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• More fierce fighting in Misrata as John McCain visits Benghazi • Syrian army deploys head of possible anti-Assad protests following Friday prayers 3.18pm: One more Syria update from Katherine Marsh: Activists say at least 20 people have now been confirmed dead, shot by security forces, but they are suggesting the toll could be much higher. Some of the more recent deaths are in Moudamiya, a town in the rural area around Damascus that has seen demonstrations today. Recently a young male protester from Moudamiyah who took part in the first protest there on 25 March explained to the Guardian how protests might spread: “I tasted freedom for the first time when I went out: it is an addictive feeling that my grandfather and father never had, and more people are now feeling.” The rising death toll is not a good sign for President Bashar al-Assad’s regime: here, as in other countries that have risen up, bloodshed has only made protesters angrier, whilst it makes the recent pledges of reform ring hollow. Earlier, Reem Haddad, a spokeswoman for the ministry of information told Al Jazeera: “I think if the people protest peacefully, if they cause no harm, if they don’t burn or destroy, I think [security forces] will allow them to do so [protest], and I think after a certain time they will actually disperse them, tell them to go home.” Responding to the question at what point forces would open fire on protesters, she said: “If they are shot at, which has been the case previously.” 3.02pm: Time for a summary of a busy day so far: Syria: • Up to 20 people are reported to have died after widespread protests in Syria against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad . These have taken place around the country, witnesses said , saying also that security forces used live bullets and teargas against protesters in some places, including Damascus and in the central city of Homs. Libya: • There has been further bitter fighting in Misrata , with rebels securing a significant victory when they seized an eight-storey office block from which pro-Gaddafi snipers had been operating. • The US senator – and strong supporter of Nato action in Libya – John McCain has called rebels “my heroes” during a visit to Benghazi . • The top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, told reporters in Baghdad he believed the Libyan conflict was “moving towards a stalemate” , while saying that Nato has thus far destroyed up to 40% of Muammar Gaddafi’s ground forces. Yemen: • Tens of thousands of people have turned out on various demonstrations supporting or opposing the embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh . He has appeared to cast doubt on a pan-Arab plan which would see him step down soon, saying he backed it “within the framework of the Yemeni constitution”, while allows him to serve until 2013. Bahrain: • A US-based medical campaign group has released a report claiming doctors in the country have been systematically targeted for arrest by security forces. 2.43pm: Syria: Al-Jazeera is putting the total reported death toll following renewed protests around the country at 20. 2.06pm: AFP has sent out several photos taken, it says, on mobile phones and showing anti-government protests in Banias in north-eastern Syria. This is one of them. 1.59pm: On Syria again, Katherine Marsh has details of deaths during the protests: Activists have the names of at least nine people already confirmed killed today: two in Douma, at least one in Homs and at least six in Izraa close to Deraa. Varied chants have come from different people and different cities: in Kisweh, close to Damascus, people called for freedom; in Banias people shouted, “The people want to topple the regime”; while some protesters are directing anger directly at members of the ruling family. In some areas, statues and posters of Assad and his father and former president Hafez have been torn down, whilst there have been chants against Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s younger brother who commands the elite 4th division. The 4th division, regarded by most Syrians as a private militia, has been reportedly responsible for some of the shootings in Deraa and elsewhere. In Midan, people chanted: “Zanga zanga, dar dar, Maher is a bigger moron than Bashar!”. Another Assad family member who has been the butt of protesters’ ire is Rami Makhlouf, the business tycoon cousin of the president who is under US sanctions. (The FT has a nice piece on the latter (subscription) . 1.39pm: Back to Libya , and there is news of an apparent Moroccan peace plan for the country. The foreign ministry in Rabat is seeking a solution after officials met both Gaddafi representatives and rebels this week, an unnamed foreign ministry source told Reuters. No details as yet about what this plan might entail, or any prospects for its success. 