voting for hezbollah the result of the general election in lebanon boosts the power of the party the shiite muslim group supported by iran is already influential in lebanon so will more power complicate the complex politics of the middle east this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm how much corruption power cuts rubbish piling up on the streets and looking after huge numbers of refugees from syria just some of the challenges facing politicians in lebanon's newly elected parliament sunday's parliamentary election was the first in nine years and hezbollah was the winner the shiite muslim party with the military wing which is backed by iran want to small majority in parliament and dealt a blow to prime minister saad how do you see who supported by predominantly sunni saudi arabia how do you he's expected to form the next government despite his movement losing a third of its seats it remains the largest sunni bloc in parliament we'll hear from our guests in a moment but first xenophobia reports from beirut. there was a clear winner at eleven on election day. hezbollah

hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the group is backed by iran it's the only lebanese party that has an armed wing and its editorial gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and. for the poli stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had no longer heads the largest block in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community have accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on development and improving the lebanese economy. i disagree with them on many issues and will continue to disagree with them but what do i told the lebanese people. worki

hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the shiite group is backed by iran it's the only lebanese party that has an armed wing and its electoral gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and. before the poll i stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had a no longer heads the largest bloc in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community some accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on development and improving the lebanese economy. i disagree with them on many issues and will continue to disagree with them but what do i told the lebanese

but we are going through difficult times military success and hezbollah particularly needed without hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and every few g. crisis similar to that of syria and iraq a. new protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elite some in lebanon are sick of corruption and divisive religious politics but it seems unlikely that there are enough of them to challenge the overall outcome. and we're joined now by correspondent who is following the story for us from beirut welcome to you what do these elections in lebanon reveal about the power struggles that are currently underway in the country and in the region as a whole. well first about lebanon lebanon is deeply divided society on sectarian lines and that's the legacy of the civil war in many ways and the result of the elections in a way reinforces these fault lines the sea has of water the certain way the sunni's of water to settle in still have the christians but the result of these elections which essentially is a majority for his will and its allies in the parliament would call to strengthen is

we are going through difficult times military success and hezbollah are particularly needed without hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and there are a few g. crisis similar to dance of syria and iraq a. new protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elite some in lebanon are sick of corruption and divisive religious politics but it seems unlikely that there are enough of them to challenge the overall outcome. of the story let's cross over the bench she's in beirut she's director of the highly both foundations middle east office there thanks for joining us this morning the projections show that hezbollah and its allies are set to win over half the seats in parliament why have they done so well in this election. well you know they have been able to mobilize in a much better way than there are plans and mobilizing that is not only convincing voters by what they have to offer that it also tight here is social control over their own rights records tighter social control over their electorate will tell us more about this election in general and iran's influence in the regi

airstrikes as the saudi led coalition tries to dislodge rebels from the capital city and in lebanon hezbollah supporters celebrate big election games with almost all the votes counted the iran backed group has taken more than a third of the scenes in harlem. i'm bored gough it's good to have you with us only the soviet dictator juve's of stalin had more staying power today vladimir putin was sworn in for a record fourth term as president of russia in his inauguration speech he pledged to turn russia into one of the world's top five economies based on high performance and exports campaign with practically no rivals and he won with three quarters of the vote his critics accuse him of corruption and of silencing opposing voices. the start of mr putin's day was carefully stage managed. russian state t.v. broadcast his long walk through the corridors of his office on his way to the ceremony. eventually he arrived at the car waiting to take him on a short trip to the kremlin hold. ten the grand entrance. and the war continued. all choreographed to maintain the suspense some five thousand invited gu

hezbollah on the way to no one did the fall destroy hezbollah has been. a wonderful to them hezbollah and its allies are expected to win the most seats in parliament further strengthening their power which has been growing in recent years. a lot has happened since the last election in two thousand and nine there was political instability the post of the presidency was vacant for two years until late two thousand and sixteen when lebanon's political rivals reached a compromise deal a president was elected a national unity government was formed headed by prime minister saddle heidi that included members of hezbollah. prime minister how he wants to secure enough votes to ensure his leadership of the sydney community and ensure his return to the premiership he has exchanged harsh words with has been our during campaigning but that is an expected part of the election rhetoric in lebanon both sides know they need to work together if they want national unity and this divided nation than of who their leader. last year how far is live in beirut for us to following

