Israel and Hezbollah exchange heavy fire in major escalation | BBC News
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Transcript
00:00We begin in the Middle East. The United States says it's working to prevent the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah
00:07from escalating into a regional war after Sunday's heavy bombardments.
00:12The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called for an immediate end to hostilities on both sides.
00:19In a televised address, Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, said that the delay in the retaliation attack
00:26for the assassination of its military commander last month was to keep Israel on edge.
00:32He also said they still have to assess the impact of its barrage and did not rule out another strike.
00:38From Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel's airstrikes were not the end of the story
00:44and added they had destroyed thousands of Hezbollah's short-range rockets.
00:48And no progress on the Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo either.
00:53Hamas, which has now left the Egyptian capital, said it rejected new Israeli conditions
00:58and accused them of backtracking on promises.
01:01Israel denies changing its demands since a last round of talks in early July.
01:07For more on this, we can speak to our Middle East correspondent in Beirut, Hugo Bocega.
01:12So Hugo, we heard that Hezbollah isn't ruling out further attacks.
01:16Benjamin Netanyahu saying it's not the end of the story. Where are we?
01:23Yeah, I think it was very interesting that last night the powerful leader of Hezbollah,
01:27Hassan Nasrallah, gave that speech.
01:30Essentially he said that the attack was over, the retaliation for the killing of Fouad Shouker,
01:35the senior Hezbollah commander who was assassinated by Israel here in Beirut a month ago.
01:42And Hassan Nasrallah also said that, gave indications that
01:47no major operations against Israel were being planned.
01:51So I think he was trying to de-escalate tensions with Israel.
01:55Yesterday there were concerns that those attacks could
02:00lead to a major conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
02:04We've seen that so far this violence has been relatively contained
02:08to areas along the Lebanon-Israel border.
02:12Nasrallah did say that the group could attack Israel again,
02:16but given everything else in the speech,
02:19I think this seemed to be something that had to be said rather than a threat against Israel.
02:26And the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also yesterday
02:30said that what happened was not the end of the story.
02:34And again, I don't think it's surprising that he's saying it.
02:37He needs to keep all his options on the table.
02:40He's under a lot of pressure to act against Hezbollah
02:44to allow the return of tens of thousands of residents
02:48who've been displaced from communities in northern Israel.
02:52But behind the scenes, there have been indications that
02:55both sides have said they're not interested in further escalation.
03:00Obviously, this doesn't mean that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is over.
03:06But again, we see indications that they're not interested in a major conflict
03:11that could have catastrophic consequences, not only for Lebanon, but also for Israel.
03:16And the main hope of a de-escalation here is a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
03:23And we've seen that the latest round of talks for a deal in Cairo
03:27ended yesterday without a major breakthrough.
03:30So what's the state of alert there then, Hugo, in light of the recent events?
03:36Yeah, so for weeks, we've been waiting for this response by Hezbollah.
03:42And there were concerns that this could lead to a major escalation.
03:47And there have been fears here in Lebanon that Hezbollah could be dragging this country
03:51into another confrontation with Israel.
03:55Many people here still remember what happened in 2006,
03:59the war between Hezbollah and Israel, the devastation caused by the war.
04:04The devastation caused by the conflict, not only to areas of southern Lebanon,
04:09but also to parts of southern Beirut.
04:11And many people fear that history might be repeating itself.
04:16It seems now that a worst-case scenario has been averted, at least for now.
04:21There have been these indications from Hassan Nasrallah
04:23that the group is not interested in an escalation of these hostilities with Israel.
04:30And even in Israel, we're seeing that there have been some signs that
04:35the Israeli government is also trying to prevent a major escalation with Hezbollah.
04:42But again, there has been a lot of anger from residents in the north of the country.
04:48They say that they have been under attack almost every day with rockets being fired from Hezbollah.
04:55They've been urging the Israeli authorities to do something to push Hezbollah away from the border
05:03and to allow the return of tens of thousands of people
05:06who have had to flee their homes in northern Israel
05:09because of this violence happening along the border.
05:11Hugo Bocega in Beirut, thank you very much.
05:14For more, let's speak to Yossi Boleyn, former Justice Minister of Israel
05:18and one of the initiators of Israel-Palestine-Oslo peace accords.
05:23Thanks very much for your time here on BBC News.
05:25Let's pick up with those peace talks then.
05:27In light of what's happened, is there any chance of those talks having a positive outcome?
05:36Yes, I believe that Israel doesn't want to continue this war.
05:41It is really long overdue.
05:43And I hope that this is also the situation on the Hamas side.
05:48The point is that it is not peace talks, of course.
05:52It is talks about a ceasefire, hopefully a long ceasefire.
05:58And the other side is not recognizing Israel.
06:03Israel is not recognizing Hamas, of course.
06:06And to get to the decision makers on the other side is very difficult.
06:11So what you hear is rumors from time to time
06:16or a declaration of one of the Hamas people.
06:23But the groups are there.
06:26I mean, the teams are there negotiating still.
06:33And I hope that it will end by an agreement.
06:36This agreement is not going to be an historic one,
06:39but it will put an end at least to the current situation,
06:44whereby people, innocent people are killed and you don't see any horizon.
06:53The US is saying it's working to prevent any conflict escalating.
06:59What can they do to move on these peace talks?
07:03Well, they are doing a lot.
07:05They are actually the main player, not the only one,
07:09because you have Qatar and you have Egypt.
07:11But it is a very important player.
07:15And I think that they can push the parties directly, indirectly.
07:23They have their own ways.
07:25And I hope that eventually a reason will prevail
07:30and it will be possible to put an end to it.
07:32I mean, we are there in a kind of an ongoing war from September, October,
07:38the massacre of Hamas in the southern part of Israel.
07:45And nobody is gaining anything from this war, just losing.
07:52We know, obviously, the elections in the United States are coming up.
07:56Presumably, Netanyahu will be watching those closely.
08:01And?
08:02I was just saying that with the elections in the US coming up,
08:07Netanyahu will presumably be watching those very closely to see what happens.
08:12Yeah, but I don't think that this is going to have any direct impact.
08:18First of all, the elections are very close,
08:23but the 20th of January is further.
08:28The 20th of January is further.
08:32And we have to put an end to this situation much before.
08:38I think that waiting for the 20th of January
08:42and hopefully Netanyahu's candidate will not win.
08:46But even if he wins, I think that waiting for him is a kind of betting
08:54because you never know with this person.
08:57I mean, Trump, of course.
08:59What is he going to do?
09:00What is he going to say?
09:02He may surprise the world this way or another if, God forbid, he's elected.
09:08And if it is, as I hope, Kamala Harris,
09:15it will be the same kind of a policy like the current policy of President Biden.
09:22OK, we'll have to leave it there.
09:23Yossi Belin, thank you very much for your time here on BBC News.