September 30, 2024 • 17 mins
Over the weekend, Hezbollah’s long-time leader, Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. It marks a significant shift in the region, with Nasrallah having been in power for over thirty years. In today’s podcast, we’ll explain how we got here and what it means for the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah moving forward.
Hosts: Zara Seidler and Emma Gillespie
Producer: Orla Maher
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this is the dailyas this is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday,
the first of October. I'm zara, i'm emma. Over the weekend,
Hesbolla's longtime leader, Hassan Nastralla was killed by an Israeli
air strike in Lebanon. It marks a significant shift in
the region, with Nastrala having been in power for over
thirty years. In today's deep dive, we'll explain how we
(00:35):
got here and what it means for the conflict between
Israel and Hesballa moving forward. But first em what's making headlines.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The federal government has appointed After Malik as the Special
Envoy to combat Islamophobia in Australia. Malik will begin a
three year term on the fourteenth of October and will
report to the Prime Minister and the Multicultural Affairs Minister. Malik,
who has spent over a decade working in the New
South Wales premiers Department, said he doesn't tend to advocate
(01:07):
that quote one form of hatred is more important than another.
Both antisemitism and Islamophobia are unacceptable, he said. This week's
appointment comes nearly three months after the government appointed Gillian
Siegel as the Special Envoy to combat antisemitism.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
The death toll of Hurricane Helene in the US has
risen to about one hundred people. Strong storm winds and
rain conditions have led to the destruction of homes and
businesses across the country's southeastern states. It's been reported that
supplies have been airlifted to areas heavily affected Due to
hundreds of road closures. More than five hundred people are
unaccounted for as the search continues and survivors wait for
(01:48):
phone towers to be reinstalled.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
The University of Melbourne has appointed its first female Vice Chancellor,
with Professor Emma Johnston to take on the role. Johnston's
appointment comes after former Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskel announced in
April that he would be stepping down from the role.
The new VC will move on from her role as
Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of Sydney
(02:14):
to begin working at the University of Melbourne from February
next year.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And today's good news, Paleontologists have uncovered the fossilized skull
of a giant dinosaur. It's estimated to be seventy two
million years old. The dig was conducted by the Philip J.
Curry Dinosaur Museum in Canada. The dinosaur uncovered is believed
to be a Packy Rhinosaurus as Emma has just instructed
me more than four times, and the uncovered skull is
(02:43):
the second adult skull found by researchers, weighing in at
a hefty two hundred and seventy kilograms. The skull has
been nicknamed Big Sam nailed it. Over the weekend, the
leader of Hezbala, his name was Hassan Nasralla, was killed
in Lebanon by an Israeli air strike. In a statement,
(03:04):
the group said in Australia had been killed in a
strike on its central headquarters in the center of Beirut,
Lebanon's capital. He was killed alongside a number of other
high ranking members of Hesbela.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Okay, so before we go into what happened on the weekend,
the impacts of that, why it was significant, I think
it's really important to take a step back, particularly when
stories like this develop. A lot of us can feel
left behind. Maybe we're missing pieces of the puzzle. So
I wanted to ask you to give us a little
bit of background on Hesbela before we go any further.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah. So, Hesbela, the word itself is derived from the
Arabic term hizb Allah, which translates roughly to party of God.
It was established after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in nineteen
eighty two, as the country itself was grappling with a
civil war. Hesbela is based in Lebanon and receives funding
(03:56):
and training from Iran. Australia, alongside a lot of other
Western nations, lists Hesbela as a terrorist organization and its
manifesto specifically calls for the destruction of Israel.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And just to clarify, Lebanon as a country is governed
by a parliamentary democracy of elected officials, despite Hesbela's presence
in the region, right.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, exactly. So while there are members of parliament who
do represent Hesbela, it is not the governing party, as
for example, Kamas is in Gaza. It's a different situation there. So,
following its invasion in the nineteen eighties, Israel officially withdrew
from Lebanon in two thousand. At the time, the UN
drew up what it called a provisional border that was
(04:42):
between the two countries, and they called it the blue line.
