Up to the Minute (CBS) snippet - 2006-07-14 (Mideast crisis)

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:03] The Middle East is tumbling toward

[0:05] full-scale combat this morning as Israel

[0:07] battles enemies on two fronts. Hamas in

[0:10] Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

[0:12] Israeli warplanes again attacked

[0:14] Lebanon's international airport

[0:16] Thursday, effectively shutting it down

[0:18] during the height of the tourist season.

[0:20] This after Hezbollah launched scores of

[0:22] rockets into Israel and for the first

[0:24] time striking targets in the port city

[0:26] of Hifa. Joining us with some insight is

[0:29] director of the Middle East studies

[0:30] program at John's Hopkins University and

[0:33] CBS News Middle East consultant Fouad

[0:35] Ajami. Mr. Ajami is also the author of

[0:37] the new book, The Foreigners Gift: The

[0:39] Americans, the Arabs, and the Iraqis in

[0:42] Iraq. Foued joins us now. Good morning.

[0:45] >> Thank you. Good morning. Thank you very

[0:46] much.

[0:46] >> It seems as if the situation just gets

[0:48] worse by the hour. Is there any way from

[0:50] keeping this crisis from spreading

[0:52] throughout the region?

[0:52] >> Well, I think it was predictable. I

[0:54] mean, this crisis was willed byah. This

[0:56] is was produced by the leader of this

[0:59] young cynical cleric say Hassanah he

[1:02] wanted this crisis and of course he

[1:03] wanted it on behalf of his masters his

[1:06] masters are really in tan it's really

[1:08] the Iranians who run his by remote

[1:10] control so in fact the crisis is playing

[1:12] out in Lebanon but there are actors

[1:15] beyond and larger and much more powerful

[1:17] than Lebanon there is a ruler in

[1:19] Damascus Bashar Assad and he wants a

[1:21] piece of this crisis and then there are

[1:23] the people in in Tahan who really

[1:26] basically subsidize and finance

[1:28] Hezbollah. Think of Hezbollah as a

[1:30] wholly owned Iranian subsidiary

[1:32] basically.

[1:33] >> Well, can talk about the the timing of

[1:35] this a little bit from the Hezbollah

[1:37] point of view. It all started with the

[1:39] kidnapped soldier from the Palestinians

[1:40] and then they came into play.

[1:42] >> Is there a reason for the timing?

[1:44] >> Well, that's a good question. It's like

[1:46] what I like to call it mischief envy.

[1:48] You know, if the if the Hamas people can

[1:50] kidnap an Israeli soldier while

[1:51] Hezbollah can kidnap two soldiers. It

[1:54] really is the timing was Hezbollah's own

[1:56] timing and Iran's own timing. If you

[1:58] want to destabilize the region, but you

[2:00] want the fury of America and the fury of

[2:03] Israel kept away from yourself in

[2:04] Tahran, well, you play it on the Israeli

[2:07] Lebanese border, think of the Israeli

[2:09] Lebanese border as indirectly, if you

[2:11] will, as a Lebanese Iranian border

[2:14] because nothing happens on that border

[2:16] without the the will and without the

[2:18] direction of Tan. So there are Lebanese

[2:21] Hezbollah reasons because this man who

[2:23] runs Hezbollah is a big player in

[2:25] Lebanon. And Hezbollah, you think of it,

[2:27] it's ironic. It has one foot in the

[2:29] government and one foot in terror. It

[2:31] participates in the Lebanese government,

[2:32] but it's also outside the Lebanese

[2:34] government.

[2:34] >> Well, the Lebanese government, they're

[2:35] calling for a ceasefire right now. How

[2:37] likely is that?

[2:38] >> Well, the Lebanese government is

[2:40] hopelessly and pathetically weak. The

[2:42] man who runs it is a very decent man, a

[2:44] technocrat, but he doesn't really

[2:45] control these these these furies in his

[2:48] own country. So the Lebanese government

[2:51] in a way in in in in in some sad way has

[2:55] very very little control over its own

[2:57] territory. You can't have a sovereign

[2:59] Lebanese government and an armed militia

[3:01] has balah at the same time. If you want

[3:04] to decease fire, if the Lebanese

[3:05] government genuinely wanted to decease

[3:07] fire, it would send its own soldiers to

[3:09] the border. But that it does not do.

