The car bomb which murdered anti-Syrian Lebanese security chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan and seven others Friday, Oct. 19, in Beirut also dissipated hopes in the West and Israel of the Syrian civil war sundering the Tehran-Damascus-Hizballah axis, or that liquidating Iran’s nuclear scientists and cyber warfare would turn Tehran away from a nuclear bomb.  The Syrian bloodbath grows wider and more malignant and Tehran is closer than ever to a nuclear weapon. A reduced joint US-Israel war game begins Sunday.

The first reconstruction of the massive explosion which killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut five years ago was conducted at the Captieux military base in France Tuesday, Oct. 19 in the presence of international explosives experts. It was set up by the Office of Danielle Bellemare, Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in line with its mandate to "identify and prosecute those responsible for the attack." This re-enactment takes the inquiry a large step forward.

The Special United Nations Tribunal (STL) for fixing responsibility for the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri in February 2005 is now pointing the finger of suspicion not only at nine high-ranking Hizballah officials but also their overlords, members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.