In today’s news bulletin:
A drastic change is taking place in the region. In Damascus, a remarkable meeting was held between the head of Saudi intelligence and his Syrian counterpart, it is the first declared meeting between the two countries at this level since the outbreak of the Syrian war ten years ago. In Baghdad, the Saudi-Iranian talks are proceeding according to the decreed plan. A first and then a second meeting were kept in complete secrecy, but the frequency of meetings means that things are on the right track and that an old page marked by acute hostility has been folded and that a new page is being opened quietly and deliberately, even if its features are not clear yet. On the other hand, the French initiative is floundering. Meanwhile, the visit of the French Foreign Minister to Lebanon is drowning in useless ambiguities and in uncreative ambiguity. So far, the final schedule of the visit is not clear and it is not known who will meet Le Drian and who will not. It is also not known whether the sanctions that the French are threatening will be imposed immediately after the visit, or whether Le Drian’s warnings will be followed by a French wait to find out how the concerned political forces will deal with them.
Meanwhile, Saad Hariri began waving to resign. What used to be secretly reported in closed salons, has become statements he makes in the media. Will Hariri take this difficult step and throw the fireball in the face of the covenant and those who support it? Or does he remain in the cycle of waiting, and pay the price from what is left of his balance? More importantly, will Lebanon pay the price of the deadly waiting through more political and institutional disintegration and further economic and social decline, which will lead in the end to the great collapse?