• Arab League sets timetable for the end of Assad regime
• Syria rejects the plan as 'flagrant interference'
• Free Syrian Army resistance in Zabadani and Douma
• First day of Egypt's new parliament
• Read the opening summary
Posted by
Matthew Weaver
Monday 23 January 2012 11.33 GMT
guardian.co.uk
Article history
An Arab League observer takes photographs of anti-government protesters in Syria. Photograph: Reuters
11.24am: Al-Jazeera English has stopped covering al-Dabi's rambling press conference.
The Lebanese news site Naharnet, which is live tweeting the event, reports that he blamed armed elements in the opposition for some of some of the violence.
Naharnet
@Naharnet #Breaking Al-Dabi: Armed people ignited the violence pushing the security forces to respond to them. naharnet.com
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavoriteAl-Dabi's comments have provoked disgust from Syrian activists.
Shakeeb Al-Jabri
@LeShaque We've been documenting abuses since March 15, 2011 but apparently AlDabi who spent three weeks on the job knows better. #Syria
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite11.05am: Mohammad Ahmad al-Dabi, the Sudanese general in charge of the Arab League's mission in Syria, is giving a press conference in Cairo.
"The level of violence reduced after our arrival," he reported according to a translation from al-Jazeera.
Al-Dabi said there were conflicting reports about the number of political detainees in Syria. The Syrian authorities claimed 7,000 prisoners were released, he said.
Al-Dabi was criticised by activists last month after he said observers saw "nothing frightening" in Homs.
10.27am: The BBC has demanded an apology from Syrian state TV after it accused the corporation of making up stories and inciting sectarian tensions.
The BBC's foreign editor Jon Williams tweeted:
Jon Williams @WilliamsJon BBC demanding apology from #Syria's Al Dunya & Al Ikhbaria TV: accused us of inciting sectarianism & fabricating stories. Of course, untrue
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavoriteHe also claimed that an employee was attacked by Assad supporters.
Jon Williams
@WilliamsJon BBC colleague in #Syria attacked by Prez Assad supporters. Committed to reporting all sides of story. Intimidation of local staff must stop.
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavoriteAs if to underline the point about reporting both sides of the story, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen is providing updates from a government organised tour of Homs.
Jeremy Bowen
@jfjbowen #homs milit hosp docs say average 10 casualties a day, maybe 2-3 dead. But today already 5 dead #assad #syria
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite9.55am: Rival chanting has broken out in Cairo to mark the swearing in of the new parliament, Jack Shenker reports from the Egyptian capital.
Jack, who tweets under the name @hackneylad, has these updates:
Jack Shenker
@hackneylad Rival chanting breaks out by different group: 'the revolution brought the parliament, long live #Egypt'. Anti- #SCAF guys look unimpressed.
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Jack Shenker
@hackneylad Yards from #Egypt's parlt, crowds chant: 'Down with military rule - there is still a revolution in the square' #jan25 pic.twitter.com/oBPokk7V
Meanwhile, Tom Gara, Gulf news editor of the Financial Times, notes the Islamic dominance of the new intake:
Tom Gara
@tomgara Some awesome facial hair on show in new Egyptian parliament.
23 Jan 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite9.22am: The Arab League is getting in the neck from all sides.
The activist group, the Local Coordination Committee in Syria, said the league's proposals were "unattainable" and its mission should be declared a failure.
Here's excerpt of its statement:
The Syrian people have lost confidence in the Arab League's ability to stop the regime's ongoing bloodshed. It is clear that the regime has been pulling the country towards chaos and destruction while the Arab League remains stagnant.
The LCC views the extension of the Arab League's observer mission as another deadline for the regime's killing machine and a form of support in suppressing the Revolution while Syrian society is being obliterated. The regime succeeded in transforming the first Arab League initiative into its own agenda and was in control of its course and content. During the Arab League's mission, as part of the protocol, 795 people were martyred in the first month, making it a failure in accomplishing all of its initiatives, including the withdrawal of army troops from the cities, ending the daily killings, releasing detainees or clarifying the fate of missing persons.
The LCC finds the Arab League Ministerial Committee's proposal unattainable and lacking proper implementation mechanism. Thus far, it has not nor will it put an end to the regime's brutality.
9.02am: Syria has portrayed the Arab League proposals as part of an international conspiracy against the Assad regime.
The state news agency Sana said the league's proposed timetable for the Assad regime to transfer power "came in the framework of the conspiratorial scheme hatched against Syria".
