• Troops attacked near UN convoy in Dera'a
• Free Syrian Army threatens to resume hostilities
• Annan warns of descent into civil war in Syria
Syrian soldiers wounded after a roadside bomb attack on their convoy as they escorted UN peace observers in the southern Syrian city of Dara'a. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images
Posted by
Matthew Weaver and Brian Whitaker
5.07pm: Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:
Syria
• A roadside bomb wounded six soldiers in the southern city of Dera'a just seconds after a convoy passed by carrying Robert Mood, head of the UN observer mission. Mood said the attack was "a graphic experience that the Syrian people live with every day" but would not stop the mission continuing.
• Seven militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been killed in an RPG attack in the Damascus suburb of Irbin, according to an activist. It is unclear who carried out the attacks in Dera'a and Irbin. They come after the head of the Free Syrian Army, Riad al-Asaad, warned that rebel group would resume hostilities against the regular army because the government has failed to honour the ceasefire.
• International envoy Kofi Annan has urged both sides in the conflict in Syria to "give peace a chance" after delivering a bleak assessment on the progress of his UN-backed initiative to end the violence. Speaking to reporters after briefing the security council, he said: "I believe that the UN supervision mission is possibly the only remaining chance to stabilise the country. There is a profound concern that the country could otherwise descend into full civil war and the implications of that are quite frightening. We cannot allow that to happen."
Libya
• Interim prime minister Abdurrahim al-Keib said his government would not give in to the demands of "outlaws" after militia attacked his offices, the BBC reports. In televised address following the attack, he said: "As the government asserts that it will deliver on its promises, it also announces that it will not give in to blackmail or to outlaws and will not negotiate under the threat of force."
Bahrain
• A court review of a military tribunal's decision to convict activists of trying overthrow the state, has heard that that they were forced to sign confessions, the Independent reports. The group includes Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for three months and did not attend the session.
5.02pm: Yemen: Aside from al-Qaida, here's a collection of tweets this afternoon that illustrate one of the major problems in Yemen – especially the last tweet. نون عربية
@NoonArabia Half a million of #Yemen's children are at risk of dying during 2012 .. 22% of the population are facing severe hunger #YemenFoodCrisis 10 May 12
نون عربية @NoonArabia Where are #Yemen #Friends when you need them? Where is the urgently needed aid? Yemen Food Crisis storify.com/noonarabia/yem… #yemenfoodcrisis 10 May 12
GregorydJohnsen @gregorydjohnsen 10 May 12 Very true - via @NoonArabia The Friends of #Yemen should take immediate action to help #Yemen with its food crisis - help or AQAP will.
Haykal Bafana @BaFana3 @gregorydjohnsen | More food aid? Much of the previous UN food aid is on sale in Sanaa. @NoonArabia 10 May 12
3.39pm: Egypt: Women detainees and rights groups have accused Egyptian troops and prison authorities of sexual assault in the latest crackdown on demonstrations, the Associated Press reports.
More than a dozen women were detained among some 300 protesters following a demonstration outside the defence ministry in Cairo last week. Rights activist Aida Seif al-Dawla said Wednesday that female prison guards sexually assaulted some women by inspecting their vaginas under the pretext of searching for drugs. A recently released female detainee told a parliamentary committee that soldiers groped her, knocked her unconscious and threatened her with sexual assault. The was no immediate comment from the ruling military.
3.31pm: Syria: The government claims that "armed terrorists groups" have been responsible for 2,339 violations of the ceasefire since it was supposed to come into effect on 12 April. In a letter to the UN's secretary general [pdf], Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari [pictured], claimed terrorists acts have increased in the last month. It said:
"Armed terrorist groups have continued to act in violation of the six-point plan, with a long chain of violations that undermine the plan. They have escalated their terrorist acts, killings of civilians and policemen, and destruction of public and private properties. We have been regularly providing Mr. Annan, the Secretary-General and the President of the Council with documented and detailed information on the violations perpetrated by the armed groups since the 12 April plan for cessation of violence went into effect.""
3.22pm: Syria: UN observers in Talbiseh in Homs have been filmed trying to explain their mission to local residents.
An English-speaking observer said he did not want to see anti-government demonstrations but had come to document the aftermath of an attack on a village.
3.10pm: Syria: Kofi Annan's office has published a full text of his remarks to journalists yesterday. He sounded pretty exasperated even before today's attack on the UN convoy.
