crisis, devastating wars, terrorism, the israeli lobby, crackdown, diplomacy: israel war mingering agenda.

of hello and welcome to press tv spotlight, i'm marza hashimi, thanks so much for being with us. all tuesday has been the second day of the israeli aggression against the lebanese nation, though today was less intense than monday, the zionist regime still killed more lebanese civilians. so far, israeli regime has murdered at least 558. lebanese, including 50 kids in its bombardments of the country. meanwhile, hezbullah has continued its retaliatory attacks on various military targets throughout the occupied territories. stay with us as we take a look at the latest on this edition of spotlight. i'd like to welcome my guests to the program. out of london, back to sobate. and political

analysts and sayid muaz shah executive director center for islamic law and human rights out of karache. thank you both for being with me. i'll start this off in london and batul. mean batul, your thoughts after of two days of watching the israeli aggression that is taking place in lebanon. um, tell me your thoughts of the timing and the actual goal? so the strategic outcomes of the israeli occupation entities escalation in the north is to ultimately split the ghazan and the lebanese front from one another. in their assessment uh they decided to place all of their offensive efforts on ghazza since the start of the war because they considered that the easier front to defeat essentially, but the northern front has been bleeding them as we know for the past. and so they were forced

to place their elite bettaliens there to confront the lebanese resistance, it reached a point where two-thirds of their elite military batalions were placed in the north, so now this means that they haven't achieved either goal, they haven't defeated the ghazan resistance and certainly they they are nowhere close to harming the islamic resistance of lebanon, so in their assessment now, if they focus the majority of their efforts on the northern front, they hope to pressure the resistance enough to reduce its for gazah after that they'll be able to refocus all of their efforts in gazza again, so here it is where the psychological war against lebanon is so important for them, to make it seem to the lebanese people, this is israel's goal, to make it seem that the resistance, islamic resistance is dragging them into a war in which they will end up like gaza, i mean just yesterday i i spoke with a relative in lebanon who shared how high actually the spirits are amongst the people despite those... this bombings showing

us that actually they are not succeeding in their goals, you know, you have those lebanon who are offering to donate their eyes to those who lost them in the pajer attacks, you have christians who are opening up their homes to misland. and churches too, you have the people chanting all for you, we we pail in comparison to your sacrifices, so no matter how many f35 jets are flying overhead, all missiles reigning, this resilience cannot be destroyed, you have homes and possessions that yes they can be lost, but that determination of treading the path of truth over humiliation is something that uh cannot be extinguished and as we know none of this is new to the resistance or the steadfast people of lebanon, you was... in 2006, the resistance today is even hundred times stronger than it was back then, so blood has the effect of making that resistance um, any resistance stronger, and the resistance has really set its goals and has been achieving them, and civilian killings in lebanon will really only hasten the attacks against the israeli occupation entity, and bring it

closer to its demise that those within the entity themselves, like top major general yeitack break is is estimating that give it two more years and this occupation entity will come to a comp collapse, well said, your thoughts, i mean, because we saw of course uh, last week the israeli terrorists attacks on lebanon, on thousands of lebanese people, um, with the walkietakies and with the pagers, and then several days later, uh, then it starts these massive airal bombardments of lebanon, do you think that the israeli regime thought that uh they had inc. capacitated um hezbolah or had uh inflicted enough damage that hazbullah would not respond or are your assessment of the timing of both actions, the terrorist attacks last week and then the

israeli bombardments this week. absolutely, i think you you you've hit it on the nail there, the israeli aggression uh wanted to do a preliminary strike into the... hisbullah stronghold with this pager attack that really is the talk of the international community and the violations of international law that have undergone and the use of technology uh the abuse uh you can say and there's a huge distrust going around in respect to that and then immediately after that we see the israeli aggression uh bombarding all the way up to beirot so it's not even southern lebanon but they are bombing all over the country uh as you mentioned 558 people and as the health minister firas abiad mentioned, most of them are civilians, you in which there's children, women and children, there's been 89 shelters set up for all the displaced people, ironically the ongoing situation in syria, lebanon was hosting refugees, there's

