Yemen: The Dangerous US Game (Scahill)

Hillary Clinton and Ali Abdullah SalehThe prospect of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s departure is a source of great anxiety for the White House, but the United States has unintentionally played a significant role in weakening his regime. For more than a decade, US policy neglected Yemen’s civil society and development, focusing instead on a military strategy aimed at hunting down terrorists. These operations not only caused the deaths of dozens of civilians, fueling popular anger against Saleh for allowing the US military to conduct them; they also fed Saleh’s corruption while doing nothing to address Yemen’s place as the poorest country in the Arab world, which proved to be major driving forces behind the rebellion.

A serious case could be made that the stakes are much higher for the United States in Yemen than in Libya, yet its response to the repression of protests in the two countries has been starkly different.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: How Serious is This?

2045 GMT: Reuters reports that French warplanes have destroyed five Libyan jets and two helicopters at Misurata airport.

2035 GMT: Video from Misurata in Libya of residents surrounding regime tanks:

2010 GMT: Syria's official news agency SANA has claimed that several people who were arrested by security forces during current protests are foreigners. One allegedly has US citizenship and is of Egyptian descent: “[The arrested man] admitted that he had secretly visited Israel and confessed to being funded from abroad in exchange for sending photos and videos about [the current events in] Syria.”

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: NATO Comes to the Rescue?

2015 GMT: Graffiti in Syria, "Your turn has come, doctor", referring to President (and ophthalmologist) Bashar Al-Assad:

2005 GMT: Video of the protest by about 2000 people in front of State TV in Cairo today (see 1615 GMT):

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Interventions and Protests

Daraa, Syria2105 GMT: Libyan State TV is reporting airstrikes target residential and military areas in Tripoli and firing from anti-aircraft positions.

2100 GMT: About 500 Jordanians have set up a protest camp in a main square in the capital Amman to press their demands for the removal of the Prime Minister (see 0805 GMT), wider public freedoms, reforms over the selection of the Parliament, and dissolution of the security services.

The group is calling itself "Youth of March 24".

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Libya, Yemen (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Hanging On

1957 GMT: Protesters gathered for a fifth day in Deraa, Syria, where authorities have arrested a leading opposition figure, Louai Hussein. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that, "his house was broken into. The door was smashed. His fate is unknown." 

Hundreds gathered under very tight security, and the AFP is reporting that their photographer and videographer were attacked by security forces.

Perhaps the most important news, however, is the rumor that the region's governor, Faisal Kalthoum, has been fired, which was one of the demands of the protesters. This has not been confirmed. 

1930 GMT: Al Jazeera English's James Bays filed this report earlier today from the front line outside Ajdabiya in eastern Libya. He reports an attack near his position and says, "No one really is making any progress. The opposition are where they were 24 hours ago....They are lightly armed volunteers....A professional officer on the rebel side told me they're very brave but to the point of being suicidal. Gaddafi forces are much more heavily armed. The opposition have the numbers and they seem to have the momentum but on the other side the Gaddafi forces have the power."

1915 GMT: Thanks to James Miller for taking the LiveBlog through the afternoon.

Libyan State TV is claiming live coverage of the capital under fire, with the presenter saying, "Tripoli is being bombarded now." The sky was lit with fire and the sound of anti-aircraft weaponry could be heard.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Getting Close to Qaddafi

1930 GMT: Libyan State TV is reporting coalition airstrikes on Tripoli.

1920 GMT: Army Officers: Al Jazeera English offers a list of recent resignations and defections by Yemeni officials to the opposition, including six military commanders, dozens of officers, 17 Ambassadors, the entire staff of the Yemeni Embassy in the US except the Ambassador, three MPs, and the leader of Yemen's most powerful tribe.

1910 GMT: President Obama, on a visit to Chile, has spoken to reporters about Chile. He reiterated that "it is U.S. policy" that Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi "has to go" and the international community "can't stand by with empty words" in the face of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.

At the same time, Obama anticipated that the US would step back from leading the Libyan military mission when Libya's air defences were disabled: "We anticipate this transition to take place in a matter of days, not weeks."

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