Welcome to Middle East Live.
Syria
• Troops backed by tanks entered the town of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon and are carrying out a campaign of arrests, according to activists, the Independent reports.
• Tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets on Saturday, shouting "we want freedom" while carrying caskets of of some of the protesters killed during protest rallies on Friday, al-Jazeera reports.
• Activists claim nine people were killed on Saturday, including two in the central city of Homs and four in Boukamal in the east.
Libya
• Muammar Gaddafi has again vowed never to leave Libya, the BBC reports.
They're asking me to leave. I will never leave the land of my ancestors or the people who have sacrificed themselves for me.
• Libyan fighters claim they are close to surrounding the key government-held oil town of Brega. Radio reports said that after three days of heavy fighting, aided by substantial Nato bombing, rebel units had bypassed the town – cutting off the garrison from its supply lines.
Egypt
• Egypt's prime minister Essam Sharaf is expected to announce a cabinet reshuffle today. He has accepted the resignation of his foreign minister Mohammed El-Orabi, Reuters reports.
Tunisia
• Tunisian police fired in the air and used teargas early on Sunday to disperse a crowd of about 200 people who had set fire to a police station in a suburb of the capital, Reuters reports.
The United Arab Emirates should drop charges against five activists detained since April after they called for democratic reforms, four human rights organisations said today.
The organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claim the UAE is using defamation laws as pretext to prosecute activists for expressing dissent.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said:
It is disturbing and absurd that the UAE is prosecuting activists simply because they spoke out for democracy. The international community should end its silence and condemn this mockery of justice; the government had no business arresting these men in the first place.
There's much speculation in the Egyptian press about prime minister Sharaf's reshuffle.
Al-Masry al-Youm quotes analysts calling for a "real" revolutionaries to join the cabinet.
The paper's Sarah Carr rounds up what the rest of the Egyptian press is predicting about the reshuffle.
Al-Ahram says that according to a cabinet source, it is likely that the ministers of culture, education, justice, tourism and the interior will not change and that it is "difficult for Minister of International Planning and Cooperation Fayza Abouelnaga and Finance Minister Samir Radwan to remain in their posts because of their association with the dissolved National Democratic Party's policies cabinet."
Former head of the Judges Club Zakaria Abdel Aziz, who has been touted for a ministerial position, says that he will only accept a portfolio if the government is free of former regime figures and individuals who opposed the revolution.
The Egyptian Democratic Party's Hazem al-Beblawy and deputy head of the Wafd Party Ali al-Selmy have been chosen as deputies to Sharaf, with state daily Al-Akhbar reporting that Beblawy will be responsible for economic policies and Selmy for political development and democratic change.
Writing in Al-Tahrir, Ibrahim Mansour criticises Selmy's nomination, saying that "neither he nor his party nor his boss [Sayyed al-Badawy] have anything to do with the revolution."
The death of a disabled mother of two in Bahrain sparked protests in the kingdom yesterday, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports.
Zainab al-Juma suffocated to death after police fired teargas to put down a demonstration in Sitra on Friday, human rights activists claim. Her funeral became the scene of clashes with police after some of the mourners attempted to march again following her burial.
Unverified YouTube footage showed police hurling teargas cannisters at a house in Zitra on the day of the incident, but the clip does not show al-Juma's house.
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Bahrain's Interior Ministry denied al-Juma's death was linked to a police operation claiming she died of natural cause, the Arab Times reports.
Egypt's cabinet reshuffle appears to be underway with both the finance and industry ministers resigning, Ahram reports.
It says the new man in charge of economic policy will be Hazem Beblawi, a veteran economist and former under secretary of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
The BBC has more on the reshuffle. It's Cairo correspondent, Jon Leyne, says:
The cabinet changes have taken more than week to take effect - an indication that Mr Sharaf is in a behind-the scenes battle with the ruling military council.
The Syrian government claims three soldiers killed by "armed terrorist groups" in Homs and Deir Ezzo were buried today.
The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria, the group organising and publicising the protests, claim more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since the unrest began.
Graphic video circulating today claims to show the charred remains of two of the most recent victims in Homs. The city has been a flashpoint of violence. US embassy officials claim protesters have fought back against the authorities in Homs. Activists claim the protests are peaceful.
