Good morning. Welcome to Middle East Live. The international community is watching closely for any sign that the violence in Syria is diminishing ahead of 10 April - the date set by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan for a ceasefire. So far, it does not look promising.
• Regime forces are clashing with opposition fighters in three suburbs of the capital Damascus, despite the looming ceaefire, activists say. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian troops conducted raids today in the Damascus suburbs of Saqba and Douma following overnight clashes between regime forces and army defectors in Saqba and the suburb of Arbeen. It says three members of the military were killed. Activists say troops have set a home in Saqba on fire. The Assad regime has been urged by the UN to implement "urgently and visibly" an international peace plan by ending all military operations against the opposition by 10 April, but there has been little sign of any easing of now routine violence.
• The Kurdish bloc has walked out of the Syrian National Council, raising more questions about the capacity for the opposition to unite. The Daily Star Lebanon reports:
Syrian Kurdish opposition leader Abdul-Baki Yousef, a leading member of the Kurdish Yakiti party in Syria and former member of the Kurdish National Council, charged host country Turkey with "pressuring the SNC" to omit the demands of the Kurdish opposition members in the final constitution document outlining a transition plan for Syria ...
"Our goal was to unify with the opposition and come up with a patriotic agreement that makes an umbrella for the whole opposition, but unfortunately the Turkish sponsor was very sensitive toward the Kurdish issue," Yousef told The Daily Star. "We accuse the Turkish government of putting pressure on the council."
He said that the SNC is dominated by Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood.
• More than 2,800 Syrians fled across the border to Turkey from the region of Idlib on Thursday, a Turkish official said, more than double the highest previous one-day total. The refugees all crossed close to the Turkish village of Bukulmez and more were waiting on the other side of the border, the official said. Mohammed Khatib, a refugee who said he came from Kastanaz, a Syrian town of 20,000 people, said:
The army wants people to move out of their houses. If the residents refuse, they destroy them with the people inside. For the past three days there have been bodies lying in the streets. Around 200 have been killed. The town is now abandoned. It took us two days to get to Turkey with our women and children.
• Saudi Arabia and Qatar are being urged not to supply weapons to the Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad for fear of undermining UN-backed efforts to negotiate a political end to the crisis. The Guardian understands that the Syrian president's most implacable Arab enemies have been moving towards more direct, if still largely covert, support for the opposition but are now under heavy international pressure to hold off.
• The Israeli army has closed the West Bank border for the first two days of the Passover holiday, which begins Friday at sundown. Under the ban, no Palestinians are allowed to cross into Israel except those needing medical care, the military said. The ban will be lifted on Saturday at midnight. Israel routinely closes the West Bank during Jewish holidays when crowds in synagogues and other public places are most vulnerable to potential attacks by Palestinian militants.
It described the activity as "helicopter-backed operations".
Bahrain: Fears are growing for the jailed Bahraini activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for 57 days. His lawyer and the Bahraini government said this week that he has been moved to a police hospital. He was reportedly moved to a clinic in the Public Security Fort after losing 10 kg (20lb) in weight with low haemoglobin.
Al Khawaja's lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi was able to visit him in the prison's hospital yesterday and released a severely disturbing picture of an emaciated al- Khawaja (see below). According to the doctors he has lost around 25% of his weight. His wife was told that his pulse is so weak he may go into cardiac arrest at any minute or into a coma. Al Khawaja is currently unable to move, with very low sugar and blood pressure levels and doctors affirm that if he survives, he is at serious risk of organ failure, especially since there is blood in his urine which doctors have said is indicative of kidney failure.
The statement continues:
Today marks the 57th day of Al Khawaja's hunger strike, which he started last February in protest of his unlawful arrest in April 2011, and his 51st birthday. Al Khawaja, a dual Bahrain and Danish national was subjected to severe torture and sexual assault leading to fractures in his face including a broken jaw, as documented in case number 8 in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report. While in recovery from surgery after the incident, the Bahraini authorities continued to torture him.
Abdulhadi Al Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison by a military court in June 2011 on fabricated charges of terrorism and attempting to overthrow the regime.
