Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Trying to Stem the Protests

A police jeep hits a man in Salmabad in Bahraini and keeps speeding away, the man clinging to the hood

See also Yemen Feature: Locals "We Have Bigger Problems Than Al Qa'eda"
Bahrain Feature: The 20 Doctors' Reply to Their Prison Sentences
Saturday's Syria, Bahrain, Yemen (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Months of Protests and Violence

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1930 GMT: Five opposition political societies have announced a "human chain" in solidarity with detained medical staff and other political prisoners. The demonstration will begin at 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

1555 GMT: Medical workers have said that people injured in fighting in Libya's besieged city of Sirte are dying on the operating table because fuel for the hospital generator has run out.

The interim government, or National Transitional Council declared a two-day truce on Friday to allow civilians to escape the city, one of former leader Muammar Qaddafi's last two strongholds, but people emerging from the city said they knew nothing of the ceasefire and that shooting had not stopped.

"Doctors start operating, then the power goes. They have a few litres of fuel for the generators, then the lights go out when they operate," said a man who gave his name as Al-Sadiq, who said he ran the dialysis unit at Sirte's main hospital. "I saw a child of 14 die on the operating table because the power went out during the operation."

Aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who brought medical supplies into Sirte on Saturday, could not reach the hospital because of shooting.

"It's a catastrophe. Patients are dying every day for need of oxygen," said Mohammed Shnaq, a biochemist at the hospital who fled early on Sunday during a lull in the shooting.

He said private pharmacies in Sirte handed over their supplies to the hospital after its own stocks ran out a week ago, but these were now running out.

1325 GMT: A funeral today in Khan Shaykhoun in northwest Syria for three people killed by security forces:

The mourners had company --- armoured vehicles and troops in the cemetery:

1255 GMT: The Bahraini regime's information agency has announced the winners of Saturday's Parliamentary by-elections; however, it has not released figures on the number of people who voted. Instead, there is this statement:

His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, President of the Supreme Council of Youth and Sports [and] the chairman of the Bahraini Olympic Committee, congratulated His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Monarch of the Kingdom of Bahrain as well as all loyal Bahraini people on the success of the second round of parliamentary by-elections, pointing out that this success is ascribable to the wise leadership and to the loyal Bahraini people who have exhibited the brightest epoch-making image and who made an example to be followed for their compliance with the sense of national duty and ethics and this calls on everybody to make a great success of the efforts intended to provide appropriate atmospheres for the rennaissance of the Kingdom of Bahrain and its development in the various fields.

The by-elections were prompted by the resignation of MPs of the opposition Al Wefaq party, who called for a boycott of the ballot. In last weekend's first round, only 17.4% of registered voters participated.

Meanwhile, the 20 doctors and nurses who were sentenced to long prison terms this week continue their appearance on international media. Dr Ghassan Dhaif and his wife Dr Zarhra Al Sammak appeared on Britain's Sky News, and Dr Nada Dhaif was interviewed by America's CBS News:

1245 GMT: A range of Syrian opposition factions have announced the formation of the National Unity Council in a press conference held in Istanbul.

Burhan Ghalioun, a sociology professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, issued the statement, “The Syrian Council is open to all Syrians. It is an independent group personifying the sovereignty of the Syrian people in their struggle for liberty."

The newly-formed council said, as it united all opposition outside the country, that it wishes to join with forces inside the countries.

The council rejected foreign intervention but asked for United Nations action to protect civilians in the country. Ghilyon said that peaceful means are the only solutions to the conflict in Syria, and thatprotests will continue until the toppling of the Assad regime.

1145 GMT: Students in Maarat Harame in Idlib Province in the northwest chant today, "The people want the toppling of the regime":

Students in Inkhel in Daraa Province in southern Syria protest today, "People want the execution of the President":

Sttudents in the Damascus suburb of Douma aim their message at the late Hafez al-Assad, past President and father of the current President, "Damn your soul, Hafez":

1125 GMT: Five political activists on trial in the United Arab Emirates for insulting senior officials have failed to appear in court.

The police officer in charge of bringing the five defendants to the hearing on Sunday told the State Security Court that they "refused to come", without offering any further explanation.

In a letter posted online on Saturday, one of the accused, economics lecturer Nasser bin Ghaith, said he had decided to boycott the trial after having agreed with his co-accused that they would not receive "a fair trial".

Bin Ghaith, blogger Ahmed Mansoor, and online activists Fahid Salim Dalk, Hassan Ali Khamis and Ahmed Abdul Khaleq were detained in April. The UAE attorney-general said that the five were being held on suspicion of "committing crimes of instigation, breaking laws and perpetrating acts that pose a threat to state security, undermining the public order, opposing the government system, and insulting the president, the vice-president and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi."

All five pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial in June.

Sunday's hearing, in which the defence had been set to present its case, was the first court session opened to the public and the media.