More video from the city today purported to show protesters chanting at the funeral of a man who died last week.
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In a statement today the LCCS claimed the protests are increasing. It also said the government was attempting to blame the uprising on sectarian tension.
It said:
Last Friday, 29 martyrs from various cities and regions of Syria fell at the hands of security forces. The regime is continuing to use violence against peaceful protesters, causing so far the deaths of more than 2000 martyrs. Meanwhile, the protest movement is gaining in intensity, proportionately to the increase in violence used against it, and is exposing the regime's inability to suppress protesters. This is why the regime has now decided to play its final card, which is sectarian tension.
Syrian activists claim the army has moved into two towns near Damascus, Zabadani and Qatana, where they claim scores of people have been arrested and gunfire has been heard.
This footage purports to show the moment when three troop-filled armoured personnel carriers moved into to the Zabadani.
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Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Yemen to demand the resignation of President Ali Abduallah Saleh on the 33rd anniversary of his rule.
AP reports:
Activist Nouh al-Wafi says demonstrators in the southern city of Taiz on Sunday carried black flags and placards that read "today is the fateful day." Similar protests also were taking place in several other major cities including Amran, Saada and al-Bayda.
In the capital Sanaa, Saleh's supporters raised pictures of the president alongside posters denouncing those seeking to topple him.
YouTube footage from Taiz purports to show hundred of thousands of people taking part in a "day of rage".
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Bahrain's main opposition group Wefaq says it is pulling out of a national dialogue exercise with the government.
Khalil al-Marzouq, spokesman for Wefaq, told Reuters:
The Wefaq board decided to pull out of the so-called National Consensus Dialogue and submitted its decision to the Wefaq Shura council (upper council) for ratification. The Wefaq team will not attend today's (dialogue) session.
Jack Shenker in Cairo has update on the Egypt cabinet reshuffle.
Egypt's embattled prime minister Essam Sharaf fired several of his top ministers on Sunday, in the latest attempt to end mass nationwide protests against his government's slow pace of reform.
The ministers of finance, industry and foreign affairs all followed in the footsteps of Sharaf's deputy, Yehia El-Gamal, who stepped down earlier this week amid ongoing demonstrations that have called the legitimacy of Egypt's ruling military generals into question.
Here's Jack instant analysis on the likely political fallout:
My guess is that this reshuffle will have a very limited impact on the ongoing sit-in at Tahrir and other protests around the country, particularly if, as rumoured, interior minister El-Essawy and justice minister Al-Guindy remain in their posts.
Protesters are not just angry at specific ministers with links to the Mubarak regime, they are rejecting the whole nature of military-controlled transition and calling for a total recalibration of the power balance between army generals and revolutionaries on the street.
That includes an end to military trials for civilians, the speeding up of court cases against those accused of corruption and unlawful killing, swifter implementation of social and economic reforms, justice for the martyrs of the uprising and, perhaps most importantly, and end to the tight control being wielded by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) over the relatively toothless civilian cabinet.
If El-Essawy and Al-Guindy are kept in place at the behest of SCAF and against the wishes of prime minister Essam Sharaf, then no amount of deckchair-rearranging elsewhere is going to assuage popular frustration with the political status quo - meaning that popular protests, and the clash of legitimacies that goes with them, will continue.
Around 100 members of the armed forces defected to the Syrian oppoistion in the eastern town of Albu Kamal, Reuters reports.
Some 1,000 troops and security forces backed by tanks and helicopters surrounded Albu Kamal overnight, a poor eastern border crossing with Iraq, a day after Military Intelligence agents there killed five protesters, including a 14 year old boy, residents said.
The killings drove thousands into the streets, overwhelming soldiers and secret police. Residents said around 100 Air Force Intelligence personnel and the crew of at least four armoured vehicles joined the protesters.
"The protesters returned several army personnel carriers today as a sign of good will. The regime knows it will meet tough resistance if it attacks Albu Kamal, and that Iraqi tribes on the other side of the border will rush to help their brethren," said one activist in the region, who declined to be named for fear of arrest.
Another activist said: "The whole of Albu Kamal went to the streets after the killings. Several armoured personnel carriers moved into the centre of the town to stop them, but ended joining sides with the human wave."
