and hezbollah were _ russians and iranians and hezbollah were not - russians and iranians and hezbollahh were not there in force the _ hezbollah were not there in force the pro— hezbollah were not there in force the pro prop - hezbollah were not there in force the pro prop up - hezbollah were not there in force the pro prop up the i force the pro prop up the regime _ force the pro prop up the regime but _ force the pro prop up the regime but then - force the pro prop up the regime but then by- force the pro prop up the regime but then by 2050 j force the pro prop up the - regime but then by 2050 when the russians— regime but then by 2050 when the russians intervened, - regime but then by 2050 when the russians intervened, it - the russians intervened, it made — the russians intervened, it made it— the russians intervened, it made it very— the russians intervened, it made it very difficult - the russians intervened, it made it very difficult for i the russians intervened, it i made it very difficult for that position— made it very difficult for that position to _ made it very difficult f

how did you convince hezbollah to buy this?didn't know that they were buying it from israel. >> who did they buy it from or think they were buying it from? >> we have an incredible array of possibilities of creating foreign companies that have no way being traced back to israel. shell companies over shell companies who affect the supply chain to our favor. we create a pretend world. we are a global production company. we write the screenplay. we're the directors. we're the producers. we're the main actors and the world is our stage. >> this is mossad's old office. its motto, from proverbs 24:6, says in so many words, wage war through deception and trickery, kind of like the cia's “smoke and mirrors,” which is what this operation was all about, starting with those walkie-talkies. but walkie-talkies are only worn in battle, so mossad began developing a new device that hezbollah fighters would have in their pockets all the time, a pager. >> a pager is almost obsolete around the world, but hezbollah still using it. >> this is gabri

we earlier had these rounds of mortar fire from hezbollah aim to an israeli army base with hezbollahing that was both defensive and advancement as a warning to israel following what it said were violations of the ceasefire deal. we had the lebanese parliamentary speaker, an ally of hezbollah who is also keen to negotiating this deal, saying that over the past few days there had been more than 50 violations by israel. israel meanwhile has said hezbollah is also violating the ceasefire, it has accused specifically of moving weapons back into the very south of lebanon, something it is not allowed to do under the terms israel says it is allowed to respond if it sees hezbollah being in violation, so i think a lodge really depends on this mechanism set up when the us and france brokered the ceasefire agreement, it was supposed to supervise and enforce the ceasefire to monitor any violations. both sides can report violations to this committee that has been set up, it involves a us army general based in beirut. yolande knell, thank you for bringing your thoughts and analysis on that breaking

hezbollah both hezbollah and iran have of course, propped up the assad regime throughout the course of this 13 year civil war. and israel, we know, has significantly weakened hezbollah's capabilities, both in lebanon. but also inside of syria. as for the iranian regime, perhaps distracted by the other events in the region, distracted by israel itself, and of course we know that the fall of the assad regime will amount to a significant blow for iran as well. and so that's where the question leads in terms of the future of syria and the future of its relations with israel netanyahu said that he is extending a quote, hand of peace to all syrians across the border and that he would like to establish, quote, neighborly and peaceful relations. the real question, though, is going to be what kind of government actually emerges inside of syria and will it be one that will preserve what has effectively been a 50 year detente between israel and syria? or will it take another tack? and critically for israeli officials will be the question of what happens to the weapons that have flowed from iran v

and iran and the downfall of hezbollah. this was hosted by the council on foreign relations. >> i don't usually get applause when i walk in, tony. >> i thought it was you, mike. >> welcome, everybody. thank you for being here. it's a real opportunity to have secretary of state blinken with us, in his last five weeks or so. antony: who is counting. michael: he's a long time friend of the council and we're delighted to have him. michael: we are meeting where there have been tectonic shifts, we have this unprecedented competition with china and the rise of the global south and we have pandemic preparedness and all sorts of climate change issues. it's not working? hello? can you hear me? sorry. is that ok? michael: i'll speak more loudly. we're meeting at a time the world has been undergoing fundamental changes. i wanted to ask you, how do you think historians will look back at the biden administration and how it met this moment? antony: mike, wonderful to be with you and wonderful to be back with council and see so many friend

