Introduction to the evening news 08-11-2011

Smoke without fire in the Middle East and Lebanon. The diplomatic war in which Iran, Washington and the western countries are engaged ahead of the IAEA report does not suggest an inevitable political war. The Israeli PM Ehud Barak who reiterated, a few days ago, that the option of a military strike against Iran is not off the table said today that the war is not a walk in the park and “we want a walk in the park, not a war”, adding that his government did not agree on a military action against Iran.     

On the other hand, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that everything must be done to avoid an irreparable military action. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev warned against a military action amid the current circumstances, saying threats could lead to dire consequences for the Middle East, or even a war.     

Meanwhile, Tehran revealed one of its cards in the confrontation. The chief of the Guards' aerospace division threatened to kill dozens of American commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan if the U.S. kills any of the Iranian commanders. Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Wahidi stressed that Israeli threats are merely propaganda.       

Since the strategic earthquake started when the U.S. invaded Iran in 2003, the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq by the end of this year without an agreement with Iran and the neighboring countries sets the conflict back to square one. Syria is the flashpoint and the link that must be broken in order to halt Iranian expansion at the Iraqi border, sparing Lebanon and Syria.       

Therefore, developments surrounding the Syrian crisis go beyond the issue of internal protests, influencing Lebanon on the political, financial and security levels. Assistant Treasury Secretary is set to visit Beirut on Thursday to meet with PM Mikati, Lebanese Central Bank governor and the President of the Lebanese Banks’ Association to stress the importance of prohibiting the flight of Syrian capital to Lebanon, making it a safe haven. The Lebanese Army tightened security measures along the Syrian border, mainly in the north where the region of Wadi Khaled seemed separated from Syria by mines and isolated from Lebanon due to heightened security measures.     

Before diving into details, let’s touch on surprising news revealed by the STL prosecutor. A few days ahead of the STL’s first session scheduled for November 11, Daniel Bellemare said that it is premature to start trials in absentia in the case of the four suspects.