iraq, pakistan, aman, qatar, the uae, saudi arabia, cuba, venezuela, china and russia have all slamed the israeli air strike on iran's embassy in damascus, syria, yet the so-called flag batters of international law and conventions in the west have kept mum about israel's blatant violation of international law. the leader of iran's islamic revolution has vowed that iran will make the occupation regime regret it's deadly air strike on the iran and... in damascus.

welcome to the spotlight. i'm your host beerrus najafi. let's get it started. these are my guests in this episode of the spotlight. a venesa, independent journalist is joining me out of damascus. also with us is richard merthest, he's a journalist and commentator in vienna. now welcome to the in show. now beginning uh with the vanessa. first talk about the what the motive could be behind this uh operation uh some uh of the the majority actually of the experts and analysts that we've spoken to speaking of provoking iran, israel trying to provoke iran into engaging in war so that israel could spread further instability and insecurity across the region. your thought on this? well, i think just before christmas last year, yof gallant made it quite clear. that

they needed a victory in this war in order to survive, so in the middle east, so this is an existential war for israel, it's been evident since october the 7th that they are desperately losing the war in gaza against the relatively ill equipped palestinian resistance, they have had to evacuate from the northern occupied territories, more than 100 thousand settlers, as far as we know in the... war against hezballah in southern lebanon, and so now they deem it necessary to expand the war, particularly into syria, because we have to remember that this is the fourth in a series of attacks in the last seven days and all of these attacks have been carried out in conjunction with an upsurge in attacks by the terrorist groups across all the axes, particularly in the northwest and

in central syria, so you know the masks have fallen, people can now see exactly who is the real access of evil in the region, the real axis of terrorism, those that are silent of about this appalling attack, people in damascus are still in shock that this has actually happened, i mean this is escalation beyond expectations, so israel wants to expand the war, um, the resistance access has been. trying to restrict that expansion, but it remains to be seen uh, if if that remains the status quo. all right, now let me turn to vienna, richard, the uk just a couple hours ago summoned the israeli ambassador, and that because three british aid workers got killed in gaza. now when it comes to proportionality, you tell me what is then iran entitled to do now that it's lost several of its senior nuclear scientists and also military commanders. the hands of the

israel racing, well the israelis uh want the iranians to uh turn this into a full-blown war because it would suit them, but i think you know the the access of resistance, not just iran, but all of the uh resistance have proven over time that they are not uh ones to uh to be tricked or or to fall into traps, although it's understandable that iran's response um should be just disproportionate uh, i think that uh, as as iran have said, and they always respond and they will do it at the right time. regarding the the british summoning over the the killing of three aid workers, what's what's interesting is that we have a chorus, we have we have all of these western officials talking about the world central kitchen issue in gaza, which is important, but they're doing that to avoid talking about this unprecedented attack on the embassy, i mean uh, you speak. of

proportionality, we we have to talk about this more, because you've never seen a so-called state attacking the embassy of another state in a third state, i mean this is violation of the... un charter, it's a violation of the vienna convention, the geneva convention, it's so agregious, it's unprecedented, and the the fact that the british government don't even care enough to summon the israelis over that alone, or any other ambassadors uh that are in in europe or the west to be summoned over this issue is scandalous and it really shows you uh where their priorities like right now venessa uh some observers uh citing uh the reason for israel uh to do this as an act of desperation and that's mostly uh thanks to the failures it's facing in gaza, it's not been able to defeat one single resistance group in palestinian occupate territories you and also maybe these anti netanyahu protests on the

home turf you know host of issues the israeli economy and all that do you share the same view yeah absolutely as i mentioned you know israel is not only los the strategic and military war, it's losing desperately the propaganda war, its entire edifice of propaganda that is propped it up for since its creation as a as a illegal settler colonialist state by the british and then of course it was adopted by the states, the entire anti-semitism trope has has been destroyed particularly of course by the case of professor david miller that is now uh stated very clearly that being anti-zionism is acceptable uh and and you know their entire um defense uh for this genocide that they're committing not only in gaza but in the west bank which is based upon an entire series of lies that they produce from october

the 7th onwards that have now gradually been completely debunked the world is seeing them as they are and their economy has taken a massive hit um military moral is its lowest, settlers are leaving the the the the zionist entity itself, um, and the zionist entity is can only survive with settler support, so if settlers are starting to decide that it's no longer offering them security, they will leave, and then what is left, and also you know which country in its right mind now um is going to be looking at at investment in the future in a country that is clearly responsible for genocide um of palestinians across the territories. now richard, why shouldn't they learn a lesson from their past mistakes? like when they uh assassinated iran

general sulaimani, what did they gain? the resistance front even got a stronger and got, a boost in the arm, now they are again. and killing iranian uh commanders a lower level compared to general so the icon of the anti terror and anti das actually uh in this part the world, mean without question they they gained nothing, the resistance got stronger, we can we can see the same pattern with hamas for example when the israelis thought okay if they assassinate sheikh ahmad yasan that this will uh you know destroy hamas look at hamas today uh mean "they they've launched a full-blown war and they can't even defeat them, so imagine with iran how much stronger that is, it's you know the access of resistance has shown over time that uh no matter what actions the israelies in americans take they are losing on the chessboard, they they simply cannot get around um uh the the failures that they are

