Bonus: The Inquiry - What does Hezbollah want?

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

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4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Hezbollah has both political and military wings both of which are designated by several countries as terror organisations. It emerged several decades ago in Lebanon.

Since Israel launched its war in Gaza in the wake of the Hamas attacks of October 7th, it has intensified its military activities along the border between Israel and Lebanon.

The persistent question has been what is it trying to achieve? Are the attacks intended as a show of support for the Palestinians in Gaza or an attempt to take advantage of Israel’s diverted military focus? And could this dangerous front lead to an all-out war in the Middle East?

This week on the Inquiry we are asking: What does Hezbollah want?

For more, search "The Inquiry" whevever you get your BBC Podcasts.

Contributors: Aurélie Daher, Associate Professor in political science at the University Paris-Dauphine Lina Khatib, Associate Fellow with the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House Dr Bashir Saade, Lecturer of Politics and Religion at the University of Stirling in Scotland Mehran Kamrava, Professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar

Presenter: Tanya Beckett

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello I'm Louise and welcome to this bonus episode in the documentary from the BBC World Service
0:06.6	and the producer of the Inquiry Podcast. We put one question to four expert witnesses to answer. To hear every episode, search for the inquiry wherever you find this
0:17.4	podcast.
0:18.4	Welcome to the inquiry with me, Tanya Beckett one question for expert witnesses and an answer. Hezbollah is based in southern Lebanon. It has both military and political wings but is
0:41.7	designated in its entirety by many countries
0:45.0	including Western states Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council as a terrorist
0:50.5	organization.
0:53.4	Since Israel launched its war in Gaza in the wake of the Hamas attacks of October the 7th, it has intensified
1:00.6	its military activities along the border between Israel and Lebanon.
1:05.0	On the evening of Saturday, the 27th of July, 12 children and young people who were playing at a football pitch in the Golan Heights
1:14.1	were killed by a military rocket. Speculation immediately began as to whether the
1:20.1	rocket hits civilians because it missed its intended target and of course who fired it.
1:27.5	It seemed most likely that it had been launched by one of Tehran's proxy militias in the Middle East, Hezbollah.
1:35.6	The group denied the attack.
1:39.4	The persistent question has been, what is it trying to achieve? Are the attacks intended as a show of
1:46.1	support for the Palestinians in Gaza or an attempt to take advantage of Israel's
1:51.8	diverted military focus.
1:54.6	And could this dangerous front lead to an all-out war in the Middle East?
2:00.8	This week on the inquiry we're asking, what does Hezbollah want?
2:09.0	Part one, the origins of Hezbollah.
2:24.4	My name is Oredi Dohher. I'm an associate professor in political science at the University of Paris-Dauphine in Paris. The story of Hezbollah's emergence as a military force begins in the late 1970s, when Israel
2:30.8	was facing a persistent security threat along its northern border with Lebanon.
	...

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