Of the Israeli Occupations killing of 10 lebanese civilians, including seven from the same family, an air strike deep in lebanese territory earlier last week. Say nasulah publicly stated that the aggression that occurred in the cities of navaatiye and sawene in South Lebanon was development that must be stopped. He then added, targeting civilians and the marturdom of a large number of them is deliberate, emphasizing that the enemy could have avoided killing civilians in southern lebanon. And will pay blood for shedding the blood of our women and children. Said nasulah then stressed that this front will not stop no matter how much zionist israel attacks, kills and threatens of emphasizing that the response to the nabatiya massacre must be to continue working on the front and escalating. In the aftermath of the speech, the Islamic Resistance in lebanon carried out several attacks against Israeli Occupation military sites along the border with occupied palestine, targeting the dov. Baraks, the ramya site, the zibdin and alam sites in the occupied shiba farms and the israeli entity site of almalikiya. These attacks came in conjunction with statements by said nasrullah who said the resistance does not accept harming civilians and that the enemy must understand that it has gone too far in this matter. The hebrew channel khan reported after the speech that the israeli entity authorities have closed several roads in the north following threats from hisballah secretary general sayid Hasan Nasrullah. As a result, former israeli mosad, chief danny atom affirmed that it is not in zionist israels interest to initiate opening a war front with hisbullah in South Lebanon. It is worth noting that the israeli entity military sources previously confirmed that the Israeli Occupation army built up in recent years does not have the capacity to intensively fight on two fronts, in the gaza strip and lebanon. Earlier, the scientis israeli newspapers confirmed that hisbullah has succeeded in imposing kind of Security Belt in northern occupied palestine where settlements there have become deserted and that it will remain that way as long as fighting continues in gaza. This was ratified by said hasan nasulahs declaration that our goal, all of us in the axis of resistance has been and will remain to defeat the enemy in this battle and prevent it from achieving any of its objectives and for gaza to emerge victorious from this battle. Welcome to the beast stream. Im. In after the israeli entity air shrikes that targeted several towns in southern lebanon over the past two days, resulting in the martterdom of nine lebanese civilians and the martydom of several resistance hizbullah and ml movement fighters. Hisbullah threatened escalation. On the border, hizbullah secretary general sayid Hasan Nasrullah said on friday that the israeli entity attacks nabatiye and sawene in southern lebanon constitute escalation because they targeted civilians and killed a large number of them hinting that the resistance might strike ilat inside of occupied palestine. To discuss this issue with us from washington is dr. Ziad hafiz former head of the Arab National conference Political Writer and commentator thanks million dr. Ziad its really early in the morning in washington so thank you for. Being with us, now initially the americans seemed basically uh adamant on trying to find some sort of a balance between the zionist entity and lebanon, but following the latest speech of hizbillah secretary general sad Hasan Nasrullah zionist uh israel has resorted again to the policy of victimhood and the policy of selfpity which basically masters usually to just attract more uh some sort of uh unconditional western support. Every time it wants to wage a war, but uh, setting western support aside for this particular matter is escalating the war with lebanon, currently an actual viable option for. Israel the short answer to that is no, its not a viable option, but the point is nowadays we are no longer seeing in israel nor in the United States or the collective voice per say rational thinking and rational behavior. I think the state of israel and its sponsors, United States and the collective west are more motivated by ideology and the self interest rather than by clear political objectives in gaza, despite the horrors that they have committed, they have not been able to achieve anything on the ground, the Israeli Forces and if haza, which is from point of view of the battlefield is much easier quote and quote target for the israelis, it is a totally different discussion for the northern border, especially in lebanon, so. The escalation of is is not really viable option, so the object of the escalation or the gradual escalation of hostilities in the north is to trigger this response from hizbullah, eventually having a widening war, which the americans did not want in the first place, in order to allow the Israeli Forces to continue or to be able to pursue their objectives, they havent so far been able except to generate a massacer of. Population which has generated lots of hostility and in the west, even among the populations of the west against the state of israel and the policies the government of the collective west, but dr. Hafiz, you say that they want to try and make hizbullah uh the bad person here or try to make hisbullah initiate some sort of a provocation, but the resistance has declared, it has personally declared that the number of operations that they carried out against the Israeli Occupation forces since october 8. Uh during 131 days from october 8th till february 15 2024 has reached 1338 operations. This is in support of the resilient Palestinian People in gaza obviously and in solidarity with