you know experiencing at home so to speak and on the battlefield and this is actually why they assassinate they they lash out like like a cat you know clowing someone" um because they are terrorists deep down, this is who they really are, and it it's not just the the assassination of the high ranking officials here, it's really we have to understand this is attack on iran itself, because that's really what it is, you know the they the israelies have done this these attacks on iran and its sovereignty before, and the same thing with syria, but this is on an unprecedented level, and you you know we look at the terror at el shif hospital, this is something in my opinion that they were... trying to hide um and and distract from, but again we we, it's it's a deeper level here, the israelis are trying to find some kind of victory uh, they think that they can overcome their failures by assassinating people, and it's not going to happen, and i and i should point something out that they are doing this

on multiple levels, we had a terrorist attack in in january in iran uh, which you know isis supposedly claimed responsibility for it, we had another isis attack in russia. had a recent terrorist attack in china, do you do we really think this is a coincidence that there are all these assassinations, general musavi is another one, salih and all these terrorists. attacks uh by isis and al-qaeda who who are known to have links to america and israel, it's not a coincidence, right? now vanessa, richard mentioned something, and what the israeli regime did is actually violation of iran, it's it means an attack in iran cuuse sovereign country's diplomatic premises was targeted and hit, it was also the host countries, so it's a violation of international law and conventions because it was diplomatic premises. both you know the host country was violated and also iran, so

who should hold uh this regime accountable for such action? well, i mean, you know, at at the end of the day, i mean the iranian forem minister was quite clear that he holds uh washington responsible, washington, the uk and the eu and the allies of israel have continued supplying weapons to israel to conduct and carry out the genocidal campaign. in palestine, but they're also supplying the weapons to carry out these kind of assassinations, and as you've mentioned, it's not the first, particularly on syrian territory, and this was what made it even more heinous for me, and why everybody here is still in shock? this was around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, so two hours before ifta, the breaking of first during ramadan, it was packed full of people, the equivalent to oxford circus in um and as you said it targets what is effectively a diplomatic

zone, it was the consular section, which is actually the residence if i understand it of the ambassador. general zahi was there under diplomatic immunity, so this is actually a terrorist act, i mean i consider israel to be a terrorist state anyway for for all of its other actions, but this was a clear under internet. law a terrorist act, and yet there has been the only country calling for emergency session at the un security council is russia. the west is is saying absolutely nothing. in in response, for example, the us state department spokes person mumbled his way through his usual excuses for israel, and this is appaling, because this is plunging us into abys of global insecurity. the last time that this kind of act... took place was bombing by the us of the chinese embassy in

belgrade which killed three uh chinese diplomats for which the us apologized and said it was a mistake, whether we believe that or not is is by the buy, but but this is unbelievable, israel is pushing the the boundaries of all conventions, human rights conventions, geneva conventions, fiena conventions, and yet the response, imagine if for example, 'russia um had bombed a us embassy on another country's territory, what would the response be, we would be at war? no, exactly. now uh, richard venessa mentioned the role of the us, so to what extent could washington be blamed for such acts that would further actually embolden the telaviv regime to perpetrate more such crimes? also, let's bear in mind that it was us made fighter jets, it was a 35 jets performing the strikes against the iran and embassy'. "the us are absolutely responsible, it's as if an american pilot uh dropped it

himself, the us air force dropped it themselves, there is absolutely no distinction here, and we really need to be clear on this, the united states and israel are one and they attacked iran together, the the the munitions, the payloads, the ordinances, every nut and bolt in that fighter jet and the six missiles that were fired were manufactured by american company." companies, the american, the us government manufactured this and gave an export license and permission to give this to the zionists and then said nothing and continues to say nothing after, we we have diplomats killed, mean even if nobody was killed, the the symbolic act of attacking an embassy is is outrageous, it is beyond it is uncontrable, it is truly beyond words, i still can't digest it. "you know, even after 24 hours, it is so outrageous and as vanessa pointed out, the israelis, i mean, is there a law that

they haven't broken in in any jurisdiction, in under any convention, i i don't know at this point, but the americans have to be held responsible, and and a proper government, a real government, a one that cares about international law, a civilized government, would have immediately cut ties with the israelis, uh, a long time ago by the way, but after this act, let's say, cut ties and cut exports and..." held emergency session, called for emergency session at the un security council and apologized for for providing these weapons, right? now vanessa, there were multiple countries uh... that and international bodies including united nations for instance, they've all condemned this israeli act of terrorism except the west, so what is this indicative of? well, i mean, as i said earlier, you know, the masks are off, the fact that these us backed zionist attacks on syrian territory against iranian um

military against heizbollah, against these... islamic resistance against syrian uh arab army forces and national defense forces, because as i said we shouldn't forget, israel carried out the attack in the northeast. israel violated syrian airspace and targeted east and west of aleppo, enabling a terrorist attack on on the western uh aleppo access. um, it carried out attack on the research and development center in jamraya on the morning of this assassination. um there the fires were burning for for more than six hours and then finally uh this assassination so in one week you know israel has violated it it's effectively declared war multiple times and it's only because of the restraint of the resistance access that we are not right now

a full-blown global war and the thing is that that israel keeps pushing it keeps provoking um, and even though the response from the resistance has been very much deterrant response, which is understandable, um, to, you know, where do we go next? are they going to bomb the presidential palace? are they going to uh bomb central tehran? mean, this is the thing, to what extent are israel going to push this, to what extent do they want to expand this war? yeah, i don't think they dare to do that in a way. now richard, tel aviv, what is it doing exactly, is it playing global bully and outlaw or rogue regime, what is that israel is exactly doing, given all the crimes it's been committing in gaza, this recent terrorist attack and aron embassy, is there anything on the planet that is not violable for this regime, and then they depict about, they depict iran as a minist to regional security, now there there is nothing

that the zianists will not do, what's funny to me is that... today you can be arrested on the streets of london for saying you support hamas or you support the uh palestinian resistance and the the police who arrest you for this would have been killed by the israelis uh few decades ago because this is the nature of the israelis and they have done this so you know whether we look at the attacks on iran the attacks on on on britain there's a history since the very beginning going back a century of the israelis behaving in this they have effectively invented. modern terrorism and i and i really mean that in the literal uh full sense of of the term, the israelis invented modern terrorism, they they started mailing parcel bombs, letter bombs, planting bombs around london, why wouldn't they bomb their neighbors, this is how they stole the land, is it not, and so because iran is the only ones helping everyone to stand up for themselves and defend themselves, they try and go after

iran, it's that simple, other explanation, so uh richard, we have just one minute, so vanessa, what do you see on the horizon for the west asia region given all this war mongering by the us and israel? i think um escalation is almost unavoidable, mean as i said inside syria now we have um increase in the terrorist attack across all axis, really everybody is waiting to see what iran's uh response will be and then of course uh how uh the zionist will respond to that. so i think we're in abayance, but i think we're we're preparing for further escalation. okay, uh, that's all the time we have for this episode. thank you so much vanessa billy and damascus, richard matthurst in vienna, and thank you for watching this edition of the spotlight. i've been your hostruz, i'll see you next time.

this is home, first was a car, then the house, then i hit the street, that was 15 years ago, we are in los angeles, they are building and modernizing everywhere, the rent is always increasing, the city doesn't know what to do with all the homeless people, this is our main spot for the... the last 19 years, that's most likely to die on the streets if we don't get her off the streets in the next year. for everyone i house, there's probably at least 12 or 20 in similar situation, so that can make... my work very discouraging, housing first is just the first step, they need emotional support, they need support to seek treatment, they need support

to manage life, i have been detained. 10 times since the first interfada or uprising in 1987, i was detained and released 10 times, so i have lot of experience and have lot to say about what

takes place during the interrogations, and about the horrifying stories i heard from my fellow detainees. the first pain when his house is righted by the occupations army, the troops detonate the doors using bombs and then enter the home and begin ransacking it, destroying everything inside, they terrify the children, women and fathers and mothers in plain sight of the...

that prisoner is taken in place side of the children who scream. this also constitutes suffering for the family, for the children, for the women, for the father, and for the mother. on the way to the interrogation, the detainee is physically and verbally assaulted, and here is blasphemous words. the wives or sisters of some of the detainees were also detained and brought to the interrogation. there the men were threatened with subjecting their wives or sisters to sexual abuse, if they refused to... a confession. i personally spent a week, seven

days, sitting a chair with my hands cuffed behind my back and my face covered. i spent seven days without sleep and without food during the fasting month of ramadan. they were giving us just one meal every two or three days. when i was asking for water, they were split. water on the floor, so if you wanted to drink water, you had to drink the water spilled on the floor, so they obtain a decision from the court and sit the detany down and shake him for a long period of time, and that subsequently inflicts a brain injury on him that leaves him either dead or mentally ill. "they strip people of their clothes and put them a wet floor and turn on air conditioners, switching back and forth

from cooling to heating. during one to two days those detainees fall ill due to that method of torture. while the dety is hungry, the interrogator brings. food and begins eating, what hurts more is that the army brings those settlers to the prisons to see how palestinian detaines are humiliated, or subsequently they boost the moral of their people and settlers through showing them the pains of the palestinians who are held in the prisons. what's currently happening in israeli jails is harsher than what happened

in the u.s. attention centers of abu ghraib and guantanamo bay, i can say that they all learned from the same source how to torture and humiliate the people.

your headlines on press tv strongly condemns israel's attack its diplomatic premises in syria saying the regime seeks escalate the... conflict in the region while evading accountability. president raise says the terrorist attack on iran's embassy in syria is a sign of israel's profound desperation and last struggle of falling regie and the world bank says israel's unslot on gaza has inflicted about 18.5 billion dollars in damages to the palestinian territory's critical infrastructure.