Here's an excerpt:
""I am waiting for some suggestions as to what else we do. I think if there are better ideas, I will be the first to jump onto it. I think the international community through the security council, the General Assembly and the Arab League have endorsed this approach and we are trying to push it as hard as we can to make it work. We may well conclude down the line that it doesn't work and a different tack has to be taken. And that will be a very sad day, a tough day for the region. But my appeal to those with guns, my appeal to those who have taken – I was going to say the people prisoners, because in a way there are frightened – is to really think of them, think of the people, think of Syria, think of the region and disarm and come to the table. They all tell me they are ready to talk. We should do it sooner rather than later. "
Asked if the situation would change he said:
"Nothing is sure. Nothing is sure. What we have to do is to do our best and hope that the better forces in us will prevail and lead us to put down the arms and do what is right. If it fails, as the Secretary-General has warned, and it were to lead into a civil war, it will not affect only Syria, it will have an impact on the whole region. This is why we should all be so concerned for the Syrians, for Syria, and for a region that for geo-political reasons we should all be concerned about.""
2.59pm: Algeria: On the eve of elections the most striking thing about North Africa's largest country is what hasn't happened, rather than what has, writes Eileen Byrne in Algiers.
"The 75-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, of the independence-era National Liberation Front, is still at the helm ... The true turnout figure in Thursday's vote is likely to be extremely low, most of Algeria's semi-free press agrees, as voters stay home in protest at an election process often seen as an insult to their intelligence. The country is still run by a closed group of civilians and military who make decisions, including about election results, far from the glare of the media .
Jane Kinnimont, senior research follow at the thinktank Chatham House says regimes in the Middle East have become expert in manipulating the appearance of reform. In an article for Comment is free, she writes:
"The Arab world has long had a deficit of democracy, but has had no shortage of elections. Since the end of the second world war, as democracy and self-determination have emerged as international norms, it has become de rigueur for every authoritarian state to claim it has its own form of democracy. Almost all the authoritarian rulers of the Arab world have set up weak parliaments that are under varying degrees of control.
1.13pm: Syria: An intriguing sidelight on Monday's elections. On Sunday – before the polls opened – Shakeeb al-Jabri posted a list on Facebook which was alleged to show the already-chosen victorious candidates in Damascus.
Now that results are coming in, the list appears to be almost entirely accurate. Does that mean the ballot was rigged – or simply that Syrian elections are always predictable? Your guess is as good as ours.
12.12pm: Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:
Syria
• A roadside bomb wounded six soldiers in the southern city of Dera'a just seconds after a convoy passed by carrying Robert Mood, head of the UN observer mission. Mood said the attack was "a graphic experience that the Syrian people live with every day" but would not stop the mission continuing.
• Seven militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been killed in an RPG attack in the Damascus suburb of Irbin, according to an activist. It is unclear who carried out the attacks in Dera'a and Irbin. They come after the head of the Free Syrian Army, Riad al-Asaad, warned that rebel group would resume hostilities against the regular army because the government has failed to honour the ceasefire.
• International envoy Kofi Annan has urged both sides in the conflict in Syria to "give peace a chance" after delivering a bleak assessment on the progress of his UN-backed initiative to end the violence. Speaking to reporters after briefing the security council, he said: "I believe that the UN supervision mission is possibly the only remaining chance to stabilise the country. There is a profound concern that the country could otherwise descend into full civil war and the implications of that are quite frightening. We cannot allow that to happen."Libya • Interim prime minister Abdurrahim al-Keib said his government would not give in to the demands of "outlaws" after militia attacked his offices, the BBC reports. In televised address following the attack, he said: "As the government asserts that it will deliver on its promises, it also announces that it will not give in to blackmail or to outlaws and will not negotiate under the threat of force."
Bahrain
• A court review of a military tribunal's decision to convict activists of trying overthrow the state, has heard that that they were forced to sign confessions, the Independent reports. The group includes Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for three months and did not attend the session.
11.56am: Syria is importing significant volumes of grain via Lebanon to work around western sanctions and secure vital supplies, Reuters reports, citing European traders.
