Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Time to Call It What It Is"

Despite shelling, the people protest on Friday in Hawleh, west of the Syrian city Homs

See also Bahrain Live Coverage: The Many 1000s on the Highway
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Deaths at the University

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1950 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria say 27 people have died in violence today, with nine killed in Aleppo Province, eight in Barzeh outside Damascus, and six in Homs Province.

1800 GMT: Egypt. The head of the military prosecution, Adel El-Morsi, has announced that all women arrested during Friday demonstrations at the Ministry of Defence will be released.

According to lawyers and military statements, at least 14 women amongst the hundreds arrested on Friday were to be detained for 15 days pending investigations. They faced charges including infringing upon state institutions, using violence against members of the armed forces, halting traffic, and congregating and trespassing on a military area.

It was reported earlier today that 179 people seized on Friday were being held on 15-day detention orders. Ahram Online has claimed from a military source, however, that orders have been handed down to 300 people.

1730 GMT: Syria. Syrian State news agency SANA is reporting that three civilians, including a child, were killed and 21 were injured on Saturday when a booby-trapped car exploded in front of a car wash in al-Sukari neighbourhood in Aleppo Province.

According to Reuters, a member of the Free Syrian Army, Ali al-Halabi, claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying that the car wash was used by members of a pro-Assad militia. He said seven people were killed.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had claimed earlier today (see 1014 GMT) that five people died when a bus was targeted.

SANA also says that 265 detainees "whose hands are clear of...Syrian blood" were released on Saturday.

Another video of today's protest during a funeral procession for five people, killed by security forces, in Kafarsouseh near Damascus:

1713 GMT: Egypt. The military has imposed a 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew in the Abbasiya district of Cairo, near the Ministry of Defence, for the second straight night after this week's clashes that have killed at least 12 people.

1710 GMT: Libya. Human Rights Watch has called on the National Transitional Council to revoke a new law that bans insults against the people of Libya or its institutions, as well as prohibiting criticism of the 2011 revolution and glorification of the deposed former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

HRW said the law violates guarantees of free speech in Libya’s provisional Constitutional covenant and international human rights law.

1620 GMT: Egypt. The Journalists' Syndicate and other rights organisations have condemned the arrest of journalists covering the clashes in Abbasiya Square in Cairo on Friday.

A board member of the Journalists' Syndicatem Alaa Al-Attar, told Ahram Online said between 15 and 20 reporters and photojournalists had been seized. Some were released shortly after their detention while some remain in custody.

At least three photojournalists were injured, accordingly to Ahram Online, during coverage of the clashes.

1615 GMT: Saudi Arabia. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the leading religious official in the kingdom, has blamed Muslim sinfulness for uprisings in North Africa the Middle East: "The schism, instability, the malfunctioning of security and the breakdown of unity that Islamic countries are facing these days is a result of the sins of the public and their transgressions."

In a Friday sermon, the Grand Mufti accused "chaotic" people of wearing the mask of "democracy and equality" for actions leading to injustice and instability within the umma, or Muslim nation.

1432 GMT: Palestine. Ten Palestinian prisoners participating in a mass hunger strike in Israeli jails have been placed under medical supervision as their conditions worsened, officials said Saturday.

The ten men are among 1,500 to 2,500 Palestinians on hunger strike to demand better conditions and an end to administrative detention, under which prisoners can be held indefinitely without charge.

Most of the hunger strikers began refusing food 19 days ago, but a smaller group has been fasting between 40 and 70 days. One prisoner, Bilal Diab, was moved to a civilian hospital last week --- he is now on Day 68 of his hunger strike.

1429 GMT: Syria. A massive demonstration today in Kafarsouseh near Damascus, at the funeral of five people killed by security forces:

1420 GMT: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The Saudi Ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed Qattan, has returned to Cairo today, a week after he was withdrawn following protests in front of the Saudi embassy.

Demonstrators were demanding the release of activist and lawyer Ahmed El-Gizawi who was arrested recently during a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said Friday that the ambassador would be back in Cairo within 48 hours, after the monarch met with a high-level Egyptian delegation visiting Saudi Arabia.

1240 GMT: Syria. According to the Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria, nine people have died today in Aleppo Province, and eight have been slain in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh.

1200 GMT: Egypt. The Front to Defend Egypt's Protesters has documented the names of 179 protesters who are detained for 15 days by military prosecutors after Friday's protests.

The detainees are being charged with assaulting army forces, joining a group to undermine public security and assembling on public roads and hampering public transportation. They are also charged with gathering in a prohibited military location.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 18 journalists have been assaulted, injured, or arrested in the past three days while covering the clashes near the Ministry of Defence in Abbasiya in Cairo.

1035 GMT: Egypt. Video of the Egyptian military enforcing the overnight curfew in Abbasiya near the Ministry of Defence.

At least one person --- a soldier --- was reportedly killed and 373 injured in ongoing clashes on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health. Military prosecutors were interrogating more than 170 detainees late Friday.

Video of Friday's fighting:

Robert Mackey of The New York Times has a full summary, drawn from social media, of developments.

1025 GMT: Syria. A large protest, in the presence of United Nations observers, in Idlib Province today:

And Kafarsita in Hama Province:

1014 GMT: Syria. The opposition Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claim that regime forces shelled a neighbourhood in Homs at dawn, as two defecting police officers were killed in a separate attack in the city.

The opposition Syrian Observatory of Human Rights is asserting that at least five people were killed in an explosion that hit a passing bus in the Tall al-Zarazeer district of Aleppo.

The Observatory did not know whether the dead were civilians or members of the security forces.

A device planted under an army vehicle exploded this morning in Damascus, damaging nine cars.

0540 GMT: Syria. A passage from a report on Friday:

"There is effectively no ceasefire for U.N. monitors to observe," a Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "The time is coming where we're going to have to call it what it is."

That stark admission, which runs counter to the official line being put out by United Nations envoy Kofi Annan, had been the theme of the week --- see the analysis by EA's James Miller --- and it may be so again next week, despite the entry of the first wave of UN observers. However, it is only part of "callig it what it is".

For on Friday, we saw the other dimension of the Syrian conflict: loud, large, and peaceful protest. The threats of violence are not deterring the people from the streets. Indeed, yesterday's turnout was among the biggest we have seen this year. Even when the military tries to shell the demonstrations out of existence (see video at top of entry), the defiance swelled. All of this bore out Miller's conclusion at the end of our Live Coverage:

Death  is not the main headline. The most important thing that occurred today was a show that the resolve of the peaceful demonstrators has not been eroded by 14 months of relentless violence.