no rearming of hezbollah. it was never observed.he robust unit felt was supposed to prevent from operating in the south. it was hezbollah that kept unicoi from him being in the south the premise of israel after the secretary-general of the un to move away from what our positions right next to these compounds built. so the question becomes, with the lebanese army be more prepared to act? if not for the enforcement recognitions they're prepared to come up with? if there are enforcement mechanisms you were just want to see every right thing replaced like it was before except for maybe i'm political set of leaders and i say this with some trepidation. we have not exactly seen political leaders in lebanon seem prepared to assume more of a state responsibility. but can they be reinforced to the point where they would? i do not have a magic solution but i think there is a sequence of steps that you would want to see. all the great words which is the economic factor. lebanon was just starting to rebuild itself thing i've not heard invests i

lebanon, a deal that was only possible because hezbollah has been badly degraded. meanwhile, hamas has been dead badly degraded as well. iran's own military capabilities have been weakened. rand tried two times to attack israel and the united states and built a coalition of countries to directly defend israel to help defeat those attacks. all this made possible for iran and hezbollah to continue to prop up is impossible, i should say, for them to prop up the assad regime. additionally, russia's torturer, assad also failed, and that's because in ukraine, backed by american allies, put up a the waters against invading russian forces, inflicting massive damage on the russian forces, and that is the fresh air, unable to protect its main ally in the middle east. excuse my cold. the upshot for all this is for the first time ever is a russia nor iran or hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in syria. this is a direct result of the blows that ukraine, israel have delivered upon their own self-defense since with unflagging support of the united states and over the pa

hezbollah has been weakened by israel. day, in fact, after hezbollah had to sign what looked like kind of a surrender deal with israel, the syrian rebels launched this operation. so now you have two of the most important allies of iran in the region essentially either weakened or gone. iran is left with almost no influenc or very little influence in the levant. hamas has been weakened. hezbollah in lebanon has been weakened. and assad is out of the picture. so now iran is left with iraq, influence in iraq, and there's chatter that iraq is going to be next in terms of pressure by israel and others who will take on iran and iraq. and obviously, yemen with the houthis. john: hassan hassan, thank you very much. hassan: you're welcome, thank you. john: elsewhere, esident-elect trump weighed in on the war in ukraine. hours after meeting with ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky in paris, mr. trump posted on truth social to call for an immediate ceasefire with russia. while ukraine wants to join nato, in an interview on nbc's "

to today arendt 's main proxy, hezbollah, is also on its — main proxy, hezbollah, is also on its back garden about the cease—fire deal in lebanon, it was— the cease—fire deal in lebanon, it was only— the cease—fire deal in lebanon, it was only possible because hezbollah has been badly degraded. meanwhile, hamas has been— degraded. meanwhile, hamas has been badly degraded as well. iran's— been badly degraded as well. iran's own military capabilities have been weakened. iran tried two times to attack— weakened. iran tried two times to attack israel and the united states— to attack israel and the united states build a coalition of countries to directly defend israei— countries to directly defend israel and help defeat those attacks _ israel and help defeat those attacks. all this made possible for iran— attacks. all this made possible for iran and hezbollah to continue to prop up, made it impossible i should say, for them — impossible i should say, for them to— impossible i should say, for them to prop up the assad regime _ them to prop up the assad regime. initially it also failed _ reg

~ ., ., ., ~ ., hezbollah? we tend to look at the short-term _ hezbollah?o look at the short-te longer— hezbollah? we tend to look at the short-te longer term - overlook the longer term issues. if syria destabilises, this is for the this is not good for the reason. not that i think assad is a good ruler, he butchered his people and is a war criminal but to your point about lebanon, it is true that iran used syria for many years to funnel arms and other equipment into hezbollah. 0perated quite freely, syria tried to prevent that. the structure of the ceasefire arrangement with the lebanese has a component that events smuggling of arms through the syrian borders into lebanon. it is not certain who exactly will verify that, the idea for problems to happen will continue to happen. if the islamist rebels back to the tax gain control over the northern passage, in the short—term it might mean iran is less free to transport arms but over time, i think the stability in syria would allow all of the bad actors to try to find opportunities and use whatever they can as

this is a show of strength and support for hezbollah.ell, from what seeing here, this is unlikely to happen. hezbollah has been weakened by israel. some say humiliated. but it hasn't been destroyed. in lebanon, it is more a militia, it is also a powerful political and social group. it it is also a powerful political and social group.— it is also a powerful political and social group. it is full of urief, and social group. it is full of grief. full — and social group. it is full of grief, full of _ and social group. it is full of grief, full of happiness - and social group. it is full of grief, full of happiness at i and social group. it is full of| grief, full of happiness at the same time because we came to our land and we won. we are very proud here. very proud. i lost my brother—in—law. but we are very proud in ourfamily. if there is defiance, there is also desolation. street after street we see almost nothing has been left untouched by the war. we find kampl, only 18, searching through the rubble with his bare hands. trying to save w

the leadership of hezbollah because of all of the israeli strikes against hezbollah over this past year as well. iran, he says, also has been weakened. they tried twice to attack israel both of those missions, including some 300 ballistic missiles that were launched from inside iran against israel, failed because the u.s., together with israel, put together a coalition of partners to defeat the iranian regime as it was trying to attack israel. lots of news in that statement about a ten minute statement by the president of the united states, following all, all morning high, high level security briefings with his top national security officials over at the white house. we want to continue our analysis of what's going on is kayla tausche there our white house correspondent kayla, go ahead and give us your analysis of what we just heard. >> well, wolf, the president delivered equal parts victory lap and roadmap in that statement from the roosevelt room there talking about the actions that his administration has taken up to this point to weaken the would be backers of the assad regime, essen

and hezbollah didn't didn't stop. israel launched an attack on hezbollah. it started with, you know, they they first launched the the this kind of science fiction operations where the p exploded, and then in one of the really extraordinary moment, the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, who had who had been such a powerful figure in the middle east, admired, respected, who had helped build up the houthis, who had helped build up the pro-iran militias in iraq. suddenly, he was also killed. and the the militias in in syria had been waiting for their moment. and that moment came after after hezbollah was basically decimated. and that's why they were able to to attack, to go after assad and succeed so quickly because hezbollah was just basically incapable of of helping assad. russia is tangled up in ukraine. iran is in no position right now to offer a lot of help. and assad looked very, very weak. his own, his own army was not, uh, was not prepared to fight for him. and, you know, as a in a really extraordinary turn of

that would block a key arms route to hezbollah. it certainly would. i route to hezbollah.hink already. i— certainly would. i think already, i have - certainly would. i think already, i have just - certainly would. i think i already, i have just done certainly would. i think - already, i have just done two weeks injerusalem and israel is in a very different place now from when it was one year ago. pretty much on the warpath in terms of trying to shatter iran's so—called axis of resistance, the proxy resistance. the houthis, hezbollah, hamas, and israelis pummelling the organisation with very powerful us supplied weapons whenever it can. because in a lot of civilian deaths in the process. taking down iran's home network in the middle east and that is one of the things that has enabled this lightning advance by seria's rebels. ah, this lightning advance by seria's rebels.— this lightning advance by seria's rebels. . . ., seria's rebels. a final thought for the calculations _ seria's rebels. a final thought for the calculations in - seria's rebels. a final thought for the calc

having fought so hard with its allies, the russians and the iranians, hezbollah of lebanon.s ahead for the syrians who are trying to run the country. it is a country with a collapsed economy. it is a country that has had a decade and a half of war, well over 500,000 people dead already. so the issue is, if you compare it to libya and iraq is that after years of dictatorship which, if you like, keeps the boot on the throat of a people, when that boot is lifted you don't know what's going to happen in terms of people perhaps wanting to get revenge for things they have suffered or their family have suffered or their family have suffered, people, groups wanting to take power, and so this is a really, really unstable period coming up. quite risky for all concerned, i would say. quite risky for all concerned, i would say-— quite risky for all concerned, i would say. one phrase i have heard over _ i would say. one phrase i have heard over the _ i would say. one phrase i have heard over the last _ i would say. one phrase i have heard over the last few - i would say. one phrase i hav

hezbollah has still been seeing several new strikes by the idf in recent days. something israel has reiterated it would reserve the right to do if it feels threatened amid this ongoing cease-fire. that peacekeepers are currently along the border creating a buffer, and is really military said is going to withdrawal in phases and vital retreat at the end of the 60 days of the cease-fire again once again urging civilians who live in the small border towns not to return to their homes just yet. >> that what if we could tapinte on the ground and your knowledge of the mood of israelis. i would imagine is a fair chunk of the population hook the cease-fire might bring about equity pretty quick cease-fire with hamas and therefore the return of the hostages. clearly that does not seem to be happening how our israel is reacting to what appears to be an ongoing stalemate? >> we saw a major demonstration here in tel aviv just last night families of the hostages and gathering trying to put on renewed pressure on the government to try to strike some kind of deal. asthis a bind

israel may do - as strikes in southern lebanon, targets of hezbollah as retaliation for hezbollah airrael. and there is a call for the monitoring committee, for an agreement, to do its work and monitor what happens and any violations, concerns among americans and other countries the ceasefire will be collapsing but i think this action, the strikes are calculated so i think if it gets momentum it might lead to the collapse, but so far the indicators are limited and the activation of the monitoring committee will help to ease the tension and in this case it will make the countries not to do... hezbollah or israel go beyond limits and there is pressure and no—one wants to see the ceasefire collapsed because the lebanese people and other people are suffering from the fighting and war. let’s other people are suffering from the fighting and war.— the fighting and war. let's not talk about _ the fighting and war. let's not talk about the _ the fighting and war. let's not talk about the diplomatic - talk about the diplomatic pressure to end the civil war in syria. what are you hearing? there

new information on israel's exploding pagers and walkie talkie attacks on hezbollah.he lid is lifted on an operation that was ten years in the making. i'm emir nader live in bethlehem, where muted christmas celebrations are taking place this year, as the war in the region rages on. a nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history, with the closest—ever approach to the sun. these are the pictures live over hawaii's big island, as kilauea volcano erupts. but there are no immediate threats to infrastructure. ukrainians are marking their third christmas since the russian invasion, with putin's forces pushing deeper into the east of the country. the city of pokrovsk is russia's next target. its troops are now less than three kilometres from the city centre. it's a key military hub. but it's also part of ukraine's cultural identity too. it's the birthplace of a well—known christmas carol. our defence correspondent jonathan beale has this report. music: shchedryk. the discord of christmas in a shattered city. but this is where the composer of this well—known carol once lived.

a deal only possible because hezbollah has been badly degraded.le, hamas has been badly degraded as well. iran's own military capabilities have been weakened. iran tried two times to attack israel. and the united states built a coalition of countries to defend israel and help defeat those attacks. all this made possible for iran and hezbollah to continue this prop up -- impossible, i should say, for them to prop up the assad regime. additionally, russia's support for assad also failed. that's because ukraine, backed by american allies put up resistance against invading russian forces, inflicting massive damage on russian forces and left those unable to protect its main ally in the middle east. excuse my cold. the upshot for all this is, for the first time ever, either russia nor iran nor hezbollah could defend this abhorrent regime in syria. this is a direct result of the blows to ukraine, israel have delivered upon their own self-defense with unflagging support of the united states. over the past four years, my administration pursued a clear and

