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Tuesday
Aug302011

Libya, Syria (and Beyond) Liveblog: Where is Qaddafi's Family?

 

President Bashar Assad, at the morning Eid al-Fitr prayer at the Hafez al-Assad mosque where the Mufti of Damascus, who led the prayer, called for love and unity among the Syrian people, and for unity against the "foreign conspiracy" facing the nation.


1954 GMT: NATO has conducted 120 sorties today, 42 of them hitting ground targets near Sirte, Bani Walid, and Hun, the last remaining areas with a heavy pro-Qaddafi presence.

1800 GMT: The World Food Programme [WFP] is tendering for 250,000 tonnes of gasoline on behalf of Libya's ruling interim council. The official statement reads:

At the request of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), WFP is looking to procure 250,000 metric tons of gasoline that would cover immediate life-saving humanitarian needs for one month. Fuel supplies have been disrupted by the fighting, and water and electricity supplies depend on fuel-run generators. Fuel is also required for hospitals, ambulances and vehicles to distribute critically needed medicines, food, water, and other supplies.

1730 GMT: Following the Eid prayers, Muslim Brotherhood called on Egyptians to protect the "freedoms" against "any manipulation of the people’s will or choice" and reemphisezed the importance of handing over power to a civil government as soon as possible.      

1710 GMT: Asset freezes and bans on business interactions were imposed on Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, top presidential advisor Bouthaina Shaaban, and Syrian ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, the US Treasury Department announced.

1645 GMT: Four video footages showing demonstrations in Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo respectively.

1635 GMT: An estimated 50,000 people have been killed since start of Libya uprising, NTC military commander has told Reuters

1620 GMT: Sounds of gunfire force protesters to disperse, reportedly in Baidha near Hama today.

1600 GMT: Disturbing video footages showing the last moments of Mohammed al-Farroukh, reportedly killed in Daraa, and a young boy named Mousa al-Wadi who was reportedly killed in Horan respectively.

1555 GMT: Video showing a big rally, reportedly in Khan Shekhon, Idlib today.

1545 GMT: Algerian newspaper, el-Chorouk, claimed today that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika "would arrest Gaddafi and hand him over to the International Criminal Court in compliance with international agreements", if he entered Algeria.

Today's cartoon in solidarity with Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat, published by Jonathan Guyer of Mideast by Midwest.  

The Local Coordination of Committees of Syria announces today's developments in the country and provides multiple videos showing widespread protests in Baba Amer, Deir Balbah, Qosour, Malaab, Idlib, Qedsaiah, Zabadany, Aleppo, Kesweh, Todmour, Nahteh village in Horan, Zamalka, Douma, and Yabroud (Damascus suburb). 

Another video footage showing Syrian protestors but we cannot confirm of its location now.

After confirming that Gaddafi's wife, two of his sons and his daughter had crossed into its territory, Algeria is to close the southern part of its border with Libya, according to a local newspaper.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians prayed in celebration of Eid al-Fitr in Tahir Square today.

Former Gadhafi aide Abubaker Saad tells CNN's Hala Gorani that the regime will "fight to the very end." You can listen the conversation here.

Al Jazeera is reporting that at least 24 people have been killed by Syrian security forces so far today. An EA Correspondent notes that even if we get accustomed to daily casualty reports, that is an unusually high number, and suggests that the new security actions in places like Deir Ez Zor are relying on violence to disperse protesters.

1355 GMT: Colonel Roland Lavoie, military spokesman of the NATO air mission in Libya, said that Gaddafi is still able to command and control his remaining troops.

1345 GMT: Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), has given the deadline for Sirte and other areas still loyal to Muammar Gaddafi: "Surrender until Saturday or face a military assault!"

Claimed footage of a march in Aleppo, Syria's second city, today:

Yemen's President Saleh said today that he was committed to holding elections for a new leader, according to the State news agency.

Saleh, still in Saudi Arabia recovering from injuries in a bombing on 1 June, said the vote should be held as soon as possible. A "political source" told Reuters that Saleh had reached an agreement with the opposition to hold the elections within three months, with power transferred to Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi in the meantime.

Saleh reportedly said, "We have committed to the previous initiatives including the Gulf initiative and the efforts and statement of the (United Nations) Security Council and to moving towards achieving...as soon as possible arrangements to hold general and free and direct elections for the new president of the republic."

Saleh balked in the spring on three occasions at signing the plan of the Gulf Co-operation Council for a transition.

Saleh issued his statement to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan.

Claimed video of protesters throwing stones at an armoured vehicle in Horan in southern Syria:

Celebrations last night in Martyrs Square in the Libyan capital Tripoli:

Video of a protest march in Rukneddin in the Syrian capital Damascus this morning:

More clips of mass rallies in Yemen linking Eid ul-Fitr with calls for change. First, the capital Sana'a:

And Taiz:

Al Jazeera English reports on a memorial wall, displaying the names and faces of those who died in the uprising against the Qaddafi regime, put up by an activist group:

Claimed footage of the mass rally in Idlib in northwestern Syria this morning:

And the gathering in Midan in Damascus:

To Syria, where security forces have reportedly shot dead at least seven protesters on the Eid al-Fitr holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan.

Demonstrations took place in towns and cities after morning prayers. The Local Co-ordination Committees said six of the deaths occurred in the southern province of Daraa and one in Homs. Security forces reportedly also opened fire on protesters in Deir Ez Zor in the northeast.

Mass protests were also reported in cities Idlib, Hama and Homs, and in the Damascus suburbs.

On Monday, security forces allegedly killed at least eight people, including five in Sarameen in the northwest, and wounded dozens in raids across the country. Tanks and armoured vehicles occupied towns such as Rastan and Hit in Homs province.

State news agency SANA claimed that "an armed group" kidnapped Attorney General Adnan Bakkour, his bodyguard, and his driver on Monday in Hama. SANA said the three men was intercepted by seven assailants with rifles and machine guns.

In Freedom Square in Taiz in Yemen, the end of Ramadan is celebrated with the demand for the fall of President Saleh's regime:

This is how rumors start. Yesterday, at the end of the liveblog, news broke that Qaddafi's son, Khamis, had been killed. The Guardian, without providing details or a link, said that Sky News said it. Perhaps the rumor started there, perhaps it was already buzzing before that, but then Al Jazeera provided these details of the report, and my hand immediately hit my forehead:

Khamis Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi's son, was killed in a battle between Tarhoni and Bin Walid on Sunday, according to a rebel commander in Tripoli who spoke to Al Arabiya.

Senior rebel officer, Colonel Al-Mahdi Al-Haragi, in charge of the Tripoli Brigade of the rebel army, told the Reuters news agency he had confirmation that Khamis was badly wounded in the clash near Ben Walid and Tarhoni.

He was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds and was buried in the area, Al-Haragi told Reuters, without giving the timing.

No independent confirmation of the death was available.

No body, no photographs, no video, no DNA? Or is there physical evidence? Regardless, I'm looking across the brim of my glasses in a disapproving manner at a whole ton of media organizations that carried, and continue to carry, the story. International Business Times has an acceptable disclaimer on their report, noting that this isn't the first time Khamis has been "killed".

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