their resistance and in response to to the israeli entity attack on multiple lebanese villages as well, yet zinist israel remained deterred. They have been provoked by hizbillah, they did not reply as at least as how we arabs have. It before uh and we did not see any form of us direct involvement against hisbollah for that matter uh we did see it only in yemen for example how come what is the current us strategy concerning lebanon and the confrontation right here because hasbullah has been targeting military objectives not civilian objectives and therefore a possible outcry of targeting civilian objectives has not taken place so they. Them, so it does not really constitute a basic issue as long as United States is able to provide the lifeline to the Israeli Forces, but now, and this is new development, and as stated by the general secretaries hassan nasralla, saying that now blood will be responded by blood, and this is new ball game, we have to see how the israelies will react to to the new attacks of hizballah where civilians will no longer be spared as they used to be spared. Until now in the sound and so operation that they have conducted, and if civilians had casualties were take have occurred, it is basically what you call collateral damage, but the resistance has been extremely careful in targeting military objectives that have a certain very clear effectiveness in reducing the capabilities of the Israeli Forces and so far that was the logic or the strategy followed by the resistance in lebanon now with the targeting of civilians by the Israeli Forces in order to track response, its going to provoke a similar reaction, not maybe not of the scale that israel is hope or want, but significant to deter them, and we are have to see how the israelies are going to respond to this new tick fortack approach by is by the Lebanese Resistance and how also the americans are going to respond to that. I dont think they are, they have the capability to launch a full scale war in in lebanon, and they have not succeeded in gazza, so its i not see in terms of pure rational military thinking, what can they achieve . If they want to start bombing civilians in lebanon like they did in in in in gaza, then obviously the response is going to be quite clear. The bombing of civilians between quotation mark because i dont think there are civilians in in the state of israel, its going to be the same and i dont think they can sustain that, so this is where we are at this stage. Well something uh rather weird goes on in lebanon every time we have some sort of a confrontation between the resistance and designist occupation is that um we have lebanese voices who are historically antiresistance in lebanon who are from lebanese political actions uh who demand the disarmament of their own resistance and uh the adherence to Certain International law that uh zianist israel has never adhered to. They not see the the current aggression is just similar to previous aggressions, its similar to upcoming aggressions that it is deliberately targeting lebanese civilians in the south, mean who do they suggest will protect us, will protect the civilians especially in South Lebanon if the resistance actually becomes disarmed, actually that leadership that youre referring to are the same leadership have caused this libanese civil war and apparently they have. Learn the lessons from the lebanese civil war and they certainly have not been able to read the transformation or the changes that have been taken place in the world and in the region. Its a totally different word, they are still stuck in a pre 1975 mentality where their own privileges and superiority was really the the the stake. Now they are trying to get back to that situation and they cannot and the only way they can do it is by total alignment with the collective west, and the collective west does not really have at heart the interest of lebanon, but really the interest of israel, they dont mind as long as their own particular interest and privileges are being maintained or restored or even increased, and this is what is driving these, these factions in lebanon who are in my opinion, in minority, not represent majority, a small minority, but vocal with lots of financial power and backing of course from the collective west, well dr. Ziad hafiz, former head of the Arab National conference and Political Writer and commentator, thank you very much for being with us, its always a pleasure hearing your analysis concerning whats going on, ladies and gents, please stay tuned because next we will be talking about how zionist israel is preparing another catastrophe in rafah. Well, in full view of the world, zionist, israel continues its aggression against the gaza strip, disregarding all International Legal norms and decisions, for most among them, the prohibition of committing war crimes and genocide against civilians, despite all the occupations crimes in the gaza strip, including killing, starving, displacing, and destroying, and its pretext of safe zones in south. Gaza, its criminal journey has now reached rafah, which was previously not spared from its aggression during the war, but this time the threats of expanding its operations. More details in the following report. It seems that the middle east is preparing to become a battleground from which fires will erupt that will consume this world. Four months into the genocide of the Palestinian People who are being collectively and indiscriminately killed, their landmarks of life and future destroyed, and their fate frozen under the guise of a trending Massive Propaganda Campaign called rafah. This campaign is being used today as a distraction and diversion, while the true currents are