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• UN demands end to violence in Syria and access to Deraa • EU imposes sanctions against 13 Syrian officials • Syria intensifies its chokehold on protesters • Nato targets Tripoli in heavy bombardment 4.08pm: At least 48 people have been killed in Syria by the security forces in the last four days , according to research by Amnesty International. They include 28 people who were apparently shot dead by security forces on Friday including nine in Homs, six in Hama, four in Latakia, four in Dayr al-Zor, three in Dera’a, one in Idleb and one in Damascus. Among those killed since then four were women who were calling for the releases of hundreds of people detained by the security forces. They were named as Leila Taha, Ahlam Hwaysqeh, Marwa ‘Abbas and Leila Sahiouni. 3.40pm: British jets have destroyed part of a building being used by Gaddafi regime forces on the outskirts of the port city of Misrata in what the Ministry of Defence says is the first attack of its kind in the Libyan conflict, writes Richard Norton-Taylor. The crew of two RAF Tornados were ordered to destroy only the top two floors of the building with Paveway IV bombs. The building was being used by pro-regime forces to target Misrata with rocket, artillery and heavy machine gun fire, the MoD said. The pilot of the lead aircraft explained: “We were tasked to go to an area. When we arrived, we established communications with another aircraft in the area. It directed us to a building.” The aircraft was directed to attack immediately and destroy the top two floors of the building using two bombs to target each wing of the structure, leaving the rest of the building standing. The strikes were among a number of attacks by the RAF on Sunday, when targets included two armoured personnel carriers near Brega, a battle tank west of Brega and two multiple rocket launchers involved in the attacks on Misrata, and three other buildings it said were being used by Gaddafi’s forces near Misratah, Yafran and Maradah. Yesterday, the RAF damaged or destroyed two mobile radar systems, two multiple rocket launchers, and a main battle tank near Misrata, the MoD said. 3.29pm: Mona Yacoubian, Middle East senior programme officer, at the US Institute of Peace, argues that the regime of Bashar al-Assad will survive. In an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations she said: I don’t think that the Assad regime is in any near-term danger of falling. Indeed, the brutal repression that we’ve witnessed over the weekend suggests that they may well quell the uprising. It is going to come at a tremendous cost in terms of Syria’s growing isolation from the West and perhaps even more broadly. She also revealed US fears of what would happen if Assad did fall. Syria has been under the stranglehold of a fairly repressive regime, and so the opposition of Syria has been fairly weak and somewhat divided. The Muslim Brotherhood is often identified as perhaps the most powerful of the opposition groups. Membership of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, however, is defined as punishable by death. So, the Brotherhood’s ability to organize inside Syria has been fairly restricted. The real concern and the real fear is that should the Assad regime fall, it is very uncertain what will come after. There are deep fears, given the heterogeneous makeup of Syria, that what would be more likely is an Iraq-style chaos and sectarian civil war. There is no clear understanding of what would come after the regime of Bashar al-Assad. 2.54pm: Libyan officials have claimed hospitals were targeted in the latest raid on Tripoli. Whatever the truth of the claim, footage from the ground is in stark contrast to the sterile presentation given by Nato. _ 2.45pm: Nato has been showing footage and stills from its bombers to claim that its airstrikes in Libya are accurate. “All Nato targets are military in nature, and have been clearly linked to the Gaddafi’s regime’s systematic attacks on the Libyan population. Every strike conducted by Nato is necessary, legal, moral and executed in a manner in which civilian casualties are minimised to the fullest possible extent,” claimed Nato’s commander of air operation brigadier general Claudio Gabellini. _ 1.45pm: We’ve had this interesting tip off from a source in Syria about the possible release of activist, as news emerged that two prominent detainees were freed last night. I heard from a good source three high-profile detained people being released today: Fayez Sara, a prominent writer and dissident arrested on 11 April; Kamal Cheikho, prominent Kurdish activist and blogger held since June; and George Sabra, a political figure from Syrian People’s Democratic party who was arrested in Deraa on 2 April. Two veteran opposition figures arrested last month were released last night, according to Reuters. Ammar Qurabi, head of National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said that authorities released Hassan Abdel Azim, 81, and Hazem al-Nahar. 