Richard Jackson: Otago University Professor of Peace Studies on the threats of war between Israel and Hezbollah

Threats of war are firing between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, sparking fears of a wider Middle East conflict.  

Israel's military says operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon have been approved.  

Meanwhile, Hezbollah says it would invade northern Israel should a war break out.  

Otago University Professor of Peace Studies Richard Jackson told Mike Hosking that it's unlikely Israel could take on both Hamas and Hezbollah, as the latter is a much bigger opponent.  

He says since the 2006 war Hezbollah's been massively re-arming and it has a lot more sophisticated weapons. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
West in the Middle East, Israel's now talking about an
offensive on Lebanon. A decision and I mean in all
out war with his BLA is coming soon. Apparently the
director of the Center of Peace and Conflict Studies at
a Tiger, you know, Richard Jackson's back. Well this Richard,
very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
If it's all on with Lebanon, is it all on
in the Middle East of the region.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, there is certainly the risks. It's a tinder box
at the moment. And you know, over the years, Hasbellah
and Israel have played this sort of careful game of
cat and mouse, both sides sort of sticking to certain
rules to make sure it doesn't escalate. But the conditions

(00:38):
over there now and the incentives for Natanya who as
well as Yeah, the breakdown in the kind of terrence
that Israel has always postured, Yeah, makes it a very
very dicey moment.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Does Israel have the wherewithal to go after Hamas and
his BLA all at the same time.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
No, I don't think so. I mean, Hasbola would be
a much much bigger proposition than Hamas. Since the two
thousand and six war, they've been massively re arming, and
they have a lot more sophisticated weapons. They've also shown
that they can send new sophisticated drones into Israel under

(01:25):
their radar as so to speak. And you know, they've
threatened that they would do much much worse than they've
done before. And Israel is already struggling in the sense
that you know, they're calling up people up to the

(01:46):
age of forty now because they're running out of recruits
as it were, So.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Nick, Yeah, who's run out of a war cabinet? Which
is the other problem. How much is this purely about politics?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
A lot of it is about politics. Not only are
there you know, growing divisions within Israeli society, but there's
growing divisions within the coalition. And you know, it's a
tried and true method that a war will unite things
for a time. And it's possible that Nanna, who's calculating

(02:18):
that in order to stay in power because he doesn't
want to lose power and have to go back to court,
you know, a fight with Hesbola would unify the nation,
but also it might actually help to re establish the
sort of fractures that are occurring in US support. Exactly,

(02:40):
you would have to step in, probably.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Exactly Rich appreciate your expertise as always, Richard Jackson. So
there's old Anthony Blincoln firing up the jet engines yet again,
Director of the Center a Piece of Conflict Studies, Attiger
University of Course fifteen past seven. For more from the
mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd be
from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.