1.35pm: Reuters has more details too on the scale of the for-and-against demonstrations in Yemen : Riot police fired in the air in the southern city of Taiz to try to keep vast, unruly crowds of pro and anti-Saleh demonstrators apart, witnesses said. Ambulance sirens could be heard, but there was no immediate word on casualties. A sea of anti-Saleh protesters, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands, inundated the streets of Taiz, Yemen’s third city and an epicentre of opposition to the 69-year-old president. Tens of thousands of Saleh loyalists turned out in Sanaa, the capital, for what they called a “Friday of Reconciliation”, waving Yemeni flags and pictures of the president. 1.29pm: Still on Syria , more details from Katherine Marsh: Tear gas has been used against protesters in Midan who came out of al-Hassan mosque. There are reports of fire opened in Douma and Homs and the Damascus suburb of Sayda Zeinab. Protests are spreading, quite possibly further afield than last week although the full picture is not yet clear. Further to my earlier update, activists and witnesses say they have also broken out in places including the dusty town of Raqqa, Banias, Hama, al-Tel close to Damascus, Sayda Zeinab, Harasta and Barzeh in Damascus. Tartous, a coastal town south of Banias and Latakia, is a new addition to the list. Here’s a video which purports to show Banias today , and one from Raqqa , where people shouted for Deraa, the besieged town where around 100 people have been killed since protests broke out there on March 18. A joint statement has been emailed to various media including the Guardian from “the Local Coordination Committees” across Syria setting out a list of demands including that all prisoners of conscience must be freed and the existing security apparatus be dismantled and replaced by one with a specific jurisdiction. It is not yet clear how representative of the protesters the statement is but it seems to have one thing right: “We will continue to demonstrate, whatever the sacrifices,” it says. 12.51pm: Syria: Security forces have fired live bullets at protesters, as well as tear gas, news agencies are reporting via witnesses. This from AP: Shootings were reported on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and in the central city of Homs … The witness accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has expelled journalists and restricted access to trouble spots. Witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. 12.35pm: Yemen: More from President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s speech today in Sana’a (see 11.53am ). It seems he is not about to agree to the GCC’s plan and step down soon. Reuters has this: Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh welcomed a Gulf Co-operation Council initiative for a power transfer, but said it must fit with constitutional laws, suggesting he may try to stay in power until his term ends in 2013. “We welcome the initiative from the Gulf Co-operation Council and we will deal with it positively within the framework of the Yemeni constitution,” Saleh told a crowd of supporters in Sana’a. According to Yemen’s constitution, Saleh’s five-year term of office expires in 2013. The GCC plan in its current format seeks Saleh’s resignation within a month of the initiative’s enactment. 12.21pm: Bahrain: On Comment is Free, Bahraini writer Tahiyya Lulu details the role of the country’s state TV station in the crackdown on dissent – with a particular focus on sportspeople who dare to protest. 12.12pm: And on precisely the same subject, my colleague Harriet Sherwood , in Tripoli, emails the following update: Despite the Libyan government’s claim late last night that its forces had retaken the border crossing with Tunisia that passed into rebels’ hands earlier, this has been contradicted by a photographer at the border today. According to the photographer, who has visited the Dehiba crossing this morning, the rebels are in control and rebel flags are flying from the border post. 12.10pm: This al-Jazeera report features footage of the rebels who seized a border crossing with Tunisia yesterday . 