1.02pm: Heavy gunfire has been heard again today in the south-westen Damascus suburb of Mouadhamiya (alternative spellings include Maadamiyeh and Madamya) The area has seen intensifying demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule, a witness told Reuters. “I tried to get in through Mouadhamiya’s main entrance but there were scores of soldiers with rifles turning cars back,” said the witness, who was in the area at 1pm (11am BST). 12.46pm: The al-Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvez, who was detained by Syrian authorities last month, left the country on 1 May, according to the pro-regime newspaper al-Watan . It said she was refused entry into Syria because her visa didn’t state she was a journalist. Al-Jazeera has been campaigning for the release of Parvez . 12.20pm: Gaddafi’s regime appears rattled by this morning’s Nato airstrikes on Tripoli, Martin Chulov reports from the Libyan capital. We heard about six very large explosions between midnight and 2.30 in morning. The first target appeared to be a research centre that had been hit before… the building was by-and-large destroyed. A couple of hours later there were four or five very loud explosions. A military intelligence headquarters was hit, the Gaddafi compound was hit and two other buildings. It does appear to be an intensifying of the Nato campaign.” We can see smoke billowing from the area that we know is Gaddafi’s compound. It is a large walled fortress area, as big as a small suburb. We don’t know what was hit inside it, but certainly a plume was emerging for that at around 2.30am. The regime does appear to be more unsettled today than it has been in the last week or so. The explosions did rattle them, they are talking about compromise. The morning after the night before things are a little different. People are a bit more apprehensive and there is a bit more trepidation in the air. On Gaddafi’s whereabouts Martin said: There is mounting speculation about that. Gaddafi gave a live address on television hours before his son Saif al-Arab was killed in an airstrike in same compound area. He hasn’t been heard from since. They [the regime] say he is in a period of mourning… The [Libyan] street does seem to think it is unusual for the leader not to pop up his head up at this time. _ 11.59am: Is Asma Assad, wife of the Syrian president, in London? asks the Telegraph. A source told the paper that Asma (“considered to be one of the most glamorous first ladies in the world”) fled to her native home at the start of the unrest in Syria. “Her evacuation was carried out under conditions of immense secrecy but she is now safely there [in London] with her three young children and surrounded by security guards,” the source said. But there was no sign of her, or anyone else, at the family’s London home, the Telegraph said. There was a similar media search for Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal at the height of the unrest in Egypt . Rumours that he had fled to his London property proved unfounded. 11.34am: A website called the Committee of Martyrs of the Syrian Revolution names 757 people killed in the violence in Syria in last seven weeks . The list includes four people it says were killed yesterday. It also includes the names of more than 100 soldiers, members of the police or security forces. They are also listed as martyrs. Opposition claims that soldiers have been shot for refusing to fire against protesters. The Syrian regime denies this. It is also trying to lay claim to the term ‘martyr’. The state news agency Sana has regular updates on the funerals of “martyrs from the army”. It’s latest report says: “The martyrs’ bodies were carried up on hands, while the military band played the music of the ‘Martyr’ and the ‘Farewell’.” The Arab news site On Islam lists the names of 880 people killed in the violence . The most recent killings on its list were recorded last Friday. 10.52am: Muammar Gaddafi’s compound was targeted in latest Nato airstrikes on Tripoli, according to a witness. “The direction of at least one blast suggests Gaddafi’s compound has been targeted,” the witness told Reuters. The agency added: Libyan officials said four children were wounded, two of them seriously, by flying glass caused by blasts from Nato strikes in the Tripoli area overnight. Officials showed foreign journalists a hospital in the Libyan capital where some windows had been shattered, apparently due to the blast waves from a Nato strike that toppled a nearby telecommunications tower. The journalists were also taken to a government building housing the high commission for children that had been completely destroyed. The old colonial building had been damaged before in what officials said was a Nato bombing on April 30. 10.29am: The UN refugee agency has appealed to European countries to step up efforts to rescue people fleeing Libya in overloaded and unseaworthy boats. Yesterday the Council of Europe called for an inquiry into the deaths of 61 migrants from Libya, as details emerge about the sinking of another boat on Friday. Up to 600 were on board the overcrowded vessel as it fled the Libyan capital, Tripoli, according to the UNHCR. Today Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the UNHCR, said: “Any boat that is leaving Libya should be considered, at first glance, as a boat in need of assistance.” 