Welcome to Middle East live. Here's a morning summary of the main events across the region.
Syria
• The Arab League's observers are to visit three more cities today as part of their mission to assess if Bashar al-Assad's regime has ceased violence. Hama, Idlib and Deraa are all due to receive small groups of monitors. Yesterday footage emerged of an apparently violent dispersal of protesters in the centre of Hama in which casualty estimates ranged from seven wounded to six killed. Clashes have also been reported in the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising began.
• Criticism of the observer mission grew yesterday after its leader described the situation in the opposition stronghold of Homs as "reassuring". Sudanese general Mustafa al-Dabi, whose role has itself raised eyebrows in human rights circles, said his team had seen nothing "frightening" in the city during its first visit on Tuesday. Yesterday, video footage emerged of his monitors apparently witnessing heavy gunfire and being shown civilian casualties.
Egypt
• A military insider has penned a unique account of life in the Egyptian army. A reserve officer for several years, he was in active service throughout the anti-Mubarak uprising and worked through this year's unrest before completing his duty in late 2011. Today his story of the revolution and its aftermath is published in the Guardian.
Israel and Palestinian territories
• Palestinian patients and business people hoping to leave the Gaza Strip are being asked to collaborate with Israel in exchange for an exit permit, a leading Israeli human rights organisation claimed. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said that 172 people, mostly men aged 18 to 40, had been called for interrogation by the Shabak, Israel's internal intelligence agency, last month. Some who attended interviews were granted exit permits.
• A new Israeli military offensive against Gaza will be launched "sooner or later" and will be "swift and painful", Israel's most senior military officer warned. Benny Gantz, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces, was speaking on the third anniversary of the start of a major three-week assault on Gaza during which around 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed. Gantz described that offensive as "excellent".
Iran
• The US Navy said it would not tolerate disruption to the Strait of Hormuz after Iran threatened to close the key oil-trade passage. A spokeswoman for the US Fifth Fleet said it was "always ready to counter malevolent actions" after two senior Iranian figures alluded to the possibility in the event of additional sanctions placed on the country by the West.
The opposition Syrian National Council has said it will hold a meeting to evaluate the performance of the Arab monitors, according to sources speaking to Al Arabiya.net.
The website reports:
The decision to hold a meeting by Syria's top opposition leader, Burhan Ghalioun, came after the head of the Arab League monitoring mission said on Wednesday that some parts of the flashpoint city of Homs were in poor condition but that delegates saw nothing frightening and that "things were calm and there were no clashes."
One opposition official who accused the Arab League with siding with the Syrian regime said that the League did not consult with the opposition on the criteria on which the observers were chosen, and that they learned about the League's choices only later through the media.
Basil al Sayid, a citizen journalist and activist who shot much of the footage showing violent attacks in the Baba Amr district of Homs, is reported to have died while out filming.
A Syrian activist who goes by the name Alexander Page tweeted early this morning al-Sayid had been killed while shooting this footage. (Warning: violence.)
Today a beautiful person died in #BabaAmro of #Homs he died while filming his last footage RIP Basel al Sayid #Syria
We have lost all sorts of great people in #Syria defected soldiers, protesters, Doctors. Today we lost Basil al Sayid a citizen journalist
To one of the bravest #Syria'ns who risked his life to film atrocities in #Homs everyday "Basil al Sayid we salute you"
If everyone knew what Basil al Sayid contributed to #Syria & the endless video documenting he gave us we would be building him a statue now
Activist Wissam Tarif also reported al-Sayid's death. Thanks to the ever attentive BrownMoses below the line for pointing this out.
Three days into the Arab League's observer mission, here's a map to show where the monitors have visited or will be visiting in coming days.
In the two days since the Arab monitors arrived, activists said troops have killed at least 39 people, including the six shot in Hama yesterday, reports AP in its latest dispatch.
The continued bloodshed and comments by an Arab League official praising Syria's cooperation have fueled concerns by the Syrian opposition that the Arab mission is a farce and a distraction from the ongoing killings.