"The trade is not illegal because food imports are not included in sanctions imposed by the EU, the US and other Western countries ... But the measures have blocked access to trade finance for Syria in the same way as similar penalties imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Growing numbers of Syrians are struggling to obtain food, with prices of staples more than doubling after more than a year of conflict that has cost more than 10,000 lives.
Some people in the capital, Damascus, long spared the violence but now shaken by explosions overnight, say they are stocking up with at least a month's supplies.
"Syrian grain imports are being transacted in large volumes using offices in Lebanon to handle the paperwork and act as initial buyer," one trader said. "The deal is then re-booked in Lebanon, and ships are then later diverted to Syrian ports." Some trade sources said hundreds of thousands of tonnes were involved, while deals in smaller volumes are also being booked via dealers based in Dubai.
11.48am: Syria: The head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood said the observers' visit to Dera'a will continue despite the attack on a UN convoy that wounded six Syrian soldiers.
AP quoted him describing the attack as "a graphic experience that the Syrian people live with every day".
The explosion was more than 100 metres behind the convoy, it said.
A unnamed soldier told the agency: "We were driving behind the UN convoy as protection when a roadside bomb exploded, wounding a 1st Lieutenant and five troops".
11.39am: Egypt: Even if the generals give up political power next month, military men will continue to run Egypt, Zeinab Abul-Magd writes in an article for Foreign Policy. She points out:
• Eighteen of the 27 provincial governors are retired generals. • Retired generals run many companies in the state-owned oil and gas sector.
• The head of the Suez Canal is a former military chief of staff. • The heads of the Red Sea ports are retired generals, as is the manager of the maritime and land transport company.
• The health minister's assistant for financial and administrative affairs is a retired general, among many others in the ministry.
• There are dozens of retired generals in the environment ministry.
• The head of the supreme constitutional court was originally an army officer.
In addition to all that, Abul-Magd writes:
"Retired generals manage the vast enterprises owned by the military institution and produce goods and services for consumers rather than for military production. This includes chains of factories, service companies, farms, roads, gas stations, supermarkets, and much more.
There are three major military bodies engaged in civilian production: the Ministry of Military Production, running eight factories; the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation, running 12 factories; and the National Service Products Organisation, running 15 factories, companies, and farms.
They produce a wide variety of goods, including luxury jeeps, infant incubators, butane gas cylinders, plastic tubes, canned food, meat, chicken, and more. They also provide services, like domestic cleaning and gas station management.
11.19am: Syria: Here's video of Kofi Annan's soft-spoken warning about the descent into civil war in Syria.
As we noted yesterday the International Committee of the Red Cross has joined Human Rights Watch in suggesting that the fighting in some parts of Syria can already by defined as "armed conflict".
11.11am: Tunisia: The foreign ministry has accused US ambassador Gordon Gray of interfering in Tunisia's internal affairs, after he criticised last week's Persepolis verdict.
Nessma TV chief Nabil Karoui was fined 2,400 dinars for "disturbing public order" and offending "good morals" by broadcasting the award-winning film. The US embassy issued a statement saying:
"His conviction raises serious concerns about tolerance and freedom of expression in the new Tunisia. We understand that Mr Karoui has the right to appeal his conviction, and we hope this case will be resolved in a manner, which guarantees free expression, a basic right denied to Tunisians during the Ben Ali era.
Tunisia Live reports the government's riposte:
"The Tunisian ministry of foreign affairs response stated that the ambassador's declarations represent an "interference in the internal affairs of the Tunisian judiciary," and asserted that the Tunisian government conforms to international norms and respects the independence of the judiciary in forming its own conclusion.
11.02am: Syria: The head of the UN observer mission to Syria, Major General Robert Mood (pictured), and 12 other monitors escaped unharmed in the attack on troops in Dera'a, AFP confirms.
It says six soldiers were wounded in the attack which targeted troops escorting the UN. Addounia TV reported that eight soldiers were wounded.
10.58am: Syria: Readers who are still in doubt about the outcome of Syria's election will have to wait a bit longer. The government news agency, Sana, says counting has finished in some areas but is still continuing in others.
"In Lattakia, counting was finished in 300 out of 817 election centers, while 668 out of 720 ballots were counted in Tartous were six candidates presented an objection.
In Hama, 500 out of 1000 ballots were counted, and the rest are due to be finished by 8pm, while counting in Aleppo is almost finished, but the Aleppo Countryside ballots are being scrutinized due to the late arrival of some ballots.
