Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Car Bomb Outside Damascus Police Station

Scene of last night's car bomb in Damascus

Syria Opinion: Opposition Is Letting Down Residents in the East
Sunday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: On a "Slow" Saturday, 105 Die

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2055 GMT: Egypt. President Mohammed Morsi has said he will pardon all those arrested --- except persons charged with murder --- from the first day of the uprising against the Mubarak regime to June 2012, when Morsi took office.

Any decree could lead to the release of several thousand people.

1455 GMT: Syria. A Turkish official said Ankara's military has fired at Syrian military positions after a Syrian shell landed in Altinozu district in Turkey's southeastern Hatay Province.

"Turkish military retaliates immediately after every single Syrian shell," said the official. "We have anti-aircraft batteries pounding Syrian targets."

Earlier, Hatay's governor said a total of six Syrian shells had hit the Turkish side of the border on Monday, without any casualties.

1435 GMT: Syria. As a Syrian officer said, "The army is in the midst of trying to cleanse the last rebel districts of the city of Homs," Khalid Majied, a resident of the Khamidiya section of Homs, tells The Guardian:

All sorts of weapons are being used to shell our districts: explosive barrels, mortars, rockets and helicopters. The situation here is so bad --- Homs might fall to the Syrian army at any moment.

The army are taking street after street --- progressing towards us little by little. We can't defend ourselves any more.

There are 14 district from Karm al-Zeitun [in the south-east] to Bab Siba'a [south-east of the centre] under the control of the Syrian army.

For the last four days, they have been trying to get to to Hamidiya [north-east of the centre] If they continue to advance they will take Homs for sure. Three-quarters of Homs is already in the hands of the Syrian army now.

The FSA only have light weapons. They do not have the weapons to shoot tanks, and more weapons can't get inside because of the siege....

We are in a very painful and critical situation and no one is listening or helping. We are stuck here and can do nothing. If the Syrian army manage to break through they will start to detain people and massacre civilians. There are women and kids, they might be slaughtered by the Syrian army for hosting the FSA....

We rely on generators for power but there is an acute shortage of fuel. We get water from wells as tap water is cut most of the time. There also a huge shortage of medical supplies. There are young men here who have limbs or an eye but there is no doctor to treat them. Doctors aren't allowed in. We have only nurses - they do what they can.

A resident shows the destruction in Khamidiya:

1404 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees report 76 people killed by security forces today, including 33 in Daraa Province.

1307 GMT: Kuwait. The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) has issued a statement on recent crackdowns in the country, after a protest by "approximately 3000 Bedoon people was violently dispersed by security forces" last week. The protesters were from Kuwaits approximately 100,000 strong population of stateless citizens who have been campaigning for basic human rights for decades (see Human Rights Watch's report "Prisoners of the Past"). GCHR reports:

On 2 October 2012, international day for non-violence, the protesters gathered in “Freedom Square” in Taima in Jahraa on the outskirts of Kuwait City to protest for improved rights and their right to citizenship. In recent weeks members of the Bedoon community had been speaking to the media and NGOs in Kuwait calling on people to attend the protest.

It is reported that, more than 27 protestors were arbitrarily arrested on Tuesday afternoon including some from a public clinic near Taima Square and at the Jahraa hospital as they were seeking medical assistance for their injuries. Later that evening four of those who were arrested, all of them minors, were released. 16 protestors were released on Wednesday 3 October as they were suffering from injuries that they had sustained during the protest.

11 of the protesters remain in Central Prison and have been "denied bail". On Thursday, the Interior Ministry said they will face charges of "attempting murder", "attacking policemen" and "rioting". Security forces used "tear gas, smoke bombs, batons, water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse the protestors". One protesters was reportedly shot in his eye with a rubber bullet and risks losing his sight. His family claim that they were "threatened by officials of the Interior Ministry not to sue for the injury". The organisation Bedoon Rights has identified the source of some of the weapons used, tracing them to British, French and American arms manufacturers.

Harassment against the Bedoon community has continued. GCHR's statement continues:

Following the protest the Interior Ministry accused the Bedoon community of distracting the work of and making false accusations against the Central Agency, rioting, violence, and calling for illegal protests, vandalism, blocking traffic, and starting fires on public and private properties, risking the lives of citizens and attacking security men. On 4 October two other human rights defenders, Hamid Al-Enizi and Mohammed Habib were arrested and questioned before being released some hours later. Activist, Abdulhakim Al-Fadhli who has been arrested on a number of previous occasions, received threats online and to his mobile phone furthermore his movements are reportedly being monitored as a result of his involvement in the protest.

1238 GMT: Tunisia. The governor of Sidi Bouzid, the area where last year's overthrow of the Ben Ali regime began, has been fired after weeks of protests.

On Friday, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse about 1,000 people who accused Mansouri of "incompetence" and called for him to go. Some protesters tried to break into the regional government's headquarters.

