Israel and Hezbollah exchange heavy fire in major escalation | BBC News - video Dailymotion

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00:00We begin in the Middle East. The United States says it's working to prevent the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah

00:07from escalating into a regional war after Sunday's heavy bombardments.

00:12The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called for an immediate end to hostilities on both sides.

00:19In a televised address, Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, said that the delay in the retaliation attack

00:26for the assassination of its military commander last month was to keep Israel on edge.

00:32He also said they still have to assess the impact of its barrage and did not rule out another strike.

00:38From Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel's airstrikes were not the end of the story

00:44and added they had destroyed thousands of Hezbollah's short-range rockets.

00:48And no progress on the Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo either.

00:53Hamas, which has now left the Egyptian capital, said it rejected new Israeli conditions

00:58and accused them of backtracking on promises.

01:01Israel denies changing its demands since a last round of talks in early July.

01:07For more on this, we can speak to our Middle East correspondent in Beirut, Hugo Bocega.

01:12So Hugo, we heard that Hezbollah isn't ruling out further attacks.

01:16Benjamin Netanyahu saying it's not the end of the story. Where are we?

01:23Yeah, I think it was very interesting that last night the powerful leader of Hezbollah,

01:27Hassan Nasrallah, gave that speech.

01:30Essentially he said that the attack was over, the retaliation for the killing of Fouad Shouker,

01:35the senior Hezbollah commander who was assassinated by Israel here in Beirut a month ago.

01:42And Hassan Nasrallah also said that, gave indications that

01:47no major operations against Israel were being planned.

01:51So I think he was trying to de-escalate tensions with Israel.

01:55Yesterday there were concerns that those attacks could

02:00lead to a major conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

02:04We've seen that so far this violence has been relatively contained

02:08to areas along the Lebanon-Israel border.

02:12Nasrallah did say that the group could attack Israel again,

02:16but given everything else in the speech,

02:19I think this seemed to be something that had to be said rather than a threat against Israel.

02:26And the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also yesterday

02:30said that what happened was not the end of the story.

02:34And again, I don't think it's surprising that he's saying it.

02:37He needs to keep all his options on the table.

02:40He's under a lot of pressure to act against Hezbollah

02:44to allow the return of tens of thousands of residents

02:48who've been displaced from communities in northern Israel.

02:52But behind the scenes, there have been indications that

02:55both sides have said they're not interested in further escalation.

03:00Obviously, this doesn't mean that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is over.

03:06But again, we see indications that they're not interested in a major conflict

03:11that could have catastrophic consequences, not only for Lebanon, but also for Israel.

03:16And the main hope of a de-escalation here is a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

03:23And we've seen that the latest round of talks for a deal in Cairo

03:27ended yesterday without a major breakthrough.

03:30So what's the state of alert there then, Hugo, in light of the recent events?

03:36Yeah, so for weeks, we've been waiting for this response by Hezbollah.

03:42And there were concerns that this could lead to a major escalation.

03:47And there have been fears here in Lebanon that Hezbollah could be dragging this country

03:51into another confrontation with Israel.

03:55Many people here still remember what happened in 2006,

03:59the war between Hezbollah and Israel, the devastation caused by the war.

04:04The devastation caused by the conflict, not only to areas of southern Lebanon,

04:09but also to parts of southern Beirut.

04:11And many people fear that history might be repeating itself.

04:16It seems now that a worst-case scenario has been averted, at least for now.

04:21There have been these indications from Hassan Nasrallah

04:23that the group is not interested in an escalation of these hostilities with Israel.

04:30And even in Israel, we're seeing that there have been some signs that

04:35the Israeli government is also trying to prevent a major escalation with Hezbollah.

04:42But again, there has been a lot of anger from residents in the north of the country.

04:48They say that they have been under attack almost every day with rockets being fired from Hezbollah.

04:55They've been urging the Israeli authorities to do something to push Hezbollah away from the border

05:03and to allow the return of tens of thousands of people

05:06who have had to flee their homes in northern Israel

05:09because of this violence happening along the border.

05:11Hugo Bocega in Beirut, thank you very much.

05:14For more, let's speak to Yossi Boleyn, former Justice Minister of Israel

05:18and one of the initiators of Israel-Palestine-Oslo peace accords.

05:23Thanks very much for your time here on BBC News.

05:25Let's pick up with those peace talks then.

05:27In light of what's happened, is there any chance of those talks having a positive outcome?

05:36Yes, I believe that Israel doesn't want to continue this war.

05:41It is really long overdue.

05:43And I hope that this is also the situation on the Hamas side.

05:48The point is that it is not peace talks, of course.

05:52It is talks about a ceasefire, hopefully a long ceasefire.

05:58And the other side is not recognizing Israel.

06:03Israel is not recognizing Hamas, of course.

06:06And to get to the decision makers on the other side is very difficult.

06:11So what you hear is rumors from time to time

06:16or a declaration of one of the Hamas people.

06:23But the groups are there.

06:26I mean, the teams are there negotiating still.

06:33And I hope that it will end by an agreement.

06:36This agreement is not going to be an historic one,

06:39but it will put an end at least to the current situation,

06:44whereby people, innocent people are killed and you don't see any horizon.

06:53The US is saying it's working to prevent any conflict escalating.

06:59What can they do to move on these peace talks?

07:03Well, they are doing a lot.

07:05They are actually the main player, not the only one,

07:09because you have Qatar and you have Egypt.

07:11But it is a very important player.

07:15And I think that they can push the parties directly, indirectly.

07:23They have their own ways.

07:25And I hope that eventually a reason will prevail

07:30and it will be possible to put an end to it.

07:32I mean, we are there in a kind of an ongoing war from September, October,

07:38the massacre of Hamas in the southern part of Israel.

07:45And nobody is gaining anything from this war, just losing.

07:52We know, obviously, the elections in the United States are coming up.

07:56Presumably, Netanyahu will be watching those closely.

08:01And?

08:02I was just saying that with the elections in the US coming up,

08:07Netanyahu will presumably be watching those very closely to see what happens.

08:12Yeah, but I don't think that this is going to have any direct impact.

08:18First of all, the elections are very close,

08:23but the 20th of January is further.

08:28The 20th of January is further.

08:32And we have to put an end to this situation much before.

08:38I think that waiting for the 20th of January

08:42and hopefully Netanyahu's candidate will not win.

08:46But even if he wins, I think that waiting for him is a kind of betting

08:54because you never know with this person.

08:57I mean, Trump, of course.

08:59What is he going to do?

09:00What is he going to say?

09:02He may surprise the world this way or another if, God forbid, he's elected.

09:08And if it is, as I hope, Kamala Harris,

09:15it will be the same kind of a policy like the current policy of President Biden.

09:22OK, we'll have to leave it there.

09:23Yossi Belin, thank you very much for your time here on BBC News.

Israel and Hezbollah exchange heavy fire in major escalation | BBC News

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