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>> this is the main road between beirut and the south of the country. for hours, thousands of people have been trying to go back to their homes. >> we never expected to return and find it like this. we thought we would find everything as it was in see our loved ones but we lost a lot of people we love and so many people we love lost their homes. >> there is a lot of skepticism about whether it is going to hold. they think of the 2006 lebanon war which ended inconclusively and after that war, hezbollah was supposed to stay north of the otani river. they did not. >> if hezbollah try to rebuild their terrorist infrastructure near our border, we will attack them. ♪ >> day one of the cease-fire in

lebanon. many in southern lebanon already returning to their homes. we will hear what they are thinking. get a view from a man who was a long spokesm for the idf. how much confidence is there in israel in this newly negotiated cease-fire? mikey k will be here to look at the russian threat to nato bases in poland and in the u.k. the fbi has reported several bomb threats have been made against a number of donald trump's incoming cabinet picks. we will speak to our correspondent in washington. a very good evening. tens of thousands of lebanese people are making their way home with the cease-fire holding at least for now. traffic jams in long queues formed on the road south even though the israeli military has warned some areas are not yet safe. the truce brokered by the u.s. and france brought an end to 13 months of fighting. tonight president biden said now

it is in place, the u.s. would make fresh efforts toward securing a cease-fire in gaza. as part of the deal with lebanon, israel will gradually withdraw troops from the south over a 60 day period. hezbollah fighters will be removed from the area replaced by the soon bolstered lebanese army. our correspondent has been with people making their way south from beirut. >> early in the morning, they grabbed what they could and headed south. forced to flee because of the war, they did not wait to see if the cease-fire would hold. they were already driving back home. for many here, it was a moment of celebration. >> this is the main road between beirut and the south of the country. for hours, thousands of people have been trying to go back to their homes. they say they have not been

defeated in this war and this is a sign of victory. >> what happened is very good. this is a victory for the resistance. the resistance is our honor and pride. without its existence, there would be no homeland, no south, no nothing. >> it does not matter if the house is still standing or not. the important thing is we are returning thanks to the blood of our martyr. >> five hours later, we arrived in tyre. a journey that usually only takes one hour. this is the city center of tire. the largest city in the uth of the country. i remember being here before this conflict. it was a vibrant place. now this widespread destruction and it is completely empty. this family was visiting their

flat for the first time. an israeli airstrike destroyed a building nearby. the attack was so powerful, it damaged almost everything here. >> i am so sad because my building is so damaged. i don't like this. >> recovery for this country will be long and difficult. for lebanon, it means this crisis is not over. bbc news, southern lebanon. >> the rebuilding effort will be sizable. let's speak to the radio journalist dan harper living in beirut. he stayed in the city during the conflict. what has the mood been like in beirut today? >> traffic jams as always in a root when people mobilize pit --

in beirut when people mobili. the country has traffic jams everywhere because of this today. people are relieved there is no bombing anymore for the 60 days at least. they are also going back to their lives as much as possible. not sure what is coming next. there is that in the air as well. >> why did you decide to stay? >> i have a family here. my children go to school it. would have been so difficult for us to uproot and evacuate. we consider the options very refully before deciding to stay. we felt safe in the area we were at. it was not very nice living here in a country where there are bombs going off every night, but we tried to shelter the children from that as much as possible. we managed to stay through it out getting close to the danger. >> a lot of the people we have spoken to on the program the last two days say the crisis is

far from over. it was already a country suffering from an economic crisis. do you have concerns about where lebanon goes next? >> definitely. we have suffered so things in the last 5, 6 years. since i have been here 25 years, there have been all kinds of things going wrong from the first israeli war to the assassination of the prime minister to the financial crisis, the blast. we have been through so much. there is an element of hope in the air that things will change now. that hezbollah have been weakened pit there is a chance lebanon will learn from this and move on. and will be a peaceful country because it is a great place to be appeared i have had some -- a great place to be. i have had some very happy years here pit there has been so much baluck. they are hoping this is the last bit of deadlock and lebanon can start to rebuild. have a normal life not under --

darker the at -- the elephant in the room is the role hezbollah has. reading comments from the operations unit who say they will continue the path of resistance with even greater determination. how do you think they will be viewed by the non-shieh members of society in lebanon going forward? >> is very different this time around. last time they were seen as the resistance. they got israel out of the south. this time people believe hezbollah brought lebanon into this war. so many people have changed their opinion totally about them. not that they were happy israel were bombing lebanon but happy they were losing some of their power, their grip upon the country which they have had for so long. i think people fear they still a lot of control here and it is difficult to ever remove those weapons. it is all about those weapons

they have. that they are stronger than the lebanese army. people have a lot of hopes now. you hear the international lebanese army now.t is up to the it is very hard for them to go against their own people without civil war. >> thank you for that. the rmer idf spokesman is senior fellow at a foundation for defense of democracies. 37% of israelis in a snap poll said they don't support this deal. one cabinet member said it was a historic mistake. are you any more optimistic? >> good evening and thank you for having me. i am very cautiously optimistic if this cease-fire is a tactical cease-fire that will allow

israelis to go back home, the idf to regroup a bit and for israel to avail itself together with allies to deal with the real menace in the region which is not has below or hamas but the islamic republic of iran. i don't think we will see peace and stability and quiet in the region. not in lebanon and not in israel and not to gaza until that regime is dealt with. if this cease-fire agreement can support that long-term strategic amy, i am cautiously optimistic. if the cease-fire agreement is what will eventually dictate the terms of the end of all the. -- the conflict between israel and hezbollah, it is not a good situation because has below are still around and they still have missiles and rockets and lots of armed men. the iranian regime is still providing -- will still be providing them with weapons and money.

>> you say it will work if israelis can go home. there are 60,000 people who were displaced from northern israel. when do you think the authorities in the north will have enough confidence in this deal to make the decision they can go back? >> you are very right and that is the bottom line here. many people are not convinced. having lived along the border and having been so close to massive destruction from hezbollah, people are very cautious and they do not take the word of the government and not even the military when it comes to telling them it is safe to go back. i think bottom line, it will take a few days at least, maybe a week or so until the dust settles and we entered some kind of rhythm of stability where the are no rockets being fired and the presence of hezbollah operatives or terrorists close

to the border. then maybe people will start going back to their homes. just like on the lebanese side lots of destruction and the houses are ruined come on the israeli side, many committees have been totally demolished by direct fire from lebanon and there is going to be months, probably years of reconstruction efforts that have not even started and i don't think people even know how bad the situation is so there is a lot of work ahead. >> one of the notable things prime minister netanyahu said last night was there was a need to regroup. he suggested there have been some delays with the resupply. do you believe that is why the decision was taken now. was that part of the strategy? >> i believe so. i believe that the current situation with regards to israel's ability to act on its own and to defend itself, defend

citizens and sovereignty as it sees fit has not been 100% to i think that moving on for the future, israel will have to calculate its steps and think about how it can rely, whom it can rely on and alternate sources of weapons and funding its can have in order to be independent and in order to act as it self sees fit to defend itself. i think the current situation is a challenging one. israel is a main beneficiary of u.s. arms sales and diplomatic cover. i think the current situation, israel has made a conscious trade-off between the current tactical situation and long-term strategic objective. lots of politics and lots of interactions between washington

and jerusalem. if this is just a tactical weight, this can serve a long-term purpose pit and this is how it ends, that is probably not a positive outcome for israel or israelis. >> what about gaza? you think it opens the door to a potential cease-fire with hamas? >> i think the chances are higher. we are getting insinuations from hamas leadership or what remains of leadership that there is more willingness. there been reports of egyptian involvement not yet verified. i think hamas are now understanding they are left alone. they started this war on october the seventh. they thought the iranian proxies would join in and the flood would blow out or wash out the state of israel.

of course the situation in gaza is quite the contrary. the results of hamas actions can be seen in gaza. there might be a more realistic view on the situation from gaza. they might come to the conclusion the best and smartest thing to do from a palestinian perspective and especially when it ces to ending human suffering is to surrender, for hamas to surrender, hand over 101 is really hostages. have an end to the war. i think israel would be very susceptible to that situation and it hangs on what hamas will decide to do. >> always grateful for your time. thank you for coming on the program. the other side of the break we are going to talk more on the situation in gaza and what the u.s. administration might do to advance those negotiations.

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>> the u.s. envoy who played a key role in negotiating e cease-fire between israel and hezbollah has been giving his first reaction to the deal. he spent the last year shuttling between washington, israel and the arab -- the various arab capitals. in an interview he suggested the truce opens an opportunity for momentum for ending the war in gaza. >> today, hamas leadership wakes up this morning at 4:00 a.m. their time and says israeli military for the last 13 and a half months of fighting us has been distracted into a two front war and thenow only have one front. second reality is for the last 13 and a half months, we're the largest terrorist organization on the planet was vowing never

to stop and less we are taking care of it and they cut a deal for themselves and they cut hamas out. now hamas is alone and you know o supported this deal? i ran. the supporter of hamas. iran betrayed hamas. they walked away and understood so hamas, you guys are on your own. you are not in delhi anyre in fancy villas to know you are on your own. what president biden said yesterday from the rose garden, these kinds of hamas have not come to the table negotiating in good faith for months. they have hostages, among them americans who are sitting in who knows what kind of horrific conditions for over a year. come to the table. you will not get a deal unless you release the hostages. >> very pleased to welcome the former u.s. ambassador to lebanon jeffrey feldman. interesting to get the thoughts of hochstein and an insight into

what he has been dealing with with hamas. i think perhaps for some people the perception was they were at the table but seemingly not according to the envoy. >> that is right. he has pointed out some good points with how the world has changed with the truce agreement between israel and lebanon to what he neglects to talk about is what are the israeli calculations. benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister of israel's calculations. hamas needs to come to the table and we need to see the 100 hostages released. we need to see the end to the human italian catastrophe in gaza but this is going to be harder than lebanon truce was for is really domestic reasons -- for is really the mystic reasons. there is no one in israel calling for establishing israeli settlements in lebanon. there is no question lebanon is a foreign state. we talk about the weaknesses of the state but no one is claiming is really sovereignty over

lebanon. the extremist parts of benjamin netanyahu's cabinets claim sovereignty over gaza and went to rebuild settlements in gaza. by making a cease-fire deal in gaza, netanyahu puts his own coalition at risk, he puts his own position as prime minister at risk and he makes it harder to avoid the accountability of corruption of october 7, intelligence and security failures and so forth. i agree with what the u.s. special envoy hochstein said hamas needs to think about how the world has changed, and while i hope he is right there is momentum for a cease-fire agreement in gaza, i think it will be much more difficult because of netanyahu's domestic >> the united states plays a role in this pit you have an outgoing president who has nothing to lose. if you were going to put in

motion a negotiation on the basis of palestinian statehood, how would you go about it? >> that is a very difficult question. >> if he sponsored in his final few weeks in office a u.n. resolution on a two state solution, then it would be very hard to unpick, wouldn't it? >> the jcpoa, the iran nuclear agreement was supposed to be hard to unravel also after the head of security council resolution endorsed it and we sell the first trump administration did unravel the jcpoa nuclear agreement. i don't think anything should be considered permanent but can you wall off and make it more difficult to dismantle a pathway toward two states? the biden administration is quite sincere in trying to resolve these conflicts before the trumpet administration comes into congress to at least have the trump administration

starting in better position. >> >> you have 146 of the 193 countriein the u.n. that recognize palestinian statehood including more than a dozen nato allies. if the u.s. shifted its position, it is very likely straight off the bat the u.k. and france would change their position because they have already intimated that is what they would do. >> i would like to see the u.s. try to put down a hard to reverse path to palestinian statehood living off peace and security alongside israel. i just don't think it is going to happen. i think they will try to find a way to get the hostages released, get the fighting over with. but given the fact a stew -- a two state solution for netanyahu is the end of his coalition, i doubt joe biden with his affection not fernand yahoo! personally but has her -- his affection for israel is going to

put the premised are in that situation. >> the other element to this is the arms. the biden administration is pushing ahead with 618 million dollars of arms sales. attacked commission units. the foreign assistance act is ambiguous. no assistance shall be furnished under this act to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the secretary of state has credible information the such a unit has committed a gross violation of human rights. when is congressoing to take a view on that? >> i am disappointed the administration did not follow up the -- secretary of state and defense letters on act tober to the israelis that outlined specific benchmarks for what the united states should be looking at in terms of the type of human tearing access, lifesaving

assistance the people of gaza need. it was a very specific letter which raised the appearance the biting demonstration was going to assert accountability -- the biden administration was going to assert accountability. but they did not follow through. will they follow through now in the last two months of this administration? i am skeptical. doug could ambassador feldman, interesting to get your thoughts. -- >> ambassador feldman, interested to get your thoughts. thank you for coming on the program. several of don's drums -- donald trump's nominees have been targeted according to the fbi. it was aware of numerous bomb as well as swatting incidents. it is when prank calls are made to police to encourage a armed response to the targets home. let's speak to a correspondent in washington. jess parker is there should i did not know whether you were there but there you are. tell us what you know. what is the fbi saying? >> the fbi has said they are

looking at numerous or they have numerous reports of incidents whether it is bomb threats or swatting incidents targeting members of donald trump's incoming administration. you mentioned, gave in a nation of swatting. -- gave an explanation of swatting should when a hoax color calls a police, may be alleges there has been a serious crime to try to direct or dispatch heavily armed officials, a swat team to that address and that can be extremely dangerous. obviously in some cases before in the u.s., even deadly. we have not had any suggestion anyone has and harmed in these instances that what we are hearing is quite a few names emerging as people who have been targeted. among those to come forward themselves and say they were targeted overnight and this is tuesday night into wednesday morning according to donald trump's transition team.

elise stefanik who is his pick to be u.s. ambassador to the united nations. other names as well. lee zeldin who is another cabinet paid for donald trump. he would head up the environmental protection agency to we have heard from a white house spokesperson that president joe biden has been briefed about this and he has condemned any acts or threats of political violence on donald -- and all terms transient team is saying they will not be deterred. quite a serious set of threats we are hearing about. >> could be a volatile few weeks. we will take a short break. the other side of the break, the security brief is coming up. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

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