Israel-Palestine Live Coverage: The Conflict Escalates from Gaza to Tel Aviv

See also EA Video Analysis: Gaza --- The Top 4 Reasons For Israel's Attack (and Hamas Rockets are Not on the List)
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: International Meeting in London Discusses Support for "New" Opposition
Thursday's Israel-Palestine Live Coverage: Day 2 of Operation Pillar of Cloud

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2056 GMT: The Israeli government has approved the activation of up to 75,000 reservists, according to Al-Jazeera English, citing local Israeli media reports.

2049 GMT: Global Post journalist Noga Tarnopolsky reports that Israeli media has confirmed the deaths of senior Hamas commanders Ahmed Abu Jalal and Khaled Sha'er earlier today. Abu Jalal was reportedly killed in an air strike on the in al-Maghazi refugee camp, whilst Sha'er was killed on his motorbike in Deir Al Balah.

2005 GMT: Several sources report that an extremist group with links to Al Qaeda has taken responsibility for a rocket attack from the Sinai peninsula that targeted Israel on Wednesday. This could signal a disturbing escalation in the violence.

Interestingly, Egypt's new government has been actively engaged in fighting these extremist groups in Sinai for well over a year.

1948 GMT: War is often good for arms companies. Reuters reports that Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak "will seek cabinet approval for funds that could provide Israel with three new Iron Dome rocket interceptors". Israel currently has four Iron Dome interceptors and will soon receive a fifth, manufactured by state-owned company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Deaths from the Air

Bahraini police arrest Said Yousuf Almuhafda of the Bahrain Center of Human Rights on Friday

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2125 GMT: Egypt. About 1000 activists rallied in Cairo on Saturday demanding an end to brutality in Egyptian prisons and calling for a ban on torture in the new Constitution.

Aida Seif al-Dawla, of the El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, told the crowd near the Ministry of Interior that the group has documented 150 cases of torture in the 100 days since President Mohamed Morsi took office in June.

"Oh martyrs rest in peace, the struggle continues," chanted the demonstrators, who hung posters showing the disfigured faces and bodies of torture victims.

The protest commemorated the death of Essam Atta, a young Egyptian whose family said he was tortured to death by authorities in October last year while held in Torah prison south of Cairo.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Revolution Was Won When Wall of Fear Was Broken Down"

2046 GMT: Syria. Another massacre reported in Syria. The LCC publishes this claim:

New massacre by the regime forces, the number of martyrs range between 60-70 martyrs, they were found in the city with sings on torture, most of these martyrs were detained in Sejn Mukhabarat Jaweye, ages of martyrs range between 18-40 years old.

Earlier the town, the site of several such massacres in the past, was reportedly shelled by regime forces.

We've yet to see any videos or photos of the bodies - treat this as unconfirmed, despite the LCC's reliable track record.

1922 GMT: Bahrain. EA's John Horne reports:

King Hamad today "affirmed his keenness on the independence of the judicial authority" as he received newly appointed High Court of Appeal Judges, according to Bahrain state media.

His comments come as NGO Reporters Without Borders said they were "outraged" by the acquittal of a policewoman for torturing France 24 journalist Naziha Saeed, which they called "a verdict that illustrates the Bahrain’s judicial system’s lack of independence".

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 44 Dead in Airstrike on Ma'arat al-Numan

2250 GMT: Syria. We have to end today's coverage, and we will continue it tomorrow, but it has been a terrible day - in Lebanon, but even more so in Syria.

Still, if two words could summarize the spirit of the Syrian opposition, they might be "brave defiance." Today, despite the shells and gunshots, falling bombs, tanks, and massacres, people still protested.

This video was taken today in Douma, a major suburb of Damascus - the protesters brought the remnants of a cluster bomb to the streets:

But just a few miles away, in the Damascus suburb of Saqba, civilians try to dig their friends and family out of the rubble as shells land and buildings collapse:

Bravery, defiance, and death...

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A New Diplomatic Initiative?

See also EA Video Analysis: How to Use American Deaths to Win a Presidential Election
Libya Report: Militias "Massacred" Qaddafi and His Loyalists
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Envoy Brahimi Moves Through the Region
The Latest from Israel-Palestine (16 October): Netanyahu's Threats That Will Dominate the Elections

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1921 GMT: Syria. Another plane shot down? This video was reportedly filmed over Hanano, Aleppo. At least one parachute is clearly visible:

We'd like to see multiple angles, just so we can compare it to other videos of planes being shot down. However, if confirmed, this is another sign of how weak Assad's air forces are becoming.

