WHAT WILL THE WEEK BRING?

The past few days have had a great deal of 'behind the scene' events taking place that could show up this week as news worthy stories.

SYRIA:

                Assad's  classic maneuver of ' a little too little and a little too late' will force Iran and Syria to make hard, perhaps dramatic decisions.

                Look for Lebanon to become more of an issue as Assad looks for a 'scapegoat'.

                His accusations last week did not go unnoticed in Lebanon with the March 14th crowd.

                Hariri and his followers may very well decide to turn up the heat on Syria and Hezbollah at the  same time. To accuse Hezbollah of inflaming events in Bahrain was a smart move by the March  14th leadership.

                Iran will get a vote on how far Assad gets to play the blame game against Lebanon; something   Iran is not sold on just yet.

                If Assad continues, but you don't hear the same rhetoric coming from Iran, it could be a good   sign that Iran and Assad are continuing to have 'problems' with each other.

YEMEN:

                If there is a real flashpoint this week, it's Yemen.

                Both sides are actually  barrel to barrel with no signs of pulling back.

                If they begin to shoot at each other, it will travel down the path of Libya at least initially.

                If Yemen breaks down into military unit on military unit actions, look for Saudi to    possibly  step   in or demand it's Gulf Neighbors take some type of action.

                There will be no ' no fly zone' over Yemen.

                That mistake will not be repeated.

                My bet is, Yemen becomes the story at some time this week.

BAHRAIN:

                Bahrain becomes a headline event again this week depending on how Iran views actions in Syria.

                What has taken place last week that I find interesting is the weighing of 'options' by Iran.

                Forcing a conflict in Lebanon is to force Iran into utilizing a key defense against Israeli military   action against Iran.

                Spending the collateral of Hezbollah and Hamas and all their stockpiles of weapons to create a   distraction for Syria is a logical concept in the " Rule of Proportionality".

                The Iranian medaling in Bahrain is a logical step, but all options are on the table based upon the   upcoming week's events in Syria.

BOTTOM LINE:

                Oil goes up this week, regardless of Saudi make yet another promises in an endless stream of   promises about Oil production.

                Israel waits for any possible escalation from Hamas fully ready to see if Iran is willing to go to the next level.

We shall see how the week goes.