Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of unrest in the Middle East, where the Syrian government sent in tanks, snipers and thousands of troops to crush pro-democracy protesters in the southern city of Deraa.

• Scores were reportedly killed and many more arrested in a widespread pre-emptive crackdown that was described by one human rights activist as a "savage war" against the pro-democracy movement. Deraa, which has been a centre of the rebellion, bore the brunt of the regime's assault. Witnesses said at least 3,000 troops, backed by tanks and heavy weapons, entered the town in the early hours of Monday. Human rights organisations warned that this latest crackdown signalled an attempt by the regime to deliver a fatal blow to the pro-democracy movement.

• The Obama administration condemned "the brutal violence used by the Syrian government", describing it as deplorable. The US said it is pursuing a range of possible policy options, including targeted sanctions.

• In Libya, Nato was accused of trying to assassinate Muammar Gaddafi after two air strikes in three days hit sites in or near the compound where he is believed to direct military strategy. At least two large missiles or bombs struck a multistorey office building in Bab al-Azizia, the sprawling complex in the centre of Tripoli, shortly after midnight yesterday. The Libyan government claimed three people were killed in the attack, although some officials there shortly after the strike said there had been no injuries.

It's been noted by the Guardian's Simon Tisdall among others that the US has been pulling its punches with Syria. As the Washington Post pointed out in its coverage, Obama has yet to declare that President Assad has lost the legitimacy to rule as he declared in the case of Gaddafi in Libya and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. The Post quotes an administration source as saying that policy will be "event driven".

The tipping point may have come in the weekend of violence, giving Obama the popular cover he has sought before calling for regime change in the Arab world. "We're not there yet," the administration official said. "This will be event-driven." Obama's reluctance is rooted in fear of what might replace Assad, a member of Syria's minority Alawite sect who is running a Sunni-majority country with a prevalent, if repressed, Islamist strain in its society and politics. His secular Baath Party has been viewed by neighbors as a bulwark against Islamic extremism, making his government a linchpin in the region. Many U.S. allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, hope that Assad finds a way to remain in power.

Xan Rice, our colleague who is in Misrata on a surprisingly good line, says there has been a lull in the intense shelling of the only rebel-held city in western Libya.

There was a lot less shelling last night and I haven't heard any this morning so far, which is a big contrast since I arrived on Wednesday. The Gaddafi forces have been removed from the city centre and been pushed back beyond the highway, which is a big defeat for them. But residents have not rushed back to their homes as there still may be one or two Gaddafi soldiers hiding out, there is also the danger from unexploded ordinance and lots of homes have been destroyed. While people are pleased about Gaddafi forces being pushed out, there is not a sense that it's over. The rebels managed to drive government forces out by cutting their supply lines and battering them day after day. The snipers could not be resupplied with food or ammunition. The tanks were taken out by RPGs or were blocked as rebels cut streets off with shipping containers. But there is much frustration with Nato. The rebels are saying: 'They're hitting us with artillery from 12 miles away, they must be in the open, why isn't Nato attacking them."

Xan has just been back on the line to say that he's hearing that Nato might have taken out some of the Libyan government artillery, which explains the lull in today's shelling. So rebel frustration at Nato has eased considerably.

Suspected protesters have been rounded up in Duma, a town just to the north of the capital Damascus, eyewitnesses told a Human Rights Watch Syria researcher, Nadim Houry, who has been monitoring the crackdown from Beirut.

He said: "An estimated 5,000 members of the security forces circled the town and went in knocking door-to-door arresting people. According to one family three members of their family were detained. They [the security forces] had a list of names that they were looking for.

"They [the family] reported hearing gunfire at around 11am yesterday morning, but could not confirm casualty rates because they were hiding inside their apartment."

"The situation in Deraa is even more worrying but unfortunately the city remains completely cut off. We know that the Syrian army with tanks and the like entered the city on Monday morning. There are no available details at this stage of exactly what's happening. All we have are short clips on YouTube showing the army shooting on the city."

The death toll has been increasing exponentially in Syria, Houry warned.

"Between Friday and Saturday over 100 people were killed. The deployment of the army in full gear encircling a city and cutting it off, is very worrisome when you know the fatal history of the 1980s when the city of Hama paid a very heavy price for opposition to [president] Bashar al-Assad's father."

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There have been intriguing reports of defections among Syrian troops, a subject explored by Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian anti-government activist, on his Syrian Revolution Digest blog.

