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| Syria 'to admit aid workers' – live updates | Syria 'to admit aid workers' – live updates |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 9.58am: Syria/Lebanon: Syrian forces killed a Lebanese man and wounded at least two others in a gunfight on the Lebanese-Syrian border today, Reuters reports citing security sources. | |
| They said the fighting broke out after Syrian security forces intercepted a group of arms smugglers crossing into Syria near the eastern Lebanese town of Arsal in the Bekaa Valley. | |
| The Lebanese Daily Star names the dead man as Mohammad Hussein Hmayed and says the Syrian military is in possession of his body. | |
| 9.47am: Syria/Russia: Russia is prepared to see President Assad leave power as part of a political settlement to end 15 months of bloodshed, but is not in talks with other nations on the fate of the Syrian leader, a senior Russian diplomat said yesterday. | |
| Deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov also said a Yemen-style power transition was unlikely to work in Syria because many of Assad's foes are unwilling to negotiate with the government, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported. | |
| Gatilov reiterated Russian statements - also repeated on Friday by President Vladimir Putin - that Moscow is open to Assad's exit from power if it results from a Syrian political dialogue without foreign interference. | |
| "We have never said or posed the condition that Assad must necessarily stay in power as the result of this political process," state-run Itar-Tass quoted Gatilov as saying in Geneva, a day after a meeting Annan. "This issue must be resolved by the Syrians themselves." | |
| He said Russia "is not holding any contacts or discussions with anyone about whether Assad should stay in power or go." | |
| President Obama told G8 countries including Russia last month that Assad must leave power and pointed to Yemen, where foreign states helped engineer a handover from longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh to an administration led by his vice-president, as a model for a potential transition. | |
| 9.46am: Syria: Bashar al-Assad has appointed a new prime minister following last month's parliamentary elections. The state news agency Sana reports: | |
| President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday issued the decree No. 194 for 2012 on charging D. Riyad Farid Hijab with the formation of the new government | |
| Hijab is a member of the ruling Ba'ath party and is a former agriculture minister. He replaces Adel Safar, who was appointed in April last year shortly after the revolt against the Assad regime began. Hijab was born in Deir Ezzor, which borders Iraq. | |
| Assad tried to portray the 7 May elections as evidence of his commitment to reform. But the vote was boycotted by the opposition who said it was designed to tighten the president's grip on power. Parliament is considered little more than a rubber stamp in Syria, with the president and his inner circle holding the real power. | |
| Prominent dissident Najati Tayyara told Reuters the appointment of Hijab was further evidence that Assad was snubbing demands for change. He said: | |
| We expected Assad to play a game and appoint a nominal independent but he chose a hardcore Ba'athist. In any case the cabinet is just for show in Syria and even more so now, with the security apparatus totally taking over. | |
| 9.24am: Syria: Barbara Walters, the American TV journalist who secured an exclusive interview with President Assad last year, has apologised for trying to help one of Assad's former aides find a job in the US media. | |
| Yesterday, the Daily Telegraph published a series of emails between Walters, who is 82, and 22-year-old Sheherazad Jaafari, daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations. | |
| Ms Jaafari is a former media adviser to President Assad. The Telegraph said the emails showed that Walters tried to help her secure a place at Columbia University's journalism school and an internship with Piers Morgan's CNN programme. | |
| One email from Walters to Jaafari quoted by the Telegraph says: | |
| Dear Sherry: I wrote to Piers Morgan and his producer to say how terrific you are and attached your resume. I am not sure if they have an opening. Are you still planning to apply to Columbia School of Journalism? Do you want me to do anything on that? Do let me know your plans when you return from Syria. Be safe. Hugs. Barbara | |
| 8.57am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Here's a round up of the latest developments: | 8.57am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Here's a round up of the latest developments: |
| Syria | Syria |
| • The UN says the Syrian government has agreed to allow humanitarian workers into Homs, Deraa, Idlib, and Deir Azzor – four of the hardest hit cities. Until now, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been the only aid organisation allowed to operate in the country. | • The UN says the Syrian government has agreed to allow humanitarian workers into Homs, Deraa, Idlib, and Deir Azzor – four of the hardest hit cities. Until now, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been the only aid organisation allowed to operate in the country. |
| • Syria has severed almost all its remaining diplomatic links with the west, declaring that envoys from the US and most of western Europe were no longer welcome in Damascus, in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of Syrian diplomats last week. | • Syria has severed almost all its remaining diplomatic links with the west, declaring that envoys from the US and most of western Europe were no longer welcome in Damascus, in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of Syrian diplomats last week. |
| * Intensive clashes are reported this morning between government troops and rebels in al-Abbasiyeen area in Damascus. | * Intensive clashes are reported this morning between government troops and rebels in al-Abbasiyeen area in Damascus. |
| Bahrain | Bahrain |
| • Bahrain's interior minister says the Gulf Cooperation Council countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – are about to sign an agreement for a GCC police force "to exchange intelligence, face challenges and combat crime on a regional level". In a newspaper interview, he also denied that the Bahraini police force is involved in torture. | • Bahrain's interior minister says the Gulf Cooperation Council countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE – are about to sign an agreement for a GCC police force "to exchange intelligence, face challenges and combat crime on a regional level". In a newspaper interview, he also denied that the Bahraini police force is involved in torture. |
| Egypt | Egypt |
| • Egypt's ruling military council has set a 48-hour deadline for political parties to finalise the formation of a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution – and is threatening to draft its own version if they fail to do so, the Associated Press reports. | • Egypt's ruling military council has set a 48-hour deadline for political parties to finalise the formation of a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution – and is threatening to draft its own version if they fail to do so, the Associated Press reports. |
| • In Cairo, thousands of protesters marched on Tahrir Square yesterday, demanding a retrial for ex-President Mubarak and the removal of former prime minister Ahmed Shafik from the presidential election runoff. | • In Cairo, thousands of protesters marched on Tahrir Square yesterday, demanding a retrial for ex-President Mubarak and the removal of former prime minister Ahmed Shafik from the presidential election runoff. |