The opposition suspects Assad is only trying to buy time and forestall more international sanctions and condemnation.
"This mission has absolutely no mandate, no authority, no teeth," said Ausama Monajed, a member of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group. "The regime does not feel obliged to even bring down the number of casualties a day."
Tony Blair has been giving his thoughts on the consequences of the Arab spring and continuing Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, my colleague James Meikle reports.
Admitting western countries had in the past been "too reluctant to push dictatorships on a path to democracy", the former prime minister said they now had to be clearer on their view of democracy "because the trouble really in the region is the more religious and extreme elements are very well organised and the liberal and democratic types basically aren't."Blair, the special envoy for the Quartet on the Middle East, the United Nations, US, EU and Russia, regretted previous inability to promote "a concept of evolutionary change", predicting the recent revolutions would cause "quite a lot of difficulty", citing, as an example, Egyptian growth rates and tourism difficulties.
In an interview with the BBC Today programme, Blair said there was a battle between competing elements in the Middle East as to "what is democracy?". One was "what I would call liberal democratic elements, what I would call the sort of Google types who were initially out in Tahrir square, the up and coming, aspiring kind of middle-class people who want the same types of things we want, the freedoms we want.
"Then you have got this Islamist movement, in the Muslim Brotherhood, which is very well-organised, and where frankly, it is not clear that they want the same things as us and it is not clear that the type of democracy they would create would be a genuine democracy."
The Obama administration is pushing ahead with the sale of nearly $11bn dollars worth of arms and training for the Iraqi military despite concerns that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is seeking to abandon the US-backed power sharing government, the New York Times reports.
The military aid, including advanced fighter jets and battle tanks, is meant to help the Iraqi government protect its borders and rebuild a military that before the 1991 Persian Gulf war was one of the largest in the world; it was disbanded in 2003 after the United States invasion.
Residents of Hama are going out into the streets to welcome the Arab League delegation amid heavy regime security, according to an activist on the ground.
Abu Hisham told Reuters that marksmen could be seen on rooftops in the city. He added:
People really hope to get to reach them. We do not have much access to the team. The people stopped believing anything or anyone now. Only God can help us now.
We'll provide more detail on the observer mission today when we have it, but in the meantime here's a video from yesterday showing several monitors in Baba Amr.
The residents appear to be showing them the damage apparently done to buildings in the Homs neighbourhood by machine guns, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The observers take video camera footage and walk through the wreckage.
Activists in Egypt are planning a solidarity march this evening demanding the release of blogger Maikel Nabil, who has been in prison for nine months.
Cartoon by Latuff ©Latuff
Nabil, 26, was arrested in March after publishing a blog accusing the army of using violence against protesters entitled "The People and the Army have never been one hand".
Activists calling the protest, due to take place at Tahrir Square at 6pm, refer to Nabil's "imminent death" in a press release. Detailing his health, they write that he has now entered "a critical phase" amid signs of organ failure:
On December 20th 2011, after 9 months of imprisonment and 125 days of hunger strike allowing milk, juices and medication only, Maikel Nabil was finally sentenced to two years by a military court.
He was then immediately transferred from El Marg's Prison clinic to be placed in solitary confinement.
Already considerably weak and underweight, Nabil decided to extend and intensify his hunger strike and is now refusing all liquids, food and medication. He is now in his 9th day of that strike.
Nabil is now held in solitary confinement, in a tiny, garbage-filled prison cell without a bed. His general practitioner, cardiologist and parents have no access to him. His physical condition has entered a critical phase as vital organs are giving signs of failure (kidney and liver).
Time for a lunchtime summary.
Syria
• The Arab League's observers are visiting three more cities today as part of their mission to assess if Bashar al-Assad's regime has ceased violence. In Hama, activists have said that people are going out into the street to welcome the monitors despite a heavy security presence and the violence reported yesterday. The cities of Idlib and Deraa are also due to receive small groups of monitors.