That blue line has been monitored by UN peacekeeping forces
ever since that time. And I should say that the
relationship between Israel and Hesbela, it's a long and a
checkered one, and it would take its own podcast to
explain what has happened since that to how we got
to here. But for the sake of understanding these most
(05:04):
recent events, I think that where we need to begin
is on October eighth of last year, and that is
the day after Hummas's attack on Israel, and it is
the day that Hesbelah began firing rockets into Israel. At
that time, I'm quoting directly from Hesbala here it declared
to hum Us, our souls are with you, our history
and our guns and our rockets are with you. Now.
(05:27):
Since that time, the eighth of October last year, there
have been escalating cross border attacks between Israel and Hesbeala.
They've been continuing for much of a year. We are
now approaching that same timeline a year later, but they
have certainly escalated in the past few weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, So Hesbela began launching rockets on October eighth, twenty
twenty three. We're now in October, nearly a year later,
as you mentioned, So what has the escalation looked like?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So for a while it was much of the same.
I said, it was those rockets, and then Israel was
retaliating and sending rockets back into Lebanon. But it kind
of looked that same way for the past eleven months,
and then last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu said
that his cabinet had updated its war objectives to include
returning the residents of the north securely to their homes.
(06:18):
What he is referring to there is the residents in
the north of Israel who have been displaced due to
those rockets that we were talking about earlier, and so
according to the Natanyahu government, an objective of the war
was now to return those residents home, and that was
essentially saying that they were going to escalate their war
against Hesbolah.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, So we knew that this escalation was going to
be imminent. What form has that taken? How have things changed?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So, I mean it's taken a few different forms. The
first was just a day after the Israeli government updated
those war objectives, and that was when we saw those
pager and walkie talkie attacks happen across le So if
you weren't familiar with that story, the first of the
two attacks was targeting pages that were used by Hesbella members.
(07:09):
According to the group, those pages all exploded at once.
We understand that there were a couple of beeps and
then they exploded. That attack appeared to be targeting members
of the group, as I said, who owned those pages,
And through all of the reporting it appears they had
obtained those pages in an effort to not have their
communications tracked by Israel. Lebanon's Health ministry said that after
(07:31):
that attack, nine people, including some Hesbeala members, were killed
in the attack, and then thousands more were injured. It
was then just a day later that walkie talkies exploded
across Lebanon, killing twenty people, also including members of the group,
and injuring hundreds of others. And so those were the
two recent significant escalations and from there it's really grown.
(07:54):
It was just days later after those two attacks that
the Israeli military launched a campaign of air strikes, said
we're also targeting Hesbela members. Those strikes killed more than
five hundred people, in what became the deadliest day in
Lebanon since two thousand and six. The IDF said that
those strikes were quote proactive and extensive, and that they
(08:14):
were targeting both members of Hesbela but also basis so
the infrastructure of Hesbala. At the time, authorities didn't really
confirm how many of those killed had been members of Hesbala,
But what we did see happen was that Hesbela really
increased the number of daily rockets that they were firing
into Israel.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Okay, so we've seen this significant intensifying of tensions, firstly
with those really targeted attacks in Lebanon you mentioned the
pages and the walkie talkies, to those more widespread, deadlier
strikes across Lebanon, and then the retaliation of more rockets
into Israel. So that pretty much brings us to last week.
(08:54):
Talk me through the weekend. What happened.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So over the weekend, as I mentioned at the time,
Hesbala's leader, Hassan Nasralla was killed, and he was killed
by an Israeli air strike that hit Hesbala's central headquarters.
To give you a bit of background into Nasralla and
to I guess just emphasize how significant this is. He
was elected as the secretary General of Hesbala in nineteen
(09:18):
ninety two. He was at that point aged thirty two,
so he had held this position for over three decades.
When he assumed the leadership, Hesbala was growing in dominance
in the south of Lebanon, but it was by no
means the power that it is today. In the decades
since he was appointed leader, the group had grown its
influence not just in Lebanon, but also across the Middle
(09:40):
East more generally. We know that Hesbala has fought alongside
Syria's President Bashah al Asad against the popular uprising back
in two thousand and eleven. What we also know is
that Nasrela had avoided public appearances since two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Wow, that's a long time, an.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Incredibly long time. I mean, he had been doing televised events,
and he had been doing all of that, but out
of fear of assassination, he had not been seen publicly.
And so I guess that just paints a picture as
to how significant it is that he was both found
and targeted in this air strike over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And a man who has spent the majority of his
adult life at the hell of this group. So, given
the significance of Nozraala as a senior figure in this conflict,
what has the reaction been.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Well, I think as expected, the response has been very
varied depending on who and where it is coming from.