reports that the syr around the syrian border that lebanese are fleeing into syria, so the situation is just going from spiraling to a wor situation: we just got news today that unhcr representatives were hit uh in beirut, um, and that clearly shows that, i don't what sort of strategic strikes and all this technology that israel claims, but civilians seem to be the the victims of of their oppression, and then top of that, we we clearly see some of the hints of the political goals, uh, israely military leaders are saying that they haven't ruled out a ground offensive uh in lebanon, uh, also hearing now this discussion about pushing the hizbillah beyond the litani river um and they're saying that the un or the lebanese army should be there on that southern strip uh this is this is now increased agenda, new item because the war in gaza for them has

been going unsuccessful as my colleague batu has mentioned and now they want to exasperate the matter with lebanon and and in fact i'll be honest with you they're trying to... fought even further to get other parties involved to create a regional conflict. israel is wanting escalate the situation and inflame other countries to get involved. we just heard president biden in the united nations um claiming that you know he wants that peace deal that he put together with with the ceasfire with qatar and egypt, but these are falling on empty years. now we have the situation in lebanon and you know with president biden's help going out and the election around the corner. "i don't even think the united states is in any position to actually even start peace talks or even try to push israel for it. israel at netanyahu has tossed the united states to the side. i mean we see this day and day out from all the way the incident from uss's liberty today that israel doesn't even respect the united

states. well, let me just jump in here, said maaz, let me just jump in here, because with what you're saying, you feel that perhaps united states is not in a position uh even um talk about..." out of cease fire, get it implemented, but isn't the reality that if the united states demanded the israeli regime to stop the genocide in gaza today and to stop bombarding um lebanon, do you not think that it would only take a phone call or that they could immediately have this implemented or how do you see it? well, i'll be honest with you, i mean we we do hear about how the united states has been supplying weapons and munitions, and you're right, there is an impact to that uh, we we just recently few months ago when the uk had a change of government, they banned certain weapons, canada had that, but that you know of course was like drop in the ocean that needed happen uh, to be honest, i don't even think that the israeli lobby would allow the executive

branch of the united states to actually even implement something like that, so i mean it's it's it's it's like on paper, but in reality we know how strong the israeli lobby is with apac and other organizations there, and and they're not listening to biden, i'll be very honest with you, and biden can be saying all is become irrelevant, and i don't see anything uh meaningful happening, i really think that either the european union or the... chinese, someone else has to step up, and we're looking at the shanghai cooperation organization about to hold their summit, maybe there might be something coming out of there, because uh, this is a pressing situation that could really inflame the entire region with lebanon now being engaged. okay, well batul uh, said was brought up a couple of points especially about the uh what has happened at the united nations general assemble, i want to look at the gathering of the leaders of the world. in new york right now, i mean, and nothing really concrete is

coming out of it. i mean, there has been, we saw the secretary general gateras actually talking about the situation that is taking place, well the genocide in gaza, and also what is happening in lebanon right now, but again, falling way short of actually sanctioning or implementing measures against the entity. that started it uh, your your take on this, i mean, and to be in the middle the united general assembly and its meeting, and to have this entity just continue to expand its uh crimes against the people of the region. we need to look always at the israeli occupation entity as essentially an extension of the west, it is a us project before it is anything, so when america is uh, you know, so to speak defending the israeli occupation entity or sending it. arms and supplies, it is because it is its project, its weakness is a reflection of america's

weakness, so there is no way shape or form that america can allow the israeli occupation entity to weaken in any way. now if it was to for example remove netanyahu, or and by the way, america can do 101 things its disposal exactly as you mentioned, for example if it just put bengivir and rich and netanyahu on the terrorist list, i mean that is enough right, it it can in retrospect. cut the supply of arms, and if it did that, if it stopped supplying its weaponry, the israeli occupation entity wouldn't be able to continue this war. the problem is it wouldn't do this because it won't allow, it cannot allow its project to fall at the hands of the resistance axis. accountability for the failures of the israeli occupation entity, and america has a problem with the failures the israeli occupation entity, by the way. america looks at israel and says, we've given you ample supplies and ammunition, what have you done for this past year? "you no, you've not done anything except kill civilians, you've not achieved a single strategic military objective on the ground in ghazza,