• Criticism of the observer mission continues to grow. The opposition Syrian National Council is to call a meeting to evaluate the delegation's performance, Al Arabiya reports, after its chief's description of Homs as "reassuring" prompted concern and accusations of "irresponsibility". (See 9.08am.)
• Syrian activists are mourning the reported death of Basil al Sayid, a citizen journalist responsible for much of the footage coming out of Baba Amr in Homs. Activist Alexander Page said al Sayid had died while shooting film, and posted what he said was the video of his final moments. (See 9.15am.)
Egypt
• Activists in Egypt are planning a solidarity march this evening demanding the release of blogger Maikel Nabil, who has been in prison for nine months. Nabil, 26, was arrested in March after publishing a blog accusing the army of using violence against protesters and has been carrying out a hunger strike. Activists calling the protest, due to take place at Tahrir Square at 6pm, say Nabil has entered "a critical phase" and is showing signs of organ failure. (See 12.04pm.)
Iraq
• The Obama administration is pushing ahead with the sale of nearly $11 billion dollars worth of arms and training for the Iraqi military despite concerns that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is seeking to abandon the US-backed power sharing government, according to the New York Times.
The Egyptian authorities have reportedly raided the headquarters of three NGOs, named on Twitter as the Arabic Center for Judiciary Independence, the International Republican Institute and the Egyptian Democratic Academy.
Few details at the moment but we'll keep you posted. The reports remain unconfirmed, but here's a selection of Tweets. The first two are from @Psypherize and the last two from human rights researcher @hebamorayef.
3 NGOs attacked by the #SCAF in one day; they are probably searching for 'evidence' of foreign funding to accuse them of sedition. #Egypt
The #SCAF is desperate to find evidence of foreign funding to accuse NGOs & activists working there of conspiring against the state. #Egypt
Army raid on human rights NGO the Arab Center for Indp of Judiciary is a crazy escalation in the campaign against indep civil society
SCAF/EGIS inspired unprecedented criminal investigation of NGOs cd basically shut down the entire human rights community in Egypt
Activists say violence is continuing in all Syria's flashpoint cities, but a Damascus suburb seems to have become the focus today. AP reports:
Syrian security forces opened fire on tens of thousands protesting outside a mosque in a Damascus suburb, close to a municipal building that members of the Arab League monitoring mission were visiting. Activists said at least four people were killed in the shooting.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said about 20,000 people were protesting outside the Grand Mosque in the Damascus suburb of Douma when troops opened fire. Some Arab League monitors were visiting a municipal building close to the mosque, he said.
The LCC opposition network of activists says that crowds have now formed in front of National Hospital in Douma to welcome the Arab League observers. It says they arrived "after the fall of seven martyrs and dozens of wounded and detainees."
This video, apparently shot today in Douma, has been posted by the LCC opposition network. It shows a heavy military presence at one end of a street, and protesters shouting and chanting at the other. As the clip comes to an end, the soldiers are seen progressing up the street. It is not clear whether this was linked to the incident AP reports above.
Another video (warning: extremely graphic) shows a man, apparently in Douma, with severe head wounds. The LCC names him as Ibraheem Abd Almajeed.
Yet another clip appears to show a man, whom the LCC says was arrested in Douma today, being shot inside a military van. The LCC describes the video (warning: disturbing content) as showing "an execution" but there is no image of the man after he is shot.
We have more details on those NGO raids in Egypt.
The offices of six organisations were "stormed" by security forces and public prosecutors, according to Ziad Abdel Tawab, deputy director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
The NGOs concerned were, he said:
• The Arab Center for Independence of Justice and Legal Professions- an Egyptian NGO
• The Budgetary and Human Rights Observatory, an Egyptian NGO
• The National Democratic Institute, an American organisation with an office in Egypt
• The International Republic Institute, an American organisation with an office in Egypt
• Freedom House, an American organization with an office in Egypt
• Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German NGO.
In a report, Reuters said that the offices of four NGOs were raided; it named only the NDI and the IRI. There was no immediate explanation for the difference.
