. >> the evidence suggests that the irian played a pretty key role in killing hariri the billionaire prime minister. that is what the evidence shows. sow was, he was every wrm. he really was. >> rose: so he acted at the behest of the assad regime in killing hariri. >> it aer pass. the evidence is overwhelming that assad and hezbollah killed hariri because he was trying to take lebanon away out of the syrian iran orbit. and so i think the evidence of lez hez and syria were involved. the big question as i want in whether were the iranians were involved and i think the evidence is pretty compelling. >> rose: in a sense a secret history of the middle east to know him. >> it is. it is amazing the degree to which, the iranians have been involved in every significant event in the middle east. east of the med train yun, you know, in the past 15 years, basically. >> rose: and the ambitions are what? >> his ambitions, their ambitions. >> i think their ambitions are-- they're hard to discern but i think they are to dominate the middle east. they see themselves as an intense rivalry not just wit

he really was. >> rose: soe acted at the behest of the assad regime in killing hariri. >> it aer pass. the evidence is overwhelming that assad and hezbollah killed hariri because he was trying to take lebanon away out of the syrian iran orbit. and so i think the evidence of lez hez and syria were involved. the big question as i want in whether were the iranians were involved and i think the evidence is pretty compelling. >> rose: in a sense a secret history of the middle east to know him. >> it is. it is amazing the degree to which, the iranians have been involved in every significant event in the middle east. east of the med train yun, you know, in the past 15 years, basically. >> rose: and the ambitions are what? >> his ambitions, their ambitions. >> i think their ambitions are-- they're hard to discern but i think they are to dominate the middle east. they see themselves as an intense rivalry not just with the united states but with say the monarchyes that the united states. >> rose: that is why-- hezbollah and -- >> yeah, they support anybody who is willing to take on the saudis o

. >> the evidence suggests that the iranian played a pretty key role in killing hariri the billionaire prime minister. that is what the evidence shows. sow was, he was every wrm. he really was. >> rose: so he acted at the behest of the assad regime in killing hariri. >> it aer pass. the evidence is overwhelming that assad and hezbollah killed hariri because he was trying to take lebanon away out of the syrian iran orbit. and so i think the evidence of lez hez and syria were involved. the big question as i want in whether were the iranians were involved and i think the evidence is pretty compelling. >> rose: in a sense a secret history of the middle east to know him. >> it is. it is amazing the degree to which, the iranians have been involved in every significant event in the middle east. east of the med train yun, you know, in the past 15 years, basically. >> rose: and the ambitions are what? >> his ambitions, their ambitions. >> i think their ambitions are-- they're hard to discern but i think they are to dominate the middle east. they see themselves as an intense rivalry not just wit

. >> the evidence suggests that the iranian played a pretty key role in killing hariri the billionaire prime minister. that is what the evidence shows. sow was he was every wrm. he really was. >> rose: so he acted at the behest of the assad regime in killing hariri. >> it aer pass. the evidence is overwhelming that assad and hezbollah killed hariri because he was trying to take lebanon away out of the syrian iran orbit. and so i think the evidence of lez hez and syria were involved. the big question as i want in whether were the iranians were involved and i think the evidence is pretty compelling. >> rose: in a sense a secret history of the middle east to know him. >> it is. it is amazing the degree to which, the iranians have been involved in every significant event in the middle east. east of the med train yun you know, in the past 15 years basically. >> rose: and the ambitions are what? >> his ambitions, their ambitions. >> i think their ambitions are-- they're hard to discern but i think they are to dominate the middle east. they see themselves as an intense rivalry not just with t

. >> the evidence suggests that the iranian played a pretty key role in killing hariri the billionaire prime minister. that is what the evidence shows. sow was, he was every wrm. he really was. >> rose: so he acted at the behest of the assad regime in killing >> it aer pass. the evidence is overwhelming that assad and hezbollah killed hariri because he was trying to take lebanon away out of the syrian iran orbit. and so i think the evidence of lez hez and syria were involved. the big question as i want in whether were the iranians were involved and i think the evidence is pretty compelling. >> rose: in a sense a secret history of the middle east to know him. >> it is. it is amazing the degree to which, the iranians have been involved in every significant event in the middle east. east of the med train yun, you know, in the past 15 years, basically. >> rose: and the ambitions are what? >> his ambitions, their ambitions. >> i think their ambitions are-- they're hard to discern but i think they are to dominate the middle east. they see themselves as an intense rivalry not just with the un