The state news agency Sana said "armed terrorist groups" killed three security personnel in Albu Kamal on Saturday.
It said:
Sana correspondent said the armed groups attacked the Abu Kamal Area Directorate building and stole the weapons inside, adding that other armed men were stationed on rooftops.Sana correspondent also reported that armed groups burned the city's police station, the civil registry department and the courthouse and attacked the Area Director's house.
Helicopters were filmed over Dier Ezzor moving in the direction of Albu Kamal on Sunday.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has suggested the Syria opposition should co-operate with the government.
Speaking on Saturday in Istanbul after talks with the Turkish foreign minister, Clinton endorsed a gathering of Syrian opposition figures in the city.
But she hinted that dissidents and activists should reconsider boycotting talks with the government.
Clinton said:
We're encouraged by what we see of the Syrian people doing for themselves... It's what the Syrians are doing, trying to form an opposition that can provide a pathway, hopefully in peaceful cooperation with the government, to a better future.
Clinton again criticised the violent crackdown against protesters, and she described Friday's demonstrations as the largest so far in the Syrian uprising.
At the opposition conference rejected the idea of forming a "shadow government", Zaman reports.
On Saturday, some 400 people took part in the "National Salvation Conference" in Istanbul to form a unified opposition to Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.
"The regime had kidnapped the entire state, and we want it back," said Haitham al-Maleh, who headed the conference. The 80-year-old lawyer who spent years in Syrian prisons for his political activism recently left Syria, fearing for his life, and is now in İstanbul.
"This regime cannot rob us of our freedom," al-Maleh said.
Details of Egypt's cabinet reshuffle are still leaking out, and the latest revelation is a real humdinger, writes Jack Shenker.
Zahi Hawass – Egypt's larger-than-life minister for antiquities and self-styled 'Indian Jones of the East' – appears to have finally fallen on his sword, following months of pressure over his strong praise for Hosni Mubarak during the uprising and his persistent implication in corruption scandals.
Hawass is one of the best known Egyptians outside the country. The archaeologist has dominated Egypt's antiquities scene for many years, maintaining total control over who gets to dig and where, and transforming himself into a global superstar through his National Geographic and Discovery channel television ventures.
With his trademark hat, pompous swagger and unbounded sense of self-worth, Hawass has been credited with boosting national tourism revenue and opening up the mysteries of pharaonic Egypt to the world.
But he's also been a consistent hate figure for many working within the archaeological community, and his emphatic support for Mubarak – made in a BBC TV interview just five days before the dictator was toppled – seemed to be the last straw for his career. But, as seen in a recent interview with the Guardian, Hawass tried to improbably style himself as an enthusiastic revolutionary in recent months and somehow clung onto his position – until today.
The number of protesters on the streets may have hit record levels, but Syria's opposition movement is struggling to forge a united front, frustrated by sectarian and tactical differences as much as by organisational chaos, writes Nour Ali a pseudonym for a Damascus-based journalist.
Today's opposition, facing an unprecedented outbreak of dissent and struggling to keep up with events on the street, is riven by divisions – between dissidents in Syria and in exile, young and old. Growing frustration spilled over in Istanbul. "How many thousand people more will have to die before we will finally act?" shouted one man, to thunderous applause.
Here's a summary of today's events:
• Several ministers associated with the Murbarak era in Egypt have been sacked in a cabinet reshuffle. The minister for antiquities Zahi Hawass announced he had resigned.
• There were reports of army and police raids in several Syrian towns and cities from the Lebanese border in west to the Iraqi border in the east. The suburbs of Damascus were again targeted after the largest protests to date on Friday. In the eastern town of Abu Kamal residents claim 100 members of the armed forced defected to the opposition.
• Bahrain's main opposition group Wefaq says it is pulling out of a national dialogue exercise with the government. More anger has been sparked in the kingdom by the death of a disabled mother who activists say suffocated as a result of teargas used to by police to suppress a demonstration.
• Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Yemen to demand the resignation of President Ali Abduallah Saleh on the 33rd anniversary of his rule. One of the largest demonstrations took place in the southern city of Taiz on 'Day of Rage' against the government. Saleh remains in Saudi Arabia where he is recovering after a bomb attack on his compound last month.