Introduction to the evening news 16-03-2012

March 16 marks the first day following the first anniversary of the Syrian uprising. Yesterday witnessed attempts to make the last day of the year a landmark in terms of developments, but it seems that the situation is far more complicated than that, and setting a date for the end of events seems harder to reach.      

This conclusion was based on many indicators; in fact, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is not optimistic as to his mission. He described Damascus’ responses to his proposals as “disappointing”.       

Also in Syria, military developments were intense in Idlib that continued to be under attack. In light of international measures, Turkey announced that it is considering setting up a "security" or "buffer zone" along its border with Syria after the sharp increase in the refugees’ flow.       

Reuters announced that this development marks a change in the game’s rules and brings the military operations as close as possible to “achievable.”       

In Lebanon, the most prominent political development was the step taken by MP Walid Jumblatt on the commemoration of his father’s assassination; Mukhtara’s leader put the flag of the Syrian Revolution on his father’s tomb in an escalating step to defy the Syrian regime.         

As for the week of rotten foodstuffs, it is not over yet; this file will stay open as long as quantities of these foodstuffs are discovered through raids or by suppliers’ attempts to get rid of them or by the amendments of rules to replace mitigated items with strict ones.