In an email, Abdel Tawab said the staff of these organisations were being investigated in their offices, with police officers searching through papers and computers. He added:
It should be mentioned that storming these offices is related to the campaign lead by the Supreme Council for Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Egyptian government starting from June 2011 against civil society organizations and more specifically human rights groups in Egypt.
Egypt's military has vowed to investigate how pro-democracy and human rights organisations are funded and has said repeatedly it will not tolerate foreign interference in the country's affairs, writes Reuters.
Some Egyptian human rights groups have been at the vanguard of protests demanding that the army, in power since February when President Hosni Mubarak was ousted, hand power swiftly to elected civilians.
Syrian opposition activists are to ask the Arab League to remove General Mustafa al-Dabi as head of its observer delegation.
Ausama Monajed, a member of the Syrian National Council, told AP:
What do you expect from the head of a monitoring mission who is accused of genocide in his own country? Why couldn't the head of the mission be from Egypt, Morocco or the Gulf? That his background is military undermines his credibility. Why did not they pick someone who has a legal or rights background?...[The SNC] is deeply concerned about having Mr al-Dabi as head of the monitoring mission given the accusations around him and we will put a motion to the Arab League requesting that he be changed.
Activists in Syria are calling for huge street protests tomorrow- a Friday, the day of the week on which demonstrations have taken place the most throughout the Arab Spring.
The Syria Revolution 2011 group has been quoted as saying:
We will march as we did in Homs and Hama where we carried olive branches only to be confronted by Bashar's gangs who struck us with artillery and machine gun fire.
It looks as though the Egyptian NGO raids were on a bigger scale than previously thought: the latest report says that 17 offices were raided.
Reuters writes:
The official MENA news agency said 17 "civil society organisations" had been targeted as part of an investigation into foreign funding of such groups."The public prosecutor has searched 17 civil society organisations, local and foreign, as part of the foreign funding case," official news agency MENA cited the prosecutor's office as saying. "The search is based on evidence showing violation of Egyptian laws including not having permits."
Security forces have shot at protesters in Hama with tear gas and live ammunition, according to an activist who is in the city.
Speaking to the BBC's World at One, the man said he and others had tried to go to Al-Assy Square to protest this morning "but we were forced back and faced by security forces- tear gas and guns, they they shot us. Many injuries happened. And beside me my friend has been shot in his neck".
We expected the inspectors yesterday and the day before. And there were people killed in Hama while we tried to demonstrate to show them. The inspectors' numbers are too few to cover Syria.
The activist sounded fairly pessimistic about the mission's potential for helping the opposition's cause.
We don't have any hope. That's the problem we are in. We don't have any hope but to put our hope in them...We don't have any choice.
Another development likely to fuel tension between Egypt's activists and ruling generals: a court has cleared five policemen of killing protesters during the anti-Mubarak revolution.
AP reports:
In Cairo, an Egyptian court acquitted five policemen of charges of killing five protesters and wounding six others during the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's longtime regime Feb. 11.
The court said three of the defendants were not at the site of the killings while the two others fired against protesters in self defence.
Meanwhile, state television is now reporting that at least 18 NGO offices were raided today. The number keeps on rising...
Here's an afternoon round-up of developments across the region.
Syria
• Activists said the presence of Arab League observers in several cities around Syria has done nothing to curb regime-led violence. In the Damascus suburb of Douma, they said that at least four people were killed when security forces opened fire on thousands of protesters near a building in which the monitors were meeting. Activists also reported violent clashes in Hama, where the observers were due to visit (see 3.21pm). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least one man had been killed by sniper fire in the city. The monitors also visited Idlib and Deraa. The LCC opposition network said that across the country 35 had been killed.
• Pressure grew on the Arab League to justify its appointment of Sudanese general Mustafa al-Dabi as head observer. The opposition Syrian National Council said it was going to ask the organisation to change the mission chief. (See 3.01pm.) Human rights organisations continued to question his suitability for the role.