The Guardian and C.J. Chivers think so too.

Last August, Chivers wrote that Syria’s fleet of Mi-25 Hind-D attack helicopters, which numbered 36 at the start of the conflict, was insufficient to hold back the rebels.

He also cited estimates that only half the regime's helicopter fleet may be operational at any given time – "maintenance technicians are struggling to keep the machines aloft" – and that some of the original 36 helicopters have been cannibalised for spare parts.

That was late August --- but Assad is now losing helicopters and airplanes at a rate of one to two per day.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Insurgents Attack in the North

Syrian demonstrators in Aleppo burn a picture of President Assad on Friday

See also Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Feuding About a Plane --- Meanwhile, 200+ Die

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2027 GMT: Palestine. Doctors have said that at least one person has been killed and three others, including a child, have been wounded in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

The Israeli military said two men, one killed and one critically wounded, were "terror operatives of the Hashora Council of the Mujahideen, a Gaza-based Global Jihad affiliate".

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The Latest from Israel-Palestine (12 October): What Will Israeli Elections Bring?

See also The Latest from Turkey (12 October): Ankara's Dangerous Game with Moscow
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Feuding About a Plane --- Meanwhile, 200+ Die

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1645 GMT: After Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah' acknowledged that the group sent the downed drone into Israeli airspace, the Gaza-based Palestinian groups praised Hezbollah.

Al-Mujahideen Brigades described Hezbollah's operation as "unprecedented", whilst Salah al-din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, said Hezbollah's improved capabilities would strengthen the resolve of the Palestinian people and deter Israel from attacking them and their holy places.

1430 GMT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies that he agreed on Israel giving up the Golan Heights in return of a peace deal in the US-mediated secret talks with the Assad regime.

1045 GMT: Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak had secret talks with the Assad Bashar government in the late 2010. It is claimed that Israeli leaders agreed to a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement.

In September 2010, it was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who publicly asked the Netanyahu government to restart indirect talks between Israel and Syria, through the Turkish mediation. However, the Israeli government denied such reports.

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Egypt Feature: The Life of Death of Activist Mina Danial (Fathi)

Mina Danial at a sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square (Photo: Eduardo Castaldo)

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Tarek El-Tayeb, 25, had always hated Christians. He was known among his friends as Tarek “El-Salafi” as he followed the ultraorthodox school of Islam. 

"I joined the Salafist school of Islam when I was 13 years old," remembers El-Tayeb. "According to my ideology, Christians were heretics and being a friend with any of them was a grave sin."

All of this changed when he met Coptic Christian activist Mina Danial.

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MENA Opinion: What The "Crime" of Alber Saber Reveals about the "New Egypt" (Moremi)

The scene at the arrest of blogger Alber Saber

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You hear that the mob has told the police officers that you had posted that anti-Islam movie about the Prophet from that disgusting American on your facebook site. But you know you didn't and you know they are lying. And you don't understand how you can almost die in front of the police who never investigated anything when they where called to save you from the mob, but instead threw you in jail. Without evidence, without any reason. In Cairo. In 2012. In September.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Historic Aleppo Burns

See also US War on Terror Feature: The Death of a Guantanamo Bay Detainee
Saudi Arabia Feature: The Trial of the Political Dissidents
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Political Drift in New York, Military Confrontation in Aleppo

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1925 GMT: Yemen. The World Food Programme has said that almost 50% of Yemenis go hungry amid the world's third-highest rate of child malnutrition.

"Five million people, or 22 percent of the population, can't feed themselves or buy enough to feed themselves....These are mostly landless laborers, so they don't grow their own food, and with high food prices they can't buy it either," WFP spokesman Barry Came said. "In addition, there is another five million who are being really hard hit by high food prices and on the edge of being food insecure. So 10 million people in this country go to bed hungry every night."

The number of Yemenis receiving daily WFP food rations has risen from 1.2 million in January to more than 3.8 million, but poor infrastructure and fear of kidnappings have complicated the logistics of providing food aid.

Thirteen percent of Yemeni children are now acutely malnourished.

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