for being a co-conspirator with hezbollah, hamas, the taliban and al qaeda? the united states believes you deserve better. and i have an additional point for the iranian people to ponder. here in the west, president rouhani and the foreign minister are often held apart from the regime's unwise terrorists and maligned behavior. they are treated somehow differently. the west says, if only they could control ayatollah khomeini and suleimani, then things would be great. yet, they are your elected leaders. are they not the most responsible for your economic struggles? are these two not responsible for wasting iranian lives throughout the middle east? it's worth the iranian people considering. because instead of helping their own citizens, the regime continues to seek a corridor stretching from iran's borders to the shores of the mediterranean. iran wants this corridor to transport fighters and weapons systems to israel's door steps. indeed in recent months the rogc has flown an armed drone into israeli air space and launched rockets into the golan heights from syr

hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and every few g. crisis similar to that of syria and iraq a view to your. new non-denominational protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elite in this election but that chance is a slim due to high electoral thresholds and old political alliances. and have is our correspondent in beirut has been following the story for us as well let's start very simply we know that polls close a short while ago what's the turnout and like. well the interior ministry in lebanon has said that as of six pm the time was about forty six percent but remember even after that supporters have been outside polling booths so at least in the better for the of the polling booths and they have been allowed to watch until after seven pm which is when they were when the polls were supposed to close so we saw waiting for the final figure though by six pm it was forty six percent and this over the last few hours we've also seen different political parties appealing to that was just to go into high numbers and cost their

party seems to have lost influence while hezbollah has gained what's behind that. well the hezbollah has a pretty loyal be in the sea as in the country feel that under the hizbullah they have done better relatively not all of them of course but the general feeling is that under his beloved she has and the country are not as poor as they used to be the other reason is a broadly hizbullah is seen as a strong military force that doesn't help levanon in fighting israel this country has been invaded by israel a couple of times another reason is that his beloved management cracking clever alliances the power in this country is divided on the basis of sects of muslims and christians and indecl actions you had his. in alliance with the christians and some these didn't have a tory didn't have some of his blood that mort as well because our allies have performed better and the other reason is the sunni water split because they didn't have competition several members of the sunni elites stood up and were competing with her eating. now you mentioned the prime minister saad har

lebanon is even more comfortable home for hezbollah today. than it was when we embarked on the jcpoa. hezbollah is now armed to the teeth by iran and has its sight set on israel. thanks to iran, hezbollah provides the ground forces for the military expedition in syria. the rogc has propped up the murderous assad regime and help make that country 71,000-square miles of kill zone. iran perpetuates a conflict, it has displaced more than six million syrians and caused over five million to seek refuge outside of its borders. these refugees include foreign fighters who have crossed into europe and threatened terrorist attacks in those countries. in iraq, iran sponsors shi'a militia groups and terrorists to undermine the iraqi security forces and jeopardize iraq's sovereignty. all of this during the jcpoa. in yemen iran's support for the houthi militia fuels a conflict that continues to starve theem en-- yemeni people and hold them under the threat of terror. the rogc has give houthi missiles to attack civilian targets in saudi arabia and the emirat

are particularly needed without hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and every few gee crisis similar to that of syria and iraq a view to your. new non-denominational protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elites in this election but that chance is a slim due to high electoral thresholds and old political alliances. let's go to d.w. correspondent who is following the story for us from beirut as well the polls have closed officially but there are still some reports that there are people queuing when they shut. well that is right what's happened is that until this afternoon the watertown arc was pretty low and reports started emerging of how unless such incident invests in their report or not is pretty high so the shia parties have rushed their supporters to watch and vice versa the other parties have done the same thing in afternoon about two o'clock different political leaders appealed to that water to get out in high numbers and walt so essentially what's happened is even though the closing time of the shutting down time of the polls was an hour ago is s

is a professor of politics who knows hezbollah's leader and. he says he has no doubt there will be another war with israel. ever since two thousand and six hezbollah has been preparing for the next battles with. which doesn't mean the hizbollah law will be the one to attack. but. we do defend ourselves as. we have been making sure we are ready. in terms of both personnel and logistics. just. south lebanon is hezbollah a country many the se israel as an eternal aggressor which is why i say many a new conflict is unlikely to be far away. brothers are busy preparing his memorial service it's a common practice among lebanon's shiite population. meanwhile haidar as parents are looking at photos of their son from his time in syria the memories come flooding back. high dose father is overwhelmed he can't put his feelings into words. it takes a. kid every picture has its own memory and brings a feeling of sadness and pain with it. but it makes you proud that he is a martyr. that he dies a worthy of. note. this is the last photo to be taken of hind in l

day hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the shiite group is backed by it's the only lebanese party that has an armed wing and its editorial gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and. before the poll i stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had eighty no longer heads the largest bloc in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community have accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on development and improving the lebanese economy. i disagree with them on many issues and will continue to disagree with them but what do i told the lebane