So if we start with the US and Israel, who
of course are close allies to one another, they both
described Nostralla as a terrorist. Prime Minister Benjamin Natanier, who said,
and I'm quoting directly here, he said, we have set
alled accounts with someone who was responsible for the murder
(10:51):
of countless Israelis and many nationals of other countries, including
hundreds of Americans and dozens of French. Nosrala was not
just another terrorist, He was the terrorist. US President Joe
Biden said in a statement following the announcement of Nasralla's
death that his death from an Israeli air strike is
a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands
(11:11):
of Americans, Israeli and Lebanese civilians. And one of the
points that Joe Biden made quite clear in his statement
was that he believes that Nasralla miscalculated on October eighth
in beginning to send those rockets over, and that's what
was really echoed by Kamala Harris in her statement as well.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
You've mentioned Zara that Hesbela is controlled, resourced, directed by Iran.
So what has the Iranian response been.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Well, I'd say starkly different to what we saw from
Israel and from the US, which is of course to
be expected. So Iranian state media reported that Iran's Supreme
Leader Iatollah Ali Khmani declared five days of national mourning
for Nusrala. He described Nosralla as quote a path and
a school of thought that would continue through Hesbella's activity
(12:01):
of significance. He said that Iran would continue its fight
to confront the enemy and that Israel would face crushing
blows as all regional resistance forces are ready to become involved.
And I think it's important there to just explain Hesbalah
is not the only proxy army that Iran has. We
have also seen the Huthis in Yemen be equipped, resourced
(12:21):
and directed by Iran. And there is also, of course
the connection between Hamas and Iran. On the latter point,
Hamas's previous political leader, Ismail Hania, was killed in Iran
on Iranian soil, and all of this really just shows
how deep this kind of regional conflict goes. Speaking now
of Lebanon, it has declared three days of mourning following
(12:45):
Maasrala's death.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So what happens from here? Obviously we have seen the
headlines for nearly a year now about concerns surrounding escalating conflict,
Israel's war in Gaza expanding, you know, across the Middle
East broadly, So what happens from here? Are we there now?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah? Well, I mean, in the days before Nastraula was killed,
there were already a number of nations calling for a
seasire between Israel and Hezbala. So it was I'd say
a very rare form of unity to see the US, Australia, Canada,
the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, UK and Qatar all come together and
(13:30):
call for a twenty one day ceasefire. And that was
to quote conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on
both sides of the border to return to their homes safely.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Wow, it's not every day you have most of the
world's most powerful Western democracies joining forces with the UAE
and Saudi authorities to sign a joint declaration exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
It was quite a big step, but of course that
was before what happened this weekend. Also before the weekend,
the US had committed to sending forces to the region
in response to what it labeled as increased tension, but
all of that changed this weekend. What happens from here
is unknown. In terms of hes Bala's senior leadership, it
(14:13):
wasn't just an Australa that was killed. We understand that
much of the kind of senior command has been killed
by Israeli forces, and that means that the group that
has reigned with such power for so long is now
really at the stage of having to rebuild. And what
that looks like in its newest iteration, we really don't
know at this stage. We also don't know where it
(14:34):
leaves the conflict with Israel. Hes Blah and indeed Iran
have committed to retaliation, but we don't know when, how
what that will look like, so we will have to
wait and see. Just to bring this closer to home
for a moment, over the weekend, there were a number
of protests and rallies held across the country that was
to mark what's called a National Day of Action for
(14:56):
Gaza that was being run by the Australia Palestine Advocacy.
At some of those rallies, people were holding signs of
either Nasralla himself, photos of the leader who had just
been killed, or of Hezbollah's own signage. And what we've
seen now is quite a strong political response to the
events of the weekend. From the government side. We've seen
(15:19):
Penny Wog, our Foreign Minister, come out and say we
condemn any indication of support for a terrorist organization such
as Hesbolah not only threatens national security but fuels fear
and division in our communities. All of us, including every
political leader, must stand together to reject terrorism and extremism.
And then on the other side of politics, we had
Peter Dudden and he has come out and demanded that
(15:41):
there be law changes and laws that are passed with urgency.
According to him, that would see visas canceled of people
that were seen to be supporting Hesbeala over the weekend.
