Syria Live Blog - May 9

Syria Live Blog - May 9

Thousands continue to take to the streets across Syria, despite reform pledges by President Bashar al-Assad. Activists say hundreds have been killed by security forces. We bring you the latest news from various sources.

Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

Blog: Apr18 - Apr19 - Apr20 - Apr21 - Apr22 - Apr23 - Apr24 - Apr25 - Apr26 - Apr27 - Apr28 - Apr29 - Apr30 - May 1 -May 2 - May 5 - May 6 - May 7 - May 8

Syria Spotlight - Free Dorothy Parvaz - Timeline: Bashar al-Assad in power

All times given are local (GMT+3)

• Timestamp: 

  12:23am

  This blog is being wrapped up for now, but full coverage of developments in Syria can be found here.
• Timestamp: 

  10:11pm

  Here is the full statement put out by the Council of the European Union:

  COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

  Brussels, 9 May 2011

  EU imposes restrictive measures against Syria

  The Council has adopted1 a regulation and a decision providing for an embargo on exports to Syria of arms and equipment that could be used for internal repression, as well as a visa ban and an assets freeze.

  The visa ban and the assets freeze targets 13 officials and associates of the Syrian regime who have been identified by the Council as being responsible for the violent repression against the civilian population in Syria.

  The decision and the regulation, together with the list of persons subject to the restrictive measures, will be published in the Official Journal on 10 May 2011.

  To read the full document click here.

• Timestamp: 

  10:05pm

  The European Union is imposing an arms embargo on Syria, where the government is conducting a lethal crackdown on protesters.

  
  A statement late on Monday said the EU also is prohibiting 13 Syrian government officials from traveling anywhere in the 27-nation union and freezing the assets of those officials.

  
  The statement said the EU is banning the shipment of "arms and equipment that could be used for internal repression."

  EU envoys recommended the actions last week, but Monday's decision was required by all member governments for formal approval.

  
  Assad's government appears determined to crush the uprising by force and intimidation, and rights groups say hundreds of civilians have been killed since the unrest began.
• Timestamp: 

  9:00pm

  Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr has been reporting from neighbouring Lebanon - and gives us the latest on some of the unverified footage uploaded to the internet by activists inside Syria:
  
   
• Timestamp: 

  8:00pm

  Government forces including snipers on rooftops tightened their grip on Homs after Assad sent in tanks in a sharpening crackdown on protests against his authoritarian rule.

  A human rights campaigner in Syria's third largest city said the snipers deployed in several residential neighbourhoods as the sound of gunfire died down in districts of the city that tanks stormed on Sunday.

  "There are snipers visible on rooftops of private and public building in al-Adawiya, Bab Sebaa and al-Mreijah neighbourhoods. Hundreds have fled from three villages just to the southwest of Homs where tanks had deployed," the campaigner said.

  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three civilians were killed on Sunday in Homs, a merchant city of one million people 165km north of Damascus. One of Syria's two oil refineries is in Homs. 
  
  Scores of people were arrested in Homs and in Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast, the latest focus of Assad's escalating military swoop on protesters, as well as in other regions, the Observatory said.
  

  "Across Syria it has continued today, swelling the numbers [of detainees], which are already in the thousands," a spokesman for the Britain-based group said, adding that up to 500 people have been arrested in Baniyas since tanks entered on Saturday.

• Timestamp: 

  7:45pm

  Syrian authorities have stopped a UN humanitarian team from visiting the protest city of Deraa where hundreds are said to have been killed in a government crackdown, a UN spokesman said.

  "The [UN] humanitarian assessment mission has not been able to get into Deraa,'' spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

  "We're trying to clarify why it hasn't had access, and we're also trying to get access to other areas of Syria.''
  
  Asked if the United Nations felt that Syria had reneged on a prior agreement to allow it into Deraa, Haq said: "We're trying to get the clarification as to why it hasn't gotten in. Let's see whether they can get in in the coming days."

• Timestamp: 

  6:00pm

  Syrian state television broadcasts the funerals of four soldiers reportedly killed over the weekend in the western city of Homs.
  

  State TV said the troops were killed in armed clashes with what it described as "armed terrorist groups".

  President Bashar al-Assad has sent tanks deep into Syria's third city Homs, escalating a military campaign to crush a seven-week-old uprising against his autocratic rule.
  
   

• Timestamp: 

  4:40pm

  A Jordanian detained by Syrian security is released and handed over to his family at the Syrian-Jordanian border.

  
  Jordanian activists say dozens of fellow nationals are being detained in Syria as forces there crack down on

  anti-government protesters.
• Timestamp: 

  4:30pm

  Here is a round-up of developments today:
  
  * Syrian security forces have arrested hundreds of activists and anti-government protesters in house-to-house raids across the country, part of an escalating government crackdown aimed at stamping out the nationwide revolt engulfing the country.
  
  Click here to read our story on this.
  
