend”, but repeatedly stated Gaddafi is his close friend:"
http://mathaba.net/news/?x=627606
Or remembered what Mandela said 21 years ago in Tripoli:
"No country can claim to be the policeman of the world and no state can dictate to another what it should do. Those that yesterday were friends of our enemies have the gall today to tell me not to visit my brother Gaddafi. They are advising us to be ungrateful and forget our friends of the past."
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/18-07-2011/118521-mandela_gaddafi-0/
(to be continued .. )
(còn tiếp .. )
_____________
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