In response, we had Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke say
that he would consider refusing and canceling visas for anyone
who seeks to incite discord in Australia and that he
(16:03):
condemned quote any indication of support for a terrorist organization.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
And the Australian Federal Police have also responded since the protests,
They've said that they can't arrest someone for displaying images
associated with an extremist group, so the legislation doesn't exist
there yet. No doubt we'll see more conversation around this
over the weeks to come. Zara, thank you so much
for breaking that one down for us today. An incredibly
(16:27):
complex story and one that no doubt will continue to develop,
and we will keep you up to date here on
The Daily Os.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Calcotin woman from Gadigl Country. The Daily Os acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Already and this is the dailyas this is the Daily OS. Oh,
now it makes sense.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday,
the first of October. I'm zara, i'm emma. Over the weekend,
Hesbolla's longtime leader, Hassan Nastralla was killed by an Israeli
air strike in Lebanon. It marks a significant shift in
the region, with Nastrala having been in power for over
thirty years. In today's deep dive, we'll explain how we
(00:35):
got here and what it means for the conflict between
Israel and Hesballa moving forward. But first em what's making headlines.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The federal government has appointed After Malik as the Special
Envoy to combat Islamophobia in Australia. Malik will begin a
three year term on the fourteenth of October and will
report to the Prime Minister and the Multicultural Affairs Minister. Malik,
who has spent over a decade working in the New
South Wales premiers Department, said he doesn't tend to advocate
(01:07):
that quote one form of hatred is more important than another.
Both antisemitism and Islamophobia are unacceptable, he said. This week's
appointment comes nearly three months after the government appointed Gillian
Siegel as the Special Envoy to combat antisemitism.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
The death toll of Hurricane Helene in the US has
risen to about one hundred people. Strong storm winds and
rain conditions have led to the destruction of homes and
businesses across the country's southeastern states. It's been reported that
supplies have been airlifted to areas heavily affected Due to
hundreds of road closures. More than five hundred people are
unaccounted for as the search continues and survivors wait for
(01:48):
phone towers to be reinstalled.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
The University of Melbourne has appointed its first female Vice Chancellor,
with Professor Emma Johnston to take on the role. Johnston's
appointment comes after former Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskel announced in
April that he would be stepping down from the role.
The new VC will move on from her role as
Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of Sydney
(02:14):
to begin working at the University of Melbourne from February
next year.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And today's good news, Paleontologists have uncovered the fossilized skull
of a giant dinosaur. It's estimated to be seventy two
million years old. The dig was conducted by the Philip J.
Curry Dinosaur Museum in Canada. The dinosaur uncovered is believed
to be a Packy Rhinosaurus as Emma has just instructed
me more than four times, and the uncovered skull is
(02:43):
the second adult skull found by researchers, weighing in at
a hefty two hundred and seventy kilograms. The skull has
been nicknamed Big Sam nailed it. Over the weekend, the
leader of Hezbala, his name was Hassan Nasralla, was killed
in Lebanon by an Israeli air strike. In a statement,
(03:04):
the group said in Australia had been killed in a
strike on its central headquarters in the center of Beirut,
Lebanon's capital. He was killed alongside a number of other
high ranking members of Hesbela.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Okay, so before we go into what happened on the weekend,
the impacts of that, why it was significant, I think
it's really important to take a step back, particularly when
stories like this develop. A lot of us can feel
left behind. Maybe we're missing pieces of the puzzle. So
I wanted to ask you to give us a little
bit of background on Hesbela before we go any further.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah. So, Hesbela, the word itself is derived from the
Arabic term hizb Allah, which translates roughly to party of God.
It was established after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in nineteen
eighty two, as the country itself was grappling with a
civil war. Hesbela is based in Lebanon and receives funding
(03:56):
and training from Iran. Australia, alongside a lot of other
Western nations, lists Hesbela as a terrorist organization and its
manifesto specifically calls for the destruction of Israel.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And just to clarify, Lebanon as a country is governed
by a parliamentary democracy of elected officials, despite Hesbela's presence
in the region, right.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Yeah, exactly. So while there are members of parliament who
do represent Hesbela, it is not the governing party, as
for example, Kamas is in Gaza. It's a different situation there. So,
following its invasion in the nineteen eighties, Israel officially withdrew
from Lebanon in two thousand. At the time, the UN
drew up what it called a provisional border that was
(04:42):
between the two countries, and they called it the blue line.