12.03pm: Syria: A very interesting update from Katherine Marsh in Damascus. It seems the lifting of emergency rule yesterday has had little real impact: Thousands have started to protest in the following places: Douma, close to Damascus, and the suburbs of Zabadani and Midan – people in the latter have not taken to the streets before. There are also breaking reports of protests in Deir Ezzor, Latakia and towns in Idleb province. Kurdish sources also confirm that protests have broken out in the north-eastern towns of Ras al-Ayn, Amouda, Qamischli and al-Hassakeh, some shouting for freedom and others calling for the toppling of the regime. The fear barrier seems to have come down in Syria in a spectacular fashion. Concessions seem to be failing to quell unrest. Meanwhile, the first application to protest under the new law has ended in the temporary detention of the requester. Fadel al-Faisal from Hassakeh was held for several hours yesterday after filing a request to hold a protest in Hassakeh. Doesn’t bode well, activists say. 11.53am: Yemen: It’s also an interesting day in Yemen, where opponents and supporters of the under-siege president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have been holding rival rallies after Friday prayers. One is being address by the president himself, who has promised to give a response to a stability plan proposed yesterday by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), in which he would step down in favour of his vice president within a month. An alert just in from Reuters says Saleh has welcomed the GCC plan “within the framework of Yemen’s constitution”. More on whatever that means as it comes in. 11.45am: Bahrain: The US-based campaign group Physicians for Human Rights has released a report alleging that doctors and other medical staff in Bahrain have been targeted by security forces after treating protesters. The report also details attacks on civilians using “bird shot, physical beatings, rubber bullets, tear gas and unidentified chemical agents”. Richard Sollom of the group said attacks on doctors seemed to be “systematic”: While in Bahrain, I spoke with several eyewitnesses of abducted physicians, many of whom were ripped from their homes in the middle of the night by masked security forces. 11.17am: I’ve had another chat with Xan Rice in Misrata, who has further, significant news on a rebel success in the city (see 9.35am ). Xan has been to see the badly-damaged eight-storey office block where, until yesterday, a large number of pro-Gaddafi snipers were holed up, terrorising the population from the city’s highest vantage point. After rebels finally pushed the snipers out, Xan saw what they left behind, namely “thousands” of bullet casings, discarded uniforms and, chillingly, graffiti promising never to forgive the city’s people and to return and punish them. He adds: This has been the main objective of the rebels – to get these guys out of this building and surrounding buildings… this is a pretty big thing. – 10.55am: My colleague Brian Whitaker points out this interesting comment piece from Professor Juan Cole , the analyst who opposed the Iraq war but has been a strong proponent of intervention in Libya. Here’s a flavour: Those who complain about the course of the Libya intervention are being impatient or cynical. The intervention has saved Benghazi and other eastern cities from falling to Gaddafi’s tanks and jets. It has allowed Ajdabiya to be restored to rebel hands. It has allowed Misrata, Zintan, Yafran, Naluf and other western cities to hold out against vicious attacks by Qaddafi loyalist armour… I think there is actually some benefit to the war not ending quickly with a swift eastern conquest of the west with Nato backing. That may be what happens in the end. But in my view it would be preferable for the elites in Tripoli to gradually be pushed back and surrounded and put under such pressure that they turn on Gaddafi and declare for Free Libya. That way you don’t have a permanent group of losers, like the Sunni Arabs in Iraq, who would tend to make trouble in the medium term if not the long term. 10.50am: The McCain quotes (see 9.54am ) came in a brief chat he had with al-Jazeera’s Sue Turton as he left his hotel. This is the video of that encounter. 10.38am: Syria: Katherine Marsh – a pseudonym for a journalist living in Syria – sends in the following update: Today, dubbed “Great Friday” by activists, will be a test of protesters’ momentum after President Bashar al-Assad yesterday signed off his biggest concessions yet; lifting emergency law, abolishing the much-detested state security court and bringing in a law regulating protesters. Damascus, where activists say light drizzle won’t put them off coming out, is notably more tense than it has been on past Fridays. This weekend it is usually full of Easter festivities with street parades, street vendors and decorated churches, but this year Christians are holding celebrations inside churches only. Army and security have been deployed on the outskirts of the capital in expectation of a repeat of last week when thousands of protesters from around the capital tried to march on Abassiyeen Square. Witnesses are reporting checkpoints on some of the roads into the city. Army and security are also controlling entry and exit to Homs. Like last week, security is in force around Deraa but not inside, according to al-Jazeera. The full effects of Assad’s concessions are yet to become clear. Hundreds of those under travel bans, a tool used to prevent dissidents and activists (and often their families) from leaving the country, are assuming they will be free to travel once the decrees are implemented, but that remains to be confirmed. 