Syria Snapshot: A Fragile Freedom in Hama (Shadid)

Hama, 1 July 2011In this city that bears the scars of one of the modern Middle East’s bloodiest episodes, the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has begun to help Syrians imagine life after dictatorship as it forges new leaders, organizes its own defense and reckons with a grim past in an uncertain experiment that showcases the forces that could end Mr. Assad’s rule.

Dozens of barricades of trash bins, street lamps, bulldozers and sandbags, defended in various states of vigilance, block the feared return of the security forces that surprisingly withdrew last month. Protests begin past midnight, drawing raucous crowds of youths celebrating the simple fact that they can protest. At dusk, distant cries echo off cinder blocks and stone that render a tableau here of jubilation, fear and memory of a crackdown a generation ago whose toll — 10,000, 20,000, more — remains a defiant guess.

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Syria Snapshot: Who are the "New Opposition"? (Shadid)

An opposition drawing its strength from Syria’s restive streets has begun to emerge as a pivotal force in the country’s once-dormant politics, organizing across disparate regions through the Internet, reaching out to fearful religious minorities and earning the respect of more recognized, but long divided dissidents.

The Local Coordination Committees, as they call themselves, have become the wild cards in what is shaping up as a potentially decisive stage in Syria. The success of the young protesters may determine whether that change is incremental, as the government has suggested, or far more sweeping, as the protesters themselves have demanded.

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Syria Feature: Regime Threatened by Economic Crisis? (Shadid)

Street Scene in HomsHotels that catered to sandal-wearing backpackers in the storied Syrian city of Aleppo stand empty. Capital from the Persian Gulf that underpinned Syrian ambitions of modernization has begun to dry up. The Syrian pound has faltered, exports have fallen and the government has promised respite with money it will not have for long.

In his first address to Syrians in two months, President Bashar al-Assad warned this week of “the collapse of the Syrian economy.” The words might have been hyperbole, aimed at rallying support for a leadership staggering from a three-month uprising. But the sentiments underlined the danger the economy there poses for a government that long promised its people better lives, even as it refused to surrender any real political power.

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Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A New Phase of Conflict

2110 GMT: An update from Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli....

Opposition fighters say they have repelled regime forces on the southern and western sides of the city, with a battle --- but "not a heavy one" --- continuing on the eastern side.

Libyan state television has appealed to the people of Misurata to support regime troops: "The armed forces are from you and for you. Avoid strife....This is a call for stability and security for everybody. Do not listen to provocation and avoid discord."

2000 GMT: Reuters summarises fierce fighting in Ajdabiya in east Libya, with "weary" government soldiers saying that they were meeting "renewed resistance" from the opposition.

"The fighting is fierce. His supply lines are stretched so he can't push on from Ajdabiya. We've got some surprises in store. We're going to fight on and we're going to win," said Mustafa Gheiriani, an opposition spokesman in Benghazi.

Reinforcements from Benghazi are said to be heading to Ajdabiya.

Witnesses describe a violent regime crackdown around the city.

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Lebanon Latest: Talks Fail as Prime Minister Hariri Remains Defiant (Shadid)

Lebanon’s worst crisis in years escalated dangerously on Thursday as a last-ditch effort to negotiate a solution ended in failure and the American-backed caretaker prime minister struck a defiant note toward Hezbollah and its allies, which brought down his 14-month-old national unity government this month.

The events cast the crisis into an unpredictable moment, as each side became ever more entrenched in positions with little common ground over indictments expected to name members of Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militant movement, in the assassination of the prime minister’s father, Rafik Hariri.

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Iraq Snapshot: The Normal of Gridlock and Death (Shadid)

Ten people died at Aroba Square, near a gold-domed shrine in the capital, where a bomber strolled a little after sunset before he blew himself up.

The day after, no one would know that. Electrical wires dangled, billboards were torn, lights were shattered and windows were broken. But that describes anywhere in Baghdad, a city more neglected than destroyed, living on bitter nostalgia.

The scene was ordinary. And that angered Hassan al-Bahadli on Wednesday.

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Iraq: Six Months with No Government, so US Tries Another Plan (Gordon/Shadid)

Iraq's elections for a national government were held on 7 March, but there is still no resolution of power amongst curent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, leading challenger (at least in those polls) Iyad Allawi, Moqtada al-Sadr, and Kurdish leaders. In The New York Times, Michael Gordon and Anthony Shadid report on the latest US move for a settlement.... The Obama administration is encouraging a major new power-sharing arrangement in Iraq that could retain Nuri Kamal al-Maliki as prime minister but in a coalition that would significantly curb his authority

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