• Activists are mourning the reported death of Basil al Sayid, a citizen journalist responsible for much of the footage coming out of Baba Amr in Homs. Activist Alexander Page said al Sayid had died while shooting film, and posted what he said was the video of his final moments. (See 9.15am.)
Egypt
• The offices of at least 17 NGOs in Egypt were raided by police and public prosecutors. The organisations targeted included the high-profile National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute. Observers said the raids were part of a wider investigation into foreign funding of Egyptian civil society groups.
• A Cairo court acquitted five policemen of the killing and wounding of protesters during the revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. The court said three of the defendants were not at the site of the killings while the two others fired against protesters in self defense.
• A blogger who was imprisoned after accusing the military of violence towards protesters earlier this year is in a "critical" condition, activists said. Maikel Nabil, 26, has been carrying out a partial hunger strike for over four months and, for the past week or so, has been refusing all food, liquid and medicine. A protest demanding his release was due to take place in Cairo's Tahrir Square tonight. (See 12.04pm.)
Iran
• Sabre-rattling between Tehran and Washington DC continued over a crucial oil-trade route in the Gulf. An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said the US had no right to tell his country "what to do in the Strait of Hormuz", state television reported. In response to Iranian threats to close off the passage in the event of fresh sanctions, a spokeswoman for the US Fifth Fleet earlier said America was "always ready to counter malevolent actions".
This is David Batty – I'm taking over the live blog for the rest of the evening. You can follow me on Twitter @David_Batty.
Egyptian reformist Mohamed ElBaradei has condemned the raids by Egyptian security forces on high-profile human rights and pro-democracy organisations based in Cairo.
The Nobel peace laureate wrote on his Twitter account: "Human rights organizations are the guardians of nascent freedom. Efforts to suffocate them will be a major setback and will surely backfire."
Amnesty Inter Amnesty International has accused the Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of attacking groups that have criticized the military's human rights record.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, told AP: "I believe SCAF is trying to find some scapegoat [for their human rights record]. Targeting civil society was a technique used by Mubarak, so it really is reminiscent of the worst tactics of the Mubarak era."
An Egyptian security official has told the Associated Press that "influencing public opinion in non-peaceful ways" is among the possible charges that could be brought against the NGOs targeted today.
The Obama administration is demanding that Egyptian authorities immediately halt raids on NGOs.
The US State Department said the raids on at least 18 NGOs, including the US-funded National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, were "inconsistent" with longstanding cooperation between the two countries.
It called on the Egyptian government "to immediately end the harassment of NGO staff, return all property and resolve this issue."
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US ambassador to Egypt and the top US diplomat for the Middle East have spoken to Egyptian officials about the situation and "made very clear that this issue needs immediate attention."
The US embassy in Cairo has also made a similar call on its Twitter account: "US deeply concerned. We call on Egyptian gov to end harassment of NGO staff, return all property."
Egypt's military has for more than 30 years received about $1.3bn per annum in US security assistance.
My colleague Brian Whitaker has written a piece examining the sensitive role of NGOs in the Arab world.
He observes that charitable work can be a sensitive matter in Arab regimes if it highlights the state's failure to provide basic services.
Despite the restrictions, NGOs in Egypt – especially those dealing with human rights – were more active than in many other Arab countries in the runup to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak and chalked up a number of successes.
Though occasional raids cause little surprise, the simultaneous raids on several organisations on Thursday are very unusual and suggest a concerted attempt to crack down on them.
In the poorer Arab countries, such as Egypt, there is not enough funding from local sources for most NGOs to survive, so they often depend on western donors or the UN. (...) Dependence on outside funding also provides a further excuse to crack down by claiming they are part of a foreign plot to destabilise the country.
The US has finalised the sale of $30bn worth of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, in a move aimed both at boosting one of Washington's key allies in the Persian Gulf and keeping Iran in check.
The top story on Egypt's state TV news tonight is a report on 'proof' that 17 NGOs recieve foreign funding and operate illegally, according to several Egyptian posters on Twitter.