10.20am: Nato has confirmed that its planes hit three “command and control facilities” in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, overnight . It lists the following targets as hit: In the vicinity of Tripoli: 3 Command & Control Facilities. In the vicinity of Mizdah: 15 Ammunition Storages. In the vicinity of Misurata: 1 Tank, 1 Command & Control Node. In the vicinity of Sirte: 2 Ammunition Storages. 10.11am: Another former minister of Mubarak’s regime in Egypt has been jailed, according to a tweet Reuters. Egypt former tourism minister Zoheir Garranah jailed for 5 years – judicial source Last Thursday’s Egypt’s former interior minister Habib al-Adly was sentenced to 12 years for money laundering and profiteering . 9.37am: The Syrian state news agency Sana has highlighted reports in the Guardian as an example of “tendentious” international media campaign against the Syria. Curiously it turned to nuns from a monastery north of Damascus to question western media accounts, and claim that violence was started by protesters. It quotes “Michline Albret Tawil Tramp” with this: ”Gatherings occur upon leaving mosques, and among them there are groups who want to aggravate the situation…in the right moment infiltrators start smashing shops, burning cars and assailing passers-by and security forces. ”Meanwhile, snipers on rooftops or armed members within the gathering start shooting at security forces and protesters alike, and videos are shot to show security forces as shooting peaceful gatherings.” Sana added: Michline lashed out at certain claims, namely that of The Guardian, which reported that Syrian soldiers were shot dead for refusing to open fire at peaceful gatherings. 9.16am: Leading Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid denies that the regime has the upper hand over the protest movement . Responding to that interview the regime’s Bouthaini Shaaban gave to the New York Times , he writes: The demonstrable truth is that the Assad’s control doesn’t extend far beyond the shadows of their tanks and security officers. True, they took control of Deraa City, but they still don’t feel confident enough to allow UN humanitarian mission to pay a visit to the beleaguered place. Meanwhile, all other towns and villages in the Horan province (the Deraa Governorate) remain in a defiant mood with people holding daily protests calling for toppling the regime, and refuting official lies about armed gangs and infiltrators… Perhaps the Assads are not that far gone, and have not completely surrender themselves to that parallel reality yet, perhaps they do realize that the situation is still very much beyond their control and that the crackdown has not yet delivered the desired fruits, perhaps their statements are meant to stall and to fool whoever is willing to be fooled in the international community, perhaps that’s why they sent their troops to lay siege to another rebellious town in Horan yesterday: Jassem, and by default the nearby Ankhel as well. Whatever the case maybe, if these kinds of statements are meant in any way to dampen the spirit of protesters, they are bound to fail, just like the crackdown itself is failing. 9.00am: Welcome to more live coverage of the unrest in the Middle East. Once again Syria looks set to be the focus today. Here’s a round down of the latest news: • EU sanctions against 13 Syria officials come into force today, but they exempt President Bashar al-Assad personally for overseeing the rising tide of repression and violence against his opposition. Meanwhile, the UN has demanded an end to the violence in Syria and humanitarian access to the southern city of Deraa. • Hundreds more people have been arrested in Syria as the regime imposes a chokehold against the protest movement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 400 people had been rounded up in the coastal town of Banias since Saturday, adding to an estimated 7,000 already in detention across the country. • More video has emerged of the crackdown in Syria. One of the latest shows the apparent arrest and beating of protesters who took part in what activist say was a peaceful demonstration in the capital Damascus. _ • Exiled opposition members from Syria are planning to gather for a conference in Cairo later this month, the Wall Street Journal reports. Organisers said the conference will gather people from across the political spectrum, including activists affiliated with the country’s banned Muslim Brotherhood. • The Syrian government has gained the upper hand against the uprising, a senior official told the New York Times. Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to President Assad, said: “I hope we are witnessing the end of the story… I think now we’ve passed the most dangerous moment. I hope so, I think so.” • Nato warplanes struck Tripoli earlier today in the heaviest bombing of the Libyan capital in weeks. Overnight, Nato warplanes struck at least four sites in Tripoli, setting off crackling explosions that thundered through the Libyan capital, AP reports. See how previous days unfolded by visiting our new Middle East Live page. Syria Bashar Al-Assad Libya Muammar Gaddafi Protest Egypt Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Matthew Weaver guardian.co.uk