His health is rapidly deteriorating, and his family reports that his life is in danger. PHR calls on the Government of Bahrain to immediately release Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, allow an impartial investigation of allegations of torture and ill-treatment during his detention, and hold all perpetrators of torture accountable for their actions.
His daughter Zainab al-Khawaj was reportedly arrested last night in front of the prison hospital, after refusing to leave and calling out her father's name.
Zainab, who tweets under the name @angryarabiya, is now said to be on hunger strike in prison in solidarity with her father. A number of other Bahrainis have also said they are going on hunger strike in solidarity with al-Khawaja.
— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) April 5, 2012
— yousif totti (@Yousif_totti) April 6, 2012
— abufatim (@abufatim2) April 6, 2012
Syria: The Local Co-ordination Committees activist group in Syria says that Homs has come under renewed shelling:
A video on the livestreaming site Bambuser from Homs shows black smoke rising and the sound of gunfire and shelling can be heard.Syria:
The Local Co-ordination Committees activist group says a number of neighbourhoods in Homs have been shelled this morning. It is also reporting "heavy shelling" in Zabadani, in Damascus suburbs, in the western mountains.
Ghazi Beji, 27, who fled to Greece before he could be arrested, wrote a book in Arabic, Wahm al-Islam ("The Illusion of Islam") and posted it on the internet. In the interview he says:
I wrote my book to express my view about Islam and to unveil how Muhammad married Aicha when she was six years old and other truths. After the revolution, in March 2011, I said to myself Tunisia is a free and democratic country now and I should try to publish my book. I contacted several book publishers in Mahdia but they all refused to publish it. So I opted to upload it on 4shared.com.
His friend, Jabeur Mejri, who is now in jail, wrote a similar book in English, called Dark Lands, which is also on the internet. It makes some familiar criticisms of Islam in a not-very-subtle way.
According to Beji, Mejri was threatened by local Salafists for having depicted a Tunisian Salafist as a monkey.
When the security forces first arrested Mejri, they told him that they detained him to protect him from any Salafist attack. But later, they assaulted and tortured him. I was told that he mentioned my name under torture.
When I heard of what happened to my friend. I knew that I had to run away.
I went to Algeria, Turkey and then crossed illegally to Greece. Here, I am now trying to contact NGOs and other countries to grant me asylum.
Tunisia Live says the charges were brought under article 121 of the penal code which dates from the Ben Ali era.
where sniper fire and shelling was reported yesterday, has come under fire again, the Local Co-ordination Committees says, pointing to this video as evidence.Syria: Douma, in Damascus Suburbs,
This video, of a tank opening fire, was also purportedly fimed in Douma.
Another video shows smoke rising in Anadan, near Aleppo, which, like Douma was reportedly shelled yesterday.
The LCC says eight people have been killed by shelling in Homs so far today. It also reports raids on houses and shops, including the burning of six houses in Hama. Its reports cannot be independently verified.
"We should always understand that if we are not active in this situation and we just allow it to develop in this case as Assad wants it to develop in Syria, we know what will happen.
Already thousands of people have died and many thousands more will die. So these are decisions, when you intervene, it's always important to recognise if you intervene there will be consequences some of which are unpredictable and adverse and if you don't the consequences actually are more predictable and probably very adverse also."
When Austin suggested: "You sound as if you think we should be looking to do more," Blair replied cryptically:
I think the government is doing all it can do at this point in time but I think we should keep all the options open. In particular, what is very important is that we carry on sending a very strong message to Assad and the Syrian regime that this is not something where they can just roll over the people and then we are going to say ok lets just forget about it.
Mauritania: The interior ministry is recommending a change of name for two roads in the capital, Nouakchott – those named after the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, and the ousted Tunisian president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. As yet, there is no decision regarding their new names.
The news website, Alakhbar (in French), notes that "Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz had good relations with both men". President Aziz, who seized power in Mauritania through a military coup in 2008, is now also facing protests calling for him to step down.
Syria: The Syrian government claims 6,143 Syrian citizens have been killed by "terrorist groups" - its description of the opposition - and 1,590 have been kidnapped.
The UN says Bashar al-Assad's forces have killed more than 9,000 people since protests began in March last year.
