The week has ended yet many unresolved issues remain and Lebanon has witnessed several breaches on different levels.
Funding the STL is the first pending issue, the wage raise is the second and the Mansourieh high-voltage power lines is the third issue for which many efforts have been made to resolve, without any decisive outcome.
These are the pending issues and now we focus on the breaches: Yesterday’s assault on the “mecanique” vehicle inspection center forced the business owners to keep their doors closed today; Syrian military infiltration into the northern Lebanese town of Arsal remains until this moment without a clear solution; and the ESQWA threats are still raising questions as to whether the UN will maintain a presence in the Lebanese capital.
In the Arab world, Syria was able to take a deep breath after the Russian-Chinese veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at denouncing the Syrian regimes violent suppression of protestors; but today’s surprising statement from Russian President Dimitri Medvedev calling for the regime to step down if they prove unable to implement reforms was a blow to Assad.
The U.N. said today that the death toll in Syria reached 2,900 while Syria’s ambassador to the U.N., Faisal Mokdad, announced that his country will present the names of 1,100 security personnel killed by “terrorist groups”.
From Syria to Yemen, the Arab Spring is still on its way, but today the country witnessed a significant event: Yemeni activist, Tawakkol Karman, was granted the Nobel Peace Prize that she will share with the Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as well as Liberian peace activist, Leymah Gbowee.