Israel 'showing world and Hezbollah it is going on the offensive'

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00:00Let's get the view straight away then from Iris Mackler who is covering developments for us

00:04from Jerusalem today. Iris, give us a sense of the Israeli perspective on all of this. We heard

00:10Rawad talking about those strikes on the south of Lebanon. There has been a statement this afternoon

00:16from the Israeli army a relatively short while ago. Give us a sense of what you're hearing.

00:23That's right. You know, there has not been a direct response. No one sat down, no one from

00:27official Israel sat down and said Nasrallah says this and we say that. But what we have seen is

00:32words and actions targeting the northern front, targeting Hassan Nasrallah. So we have seen a

00:39statement from Israel's military chief of staff saying he's approved a military action in the

00:45north. Now what that means, what its scope is, is it a ground offensive? We don't know. You can see

00:51that it's a kind of both sides speaking to each other or rather at each other perhaps not to each

00:56other. So there is the statement which echoes what he has said before this week. In fact there's been

01:02a turn this week where now Israel says it's no longer just going to defend itself against

01:08the attacks from Hezbollah in the north, it's going on the offensive. And I think that's what

01:13you saw with those attacks, with the pages, with all the communications means, this yesterday

01:20and the day before in Beirut. So we're seeing those kind of comments, we're seeing those low

01:25flying planes during Nasrallah's speech, each side saying to the other it doesn't matter what

01:31position you take, we are sticking fast to our position with Israel having the additional,

01:38the extra segment where it is also saying it's going on the offensive now. And what exactly

01:45that means I can't tell you because they have not been specific. But Israel is moving divisions

01:51up from Gaza, they were fighting in Gaza, they were in the West Bank, they're now being moved to

01:57the north of Israel. And the Israeli military is making sure that the public knows that

02:02and that the international community knows that and that Hassan Nasrallah knows that.

02:07And Iris, you know over the past couple of days when I've been talking to Rawad

02:11in Beirut, we've got a sense from him that there is really significant fear in Lebanon that

02:18what we're seeing could move into a kind of all-out conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

02:24I imagine people where you are pretty worried about that as well.

02:30That's right, you know it's very interesting how the public have parallel fears.

02:35I think the people of Israel want some 65,000 Israelis who've been displaced

02:42from the north of Israel to return to their homes. But you know whether they really want a

02:49full all-out war and all that that would mean is not clear. So how Israel achieves a return

02:57of civilians to their homes, you know so many fires, so much destruction there, nevertheless

03:02they want to go home but it's not safe. Can Israel achieve that with anything other than a war?

03:08So there's all these discussions about you know spearheaded by the United States about reaching

03:14some kind of deal with Hezbollah, with Lebanon, you know that seems to be being put on the back

03:20burner. Although I know there are very many military people in Israel who think that would

03:24be a better way to go, certainly at this point in time after such a long fight in the south.

03:30There are also people who advocate, including inside the military, you know reaching a deal

03:36ending the war in Gaza in effect, reaching some deal with Gaza and then turning north so that

03:41Israel's not fighting on two fronts. So there's all these military considerations and nevertheless

03:46when people, when it's actually explained to ordinary Israeli civilians the massive firepower,

03:52the potential that the weapons that Hezbollah has, you know how far into Israel

03:59they could reach, the damage they could do, the thousands of people if not tens of thousands on

04:04both sides who would lose their lives, when that's explained then people here are very fearful.

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