In the morning of April 25, the city of Deraa was invaded from all four corners by units affiliated with the 4th Division, which falls under the direct leadership of Maher Al-Assad, the 5th Division, led by Muhammad Saleh Al-Rifai, with reinforcement from the 132 Battalion. Shortly thereafter, reports began trickling then pouring in speaking of a mutiny in the units affiliated with 5th Division and troops from these units standing up to and halting the advance of units from the 4th Division trying to reach Al-Omary Mosque in central Deraa. At first, many of us thought this might be a reference to a few more defections, as had transpired two weeks ago, but the reports continue to come from different sources and eyewitnesses that we managed to reach all through the day, leading us to believe that there might indeed be something worth monitoring here. If such a mutiny has indeed taken place so early in the game, then Assad's military gambit seems to be backfiring, a development that could spark a wider division within the army in the next few hours and days, with all different sorts of implications for the protest movement, depending on how this internal conflict plays out. If, on the other hand, the reports turn out to be nothing more than exaggerations and wishful thinking, then the protest movement will still have a way to go before producing a significant impact on the structure and power base of the regime, and the challenge will be to keep on message and peaceful all the way through despite the mounting violence on part of the Assads.

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, has issued a statement condemning the Syrian government crackdown.

I condemn utterly any violence and killings perpetrated by the Syrian security forces against civilians who are expressing their views in peaceful protests. This violent repression must stop. President Assad should order his authorities to show restraint and to respond to the legitimate demands of his people with immediate and genuine reform, not with brutal repression. Words are not enough: the emergency law needs to be lifted in practice and the legitimate aspirations of the people met.

A Nato attack on a compound used by Gaddafi caused an "amazing scene" of destruction, our colleague, Harriet Sherwood, reports from Tripoli.

"The building, which officials here claim was a civilian office building housing a library and archive, was completely flattened. Nato says it was a command and control centre - it was a legitimate target. The Libya government here are saying very explicitly it was an attempt to assassinate Gaddafi and an act of terrorism."

Meanwhile, fuel queues are mounting, Harriet says.

"Huge petrol queues have sprung up again in Tripoli and surrounding towns. I went to a town quite close to the Tunisian border called Zuwarah. There were massive queues of cars, five or six cars deep, and maybe half a kilometre long. And this was for petrol stations that were closed. I spoke to two guys who said they had both been waiting for five days. If Libya is running out of fuel that is a huge symbolic blow... People are very attached to their cheap fuel. That would have a big impact on morale."

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According to the Press Association, the UK, France, Germany and Portugal are drawing up a draft statement on Syria which is being circulated at the UN, where Syria is to be discussed today. In his statement, Hague confirmed that Britain is working with others at the UN security council and the EU to send a "strong signal" to President Assad that he must halt violence against civilians.

This is video purporting to show a funeral in Duma (10.02am) which turned into a demonstration. The video shows protesters scattering to the sound of gunfire and a person lying on the ground.

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This video, posted on Facebook, was taken in Misrata and shows something of the destruction in the city. In the clip you can see rebel fighters clambering over Libyan government tanks and making their way through abandoned buildings. Other videos posted by Libia Ana on the social networking site show a small group of rebel fighters engaged in battle.

A resident in Deraa has told Reuters of gunfire and artillery in the city early today.

People in Deraa say telephone lines, electricity and water supplies have all been cut. One resident, speaking by satellite phone to Reuters, said there had been intermittent gunfire during the night followed by artillery rounds and intense machinegun fire at around 7.30 (0430 GMT). "Sometimes you suddenly hear a burst of heavy machinegun fire coming in all directions as though to just scare people and terrify them," he said. He said citizens were cut off not just from the outside world but from other parts of Deraa. "A brother doesn't know what's happening to his brother and we are still besieged," he said. "They have cut off the city's inner neighbourhoods from each other and army and snipers are still encircling almost every quarter." But he said in the Sabeel neighbourhood a demonstration of around 300 youths was allowed to go ahead. Soldiers near to a tank deployed close by put down their light arms down to signify they would not shoot, he said. But residents believed that snipers were still active in the city. "They don't want people to bury their dead," he said, adding that with electricity cut off mosques could not announce the names of the dead.

We have our own reports of gunfire in Deraa now, this time from Wissam Tarif, executive director of the human rights group Insan, who fears a massacre is taking place in the city and elsewhere. Within the last half an hour he overheard gunfire during a phone call to Deraa.

On reports of mutiny within the army, Tarif said:

We have been hearing this for the last four or five weeks. We have interviewed some of the families of soldiers who have been shot. In three cases families suspect that the soldier was shot by security forces for disobeying orders [to] shoot civilians. There is strong evidence that this might be happening, the question is at what scale? The two units employed in Deraa are very loyal to the regime.