The Syrian government's claim is contained in a letter from the foreign ministry to the UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, in which it accuses her of bias and choosing "to compile lies and fabrications and market them as if they were facts without bothering to verify them".
The letter goes on:
It is really strange that she used the UN human and financial resources against Syria, based on lies and calls outside her jurisdiction ...
It would have been better had the commissioner stuck to objectivity and professionalism as it would have helped in preventing killing more Syrians,'' added the ministry.
The commissioner has rejected to consider the acts of terrorist groups as crimes against humanity, although all standards of identifying crimes against humanity apply to them, and chose instead to level this accusation at the state which is doing its duty in protecting its own people...
Syria is committed to its responsibility in probing all allegations of human rights violations, but the commissioner hasn't shared any of the allegations it received, nor has it worked to provide national or even peaceful solutions, which clearly means that the commissioner has to review her stances on Syria.
Ennahda, regarded as a moderately Islamist party, won the largest number of seats in last October's election, though not an overall majority.
Ennahda's interim prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, who made the latest appointments, has been accused of continuing a practice that was familiar under the Ben Ali dictatorship where officials were chosen on the basis of their loyalty to the ruling party.
Activists reported tank fire in at least three urban centres on Friday - the town of Douma near Damascus, the restive city of Homs and Rastan, north of Homs.
"Tanks went into Douma last night, then they left. Today at 7 in the morning they came back. There has been shelling on Douma since the morning. We are not sure if people were killed but the shelling did not stop," a local activist said.
"At least 5 tanks and 10 buses loaded with security men and Shabiha pro-Assad militia) entered Douma," he said.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops were fighting Free Syrian Army rebels in Douma as well as in Rastan on the highway between Homs and Hama cities.
Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:
• Violence is reportedly continuing in Syria despite the looming ceasefire, due to start in four days time. Activists reported tank fire in at least three urban centres on Friday - the town of Douma near Damascus, the restive city of Homs and Rastan, north of Homs.
• The Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu has made an "urgent phone call" to the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon over "intense operations" by the Syrian military near the Turkish border. He also discussed the issue of refugees with more than 2,800 having fled from Idlib on Thursday – more than double the previous highest one-day total – according to a Turkish official.
• The Kurdish bloc has walked out of the Syrian National Council, claiming that Turkey was pressurising the SNC to omit the demands of Kurdish opposition members in the final constitution document outlining a transition plan for Syria. The split will increase perceptions of a divided opposition.
• The former UK prime minister, Tony Blair, said Britain "should keep all the options open" regarding Syria, in an interview with ITV News. He said "when you intervene, it's always important to recognise if you intervene there will be consequences".
• Human rights groups have expressed concern over the fate of imprisoned activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is close to death according to his family. Khawaja, who was jailed for life in June 2011 for his part in protests against the regime, has been on hunger strike for 57 days. His daughter Zainab al-Khawaj was reportedly arrested last night in front of the prison hospital, after refusing to leave and calling out her father's name. She has now gone on hunger strike in prison in solidarity with her father.
Bahrain: A video posted on YouTube is said to show people fleeing a building affected by teargas yesterday.
It was posted by the Freedom for Sar Network. Sar is an area west of the capital with both affluent and poverty-stricken districts.
In a context where genuine and sustainable reform is taking place, holding a Grand Prix could be a unifying event for the people of Bahrain as well as a positive showcase on the world stage. But things are not at that stage ...
Bahrain is nothing like as bad as the terrible situation in Syria. And F1 teams do race in other countries with unenviable human rights records. But that does not mean it is right for F1 to collude in presenting to the outside world a cocooned picture of normality at the Bahrain International Circuit, when what is likely to be going on just few miles outside the circuit could be very different indeed ...
In hindsight, the FIA should not have scheduled the 2012 race so early in the season. It was always going to be too early to know how far things had moved on in Bahrain since last year. F1 can't turn the clock back but, with three weeks to go before the race, it can still rethink. It should do so.
A letter from the ministry, quoted by the Syrian government's news agency, Sana, accuses her of acting as "an attorney general against the countries whom the western countries choose to target" and turning a blind eye to "violations in Syria by armed terrorist groups".Syria: The Syrian foreign ministry has launched a vitriolic attack on Navi Pillay, the UN's human rights chief.
