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Speaker 1: Joining us now then, is Remi Motada, Lebanon's ambassador to

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Speaker 1: the UK Remi, thanks for joining us this morning. Your

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Speaker 1: response then, to the military interactions that have been going

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Speaker 1: on on the border your nation and the actions of Hezbollah.

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Speaker 2: Well, since Saturday afternoon, we have been sustaining Israeli propagations

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Speaker 2: towards our side of the of the borders. From our side,

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Speaker 2: we are deploying the highest possible self restraint and we

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Speaker 2: want to make sure that there is no spillover of

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Speaker 2: the of the deadly conflict against Gaza towards the Lebanese territories.

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Speaker 2: And I think all the actions that you have seen

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Speaker 2: from the Lebanese side is of defensive nature and they

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Speaker 2: only aim at re establishing the self restraint on both

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Speaker 2: sides of the of the border. We've been fully mobilized

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Speaker 2: to make sure that Lebanon does not get entangled into

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Speaker 2: into this to what seems like a very dead the conflict.

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Speaker 3: How much control, though, do you have over the Hesbela

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Speaker 3: forces that are firing from the border to stop that

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Speaker 3: escalation that you're talking about.

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Speaker 2: The government of Phlebanon, of course, is an inclusive government

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Speaker 2: and Hezbollah is in the government and it's the Lebanese

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Speaker 2: position that we are committed to Resolution seventeen or one,

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Speaker 2: which governs the cessation of hostilities on the borders since

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Speaker 2: two thousand and six. But no country can stand by

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Speaker 2: when its territories are occupied. So our message is that

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Speaker 2: Israelis should deploy self restrained and stop the provocations because

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Speaker 2: our action is of defensive nature.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and to be clear, Israel would say that they

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Speaker 1: are in fact responding to incoming fire from Hezbollah and

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Speaker 1: that they are taking necessary defensive measures to respond to that.

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Speaker 1: How convinced can you be? Can we be? Then? Because

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Speaker 1: this is the big risk going forward. One is it

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Speaker 1: run one is Hesbela. The two, of course are intricately linked.

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Speaker 3: What is your.

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Speaker 1: Assessment right now of Hezbola entering this conflict in a

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Speaker 1: more sustained way.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, when the level of violence and the

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Speaker 2: occupied Palestinian territories crosses a certain threshold, tension will spread

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Speaker 2: throughout the region, not only towards Lebanon. So the answer

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Speaker 2: to that is to stop this race to the bottom,

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Speaker 2: and the tragic events since Saturday should be a wake

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Speaker 2: up call towards starting a credible peace process. Addressing the

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Speaker 2: short term issues, but also at the same time, once

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Speaker 2: and for all, start a credible peace process that would

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Speaker 2: give hope, that would empower the moderates in the in

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Speaker 2: the region, which today I think they feel totally frustrated

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Speaker 2: because the Israeli massacres against against Gaza. They give credit

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Speaker 2: to those who want this cycle of violence to continue.

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Speaker 2: So this is really the wrong way to pursue things

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Speaker 2: in the region. I think instead of deploying military assets,

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Speaker 2: we should deploy diplomatic assets and make sure to de

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Speaker 2: escalate and start a political process. Because events the conflict

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Speaker 2: did not start on Saturday. The conflict has been going

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Speaker 2: on for seventy years, and the Palestinians were left without

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Speaker 2: any hope for their basic rights, let alone their political rights.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So in this case, of course, Israel says that it's

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Speaker 3: responding to target Hamas military infrastructure after the attacks which

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Speaker 3: killed twelve hundred people in Israel over the weekend. As well,

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Speaker 3: I wonder, though, you talk about a threshold that could

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Speaker 3: be crossed, what does that threshold look like? Is it

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Speaker 3: a ground invasion?

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't have the military details of what the

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Speaker 2: red lines would be for all the stakeholders and the

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Speaker 2: vision but it's a fact of life that when you

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Speaker 2: have have such a level of violence and in a

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Speaker 2: region that shares the same social fabric, that same that

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Speaker 2: shares the same cultural fabric, it would be very difficult

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Speaker 2: for governments or governments, not only the Lebanese one, to

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Speaker 2: to contain the spillover effect. Yet we are fully mobilized,

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Speaker 2: We are fully determined to maintain peace and stability on

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Speaker 2: our south southern borders and to let the U N

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Speaker 2: Force and cooperation with the Lebanese Army do their their job,

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Speaker 2: their mission towards the escalation and making sure that calm

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Speaker 2: remains and the vision.

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Speaker 1: Ambasador, what was your initial response what remains your initial

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Speaker 1: response to that brutal Hamas attack in Israel.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know that's a cycle and a long that's

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Speaker 2: one one one element and a long cycle of injustice

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Speaker 2: and of violence that has been going on for seventy

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Speaker 2: This is not meant to justify any action. The Arab

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Speaker 2: ministers yesterday called on all parties to spare civilians and tourists,

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Speaker 2: to abide by the international humanitarian international law. But if

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Speaker 2: you want to assess the situation, you need to address

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Speaker 2: the root causes and not just address one symptomatic element

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Speaker 2: of the of the conflict, however drastic it is, once

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Speaker 2: and for all, we should go to the depth of

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Speaker 2: the of the conflict and address the different elements. Empower

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Speaker 2: the moderates in the region, and I don't see the

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Speaker 2: current Israeli actions empowering moderates in the region that are

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Speaker 2: rather alienating any any seeds for moderates taking over in

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Speaker 2: the in the region. You can't solve by military means.

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Speaker 2: You can't solve a political conflict. There should be a political,

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Speaker 2: credible political track that starts soon instead of pursuing this race.

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Speaker 1: To the butt an ambassador Israel has, of course, up

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Speaker 1: until this event, has been normalizing relations with a number

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Speaker 1: of countries in the region, in the Middle East. Do

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Speaker 1: you see that now coming to a halt?

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Speaker 2: Well, again, as I said, all the moderates of the region,

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Speaker 2: they're frustrated by Israeli action today. As for the normalization,

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Speaker 2: we commit ourselves to the terms of the Arab Peace Initiative,

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Speaker 2: which calls for normalization only when there is a political

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Speaker 2: solution that guarantees statehood for the Palestinians and withdrawal of

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Speaker 2: Israel from all Arab occupied territories. Now, it's a sovereign

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Speaker 2: right for every country to decide whatever it feels convenient

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Speaker 2: for its people. But they shared our position is that

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Speaker 2: normalization only comes after a political solution is found the

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Speaker 2: Palestinian struggle.

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Speaker 3: Ambassador, we appreciate your time this morning. That's ramming more

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Speaker 3: Tada Lebanon's ambassador to the UK, speaking to us there