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Hello and welcome to today's Middle East Live.
Syria defied Arab isolation and mounting international anger yesterday as President Bashar al-Assad's security forces continued attacks on pro-democracy protesters across the country, reports Ian Black, the Guardian's Middle East editor.
Ian also analyses Saudi Arabia's rare public criticism of its near-neighbour.
And in a dispatch from Bahrain, Ian notes:
Bahrain is far quieter now than during its brief exposure to the winds of the Arab spring in February and March, but unrest continues. Every night cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) echo through the villages of a Shia underclass that has chafed under the Sunni Al Khalifa dynasty since independence from Britain in 1971.
The Syrian regime is facing a chorus of global reproach as envoys from Turkey, India, Brazil and South Africa head to Damascus to press President Bashar al-Assad to end the violent crackdown on a five-month-old uprising, reports the Associated Press.
Nour Ali (a pseudonym) reports that two people were killed in Syria this morning after the army stormed the towns of Binnish and Sirmeen in the north-western Idleb province, on the border with Turkey. The deaths come as Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, arrives in Damascus for talks.
The dead have been named by local activist group the Local Co-ordination Committees as Ahmed Abduljawad and Walid Khateeb. The army attacked Sirmeen from three directions in the early hours of the morning, activists said, before raiding houses and arresting people.
The assault on the eastern city of Deir Ezzor is continuing, especially in Hawiqa district.
The LCC reports that there are "more than 18 tanks and 20 armoured BMP and BTR vehicles" and "heavy shelling of houses and residential areas ... In addition to heavy gunfire as well as fire, smoke and sounds of explosions in the area of Hawiqa."
The ongoing assault in the area may explain the timing of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah statement on Sunday - many tribes in the area have close links to Saudi Arabia; a few still travel between the two countries on a regular basis.
The oil- and agriculture-rich area is also heavily armed and some tribal members are talking about trying to break away from the country if the violence continues to escalate, one man from the area told the Guardian.
State media agency Sana is reporting that army units are leaving Hama after "completing their mission of protecting civilians and tracking down the armed terrorist groups". The Guardian is trying to reach residents in the city to confirm if the army has indeed left.
Meanwhile, a resident in Homs said the city had been quieter for the past two days after a couple of days which "we spent lying on the floor of the house because the shooting was so heavy". Tanks remain on the streets.
Nour Ali (a pseudonym) has been speaking to a member of the Local Co-ordination Committees in Idleb province, Syria, identified as "Odai" who gave more details on events in Binnish. He said:
Twenty-three tanks and BMPs entered the town of Binnish at 4am. They shot missiles which hit two houses. The forces started to enter houses and arrest people; fathers and brothers, and some young boys. We know of one 15-year-old who has been detained.
When they enter houses, the forces also take money, gold and computers, as if they were criminals, residents told him.
He said some people fled but now people are staying in their homes and there is gunfire into the air.
Odai said Binnish was being attacked because "as soon as Deraa started, people have been coming out in large numbers in the town of Binnish. That's why the town has been chosen for assault."
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Libyan state media said today that dozens of civilians had been killed in a Nato strike on a village about 90 miles (150km) east of Tripoli. Nato said it was looking into the reports.
Libyan state television showed the charred bodies of at least three young children who, it said, were killed in Majar. It also showed wounded women and children being treated in a hospital.
The television station reported that a total of 85 people had been killed in Majar, but it did not say how many of these were civilians. The official Jana news agency said "20 families" had been killed, without giving a more precise figure.
Nato warplanes bombed a Libyan warship docked in Tripoli harbour after observing that weapons were being take from it that were expected to be used to conduct attacks, the alliance said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Libya's rebel leader has sacked his cabinet to try to rebuild confidence in the opposition that was damaged by the murky killing of the rebels' own military commander.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil, leader of the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC), dismissed his 14-member executive committee on Monday after they were held responsible for blunders linked to the assassination of Abdul Fatah Younis.
Activists said tanks stormed villages outside the besieged city of Hama, Syria, today and there was heavy machine-gun fire in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, which also has been a flashpoint in recent days.
Nato has rejected growing international criticism of its airstrike on Libyan television last month, saying today it has no evidence the attack caused any casualties.
Al-Qaida's new leader has accused the United States of hijacking Egypt's popular uprising to preserve its interests in the Middle East.
Ayman al-Zawahri says the US "has led a peaceful transition of power, which protects its interests and turns the popular revolution into a military coup".
Nato says its air strike on farmhouses in Majar, 90 miles (150km) east of Tripoli, Libya, was on a legitimate military target.
Wounded Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh will return to his country from Saudi Arabia after a recovery period determined by his doctors, Yemen's state news agency said today.
The European Union is set this week to widen sanctions against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi by adding a Libyan oil firm and a government administrative department to a blacklist, an EU official said today.
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William Hague, the UK foreign secretary, has welcomed the reopening of the Libyan embassy in London today – under the new management of the National Transitional Council, the Libyan rebels. The new charge d'affaires, Mahmud Nacua, said: "The reopening of the embassy symbolises how far we have come. The smbassy represents the legitimate government of Libya and in line with this will serve all the Libyan community irrespective of their political allegiances. We will also continue to struggle for greater freedom for the Libyan people and Gaddafi's departure from Libya."
The United States has urged Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh not to return home from Saudi Arabia, where he has been recovering from injuries suffered in an assassination attempt during a popular uprising, diplomatic sources told Reuters today.
A Libyan rebel spokesman says two people have been killed and 14 wounded in fighting around a strategic oil terminal town in the country's east.
I'm going to call it a day there. Thanks for all your comments.
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