Syria crisis, Egypt standoff, Libya election

Syria crisis, Egypt standoff, Libya election - live updates:

• Kofi Annan meets Bashar al-Assad in Damascus
• Mohamed Morsi orders Egypt's dissolved parliament to meet
• Jibril's party takes lead against Islamists in Libya's elections
9.20am: Syria: Annan's talks with Assad have begun, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile ...

Anti-Assad activists in Syria reported army shelling and clashes with rebels on Monday in Deir Ezzor, Deraa, Homs, Aleppo and a neighbourhood of Damascus. Residents also reported the sound of gunfire in the capital.
An activist website said over 100 Syrians had been killed on Sunday, most of them civilians.

8.54am: Libya: The election results are expected tonight according to Channel 4 News.
Liberals are still claiming an early lead, according to Middle East Online.

"Early reports show that the coalition is leading the polls in the majority of constituencies," the secretary general of the National Forces Alliance, Faisal Krekshi, said.
The leader of one of Libya's main Islamist parties acknowledged that the rival coalition had the advantage in the country's two largest cities.

8.27am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live.
Something of a triple-header today: international envoy Kofi Annan is due to meet Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital Damascus; Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi has defied the military council by ordering the dissolved parliament to meet; and early indications from Libya's election suggest a defeat for Islamist parties.
Here's a roundup in more detail:

Syria

• Annan is shifting his focus from trying to revive a shattered truce to starting a political transition, the BBC reports. His visit comes after he admitted that his six-point peace plan is failing.
• Assad said Annan's peace plan is being hindered by countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia providing support for "terrorists".
Speaking to the German broadcaster Ard he said:

We know that (Annan) is coming up against countless obstacles but his plan should not be allowed to fail, it is a very good plan. The biggest obstacle is that many countries do not even want this plan to succeed so they offer political support and continue to provide the terrorists in Syria with arms and money.

• US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said "the sand is running out of the hour glass" for the Assad regime as rebel forces are becoming more effective. She said:

There is no doubt that the opposition is getting more effective in their defence of themselves and in going on the offence against the Syrian military and the Syrian Government's militias.
So the future, to me, should be abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime: The days are numbered; and the sooner there can be an end to the violence and a beginning of a political transition process, not only will fewer people die, but there's a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria but to the region.
So I think Special Envoy Annan was admitting the obvious, that as of today he's not been able to convince the Syrian Government and those supporting it to wake up and recognize the path they are on, but that there is still time. And as we saw with the recent high-level defection, with the increasing numbers of defections, the sand is running out of the hourglass.

• Syria has carried out large-scale military exercises to simulate defending the country against outside "aggression". The manoeuvres began on Saturday, with naval forces playing out a scenario in which they repelled an attack from the sea, and will include air and ground forces over the next few days, the state-run news agency said.

Egypt

• Newly elected president Mohamed Morsi appears set for a confrontation with the military council after ordering the parliament to reconvene, in defiance of a decree by the generals to dissolve the legislature. Hints of a deal seemed unlikely as Morsi stipulated that parliament reconvene and continue its duties until a new assembly is elected, scheduled for 60 days after Egypt drafts a new constitution. Morsi's order directly contradicts Scaf's wishes, and underlines his determination to take control of the country's executive.
• Barack Obama has invited Morsi to the US and pledged a "new partnership" with Egypt. The official visit will take place to coincide with the general assembly of the United Nations, Egyptian aide Yasser Ali said following a meeting between Morsi and US deputy secretary of state William Burns. The move reflects attempts by the White House to cultivate new ties between Washington and the country's ruling Islamists following the recent election.

Libya

• Libya appears set to elect a liberal-leaning government as the party of the former prime minister Mahmoud Jibril took the lead in initial results after Saturday's election. The Libya Herald reports that early indications suggest that Jibril's National Forces Alliance is comfortably ahead of any of its 130 rivals, including major contenders such as the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party.

• Libya's transitional government has plans to build the country's new parliament building in the heart of Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, in Tripoli. "I'm going to propose this. It's very urgent," Othman ben Sassi, general secretary of the outgoing National Transitional Congress (NTC), told the Guardian. A 200-strong national congress, currently homeless, will replace the NTC next month. The congress will write a new constitution, and debate whether Libya's fledgling post-Gaddafi state should have a parliamentary or presidential system. For the moment, Libya's elected representatives will meet in an opulent conference centre next to Tripoli's Rixos Hotel.
• Despite dire predictions, Libya elections went very well according to the Middle East analyst Juan Cole. He lists ten surprises from the poll including the popularity of democracy, the apparent lack of success for Islamists, the 60% turnout, and the absence of major violence.

Matthew Weaver

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