you've not released a single hostage, and now you want to go to the northern front and you want to aggravate it even further, and to drag us into a war will only jeopadize our interests further in the region, because if this turns into a all all out regional war, um, you know, our bases in the region are under threat, we created you in order to protect our interests, you know, not for us to now have to protect this little dying. entity, so that accountability that we're describing, yes, there is a difference, a sheer difference and contradiction between the american strategy and my opinion and the israeli occupation entity, and i'd argue even within israel you have a difference, so for example, you you have the camp of lepid, um, you have the camp of beny gants who want to see actually an end to this war, they wanted to see an end to the war in gaza, and if other than netanyahu was in power, most likely you would have had the seas far proposal pushed forward, but it's not in america's interest. to apply ample pressure on the israeli occupation entity in a way that weakens it and that gives leverage to

the resistance access, so this accountability that we're describing that will happen post war. right now it's in a state of emergency, always think of it like that, it's like your house is burning, if your house is burning, you'd want to stop the fire essentially and you'd want to treat the fire um rather than you know focus on like the problems um or focus on like i don't know the dirt that's in the house to them netaniau signifies the dirt in the house in the... middle of raging fire, they need to stop that fire and they need to deal with the situation that um doesn't aggravate it further, but ultimately we also have to remember it's election period, during election period um there is... lot more room for someone like netanyahu to maneuver um and the west um especially america is not going to take a really decisive decision so i think the situation that we are seeing is likely to continue in terms of the level of aggression, this new rule of engagement that's on the ground in lebanon, which is as follows, um, the resistance can can target an open account

fashion up until hifer, so we're looking 60 kilometers into the border of the occupation entity, the israeli occupation entity can bomb... of lebanon indiscriminately right now, this is what we're seeing, except for dahia, it's not being bombed indiscriminately, that's more targeted um visav, the lebanese commanders, i think that equation will continue at least until the the american elections are over. i think post that we're going to see lot more effort towards negotiation and more effort towards finding some kind of security solution for the situation, but in my assessment i don't think this will turn into an all-out war uh because uh america... doesn't want to get dragged into it in that kind of way, that's an interesting point that you made by too, because we also know that the us is sending additional troops uh to the region, your thoughts about that, said moaz at this point in time, and americans uh, well, the united states announcing that they're sending more troops to the region, and uh, some of them have said, we've heard some excuses that, um,

also to help facilitate uh, its own citizens in lebanon if they want to leave. your thoughts about that? yeah, no, and i'm glad that you brought that up, because uh, the the united states government has told its citizens to evacuate lebanon, um, and there's been an open call for that, so the united states is very well informed, this is not going to only be about southern lebanon, this is not only going to be about hizbullah, this is about netanyahu raising the temperature because he's allowed to raise the temperature and no one is checking him, and political stability depends a war-like footing, and i understand my colleague mentioned that they're probably going to go tit for tat and continue to the election. i do agree with that, but i also agree that israel is going to up the anti. i want to remind everybody that israel had threatened yemen recently over the missile attack that they will get

back at them, so this is something you have to understand, nenyahu is at this petty game and he is raising the... issues that is going to create a conflagration and i want to remind the viewers that the president of iran uh posesian he mentioned that hisballah cannot stand alone with all this pressure from the west and the european union that now it's that we cannot allow lebanon to become another gaza so you know there is this this sentiment that this thing could get wide scoped i mean could get involved very easily where the golan heights, we know that could be another flash point, if lebanon's not enough for netanyahu, he could create a situation in syria as well, do not underestimate that, yemen is definitely on the table, this is not, we are we are, i guarantee you there is going to be further escalation from israel before the election, and that's going to put america in a

precarious position regardless of it's camala harris or trump to how they're going to get out of that situation. and they have allowed israel to go on this nautiness, i don't what other words to, basically like naughty child is going on causing wars and conflict in the entire region without any repercussion, and it's going to implode, because the patience level is really what's being tested, we've seen what israel did in iran and tehran with the killing of hamas his leader, we also seen the activities that they been going around, even in yemen, if you if you recall now lebanon, gaz has been going on already. egypt's been threatened um so i mean this is something that you know not to be taken lightly and i and and i i hate to sound like a pessimist but this is going to get lot worse before it gets better before the election well but to your thoughts i mean because at this right now as uh we are speaking we know that the retaliatory uh attacks are taking place by hazbullah um very

