Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Just Another Protest Friday?

Protest in Stadium Street in Homs, Syria last night (see 0545 GMT)

Also see today's video post - Latest Syria Videos: Deir Ezzor to Damascus & Beyond

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1618 GMT: In the northern town of Jabal al-Zaweh, Idleb Province, the city was once the scene of 100,000 protesters, or more, every Friday. Today there are only 2,000 protesters in the streets. An Al Jazeera contact in the city explains:

“Since the military started their operations in the area and set up check points and started arresting people their presence has discouraged people from participating,” he said. “We are almost under siege and people find it difficult to get enough food on a daily basis.”

However, protests in the rest of Syria have been large and widespread. 10,000 people have taken to the streets of Binnesh, near Idleb, the Guardian is calling the day one of the biggest since the beginning of Arab Spring, Syrian activists are claiming that more than 1 million protesters took to the streets today, and we have already posted more than a dozen videos from Syria.

1553 GMT: Ahram News has posted their own liveblog from Tahrir Square. The protests across Egypt are once again on the rise, as frustration is growing at the Prime Minister and the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces. While protests have been limited in the months after the ouster of Mubarak, in recent weeks they have been larger in scale and more widespread.

The Guardian's Jack Shenker has this assessment:

In Egypt thousands of demonstrators descended on public squares around the country to offer a 'Friday of Final Warning' to the ruling military junta, amid fears that the revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak is now being betrayed by conservative forces.

Rallies and hunger strikes were reported from Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast all the way down to Luxor in the south and Suez in the east, with the main focus once again on Cairo's Tahrir Square where a large sit-in is now over a week old and shows no sign of ending.

Protesters accused the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which assumed power in the aftermath of Mubarak's fall and has promised to make way for a democratically-elected civilian government later this year, of stifling revolutionary demands and working to shield elements of the old regime from grassroots political change.

This picture shows a large rally today in Cairo's Tahrir Square:

More protesters head to Tahrir Square, demanding fair trials.

1518 GMT: At least 10 people have been injured in Amman Jordan today in clashes between protesters and government security forces. The twist? Most of those injured were journalists, and the journalists had already wearing orange vests, as agreed upon with their arrangements with the security forces.

Approximately 2,000 protesters were marching between the Al-Husseini mosque and city hall.

1510 GMT: This fascinating video was posted today, reportedly from Homs. If the video was taken from a few hundred feet away, I would note the brutality of the police, hitting, kicking, slapping and beating people who are clearly no threat to them, presumably before arresting them. The burning question that we have, however, is this: The video is shot at close range, by a person who is walking around freely. No sane protester would try this, based on the brutality around them, and they would likely be beaten, arrested, and the video confiscated. So who filmed this, and how did it get onto Youtube? A dissident police officer, perhaps?

1459 GMT: Meanwhile, on one of Yemen's other fronts, a US drone strike has reportedly killed 50 militants in southern Yemen. The attack targeted a police station that had been taken over by Al Qaeda members in thee al-Wathee district on Abyan province.

1452 GMT: In Taiz, Yemen, 5 people were killed and 22 wounded in today's violence. The clashes, between security forces and tribesmen, broke out Thursday night when tribesmen ambushed and killed security official Colonel Ahmed Rezaz and 2 others. The others were killed when Yemeni security forces began shelling the city, killing 2 civilians and wounding at least 22.

Witnesses say that the city was in chaos during the violence.

1445 GMT: Protesters outside of the security headquarters building protest in Alexandria, Egypt:

A protester removes the interior ministry's flag:

1421 GMT: Al Jazeera has an ominous update from Syria:

At least 4,000 protesters are participating in anti-government protests in the mountainous city of Zabadani north of Damascus.

An activist told Al Jazeera that military trucks with soldiers have been arriving to the city since morning and that they are now located in al-Muhata street. The army has set up check points on the road to Serghaya and eight busses with pro-regime thugs and riot police are blocking street by police station.

1410 GMT: In Yemen, large protests are reported in multiple cities, including Hodeidah,Sana'a, and Dhamar. This video shows people chanting protest slogans, rejecting "US and Saudi intervention."

The people of Sana'a chant for a civil state:

Even little kids are getting in on the act in Sana'a, a clear sign that the society has changed, probably forever, in Yemen.

The people of Dhamar, Yemen, chant for a civil state.

1402 GMT: The Guardian's Ghaith Abdul Ahad reports from the capital of Tunisia, where protests are planned but police fired tear gas into a mosque before the people took to the streets.

1353 GMT: We have posted our separate video entry, Latest Syria Videos: Deir Ezzor to Damascus & Beyond. So far, it shows massive demonstrations in Dei Ezzor and Homs, and protesters running from gunfire in Damascus.