  * President Bashar Assad has dispatched army troops and tanks to crush the seven-week uprising that has posed the most serious challenge to his family's 40-year rule.
  
  The videos below, uploaded on Monday to YouTube, purports to show army tanks heading towards Homs: 
  
   
  
  
  * Monday's arrests, which zeroed in on the protests' organisers and participants, were focused in four areas; the central city of Homs, the coastal city of Baniyas, some suburbs of the capital Damascus and villages around the southern flashpoint city of Deraa, according to Rami Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
  
  He said the crackle of gunfire could be heard in the Damascus suburb of Maadamiyeh. 
  
  * By early afternoon, scores of women were demonstrating in Baniyas, demanding the release of hundreds of detained men who were being held at the city's soccer stadium, Abdul-Rahman said. He added that security officers had promised the women that all men over the age of 40 will be soon freed. 
  
  * In an indication that the regime shows no sign of folding, Assad was quoted as saying in comments published Monday that "the current crisis in Syria will be overcome and that the process of administrative, political and media reforms are continuing".
  
  * Meanwhile, the Al Baath newspaper of Syria's ruling Baath party said "cautious calm" has been restored to Baniyas. It said the showdown in the city "will end within a few hours". The Al-Watan newspaper said Baniyas has been under the full control of the Syrian army after "fierce" battles with "armed terrorist" groups. It said the groups used heavy weapons and mortar rounds.

  Syria has also banned foreign media and restricted access for reporters to many parts of the country, making it difficult to independently confirm witness accounts of the violence. 

   

• Timestamp: 

  12:07pm

  Ironically at times when the government has shut down mobile phone services in protest hubs such as Baniyas, Saudi Telecom Co says it is optimistic about winning Syria's third mobile license 

  "We are very optimistic ... we connect Syria with the rest of our portfolio, which is 70 to 80 per cent of the Muslim world." Saud al-Daweesh, the Saudi carrier's chief executive, said. 

  There are only two mobile phone operators in Syria, Syriatel and MTN, and there have been several campaigns in the past calling for boycotts of the companies because of high prices. 

  When pro-reform protests erupted in March in Deraa, demonstrators burned not only President Assad's portrait, but also the local office of Syriatel, a company owned by Rami Makhlouf, first cousin of the president. 

  Makhlouf is Syria's most powerful businessman and to many, he has become the face of the country's widespread corruption. He has been under US sanctions for several years.

• Timestamp: 

  11:46am

  The BBC will be discussing the case of the Al Jazeera journalist held in Syria in today's World Have Your Say show.

  Dorthy Parvaz has not had any contact with the outside world since she was detained upon arrival at Damascus airport on April 29.

  The BBC show airs at 11:00GMT and will also discuss the difficulties for media to report from Syria.

• Timestamp: 

  11:33am

  Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says security forces are conducting house-to-house raids to detain dissidents, with raids focused in Homs, Baniyas, some Damascus suburbs and villages around Deraa.

• Timestamp: 

  11:17am

  The Red Cross and the Red crescent delivered aid to Deraa on Thursday after the army lifted its siege of the southern city.

  Marianna Gasser, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria, was part of the delegation. 

  She tells Al Jazeera that the visit lasted only for a few hours but that the government had not restricted the aid groups' access to the city.

  The situation was rather calm. The visit was short.... There was no restricted access, there was just lack of time.

  "We were bringing some assistance, mainly food parcels, some dressing kits and baby milk.

  "There was electricity and water in the city centre. We will be able to go back in a couple of days to provide further assistance."

• Timestamp: 

  9:17am

  There are reports that Moadamiya, west of Damascus, has been cut off by troops.

• Timestamp: 

  7:22am

  Two people have reportedly been killed after security forces opened fire on a night rally in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour yesterday. This video is said to show the rally before it was dispersed.

• Timestamp: 

  7:11am

  Syria's ally Iran is playing an increasingly active role in helping the Syrian government in its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, The Guardian newspaper is quoting a "western dplomatic source in Damascus" as saying.

   The diplomat pointed to a 'significant' increase in the number of Iranian personnel in Syria since protests began in mid-March. Mass arrests in door-to-door raids, similar to those that helped to crush Iran's 'green revolution' in 2009, have been stepped up in the past week [...]

  "Activists and diplomats claim Iran's assistance includes help to monitor internet communications such as Skype, widely used by a network of activists, methods of crowd control, and providing equipment such as batons and riot police helmets."

• Timestamp: 

  6:00am

  The Syrian government has said that 10 civilian workers were killed by an "armed terrorist gang" in a bus ambush near the city of Homs on Sunday. Read the full Al Jazeera report here.

• Timestamp: 

  3:07am

  Syrian women living in Jordan painted their faces with the Syrian flag and chanted slogans against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a demonstration in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman yesterday.

  [Reuters]

• Timestamp: 

  1:22am

  Our live blog on Syria continues here. If you missed anything from May 8, click here to have a look.