>> our concern is iranians, iranians and hezbollah. iranians and hezbollah, their ambitions with their readiness to sacrifice their own people, very pragmatic, reasonable guys, not reasonable guys. i think what are facing with the rent is really crazy situation. the iranians in very difficult economic situation. the problems with travels within iran, the situation with inflation. it's very complicated situation. still very, very shaky within iran. and despite all of their domestic problems, they continue to be a biggest sponsor of world terror activity. they spent about $2 billion every year for all this crazy support for terror. you know, in lebanon, hezbollah, hamas and jihad islamic in gaza strip, the houthi tribes in yemen, the shia militias in iraq. they spent about $2 billion every year for this. it's crazy with all their own domestic problems. they invest up until now in syria since this war about $13 billion. and we think that it's biggest problems that the fanatical leadership, they are really crazy, not reasonable. we don't h

graves of lebanese hezbollah fighters who died in neighboring syria. the iran funded parties militias are revered by many shiites in lebannon. in syria the militias fight alongside the troops of president bashar al assad and ally of iran. hezbollah under its secretary general has announced ra is not only a military organization but also an influential political force it's represented in the lebanese parliament alongside with other muslim and christian parties and it's part of the national unity government shiite and sunni muslims and christians are sharing power there lebanon is a diverse country almost twenty religious communities live here but has been as involvement in the war in syria is creating tension between them it undermines lebanon's policy of not interfering in other countries it's a principle all parties agree to the objective was avoiding entanglement with the region's interest groups this country of four million has taken in some one and a half million syrian refugees since then poverty and unemployment have risen sharply and growth has

hezbollah is present in syria. hezbollah is in lebanon.o whatever conflict happens, whether in syria or in lebanon, hezbollah is likely to participate. christopher: and shall not break good prospects. . -- thanks. time to catch up on other stories. officials in gaza say on israeli soldiers shot dead one palestinian and wounded dozens more during the sixth week of protests at the border with israel. two german -- journalists and a paramedic or among the injured. palestinians are demonstrating against the decade old blockade of gaza and america's decision to move its embassy to jerusalem. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo has said america could help rebuild north korea's economy if the country gives up its nuclear weapons. he made the comment at a news conference alongside his south korean counterpart. he added robust verification of any denuclearization would be needed. and south africa's elite police unit has taken over the investigation into an attack on a mosque outside durban. they think religious extremism is a motive. one person die

is hezbollah more than then. hezbollah is armed to the teeth by iran and has its sight set on israel. thanks to iran, hezbollah provides the ground forces for the military expeditions in syria and rgc 2 has propped up the murderous assad regime made it 71,000 square miles of kill zone. aran perpetuated the conflict and displaced more than 6 million syrians and caused over 5 million to seek refuge outside of its borders. these refugees including foreign fighters who crossed into europe and threatened terrorist attacks in those countries. in iraq, iran sponsored shia militia groups and terrorists to undermine the iraqi security forces and jeopardize iraq's sovereignty. all of this during the jcpoa. in yemen, iran's supporting the houthi people and starving others and to threaten international shipping in the red sea. and in afghanistan, iran's support to the taliban in the form of weapons and funding leads to further violence and hinde hinders peace and stability for the people. and covert operations in the heart o

hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and every few gee crisis similar to dance of syria and iraq a view to your. new non-denominational protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elite in this election but that chance is a slim due to high electoral thresholds and old political alliances. the voter turnout is about forty nine percent according to the country's interior minister that's compared to fifty four percent in two thousand and nine earlier we spoke with d.w. correspondent bora and beirut who explains how different parties try to counter the low voter turnout before the polls closed. what's happened this time around is that a few hours before the polls were supposed to close political leadership of different political parties appealed to their waters to get to the voting sent us to the polling booth and vote in huge numbers why that happened because in a certain sunni dominated districts the sunnis that dominate had voted no i beg your pardon so the shias lost their will just to go and the christian parties did the same so in a way in the towards the en

al-jazeera dot com eleven nonce first national election in nine years could result in a stronger hezbollah unofficial results showing the shia group and its political allies have won more than half the seats we're still waiting for the official results but supporters of the iranian backed on group have already been celebrating now despite his popularity in lebanon the u.s. considers it a terrorist school and saudi arabia gulf countries any arab league have accused it of hostile acts now lebanon's prime minister saad hariri has confirmed his party has lost one third of its seats in parliament but he remains in the lead to form the next government as a sunni muslim nisa with the biggest bloc in parliament. we wish to have a better result we wished up a better representation with more shia and christian representatives but we have all seen that the future movement was fighting for the last minute to defend our legitimacy being one of the main components of national unity in the country today we have a new era a new phase today we have challenges i will stay on top of the future bloc and i wil

was installed as a prime minister and then you had a national unity government which included hezbollah ministers now many people will say that compromise deal will continue post elections alliance really have changed the biggest winner of this election is going to be hezbollah and its allies and as of late we've seen their influence grow eleven on the iranian influence while saudi arabia really has been busy fighting the war in yemen and losing its allies in lebanon their main ally was the prime minister saddam he was their man he is no longer their man yes he enjoys good relationships with them after the events in riyadh when he resigned last year but they are supporting other candidates and you have this fragmentation in the sunni community which makes them weaker and makes the iranians stronger in lebanon all right dana thank you for. now the iranian president as well the u.s. that it will face historic regret if donald trump scraps a new deal some rouhani says his government is prepared to respond to such a decision is taken president trump has repeatedly said he wants to leave the

did he faced opposition from within his own community have accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on development and improving the lebanese economy. i disagree with them on many issues and will continue to disagree with them but what do i told the lebanese people. working on services like electricity water roads and instead focus on political challenge lebanon can handle political crises . clearly indicating his willingness to continue working with his political rivals he has led a national unity government since late two thousand and sixteen a cabinet that includes members of hezbollah. and the last election in two thousand and nine it was the pro western approach saudi alliance headed by saddle that won the majority of seats in parliament since then iran's influence has been growing not just here in lebanon but across the region and it has been at the expense of saudi arabia. saudi arabia used to play a big rule eleven these politics. for the better.

the hezbollah and its allies winning more than half the seats in parliament has more from beirut. there was a clear winner and lebanon's election. hezbollah and its political allies won the majority of seats in parliament it's being seen by some as a victory for iran the shiite group is backed by iran it's the only lebanese party that has an armed wing and its electoral gains further empowers it politically hezbollah's leader called for cooperation. and. for the poli stressed that there is a reality in lebanon and that is that no one can eliminate the other even if we have disagreements we want political stability we need to cooperate. the general elections was a loss for lebanon's prime minister saddle had no longer heads the largest block in the legislature but he still retains the majority of seats allocated to seventy muslims how did he faced opposition from within his own community have accused him of being too lenient with hezbollah which is fighting in neighboring syria when asked if he plans to change that approach the prime minister said the focus should be on development

rivalry with the west to move a look a little brighter to make special next sixty years also coming up hezbollah looks poised to make major gains in lebanon's election unofficial results show the militant group and its allies winning more than half of the seats it is being seen as a victory for hezbollah as backer iran. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program. russia's vladimir putin has tapped a close ally dmitri medvedev for the first for the post of prime minister it is putin's first act after being sworn in for a historic term as president some five thousand guests attended the inauguration

but we're going through difficult times military success and hezbollah particularly needed without hezbollah we also have terrorists in this country and there are a few gee crisis similar to that of syria and iraq a. new protest parties are hoping to challenge the political elite some in lebanon are sick of corruption and divisive religious politics but it seems unlikely that there are enough of them to challenge the overall outcome. let's go to our correspondent who is following the story for us in beirut first of all lebanon to some degree is a mirror for the various interests that are competing for supremacy in the middle east what to these elections in lebanon reveal about the power struggles underway in that country and the region as a whole. well you know we have an essentially is a it's a tiny country but it's a proxy battleground between regional war for dominance between sunni saudi arabia and iran and the rise of his beloved which is already a very very strong military force on the ground in this speech in rise up as well as a political force is a troubling news for the region at l

dead in obligate also a heads a major upset in lebanon's parliamentary elections the iran backed hezbollah party dominates the polls plus it's a signal to the rest of the world that we do not value your rights a woman who ran a secret prison known for torturing its inmates prepares for her confirmation hearing to become the next cia director escaping the burning more evacuations as volcano killer whales sends off dangerous talks aghast. hawaii. hello a group of us democrats have just sent donald trump a letter urging him to let america remain a part of the iranian nuclear deal the president is expected to announce his decision on whether to withdraw on tuesday america's allies of also been trying to convince trump to preserve the international agreement which has limited iran's nuclear capabilities kimberly halkett has more from the white house. after months of diplomacy and high level meetings at the white house between the us president and his counterparts in france germany and a monday the foreign secretary of the u.k. donald trump announced he had finally made his decision trump tweete

