'Lebanese political class completely helpless in face of militia Hezbollah'

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00:00Well, we're joined now by political journalist at Lebanese newspaper L'Orient Le Jour, Stephanie

00:05Khoury.

00:06Stephanie, thanks so much for your time and joining us here on France 24.

00:10Renewed strikes again this morning.

00:11It looks like strikes going further into Lebanon, a rocket fire going further into Israel.

00:15You know, talk even of a ground incursion becoming more likely.

00:19How do you see it?

00:21Yeah.

00:22Today, we woke up, as you recalled, with new waves of bombing and intensive bombing in

00:29south Lebanon.

00:30The escalation is continuing, as we've been seeing for the last couple of days, even the

00:37last week.

00:40It's true the Israeli official have mentioned their readiness for a ground invasion.

00:46They've been talking of a ground invasion for a couple of months now.

00:53They might be preparing for a ground invasion.

00:56However, what we're seeing is Israel trying to put pressure as much as possible on Hezbollah

01:02in order for Hezbollah to dissociate the southern front, what it calls the support front, with

01:10what is happening in Gaza.

01:11So what we're seeing right now is maximum pressure from Israel with support with the

01:16United States in order to make Hezbollah step behind, step back, and stop its ongoing bombing

01:26into Israeli territory.

01:28Hezbollah, though, for its part, sounding very defiant, you know, and would it have,

01:32do you think, support from its allies in the region if ever, you know, things escalated

01:37even further?

01:38I mean, Hezbollah is an Iranian entity.

01:42It was born, financed, supported on all levels by Iran.

01:47So of course we can not suppose, we know that it will benefit from Iranian support all along

01:56the way.

01:57The policy of open borders also between Syria and Lebanon in Iran can guarantee incoming

02:03influx of money on even arms, munitions, if need be.

02:11Now, what we're seeing also is an Iraqi response to Israeli violations in Gaza with the Iron

02:22Dawn system defense intercepting missiles coming from Iraq, which is also a way from

02:29Iran to express its, not solidarity, but express its intention to not stay idle in

02:43face of what's happening in Gaza.

02:45Indeed, it sounds like it could really broaden to a very wider, much broader regional conflict.

02:52And looking back, it seems like this is as bad as things have gotten, if you will, since

02:57the last war, when Israel went in in 2006.

03:00Yes.

03:02For the first time since 2006, Hezbollah has been using long-range missiles when it hit

03:12Haifa on Friday morning, on the, on Friday morning, yes.

03:17So and Israel on its part is also going further and further into the Lebanese territory.

03:24So on both parts, we are, we are crossing lines and crossing lines since October 7.

03:30We are getting closer and closer to what we call a full end war.

03:37However, what Israel has been, Israel officials have been warning for, for the past years

03:43is that in case of a new war with Lebanon, it wouldn't be just Hezbollah targeted, it

03:49would be the entirety of the Lebanese territory.

03:52So far we haven't seen that.

03:53We haven't seen the entirety of the Lebanese territory being targeted.

03:57That's for the Israeli part.

03:58And for the Hezbollah part, they've been using but a small part of the actual military capacities.

04:04They've been using Katyusha rockets, they've been using for the first time rockets that

04:10can reach 200 kilometers into Israeli territory.

04:13But there's still a lot of material, a lot of military arsenal they haven't been using

04:20so far.

04:22So it is a clear escalation.

04:24We are crossing lines, we are crossing lines by the day, by the month.

04:29But there's still a lot of, a lot of cards that haven't been played on all parts.

04:39And Stephanie, has there been reaction to these threats from Israel in Lebanon outside

04:44of Hezbollah?

04:45Yes.

04:46I mean, the Lebanese political class is doing what it always does, which is expressing its

04:55concern for the situation, which is organizing minimum logistical support for the region

05:03and the people that are being targeted by the bombings.

05:08But other than this, really, and also activating some basic diplomatic channels in order to

05:14try and calm down the situation, but other than this, really, the Lebanese political

05:18class has been helpless in front of Hezbollah, which is today a militia and a party controlling

05:29the state and is completely helpless in front, in face of this, this organization.

05:37Stephanie Khoury, political journalist at Lebanese newspaper L'Orient Le Jour.

05:40Thanks so much for joining us.

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