as hundreds of people have marched. hello and welcome to press tv spotlight, i'm marza hashimi, thanks so much for being with us. the tension between the lebanese resistance movement, hezbullah and the israeli regime has been increasing since october of last year, when the regime started its latest genocide on gaza as rockets and missiles have been sent back and forth between the two on saturday and explosive device hit the occupied golan heights area town of mager shams, now 12 drew. kids were of

killed a football field. the zionist regime immediately blamed hezbolah for the attack and the resistance group said it was not responsible, and that is really anti-missile interceptors from the iron dome had misfired or gone off path, but what has happened since then is increased beating of the war drums by the regime. where is all of this going? we'll take a look at the possibilities on the spotlight. i'd like to welcome my guests to the program out of beirot, daniel yikich, author and researcher, thank you so much daniel for being uh with us. well, i mean, if we look at both sides, we can evaluate which one has a history of killing kids and which one does not, which one has a history of lying, and which one does not? i mean, your thoughts on this overall? absolutely, as you're saying, it is very clear, and what could... that that one side emerged as a

response to the genocidal existence of the other, so what we see in the last days in the zianist entities political communication is very much a continuity of what they've been doing for so many years. has been very open in its communication about its strategies and goals throughout the past eight months when it intervened into the ongoing genocide uh in gaza. so what we've seen the last two days designist entities communication around the events and the syrian golden heights that are under illegal israeli occupation shows once again that the israeli regime is looking for more excuses and more justifications to farther escalate the current situation even though knowing very well that it would not be able to face a broader war with the lebanese resistance at this point so so what does that mean? that daniel, on the one hand, they are

not doing very well in gaza, at least from a military perspective, against the palestinian resistance, but on the other hand, they want to expand now um on the northern front, i mean why would that be the case? so this is very good question, because if we look at it from the strategic perspective, this entire operation has been a failure for for the israeli military, the only strategy it has had is to kill uh people to committed genocide to bombard and starve the population uh in gaza at the same time it is involved in a fight in the north of occupied palestine against the palestinian resistance, it is also uh an ongoing war, as we've seen also in the last weeks increasingly with with yemen, there is involvement of the iraqi uh resistance as well and so on um so the israeli regime is generally um losing because the only thing at the same time and this is the very... inherit contradiction in

designist project is that it necessitates violence and the continuity of of war, because the moment israeli regime stops killing and oppressing uh would be... basically very much mean the end of of the israeli regime, at the same time we also need to keep in mind that the current netanyahu regime also depends or basically it survival depends very much on the continuity of the war because of the internal problems and political scandals within the the zionist regime and at the same time it manifests it it's dependence on on western aid on these ongoing wars. all right, well turning to karachi, well... me sayid moaz shah, executive director, center for islamic law and human rights to the show. well, sayid muaz, um, un monday, various countries from the western hegemonic front have warned their nationals not to travel to lebanon, along with airlines from these nations, stopping

their flights and warning of an imminent attack by israel. mean, your thoughts on this, is this psychological warfare, or do you think the israeli regime will attack and will it be? more of attack than what we have seen in last 10 months, i mean your assessment of it all? thank you very much for having me and and it's really sad that we are hearing this news out of southern lebanon, what's going on? as you know, the attack is as per the israelis and some of their officials have admitted that this was in retaliation to what happened earlier in the golan heights and as we know hizbullah has completely denied um any activity according to that and i think... another thing that your viewers should know that the town that was attacked in the occupied golan heights was actually drews dominated and we have a history of isis targeting jews communities so this could be someone spoiling the pot to create further conflict in the region and