more than 40, mainly hezbollah terrorists, were killed and around 4000 injured. >> in. israel.l. hakim laham. >> just ten days later, another devastating blow for hezbollah as israel struck the underground command and control bunker where the group's leader, hassan nasrallah, had been hiding. his body was eventually recovered from the ruins of the compound, along with several other hezbollah commanders. less than a week later, the inevitable response came from hezbollah's backers in tehran. >> breaking news now iran has launched missiles into israel, and that's according to the israeli military. as you can see, live pictures on your screen now of sirens there across the skyline of tel aviv. >> i've never, ever seen this clustered like this before. this is the whole of central, central israel. rocket alerts galore over that area. you can. live shots. now we'll continue to watch that with the iron dome missile defence system in operation. trying to take out these missiles. very dramatic images as we can see on our images as we can see on our screen now. images as we can see on ou

to be honest, the ball is now and hezbollah's court.respond to that loss of life in lebanon yesterday, given that their leadership has been absolutely ravaged by the recent months of conflicts, do they feel ready to let this war resume, or will they step back? sumi: meanwhile, israel's military campaign in gaza continues with medics killing at least 23 palestinians across the strip on tuesday. most of the strikes hit north and gaza city, where at least six were killed when a school being used as a shelter was struck. israeli forces also on tuesday issued evacuation orders to residents in the southern city of khan younis. all of gaza's 2.3 million people are now displaced. becoming a midwife or nurse was one of the only forms of higher education available for women and afghanistan, but now the taliban has reportedly banned female students from enrolling for medical training. local media says the ministry of health ordered institutions not to register a female students. video post on social media showed women at multiple colleges protesti

until now, we made a distinction between lebanon and hezbollah. it will no longer be the case, not us here. >> lots of people in lebanon saying a bit rich when they feel that israel very clearly are the ones that broke the ceasefire in the first place. >> well, that's right. i mean, since the day after the ceasefire was declared last week, we began to see israeli forces shelling villages in the south. we have seen repeated airstrikes, of course, in parts of southern southern lebanon as well, and of course, in response to that, we've seen hezbollah now targeting israeli occupied territory as well, firing two projectiles and no injuries reported. but this is raising concern over the fragility and, of course, the longevity of this truce agreement that has been established. and as you heard there, that warning from the israeli defense minister is quite staggering, really. the differentiation between hezbollah and the lebanese state, of course has been crucial. israel has repeatedly maintained that it is targeting hezbollah targets within lebanon, that

by the defeat of hezbollah, so the defeat of hezbollah, so significant and all the leadership of hezbollah, sol mainy and all to have the defeat of hamas, which i hope is complete soon. it's a real encouragement to stabilize forces and then another country i think is so important that we work with is turkey. there's been such confusion over who's good, who's bad. who's a threat. legitimately to the people. our nato ally. gosh, we should be working together. >> that's exactly how i read that. i was going to ease into the turkia question because i get a lot of heat when i suggest that we should be working with turki -- occur coach against the russian counter balance. there may be some friction between them but it's our job to be the shock absorber and keep the tension between them. is that how you see it? >> it is and apparently we need you back in the administration. if weaved been here friday, the thought of aleppo, the only thing you knew about aleppo was the horrible mass murder conducted by putin which then he tried to replicate in mariapol in ukraine. but now in putting perspective aga

hezbollah looked weak. iran looked weak. and people made their move and the principal mover, of course, has been turkey which has long sought a larger role in the region yeah. and so what does this mean, general, for the syrian people? >> and what is what is the u.s. position here? and i understand those are two kind of different questions well, there's the u.s. >> position. first is we've got troops there. we're going to protect our troops. i think for the syrian people, it's just more misery it's another million people displaced, fearful. no food, no shelter it's wintertime and it's just another engine generating are migrants really and people who want to escape and where can they escape to? where is safe? and so is this going to spread to the region? is the iraqi government in danger is the iraqi government? is mobilized forces there on the border right now with syria? what are they doing? are they going to prevent or are they going to collapse? and so hopefully they don't collapse. hopefully this can be contained in syri

