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Oil Prices Fall Despite Mideast War

The price of oil, which had skyrocketed to new heights after the outbreak of the Middle East?s most recent war, still remained in the mid-$70 range early in the week but did not approach on Tuesday the $78 heights it had previously reached last week. Markets seemed to have caught up with the action between Israel and Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, which has included the bombing of airports, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure targets. Some estimates of the damage caused to Lebanon?s civil, military, and Hezbollah infrastructure state a figure of nearly $700 million over seven days.

The absence of Iran in direct hostilities with Israel in support of the Hezbollah terrorist group might have given observers of world oil barrel prices a bit of relief, considering that Iran is such a huge player in pretty much any Middle East conflict, usually by contributing to the cause of hostilities by sponsoring the actions of terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas directly or indirectly.

Whether or not the hostilities continue may very well be up to the mullahs in Tehran, Iran and their dictatorial compatriots in Damascus, Syria. Meanwhile, financial markets have sharply fallen as Israel continually ramps up its military response to Islamic terrorism emanating from Lebanon, though the signs of a wider regional war starting seem to have abated for the moment.