Al Jazeera Tweeting Revolutions

As uprisings turn to revolutions in the Middle East, Al Jazeera's New Media team releases a Twitter Dashboard that illustrates what is being tweeted about and where.

In the top right section you can see the total number of tweets for the day about developments in these four countries. Before each flag there is a colour code that explains the rest of the dashboard.

Top left: Here the number of tweets for the day are graphed. We can see that Libya is still the most tweeted about uprising, with Egypt getting a third less.
The bottom right shows the hashtag distribution for each country from Libya in green on getting the most attention in the Twittersphere.

Bottom left: This is a Twitter stream of all tweets related to the four countries highlighted in this dashboard.
You can see the Al Jazeera Dashboard at the bottom of this blog, it was too wide to fit into this post.

Source: Al Jazeera Tweeting Revolutions
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/03/06/tweeting-revolutions

Libya Crisis Map

Libya Crisis Map

OCHA, UNOSAT and NetHope have been collaborating with the Volunteer Technical Community (VTC) specifically CrisisMappers, Crisis Commons, Open Street Map, and the Google Crisis Response Team over the past week.

The CrisisMappers Standby Task Force has been undertaking a mapping of social media, news reports and official situation reports from within Libya and along the borders at the request of OCHA. The Task Force is also aiding in the collection and mapping of 3W information for the response. UNOSAT is kindly hosting the Common Operational Datasets to be used during the emergency. Interaction with these groups is being coordinated by OCHA’s Information Services Section.

The public version of this map does not include personal identifiers and does not include descriptions for the reports mapped. This restriction is for security reasons. All information included on this map is derived from information that is already publicly available online (see Sources tab).

Focal Points & Media Relations:

• UN/OCHA: Brendan McDonald [mcdonaldb@un.org]
• CrisisMappers/TaskForce: Patrick Meier [patrick@crisismappers.net]

200 km

200 mi

Map data ©2011 Basarsoft, Europa Technologies, Geocentre Consulting, Google, LeadDog Consulting, Mapa GISrael, ORION-ME, PPWK, Tele Atlas, Tracks4Africa, Transnavicom - Terms of Use

Scale = 1 : 14M

8.77696, 23.24234

EPSG:900913

Source: United Nations http://libyacrisismap.net/

The Guardian ~ Libya in turmoil

The Guardian ~ Libya in turmoil

Pro-Gaddafi soldiers and supporters gather in Green Square, Tripoli. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

Reuters has this on the fighting at Bin Jawad, about 100 miles from Sirte, a Gaddafi stronghold, which blocks the road to Tripoli.

One fighter, returning wounded from Bin Jawad to rebel-held Ras Lanuf further east, said Gaddafi loyalists had attacked advancing rebels with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades. Asked what he had seen, he replied: "Death." Distraught and bandaged, he would not say any more.

Rebels had taken Bin Jawad on Saturday but later withdrew, which let army units occupy local homes and set up sniper and rocket propelled grenade positions for an ambush that forced rebels back to Ras Lanuf.

"It's real fierce fighting, like Vietnam," rebel fighter Ali Othman told Reuters. "Every kind of weapon is being used. We've retreated from an ambush and we are going to regroup."

12.39pm: While Zawyiah, 30 miles west of Tripoli, and Ras Lanuf, further east, remain in the hands of the opposition despite government claims, reports indicate that loyalist forces supported by aircraft have pushed rebels away from the coastal town of Bin Jawad to stop their advance on Gaddafi's home town Sirte. Amid conflicting claims one thing is clear, writes Peter Beaumont.

What is clear, however, is that a large military deployment appears to be under way in Tripoli and the surrounding areas, with ever more tanks visible both inside the city and in the countryside and more missile launchers seen on the roads. One column of BM-21 Grad launchers seen by the Guardian on Saturday included 11 vehicles.

12.22pm: Here is the Guardian story on the SAS subplot, with its Keystone Kops element. Fox says there is a British diplomatic mission in the eastern part of the country trying to establish contact with rebel groups.

The defence secretary, Liam Fox, has confirmed that a "small diplomatic team" is in Benghazi to talk to Libyan rebels but refused to confirm reports that any British nationals had been detained. According to Guardian sources, a suspected British intelligence and special forces unit, which parachuted in about four days ago, was caught near the town of Khandra, about 30km west of Benghazi...

"We want to clearly understand what the dynamic is here because we want to be able to work with them to ensure the demise of the Gaddafi regime, to see a transition to greater stability in Libya and ultimately to more representative government."

12.14pm: I've just been talking with Peter Beaumont about the gunfire that broke out this morning in Tripoli that initially sounded like gun battles, but then turned into celebratory gunfire. Peter makes a couple of points. First despite government reports that rebel-held towns such as Zawiyah have been retaken by loyalist forces, this is not the case. The towns are calm. He emphasises how hard it is to pin down what is going on unless you can see things for your own eyes. Second, the gunfire of this morning amounts to an attempt by the regime to prepare its troops for the coming battles in the next few weeks.