hezbollah could never build its terror infrastructure to threaten israel. hamas leaders are gone. including the masterminds of october 7. we will make sure hamas can never again threaten israel as they did on october 7 ever. and now, the assad regime in syria is gone removing the primary client state of iran in the region and lifeline to hezbollah when joe biden said to those who seek to take advantage of october 7 and to use that tragic day to threaten and attack israel, don't. this is what he meant and we still mean, don't. the balance of power in the middle east has changed significantly and not the way they had planned. we are now faced with dramatically reshape the middle east in which israel is stronger, i run is weaker as its proxies it decimated and a cease-fire that is new and will be a lasting and a lebanon that ensures israel security over the long-term. the purpose of my visit today has been to continue to build on this progress. to ensure the cease-fire sticks and is fully enforced. to capitalize on the opportunity of the fall of assad for a be

it's no surprise that hezbollah is claiming victory. but is this really a victory?d charity world central kitchen is pausing its operations in gaza after a vehicle carrying its staff members was hit by an israeli air strike. three of the charity's staff members were killed. the israeli army say that the target of the strike had taken part in october 7th attacks. world central kitchen says it had no knowledge that anyone in the car was linked to the attacks. israel has not yet provided any evidence for its claim. separately, british aid agency save the children said one of its staff members was also killed on saturday afternoon in an israeli air strike in khan younis. this is the children's charity second member killed in gaza. elsewhere in gaza, concern is growing for the worsening living conditions, which is largely due to the recent drop in temprature, as well as the strong wind and rain that has recently hit the region. a senior nhs emergency department nurse, mandy blackman, is working at the uk—med field hospital in al mawasi, gaza. she told me how she's managi

but he turned into a monster and the only reason he stayed in power so long was because hezbollah asas iran and russia helped him do so. it wasn't because he had the notion that he was inclusive and benign. i think alawites and christians may have thought that because a feared what a sunni majority government would do to them. so most of the resistance groups are sunnis and it will be a challenge for them coming into power that they don't oppress the alawites and the christian communities. it is one thing to make sure they are fair to the minority groups that are now going to be at their mercy, so to speak. host: we will put on the screen a timeline of the u.s. involvement in syria so we get an idea. ptember 2014 was the first s. military intervention in syria with airstrikes against the islamic state. late 2015 the u.s. ground troops first ensyri theigoal was to help the kurdish fighters defeat the islamic state. december 2018, top announces his intention to withdraw troops om syria but the plans often within a year. this is when defense secretary james mattis resigned in protest an

and iran would ship arms across syria to get to hezbollah in lebanon. i think all of that is unlikely to continue as as it was. hezbollah has its hands full reconstituting itself in lebanon if it can. iran has its hands full. israel has demonstrated a real capacity to essentially act almost with what impunity over over iran. so i think they're both distracted. russia's got its hands full with with ukraine. so i think the most important outside force right now is turkey. it's got the advantage of proximity, has lots of incentives to have millions of refugees come home, real economic opportunity. unfortunately, they also have an incentive to to go after the kurds. and we have to worry about that. the other outside power that matters is the united states. and we're going to have to decide not so much whether we help, but to what extent do we condition our help on certain types of behaviors against terrorism, potentially human rights type considerations, and so forth? >> kim, what do you think of that? are the iranians and hezbollah out? because presumably

she's frightened from hezbollah. >> hezbollah? yeah. >> how does she get food? the international fellowship of christians and jews, we come in. you provide groceries, vegetables and hot meals. it's you. your emergency gift will help provide food to clara and thousands like her, trying to survive in the evacuated areas of israel. your urgently needed gift of $45 will help rush the delivery of an emergency food box and nutritious meals for a week. it's you that gives her hope and lets her feel the presence of god. >> it must be that god is here with me now. thank you. and i'll say a special prayer of thanks to god. >> when there's war and violence and brokenness. you and i, as christians are chosen to minister, to love. you help bring the peace of god that passes all understanding. and to know i have something to eat today. >> hello, i'm former arkansas governor mike huckabee. a lot of times you can't control the amount of sleep that you're getting. i know it's scary unless you use relaxing sleep. relaxation. sleep is a product that's made from natural ingredients

the lid is lifted on hezbollah. the lid is lifted on an operation ten years in the making. a warm welcome to newsday. i'm suranjana tewari. rights groups in syria are appealing to the country's new leaders to preserve evidence of atrocities committed under former president assad's regime. investigators from organisations like amnesty international and human rights watch have been visiting detention facilities and mass graves after rebels took over the capital. they say that evidence in the prisons is essential for prosecuting those who helped in the detainment and disappearance of tens of thousands of people under the rule of assad. this comes as several eu countries pause applications from syrians seeking asylum following the overthrow of the assad regime. international human rights groups havce criticised the move as premature. our special correspondent fergal keane has gone back to some of those he met fleeing the war in syria in its early days to file this report. a warning his report contains some distressing testimony. i never imagined that i will witness something li

that i think is concentrated minds in among hezbollah. hamas, me leadership about needing to bring this to a conclusion. but you're also dealing with an organization where decision making is very, very challenged, very difficult. just that piece is hard. and the communications pieces and easy. so you're also dependent on small number of individuals who may not have the same pragmatic framework that we would bring to this. so all of that said, look, i'm i'm hopeful. you have to be we're going to use minute of every day of every week that we have left to try to get this done. but i don't want to hazard a guess as to what the what the probability is, if it should happen. it needs to happen. we need to get people home. we need to get the ceasefire. we need to get people moving in a different direction toward better lives toward repairing the terrible damage been done. and i think entire world wants to see that happen. we also have hamas not only holding hostage the individuals it took on october 7th, but literally holding the palestinian peop

it was the support of tehran, hezbollah and moscow which propped up his regime for so long.he year 2000. a london trained eye doctor, he inherited syria's police state from his father, hafez, and initially promised reform. he and his british born wife, asma tried to present a new image of syria to the world. there was even an audience with the queen. but the change that so many syrians hoped for failed to materialise. and in 2011, when syrians rose up against his regime, this was the response. as accounts of atrocities multiplied, bashar al—assad denied any responsibility. we don't kill our people. no government in the world kill its people unless it's led by crazy person. for me as president, i became president because of the public support. it's impossible for anyone in this state to give order to kill. over the next few years, hundreds of thousands of syrians were killed in a brutal civil war in which the regime used both barrel bombs and chemical weapons at a staggering human cost. the regime took back aleppo in 2016 with the help of russian airstrikes, but last week the

and iran through its proxy hezbollah in lebanon.syria, have been badly bruised and bloodied by challenging israel and, you know, israel has been involved in bombing many many iranian interest sites, weapons transfer depots, weapons weapons warehouses all across syria. it's massively weakened that support structure for assad so when the rebels broke out of that enclave organized, you know, able to communicate across the whole geography of the country and direct forces that went and did a job and then were ready to move on to the next target that their leadership gave them in a coordinated way, were effective in challenging assad's troops, who not backed up by outside help, fell by the wayside. and literally, as we saw today, overnight, 2000 syrian army soldiers in military trucks driving into neighboring iraq towing heavy weapons. i mean, this is utterly unheard of to complete that circle of thought 53 years of brutal assad dictatorship. i don't think anyone ever expected to see his army fold and collapse, turn tail and haul it out o

for its part, hezbollah says it fired more than 300 rockets and missiles across the border.el's missile defence system, but some got through. this house was hit in the northern coastal town of akka. israel's prime minister convened his security cabinet and the question, what happens next? september brought extraordinary reports of explosions across lebanon. thousands of pagers, then walkie talkies, belonging to hezbollah personnel had been booby trapped by israeli agents. a ground invasion by israeli forces into southern lebanon swiftly followed. and israel's warplanes carried out strikes from above. thousands were killed. it's less than an hour since this air strike was reported in dahieh, in the southern suburbs of beirut. and i just want to show you, you can see there this is an apartment on the second floor, and you can really see the damage that's been caused. weeks later, on november 26th, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire brokered by the us and france. this is the main road between beirut and the south of the country. and for hours, thousands of people have been try

israel's exploding pagers and walkie—talkie attacks on hezbollah — the lid is lifted on an operations ten years in the making. and the power of the earth on full view — one of the most active volcanoes erupts in hawaii. good evening. for the first time in almost 20 years, the monarch�*s christmas day message is not being broadcast from a royal residence. instead, the king has chosen a former hospital chapel, the fitzrovia chapel in london, which was used by staff and patients of the middlesex hospital before it closed in 2005. it is now used for community events. our senior royal correspondent, daniela relph, has more. an image taken from this year's christmas day broadcast after a turbulent year for the king with a cancer diagnosis and treatment. to reflect that, he wanted his christmas message to come from a location connected to health care and used by the community. he chose here — fitzrovia chapel in central london. the chapel is tucked away amongst the modern blocks of flats and offices near oxford circus — a small, intimate space that will this year host a piece of royal histo

fundamentally those parties, israel and hezbollah wanted and continue to want the ceasefire. the interest that israel has making sure that people can return home to the north where 70,000 have been forced to flee their homes and rockets every day since october 7 is real. and making sure that is sustained is the best way to do that. i think israelis recognize as well from their history and experience, 18 years of occupation of southern lebanon and war of 2006 and suffered losses as a consequence, i think they are mindful that the best way to having enduring security is through what we have accomplished a ceasefire but we have to make sure it is upheld. and france is determined to do that and i'm not going to speculate what's going to happen in the future. and israel's interest is making sure the terms of the ceasefire are implemented and that includes moving hezbollah back to the north and the armed forces are deployed along the south and have the authority to deal with arms that they find and infrastructure that they find and effective mechanism to deal with any alleged viola

these really is i'd say they would respond to the hezbollah rock at a tax. what is happening on the ground right now? what areas are these release targeting the what i'm just receiving reports. so several a strikes and daddy also free with the stuff which is in between the about the on the south 11 on and for now there are fees for strikes in the patio job law. i claimed responsibility for launching a couple of rockets to was that is ready minutes you for the occupied sure about funds. the lebanese group said that this is an initial retaliation. defensive retaliation. and that's all sort of several violations from is run the cease fire. and that has been logged in to the facebook has tried to convey the complaints to the gun on. so as of the ceasefire is mainly the united states and in france. but the, there was no response. so it took the decision to retaliate this rates. now of course everyone is anticipating how is right is going to resolve the age or to attack, especially that they and i was that i, we are giving these reports of several of the taxes are

lebanon has a responsibility of keeping hezbollah and check. bridge to the trump administration for there is a 60 day cease-fire and it allows a bridge to the trump policies. two at president trump and his cabinet are going to do. meanwhile it allows netanyahu and the idf to restock, replenish and to refocus on gaza and continuing to inflict pain on hamas as they push for a cease-fire deal they are paid or they continue to put pressure there to allow the trump administration to broker a cease-fire. >> i've been a little surprised there has not been more movement from hamas seeing hezbollah come to the sea spider knowing they were acting on their behalf up in the north to keep israel occupied does this put a lot of pressure and we might see some movement in the near future? >> i am with you on that. i anticipated that hamas was going to come closer to cease-fire deal. yes it is going to put more pressure. think about this also, iran told hezbollah to take the cease-fire deal. so iran is backing both groups the central kind of crocs the central f

israel shattered hezbollah.ezbollah blaming israel for an unprecedented attack that involved blowing up its members' pagers. >> reporter: and assassinated its leader too and his chosen successor. by early dececember, a shaky ceasefire was in place. >> fighting across the elect niece-israeli border will end, will end. this is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities. >> reporter: weakening hezbollah changed the balance of power across the region. in neighboring syria, it created an opportunity for islamist rebels who have been fighting against the government for a decade. rebel forces marched into the capital of damascus and overthrow the regime of dictator bashar al assad whose family had ruled the country with an iron fist for over half a century. assad's government had been propped up by three seemingly reliable backers, russia, hezbollah, and iran. but none of them would or could step in to save his government. the rebels saw an opportunity and took it. there is one word i'm hearing over and over a