Here's my story for tomorrow's Guardian on how the Arab uprisings have changed photojournalism, with a huge surge in the number of cameraphone images used in the mainstream media.
Dr Rasha Abdulla, associate professor and chair of journalism and mass communication at the American University in Cairo, said a synergy had developed between citizen journalists and the mainstream media.
"An example is the horrible picture of the Egyptian female protester who was stripped on the floor by army soldiers as they brutally beat and humiliated her. While that was a Reuters picture, supporters of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces claimed the picture was fake. Then an amateur video appeared leading Scaf to admit that it did indeed happen."
On 18 December when there was a TV blackout of coverage of the occupation of the cabinet building in Cairo, Abdulla said the only footage came from a protester transmitting live online via his mobile phone.
"That signal was being watched by over 12,000 people at that time. "Gone are the days when governments will be able to hide their crimes by prohibiting TV stations and journalists from being on the scene. Everyone on the scene is a citizen journalist, and everyone is documenting while protesting."
There's also a gallery of notable cameraphone images from the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, which you can see here.
An official at the the Egyptian Attorney General's office said at least one of the three US-based NGOs raided by security forces today was was operating without proper permits. He did not say which one.
The International Republican Institute, one of those NGOs, has condemned the raids. In Washington, the IRI issued a statement noting, "it is ironic that even during the Mubarak era, IRI was not subjected to such aggressive action."
The group added it does not provide funding to political parties or groups in Egypt.
A Reuters television reporter who approached the IRI's offices in central Cairo found the doors sealed shut with wax and saw several police vehicles driving away from the area.
A member of staff at another of the targeted NGOs, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), said employees were not allowed to leave during the raid. Documents and machines had been confiscated during the search.
The employee, named only as Rawda, told Reuters: "Security forces who said they were from the public prosecutor are raiding our offices as we speak. They are grabbing all the papers and laptops as well."
NDI President Kenneth Wollack said in a statement that its offices in Cairo, Alexandria and Assiut were raided.
"Cracking down on organisations whose sole purpose is to support the democratic process during Egypt's historic transition sends a disturbing signal," he said.
As well as targeting NGOs, Egyptian security forces also raided the home of Ahmed Ali al-Salkawy, 29, a member of a group that played a key role in the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
A security official claimed police found documents deemed hostile to the nation in his apartment, AP reports.
Ahmed Maher, founder of one of the reform movements, told the news agency: "This is the old regime still in place and military rulers defending that regime. Many generals have vested interests in the old regime."
Another prominent Egyptian rights activist Negad al-Borai compared the situation to crackdowns on human rights groups during Mubarak's rule.
He told Reuters: "This looks like a campaign against human rights defenders. For this to happen after what we call the 'revolution', I am astonished."
Syrian security forces shot dead 25 people across the country today,despite the presence of Arab League monitors, Reuters reports.
Pro-democracy activists put Thursday's death toll at around 40.
The daughter of Muammar Gaddafi has hired an Israeli lawyer to petition the international criminal court to investigate the circumstances of the death of the former Libyan dictator, writes my colleague Harriet Sherwood.
Aisha Gaddafi, who fled Libya in August before the capture and killing of her father by opposition forces, claims to have been caused "severe emotional distress" by the images of his death and the treatment of his body.
Nick Kaufman, a former senior prosecutor at the ICC and now an international lawyer based in Jerusalem, wrote to the ICC prosecutor Jose Luis Moreno-Ocampo earlier this month to demand an immediate investigation.
Gaddafi and his son Mutassim, Aisha's brother, "were murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic law. The images of this savagery were broadcast throughout the world causing my client severe emotional distress," said the letter, which has been seen by the Guardian.
Germany's foreign ministry has announced it will summon Egypt's ambassador in Berlin tomorrow over the raids on NGOs.
The move comes after Egyptian security forces raided the German-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which is closely associated with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.
We're closing this live blog now but coverage will continue in the morning. Thanks for reading and for your comments below.