His repeal of the emergency law was obviously a farce:
Human rights groups say hundreds of ordinary Syrians have been jailed for "degrading the prestige of the state" amid an intensifying crackdown on anti-government protests. Hundreds of detainees received a three-year prison sentence on Tuesday while mass arrests continue, to pre-empt further unrest on the Muslim day of prayer on Friday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
An Al Jazeera journalist has also gone missing. The above video shows "#Syria'n soldiers been shot by Syrian regime & #Daraa people trying to rescue them". Gerg? Plankó and Bence Gáspár Tamás created a long compilation of scenes from Syria. Molly Hennessy-Fiske finds new footage:
Some of the latest video footage to emerge from Syria overnight Tuesday purportedly shows pro-democracy protesters at Aleppo University being shot at by riot police. … Protesters also posted video footage online of security forces cracking down on a candlelight vigil late Tuesday in the northeastern city of Kamishli, where police allegedly shot at protesters and arrested a photographer, confiscating his camera.
Meanwhile, the southern city of Dara, where the six-week anti-government protest movement began, remained under siege late Tuesday, protesters said, with aid organizations banned from entering to provide food or medicine as gunfire continued.
The Obama administration turns up the rhetoric by calling these "barbaric measures". The latest from EA's live-blog:
1350 GMT: Activists claim tanks are heading for the central Syrian city of Homs after anti-regime protests by about 1000 people last night.
The Dish 