An official suggested the league was backing the armed gangs Syria claims are behind the unrest. It quoted the official saying the league should have condemned armed terrorists but instead it issued: "instigatory statements which reflect their owners' connection with the schemes targeting the security of our people through demanding the foreign interference in Syria's affairs".
8.26am: (all times GMT) Welcome to Middle East Live. The Arab League's initiative to end the violence in Syria appears to be on the brink of collapse. Syria has rejected its proposed timetable for a transition of power as "flagrant interference". At the same time Saudi Arabia said it will withdraw its observers from an extended monitoring mission.
Here's a round up of the main developments in Syria and elsewhere in the region:
Syria• Syria has rejected an Arab League call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his deputy as "flagrant interference," the BBC reports. An official said proposals were not in the interests of the Syrian people and would not prevent the country from "advancing its political reforms and bringing security and stability to its people who have shown, during this crisis, their support for national unity as they have rallied around President Assad".
• The Arab League urged Assad to step down as part of an ambitious timetable for the transition of power, the Washington Post reports. The proposals, agreed at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday, included:
• Negotiations with the opposition within two weeks
• A national unity government within two months
• Assad to transfer power to his deputy
• Multi-party elections overseen by international observers within three months
• Extension of the Arab League monitoring mission for another month
• An end to violence from both sides
• Saudi Arabia said it will withdraw its Arab League monitors from Syria, with the Gulf states expected to follow in a potentially fatal blow to the contentious mission. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, accused the Syrian regime of acting in bad faith and not implementing any of its obligations, spelled out in the Arab League resolution that cleared the path for the mission almost three months ago. "My country will withdraw its monitors because the Syrian government did not execute any of the elements of the Arab resolution plan," he said.
• Military defectors still control the town of Zabadani north west of Damascus and areas of Douma, 10 miles north east of the capital, according to New York Times. Ahmed, an anti-government activist said that hundreds of soldiers in the area had defected in recent weeks. "If Douma is liberated, that means that the next attack will be in the heart of Damascus," he said.
A video statement from the Free Syrian Army threatened to execute five senior offices if government forces attempted to retake Douma.
Egypt
• An Egyptian blogger jailed by the military junta for insulting the army has been officially pardoned, as the country's ruling generals attempt to bolster public support before protests planned for the Wednesday's anniversary of the uprising. Maikel Nabil Sanad, a 26-year-old Coptic Christian who became a cause celebre for activists opposed to the post-Mubarak military government, was among almost 2,000 prisoners convicted by military tribunals over the past year who are set to be released after an announcement by Egypt's de facto leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
• Egypt's newly elected parliament is to open today amid signs of an agreement between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military rulers on a new constitution. It involves a potential immunity deal for the generals, according to the New York Times.
• According to official results announced at the weekend, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party will form the largest parliamentary bloc with about 47% of the representatives. The ultra-conservative Salafist al-Nour party came a strong second, with liberal, leftist and centrist parties gaining a smattering of seats.
Libya
• Protesters stormed the Libyan transitional government's headquarters in Benghazi while the country's interim leader was holed up in the building. NTC chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil tried to address the crowd from a second-floor window, but protesters began throwing bottles at him.
Yemen
• President Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country for medical treatment paving the way for a transition of power after Parliament agreed to a controversial immunity deal. "God willing, I will leave for [medical] treatment in the United States and I will return to Sanaa as head of the General People's Congress party," he said.
Israel and the Palestinian territories
• Human rights organisations have accused Israel of mistreating hundreds of Palestinian children arrested for throwing stones, Harriet Sherwood reports.
Between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are arrested by Israeli soldiers each year, mostly accused of throwing stones. Since 2008, Defence for Children International (DCI) has collected sworn testimonies from 426 minors detained in Israel's military justice system.
Their statements show a pattern of night-time arrests, hands bound with plastic ties, blindfolding, physical and verbal abuse, and threats. About 9% of all those giving affidavits say they were kept in solitary confinement, although there has been a marked increase to 22% in the past six months.
Few parents are told where their children have been taken. Minors are rarely questioned in the presence of a parent, and rarely see a lawyer before or during initial interrogation. Most are detained inside Israel, making family visits very difficult.
Human rights organisations say these patterns of treatment – which are corroborated by a separate study, No Minor Matter, conducted by an Israeli group, B'Tselem – violate the international convention on the rights of the child, which Israel has ratified, and the fourth Geneva convention.
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