He added:

The few foreign media journalist in Syria are not allowed to leave Damascus. So the Syrian regime has managed to isolate the rest of the country from the world. What is happening in the country is systematic killing. We are talking about an army surrounding a group of civilians with tanks and opening live ammunition. The absurd [thing] about this is that the international community has so far just used strong words but no action whatsoever. I don't understand why the UN security council hasn't referred this to the international criminal courts.

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While human rights campaigners warn of systematic killing in Deraa, the government's mouthpiece, Sana, has a very different account of the army's action.

The state news agency says the army has been sent into quell "extremist terrorist groups" and that weapons have been seized. Other accounts suggest the protests have been peaceful.

In response to the calls for help from the citizens of Daraa and their appeal to the Armed Forces as to intervene and put an end to the operations of killings, vandalism, and horrifying by extremist terrorist groups, some Army Units entered Sunday morning, April 25th 2011, to the City of Daraa to restore tranquility, security and normal life to the citizens, an official army source declared. The official source added that the Army Units, with the participation of security forces, are now chasing the said groups adding that the Army Units were able to arrest several members from the groups and confiscated huge quantities of weapons and ammunitions.

The Associated Press has also reached a resident in Deraa, who said "dead bodies were still in the streets because no one has been able to remove them."

"We are being subjected to a massacre," the man screamed over the telephone as cracks of gunfire reverberated in the background. "Children are being killed. We have been without electricity for three days, we have no water." The man, who spoke over a Jordanian mobile phone, said Syrian special forces were in the streets of the city. He added that Deraa, an impoverished city near the border with Jordan, was bombed by tanks.

Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News is on a ship heading towards Misrata. He tweets about the sound of shelling.

Off coast of Misrata - thud of shelling clearly audible across calm, deserted waters #c4news alex thomson

alextomo

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A prominent Syrian human rights campaigner, Qassem Ghazzawi, has been arrested in Deir-al-Zor, 268 miles north-east of Damascus, Reuters reports.

Reuters is reporting on a possible deal that could be brokered within weeks leading to President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen stepping down. Protesters will be understandably sceptical until they finally see him go.

Opposition official Mohammed Basindwa told Reuters the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdullatif al-Zayani, is expected to visit Sanaa within days to finalise the deal which would see President Ali Abdullah Saleh resign, and break his 32-year rule. He said: "We expect an arrangement and signing of a deal to be completed - the sooner the better." Asked if the GCC-brokered agreement could be signed within the next few days, he said, "Hopefully. It's possible." Opposition officials told Reuters they finally agreed to the plan on Monday after receiving assurances from US diplomats in Sanaa that Saleh would step down a month after the deal is signed.

Amina A., a gay rights activists and blogger from Damascus, gives an account of how two members of the Syrian security forces came to arrest her early in the morning. She claims her father saw the men off through the force of his argument. In the latest post on her blog A Gay Girl in Damascus, she writes:

When I appeared, one of them nodded, "That's her"

"Me?"

"Yes ... we need to discuss a few things with you." Oily smile that doesn't extend to the eyes.

"Like what?"

He rattles off a long list of things I have posted in English and in Arabic.

"You might have missed a few." I say, my nerves almost getting the worst of me, but, less than fully awake, I clamp down hard on the urge to flee. If I run, I know that they will shoot. I can see weapons, the bulge of pistols and likely knives under their jackets.

"We have enough," the same one says. "Conspiring against the state, urging armed uprising, working with foreign elements."

"Uh huh, which ones?"

"The Salafi plot," the other one says, his accent marks him as straight from a village in the Jebel Ansariya. "Making sectarian plots."

"Really?" my father interrupts. "My daughter is a salafi?" he starts laughing. "Look at her: can't you see that that is ridiculous? She doesn't even cover any more ... and if you have really read even half of what she has written, you know how ridiculous that is. When was the last time you heard a Wahabi, or even someone from the brotherhood say that wearing hijab is the woman's choice only?"

After the men left she writes:

My father is a hero... in the night we celebrated this little victory; they may come back but maybe not ... He made a few calls in the middle of the night; woke up some people (and found some not sleeping) who are in the regime and told them about the goons' visit.

Lunchtime summary.

• Syrian security forces have shot dead at least 400 civilians in the crackdown against pro-democracy protesters, says the Syrian human rights organisation, Sawasiah. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security police arrested a prominent rights campaigner Qassem al-Ghazzawi in his home city of Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria. Residents say there was gunfire in Deraa, the focal point of protests, this morning.

