This week's news on Syria.
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Syria crisis - live updates
17 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
• Bashar al-Assad pledges to display foreign mercenaries
• Army attacks Khan Sheikhoun after UN monitors leave
• Tantawi promises fair presidential elections in Egypt8.55am: Syria: This weekend's G8 summit at Camp David will start with a discussion about the crisis in Syria, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti citing a Kremlin aide.
It quoted Arkady Dvorkovich as saying: "The G8 meeting will kick off with a working lunch, which will be devoted to the issues of global security and national scenarios, inlcuding, of course, the problems of Syria and Iran."
Meanwhile, the UN has announced that the number of monitors in Syria has now reached 236.
8.31am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live.
Here's a roundup of the latest developments:
Syria
• President Bashar al-Assad has promised to display captured foreign "mercenaries" who have been fighting his regime and denounced western governments for failing to protest at the violence being perpetrated by his enemies. In an interview to Russia's Rossiya-24 TV, he said: "There are foreign mercenaries, some of them still alive. They are being detained and we are preparing to show them to the world." Assad also mentioned religious extremists and al-Qaida members from abroad.
• Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, has published a list of what he claims are 24 foreign terrorists who have been arrested in Syria. A letter to the UN includes the names of 19 Tunisians and a Libyan Ja'afari alleges are members of al-Qaida. A separate list published by Inner City Press includes the names of 10 foreign fighters killed in Syria. The list includes citizens from France and the UK.
• Syrian activists claimed that government forces moved tanks into the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun after UN monitors left the area with their damaged vehicles following an attack on their convoy, the New York Time's Lede blog reports. An NPR correspondent was told that the citizen journalist who filmed Tuesday's attack on the UN convoy was among the dead.
Bahrain
• Human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, has appeared in court charged with inciting protests by using social networking sites. He described his trial as "vindictive" and political, AFP news agency reports.
Jordan
• King Abdullah has ordered an inquiry into allegations of abuse in private children's homes that were made in an undercover investigation. The reporter for the BBC Arabic investigation, Hanan Khandagji who posed as a volunteer worker in the homes, told the Guardian: "The conditions I saw there were extremely shocking because the children [cannot say] what happens to them and around them. They are seen as non-beings."
Egypt
• The head of ruling military council has promised to secure a fair vote in the presidential election beginning next week amid growing concerns about the potential for voting fraud and the military's willingness to shift to civilian control, the New York Times reports. But in a speech Mohamed Tantawi also said the military would retain a "duty" to protect Egypt from domestic disturbances as well as to defend it against foreign threats.
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Syria is 'losing information war'
16 MayFrom BBC News
Syria is losing the information war against the West, President Bashar al-Assad has said, amid continuing violence across the country. -
Syria accused of civilian "executions"
16 MayThe Age World Headlines
Fifteen civilians executed by regime troops are among at least 32 people killed in Syria. -
Syria crisis: live updates
16 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
Follow live updates as detailed accounts emerge of an attack on UN monitors in Syria
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Syria’s sectarian splits creep into Lebanon
16 MayWashington Post - World
TRIPOLI, Lebanon — A small but increasingly vocal number of Lebanon’s Sunni Muslims are backing Islamist leaders’ calls for regime change in neighboring Syria and voicing their fierce discontent with their own government, a sign that the sectarianism splitting Syria may be deepening Lebanon’s longstanding divides.
Read full article >>
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Syria opposition conference collapses
15 MayFT.com - World
Failure of the meeting highlights the breakdown of the Annan peace plan, as UN observers’ convoy comes under attack near the city of Hama -
Syria's squeezed moderate voices
15 MayFrom BBC News
The moderate Syrian voices drowned out by violence -
Syria crisis - live updates
15 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
• Lebanese army breaks up sectarian gun battles in Tripoli
• Parliamentary election results announced in Syria
• Arab League postpones Syria talks after opposition boycott
• Palestinians and Israeli police clash at start of Nakba day9.37am: Syria: The opposition Syrian National Council said it decided to stay away from the now postponed Arab League meeting in Cairo, because the league's general secretary Nabil al-Arabi suggested he wanted to begin a dialogue with the Assad government.
The SNC has repeatedly made its position clear; it will not participate in any dialogue unless it revolves around the end of the dictatorial regime and the establishment of a democratic form of government in Syria. Therefore, al-Arabi's statement clearly contradicts with the goals of the SNC. Dialogue cannot be considered until the Assad regime fulfils its promises to the Syrian people, starting with the implementation of a complete ceasefire. It also needs to withdraw heavy artillery and security forces from cities to military barracks, free detainees, allow relief agencies into the country, allow reporters and journalists to freely move around Syria, and grant the people the right to peacefully demonstrate without fear of retaliation in all cities and villages across Syria.
