Yemen, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Shooting in the Streets

Demonstration in Aleppo in Syria tonight:

---

2000 GMT: A woman wails as she films the shooting of a protester in Taiz in Yemen today:

1950 GMT: C.J. Chivers of The New York Times, who has been covering the military conflict in Libya (see 1555 GMT), updates on the fight outside opposition-held Misurata --- insurgents have seized new weapons and ammunition from regime forces as they took control of the airport.

1915 GMT: Tunisian authorities have arrested nearly 200 people after weekend protests and clashes with security forces. The charges included attacking police with stones, theft, and vandalism.

1719 GMT: At least 1 person was killed in Sanaa as government security forces fired into a crowd of tens of thousands of protesters in Yemen today. Reuters is confirming that at least 2 people were killed in Taiz.

Reuters has released a slideshow of images from today's protests, including this one:

1700 GMT: The AP is reporting that 18 have been killed in Syria today, as the government continues to escalate their crackdown against protesters. According to the NAtional Organization for Human Rights, 13 have been killed outside Daraa besides the 5 killed in Homs (reported earlier). Once again, the report is that civilians have been killed as the Syrian government is using tanks to bombard civilian positions. 

1555 GMT: C.J. Chivers of The New York Times reports:

Rebels in the contested western city of Misurata appeared close to seizing control of the airport from forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Wednesday, advancing on the sprawling facility in scores of trucks and battling pockets of Qaddafi soldiers holed up in terminal buildings....

A journalist accompanying rebels who were breaking through the fence on the airport’s southern perimeter saw abandoned Libyan Army tanks and a deserted bazaar formerly occupied by Qaddafi troops. It appeared that many of the soldiers had simply fled.

Rebel commanders in the eastern city of Benghazi were quoted by Western news agencies as saying the Misurata airport had been captured, but it was clear from the sound of gunfire at the airport that pockets of loyalist resistance remained.

The rebel advance on the airport, which lies a few miles southwest of the city, came after days of NATO airstrikes against positions and military equipment held by Qaddafi forces in and around Misurata, which rebel commanders said had weakened loyalists to a point where a ground attack was possible.

The rebels in Misurata first broke through Qaddafi lines west of the city on Sunday, snapping a stalemate that had left Misurata’s roughly 500,000 residents isolated and increasingly in need of food, fuel and medical aid.

1528 GMT: A truly disturbing report from Syria, but one that matches much of the video and eyewitness accounts from the country. An informant from the Syrian Ministry of Defense Special Forces tells France 24 that snipers were ordered to shoot protesters in the head:

"Each officer was to be accompanied by a volunteer sniper [usually a member of a militia or a mercenary]. They were also ordered to position themselves in places from which it would be easy to shoot. They were ordered to aim for the head as soon as they saw a protester. Their goal was to terrify people so they wouldn’t leave their houses." 

1522 GMT: The Irish reporter Iona Craig is reporting that there is live gunfire near Kuwait hospital, in Sanaa. 

1517 GMT: Dr Abdul Wahabi al Anisi, speaking to Al JAzeera from a field hospital in Sanaa, is reporting that at least 1 protester has been killed (shot to the head) and 40 others have been wounded by security forces in the capital today.

1513 GMT: A Bahraini activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, appeared before a special military court on Sunday to face charges of trying to  "topple the regime forcibly in collaboration with a terrorist organization working for a foreign country." The news, however, is that he appeared to show signs of abuse, possibly even torture.  

1505 GMT: While we're still tracking down reports of violence spreading in Yemen's capital Sanaa, this video was reportedly taken today in Taiz, where youthful protesters have shut down the city and the government has responded by moving troops and heavy equipment into the city.

1500 GMT: AJE has this report from Syria:

"Homs is shaking with the sound of explosions from tank shelling and heavy machineguns in the Bab Amro neighborhood," Najati Tayara said by telephone from the city.

Tayara said a Syrian Christian was killed by sniper fire to his head as he stood in front of his house in the nearby Inshaat district. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities who have banned most international media from Syria.

According to the report, at least 4 were killed in the southern town of Tafas during a crackdown today, where at least 300 have been detained since Saturday.

1452 GMT: According to a human rights campaigner in Homs, at least five people have been killed today in the Bab Amro district.

1443 GMT: There are reports of an escalating situation in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. Alaa Jarban, claiming to live in Sanaa, has a report of protests and gunfire outside the prime minister's office there:

"Unconfirmed reports of the injury of Twakkol Karman among other female activists near to the prime ministers' office in #Sanaa"

1432 GMT: Reuters Flash has this breaking report:

Yemeni security forces open fire in air as tens of thousands of protesters march on cabinet building in Sanaa - Witnesses

1419 GMT: The Libyan rebels hoisting and independence flag over the town Zureik, on the coast near Misurata...

...while the Yemeni protesters hoist a flag over a crowd in Ibb.

1400 GMT: Al Jazeera's reporter Dorothy Parvaz has been deported to Iran. Al Jazeera English has released this statement:

"We have now received information that she is being held in Tehran. We are calling for information from the Iranian authorities, access to Dorothy, and for her immediate release. We have had no contact with Dorothy since she left Doha on 29 April and we are deeply concerned for her welfare."

Parvaz, who has Canadian, United States, and Iranian citizenship, has been missing for several weeks, apparently detained at the international airport in Damascus.

It's important to note that, while we still do not know what Iran will do with Parvaz, the regime in Tehran has one of the worst records for freedom of the press anywhere in the world.

1331 GMT: A front lines look at the rebels in Misurata, only hours before they reported overtaking Gaddafi's fighters there.

