• Pro-Gaddafi fighters have nowhere to go in Sirte
• Source backtracks on announcement of Mutassim's arrest
• Obama warns Iran of sanctions over assassination plot
NTC fighters evacuate a wounded comrade during battles in Sirte, Libya. Photograph: Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images
12.56pm: Here's a summary of the latest developments:
Libya
• Forces loyal to the interim government in Libya are taking tanks in to Sirte as they continue attempts to fully liberate Gaddafi's birthplace. The plan is to shell for a couple of days and then go for another large assault, says the Guardian's Peter Beaumont, although he suggests they may lose patience. Peter says his sources insist there are only between 100 and 300 Gaddaif loyalists are left fighting for Sirte.
• One of the sources for reports that Gaddafi's son Mutassim had been captured has backtracked on the announcement. Abdelkarim Bizama, an adviser to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, told AFP: "There was some confusion about the reports of Mutassim's capture. As soon as we have confirmation, there will be an official announcement of his arrest."
Syria
• The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, has called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in Syria. She also upped the number of people killed since protests erupted seven months ago to more than 3,000. The total figure includes at least 187 children. Hundreds more have been arrested, detained, tortured and disappeared, according to a spokesman for Pillay.
• Syrian security forces have opened fire on protesters across the country - including in Damacus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Dara'a - killing at least seven people, according to Syrian activists. The Local Co-ordination Committtees say opponents to Bashar al-Assad have once more come out in force to demonstrate.
Egypt
• There have been clashes at a "national unity" march in Cairo from the al-Azhar mosque to the Coptic cathedral in Abbassia between people supporting the military and those blaming it for Sunday's deaths at the march of Coptic Christians. From reports at the march the violence seems to have subsided and the march is continuing.
12.28pm: A march of "national unity" in Cairo from al-Azhar mosque to the Coptic cathedral in Abbassia has hit trouble with violence between people for the military rulers and those against it, according to reports on Twitter.
Lina El Wardani is tweeting from the march:
Al azhar friday preacher gives an inciting speech now telling muslims to defend their army against anyone no matter what relegion
Now after the prayers preacher calls for a special prayer to muslims who died didn't mention anything about copts
Protest turned into clashes rocks and war of words bet people chanting against army and for it
Alfred Raouf is also tweeting:
Fights already erupted before the March started from Alazhar to the Cathedral. #Maspero #Jan25
Allegation that protesters are paid. Someone shouting we want emergency law, we want #SCAF to rule, numbers pro-scaf are very few though
12.11pm: Security forces have opened fire on protester in Damacus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs and Dara'a, according to Syrian activists, who report that opponents to Bashar al-Assad have once more come out in force.
The Local Co-ordination Committees, which report on protests, say one person has been killed in Daeel in Dara'a and tanks have been deployed in Jasim, also in Dara'a. Three people have been injured in the Damascus neighbourhood of Barzeh so far after security forces fired live rounds to disperse a demonstration after Friday prayers, according to the LCC, which also reports "heavy shooting" the Qusoor neighborhood of Hama.
Video from the Qatana suburb of the Syrian capital, Damascus, purports to show trucks carrying scores of troops as the call to prayer sounds out
Numerous clips of demonstrations today have been uploaded to YouTube, include protests in Kafroumeh, Idlib and Othman, Dara'a.
A banner in Idlib, dated today reads "Shame on the world, our blood in the international trade centres".
11.44am: "The plan for today is to bring in more tanks," Peter Beaumont reports on an unusually clear line from Sirte.
At the moment the plan is that they are going to shell for a couple of days and then go for another large assault. But that could be compressed down to shelling for another half a day and then people get frustrated and try and push in. Or they could stick to the plan.
I've been told that they are planning to bring in six tanks and spend the day trying to shell these pro-Gaddafi positions. They are also discussing whether to bring [in] Howitzers.
The move is designed to prevent more casualties from friendly fire incidents, Peter said. "As the tanks and rockets are firing, if any on them miss their targets what they will be firing into will be the sea rather than their own forces," he said.
Gaddafi loyalists are still being captured but their opportunity to surrender passed long ago, Peter says. He adds that the hope of the new government commanders is to minimise the number of casualties in the last days of the battle.
Street fighting in the town has been held up by an area flooded with sewage on the approach to the territory occupied by pro-Gaddafi fighters, Peter said.
It is very very difficult terrain for government forces. They have been trying to fight through this destroyed street which is full of water thigh deep. It is narrow, the machine gun is firing straight down at government forces ... it is like they are going up a flooded canyon ... it is heavy going ... if the flooding has been a tactic, it has been incredibly effective.
Peter's sources insist that only between 100 and 300 loyalists soldiers are left fighting for Sirte. "They are fighting for survival and it is every man for himself, and they are simply fighting for every single position," he said.
On the reports about the Mutassim Gaddafi's arrest, that turned out to be false, Peter said:
The theory is that someone close to Mutassim and members of his part of the family may have been arrested and that may have caused the confusion amongst some of the NTC people. We believe they have captured some people who held regime posts, so perhaps that's where it came from.
11.21am: Al-Jazeera Mubasher ("Live") is livestreaming from Sirte online.
11.05am: More post-Friday prayer protests are expected in Yemen today as the United Nations security council is due debate a resolution calling on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a power transition deal, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports.
The UN is expected to ask Saleh to leave power soon, after Russia and China agreed to endorse the resolution, it said.
Saleh has again insisted that he won't step down.
Meanwhile, activists from the Support Yemen campaign have launched an English language video appeal, subtitled into several languages, to try to win international support for the uprising.
"The world is blind to a new Yemen that was born in Change Square," one of the activists says.
10.44am: Saudi Arabia is not stopping at accusing Iran of a plot to kill its ambassador to the US. It is also blaming one of the two alleged Iranian plotters for being behind unrest in Bahrain. From the New York Times:
Nawaf Obeid, an adviser to the Saudi government, claimed that Saudi intelligence had damning information tying one of the supposed conspirators to the unrest in Bahrain.
Obeid said that Gholam Shakuri, who was identified in the Justice Department's criminal complaint as the Iranian official orchestrating the alleged assassination plot, "was already known to the Saudi government as one of the officers who directed Iranian support to Shia Muslims in Bahrain when they rose up in February to demand political rights from the minority Sunni regime".
Saudi forces helped suppress the uprising in Bahrain, which the Bahraini Royal family has persistently blamed on Iran. Some other members of the international community have acknowledged that the protesters have legitimate grievances.
Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/AP 10.31am: Here are more details of UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay's warning about "full-blown civil war" in Syria. She called for the international community to take "protective action". The former UN war crimes judge said:
Since the start of the uprising in Syria, the government has consistently used excessive force to crush peaceful protests. Sniping from rooftops, and indiscriminate use of force against peaceful protestors – including the use of live ammunition and the shelling of residential neighbourhoods – have become routine occurrences in many Syrian cities."
The result has been a devastatingly remorseless toll of human lives. The number of people killed since the violence started in March has now exceeded 3,000, including at least 187 children. More than 100 people have been reported killed in the last 10 days alone. In addition, thousands have been arrested, detained, forcibly disappeared and tortured. Family members inside and outside the country have been targeted for harassment, intimidation, threats and beatings. As more members of the military refuse to attack civilians and change sides, the crisis is already showing worrying signs of descending into an armed struggle.
The government of Syria has manifestly failed to protect its population. Furthermore, it has ignored the international community's calls to cooperate with international investigations.
The onus is on all members of the international community to take protective action in a collective and decisive manner, before the continual ruthless repression and killings drive the country into a full-blown civil war,. At stake are the universal rights to life, liberty and security of person which must never be brushed aside in the interests of realpolitik. The international community must speak with one voice and act to protect the Syrian people.
10.23am: Egyptians have recorded an angry message for the state television station accused of spreading misinformation and inciting violence at the march of Coptic Christians on Sunday, where 26 peole were killed and more than 500 injured. State TV urged people to go out onto the streets of Cairo to defend the security forces, who it claimed were under attack from protesters. A number of eyewitnesses say it was the other way round.
It features people spitting in disgust (WARNING: Video also contains graphic images of victims of violence). As Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell points out, you don't have to speak Arabic, to get the message.