1337 GMT: Activists are reporting that as many as 200,000 protesters are once again gathered in the city of Hama, Syria. According to the reports, the security forces have not entered the city, though secret police are stationed at the gates.

1325 GMT: Protest chants rise above a funeral for a martyr in Homs, Syria:

Security fires at protesters in the village of Jobar, on the outskirts of Damascus:

A massive protest today in the Qaboun district of Damascus:

1319 GMT: There are reports that 16 people have been killed so far today in Syria. A journalist for the Guardian reports from Damascus:

The reports of deaths in Damascus today could be significant. Activists say three people have been shot dead in Rukn al-Deen neighbourhood and report possible deaths in Qaboun. If confirmed, this would represent an upping of the use of lethal force in the capital.

One protester was shot dead in Midan, in the centre of the city last Friday, but prior to this security forces have appeared to hold off from gunfire. They have tended to use teargas and batons in most areas, although gunfire has been used in Barzeh and Harasta, also close to the city.

In every other town and city, deaths have led to funerals and more protests, and have increased anger, drawing extra people to the protest movement. Cities such as Homs and Hama are waiting for Aleppo and Damascus to join the movement, and the deaths could be potential triggers.

Many in the two largest cities in the country have remained silent. Traders in Aleppo and Damascus have benefited under the regime or have clung to stability, which is now rapidly decreasing. Protests in Aleppo, Syria's second city, are growing.

One man there is also reported to have died after being stabbed during a protest this week. If one of these cities were to join the protest movement wholeheartedly, analysts predict the regime of president Bashar al-Assad would be in trouble.

1312 GMT: James Miller taking over and catching up.

The US State Department has officially recognized the National Transitional Council as the official representatives of the Libyan people. This move also unfreezes $30 billion dollars in frozen assets that once belonged to the Gaddafi regime and now belong to the rebels.

0930 GMT: Before the trip of the Irish delegation to Bahrain, seeking a release of detained medical staff, ended in alleged "bullying and intimidating" by pro-regime medics and reporters, Bahrain's Minister of Health and Human Rights told the delegation that she would ask the King for the release of the 14 doctors and nurses still in custody.

Damian McCormack, the orthopaedic surgeon leading the group, said, “We’ve had very positive meetings with the health minister. We met a lot of families of detainees and some of the released doctors on Wednesday, and heard first-hand accounts of their torture and experiences. We put all of that to the minister today. The bottom line is that the health minister has agreed to ask the king for the release of the remaining 14 medics."

0920 GMT: Protest in Derik, a largely Kurdish town, in Syria on Thursday:

0745 GMT: Former Irish Foreign Minister David Andrews has said that Bahraini pro-regime doctors and reporters "bullied and intimidated" an Irish delegation of health workers and politicians, in the country to secure the release of more than a dozen Bahraini doctors, nurses, and paramedics who are detianed.

The incident occurred as the Irish delegation was completing a two-day fact-finding mission, when 10 to 15 pro-regime doctors and reporters circled the Irish health workers in the hotel lobby, demanding to question them. The delegation then decided to call off a news conference.

Andrews accused the President of the Bahrain Medical Society, Dr. Nabeel al-Ansari, of provoking the incident.

Al-Ansari told reporters that the delegation was one-sided, despite the fact that its members had met with Bahraini regime officials.

Since March, 47 Bahraini doctors, nurses, and paramedics have been charged and detained for supporting pro-reform demonstrations. Fourteen remain in custody; the others are out on bail after military trials that began in June.

0610 GMT: Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has told interrogators that he did not order security forces to open fire on protesters during the uprising that overthrew him.

According to a leaked transcript, Mubarak insisted that no one would have listened to him if he had ordered a stop to the violence, which killed nearly 900 protesters.

Mubarak, 83, also denied corruption allegations. He said that a bank account with millions of dollars in foreign donations, intended for the construction and upkeep of a library in Alexandria, was withheld from the library's management so they could not mis-use it.

Mubarak, under police custody at a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, faces trial next month on charges of corruption and of ordering deadly force against demonstrations.

Commenting on the violence and deaths during the uprising, Mubarak said, "Our people and our security are like that."

0600 GMT: The military tug-of-war in Libya continues --- a day after regime forces seized Qawalish in the plains below the western Nafusa mountains, the insurgents re-took the town. A video show images from the operation:

Reuters has also posted footage of opposition fighters burying their dead.

0545 GMT: As we await another Friday of protests, some signals....

A picture of Tahrir Square in Cairo, the centre of the demonstrations calling on the military rulers to deliver reform and justice:

And the ritual of night-time rallies in Syria, with this clip of a gathering in the Khalidiya section of Homs: