run, run, no, before they come and find you, grow up till you're taught to fight back. of the israel regime is acting out militarily. it is not only murdering palestinians in the gaza strip, it is carrying acts of terrorism inside of lebanon, also executing targeted assassinations, claiming the lives of tens of lebanese. if the israel prime minister's goal is to push the entire region. to a war, it is

succeeding, the international community's failure to stop the regime is one of the reasons why it is a killing spray. in this of edition of the spotlight we will look at the different aspects of this genocidal war and the war in the wider region and what plans the israel regime has when it comes to the gaza strip and lemodon in particular. first let me introduce our guests. isabella zaydan is academic and political analyst who joins us from damascus. also joining us is peter ford, former british ambassador to syria. i'd like to welcome you both. isabel, first start with you. um, in the past hour leading up to our program, we have been witnessing through different wires and media sources that southern lebanon is being pounded by the israeli regime, and a form manner that is uh

very much above the normal skirmishes and military onslot that the regime has executed against uh southern lebanon. there's even uh of talks of uh which can't be confirmed. i'm just saying the intensity is so high that even one uh particular viewer with a video said that this uh looks like even a nuclear type attack uh but then said it could be a bunkerbuster bomb. i'm saying that just to show the extent of the bombing that's happening. tell us what's going on with the israeli regime at this point? what's going on in their thought process if you can? uh, actually what's happening is just a desperate attempt by the this entity, by this failing regime, because they know that the only way, the only way to get out of the horrific situation they are in, especially netanyahu is to escalate the... situation and they know

that the act of the deterrance is just a dream for the israeli regime, so the only ways they the only thing they could do is just to uh be as criminal as they always have been, because uh this is the only thing they could do, like kill as many people as they could, is just as just like what's happening in gaza, and actually deep... inside like netanyahu and his allies in this crime as a whole regime of course, but specifically netanyahu and his ally and his government, they know that there is no such thing as act of deterrance, they know that nothing will change, they know that the islamic resistance in lebanon will keep supporting gaza, will keep supporting the palestinian people, and they know the people in the northern of occupied palestine. "the people, the

colonizers or let's say the settlers will never never go back to to their places, and they just have to accept this fact, but for netanyahu accepting this fact means going to jail, so he's just he just want to of personalize his so-called government, he just want to personalize his so-called dream country or promiseland country, he just want to make everything about h." himself because he's just doing exactly what the nacis were doing back in the years. all right, so peter ford, maybe you can put things into context for us, given the past few days we have seen what has happened with exploding devices, uh, terrorist act, which uh, really has put the world on edge in more ways than one, and of course, what happened yesterday, and now we're looking at what is been a build-up to the execution of a real fire storm of bombing by this... regime uh in south uh in southern

beirot um what what does that sound to you? are we are we really now looking at this being a fullflesh war? "well, it takes two to tango, and and i don't think that hizolah would be so stupid as to fall into an israeli trap by responding heavily. hezbollah are already responding day by day, just a couple of hours ago, the israelis themselves announced that they'd been on the receiving end of 425 missile attacks from..." from southern lebanon, which is proof that their operations are failing and are likely to continue to fail. i don't think that faullah would give israel the pretext to launch major

operations against infrastructure in lebanon, because that would be crossing a red line which would prompt uh hundreds or probably thousands of hisbollah missiles to reign down on places like haifa and the outskirts of tel aviv of course there would be tremendous israeli attacks as well, but i don't think israel is ready for that, they are trying to intimidate, to bully uh hizbollah, to weaken hizballah and in that way to um force. hisbollah to relax the pressure on israel's northern uh border area, but it's not happening, and it's not likely to happen, i believe. well, uh, if we would take a look at the developments in the past hours or so,

isabella, if we want to take a look at the warnings that uh, the israely war cabined along with netanyahu has issued to the residence, it has said that uh, you should not congregate in haifa. uh, you should uh, there should not be more than two or 300 people for example, out on the streets, etc., and uh, it looks like they based on the reports that they are trying uh at the heart their onslot in southern lebanon to prevent hezbollah from firing the rockets towards hifa and other areas of occupied palestine. um, my question is the same as i asked uh, peter ford, whether we are looking now a war, and if, as peter ford said, it takes to the tango, what you think may be a retaliation or not, to come from hisbollah um, let's just be clear about one thing, i do agree with mr. peter when he said that israel is not stupid enough to to do something that would make things go out of control, because they they

know that they are the losing part in it, and the the best evidence for that is the immigration or let's say the moving of the people of the settlers from the another. of occupied palestine, i also would like to stress that al mukawama, the resistance have always proven to be wise enough to not uh let or allow the israelis to control the battle. hazballah, when they want to retaliate, they would retaliate in a wise manner. it's not for the israelis to decide when they want hizballah to reject. once they send a hit, because we all we all know like the rules of of of war or let's say the the what happens during these kind of wars like if i want to get my rival into war i will just try to make

some meanful or let's say unprecedented criminal let's say in it's a strong word i know but animalistic. acts like what just happened in to on tuesday, so hazballah and resistance as a whole, they always retaliate, but they know when and how, and they would never let the israelis to decide it, of course retaliation will happen, but it's up to hazballah to decide, and these are of course to it's well known to everyone, it's a well classified information that would never that are not gonna be disclosed. like it's hard for the people to tell when and how, but it's happening, and it's for hizballah to decide when and how, because it's not for the israelis once they decide they want to get a retaliation or a reaction from al mukawama or

from the resistance, they would just send a hit or kill people. we are used to them because we are used to these kind of heinous atrocities done by the israelis as a desperate act when they... don't have a way out, so the only solution, as always, is killing as many people as they want, and here i would like to highlight the the lie that is being told in the... on the israeli's media when they keep saying that this this kind of attacks that happened on tuesday is just attack on specific individuals, it's not attack on on the people or civilians and they just try to spread the lie that they are humanitarian, actually first of all it's a big lie, just as big as the lie they tell about gaza when they say that we want people uh we just... just targeting hamas, we're not targeting civilians, this is the first, second, the whole humanity, the whole world

now is under the threat by the threat that the israeli reckless israelis have exploded on tuesday. thank you for that. that is indeed true. uh, but uh, let me let me ask you this, uh, peter ford, in uh, terms of what, uh, intentions the israel regime may have in terms of lebanon. um, we've had one uh, theme that's recurred. and that's something that this regime has said time and again that it wants to pushbollah beyond the latani river uh so it could have the residence of northern israel return and this uh return of uh the residence of northern israel is has been a dominant theme and that is one of the goals that it intends to do uh how far will it go to do that will it go through with a ground operation are we looking at just the air attacks as we have seen now to have picked up in the past hour or so and uh i have a feeling that it's going to go... for quite some time, well i

personally would be surprised if they went through with a ground attack because that would be very costly for them, they would lose lot of tanks and lot of soldiers, and i think nasrallah in his speech two days ago said something like, bring it on, bring it to come with your soldiers and your... tanks into southern lebanon, um, they will be walking to their deaths, um, so i, i, i doubt if there will be a ground attack, but there could be very heavy, unprecedented levels of bombardment, um, but again, i think it's likely to be limited to southern lebanon, because the moment the israelis try to repeat what they did in 2006, in the the brief war of june 2006, they attacked infrastructure

with the result that they were attacked in turn by hundreds, missiles only this time, are much better armed, and those residents of ha had better be making their way very quickly to the shelters. so isabella, if we are taking a look at the speech refer. that are guess there talks about what saysan said to bring it on, i noticed you to smile there, so i'm guessing that hisbollah is very well prepared for that type of an operation in terms of a ground assault onto southern lebanon, and in that respect, do you think then that that is something that may prevent the israel regime uh thinking twice to carry through with the ground operation, given the fact that hazbella is very well prepared. for it uh again, i'm using the reference to uh hezbolah secretary general saying, bring it

to the israel regime. of course, that's a fact, and i would like to commend mr. peter ford and reiterate what he has said, otherwise, why would if if they could have a ground operation as they, i mean, i don't know whether they claim it or they dare to claim it, but if they can have this ground operation. why would they do kind of an operation like the one they did in on tuesday? it is just because they lost hope on let's say killing or combatting the momentum the resistance in lebanon. that's a fact because uh i mean let's say i mean we don't want to talk about i mean it's already been highlighted their biggest failure in gaza when they said that they're gonna have. a month ground operation to combat hamas and at the very same time liberate the the what they

call hostages and let's say something let's mean there is another fact that i would like to highlight remind your audience of let's just not let's just focus on the fact that they had to once they had to kill 200% a massacre nasairat just to liberate four hostages, one of one of whom was killed during the operation, it's a disgrace. while while they have they were able, mean they were offered or they had been offered by uh the reconciliation parties or let's say negotiation parties that they can get all of their hostages if they just accepted the cease fire and the peace offer, but no, it's their criminal, what they are after is again

mr. killing as many people as they can, and what what happened on tuesday is the biggest proof that they will never be able to put boots on the grounds. for them it is just a dream as much as the dream of the act of the deterrance that they dream about like deterring the neighboring countries from or let's say neighboring powers from attacking israel, this will never happen, this will never happen. all right, what about uh the... us here, we need to talk about that a little bit, peter ford, what are we looking at in terms of again the statements they make out on the public and what uh really may be on their minds? i mean, are are they? i mean, this has always been one of the questions that i've wondered what the real answer is, whether is the us supporting israel just through military equipments and arms and armaments, or are they actually advising them

or are they actually encouraging them? because we are looking at different. aspects of this, not only genocidal war against palestinians in the gaza strip, but also in other fronts, like v lebanon and this case, i should say on southern lebanon. well, actions speak louder than words and the actions that we witness are the constant supply of israel with the weaponry, which allows these excesses and these atrocities, if the americans were serious, they would cut off the arm. supply, but in terms of rhetoric, they try to be clever by appealing for restraint, by making diplomatic noises, but it's it's it's so hollow, i don't think it convinces anybody these days, it's so performative, and in the more private moments

even with microphone in in front of him, jake sullivan, national security advisor said he was glad that israel had made its attack on bayrut and killed a man who was bolah commander who had caused american as well as israeli blood to flow. it's quite clear that they are 100% behind what israel is doing, but to conceal their embarrassment at having such unsavery. allies, they use rhetoric to make it appear that they're trying to use diplomacy. all right, so isabella, there is a school of thought out there among some of which they say that what is happening between the israel regime and hasballah, the outcome of it is going to be very much pivotal in the

decision that or the goal that israel has that if it were in any shape or form to prevail over his. that the next stop would be iran and therefore this fight that is happening here is very important obviously for there to be for hizballah to prevail over the israeli regim is is that angle or is that point of view accurate looking at it as if this war was to be defeated in this war then the regime would pull through would go and target iran and that is the all ultimate goal here? you mean the ultimate goal of israel? yes, to come back. it's funny. mean, we're not talking when talking about iran, we're not talking about, let's say just an ordinary country. um, i mean, the word, the whole word now has come to the fact to know that iran is now has become a regional power, and of

course what the word like to call it iran proxy. in the region as whether hezballah or the pmf in iraq, these are not, these are translation of the will of the people, the the the powers we have in the region, whether in lebanon, in iraq, in yemen, it's a normal result of the atrocities done by the americans and their brat israeli, i mean if if the the if they were... world has applied international law to israel as much as they apply it on countries and governments that america doesn't like, we wouldn't have come to this resultment. the only reason we have resistance power like hazballah, like the pmf and iraq, the one in yemen, we only have

these because people were subjected to an unprecedented injustice done and and atrocities done by the israeli regime, and the world had never stopped this. regime from doing this their criminalities, so this is why we have what is called resistance powers in the region. second of all, when i mean it's i mean i can't do anything but laugh when when i think about the hypothesis that the next step for israel would be iran, like iran is very strong country who has been under economic siege. for many years, yet they have managed to to have like this political military, economic thrive

throughout the past year, of course it's been hindered by the economic siege that the western powers have imposed on iran, yet they have managed to become a regional power that would support the resistance because they are reunited. by one cause which is the palestinian cause, israel have failed in gaza, israel have f has failed in in lebanon, southern lebanon, um, they didn't survive in a small in the small city of gaza, how would they survive with - powerful country like iran, it's just a joke like what, those who says that, it is just a joke, and america, and the proof to that is that the united state had made it really clear to the

israelis, we are not, if you are thinking of any act of aggression against iran, we are not thinking of moving one tank for you. although your respectful guest said something about actions speak louder than than words and i do agree with that. because america always says contrary, do contrary to what they say, however, however, there are some red lines that can never be crossed, america, when it comes to iran, regional power and countries, other countries who chose to be economically and politically independent, they know their lead lines, they know their limits, they know like they would go into action, they will never survive. peter forward h to sound like a broken record, but this whole notion is uh always being uh put out there practically, the fact that israel's dream, or should i say netanyahu's really dream is to pull the us into a military

confrontation with the islamic republic, do you think that uh that is something that still remains to be uh a dream or is netanyahu really wants to make that a reality by doing what is doing to southern lebanon in the hopes that somehow there will be then a uh support. to come from the islamic republic of which then the us needs to get pulled into it uh by i might i dare say by default? yes, i do think it's part of netanyahu's calculation to try to exploit this current crisis to try to drag in the united states, to get the united states to be involved in conflict with iran. um, but same time, i doubt if netanyahu really, really believes that this is achievable, um, just as recently

as last april, we came very close to this scenario with iran sending rockets and missiles into the heart of israel, and still the united states would not be drawn into the conflict, except in a defensive. manner, and i think the americans themselves have certain red lines, the pentagon in particular, does not want hot conflict between the united states and iran at this point, um, but netanyahu will do his best to provoke and to drag america in, even though i really don't think he's going to succeed in that. in the meanwhile he can enjoy the acclaim that he is receiving from the supporters of israel in the west who are enjoying israel's

technological superiority, the what they think is the humiliation of hispalah by using their illegal techno weapons, and i think it's instructive that israel does not dare to claim responsibility for its handywork, why? because it knows that this the these technological innovations are illegal as well as indeed, thank you very much, we're going to end it there, that was peter ford, former british ambassador to syria, isabella zedon, thank you so much, academic and political analys from damascus, thank you to you both, with that we come to an end for this edition the spotlight from the team, it's goodbye,

this is forest in today's episode. will be explaining how the british state is abusing anti-terror legislation to suppress criticism the zinus entity's genocide in gaza and pograms in the west bank. the single remaining condition is that she's not allowed to discuss the palestinian resistance. now that's a very very curious uh condition to have on your bill. how on earth she can possibly uh report on on the the resistance to occupation without mentioning the palestinan resistances is anybody scares so it looks like attempt to... continue to to uh stop her, to gag her from from doing her work. palestine action campaigners were being arrested for moving against the elbit systems site in lester, yeah, but yet the police investigating them were using nice systems, which is partly owned by elbit systems in their investigation. nice systems has even been able to insinuate itself into the communication between the police and the crown prosecution services.

press city headlines, this hour. lebenon's hisbolla resistance movement fires a barrage of rockets at israel's military bases and arms facilities deep inside by. by territories, more palestinian civilians are killed in gaza as israel regime continues air and artillery strikes on various areas cross the blockaded territory. and iran's president mas calls on the un to fulfill its responsibility and to hold israel accountable over the genocide in the gaza stret.