9.25am: Syria: Britain's foreign secretary William Hague has urged the UN to deploy all 300 peace keeping monitors to Syria.
Called #Syria Envoy Kofi Annan to urge political process & full deployment of UN mission. Thanked him for his work & gave full UK support
— William Hague (@WilliamJHague) May 15, 2012
There are currently 189 monitors in Syria with the full complement not expected to be deployed until the end of May.
9.07am: Syria: The head of the electoral commission has announced that turnout in last week's parliamentary elections was more than 50%, the despite a boycott of the poll by the opposition.
The results are due to be announced today, according to the state news agency.
8.36am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. The Syrian government is starting to announce result from parliamentary elections that the US government described as "ludicrous".
Here's a round up of the latest developments:
Lebanon
• The Lebanese army has intervened to prevent sectarian clashes in the country's second city Tripoli after Syrian crisis spilled over into three days of gun battles that killed five people in the city. Heavily armed soldiers were seen taking up positions on Syria Street which separates the mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh from the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen, Beirut's Daily Star reports.
Syria
After enduring days of mortar fire from a government stronghold on Rastan's outskirts, the rebel soldiers decided to attack the base, said Capt. Iyad ad-Deek, a commander there and a Syrian Army defector. They first used loudspeakers to encourage soldiers to switch sides, he said in an interview via Skype.
Four soldiers tried to defect with a T-62 tank, he said, but the government forces focused their fire on the tank, killing the commander and wounding the three other men.
• European Union has imposed its fifteenth round of sanctions against the Syrian regime, CNN reports. The EU ministers froze the assets of two firms and imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on three people believed to provide funding for the regime, the European Council announced.
• The Arab League has postponed talks on Syria due to be held today after the opposition Syrian National Council refused to attend. International envoy Kofi Annan had been due to address the meeting.
• Government forces have attack humanitarian aid workers according to report by the USAID, Foreign Policy reports. In its latest update the agency said troops attacked Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicle on 24 April which was trying to evacuate wounded civiliansfrom Douma, a suburb of Damascus. One volunteer was killed and three were injured. Twenty-six aid workers were trapped in an SARC building following the attack and the SARC had to negotiate a temporary ceasefire between opposition and government forces to get them out, USAID reported.
• "Idlib is our Benghazi," Free Syrian Army fighters told the Independent's Portia Walker. But their attempts to former a shadow state in the north west Syria are a long way from the Libyan safe haven protected by Nato air strikes, she writes.
• A Turkish journalist who was held captive in Syria for two months said he was intensely interrogated while blindfolded by Syrian authorities who suspected he was a spy. Adem Ozkose (left), and a colleague, cameraman Hamit Coskun (right) flew home to Turkey this weekend after Iran helped to secure their release.
Egypt
• Former foreign minister Amr Moussa is edging ahead in the latest opinion polls while his rival in last week's TV debate, Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, has dropped into third place. Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, jumped to second place in this week's survey, receiving almost 20% – a 2% increase on the last poll, Ahram reports.
Israel and Palestinian territories
• Clashes have broken out between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya, at the start of Nakba day protests, al-Arabiya reports. Israel also said a projectile fired from Gaza landed in the country's south.
• There is a sort of bizarre political ying-yang today, writes Khaled Diab as Israelis celebrate their independence and the birth of their country, while Palestinians grieve over their dispossession and the loss of their land. Known to Arabs as the Nakba (catastrophe), it is scorched deep into the collective and private memories of Palestinians. Here's how the Manchester Guardian covered the estabilisment of the Israel in 1948.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
• Saudi-led plans for deeper Gulf Arab regional integration to challenge Iran are in doubt after the failure to announce an expected unity deal between Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Bahrain. Expectations had been running high ahead of a special summit of the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, but a decision was put off until the GCC next meets, in December. Iranian MPs warned that the plans were likely to increase insecurity in the Gulf. The proposal has been angrily denounced by the Bahraini opposition, which see it as a way to unite the two western-backed Sunni monarchies to work together to crush Shia dissent and confront Iran.
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Syria Violence Spills Into Lebanon
14 MayWSJ.com - Asia
The uprising in Syria fueled intense clashes in neighboring Lebanon for a third day Monday, with gunmen firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as sectarian tensions spilled across the border. -
Syria frees Turkish journalists
12 MayBBC News
Two Turkish journalists who were held in Syria for two months are on their way home after being released through Iranian mediation.