Instead, it says, she has chosen "to compile lies and fabrications and market them as if they were facts without bothering to verify them". The letter continues:
It is really strange that she used the UN human and financial resources against Syria, based on lies and calls outside her jurisdiction ...
It would have been better had the commissioner stuck to objectivity and professionalism as it would have helped in preventing killing more Syrians.
in a statement today citing medical experts. Front Line's executive director, Mary Lawlor, who recently visited the kingdom, says:Bahrain: Imprisoned hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja now has an 80% chance of dying and could suffer organ failure at any time, the Dublin-based human rights group, Front Line Defenders, says
We call on the Bahrain government to exercise mercy and immediately allow Abdulhadi to travel to Denmark for medical treatment as requested by the Danish foreign minister – Abdulhadi has dual citizenship with Denmark. We further call on the UN, the EU, the US and UK to issue public statements to this effect.
If he dies in the run-up to the Grand Prix on April 22 it will increase the instability and unrest, she adds.
The Bahraini authorities clearly want to present an image of business as usual but their seeming indifference to the plight of Abdulhadi, risks tragic consequences for Bahrain.
Those involved in Formula 1 must consult with independent journalists, community leaders, human rights groups, to get a good sense of what is going on – to see for themselves the situation in the gulf kingdom. From observing protests last week in Bahrain, it is clear that Bahrain is not safe for Bahrainis.
Kafar Nabl: "concepts hav bn reversed, the criminal has become the world's spoilt child, and Syrians, r the victims" twitter.com/THE_47th/statu…
— ♕The 47th♕ (@THE_47th) April 6, 2012
This Google map contains embedded video of some of the protests reported by the Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria today.Syria:
Scroll up and down to view all locations and click on the pointers to watch the video.
Syria: A daily stream of videos from citizen journalists has documented many of the atrocities in Syria but satellite images can also contribute – and may prove useful shortly - in helping to establish whether the regime pulls its forces back from towns and cities as required by Kofi Annan's peace plan.
In an article for iWatch News, Jeffrey Smith looks at efforts to make the latest satellite photos of Syria more readily available. For more than a month, he says, US intelligence analysts have been declassifying images showing the movement of Syrian armour and the destruction of villages so that the state department's human rights bureau can post them on its website.
The photos do not depict atrocities, but they convincingly show the massing of Syrian armour and some of the damage caused by the shelling that government forces have made a hallmark of their military campaign against the rebellion. Several display damage to a mosque, school, medical clinic and other buildings in Homs; others display crater concentrations in the rebellious city of Homs and town called Zabadani.
Smith says this approach was prompted by memories of the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 which was photographed by satellites but kept secret until almost four weeks after the massacre was over.
The article adds that while some US officials believe it is important to make satellite information about the Syrian regime's behaviour available, others have been worrying that it might "inflame political appetites to intervene directly in the fighting".
The Formula 1 authorities do not seem to have spoken with all relevant parties in Bahrain and have instead relied on the assurances of the Bahraini government. It is crucial that they also speak with independent civil society, community leaders and opposition political figures in Bahrain.
Having just returned from Bahrain where I witnessed the indiscriminate use of tear gas and met with the families and lawyers of those who continue to be detained and persecuted I can assure the Formula 1 authorities that the situation in the country has not returned to normal. Bahrain is definitely not a safe country for Bahrainis.
Syria: The apparent trigger for the latest rush of refugees into Turkey was an offensive by President Assad's forces this week near the town of Idlib, close to Turkey.
Activists reported scores dead in the village of Taftanaz, and said another village nearby, Killi, was being shelled Friday.
Hikmet Saban, a Syrian refugee who reached Turkey, told Turkey's state-run Anadolu agency:
They devastated Taftanaz, all houses demolished, everything destroyed. Helicopters and tanks are bombarding continuously. Taftanaz has been burnt to the ground for three days.
Those most affected are Saudi Arabia, which is wary of the Brotherhood, and Qatar, whose relations with the Islamist movement are much warmer. Writing for the Egypt Independent website, Qassemi says:
There is no denying the keen interest that these two wealthy and influential Gulf states will be paying to the Egyptian presidential elections.