much greater than what we imagine. This sarafah campaign is brought to you under the sponsorship of the United States of america with the slogan kill more, have fun more, and is sponsored by the morally, politically and financially bankrupt european union. Which distributes free drinks in the tents of the displaced and praises the necessity of eating diet bread for gaza, may be made from ground fatter, barley and contaminated water. The unprecedented violence, blood thirsty extremism and unyielding determination evident in the enemys plan only conceal fragility and stand a foundation of severe failure and immense losses, which justify its blind and visionless actions of killing innocence and seeking revenge. Against them, options are crowded around the fade of the battle in rafa depending a wide range of factors and influences surrounding this anticipated operations specifically or other factors encompassing. The entirety of the confrontation in gaza, organically linked to other confrontations in lebanon, iraq, syria and yemen, which constitute the main support fronts for the resistance in gaza. Here, considerations related to the actual reasons for this anticipated israeli entity operation and rafah also crowd in, while some see it as a maneuver to pressure Palestinian Resistance no more, aiming to push them to compromise on the issue of a Prisoner Exchange deal, others perceive it as a complex maneuver, combining a military. Operation against leaders, caders and fighters of Palestinian Resistance factions in that border area with egypt, with search and rescue operation for israeli entity prisoners held by Palestinian Resistance and attempt to liberate them, and with a process of regularization and pushing the largest number of Palestinian Refugees who have fled to rafah or its essential residents towards sinai to escape from killing, destruction and massacers, which will inevitably. Occur with the aim of imposing and achieving this refuge to egypt, this is what dynast israel wants. Practically, it seems that the israely regimes political and military decision to launch a wide scale aggression on the arafah governorate has been effectively completed. While initially the americans appear to disapprove of the operation, citing its danger to the massive civilian population gathered in rafah, some hints have emerged today suggesting a change in their public stance to words approval with the condition of laying out clear plan, they insist on receiving details in advance and taking into account the safety of civilians, as they claim, while openly providing the weapons needed to exterminate those same civilians incompassing a recipe for a regional and possibly global disaster. To discuss this issue with us from beirot is mr. Ali murad, journalist at the akbar daily and Political Writer and commentator, thanks some million. Mr. Adi for being with us, now initially we did see that the United States of america seemed to oppose maybe any operation against rafah, expressing concern about the potential danger it poses to its sizeable civilian population, especially in rafah, however recent indications suggest that there is a shift in the public approval of the United States of america, especially the Bidon Administration concerning uh an operation that could be carried out in uh rafah, but has Israeli Occupation forces received a green light from the American Administration to uh widely spread the aggression across all of and if so what will be the aftermath of such a senseless decision . Greetings to you and to the esteam viewers, of course there has been clear american approval from the beginning of this operation, but there has been an attempt hypocritically by the American Administration over the past two or. Days in their statements where they said they reject this operation because there are approximately 1 million 400 thousand displaced palestinians in the rafa area. This is required for the American Administration because we must not forget that when biden announced this rejection or reservation on the military operation in rafah, some officials from his administration were meeting with Arab Community leaders in michigan and needed to persuade them to change their stands on the eve of the primary elections happening on the 27th of february addition to pressure from Global Public opinion were two factors pushing the American Administration to continue the policy of hypocracy, pretending to care about civilians, but at the same time still sending thousands of tons of ammunition and smart bombs. You can read about this in one of the american newspapers, where there was a page in the wall street journal, the day before yesterday, where the first headline was about the American Administrations reservation about the israeli entity operation. Sending more ammunition and missiles to zionist israel, therefore this hypocrisy can be observed clearly in this war where they falsely claim to care about civilians, while the result is more than 30, murders and around 65, wounded so far, and they are not satisfied with that, rather, they consider that they want to reach the final point in invading the gaza strip which is. Thus, the american and the israeli entity calculations align in this context, and the result will be answer to your question, more murders, more massacres, more extermination, and a chance for netanyahu and all the extreme rightwing ruling with him in the war cabinet attempting to expell palestinians from the gaza strip to egypt, and trying to corner egypt in receiving a large portion of the displaced palestinians for humanitarian reason. This is this is what i want to discuss with you, because observing the egyptian official stance concerning the