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Report
Netanyahu says operation in Lebanon against Hezbollah will continue
FRANCE 24 English
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9/22/2024
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00:00
The focus of world attention has shifted north of Gaza in recent days to the
00:04
intensifying conflict between the Lebanese militants Hezbollah and Israel
00:08
one that's seen the IDF deal a significant blow to the Shia Islamist
00:13
group. On Tuesday and Wednesday the detonation en masse of pages used by its
00:17
members then walkie-talkie communication devices exploding killing dozens
00:22
injuring thousands more. A threat of reprisals from its leader Hashran Nasrallah
00:27
on Thursday the group ramping up its missile attacks on northern Israel
00:31
Friday killing of two elite commanders by the IDF among dozens of people who
00:37
died in Israeli airstrike in Beirut and this weekend one where they've been
00:42
attacks of Hezbollah rockets reaching further into Israel. Well let's go in a
00:47
moment to our correspondence on both sides of the border first let's hear
00:51
from the Israeli leader speaking today this is Benjamin Netanyahu in recent
00:59
days we have landed a series of blows on Hezbollah that it could have never
01:04
imagined if Hezbollah did not get the message I assure you that it will get
01:09
the message we are determined to safely return our residents to their homes in
01:13
the north no country can tolerate attacks on its citizens attacks on its
01:19
cities and we the state of Israel will not tolerate it either we'll do whatever
01:24
it takes to restore security today has also seen the funeral of the most senior
01:33
Hezbollah commander killed in Beirut strike on Friday Ibrahim Akil let's go
01:38
to Beirut James Andre has been following events the only broadcast team actually
01:43
reporting from the funeral we've also got Iris Mackler our correspondent in
01:47
Jerusalem as well great to have you both on the program let's start with you
01:51
James bring us up to date with what you've been seeing today what's been
01:55
happening yes well in fact we were at the very end of that funeral where in
02:02
fact the body of Ibrahim Akil was taken inside this building which is the martyrs
02:11
of Hezbollah in that area which is called Rabia which is very much inside
02:21
the stronghold of Hezbollah in the southern part of Beirut now there were
02:26
thousands of people Hezbollah supporters militants will also armed people from
02:31
the the movement who were present to pay their respects well for to Ibrahim Akil
02:38
thousands of people we saw the coffin go from hand to hand with everyone trying
02:42
to actually put their hands on that coffin before indeed the body was taken
02:47
out of the coffin on arrival placed in a tomb and the coffin was taken away as
02:52
per tradition in the Shiite religion so it was a moment of course which was very
03:00
tense on many levels we spoke to high-ranking security commanders there
03:06
at the scene who were telling us that well they were rather weary they admitted
03:10
that saying that indeed they were worried that there could be a strike by
03:13
Israel at that precise moment they said you know this is totally possible and
03:16
also what was very interesting is to see that name Kassem who is the number two
03:21
of Hezbollah who is an incredibly important person in the organization who
03:26
was also it was believed at the very first in the very first place the aim of
03:30
that strike by Israel a couple of days ago that indeed killed Ibrahim Akil
03:34
well he actually came out in public for a statement and in that statement he
03:39
said that Hezbollah vowed retaliation for these attacks on the movement in the
03:43
in the previous days and also said that for him this was a new phase opening and
03:49
I quote he said from now on it is all-out war so of course that is
03:54
probably very worrying to a lot of people here in Lebanon that's very
03:57
interesting especially also just getting that information being there today as you
04:00
say the only a broadcaster reporting from at the funeral watching what was
04:05
going on there Iris just listening to James one thing that strikes me James
04:09
been talking over the past couple of days about how Ibrahim Akil had been
04:12
injured in the Pager attack also this meeting was going on between Hezbollah
04:16
officials when they were hit on Friday there's been more intelligence more
04:20
sources coming out on your side of the board and also from Arabian sources to
04:26
about what actually happened in terms of the Israeli operation yes we're
04:31
hearing from intelligence sources that this meeting was decided you know
04:36
Hezbollah has acknowledged that it has a problem so much information leaking
04:41
every which way they are holding investigations they brought someone from
04:44
Iran to hold it help them with these investigations so they decided they had
04:49
to have a meeting of their top commanders and it turns out that the
04:53
site for that meeting and the time of that meeting was only agreed on Thursday
04:58
on Friday Israel knew where the meeting was what time it was being held and
05:03
struck at that meeting along with Ibrahim Akil and Ahmed Wahhabi there
05:08
were 14 others so 16 of the top Hezbollah commanders killed in one raid
05:13
the information known to Israel so simply in in intelligence terms this is
05:20
a huge win the question of course is whether this win can be translated into
05:26
a military win you know we heard from Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah that that
05:30
Hezbollah was disoriented but not deterred so the question is whether
05:35
Israel can turn that into an actual military win and achieve its aims of
05:39
getting its 65,000 displaced citizens back to their homes in the north James
05:45
what's your view just listening to the intelligence on the Israeli side what
05:48
interests me as well is quite interesting about a kind of deja vu here
05:53
a lot of analysts picking up on the fact that when there was a significant attack
05:57
on a previous Hezbollah member to which Hezbollah continued to fire missiles
06:05
almost a rotating pattern every day until they'd worked out a moment for
06:09
reprisal revenge in the words of Hassan Nasrallah is that what we're seeing here
06:13
the group kind of regrouping itself and continuing to fire well what was quite
06:20
interesting in their speech today by name Kassem is that he said that what
06:24
happened in the previous days and this attack by Israel was a blow to the
06:28
organization which is quite remarkable that they actually recognize this this
06:32
is quite rare and he said that we were shocked I quote but he said now we're
06:37
regrouping and we're gonna fight back now it is true that you have to imagine
06:40
how much of a blow this is to Hezbollah because if you look at the timeline of
06:44
events basically you know it started with the pager attack in which thousands
06:49
of people were injured scores were killed where a lot of the younger
06:54
members also of the armed part of Hezbollah were holding these pages and
06:58
had basically their their hands ripped off and were blinded and they're now you
07:03
know recovering from those wounds on the other hand the second day at the funeral
07:08
of those who were killed with a pager attack well the radios exploded so
07:11
basically the message there from Israel was we can reach you anywhere and your
07:15
communications are completely compromised then a couple of days later
07:19
you have this meeting covert meeting in the basement of a building which was a
07:24
meeting between the top brass of Hezbollah's armed forces that is a
07:28
meeting that usually would not occur because of course they have no
07:32
communication system they had a so they had to meet in the flesh and indeed
07:36
Israel demonstrated that they had the intelligence that this was going on and
07:39
that they were able to strike extremely rapidly in in in less than an hour
07:44
destroying that whole building and collapsing it now massive collateral
07:48
damage of course 45 people were killed a majority of civilians but it is of
07:53
course an important tactical win for Israel and of course it has decapitated
07:58
to an extent Hezbollah but it's Hezbollah is a very big organization
08:02
45,000 members according to CIA 20,000 of which are indeed military personnel
08:09
who are trained and ready to for combat
08:11
Iris just listening to that I think one thing just a brief thought from you on
08:16
this the rhetoric from Hezbollah the kind of planning that James intelligence
08:20
that James was pointing out from an Israeli point of view I think a lot of
08:24
people be listening to the rhetoric used by Benjamin Netanyahu today which we
08:28
read from that I think what we're seeing is a game of poker a deadly game
08:34
of poker with both sides upping their bids so it is an escalation neither side
08:40
yet using its full arsenal military arsenal very strong on the rhetoric you
08:46
know open-ended Day of Reckoning from Sheikh Naim Qasim from Netanyahu we're
08:51
going to get you you're going to get this message you know if you don't get
08:54
this message first well you know we'll repeat it so there's definitely rhetoric
08:58
there is also an increase in the military attacks and the question is you
09:04
know let's say it's four out four out of ten five out of ten can they keep it at
09:09
five out of ten without it exploding into nine or ten out of ten because if
09:13
there is a full-scale war with the capabilities that both sides have at
09:17
this time the reckoning is that there will be thousands if not tens of
09:21
thousands dead on both sides of the line and I think for that reason alone
09:25
people here including when I say people here Europe the u.s. a number of
09:31
international bodies including the United Nations working very hard to see
09:36
that this does not escalate with the risk of that
09:39
it was thank you it is Michael our correspondent in Jerusalem James thank
09:42
you to you as well I've seen a reporter in Beirut James Andre
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