• Britain is working with the UK, France, Germany and Portugal on a draft statement on Syria which is being circulated at the UN, where Syria is to be discussed today. Foreign Secretary William Hague called on President Assad to "respond to the legitimate demands of his people with immediate and genuine reform, not with brutal repression".

• A Nato attack on a compound used by Muammar Gaddafi caused an "amazing scene" of destruction. The building, which officials here claim was a civilian office building housing a library and archive, was completely flattened.

• There has been a lull in shelling of the western city of Misrata, surrounded by Gaddafi forces on three sides. Rebels say the respite may have followed Nato air raids.

A tweet from BBC News foreign editor Jon Williams supports our previous post on an account from a local blogger. Williams tweets of a "very serious" crackdown of "cyber activists" and vloggers in the country.

Am told v serious crackdown underway in #Syria. Authorities rounding up 'cyber activists' & those who hv been getting video out of country. Jon Williams

WilliamsJon

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Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News has blogged on his time on a ship taking aid to Misrata, and the expectation of bringing casualties abroad when the vessel docks. He writes:

When we dock, the doctors need to head to the hospital to make their triage assessments as fast as they can before transporting people back on board for the 20-hour trip to Benghazi and safety. There is not much time.

In this picture from yesterday, a man throws a rock at a tank in Deraa.

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Snipers firing from rooftops have killed an anti-government demonstrator in Taiz, south of Sana'a, AP reports.

"A group of youth were rallying on the outskirts of the protest square, but then a sniper opened fire on them, killing Mazen Abdullah and wounding 10 others," Bushra al-Maktari, a spokeswoman for the protest movement in Taiz, told AP.

Pictured below are protesters in the capital, Sana'a.

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Syria is coming under pressure from Turkey, which considers itself a key regional player, to ease up on protesters. The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, phoned President Assad to urge "restraint", while Turkey's ambassador to Damascus met the Syrian prime minister, Adel Safar, to express Turkey's "deep concern and sorrow over loss of many lives," the prime minister's office and the Turkish media reported.

Despite its brutal crackdown, the Syrian government is all but certain to get on to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Syria is one of four candidates selected to fill four Asian seats and as AP points out, Syria can lose only if diplomats find another candidate to enter the race or it fails to win a majority of votes in a May 20 election in the 192-member general assembly.

Thirteen human rights groups from the Arab world last week urged the Arab League secretary-general, Amr Moussa, to publicly denounce Syria's candidacy and to call on Arab states not to vote for Syria in the upcoming election. If Syria does get on the 47-nation Human Rights Council, it won't do the organisation's credibility much good.

France and Italy have joined the international condemnation of Syria.

"Together we send a strong call to Damascus authorities to stop the violent repression of what are peaceful demonstrations and we ask all sides to act with moderation," Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian PM, told a joint news conference in Rome.

"The situation has become unacceptable," Sarkozy said, saying the authorities should not send in the army to open fire on protesters.

A spoof Twitter feed called SyrianPresident with a picture of Bashar al-Assad has this:

Why can't we all take a little break in #Syria this Friday, and watch the royal wedding? Bashar al-Assad

SyrianPresident

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One can imagine Assad thinking this.

Iran is weighing retaliatory action after Bahrain last night expelled a senior Iranian diplomat. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said Tehran reserves the right to take a tit-for-tat action. Mehmanparast said the expulsion was aimed at covering up internal problems in the kingdom, where Shias have been demanding greater rights. Iran has criticised Bahrain's crackdown against protesters.

John Hooper, the Guardian's Rome correspondent, has emailed on Berlusconi's attempts to contain a potential rebellion by his government allies after unexpectedly stepping up Italy's involvement in Nato's air offensive in Libya. John writes:

After the sudden change of policy was announced late on Monday, a minister from the Northern League said his party was against Italian planes taking part in the bombing. The League's votes in parliament keep Berlusconi in office. Roberto Calderoli said: "We have already done enough by offering the bases and logistical support and anti-radar activity". At a press conference with the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, Berlusconi claimed to have been misinterpreted. "Italy will not carry out bombardments", he said. Italian aircraft would only launch "precision rockets against military targets", the prime minister added. The statement from his office on Monday said merely that Rome had decided "to increase the operative flexibility of its planes with actions aimed against specific military targets". The announcement came after a telephone conversation between Berlusconi and the US President, Barack Obama. Rome has made air bases available for the Nato operation against Colonel Gaddafi's forces but, according to the government, until now Italian aircraft have only taken part in reconnaissance missions and the monitoring of the UN's no-fly zone.

