Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Another Day of the "New Normal"

See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: Friday's "Festival of Loyalty" Opposition Rally
Arab Spring/Iran Special: Is This a Music-Driven Revolution?
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Spread of the Deaths

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2125 GMT: Unconfirmed reports have come in that security forces have fired tonight on a protest in the Marjeh section of Aleppo --- footage of the crowd before the alleged incident:

Elsewhere in Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city and thought throughout this crisis to be behind Assad:

In Deir Ez Zor in the northeast:

And in Saramein in the northwest:

1945 GMT: Reuters reports that several people have been killed on the outskirts of the Libyan capital Tripoli in a second day of fighting between militias who had overthrown the Qaddafi regime.

The fighting occurred among farms and villages between the capital and the port of Zawiyah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) to the west, as men from Zawiyah fired on targets with heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft cannon, rocket-propelled grenades, and Grad rockets. They were forced to take cover and retreat at times by incoming shellfire.

The Zawiyah fighters said they had two men killed on Friday, and there were reports today that they lost 10 more.

Mohammed Sayeh, a member of the National Transitional Council said the Zawiyah men had been misled by a rumour that pro-Qaddafi fighters were in the area and had raided homes and taken cars. A Zawiyah field commander Walid bin Kora claimed he and his men had seen organised fighting units with vehicles marked "Brigade of the Martyr Muammar Gaddafi" attack them and take prisoners.

1925 GMT: Police detain two young men after raiding a house in Alma'ameer in Bahrain:

1805 GMT: Activists say that at least two people were killed today when regime forces fired on protesters in Arhab, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the capital Sana'a.

An elderly woman was also reportedly killed in regime shelling.

Claimed footage of a woman --- one of those slain in Taiz yesterday --- showing ordnance used by regime troops:

1645 GMT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Clashes has said that one person has been killed by security forces in Idlid Province in the northwest.

The Observatory said "50 to 60 soldiers" defected in the area. Gunfire was also reported in Saraqeb in the province after security forces encircled the town.

Activists also said that security forces carried out raids and arrests in the neighbourhoods of Bab Sebaa and Bab Dreib in Homs.

1630 GMT: Video of the Hasab area in Taiz in Yemen after two days of shelling by regime forces --- at least 17 people were reportedly killed on Friday:

1600 GMT: Bahrain's Ministry of Interior is claiming that it has apprehended a terror cell of five people. The Ministry says the suspects, apprehended with the help of Qatari authorities, was targeting individuals and "vital state facilities".

The Ministry is tying the detainees to Iran, saying that they had US dollars and Iranian toman on them and intended to return to Iran, after their operations, via Qatar and Syria.

1525 GMT: Ahram Online reports that the hacktivist group Anonymous overloaded the sites of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on Friday, shutting them down.

1520 GMT: Back from an academic conference to find that the Arab League has suspended Syria, calling for economic and political sanctions against Damascus and urging its 22 members to withdraw their ambassadors.

Only two countries voted against the measure, Yemen and Lebanon, with Iraq abstaining.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim, who led the drive for the suspension, called on Syrian opposition parties to attend a meeting at Arab League headquarters in the next three days to “agree on a unified vision for the transitional period”. He said that if the Assad regime does not halt the violence, the League will seek additional assistance from the United Nations.

Youssef Ahmad, Syria's ambassador to the League, said the decision was "an announcement of the death [of] joint Arab action, and a scandalous declaration that the leadership of such action is subject to American western agendas".

1020 GMT: Another image from Friday's Festival of Loyalty in Bahrain, organised by five leading opposition parties to honour those killed, wounded, detained, and dismissed during the political conflict:

1005 GMT: Amnesty International has expressed concern over the fate of Syrian activists Mohamed Bachir Arab and Ahmed Omar Azoz, missing in Aleppo since 2 November.

Arab and Azoz were both reportedly involved in organising peaceful protests and were in hiding after security forces had come to their homes.

0845 GMT: South African media is reporting that Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou has granted former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi asylum on humanitarian grounds.

Issoufou said he did not know the location of Qaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, who fled Bani Walid last month as the town, one of the two last Qaddafi strongholds, fell to forces of the new Libyan government.

0755 GMT: Claimed footage of a group defection from a police academy in Aleppo in Syria:

0725 GMT: The Associated Press posts an overview of the Syrian conflict, claiming more than 250 killed in 11 days and offering this quote which parallels our analysis of a shift towards battles between regime forces and opposition soldiers:

“We have seen urban warfare in some areas where army defections occurred,” said Hozan Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, an activist coalition. “The soldiers are having a hard time advancing. They often come under attack from the defectors and this explains why they are shooting more.”

0720 GMT: The Washington Post describes the caution of some Libyans as the country moves towards elections for a post-Qaddafi government.

0630 GMT: Many thanks to Josh Shahryar for taking readers through Friday's developments in the Middle East. The headlines came from Syria, where defiant protests continued even as almost 30 people were killed, according to activists; however, there were also deadly clashes in Taiz in Yemen, with 13 people slain, and a massive opposition rally in Bahrain.

Al Jazeera English profiles Syrian opposition activists in Lebanon who claim they are being monitored by both Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services.

A mass demonstration in Harasta, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, on Friday night: