Israel attacks Gaza, diplomatic pressure on Syria and Middle East unrest – live updates

• US says Bashar al-Assad must stand down • Libyan rebels take oil refinery in Zawiyah • Series of attacks in israel, at least seven dead • Assad claims military operations in Syria have ended Read a summary of the main developments 4.55pm: Unconfirmed reports that the airstrike hit a house in Rafah, site of the only crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Reuters is tweeting it killed a senior Palestinian militant and four comrades . 4.49pm: Moving from Syria, military officials in Israel have confirmed an airstrike on southern Gaza , the Associated Press reports. No further details are currently available. 4.47pm: More Syria reaction from Nour Ali . “I am jubilant. This came at the right time for the street,” said one veteran dissident in Damascus referring to the last almost three weeks of escalated violence which has put severe pressure on the street. He said protesters were telling him they wanted to dance in the streets. A middle aged woman in Homs said: “More protesters will go out now.” Asked if the end of his legitimacy would cause protesters to fight back in the city where there have been some instances of resistance she said: “We will have to see what happens in response to the announcement. People don’t want to use weapons but they might if they have to if this continues.” Most of all protesters hope the announcement will encourage defections among political and military officials. A conscript on a day’s leave said that many people in the army were waiting to defect; he estimated over 50 percent of his contemporaries. 4.23pm: Canada has joined in with the calls from Barack Obama and European leaders for Assad to go. A statement from the prime minister Stephen Harper said the “Assad regime has lost all legitimacy by killing its own people to stay in power”. 4.00pm: Nour Ali , a pseudonym, sends the following reaction from Syria on the calls for Assad to step down. She writes: Syrians on the street, despite adamantly opposed to foreign interference and military action, have long been saying that the international community should call on Assad to go. In June and earlier frustrated protesters in Homs, where some of the worst violence has taken place, told the Guardian over and over again that the US and other countries needed to call Assad illegitimate. Today the announcement has been welcomed – especially the weight the coordinated response between the US, EU, UK, France and Germany – but not to the degree it might have been at an earlier stage. “It is good but it came too late,” said one young computer expert in his twenties from Hama. “And we still want this to come from all the other countries too and for ambassadors to be withdrawn and Syrian diplomatic staff to be kicked out.” “It is good because it will encourage defections,” said a 32-year-old activist from northern Syria. Nour, 26, from Latakia said: “Announcements like this are always due to political calculations and not to do with sympathy for people but it’s a necessary step and a good one. We hope it will put pressure on Assad.” Another protester from Homs said people are really happy; that people want to go outside and protest knowing the international community is on their side. Razan Zeitouneh, a lawyer in Damascus, said: “This is the right thing to happen after five months of killing civilians. The international community must take its role towards the Syrian regime more seriously, and this statement is the right start. I hope to see a more collective role now, which means the UN security council, and I hope to see the Syrian file referred to the International Criminal Court soon.” 3.57pm: The UN security council is meeting today as is the Turkish national security council so there could be further pressure imposed on the Syrian leader today. I’m going to hand over the blog to my colleague Simon Jeffery now. 3.39pm: This is what the former US state department spokesman, PJ Crowley, made of Obama’s statement on Syria ( via Twitter ): The policy shift took too long, but #Obama’s statement that #Assad must go is significant. It changes the thrust of ongoing diplomacy. #Obama’s call for #Assad to resign assumes even greater meaning when combined with the #UN panel’s suggestion of crimes against humanity. 3.30pm: You can read the full text of Obama’s statement on Syria here. It’s a lengthy statement but here’s a couple more extracts: The United States cannot and will not impose this transition upon Syria. It is up to the Syrian people to choose their own leaders, and we have heard their strong desire that there not be foreign intervention in their movement. What the United States will support is an effort to bring about a Syria that is democratic, just, and inclusive for all Syrians. We will support this outcome by pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this transition, and standing up for the universal rights of the Syrian people along with others in the international community … We recognise that it will take time for the Syrian people to achieve the justice they deserve. There will be more struggle and sacrifice. It is clear that President Assad believes that he can silence the voices of his people by resorting to the repressive tactics of the past. But he is wrong. As we have learned these last several months, sometimes the way things have been is not the way that they will be. It is time for the Syrian people to determine their own destiny, and we will continue to stand firmly on their side. 3.20pm: Here is the full statement from David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel calling for the Syrian president to stand down: The Syrian authorities have ignored the urgent appeals made over recent days by the United Nations security council, by numerous States in the region, the Gulf co-operation council and by the secretaries-general of the League of Arab States and of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. They continue to cruelly and violently repress their people and flatly refuse to fulfil their legitimate aspirations. They have ignored the voices of the Syrian people and continuously misled them and the international community with empty promises. France, Germany and the United Kingdom reiterate their utter condemnation of this bloody repression of peaceful and courageous demonstrators and the massive violations of human rights which President Assad and his authorities have been committing for months. We are actively supporting further strong EU sanctions against the regime of President Assad. We urge the Syrian regime to stop all violence immediately, to release all prisoners of conscience and to allow free access to the United Nations for an independent assessment of the situation. Our three countries believe that President Assad, who is resorting to brutal military force against his own people and who is responsible for the situation, has lost all legitimacy and can no longer claim to lead the country. We call on him to face the reality of the complete rejection of his regime by the Syrian people and to step aside in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people. Violence in Syria must stop now. Like other Arab peoples during recent months, the Syrians demand that their rights to liberty, dignity and to choose freely their leaders be recognised. We will continue to work with the Syrian people, countries in the region and our international partners, with a central role for the United Nations, to support their demands and achieve a peaceful and democratic transition. 3.00pm: The European Union has also urged Assad to resign as Syrian leader amid the crackdown. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement that “the EU notes the complete loss of Bashar al-Assad’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people and the necessity for him to step aside”. The UK prime minister David Cameron has issued a joint statement with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on Assad to step aside “in the best interests of Syria and the unity of its people”. 2.56pm: Here’s what Obama said on Syria : The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way. His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside. 2.50pm: The Obama administration has also imposed fresh sanctions on Syria ‘s government, freezing any of its assets in the United States as well as banning petroleum products of Syrian origin. The latest round of sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government prohibit US entities, wherever located, from engaging in any transactions or dealings with Syrian petroleum products. The administration also blacklisted a new round of Syrian companies, including the state-owned General Petroleum Corporation that controls the country’s oil and gas industry. 2.44pm: Obama says Syrian leader Assad has not led and must resign “for the sake of the Syrian people”, AP reports. 2.26pm: Some more reaction from Israel , where at least six have been killed and at least a dozen more injured, according to AP, which says three attacks have been confirmed (although Channel 10 TV is reporting a fourth attack). Israeli military spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich said: We are talking about a terror squad that infiltrated into Israel. This is a combined terrorist attack against Israelis. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said: The incident underscores the weak Egyptian hold on Sinai and the broadening of the activities of terrorists. The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination. A young woman riding the bus that was attacked, who did not give her name, told Channel 2 TV: I was talking to someone sitting next to me and we heard gunshots and we immediately bent over and then we realized there were people injured 2.15pm: Staying with Syria , as well as the US call for Assad to resign other countries, are also exerting pressure but they may have little impact, Nour Ali writes: Switzerland has become the sixth country to withdraw its ambassador to Syria. In a statement today the Swiss foreign ministry could not tolerate the actions of the Syrian security forces, which it deemed as “not acceptable” . “Switzerland cannot tolerate the systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the Syrian security forces against the civilian population. In view of its humanitarian tradition, Switzerland wishes to send a strong signal to Damascus,” the statement said. The move makes Switzerland the first European country to pull its representation, joining the ranks of a list of Arab countries: Tunisia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Syrian activists, who have been calling for countries to withdraw their ambassadors and kick out Syrian diplomats from their countries, told the Guardian they welcomed the move and hoped other countries would follow to increase pressure on Assad. But the increasing international pressure is unlikely to change the regime’s behaviour as it seeks to crush the uprising, now in its sixth month. The brutal crackdown has seen over 1,800 civilians killed and has kept some people indoors but protesters who continue to take to the streets in other areas and in new places, including in bigger numbers in Aleppo last night. Any end to the crackdown would only encourage hundreds more to take to the streets. Activists have continued to deny claims by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad that the military and police had ended their operations. Assad made the remarks in a phone call to UN secretary general Ban-Ki Moon on Wednesday, the UN said. The Local Co-ordination Committees say that campaigns of arrests are ongoing in Deir Ezzor, Latakia and Damascus today. It also reported gunfire in Latakia this morning. A report released today by the UN high commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay. Pillay, who is due to address the UN Security Council later today, says Syria’s crackdown may amount to crimes against humanity and has urged the UN security council, due to meet today, to refer the matter to the international criminal court. 2.11pm: Turning to Syria for a moment, a senior US official has confirmed to the Associated Press that the US president will demand that President Assad resigns for unleashing a sustained assault against his people. In a written statement, Obama will make his first explicit call for the Syrian leader to leave power. The administration will also slap new sanctions on Syria through an executive order. The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because Obama had not yet released his statement. 1.56pm: In the context of the attacks on Israel and claims of an inflitration from Egypt, Jack Shenker, writes that North Sinai has long been the site of violent clashes between civilians and the state and a hotspot for social unrest: The grievances of the Bedouin community there stretch back decades to when Egypt reassumed control of the Sinai from Israel and began transforming parts of the peninsula into a tourist mecca. Bedouins themselves felt locked out from much of the lucrative development and found their own nomadic livelihoods under threat from the growing militarisation elsewhere in the Sinai with its complex web of restricted roads and army checkpoints. They also complained of being sidelined by the state when it came to jobs and housing programmes, which were largely targeted at Egyptians resettled from the Nile Valley. Smuggling, particularly around the Gaza border, became the main source of income for many Bedouin families. Against that backdrop, tensions between Bedouins and the police have been strong in recent years, and periodically erupt into deadly skirmishes – particularly when police open fire on young Bedouin men ( as they did this week, killing two ). There have been multiple attacks on a pipeline used for exporting gas to Israel ; a few weeks ago the firm behind the pipeline announced it would be hiring Bedouins themselves to protect the facility in a bid to ease local mistrust of the operation. Mindful of the Sinai’s strategic importance, Egyptian security forces – whose record of dealing intelligently and sensibly with ‘minority’ communities within Egypt’s borders is hardly exemplary – have made little secret of their concerns regarding instability in the north, particularly after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, since which Bedouins have largely policed themselves. This month a new security initiative was launched, supposedly to root out Islamic extremist elements which were said to be taking root in the area – but although groups like Takfir wal-Hijra do seem to be gaining ground, the Egyptian government has a track record of using the spectre of Islamist terrorism to justify incursions into the Bedouin community. 1.40pm: Egypt state television is quoting South Sinai governor Khaled Fouda denying reports that buses in Israel were fired on from the Egyptian side of the border, my colleague Jack Shenker writes: “The South Sinai governor denied there was any gunfire from Taba toward Eilat port,” state television claimed, referring to the Egyptian Red Sea resort across the border from the Israeli port city of Eilat. 1.38pm: Here’s a summary of events so far today: • A series of attacks have been carried out in southern Israel, close to the border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The number of people killed and injured is unclear but the Israeli ambulance service said six people have been killed. Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s blamed a Palestinian faction from Gaza but also hit out at Egypt for the total loss of “security control” in the Sinai. A Hamas leader denied responsibility for the attacks • Libyan rebels have wrested control of the oil refinery in Zawiyah from Gaddafi’s troops. Rebels said they took the refinery, a key source of supply for the Gaddafi regime, in a five- hour firefight yesterday during which two government fighters were killed. • A high-level UN human rights team said the crackdown in Syria “may amount to crimes against humanity” and should be referred to the international criminal court . Crimes against humanity are considered the most serious of all international human rights violations after genocide. “The mission found a pattern of human rights violations that constitutes widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity,” the UN investigators said in their 22-page report. The report was published after President Assad said military operations in the country had ceased. Despite his claim, gunfire has been reported in Latakia on Thursday. 1.21pm: The Observer’s foreign affairs editor, Peter Beaumont , says that there is no hard evidence about the perpetrators behind the Israel attacks yet but it comes just a week after the Egyptian military said it was targeting “al-Qaida elements” in the Sinai: What we know so far about the triple attacks in southern Israel close to the Egyptian border? So far we know it was co-ordinated, and one of the attacks was a combined attack with an IDF unit being ambushed as it arrived at the scene of an attack on a bus 20 miles from Eilat close to the Egyptian border. It looks like an infiltration across the border but that is not confirmed and, as ever with events like this, the information is sketchy at best. At the time of writing there is no hard evidence about who is behind the attack despite Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s quick claim that it is a Palestinian faction from Gaza. Barak then blamed Egypt for the total loss of “security control” in the Sinai. If this is an infiltration from Egypt – and that remains a big if at this stage with fighting reported to be continuing – there is some potential context. The attack comes just a week after the Egyptian army said it was about to launch an operation in the Sinai to target what it described as “al-Qaida elements” on the Egyptian side of the border who had attacked a gas pipeline. Indeed only five days ago Egyptian military and intelligence officials told CNN they were planning further operations against Salafists and other Islamist cells they claimed were training in the northern Sinai. “Al-Qaida is present in Sinai mainly in the area of Sakaska close to Rafah,” a general in Egypt’s intelligence service told CNN a week ago. “They have been training there for month, but we have not identified their nationalities yet.” That report continued: “Gen. Abdel Wahab, the governor of North Sinai confirmed that a flier titled ‘Al Qaeda Sinai Branch’ circulated outside a mosque in el-Arish on Wednesday. The document called for an Islamic state in Sinai and announced that the group was planning attacks on the police stations and security forces Friday. ‘A security cordon has been placed around the entrances of el-Arish and reinforcements arrived outside the police stations and the el-Arish central prison in anticipation of an attack on Friday,’ said Hazem El Maadawi, an officer stationed outside the North Sinai police headquarters.” Israeli security officials have also been in Cairo several times in the last month to discuss concerns about security on the shared border. 1.04pm: Al-Jazeera’s Adam Makary tweets on the Israel attacks: Senior Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef denies responsibility for this morning’s attacks, says #Israel attacks #Gaza almost every day #eilat 12.56pm: The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Harriet Sherwood , sends this update from Israel : According to a statement from the Israeli military spokesman, “combined terrorist attacks are currently taking place on Israeli territory, near the Israel- Egypt border, approximately 20 kilometers north of the city of Eilat.” The picture is very confused at the moment. It appears that there have been an unknown number of deaths resulting from the attack near Eilat, but it’s not clear if the victims are Israeli civilians, Israeli soldiers, gunmen or all three. Roads in the area and the local airport have been closed, and the Israeli media is reporting a big manhunt is under way. Media reports say there have been up to four separate attacks in the south of the country. According to Israeli security officials, the Sinai has long been a base for militant activity and the smuggling of arms to Palestinian groups in Gaza. The Egyptian military launched an operation earlier this week targeted at militant cells in the Sinai. 12.51pm: Sky News’s Tim Marshall tweets that the attacks in Israel have already prompted talk of another military operation against Gaza: Israel. Israeli Ambulance service reports 6 dead, Defence Mins says attacks ‘originated’ out of Gaza. Israel will ‘respond’. Israel Netanyahu and Barak meeting security officials now. Pointing finger at Hamas. Expect retaliation soon in Gaza. 12.47pm: The Associated Press has video of the bus attacked in Israel . _ 12.45pm: Israel ‘s Channel 10 TV is reporting a fourth attack by gunmen near the border with Egypt . 12.37pm: At least six people were killed when gunmen attacked a number of vehicles travelling in southern Israel on Thursday, a spokesman for the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. 12.35pm: The military says assailants have carried out three consecutive attacks in southern Israel near the Egyptian border, killing and wounding a number of people, AP reports. The attacks on Thursday targeted a passenger bus, a private car and a group of soldiers ( Earlier it was reported that two buses were attacked ). The number of dead and wounded was not immediately known. Military spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai says Israeli security forces tracked down some of the assailants and exchanged fire with them. He says the attackers used heavy weapons, possibly mortars or anti-tank weapons, and explosive devices during the attacks 12.28pm: I just spoke to Luke Harding again (apologies for the poor audio quality) , who is at the oil refinery in Zawiyah, where Libyan rebels are celebrating: The oil refinery is in rebel hands. I am standing in it looking at the Mediterranean in front of me …There are a lot of excited rebels here. They took the refinery yesterday after a five hour firefight. They said a couple of Gaddafi people were killed. A few others tried to flee bby sea and they were then taken out by a Nato airstrike. I can’t confimr that but what’s absolutely clear is that this oil refinery which is the largest in Libya and significant to the post Gaddafi Libya future is in rebel hands. I’ve just been speaking to a couple of operators here who say it hasn’t been working for a the last two to three days but they can get it up and running again … This is kind of the jewel in the crown for the rebels. They haven’t taken all of Zawiyah, they are very much in the south … The Gaddafi empire, if you like, is shrinking. It’s getting smaller and smaller and I think Tripoli is more and more besieged. 11.45am: There are differing reports of the number of casualties from the attacks in Israel (see 11.34am). Al-arabiya is reporting six people have been killed , while local media is apparently reporting four deaths . Rescue services say 5 people were critically wounded in an attack on a car in southern Israel, the Associated Press reports. Israel Radio is reporting an explosion in the southern city of Beer Sheba, about 150 miles from the bus attack. UPDATE: Reuters says Israel radio has retracted its report of an explosion in the city of Beer Sheba. 11.34am: Breaking news from Israel where dozens of people have been hurt after terrorists opened fire on two buses that were traveling in southern Israel near the city of Eilat. In addition to the shooting attacks on the buses, mortars were fired from the Egyptian border, Haartez reports : The first attack was on a bus traveling from Beer Sheva to Eilat, near the city of Netafim. Shortly after the bus attack, IDF forces engaged in a shootout with the armed men near the scene of incident. Initial reports indicate that the shooting came from a car that was following Egged bus 392, traveling on Route 12 in southern Israel. According to reports, the passengers in the car opened fire at the bus, which held many soldiers returning from their bases. Israeli security forces searched for the suspected vehicle and set up barricades in the area, and once they caught up with the vehicle a shootout between IDF forces and the gunmen erupted. Two IDF helicopters were called to the scene in order to evacuate those wounded to Yoseftal hospital in Eilat. Magen David Adom director told Army Radio that those wounded are all in light to moderate condition and remain conscious, and assured that the incident is under control. 11.19am: I just spoke to the Guardian’s Luke Harding who is in Zawiyah who is on the way to the oil refinery, amid reports that it has fallen to the rebels. He is unable to confirm those reports at present but he said: I have just been in the field hospital which has been treating patients and injured from Zawiyah and I just talked to a doctor who was here last night next to a date palm when he said seven grad missiles flew over and he basically escaped by shinning up a wall and basically says that the hospital has been deliberately been targeted by Gaddafi forces. Now, there have been 83 people killed in the battle for Zawiyah since Sunday … According to the doctor I was speaking to the government troops are still holed up in the city hospital. He says there are at least 50 government soldiers there who have apparently turned the delivery suite into an arms dump and are keeping about 100 people hostage. So, while the rebels have most of the town, the battle isn’t over yet. But I have to say sweeping through this morning across the sort of flat desert landscape the momentum does seem to be with the rebels … I was passing people who were by the side of the road painting rebel flags, cars with civilians streaming towards rebel held areas, flicking V-signs and tooting [car horns]. I think it would be premature to suggest this is the end phase ….[but] it seems to be going the rebels’ way. _ 11.06am: The Guardian’s Martin Chulov gives this assessment of the strategic importance of Zawiyah, which has reportedly fallen to the rebels, to the Libyan government: The oil refinery at Zawiyah has been a vital strategic asset for Gaddafi since the start of the civil war and a key target for rebels who need the refined oil it provides to fuel their vehicles. And so too has the town itself. If Zawiyah has fallen into rebel hands, it marks an undoubted blow against an already weakened Gaddafi, who now faces an emboldened enemy 30 miles (50km) from Tripoli and in control of the road to the Tunisian border. Refined oil from the giant plant on the outskirts of the town had been keeping the regime moving, for the past five months, while much of the rest of western Libya has spent days queuing for 30 litres at gas stations that have had to make do with a drip feed supply from Tunisia. Without petrol in the tanks of his military, Gaddafi can no longer launch ambitious offensives. Unless he can somehow secure some other supply line (an unlikely prospect), his positions from now on will largely be defensive. The rebels now appear to have an upper hand for an assault on the capital where urban fighting likely awaits. 10.41am: Libyan rebels in Misrata are also saying the Zawiyah oil refinery has been taken, according to Chris Stephen: Rebels here say forces in west captured the refinery at Zawiyah, if so Gaddafi has lost his last refinery. Rebels here have captured Abu Qurayn, 65 miles south of here and 85 miles west of Gaddafi’s birthplace, Sirte. This would be an immensely important coup for the rebels and increase the sense that the nooseis closing on the Gaddafi regime in Tripoli. 10.33am: REUTERS NEWSFLASH: Libya rebels in control of Zawiyah oil refinery – Reuters correspondentE 10.16am: Libyan rebel fighters are in control of Gharyan, a town about 80km south of the capital Tripoli, Reuters reports. One of the news agency’s reporters is in the town. It says: The rebel red, green and black flag was flying in the central town square and the rebels had positioned a T-34 tank and anti-aircraft gun in the square, the reporter said. Rebels said Gaddafi forces had pulled out after days of fighting in the town, which controls the main highway from the south into the capital. 10.10am: Egypt’s government revived an amended version of a 60-year-old anti-corruption law on Wednesday in a move that could affect the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his aides, Reuters reports , citing the state news agency Mena: Mena said the cabinet “approved the legislation and decided to send it to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to ratify it”. The military council has ruled Egypt since Mubarak’s fall. Under the law, dubbed the ‘Treason Law’, any government official, parliament member or minister may be punished for abuse of power if they, their relatives or acquaintances benefited from any public office they had held. The law, first passed under the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, covers financial crimes, including altering prices of property, commodities or services for personal benefit. Abuse of office to achieve better jobs for officials or others is also punishable under the law … Responding to concerns that the old law might have lapsed, Justice Minister Mohamed Abdel Aziz el-Guindy said that laws remain in effect unless they are directly overwritten. _ 9.57am: This Googlemap shows where protests took place in Syria overnight , according to the Local Co-ordination Committees, along with videos (click on the relevant placemark). _ 9.31am: The Washington Post has an editorial today calling on the US to be tougher towards the Syrian regime in the wake of Hillary Clinton’s defence, in an interview on Tuesday , of the Obama administration’s refusal to call for Assad to go. The White House is about to change that policy, according to reports, but it is interesting to read the Post’s case: Mr Assad has been slaughtering Syrians for months. They have taken to the streets seeking freedom from the brutality and stagnation his dictatorship has delivered … The United States has condemned all this but with great caution. For weeks, as Mr. Assad gunned down his people, the administration held out the hope that he could yet become a reformer. It has not insisted that he leave office … We agree that rhetoric unmoored from reality can be dangerous. It can leave the United States looking impotent; it can allow allies to duck their responsibilities; in worst cases, it can encourage people to take risks expecting assistance that is not forthcoming. Ms Clinton’s behind-the-scenes efforts to rally an alliance for change in Syria could multiply the effects of actions, such as sanctions, the United States eventually takes. But her formulation Tuesday understated the importance of US leadership. It does not seem to be true, sadly, that the Assad regime will heed Turkey and Saudi Arabia. And it certainly would be news — foremost to people inside Syria — if the United States stated that Mr. Assad should go. Over many decades moral support from the United States has been immensely important to people who take risks for freedom — to dissidents in prisons and protesters in the streets alike. It would be important again in this case, not because Syrians would expect U.S. intervention, but because they would know that they are not alone — that people lucky enough to live in freedom are watching and admiring and rooting for them. 8.52am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Bashar al-Assad claims to have ended the crackdown against protesters but the US is set to call for him to stand down as Syrian leader. Syria •  Assad, has told the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, that military and police operations against pro-democracy protesters have stopped , according to the United Nations. In a telephone call with Assad on Wednesday, Ban “expressed alarm at the latest reports of continued widespread violations of human rights and excessive use of force by Syrian security forces against civilians across Syria, including in the Al Ramel district of Latakia, home to several thousands of Palestinian refugees”, the UN said in a statement. It added: The secretary-general emphasised that all military operations and mass arrests must cease immediately. President Assad said that the military and police operations had stopped. • Despite Assad’s claim, more bloodshed was reported overnight. Local activists said two protesters were shot dead by pro-Assad militiamen on Wednesday after nightly Ramadan prayers in the city of Homs, and security forces carried out raids on districts of Hama and the capital Damascus. Residents of the besieged port city of Latakia said on Wednesday that Syrian forces raided houses in a Sunni district, arresting hundreds of people and taking them to a stadium after a four-day tank assault to crush protests against Assad. The Local Co-ordination Committees, which report on protests, said sporadic heavy gunfire in the central city of Homs claimed the lives of nine people on Wednesday. • The US is poised to call for Assad to step down, with a statement expected on Thursday , according to reports. The European Union is expected to follow suit, sources told Reuters. AP reports that US officials say the Obama administration has notified Arab and European allies that an announcement is imminent. A western diplomat in Damascus told Reuters: Assad is trying to convince Turkey that the attacks have stopped, which could also help appease the United States, thinking he could once again stop Washington from calling on him to step down. But the operations have not even stopped. The US was expected to make the call last week. In the interim, the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton has had to fend off questions about the United States’s failure to make such a statement. She has responded by insisting it is not for the US to act in isolation. Libya • Libyan rebels are trying to wrest control of the only functioning oil refinery in Zawiyah from Gaddafi’s forces . One rebel fighter, Ramdan Keshadat, said that his forces controlled parts of the refinery complex in the city’s north on the Mediterranean coast, while some regime troops and workers remain inside. Dozens of opposition fighters have surrounded the refinery and laid siege to about 100 government troops, the Associated Press reports . Gaddafi’s troops are reported to hold the main hospital to the east of the town – with government snipers firing from the roof and doctors unable to enter or leave – as well as several other areas straddling the main motorway to the capital. Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Syria Bashar Al-Assad Libya Muammar Gaddafi Israel Yemen Haroon Siddique Simon Jeffery guardian.co.uk

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