Save the Children says it has received reports of children being raped in Libya. The charity says it has been told of such incidents from families who fled Misurata, Ajdabia, and Rus-Lanuf and are now in temporary camps in Benghazi. Here's part of the disturbing press release, which leaves little doubt that the alleged atrocities were committed by Libyan government troops, although it does not say so explicitly.

In one reported case mothers told of a group of girls being abducted, held hostage for four days and raped. When they were released they were unable to speak. Michael Mahrt, Save the Children's Child Protection Advisor who is currently conducting the assessment, said: "The reports of sexual violence against children are unconfirmed but they are consistent and were repeated across the four camps we visited. "Children told us they have witnessed horrendous scenes. Some said they saw their fathers murdered and mothers raped. They described things happening to other children but they may have actually happened to them and they are just too upset to talk about it - it's a typical coping mechanism used by children who have suffered such abuse."

William Hague is now giving an update on Libya and the Middle East in Parliament. He tells MPs the Gaddafi regime has seen its military capability seriously degraded and that Nato intervention saved the people of Benghazi. He repeats that Gaddafi should go and says Britain will stick by UN security council resolutions. He says some sort of financial mechanism will be set up soon to provide financial aid to the rebel Transnational Council.

Hague repeats his earlier "utter condemnation" of the Syrian government and says Britain is working with its allies to stop the violence. He says Syria is at a fork in the road. If it continues with its crackdown, Britain will work to impose sanctions on the regime. On Yemen, he welcomes the apparent deal for President Saleh to step down. He urges Bahrain to engage in dialogue.

We will continue to stand for reform not repression, says Hague as he sums up. Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, says the House is "appalled" at the violence there. He asks whether Syria will heed the calls for restraint.

Hague says there are 700 British nationals in Syria registered with the Foreign Office and there are contingency plans to get them out, although they are able to leave on commercial flights for the time being. He says Assad will have been surprised by the turn of events in Syria as back in January, the Syrian president told the Foreign Secretary that Syria was different from Arab countries. He tells MPs not to expect speedy action at the UN on Syria given the difference of opinions there.

On Libya, the military situation remains fluid, Hague tells the House. He says the Libya contact group is working well and is not "unwieldy". He assures MPs that there will be no Nato troops going into Tripoli. Time is not on the side of Gaddafi, he says emphatically.

Hague says there is strong opposition to Gaddafi throughout Libya including in the west - he mentions Misrata - in response to a question about possible partition. Here is Hague's statement in full on the Foreign Office's website.

Here is Hague's key quote on Syria.

Syria is now at a fork in the road. Its government can still choose to bring about the radical reform which alone can provide peace and stability for Syria in the long term, and we urge it do so. Or it can choose ever more violent repression, which can only bring short term security for the authorities there. If it does so we will work with our European partners and others to take measures, including sanctions, that will have an impact on the regime.

Hague's quote on the need for Gaddafi to go.

We are also clear that Qadhafi should go, and it is impossible to see a viable or peaceful way forward for Libya until he does so.

Hague has to admit that there is no call from the Arab League to intervene in Syria.

Hague says work is being done at the UN on a presidential statement not a draft UN resolution. A statement is much weaker than a resolution - he implies that there is no international consensus on Syria as there was on Libya.

Here is Hague's quote on Yemen, where there are signs that the deadlock may be broken. But President Saleh has proved to be quite recalcitrant so caution is in order.

In Yemen, the UK welcomes the news this morning that the efforts of the Gulf Co-operation Council countries to resolve the current political deadlock are close to success. I understand that President Saleh and the parliamentary opposition have accepted the GCC's proposal. This is potentially good news. Both sides now need to come together to confirm their commitment to the peaceful, inclusive and timely transition process that the GCC have brokered. The UK remains committed to our long-standing support for Yemen in these difficult times.

We're ending the blog now so here is a summary of today's developments.

• Bodies were left lying on the streets of Deraa as residents sought shelter from artillery and sniper fire, a day after tanks rolled into the city. Britain, France and Italy condemned the crackdown that human right activists say has left 400 civilians dead. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Syria is now at a fork in the road; it can choose either radical reform to bring about peace and stability or choose more violent repression which can bring only short term security.

• Libyan government forces resumed bombardment of Misrata port after a brief lull. Hague insisted it was impossible to see a viable or peaceful way forward for Libya until Muammar Gaddafi does so.

• Yemeni opposition leaders say President Ali Abdullah Saleh could step down as part of an brokered by Gulf Arab states. The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council is expected to visit the Sana'a tomorrow with an invitation to a signing ceremony next week in Saudi Arabia.