The whole point of this is to say to the soldiers who are going to be deployed in the battles that we are anticipating coming in the next few weeks is 'this is the reception you're going to get. We're asking you to kill your fellow Libyans and this is the reception you'll get when you're engaged in this fighting.

(Please turn off auto-refresh to listen to audio)

11.37am: Martin Chulov has been talking to me about the story, broken in the Sunday Times (paywall), about that SAS group being held by the rebels in Benghazi.

Martin says the SAS team were caught about 19 miles west of Benghazi and appear to be part of a British diplomatic mission to make contact with the opposition. A senior member of Benghazi's revolutionary council told Martin: "they were carrying espionage equipment, reconnaissance equipment, multiple passports and weapons. This is no way to conduct yourself during an uprising. Gaddafi is bringing in thousands of mercenaries to kill us, most are using foreign passports and how do we know who these people are? They say they're British nationals and some of the passports they have are British. But the Israelis used British passports to kill that man in Dubai last year."

(Please turn off auto-refresh button to listen to audio)
Source: The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/mar/06/arab-and-middle-east-protests-libya

Zawiya still standing. Gaddafi forces pushed back

← BREAKING: 8 British SAS soldiers and diplomat detained by revolutionaries

BREAKING: Zawiya still standing. Gaddafi forces pushed back

March 6, 2011 All times are in Libyan local time +2 GMT
12:48 Reuters A revolutionary spokesman in Zawiya says rebels are still in control of the town centre, as an attack by pro-Gaddafi forces has been pushed back.

12:32 BREAKING Eyewitness tells Al Jazeera that the city of Misratah is being heavily bombarded by Gaddafi’s forces right now

12:25 AFP reports that 15 people have been injured in clashes at Bin Jawad this morning

12:15 AP reports that revolutionaries say they have withdrawn from Bin Jawad after clashes this morning

12:01 Reuters reports that revolutionaries have shot down a helicopter, the report does not say where

11:57 BBC A huge explosion has been heard in the rebel-held oil town of Ras Lanuf, followed by the sound of anti-aircraft guns opening fire, an AFP reporter says.

11:52 BBC Libyan rebel forces are falling back to Ras Lanuf from positions further west, firing at a helicopter overhead, Reuters quotes a witness as saying. It follows reports that government forces had attacked rebels in Bin Jawad, west of Ras Lanuf.

11:11 Reuters reports that Gaddafi forces have attacked Bin Jawad. One injured fighter says they attacked with machine guns and RPGs. Another fighter said there were snipers. Ambulances rushed casualties back to Ras Lanuf

Source: http://www.libyafeb17.com/2011/03/breaking-revolutionaries-attacked-at-bin-jawad/

Libya: Fierce battle for Zawiyah amid claims Gaddafi's tanks fired on residential areas
Source: The Telegraph http://bit.ly/eVtzc4

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has sent in new forces towards the western town of Zawiyah after Libyan rebels repelled an attack by his soldiers on Saturday.

Protesters opposed to leader Muammar Gaddafi on a tank of Libyan army defectors, in the city of Zawiyah Photo: REUTERS

11:06AM GMT 05 Mar 2011

Gaddafi's forces were driven out of central Zawiyah on Saturday morning, but returned with reinforcements.

They also were reported to have erected road blocks preventing entry to the town.

Youssef Shagan, spokesman for the rebels, said that Gaddafi's forces had earlier been defeated.

"They entered Zawiyah at six in the morning with heavy forces, hundreds of soldiers with tanks. Our people fought back ... We have won for now and civilians are gathering in the square."

Mr Shagan said that earlier on Saturday, Gaddafi forces had fired high explosive rounds in the centre of the town, 30 miles west of the capital Tripoli, and rebel forces had captured two tanks.

"We see many people, many residents fleeing. There is heavy fighting right now," said Mr Shagan.

Rebel forces still controlled pockets of the city and captured two tanks from the army in a shoot-out on Saturday morning, he said.

"They (Gaddafi's security forces) are attacking people, civilians. There is a lot of shooting. They are taking people from their homes. People are escaping to nearby villages."

He said many people had been killed.

Mr Shagan said the military had driven tanks and heavy weapons into the centre of the town, where people opposed to Gaddafi's 41-year rule have been fighting his forces for more than a week, and closed all the roads.

Arabic satellite channels said pro-Gaddafi forces had fired from tanks at residential areas.

"Now with all the artillery, tanks and armoured vehicles, we're seeing battles and killings we haven't seen in Iraq. I consider it total genocide," said one witness who spoke to Al Arabiya television.

The man said more than 15 armoured vehicles and a tank had entered the town. Mosques have announced 'jihad' (struggle) against them, the man told Al Arabiya.

The channel cited witnesses saying several members of Gaddafi's forces had surrendered and said the rebels had blocked an attack by people they said were pro-Gaddafi mercenaries.

One witness told al-Arabiya he saw the corpses of members of the security forces killed in a battle in the central square.

"My own eyes saw the bodies of seven dead who have been brought in from the square and four others have been imprisoned."
Source: The Telegraph http://bit.ly/eVtzc4