and has looks poised to make major gains in lebanon's election it's being seen as a victory for hezbollah backer iran's. i'm for golf it's good to have you with us not even stalin had this kind of staying power vladimir putin has been sworn in for a record fourth term as president of russia in his inauguration speech today he pledged to turn russia into one of the world's top five economies he called for high performance export or even manufacturing during his six year term a putin won the presidential election with three quarters of the vote so he has almost total authority in the country but his critics accuse him of corruption and of silencing opposing voice. the start of mr putin's day with carefully stage managed. russian state t.v. broadcast his long walk through the corridors of his office on his way to the ceremony. eventually he right at the car waiting to take him on the short trip to the kremlin hole. then the grand entrance. and the war continued. all choreographed to maintain the suspense as some five thousand invited guests waited for putin to be sworn aimed to be a statisti

among those hoping to make gains in the country is hezbollah the islamist political and militant group financed by iran which supports the syrian president bashar al assad the election highlights the power struggle in that in a country divided along sectarian lines. the graves of lebanese hezbollah fighters who died in neighboring syria the iran funded parties militias are revered by many shiites in lebanon. in syria they fight alongside the troops of president bashar al assad an ally of iran . has ball or under it secretary general has son nasrallah is not only a military organization but also an influential political force is represented in the lebanese parliament alongside other muslim and christian parties and it's part of the national unity government shiite and sunni muslims and christians are sharing power there lebanon is a diverse country almost twenty religious communities live here as dollars involvement in the war in syria is creating tension between them it undermines lebanon's policy of not interfering in other countries all parties agreed on the policy so as not to becom

the on the nuclear side of brother what they are doing in syria and what they are doing to armed hezbollah with rockets and what they are doing at the icbms. to me the right thing today would have been to try to come up with our allies on those issues and let the nuclear part of this continue as it is because it's not being violated in any way. by dividing our allies and i just heard the president say he would impose secondary sanctions on european and asian allies, they are making it hard to go after hezbollah. they are making it harder to go after iranian act to these that are really dangerous and probably making it harder to come to a north korean deal. when i read what had happened i was just aghast and i was glad that general schneiderman quickly step down. [inaudible] >> come on, mitch. [inaudible] >> look, 62% of americans are for legalization of marijuana. we just called her and decolonization and we don't have federal enforcement in the state. i think this is something that is long overdue and i hope to see it happen. i hope that the feds would take a heavy hand off. [inaudible] >

which includes hezbollah members in one way or another legitimizing. those are the criticism being leveled under. saying that. yes. we are expecting him to head the next cabinet because many observers believe the status quo is going to stay the same you're going to have a national unity government you're going to have government you're going to have members of hezbollah in the government ok many thanks from beirut. rebel fighters and leaving an enclave near the syrian city of homs under a deal brokered by russia a number of factions of the heavy weapons of the syrian army fighters are being evacuated to rebel held areas and the north. the process of getting the highway between homes and hama to begin. i think rebels in yemen have launched more missiles into saudi arabia aimed at several military targets in the national border region economic sites including oil storage areas also said to be hit saudi arabia defense systems were able to shoot down some of the missiles. the head of a yemeni provincial council in the south is chris sized what he calls unj

hezbollah in the way that no one did and if. destroy hezbollah has been. a wonderful to them hezbollah and its allies are expected to win the most seats in parliament for their strengthening their power which has been growing in recent years. a lot has happened since the last election in two thousand and nine there was political instability the post presidency was vacant for two years until late two thousand and sixteen when lebanon's political rivals reached a compromise a president was elected a national unity government was formed headed by prime minister saad oh how do you do that included members of hezbollah. prime minister how do you want to secure enough votes to ensure his leadership of the sunni community and ensure his return to the premiership he has exchanged harsh words with hezbollah during campaigning but that is an expected part of the election rhetoric in lebanon both sides know they need to work together if they want national unity and this divided nation. is live for us in. polls closed a few hours ago and do we have any results coming

the party of lebanon sitting prime minister loses a third of its seats in parliament as hezbollah and its allies make major gains. tell them jimmy went on this is al jazeera live from london also coming up after a long walk through the corridors of power of lattimer putin is sworn in for his fourth term as russia's president britain's foreign secretary makes a diplomatic dash to washington to try to save the iran nuclear deal and more residents are told to leave their homes immediately to avoid toxic gas from hawaii's erupting volcano. is there one welcome to the program saad hariri is set to continue his lebanon's prime minister under the sectarian power sharing. system despite his party's proof showing in sunday's polls hariri says his future movement appears to have lost a third of it since on the fischel preliminary results show the shia party hezbollah and its allies winning more than half the seats in parliament christian party the lebanese forces which opposes hezbollah also made strong gains hariri is promising to lead a stable government despite his party's setback. we wish t