LIVE: VIOLENT PROTESTS IN YEMEN, EGYPT, IRAN, AFGHANISTAN

Matthew Weaver, Brian Whitaker, The Guardian

 Sep. 13, 2012

Mohamed Al-Sayaghi/Reuters

Protesters climb a fence surrounding the U.S. embassy in Sanaa September 13, 2012.

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09.01 EDT:

SYRIAN OPPOSITION'S STATEMENT ON PROTESTS

The opposition Syrian National Council has issued a statement condemning the use of violence to protest about the film:

With deep distress the Syrian National Council watched the insults by a group of American bigots to the messenger of Islam and peace Muhammad peace be upon him. The Council, however, was shocked by the reaction to these insults in the form of murder, burning, and destruction.

We condemn the repeated insults to the noble prophet peace be upon him and are outraged to see them tied to the anniversary of the September 11 attacks by suggesting that there is a connection between the events and the tolerant message of Islam.

As we condemn the insults and consider them an assault on the feelings and beliefs of nearly one fourth of the population of the globe we stress the right of everyone who has been offended to express peacefully their rejection and condemnation of those who perpetrated them. However, the reaction by murder, burning, and destruction is rejected and unequivocally condemned.

The Syrian National Council condemns the killing of the US ambassador and the employees of the US embassy in Libya. This act is rejected and violates Islamic Shari'ah and all conventions of international relations that prohibit any assault on envoys and ambassadors and prohibits holding them responsible for actions committed by their compatriots.

08:54 EDT

SUMMARY

Here's a summary of events so far today

YEMEN

• Hundreds demonstrators stormed the US embassy in the capital Sana'a in protest at an anti-Islamic film following similar protests in Benghazi and Cairo. Security sources said 15 people were injured after police used teargas and gunfire to disperse the crowd. Windows to the embassy building were smashed, while cars and US flags were burned.

• Yemen's Yemen's president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi apologised for the attack. He blamed those responsible as "demagogic groups". The Yemeni embassy in Washington also condemned the attack.

EGYPT

• State media says 29 people were injured and 12 people were arrests after a second night of protests against the film turned violent. Riot police repeatedly used teargas to disperse protesters near the US embassy building.

• President Mohamed Morsi toughened his stance against the protests by condemning the attack on Libya that killed the American ambassador and vowing to protect foreign embassies in Cairo. Yesterday Morsi was slow to respond to the attack and then in his first remarks on the attacks urged the film makers to be sued. But speaking during a visit to the European Union in Brussels, he condemned "in the clearest terms" the attack in Benghazi.

• President Barack Obama has called on Morsi and his Libyan counterpart to continue working with the United States to ensure the safety of diplomatic personnel. Obama told Morsi that while "he rejects efforts to denigrate Islam ... there is never any justification for violence against innocents."

LIBYA

• Barack Obama has vowed to hunt down the killers of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans during an assault on its mission in Benghazi as suspicion grew that the diplomat was the victim of an organised attack by an Islamist group. "Make no mistake: justice will be done," Obama said at the White House. The FBI is being dispatched to Libya to help with the hunt, as well as 50 marines to reinforce the Tripoli embassy. Two US warships were reportedly heading towards the Libyan coast on Wednesday night. US surveillance drones are being redeployed to search for suspects among alleged jihadist camps in eastern Libya.

• The assault was a planned terrorist attack which used protests against an anti-Islamic film as cover, according to CNN's sources. The fact that a rocket-propelled grenade was used is cited as evidence.

SYRIA

• Syrian rebels and a pro-government group clashed near a Shia shrine on the outskirts of Damascus on Thursday, activists said, killing at least three people. The continuing violence came as new international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Damascus for talks with senior members of the Assad regime.

This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk