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00:00Well, we're joined now by political journalist at Lebanese newspaper L'Orient Le Jour, Stephanie
00:05Khoury.
00:06Stephanie, thanks so much for your time and joining us here on France 24.
00:10Renewed strikes again this morning.
00:11It looks like strikes going further into Lebanon, a rocket fire going further into Israel.
00:15You know, talk even of a ground incursion becoming more likely.
00:19How do you see it?
00:21Yeah.
00:22Today, we woke up, as you recalled, with new waves of bombing and intensive bombing in
00:29south Lebanon.
00:30The escalation is continuing, as we've been seeing for the last couple of days, even the
00:37last week.
00:40It's true the Israeli official have mentioned their readiness for a ground invasion.
00:46They've been talking of a ground invasion for a couple of months now.
00:53They might be preparing for a ground invasion.
00:56However, what we're seeing is Israel trying to put pressure as much as possible on Hezbollah
01:02in order for Hezbollah to dissociate the southern front, what it calls the support front, with
01:10what is happening in Gaza.
01:11So what we're seeing right now is maximum pressure from Israel with support with the
01:16United States in order to make Hezbollah step behind, step back, and stop its ongoing bombing
01:26into Israeli territory.
01:28Hezbollah, though, for its part, sounding very defiant, you know, and would it have,
01:32do you think, support from its allies in the region if ever, you know, things escalated
01:37even further?
01:38I mean, Hezbollah is an Iranian entity.
01:42It was born, financed, supported on all levels by Iran.
01:47So of course we can not suppose, we know that it will benefit from Iranian support all along
01:56the way.
01:57The policy of open borders also between Syria and Lebanon in Iran can guarantee incoming
02:03influx of money on even arms, munitions, if need be.
02:11Now, what we're seeing also is an Iraqi response to Israeli violations in Gaza with the Iron
02:22Dawn system defense intercepting missiles coming from Iraq, which is also a way from
02:29Iran to express its, not solidarity, but express its intention to not stay idle in
02:43face of what's happening in Gaza.
02:45Indeed, it sounds like it could really broaden to a very wider, much broader regional conflict.
02:52And looking back, it seems like this is as bad as things have gotten, if you will, since
02:57the last war, when Israel went in in 2006.
03:00Yes.
03:02For the first time since 2006, Hezbollah has been using long-range missiles when it hit
03:12Haifa on Friday morning, on the, on Friday morning, yes.
03:17So and Israel on its part is also going further and further into the Lebanese territory.
03:24So on both parts, we are, we are crossing lines and crossing lines since October 7.
03:30We are getting closer and closer to what we call a full end war.
03:37However, what Israel has been, Israel officials have been warning for, for the past years
03:43is that in case of a new war with Lebanon, it wouldn't be just Hezbollah targeted, it
03:49would be the entirety of the Lebanese territory.
03:52So far we haven't seen that.
03:53We haven't seen the entirety of the Lebanese territory being targeted.
03:57That's for the Israeli part.
03:58And for the Hezbollah part, they've been using but a small part of the actual military capacities.
04:04They've been using Katyusha rockets, they've been using for the first time rockets that
04:10can reach 200 kilometers into Israeli territory.
04:13But there's still a lot of material, a lot of military arsenal they haven't been using
04:20so far.
04:22So it is a clear escalation.
04:24We are crossing lines, we are crossing lines by the day, by the month.
04:29But there's still a lot of, a lot of cards that haven't been played on all parts.
04:39And Stephanie, has there been reaction to these threats from Israel in Lebanon outside
04:44of Hezbollah?
04:45Yes.
04:46I mean, the Lebanese political class is doing what it always does, which is expressing its
04:55concern for the situation, which is organizing minimum logistical support for the region
05:03and the people that are being targeted by the bombings.
05:08But other than this, really, and also activating some basic diplomatic channels in order to
05:14try and calm down the situation, but other than this, really, the Lebanese political
05:18class has been helpless in front of Hezbollah, which is today a militia and a party controlling
05:29the state and is completely helpless in front, in face of this, this organization.
05:37Stephanie Khoury, political journalist at Lebanese newspaper L'Orient Le Jour.
05:40Thanks so much for joining us.