strategic attacks very interesting the military bases and um place. that have been hit by hezbullah, it seems that that iron dome is not uh working as much as the israeli regime tends to think, mean your thoughts on these uh current retaliatory actions that have been taken by hezbullah? absolutely, um, the islamic resistance of lebanon has expanded the fire within the last day to cover 110 kilometers, it targeted lots of strategic uh sites, today up to 18 operations um targeting for example the maggido military airport, targeting the ramat david base several times, targeting the amos base, targeting the explosives uh... factory in the area so really kind of strategic areas that if we remember the hoodhood fittage that was um going around you know taking photos and

and episodes to to show the world the vulnerability of the entity right now it is being struck um we're seeing in ha over 30000 settlers went to hide in the shelters um as it was struck um including today so so um we cannot underestimatem um the strength and the potency that the islamic resistance of lebanon is showing and also um the uh israeli occupation entity um it imposes military censorships and bands um that basically through which they want to shield their um settlers from the knowledge of the level of the attacks but still the settlers of course are afraid as the sirens ring um they feel post october the 7th there is no sense of real security i think. "moving forward, we're going to see the supporting front ram up, i do believe we're going to see yemen become more effective, um, we're going to, well, it's expected that the iraqi resistance will

kind of increase its hit, so the the fronts will expand within the general rule that the closest fronts will fight um until the israeli occupation entity is weakened, i expect uh iran to not get involved directly, it will retaliate as it promised, but not to get directly. involved like the other fronts, nor do i think that that's the most productive and and needed method. um, in terms of preparation for more special operations, i think that's also going to take place, whether from sea, ground, launching an offensive in areas inside the occupation entity, um, with preparation for a potential ground offensive, now we need to understand that the islamic resistance of lebanon actually wishes for the occupation entity to ground invade and to face them rather than target civilians from the sky, because that will become a kind of trap for the occupation entity where they'll target them much more easily and harm them greatly on the ground, you know, and theoretically the entity can go beyond the borders demarcated, but i don't think they're currently planning for a ground invasion soon, because bear in mind uh the

resistance is kind of waiting for them in ambush to put them in that trap. okay, your thoughts, said moa's last question, i mean, do you think that the regime will actually initiate this uh ground invasion um, that it says it it will do uh, your assessment of that, and if they do um, "give me your overall perspective of where do you think it will go? completely echo those thoughts of my colleague, she's right, if there's a ground invasion, the upper hand will be with hisbullah, because that's their land, we understand that even in gaza almost 60% of the tunneling system is still operational according to certain reports, so uh that's going to be the home front, israel is going to suffer drastically, but they may have to do that, because i don't think..." they can continue just aerial campaign and kill more and more civilians and then have the situation go even further south for them politically, so i think they will try to uh

do a ground invasion and maybe limit it, but it will be costly. let us also not forget very important point i was mentioned in the last conversation just now is that hisbullah has been targeting military bases, their naval base, air base for the israelis, the ammunitions depo, and what has israel been doing? israel has been targeting civilian areas, they claim that they're targeting hisbullah, but as the health minister said, most of these 558 people who have died and then many more who are injured are actually civilians and not hisballah, so the moral ground is with the resistance, and that is that is what's the most important thing, all right and on that note, i have to him so sorry to interrupt you, but i think both of you for being with me on this spotlight, activist and political analys out of london said, executive director, center for islamic land human rights out of karachi, and thank you viewers for being with us on another spotlight, i'm marsia hashimi, hope to see you right here next time, goodbye.

the state of our world is uns. sustainable, we can't go on like these, and second, the challenges we face are solvable, but that

requires us to make sure. sure the mechanisms of international problem solving actually solve problems. gaza is a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it. nothing can justify the collective punishment of the palestinian people. the speed and scale of the killing and destruction in gaza are unlike anything in my years a secretary general. "more than 200 of our own staff have been killed, many with their families, and yet the women and men of the united nations continue to deliver humanitarian aid. the international community must mobilize for immediate cease fire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and the beginning of irreversible process towards a two-state solution. "for

those who go on undermining that goal with more settlements, more land grabs, more incitement. i ask, what is the alternative? how could the world accept a one state in which a large number of palestinians would be included without any freedom, any rights or dignity? look no further than lebanon. we should all be alarmed by the escalation. lebanon is at the brink, the people of lebanon and the people of the world cannot afford lebanon to become another gaza.

yeah.