and in fact, the united states itself has made it very clear that hezbollah has been acting with restraint. hezbollah has not targeted islamabad s population centers but if you look at what s happening in the past few weeks, it really is israel that has been pushing hezbollah to the limits. it s provoking hezbollah. it has been killing its, i mean top commanders in the field. it s had attacks hezbollah in the very heart of its social base in beirut and the south. it has killed scores of hezbollah members in syria. more in the path three months. 19 hezbollah fighters, than in the past year. and the united states is terrified. is terrified and is really trying to basically pressure israel not to provoke hezbollah. israel also, fareed, and the defense department, the u.s. defense department, has been
israel also, fareed, and the defense department, the u.s. defense department, has been furious. it targeted the lebanese army 34 times in the last three months and if you ask me what s happening here, and i probably might come across as too cynical, but i think netanyahu s political future depends on the continuation of the war in gaza and probably its expansion. because when the guns fall silent in gaza, he knows that there will be reckoning, public reckoning. public reckoning for his strategic failure on the 7th of october and his failure to deliver on his promises. let me just ask you before we go, i want to ask you about this one other piece of news which is the saudis reaffirmed that they wanted to normalize relations with israel. that strikes me as unusual given everything that s going on. what do you think, what do you read into that?
as well essentially leaving the u.s. defense department without a leader. over the weekend austin acknowledged the lack of public disclosure in a statement saying he could have been a better job in securing the public was properly informed. trace. trace: matt, thank you. window he want to go to portland oregon now. the national trappings safety board holding a presser. we re kind of monitoring this here, they re answering a few questions. we ll have more on the defense secretary in a moment but let is just dip in here talking about the incident aboard the alaska airlines flight that happened on friday night and broke during this newscast watch. deactivated. the cabin pressure was 10.48 psi. at 17:26:46, the aircraft landed on runway 28 left at portland international airport. now, the survival factors team
experience in afghanistan, after 20 years of warfare in afghanistan, the taliban are back in power, this is a lesson that the united states should have conveyed to the israelis before israel goes into the direction that will also be tremendously damaging to israel itself. we appreciate your analysis and perspective, thank you so much for your time. thank you so much for having me. well, the pentagon press association is calling the u.s. defense department s failure to disclose that the defense secretary is in hospital an outrage. the pentagon notified the public friday evening saying defense secretary lloyd austin was admitted for complications from an elective medical procedure on january 1st, and is recovering well. it says austin was expected to resume his full duties on friday. in a letter to the defense department s public affairs chiefs, the press organization said, quote, the fact that he has been at walter reed national military medical center for four
concerns for these brave marines participating in training exercises up there in the northern territory, where the marine rotational force based in darwin is there on a semi-permanent basis. now, as i said, information is just coming out. we just moments ago got this statement from the u.s. defense department, saying that these three marines had sadly died. australians, as i mentioned, very concerned about this. this happened just weeks after an australian helicopter went down in joint training with the u.s. in queensland, killing australians onboard there, too. so a tragic time in australia right now. thoughts with the families of the three marines who died. all right. we ll stay on this story. and bring more updates as we get them. cnn s an gust watson in sydney, australia. thank you so much. well, three people are dead after a mass shooting in jacksonville, florida, that