10.12am: Nato hit five targets on Thursday Gaddafi's other former stronghold of Bani Walid. Here's the latest update.
Key Hits 13 October [pdf]
In the vicinity of Bani Walid: 4 military vehicle and 1 multiple rocket launcher.
10.08am: The Arab Spring has cost the region more than $50bn, with Syria bearing the brunt of the financial losses, according to a report by the consultants Geopolicity.
Using figures from International Monetary Fund, it draws up this breakdown by country of the costs:
Syria $27.3bn
Libya $14.2bn
Egypt $9.8bn
Tunisia $2.5bn
Bahrain $1.1bn
Yemen $1bn
The BBC has more details.
9.56am: The UN's human rights office has raised its tally of people killed during seven months of unrest in Syria to more than 3,000. And Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has called for international action to avoid "full-blown civil war" in the country, Reuters reports.
The latest death toll means at least 100 people have been killed in just over a week, as the last estimate on 6 October put the total at over 2,900.
The total figure includes at least 187 children. Hundreds more have been arrested, detained, tortured and disappeared, according to a spokesman for Pillay.
Al-Arabiya reports that 36 people died - 25 of them soldiers - on Thursday alone, citing activists.
9.25am: Russia has described a UN assessment of the situation in Libya as "sobering", RIA Novosti reports.
Ian Martin, who heads the UN Support Mission to Libya (UNSMIL), briefed members of the 15-country security council via video-link on Thursday that the political situation and the security conditions in the war-torn country remained worrisome.
Speaking after a briefing by Ian Martin, the head of UN Support Mission to Libya, Russia's envoy to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said:
The situation [in Libya] is far from stable, there are many security concerns, the fighting is still on, violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been registered. The Libyan authorities clearly need support, an effective UN mission, and that is where the security council will concentrate its efforts in the next few months.
9.06am: Peter Beaumont said Gaddafi's forces in Sirte were confined to an area 750 metres wide by 500 metres deep between a the TV station and the edge of district two.
The area Peter describes is shown on Wikimapia.
8.54am: Amateur video has emerged purporting to show fighting in the centre of Sirte on Thursday.
It is difficult to know exactly where this is taking place. Can anyone work out the location from this satellite map? The water tower might help to pin it down?
8.22am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Could this be the day that Sirte finally falls?
Libya
• Pro-Gaddafi fighters in Sirte are trapped in an area of the city 750 metres wide by 500 metres deep, writes Peter Beaumont in his latest report from the city. Dr Salah al-Obeidi, a commander from Benghazi who was a dentist before the war, said: "There are a hundred fighters, maybe a little more, holding us up. That is all." Others put the number at 200.
• Britain is urging Libya's rebel administration to move swiftly to form an interim government once Sirte has fallen. It has also pressed the National Transitional Council to investigate evidence of torture and illegal detentions exposed by Amnesty International.
• One of the sources for reports that Gaddafi's son Mutassim had been captured has backtracked on the announcement. Abdelkarim Bizama, an adviser to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, told AFP: "There was some confusion about the reports of Mutassim's capture. As soon as we have confirmation, there will be an official announcement of his arrest."
Syria
• Syrian security forces clashed with army defectors in southern Syria on Thursday and killed at least 14 people elsewhere including an 18-month-old boy, activists and residents of the affected areas told the New York Times. The worst violence occurred in the northern town of Binnish, it said. An activist said: "The situation is very bad in Binnish. Gunfire was heard throughout the day and we heard that a lot of people were dead and injured."
• Syrian diplomats could face expulsion from Britain if more evidence emerges of action by the country's embassy targeting anti-regime Syrian nationals in the UK, the Foreign Office has told the Syrian ambassador. Sami Khiyami was summoned to the Foreign Office on Thursday to be told that "harassment or intimidation of Syrians in our country is unacceptable and will not be tolerated".
Iran
• The US will apply the "toughest sanctions" to further isolate Iran over the alleged plan to murder the Saudi ambassador, Barack Obama said on Thursday, despite growing scepticism over the amateurish nature of the plot. Obama insisted that the US had evidence to back up the allegations, as he said he would not take any options off the table in dealing with Iran – diplomatic code for the possibility of military action.
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