1033 GMT: A correspondent for The New York Times sends in this report from Homs, Syria’s third-largest city:

Armed protesters now call themselves revolutionaries, gun battles erupt as often as every few hours, security forces and opponents carry out assassinations, and rifles costing as much as $2,000 apiece flood the city from abroad, residents say.

Since the start of the uprising in March, Homs has stood as one of Syria’s most contested cities, its youth among the best organized and most tenacious. But across the political spectrum, residents speak of a decisive shift in past weeks, as a largely peaceful uprising gives way to a grinding struggle that has made Homs violent, fearful and determined.

Analysts caution that the strife in Homs is still specific to the city itself, and many in the opposition reject violence because they fear it will serve as a pretext for the government’s brutal crackdown.

But in the targeted killings, the rival security checkpoints and the hardening of sectarian sentiments, the city offers a dark vision that could foretell the future of Syria’s uprising as both the government and the opposition ready themselves for a protracted struggle over the endurance of a four-decade dictatorship.

“We are done with the protesting phase,” said a 21-year-old engineering student here who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “We’ve now entered a more important phase.”

1030 GMT: A regime warplane has mistakenly bombed an army position in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding many more.

The bombing on Saturday evening in Abyan Province, targeted an abandoned school used as shelter by soldiers of the army's 119th Brigade. The school is located just east of Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, where insurgents have been in control since May.

1025 GMT: More on Saturday's protests in Bahrain (see 0630 GMT) --- video from Alkawara:

Footage has also been posted of the large police presence in Aldair.

0825 GMT: Aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross have delivered medical supplies to Sirte, one of the last two trongholds of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, amid growing fears over the situation for residents of the town.

The ruling National Transitional Council declared a two-day truce on Friday to allow people to leave, but fighting continued to the west and east of the town.

0705 GMT: Al Jazeera English reports on claims of revenge killings and abductions of alleged supporters of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi by fighters for the National Transitional Council

0655 GMT: Activist Hussein Jawad uses Twitter to pass on a conversation with his father, 64-year-old Mohammed Jawad Parwees, sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Parweez, one of 21 political activists whose sentences were confirmed on Wednesday by a military court, said the 14 who were present --- seven were convicted in absentia --- are on the 8th day of a hunger strike. They had been taken to hospital but now health care had been cancelled except for one consultation each week.

Parweez continues, "The prison administration is preventing us from alot of things to push us to stop our hunger strike....They were prevented us from [seeing] our families until further notice...BUT we said we will continue the huger strike until all Female detainees were all released."

Parweez, commenting on the victory signs shown by the 14 after their sentences were confirmed on Wednesday, said the activists had agreed to show their defiance. He asked about the people of Bahrain, "Are they still defiant or not?"

Parweez concluded, "We are strong.. Don't be afraid for us as my spirit is too high."

0645 GMT: More testimonies from the 20 medical staff sentenced on Thursday to prison terms of 5 to 15 years on the pretext that they were planning a coup and working with terrorist groups. Fatima Haji talks to US National Public Radio, and Rula al Saffar --- president of the nursing union, assistant professor at the college of health science, head of the emergency nursing programme --- says of her 15-year sentence: “I believe we are being punished because we are witnesses to what happened here on 17 February. That was the day they started using live ammunition on people.”

Al Saffar continues, “We worked for days as volunteers, without sleep, in the hospital to treat the injured. They came in suffocating from tear gas, their backs filled with pellets because they had been trying to run away." She claims of her detention:

For the first week I was held in isolation in a freezing dark cell. Throughout the five months I was tortured and sexually harassed. I was not read my rights. I did not see a lawyer. I was made to sign a confession blindfolded. I saw my family for the first time after three months. But it was only three minutes a week.

0630 GMT: We start this morning in Egypt, where Sami Enan, the deputy head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, met political party leaders to discuss possible reforms.

Enan invited a range of movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wafd Party to a discussion, after the parties called for the abolition of a controversial article in Egypt's new electoral law and for a ban on former regime members running for public office. They had threatened a boycott of Parliamentary elections in November and January.

The political groups have objected to Article 5, which stipulates that two-thirds of seats in the Parliamentary elections would be on a party-list system and the rest reserved for independent candidates, on a "first past the post" vote", who were not tied to parties.

SCAF reportedly yielded on that provision and other changes may be announced today. The regime, said it would study the status of an emergency law condemned by rights activists for giving police sweeping powers of arrest and detention. It also said it would consider ending military trials for civilians and setting a clearer timeline for a transition to civilian rule.

No prospect of talks in Bahrain, however, as the regime tried to proclaim --- without giving any figures --- success in holding the second ballot in 14 Parliamentary by-elections, after a low turnout in the first round amidst an opposition boycott, and protests continued in the villages, including Markuban, Sfala, Alkharijia, Mehaza, AbuAlaish, A'ali, Alkawara, Alma'meer, AlDair, Saddad, Sanabis, Nabih-Saleh, Almalkhya, Alhamalah, AlEker, and Jid-Ali.