1323 GMT: A rebel spokesman, speaking from Benghazi, is claiming multiple rebel victories over the last 24 hours. According to the report, the airport in Misurata fell to rebel forces, as reinforcements from Zlaitin linked up with rebels already in Misurata to push the pro-Gaddafi forces back. 

The spokesman also reported that rebels captured the oil-rich town of Jakharrah overnight, and rebels have surrounded Gaddafi's fighters in the  towns of Awjilah and Jalu.

1258 GMT: Reuters is now confirming some details from Yemen, that at least two have been killed in Taiz. Perhaps even more significant, protesters have been blockading the education ministry for several days. According to this report, despite the crackdown, the barricade of government facilities has expanded to include Taiz's public services and a branch of the oil ministry. Taiz, Yemen's main industrial city, and the city of Ibb are now completely crippled by protesters and the government reaction against them, threatening further unrest as the economy reels from the effects.

1248 GMT: Journalist Martin Fletcher tells Sky News a harrowing account of his attempt to report from Syria. Foreign media has almost entirely been kicked out, and the spigget of news sources out of the country is closing at the same time that there are new reports of a crackdown against the regime. 

Times correspondent Martin Fletcher on his time spent undercover in Syria by neal-mann

1237 GMT: What is "normal" in Bahrain? As AJE asks that question in a new article, they also carry this video, about Bahraini police harrassing schoolgirls in an attempt to silence dissent.

1230 GMT: Claimed video of snipers in Jassim in southern Syria this morning:

1210 GMT: Yemen Rights Monitor is carrying reports and graphic images of the slain and wounded protesters in Taiz in Yemen today.

Video of protesters taking control of a Government building and police station:

1200 GMT: An activist claims via Twitter, "Dozens injured in Baba Amr [in] Homs. Ambulances not allowed inside the area."

1110 GMT: Al Tagheer is reporting three dead and more than a dozen injured today in the Yemeni city of Taiz when security forces fired live ammunition at demonstrators.

Several people were killed and scores injured by security forces on Sunday and Monday in Taiz.

1005 GMT: The Committee to Protect Journalists summarises, "About 20 local and international journalists have been physically assaulted, detained, or expelled from Syria since social unrest erupted close to two months ago."

0945 GMT: The European Union's representative for foreign policy, Catherine Ashton, has told European MPs that the EU plans to open an office in the opposition-held Libyan city of Benghazi for the flow of aid and for support of civil society and the National Transitional Council.

Stressing the need for the EU to help insurgents develop education, health care, and border security, Ashton said, "Qaddafi must go from power and must end his regime."

0930 GMT: From the Associated Press....

The Obama administration is edging closer to calling for an end to the long rule of the Assad family in Syria.

Administration officials said Tuesday that the first step would be to say for the first time that President Bashar Assad has forfeited his legitimacy to rule, a major policy shift that would amount to a call for regime change that has questionable support in the world community....

Two administration officials said the U.S. worries about a prevailing perception that its response to Assad's repression has been too soft, especially after helping usher longtime ally Hosni Mubarak out of power in Egypt and joining the international military coalition to shield civilians from attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal planning, the officials said Assad has dispelled nearly any lingering hope that he can or will deliver on grandiose pledges of reform he has made since coming to power 11 years ago. After ending decades of martial law last month, his regime renewed its crackdown on peaceful protesters even more aggressively, using live ammunition and arbitrarily arrestoing thousands of people.

"We're getting close," one official said on the question of challenging Assad's legitimacy, adding that such a step would oblige the U.S. and, if other countries agree, the international community, to act.

0745 GMT: Claimed video of a sniper on a rooftop in the southern Syrian town of Daraa yesterday

0720 GMT: Residents and activists are reporting heavy gunfire and shelling by tanks in and near Homs, Syria's third-largest city, including the Bab Amro district.

0620 GMT: Did this article, published last Friday, lead to the expulsion of Reuters correspondent Frederik Richter from Bahrain yesterday?

Along with its business friendly reputation, another casualty of Bahrain's crackdown on anti-government protesters could be its crown prince, seen as more reform-minded than others in the ruling family.

The fading influence of Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa puts at stake efforts to liberalise Bahrain's economy and attract global businesses.

"There is no doubt that the hardliners are in control and that there has been a shift in the internal balance within the regime," said Shadi Hamid, analyst at the Brookings Doha Centre.

The crown prince had advocated dialogue with Sunni-led Bahrain's Shi'ite majority in February to try to defuse tension with mostly Shi'ite protesters who demanded a bigger say in the country's political and economic affairs.

But the dialogue failed to take off and the government decided to impose martial law and clear out protesters, aided by troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf allies.

Since then, Sheikh Salman has virtually disappeared from public view and Bahrain's Sunni ruling family appears to be putting his younger brother Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa more in the spotlight.

0550 GMT: The Yemeni military clashed with a tribe opposed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Tuesday, bombing the rural area north of the capital Sanaa.

Tribesmen said the Republican Guard, led by Saleh's son, were trying to pass through the tribal area en route to the southern coastal province of Hadramout. One of several army units that have turned against the Presidnet is based. there.

The tribesmen said the bombing stopped after a few hours, and the Republican Guard agreednot to send troops to Hadramout.

0545 GMT: Syria continues to grab attention with the regime's crackdown on protest, as the military occupies towns and Damascus suburbs and reportedly detains thousands of people.

There has also been an escalation of conflict in Yemen, however. Over the weekend, several demonstrators were killed and scores were wounded by gunfire in Taiz. 

And these images came from the port town of Hodeidah o