Days earlier, hundreds of people had marched through the town to demand Mansouri's resignation while teachers went on strike to denounce the arrest of protesters.

Mansouri was replaced by economist Amara Tlijani, previously governor of the southern region of Kebili.

1221 GMT: Syria. Colonel Qassim Saadeddine, the Free Syrian Army commander in charge of defending Homs, has told Mona Mahmood of The Guardian that insurgents "desperately need heavy weapons" to repel a regime offensive:

There has been heavy shelling of Khalidieh and Jurat Al-Shiyah districts by the Syrian army. They have used planes, artillery and 72 tanks to storm these districts. They have also dropped explosives in barrels from the air.

In the last four days the Syrian army have tried to storm these areas, and stop them becoming a hotbed for the FSA. There have been fierce clashes and many have been killed and injured, but we don't have the exact numbers.

FSA brigades outside of Homs are trying to ease the pressure on the fighters inside these districts by attacking government checkpoints surrounding the city. But we only have light weapons, we desperately need heavy weapons to stop them.

Lot of civilians are stuck in these districts as the army will shoot any one coming out. There is no safe place to hide in. If anyone gets wounded, there is no medical treatment at all and it is impossible to take them out of Homs.

And, forget about food and water, nothing can get into these districts at all.

1207 GMT: Syria. The Syrian Network for Human Rights has put out a statement, supported by names and locations, claiming that 4631 people died in violence in September 2012. There were 1060 victims in Aleppo Province, 1014 in Damascus Province, 583 in and near the capital, and 491 in Deir Ez Zor Province.

The Network claims that 30,541 people have now perished since the conflict began in March 2011.

In one of its notes on its attempt to collect "complete and full archives of the victims", the Network writes:

The Syrian Network for Human Rights specializes in documenting civilian casualties only. The network does not document casualties from armed parties due to the difficulties that are associated with such a task. The network finds difficulties especially with the Syrian Army and intelligence because of the government’s refusal to grant the network a license. In addition, many of the network’s activists are arrested by regime forces. In very rare cases, the network documented casualties deaths from the Free Syrian Army by contacting the families and friends of the victims.

1028 GMT: Syria. In a further sign of a new push for a "transitional" leader to replace President Assad, the leader of the opposition Syrian National Council has said that it will consider Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa as an interim head of government.

Abdelbasset Sayda said members of the ruling Baath party can have a role in Syria's political future as long as they did not participate in killings during the conflict.

This weekend Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu put forward al-Sharaa as a suitable leader for the transition after Assad's departure. Sayda said the SNC will meet next week in Qatar to discuss the proposal.

1011 GMT: Turkey. Energy officials say the flow of natural gas from Iran has been halted because of an explosion on a pipeline in eastern Turkey early Monday.

The blast occurred near the town of Dogubayazit in Agri Province near the Iranian border.

The insurgent Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for past attacks on pipelines, with flows halted several times on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline carrying crude oil from Iraq to Turkey in recent months.

0904 GMT: Syria. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, speaking at an international conference in France this morning, has called on all sides to halt the flow of arms into Syria and said a "political solution" is "the only way out of the crisis".

Ban said UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi will return to the region this week to pursue discussions for a political transition.

0854 GMT: Iraq. Activists report that journalist Karzan Karim has been sentenced to two years in prison for publishing secret information.

Karim's reporting alleged corruption among officials in the Kurdish Regional Government.

0838 GMT: Syria. Claimed footage of a TNT "barrel bomb" hitting Khalidiya in Homs:

0824 GMT: Israel and Palestine. Palestine forces in the Gaza Strip have launched rockets at southern Israel in response to an air strike that it claimed wounded two militants and eight bystanders on Sunday.

The military wing of Hama said it was involved in the attack, together with members of Islamic Jihad.

Hamas has not acknowledged launching rockets and mortars at Israel since June.

Residents of the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip said an Israeli tank fired at the area from where the rockets were thought to have been launched, causing minor injuries to four children and damage to a mosque minaret and a water tower.

0743 GMT: Lebanon. Reporters Without Borders highlights the case of Rami Aysha, a correspondent for outlets like Time magazine, Spiegel Online, and GlobalPost, who was detained and allegedly abused for almost a month by Lebanese security forces.

Arrested on 30 August, Aysha was freed on 27 September on bail of 1 million Lebanese pounds (about $670). Charges are unclear, but apparently centre on alleged weapons-buying.

Aysha told RWB of a series of abuses beginning with threatened execution and continuing with beatings, which left him with broken ribs and a broken finger.

0515 GMT: Syria. A car bomb has exploded in a parking lot near a police headquarters in Damascus, killing one officer, according to State media.

The station is located on Khaled bin al-Walid Avenue in the centre of the capital.

There have been a series of bombs targeting regime insitutions and officials this year. In July, four top advisors to President Assad, including the Minister and Deputy Minister of Defense were killed, and last month two explosions near Army Staff Headquarters were followed by a raid and burning of the building.