300 out of the 604 ballots in Homs have been counted, and 280 out of 561 ballots have been counted in Deir Ezzor.
In Hasaka, 100 ballots have been counted so far, and counting is almost done in the 510 centers in Raqqa. Counting of ballots was finished in Sweida, Quneitra, Idleb and Dara'a.
The pro-regime website Champress has a few results (in Arabic). It claims a turnout of 64.5% in Tartous province and 58% in Suweida.
10.32am: Syria: Has the rebel Free Syrian Army resumed its attacks as its commander Riad al-Asaad threatened? Reuters says seven militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were killed in another attack on a bus, this time in the Damascus suburb of Irbin.
The attack with rocket-propelled grenades destroyed the vehicle on the edge of Irbin, according to an activist.
"Troops sealed off the area then tanks began shelling. A five-story building was badly hit but it was empty," activist Mohammad Saeed told Reuters, saying he was speaking by satellite phone from the suburb.
It is unclear who was behind this attack and the one in Dera'a which reportedly injured eight soldiers and occurred in the presence of UN monitors.
10.25am: Syria: Troops fired across the Lebanese border on Wednesday morning, killing a 75-year-old woman and wounding her daughter, according to Reuters citing residents and a doctor in the Lebanese town of al-Qaa said. Halima Suleiman Karbi was shot in the head and her daughter, 33, was shot in the stomach as they sat by a mosque in the rural mountainous border region, residents said. Both were taken to hospital, where Karbi died from her wounds, a doctor said.
10.07am: Bahrain: The situation in Bahrain is becoming worse, not better, Joost Hiltermann of the International Crisis Group says in an article for the New York Review of Books.
"Part of what makes the current situation in Bahrain so disturbing is that the regime has succeeded in replacing the narrative of a peaceful movement for reform with an altogether different one: that the country's majority Shia are intent on driving the Sunnis off the island and handing the country over to Iran ... The regime's use of an Iranian bogeyman has been particularly effective.
Another negative development, according to Hiltermann, is the sidelining of the crown prince, who was not only more reform-minded than others in the royal family but had also been seeking to reduce Bahrain's dependence on neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
As protection for the "Iranian threat", Bahrain is now being driven towards a more dependent relationship with Saudi, in the form of proposals for a political confederation. If that came to pass, Hiltermann writes, "Bahrain would become no more than a satrapy, with the Al Khalifa [the royal family] reduced to, at most, policing the island on behalf of the House of Saud.
"The ultimate irony is that in seeking to escape Iranian interference, the Al Khalifas are rushing headlong into a Saudi embrace. For Bahrainis themselves, this would likely mean even less freedom and more autocracy than before: the Saudi regime would want to keep tight control over this tiny spit of land within Iran's military reach, and the introduction of its Wahhabi doctrine would put a swift end to the social liberties and free-wheeling cosmopolitanism to which ordinary Bahrainis have grown accustomed, exemplified by the island's signature Formula One race.
It also deprives many Saudis of illicit pleasures:
"Saudi weekenders use the island for wild indulgences forbidden at home: families flock to cinemas, women gather at malls to organise group drives, while men binge-drink and visit houses of ill repute, which now include major hotels, where prostitution is conspicuous.
9.54am: Syria: An explosion targeted a Syrian military truck in the southern province of Dera'a in front of UN monitors. AP reports: An Associated Press reporter who was travelling in the convoy said three bloodied Syrian soldiers were rushed from the scene. The military truck had its windows blown out.
The UN convoy was not hit.
The head of the UN observer mission, Major General Robert Mood, was in the convoy.
Reuters says eight security personnel were wounded, citing a pro-government TV station.
Reuters India @ReutersIndia Explosion in front of UN monitors convoy in southern Syria, 8 Syrian guards wounded - pro-government Addounia TV 9 May 12 Meanwhile, government troops attacked opposition strongholds in Douma, near Damascus, while the security forces raided villages in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, according to the latest updates from Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It also said one civilian was killed in machine gun fire near Jisr al-Shughur in the north west, AFP reports.