To Saudi Arabia, the notion of an influential Arabic Islamic leaning republic offering competing ideologies to its own Wahhabi teachings could pose a threat to its dominant role in the Sunni Muslim world.
To Qatar, a relationship that it has carefully cultivated over decades may finally be bearing fruit, turning a once cold relationship with Egypt into a strategic and valuable partnership.
After a period of relatively close coordination following the Arab uprisings, the Gulf States of Qatar and Saudi Arabia will likely witness their first major foreign policy divergence should the prospect of a Muslim Brotherhood president in Egypt turn into a reality.
"Freedom or martyrdom," cried marchers who carried portraits of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, whose declining health has brought appeals for international intervention from groups such as Amnesty International.
The rallies followed a strongly worded sermon by Bahrain's most senior Shia cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, who predicted the unrest could "get out of control" if al-Khawaja dies in custody.
Al-Khawaja holds Danish citizenship, and officials in Copenhagen have urged Bahraini authorities to allow him to travel to Denmark for medical treatment.
Earlier Friday, al-Khawaja's daughter, Zainab, was transferred to prison after her arrest during protests for her father, said lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi. Bahrain police allege she attacked a public official.
A collection of more photos said to have been taken today can be found here. Some show the use of water cannons, amid claims that protesters have been doused with hot water.
Egypt: Thousands of people rallied in Cairo today in support of an ultraconservative Islamist presidential hopeful who may be disqualified after it was announced that his mother was an American citizen, the Associated Press reports.
The protesters carried photos and campaign posters of Hazem Abu Ismail, a 50-year-old lawyer-turned-preacher who in recent months vaulted to become one of the strongest contenders for president, with widespread backing from ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis.
The showdown between Abu Ismail's supporters and the government has shaken-up a race that includes former regime officials and Islamists competing against one another in the first presidential election since last year's ouster or Hosni Mubarak. The balloting is slated for the end of May.
Abu Ismail's face smiling, with a long, conservative beard has become ubiquitous in Cairo and other cities because of a startlingly aggressive postering campaign that plastered walls and lampposts with his picture.
Egypt's election commission, which announced Thursday that Abu Ismail's mother was a U.S. citizen, did not outright disqualify him because it has yet to start vetting would-be candidates' applications. A law put in place after Mubarak's fall stipulates that a candidate may not have any other citizenship than Egyptian and that the candidate's spouse and parents cannot have other citizenships as well.
As his disqualification looked increasingly likely, Abu Ismail said Thursday he faces an "elaborate plot" against him and insisted his mother only had a Green Card to visit her daughter, who is married to an American and lives in the United States.
The announcement about his mother is particularly embarrassing for Abu Ismail, who has used anti-U.S. rhetoric in his campaign speeches and says he rejects "dependency" on America.
His campaign team claims the country's military rulers, who took over after Mubarak's ouster, are looking for ways to disqualify him as a candidate. As his supporters began marching after Friday prayers down a main Cairo street toward the central Tahrir Square, his campaign chief, Gamal Saber, said the ruling military council is "lying about the sheikh."
"We have proof that his mother is not American," Saber said, adding that their supporters are prepared "to die in Tahrir Square" to fight the "fraud".
Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:
• Violence is continuing in Syria despite the ceasefire scheduled for next week. Activists reported tank fire in at least three urban centres on Friday – the town of Douma near Damascus, the restive city of Homs and Rastan, north of Homs.
• Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has made an "urgent phone call" to the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon over "intense operations" by the Syrian military near the Turkish border and a flood of refugees.
• Former prime minister Tony Blair says Britain "should keep all the options open" regarding Syria.
• Large numbers of protesters took to the streets today as imprisoned hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was said to be close to death.
• There have been more calls to reconsider holding the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain later this month – including one from British Labour MP Richard Burden.
• Omar Suleiman, ex-president Mubarak's former intelligence chief, has announced that he will run in the presidential election.
• Thousands of people rallied in Cairo to support Hazem Abu Ismail, an Islamist contender for the presidency who is threatened with disqualification on the grounds that his mother was an American citizen.
• The Ennahda party has been accused of adopting tactics used by the ousted Ben Ali regime – by appointing its own members as provincial governors.