israel is not you know reacting to it responsibly obviously they need excuse and that's what they they're trying to play this out to be and this is so-called retaliation to that but the foreign minister of lebanon was very clear cut with the international community, he basically said if it's going to happen this time it's not just going to be his full law, so i think this is very interesting because this is a spoiler, and we know netanyahu's precarious position, he's just in the united states, he's had meetings with biden, now that's transition, trump, he had kind of a mysterious meeting, there was a handshake issue that happened, so we don't know where netanyahu exactly stands, and for him "this continuance of a war is what's necessary, and if we recall the conflicts in the past when he spoke about the uh the airlines and traveling that the western nations have suggested, there's this, there's a fear that you know israel, we know its actions, what happened in ghaza, they're going to do the same thing over in in in

southern lebanon and all of lebanon, and therefore the airports will probably be a target, and this is something that they're notorious for doing, they've did it in the past, they targeted the tv." if you remember um and many other civilian infrastructure sites uh just to hurt uh lebanese civilian population um we israel doesn't have very good record of even dealing with the lebanese civilian population let alone the palestinian one so i don't think we can expect anything that for much and i think the scare is really about the airport closure and this is the reason why you the western nations are always quick to kind of jump on that first well what about that daniel mean you're you're sitting in big route: overall tell me the vibe in the country right now? so it depends on where you go, obviously, despite lebanon being a rather small country, there is obviously of course lot of differences graphic fragmentation, but

also you know the class play plays a particular role, and of course the situation in in beirot is different than it is from the south or in other regions of the country, but um daily life continues very well to some. extent um as we've heard now some airlines have postponed or cancelled their flights, but it's also important to stress that this is not the first time that has happened, it had happened before in in october at the beginning of the current ongoing escalation, so to some extent yes there is worry that there may be uh a further escalation that there may be an israeli attack, but at the same time it is not necessarily a new circumstance for many people and um unfortunately um, it has been a situation now that has been ongoing for for 10 months, so it is of course very sad to say, but there has been a certain, it has become normalized to some extent uh to to live with this presence of israeli intensive israeli aggression and potentials of father

escalation a daily basis. well, um, said, i want your perspective, i talked to daniel a little bit early about this, but again, talking about the israeli regime and not being able to have. attacks that it would definitely respond in kind, meaning that if it's a more stronger attack than it had been, that means the response from hezbullah will also be stronger. mean, your thoughts on that? well, i think you're absolutely right, there's an interplay here, we have obviously that statement from hizbullah earlier, and we seen there was a lot of action on the front, but specifically the israelis are commenting on that this current scenario. is in retaliation to that strike that happened on that drews town in golan heights and again

i'm emphasizing this there's a spoiler alert here where i think that you know because hisbullah when it does action it admits to it so there was a third party that was involved in this strike that has created the current case scenario let me just jump in here let me just jump in here said so um you don't think that the israeli regime itself could be responsible for this because we also have report some people who were who've actually were eyewitnesses that said it was a malfunction by the iron dome. yes, yes, thank you for thank you for highlighting that of course we need investigator to find out, but i think absolutely what you're mentioning here - need not forget that we know isis and the relationship that it may have with israel on the back channels, we've we've uh discovered already throughout the many years of investigating isis, israeli musad agents have been found infiltrated in leadership positions, so clearly, i think there's something here that israel wants to create

this scenario so that it can justify another southern lebanon invasion, and i quote the israeli officials who commented on this, that the we are planning for few days of fighting on the border, so there was already kind of a plan that they were going to go in and they needed some sort of attack or some sort of scheme, now let me tell you, whenever hisbullah does attack, they say this is us, they're clearly saying this is not. us and so here we have a scenario where i think we really need to critically look at this, someone is trying to spoil the pot and i think netanyahu needed this so that he can create this other case scenario when he comes back from america and so and as you know he's even blamed the defense minister for the what's what's happened and there's talks about removing him and as you know he had left the war cabinet earlier so this is very interesting there's is really political situation going on at the same time that we should give time and investigate and find out. "what is the reality behind all what's going on what we see today on southern lebanon? well uh, daniel, your perspective, i

mean, how likely is either of these scenarios? one, the us dealing with all of its current problems and an election in a few months does not want to get involved in a war in this region, or to the us wants a war, because americans become more united during a time of war, and the country is currently quite divided." " yeah, both are possible uh, i mean in the end, the us political elite is loyal to design lobby rather than of course to its own um citizens, so very much the geopolitical interests of the israeli regime are at the center of decision making in washington to see as well as is the investment of money from uh from apac and other parts of the zinist lobby, and of course here at the center are the so-called security concerns of the israeli regime, so depending on how the... situation continues in the next month, mean i think doesn't there obviously will not be any any difference

regardless of which part of the bipartisan regime that the democrats or republicans uh win the election um at the end uh of this year, but uh the the very strong role that the us media has of course played in especially as we've seen in the past weeks in terms of shifting the focus towards smaller um issue. between those two parties um rather than of of course the genocide isn't anymore part of the headlines, i think um that doesn't really uh become a major issue there, the israeli regime will continue to have the full backing uh of the united states and should it seek a further geographical expansion uh of uh of this war in that case as well? well said moz your perspective, i mean is it that the zianist regime has reached a dead? in gaza and knows it cannot win militarily, so it wants to expand the war

and bring in the us and its allies to divert attention from its failure with the hopes that the allies then could win a regional war. how do you see this? absolutely, and i think this is something that if we again go back to netanyahu's meeting with trump, which still people are trying to find out and analyze what it meant. we don't know if there was a kind of a mutual, there was some points whereu even donald trump said that we might be prepared for world war 3 uh. okay, we're having some technical difficulties there in karache, hopefully we'll be able to reestablish that connection with said maz, well daniel, i'll throw that same question to you, i mean your thoughts on that, is it that the israeli regime just, i mean they cannot do anything militarily, cannot be successful militarily in gaza, and that you're just trying to divert attention now and bring

others in is very possible and even likely, i mean if we look at uh where we're standing today. 10 10 months into this latest war and genocide on gaza uh the israeli regime is still facing very harsh resistance from palestinians uh in gaza even after uh i mean the numbers are so difficult even site about how many people have been killed uh and and displaced but there is still resistance then uh the other component of the israeli issue of course is that it is internally uh weekend uh it is uh um obviously in dire need. for additional military infrastructure for people uh to participate in this war. we see the ongoing conversation now with the ultra orthodox jews being conscripted into the israeli occupation forces and so on. and at the same time it is uh having a war in the north of palestine another front. so um obviously the question is to uh in in terms of time how long will the israel regime be

able to continue uh this current status quo? now there has always been a dimension. attention to the genocide in gaza that goes beyond gaza, we see the increased even more israeli violence since october in the west bank and east jerusalem as well, so and even without the current crisis, israel regime can only exist with the backing that it gets from the west, so hypothetically of course it's difficult to estimate what may happen, but should there be a further distraction into other directions and geographical expansion the world it would have to in israel's enablers and backers more that could potentially should the israel regime be more weakened be easier way out for them and for their situation. i'm going to stay with you daniel, unfortunately having technical difficulty still with karachi. daniel, if the israeli regime expands the war, it would also

mean a war by the whole resistance front, possible scenarios in your... effective if this becomes a wider war? yeah, so the israeli regime's last land invasion of lebanon was in in 2006, if we don't count the continuous airal invasions of lebanon, and it has suffered defeat from from the side of the lebanese resistance, which today almost two decades later of course is much stronger, has an even larger military capacity and has weapons uh... it hasn't even used yet, so uh it will of course would be an unprecedented uh uh cris, and we also seen the last eight, eight months, 10 months uh the israeli regimes um different and weaker approach uh to lebanon, now of course uh lebanon hezbollah has made very clear they do not want to have a further war, no one in the region wants a war and we need to keep in

mind that all of the resistance movements are defensive movements that were created as a response. so this western back colonialism and imperialism, so should this father expand, i think it will even much, of course, it it could lead to the defeat of the israeli regime, because at the end the israeli regime is a colonial outpost from the west that is implemented and that has a difficult time surviving even without a brother regional war in which it would continue to fight people who are merely fighting to to remain on their land and not not to be killed, so if you look at from this historical, ideological perspective, of course, already the israel regime has been in a in a weakened position, but of course it would be very of course dangerous and unprecedented escalation should it go into that direction father? all right, we joined, sayid moaz has joined us, but by phone, sorry about the technical difficulties, but said moz, mean, every day

we see that the israelis are losing more and more of its reputation on the world stage and that there are growing calls not just from islamic countries but throughout the world that the apartide regime should be dismantled. i mean, do you see this as the beginning of the end for the zionist regime? oh, absolutely. i'm sorry about this connection issue, we're actually facing thunderstorms, but what china has done earlier this week in reconciling the palestinian groups is transformational has. happened, the chinese are playing increased role, top of that, the icj has came up with major ruling this last this month that has really shifted the balance, we have countries that are calling for sanctions, we have countries calling for... arrest where this is something like you said that not just islamic nations there is a global call and that's why i also think to be honest one of the factors why israel's trying to tease the lebanon

issue is because of the icj ruling they want to shift that uh that momentum because of the pressure that's from that ruling that's going to affect them uh dealing with palestinians so in order to shift it to something else to shift the conversation they're trying to withdraw this attention from gaza from palestine and focus on something. else to that again, it's one of those straw men strategies trying to move on, but like you said earlier, this is going to be a failed, failed failed idea of trying to create a regional war, and what i see happening is do not see the the traditional us allies joining in on this, simply for the reality that this is new world order that's forming, the iran, russia, china a new brick brick countries that are coming together to change the dynamics of this world power. what you just said, let me just jump in here with what you just said was, you said that you don't see the traditional allies coming to the zionist regime because of this new world order uh on

the basically in in the process of being made, but with that being said, wouldn't for example the hegemon of the time and the hegemonic front be threatened by that, and that could cause actually uh blow back from them because of course when you have been in power, it is very difficult to give up that power. i mean, how likely is that scenario? oh oh, you're absolutely right, netanhu given up power is the main issue at hand here, and i think that's something that's going to cause a big deal uh, and and it's going to be a problem for its traditional allies, particularly the united states. uh, the gulf countries that you know have been allies with the united states on this matter, are teetering on the fence line, i mean with the chinese involvement, i'm i'm being very honest with you, i don't think the saudis or the emirates are going to kind of interfere much or or get involved as much because

they're going to look to china, their trade with china is increasing, the relationship with iran is very strong as we know with the united arab emirates and saudi arabia has reestablished those links and egypt to be honest will uh sad to say it will go to the biggest buyer bitter and if the chinese are able to give them something i think they can be also drawn out of the situation. overall situation where you see this going? yeah, mean i agree, i think we we're living in increasingly shifting world order where it will increasingly be difficult for the israel regime to find any way out of the catastrophe

it has caused and it will have to face the consequences one way or another, would that lead to a broather regional escalation? it might get worse uh at some point uh for sure, but um i also to go back to the previous question, do see this as the potential. the israeli regime because there will be no uh way out of it for it to remain a part uh of the so-called international community attor what what what is going on right now all right thank you so much then you'll your judge author and researcher out of beirut and said shah executive director center for islamic law and human rights out of karache and thank you viewers for staying with us on another spotlight i'm hashim be hope to see you right here next time goodbye

there were several fire engines going up towards the fire, but the police did not let them through the fire. these are sickening

scenes, scenes of people... attacking police officers and even attacking fire crews as they're trying to put out fires. there is no disciplinary action and they have license to kill and walk. how often do you get stopped in search? every day, every day, every day.

headlines of press tv, several countries advised their nationals to leave lebanon atmit fears of a potential israeli military operation against the country. israeli general sido war on the gaza strip claims more palestinin lives, the death told now... exceeding 39 36000 among them 10,000 students, and many countries congratulate nicholas maduro on his re-election, while the eu chief says the will of venezuelans must be respected.