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Speaker 1: We'll go straight to the Middle East, where the situation

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Speaker 1: is moving fast. In just the last few hours, Iran

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Speaker 1: has sent up to three hundred and fifty missiles and

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Speaker 1: drones into Israel, setting off the sound of explosions and sirens.

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Speaker 1: Now this is in response, i Ran says to Israel

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Speaker 1: killing senior Chzboula figures rather than necessarily yesterday's ground invasion

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Speaker 1: of Lebanon with US now, as journalist and founder of

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Speaker 1: new site by Rootreport dot com, Hbib Batahabi, Hello.

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Speaker 2: Hi there.

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Speaker 1: What do you reckon happens?

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Speaker 2: Now?

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Speaker 1: Does the US get involved?

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, it's hard to say what's on the

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Speaker 2: mind of US military officials. The US might be already

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Speaker 2: be involved in in the US is quite involved in

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Speaker 2: sharing intelligence with Israel, and there has been talk about

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Speaker 2: all kinds of you know, billions of dollars worth of weapons.

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Speaker 2: All the bombs that are being dropped are American made,

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Speaker 2: So I said, I said, the US has already involved,

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Speaker 2: it's unclear if they're going to be involved in to

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Speaker 2: more extent.

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Speaker 1: Israel says no one was killed because basically the iron

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Speaker 1: dome worked. Iransi's eighty percent of the missiles hit their targets,

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Speaker 1: which is more likely to be true.

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Speaker 2: Well, I'm watching videos online of the missiles hitting the ground,

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Speaker 2: several missiles. I've seen at least five or six of

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Speaker 2: the missiles hit the ground. So it depends on what

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Speaker 2: you're watching. And there have been videos of missiles touching down.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's important to, you know, not always

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Speaker 2: take the Israeli government's position as fact because it could

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Speaker 2: also be a more of propaganda. In a time of war,

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Speaker 2: militaries say things that will strike fear into their enemies

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Speaker 2: and not cause any kind of fear into their own

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Speaker 2: population and try to reinforce, you know, a kind of

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Speaker 2: confidence in their governments. So you know, there is the

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Speaker 2: missiles are landing, We've seen them videos of that.

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Speaker 1: The smart thing for Israel to do right now is

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Speaker 1: not to respond to this, obviously at the risk of

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Speaker 1: escalating the thing. Further, is that what Israel does? Do

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Speaker 1: you think it just doesn't respond?

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean Israel has shown that it has no

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Speaker 2: acts with impunity. I mean Israel has not been stopped,

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Speaker 2: you know, only more billions and billions of dollars and

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Speaker 2: more weapons are pouring on Israel. So Israel has no

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Speaker 2: incentive to stop. It seems Israel has the full backing

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Speaker 2: of you know, the European the Western allies of the

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Speaker 2: United States. There's been no real strong criticism, no no

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Speaker 2: pausing in the weapons shipment. So I think Israel believes

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Speaker 2: that it can do whatever it wants. It can. It

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Speaker 2: can flatten Lebanona, has has flatten eighty percent of Gaza,

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Speaker 2: and we're seeing huge neighborhoods and Berio being flatten, and

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Speaker 2: we're seeing civilian areas being targeted there. There there's no

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Speaker 2: distinction often between military targets and civilian targets. So, you know,

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Speaker 2: Israel has been acting with impunity and it seems that

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Speaker 2: that's set to continue.

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Speaker 1: Is it possible that Iran has achieved what it wanted

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Speaker 1: to achieve, which would simply being seen to act right

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Speaker 1: because they've done that before. Is it possible there five

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Speaker 1: these missiles and had a few spots here and there,

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Speaker 1: and then they just let it go.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think you know Iran, you know,

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Speaker 2: it would be difficult for Iran to take on the

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Speaker 2: United States and Israel the time, you know, so they

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Speaker 2: probably do want to do some kind of limited action,

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Speaker 2: it seems, but you know, the rockets are major rockets

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Speaker 2: and missiles, and they're falling down, and people, you know

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Speaker 2: in other Arab countries, you know in Palestinians, Lebanese probably

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Speaker 2: feel a bit of retribution now because they've been that's

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Speaker 2: what they've been dealing with. Although you know, it's important

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Speaker 2: to note that the missiles that Israel drops on the

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Speaker 2: Palestinians and Lebanese there are no bomb shelters for them

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Speaker 2: to go to. So Israelis are very well prepared. They

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Speaker 2: get a lot of warning to have all kinds of

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Speaker 2: radar systems, but most Lebanies and Palestinians have no warning,

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Speaker 2: maybe a few minutes at maximum, not enough time to evacuate,

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Speaker 2: and they're often bombed to the next place that they go.

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Speaker 2: So it's a very uneven battlefield.

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Speaker 1: Habib, it's good to talk to you. Thank you for

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Speaker 1: filling us in. Hebi Batahu's journalists and a founder of

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Speaker 1: Beirut Reports dot com. The UN has just let it

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Speaker 1: be known that they're going to be meeting tomorrow about

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Speaker 1: the situation. Interestingly, it takes twelve minutes for a missile

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Speaker 1: that's fired in Iran to reach Israel, and it appears

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Speaker 1: at most of them would have been intercepted over Syria.

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