Introduction to the evening news 13-04-2012

A series of developments regarding the Syrian crisis emerged today; they might be signs showing how the situation will be in the next stage:        

The first sign came out of context and was very surprising; the Russian Information Agency Novosti quoted a prominent military source as saying that a decision was taken to keep Russian warships off the Syrian coast permanently. The source added later on that warships in the eastern Mediterranean have nothing to do with Syria. International agencies said that this clarification shows that Russia is sending mixed signals regarding the presence of its warships off the Syrian coast.          

The second sign was U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan who hastened to clarify his statement by saying that he did not mean the necessity to find “humanitarian corridors”, but talked about guaranteeing the delivery of humanitarian assistance.         

The third sign was the continuation of some very limited military operations that led to five deaths today.      

All these signs lead to the conclusion that April 12, or yesterday, did not mark the end of military operations; rather, it marked what can be described as a “vulnerable truce” that can either be consolidated or collapse, according to developments.        

Locally, the political scene froze waiting for Tuesday, the day when general parliamentary sessions will kick off.