issued a warrant arrest warrant for some of your top officials your party's officials including saad hariri saying that you guys are financing the opposition do you deny those charges our position vis a vis the. the opposition in syria because this thing has nothing to do with you all it i mean this once that was should has nothing to do with the with. the syrian uprising it was much longer before that you see so that has nothing to do i mean this ones that were made against thirty thirty people december twelfth two thousand and twelve was made before and it was new that time but what i really want to say is that. the. syrian regime has been resorting to such types of of if words in order to destabilize lebanon and that's that's the opposition is a v the this is the uprising. is that we have mentioned clearly is that politically we sympathize with the syrian uprising but are you financing from a humanitarian point of view we are helping in the receiving go there if you g.'s but we do not train nance we do not smuggle weapons or send personnel. we do not do any of these things. this is somet

issued a warrant arrest warrant for some of your top officials or parties officials including saad hariri saying that you guys are financing the opposition do you deny those charges our position visit. the. opposition in syria because this this thing has nothing to do with you all it i mean this once that was should has nothing to do with the with. the syrian uprising it was much longer before that to see what has nothing to do i mean this ones that were made against thirty thirty people december twelfth two thousand and twelve was made before and it was new that time but what i really want to say is that. the syrians in regime has been resorting to such types of of if words in order to destabilize lebanon and that's. the opposition is a v the this is the uprising. is that we have mentioned clearly is that politically we sympathize with the syrian uprising but are you financing from a humanitarian point of view we are helping in the receiving of that if you g.'s but we do not try nance we do not smuggle weapons or send. we do not do any of these things. this is something we disagree with

finally, faysal itani is a fellow with the rafik hariri center. he is a relatively new and very welcome addition to the center. faysal is a middle east analyst whose focus is transition in the arab world with an emphasis -- before working on the council, he worked as a risk analysis analyst advising international organizations on political, economic and security affairs in the region. faisal will help us shape the discussion of potential regional implications of whatever it is the united states is about to do in syria. i will ask each of the speakers to frame the key issues as they see them and to do so within about eight minutes each. we will then turn to questions. which, given the size of the audience, will need to be tightly focused. i will attempt to do a brief wrapup at the end and we will make every effort to adjourn promptly at 2:00 p.m. i would ask you to switch off cell phones, and with that i will turn to barry. >> thanks very much, fred. thanks, everybody for coming. i am going to be really brief, partly in the interest of time to hear

finally, faysal itani is a fellow with the rafik hariri center. he is a relatively new and very welcome addition to the center. faysal is a middle east analyst whose focus is transition in the arab world with an emphasis -- before working on the council, he worked as a risk analysis analyst advising international organizations on political, economic and security affairs in the region. faisal will help us shape the discussion of potential regional implications of whatever it is the united states is about to do in syria. i will ask each of the speakers to frame the key issues as they see them and to do so within about eight minutes each. we will then turn to questions. which, given the size of the audience, will need to be tightly focused. i will attempt to do a brief wrapup at the end and we will make every effort to adjourn promptly at 2:00 p.m. i would ask you to switch off cell phones, and with that i will turn to barry. >> thanks very much, fred. thanks, everybody for coming. i am going to be really brief, partly in the interest of time to hear

finally, faysal itani is a fellow with the rafik hariri center. he is a relatively new and very welcome addition to the center. al is a middle east analyst whose focus is transition in the arab world before emphasis -- working on the council, he worked as a risk analysis analyst advising international organizations on political, economic and security affairs in the region. faisal will help us shape the discussion of potential regional implications of whatever it is the united states is about to do in syria. i will ask each of the speakers to frame the key issues as they see them and to do so within about eight minutes each. we will then turn to questions. which, given the size of the audience, will need to be tightly focused. i will attempt to do a brief wrapup at the end and we will make every effort to adjourn promptly at 2:00 p.m. i would ask you to switch off cell phones, and with that i will turn to barry. >> thanks very much, fred. thanks, everybody for coming. brief,ing to be really partly in the interest of time to hear from you. of what i