I'm John Batchel with David Aoud and Bill Raja of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy looking at the

fog of war, the Lebanon operation by the IDF and IAF these last days, co-terminists with the operation

in Iran. David, I asked a question that I did know to ask before the Strait of Armuz. Is Hezbollah

capable of mining the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel? Is Hezbollah capable of mining the Mediterranean off the coast of Israel?

Is Hezbollah capable of mining the Red Sea?

I don't think so at this moment.

I mean, Hezbollah's war strategy is not conventional victory.

It is harassment, well, attrition through harassment,

right, slowly eroding the will of the other side to continue fighting. You know,

mining operations in either the Red Sea or elsewhere would fit into that perfectly. The question,

though, is does it have the reach right now to go to the Red Sea and do that? I don't think so. You question, though, is does Hasolah have the reach right now to go to the Red Sea

and do that? I don't think so. You know, the Houthis seem to be sitting this one out.

So, you know, not, not, not doesn't seem plausible right now. Now off the coast of Israel,

I also don't, I mean, again, I think they, they, they,

they, they're threats, like you go back to before this conflict even started, right,

Hezbollah had threatened Israel's offshore, uh, hydrocarbon installations, uh, with attacks,

you know, they were purchasing missiles or getting missiles that were meant to

target offshore installations. And it seems like the Israelis have neutralized that, right? There

hasn't been, you know, Quraysh in different places have not been targeted. So it seems like

Hezbo's ability to conduct those kinds of operations have been limited or degraded

by Israeli military operations. It doesn't mean that Hezbo won't try something. I just find

them too constrained right now. And their focus, in any case, over the past 15 months, has been

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