10.22am: Libyan state TV says nine people died overnight in a Nato air attack on the city of Sirte, among them staff at a water facility. As ever, there is no way to check the veracity of the report. 10.13am: Interesting comments just in from America’s most senior military officer, who has openly said what many others arguably suspect – while Nato has thus far destroyed up to 40% of Muammar Gaddafi’s ground forces the Libya conflict is heading for “stalemate”. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, is in Baghdad today visiting troops. This is what he had to say, according to Reuters: It’s certainly moving towards a stalemate. At the same time we’ve attrited somewhere between 30% and 40% of his main ground forces, his ground force capabilities. Those will continue to go away over time. Despite Gaddafi’s theatrical pronouncements on the subject , there was as yet no sign of any al-Qaida involvement, he added: We’re watchful of it, mindful of it and I just haven’t seen much of it at all. In fact, I’ve seen no al-Qaida representation there at all. 10.01am: There has as yet been no report of unrest in Syria. Here’s how Reuters set the scene for today: The Syrian army deployed overnight in the flashpoint city of Homs, witnesses said, ahead of Friday prayers that have been marked by intensifying protests in the last five weeks against authoritarian rule. The prayers will test whether President Bashar al-Assad’s decision to lift emergency law, imposed by his Baath Party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago, will defuse mass discontent with repression and corruption. Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power in Syria. More than 220 protesters have been killed since pro-democracy protests erupted on 18 March in the southern city of Deraa, including 21 protesters killed this week in Homs, rights campaigners say. A decree Assad signed on Thursday that lifted emergency law is seen by the opposition as little more than symbolic, since other laws still give entrenched security forces wide powers. Human Right Watch said Assad “has the opportunity to prove his intentions by allowing (Friday’s) protests to proceed without violent repression. 10.00am: Apologies – the comment function below was not switched on. It should be working now. 9.54am: Here’s a photo of McCain, one of the strongest US supporters of intervention in Libya, meeting and greeting rebels in Benghazi today. The senator said he went to the rebel stronghold “to get an on the ground assessment of the situation”, the AP reports. He also aims to meet members of the National Transition Council, the would-be interim government for the rebel-held east of Libya. AP adds: “They are my heroes,” McCain said of the rebels as he walked out of a local hotel in Benghazi. He was travelling in an armoured Mercedes and had a security detail. A few Libyans waved American flags as his vehicle drove past. 9.39am: As promised, here’s a round-up of our overnight Libya coverage: • Xan Rice is Misrata sees the human cost of the bitter fighting in the besieged city, a toll also exacted on its youngest residents. • President Obama has approved the use of unmanned, missile-equipped Predator drones to help Nato hit pro-government forces. And here’s some comment: • For all its humanitarian veneer, the Libya campaign is another neocon war for the US, argues David Swanson . • Alaa al-Ameri says the Gaddafi regime’s offer of free elections is a sham. 9.35am: Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of events today in Libya, Syria and – as they happen – elsewhere in the Middle East. On Libya I’ll recap our overnight coverage imminently, but for now a couple of quick updates: • Further heavy fighting in Misrata has seen rebels making some significant gains , driving a number of pro-government snipers from tall buildings near the centre of the city, witnesses have told the Associated Press. • Further east, the US senator and former presidential candidate John McCain is visiting the rebel stronghold of Benghazi today. As for Syria : • Reuters is reporting that troops were deployed overnight to the city of Homs ahead of Friday prayers that often mark the beginning of protests against the repressive regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Libya Syria Bahrain Yemen Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Peter Walker guardian.co.uk