[3:11] >> Well, Iran has said that they're fierce

[3:13] supporters of Syria and if Israel goes

[3:15] after Syria, they will take action. What

[3:18] would kind of consequences will would we

[3:20] be looking at at that point?

[3:21] >> If I were to hazard a gas and you can

[3:24] bring me back and have me come and

[3:26] revisit my prophecies and my

[3:28] predictions, I don't think the Iranians

[3:30] and the Syrians will be drawn into it.

[3:32] Lebanon unfortunately is the theater for

[3:34] this confrontation

[3:35] >> and the Israeli prime minister was

[3:37] forced into this. You can't wake up in

[3:39] the morning and be told that your

[3:40] soldiers have been kidnapped, your

[3:42] soldiers have been killed in an act

[3:44] without any provocation and accept this.

[3:47] So the crisis is playing out in Lebanon.

[3:49] Iran and Syria are in the background and

[3:51] I think Prime Minister Mer doesn't

[3:54] really want to be drawn into a wider war

[3:56] with either the Syrians.

[3:58] >> You don't think Iran would get involved?

[3:59] >> I think the Iranians will threaten to

[4:02] get involved, but you know, they have

[4:04] they have the action. They want this

[4:06] remote control through Hezbollah and

[4:08] through Lebanon.

[4:09] >> How is this affecting civilians on a

[4:11] daily um basis? I mean, there's this the

[4:14] height of tourist.

[4:15] >> Sure. That's a good question and I've

[4:17] spent a lot of time today talking to you

[4:19] know good Lebanese friends. They are

[4:21] they are griefstricken by what's

[4:22] happening. This is the tourist season as

[4:24] you said Lebanon lives on tourist

[4:26] income. Saudis, Kuwaitis fleeing the

[4:28] heat. They come to Lebanon. Lebanon dar

[4:31] rubble and ruin. Beirut was rebuilt and

[4:34] the pain of the Lebanese now is watching

[4:36] their country being plunged into the

[4:38] terrors of days past.

[4:39] >> Right. Meanwhile, the offensive is still

[4:42] going on in Gaza. It's been going on for

[4:43] two weeks now. What's it going to take

[4:45] to end that? Are we going to see that

[4:47] soldier released who was kidnapped?

[4:49] >> Well, I think that in a way that's the

[4:51] responsibility of the Palestinian

[4:53] government, quote unquote government.

[4:55] But since it's a Hamas government, that

[4:57] too is one foot in politics and one foot

[4:59] in terror. A lot of it will depend on

[5:02] the Palestinian president because Mahmud

[5:05] Abbas, he must cap that volcano and he

[5:07] must step back from the brink and he

[5:09] must turn over and liberate that Israeli

[5:11] soldier. Otherwise, the bets are off

[5:13] between Israel and the Palestinians.

[5:14] >> Will we see any action from the UN? We

[5:16] saw the US veto the the Muslimbacked um

[5:19] action yesterday.

[5:21] >> Well, the UN is in many ways

[5:24] pathetically ineffective. I mean, there

[5:26] are all kinds of UN resolutions. For

[5:28] example, there are resolutions that call

[5:29] for the disarmament ofah

[5:31] >> and they have not been enforced. I think

[5:33] the UN is not really the the main

[5:35] players here will be the Iranians, the

[5:38] Syrians, the Israelis, and then behind

[5:41] them perhaps some of the Arab

[5:43] governments are very nervous about the

[5:45] larger instability stalking this region.

[5:47] >> Right. We don't have a lot of time left,

[5:49] but what's going to, you know, what's it

[5:51] going to take to end this violence?

[5:52] >> Well, I think what will what it will

[5:54] take is that at some point the Lebanese

[5:56] government must reclaim its own country.

[5:58] Mhm.

[5:58] >> The Lebanese government and the Lebanese

[6:00] population must say they're fed up with

[6:02] Hezbollah and they don't accept an armed

[6:04] militia in their country.

[6:05] >> All right, thank you so much for being

[6:06] with us, Fuadami, director of Middle

[6:08] East studies at Johns Hopkins University

[6:10] and CBS News Middle East consultant.

[6:12] Thank you.