9.22am: Syria: The town of al-Qusair, between Homs and the Lebanese border, is divided between areas controlled by rebels and the army, according to an audio diary from Al-Jazeera's James Bays. Meanwhile, the BBC's Lyse Doucet reports continuing violence in Homs. She appears to be reporting from the city on an authorised trip under the protection of UN monitors. lyse doucet @bbclysedoucet #Homs early morning can hear sound of gunfire, heavier weapons. No ceasefire here but UN monitors patrolling.#Syria 9 May 12 lyse doucet @bbclysedoucet UN sources say "intense well coordinated" opposition attack yday north #homs lasted few hours blocked major motorway #syria 9 May 12 Doucet also reports government's version of events: lyse doucet @bbclysedoucet Governor #Homs - "u tell me some pple r afraid of the army, many more say they want us to protect them" #Syria 9 May
The Free Syrian Army is threatening to resume its attacks because the government has not honoured the ceasefire, AP reports citing an interview in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. It quotes colonel Riad al-Asaad, head of the FSA, as saying "our people are demanding that we defend them". So much for giving peace a chance.
8.32am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live.
Today we will be tracking reaction to Kofi Annan's bleak assessment of UN efforts to end the violence in Syria. Among the other developments to monitor will be the fallout from yesterday's attack by a militia group in Libya on the office of the interim prime minister.
Here's a round up of the latest news:
Syria
• International envoy Kofi Annan has urged both sides in the conflict in Syria to "give peace a chance" after delivering a bleak assessment on the progress of his UN-backed initiative to end the violence. Speaking to reporters after briefing the security council, he said:
"Government troops and armour are still present, though in smaller formation ... There have been worrying episodes of violence by the government but we have also seen attacks against government forces, troops and installations. And there has been a spate of bombings, which are really worrying, and I'm sure creates incredible insecurity among the civilian population ...
I believe that the UN supervision mission is possibly the only remaining chance to stabilise the country. There is a profound concern that the country could otherwise descend into full civil war and the implications of that are quite frightening. We cannot allow that to happen.
I hope that both the government and all components of the opposition understand this and seize this fragile, but real, opportunity to bring the situation under control ... The violence must stop and a credible political process must begin for the sake of the Syrian people.
• Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, accused foreign governments of plotting to undermine Annan's peace initiative, the New York Times reports. "We need to see these Qataris, the Saudis, the Turkish governments, as well as some other nations, stopping their incitement to violence, their sponsorship of the armed rebellion," he said.
• Why is everyone pretending that Annan's plan has a prayer of succeeding? asks Salman Shaikh director of the Brookings Doha Centre. Writing in Foreign Policy he says:
"The world should abandon the fiction that the Assad regime can be persuaded to reach a political accommodation with its adversaries. Rather, it is time for a renewed effort to forge a genuine united front, including all groups in Syria's social fabric, dedicated to Assad's downfall and the establishment of a pluralistic, democratic state in the aftermath. This effort needs stronger international backing today – opposition leaders inside and outside the country do not have the resources to unite their ranks alone. If an endeavour to create a genuine grand opposition coalition were to succeed, the Assad regime would face a greater political and military challenge than ever before, stretching its forces to a breaking point. With Annan's peace plan in tatters, that's a goal the international community should embrace.
Global terrorism and Saudi Arabia
• A would-be "underwear bomber" involved in a plot to attack a US-based jet was in fact working as an undercover informer with Saudi intelligence and the CIA, it has emerged. The LA Times said that the bomb plan had provided intelligence leads that led to Sunday's missile attack that killed senior Yemeni al-Qaida leader Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso.
Libya
• At least one man was killed when gunmen from a former rebel militia stormed and occupied the office of the interim prime minister, Abdurrahim al-Keib. Several dozen pickup trucks with heavy machine guns surrounded the building as government negotiators met the former rebels, who are demanding back pay they say they are owed.
• Keib said his government would not give in to the demands of "outlaws", the BBC reports. In a televised address following the attack, he said: "As the government asserts that it will deliver on its promises, it also announces that it will not give in to blackmail or to outlaws and will not negotiate under the threat of force."
Bahrain
• A court review of a military tribunal's decision to convict activists of trying overthrow the state, has heard that that they were forced to sign confessions, the Independent reports. The group includes Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for three months and did not attend the session.
Egypt
• The presidential election contest is turning into a two-horse race between former the Muslim Brotherhood's Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and Egypt's former foreign minister Amr Moussa, according to the latest Arabist podcast. The programme also asks whether last week's clashes in Abbasiya could derail the elections.
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