possible operation on rafah, we see that it opposes this operation just to prevent one. Of its potential outcomes, which is the displacement of a large portion of the gaza palestinians into the sinai desert, not to protect them, just to not allow them to come, which is why were seeing it building even a higher wall between rafah and egypt, but this also means that egypt can have leverage when dealing with the zionist ensity concerning any future upcoming operation in rafah, will the Egyptian Authority be allowed to use . That leverage if possible by the uh biden administration, and if so, how will that affect the palestinians that are currently trying to survive in rafah . First, we must note that since the beginning of the aggression on gaza, the egyptian stance has been weak, this means they are forced to seek permission from netanyahus government to allow aid into the gaza strip. Im talking here about dozen trucks per day. We must not forget that until. The 21st of october, the first aid truck entered the gaza strip after the americans obtained permission from the israeli entity to allow the egyptians to bring in aid. This means that egypt chose from the beginning not to use its leverage. It has many strong cards, as it is the largest arab state that possesses the strongest arab army in terms of armment and equipment, and thus the borders between the gaza strip and egyptian territories in sinai are matter of sovereignty between palestinians and egyptians. However, the egyptian regime chose not to use these power cards, and in my opinion, this is what makes the israeli entity war government strive to achieve its goal of collectively expelling palestinians to egypt, and i believe that a certain stage when this battle begins in rafah, thousands and tens of thousands of palestinians will head to the fence, and i believe the egyptians at that time will find themselves an awkward position before the Global Public opinion. This is what netanyahu aspires to. The egyptian regime will eventually have to receive some of these palestinians. We must not forget that about two or three months ago photos and videos of tents being prepared in northern sinai were leaked. These tents, in my opinion may have been prepared to accommodate palestinians, meaning that egypt will surrender and comply with the reality imposed by netanyahu and his war government on. Well, the actual and primary criteria for. Or the israeli enemys uh reluctance to engage or to proceed with the proposed operation against the rafah remains its fear of the danger of confrontation with the resistance uh in this very strategic area, its not egypt, its not anyone else, it is in fact the resistance, the resistance regards as its uh only opportunity that cannot be lost and to solidify its presence, its legitimacy amongst the people and the position, but what will be the role of the remaining allies of the Palestinian Resistance whether in lebanon, iraq, syria, yemen, if rafah operation actually happens in two minutes please, we must not forget that all these fronts of support in the axis of resistance, when they began supporting the Palestinian People in gaza, they linked the escalation from their side in their fronts with the developments in the gaza strip, this is what happened in lebanon, and this is what say. Announced in his first speech and in all subsequent speeches. This is also what the yemenis announced, and in my opinion, although the circumstances of the iraqies force them to reduce or temporarily stop operations, i believe that if we reach this moment, and if the enemy army commits horrifying massacres against civilians and rafa, this will turn toward further escalation. The americans understand this, so they tried to reach some kind of understanding with netanyahu a certain stage. Meaning that he would carry out localized operation in rafa, but they backed off and went along with netanyahus plan and gave him the green light. This will have several consequences. The main result that the americans need to understand is that the more there is killing, massacres and oppression of palestinians, the more there will be escalation in southern lebanon and more escalation at the babel mandab straight. I predict that operations will return in iraq and resume against. American basis because the pressure on the americans is linked to what is happening in the gaza strip with the crimes of the zionist enemy army against the palestiny. Well, mr. Ali murad from beirut, journalist and Political Writer and commentator, thank you very much for being with us to discuss this very imminent and very crucial situation, lets say in in gaza and hopefully it wont escalate into a fully open genocide, more genocide against the people. Of palestine, ladies and gents, thank you for being with us, watching them stream right here on press tv, do follow us on telegram and on twitter and we will always bring you the latest from west asia right here on press tvs. The mide east stream. Economic community of west african sachoas is facing. And challenge, mali, burkina faso and niger announced their plan to withdraw from membership of aquas after reconciliation efforts failed. Equals has called on these countries to reconsider their decision to quit the political and Economic Alliance warning of the haship the move will force on their citizens. Your top stories here who chief expresses grave concerns about what he calls the inhumane situation of palestinians in the gazo strip. On third day, the icj hearings at the h most countries emphasize palestinians right of selfdetermination and an end to Israeli Occupation. And in several european countries, farmers continue protesting high costs and cheap imports among other issues