That blue line has been monitored by UN peacekeeping forces
ever since that time. And I should say that the
relationship between Israel and Hesbela, it's a long and a
checkered one, and it would take its own podcast to
explain what has happened since that to how we got
to here. But for the sake of understanding these most
(05:04):
recent events, I think that where we need to begin
is on October eighth of last year, and that is
the day after Hummas's attack on Israel, and it is
the day that Hesbelah began firing rockets into Israel. At
that time, I'm quoting directly from Hesbala here it declared
to hum Us, our souls are with you, our history
and our guns and our rockets are with you. Now.
(05:27):
Since that time, the eighth of October last year, there
have been escalating cross border attacks between Israel and Hesbeala.
They've been continuing for much of a year. We are
now approaching that same timeline a year later, but they
have certainly escalated in the past few weeks.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Okay, So Hesbela began launching rockets on October eighth, twenty
twenty three. We're now in October, nearly a year later,
as you mentioned, So what has the escalation looked like?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
So for a while it was much of the same.
I said, it was those rockets, and then Israel was
retaliating and sending rockets back into Lebanon. But it kind
of looked that same way for the past eleven months,
and then last month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu said
that his cabinet had updated its war objectives to include
returning the residents of the north securely to their homes.
(06:18):
What he is referring to there is the residents in
the north of Israel who have been displaced due to
those rockets that we were talking about earlier, and so
according to the Natanyahu government, an objective of the war
was now to return those residents home, and that was
essentially saying that they were going to escalate their war
against Hesbolah.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Okay, So we knew that this escalation was going to
be imminent. What form has that taken? How have things changed?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So, I mean it's taken a few different forms. The
first was just a day after the Israeli government updated
those war objectives, and that was when we saw those
pager and walkie talkie attacks happen across le So if
you weren't familiar with that story, the first of the
two attacks was targeting pages that were used by Hesbella members.
(07:09):
According to the group, those pages all exploded at once.
We understand that there were a couple of beeps and
then they exploded. That attack appeared to be targeting members
of the group, as I said, who owned those pages,
And through all of the reporting it appears they had
obtained those pages in an effort to not have their
communications tracked by Israel. Lebanon's Health ministry said that after
(07:31):
that attack, nine people, including some Hesbeala members, were killed
in the attack, and then thousands more were injured. It
was then just a day later that walkie talkies exploded
across Lebanon, killing twenty people, also including members of the group,
and injuring hundreds of others. And so those were the
two recent significant escalations and from there it's really grown.
(07:54):
It was just days later after those two attacks that
the Israeli military launched a campaign of air strikes, said
we're also targeting Hesbela members. Those strikes killed more than
five hundred people, in what became the deadliest day in
Lebanon since two thousand and six. The IDF said that
those strikes were quote proactive and extensive, and that they
(08:14):
were targeting both members of Hesbela but also basis so
the infrastructure of Hesbala. At the time, authorities didn't really
confirm how many of those killed had been members of Hesbala,
But what we did see happen was that Hesbela really
increased the number of daily rockets that they were firing
into Israel.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Okay, so we've seen this significant intensifying of tensions, firstly
with those really targeted attacks in Lebanon you mentioned the
pages and the walkie talkies, to those more widespread, deadlier
strikes across Lebanon, and then the retaliation of more rockets
into Israel. So that pretty much brings us to last week.
(08:54):
Talk me through the weekend. What happened.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So over the weekend, as I mentioned at the time,
Hesbala's leader, Hassan Nasralla was killed, and he was killed
by an Israeli air strike that hit Hesbala's central headquarters.
To give you a bit of background into Nasralla and
to I guess just emphasize how significant this is. He
was elected as the secretary General of Hesbala in nineteen
(09:18):
ninety two. He was at that point aged thirty two,
so he had held this position for over three decades.
When he assumed the leadership, Hesbala was growing in dominance
in the south of Lebanon, but it was by no
means the power that it is today. In the decades
since he was appointed leader, the group had grown its
influence not just in Lebanon, but also across the Middle
(09:40):
East more generally. We know that Hesbala has fought alongside
Syria's President Bashah al Asad against the popular uprising back
in two thousand and eleven. What we also know is
that Nasrela had avoided public appearances since two thousand and six.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Wow, that's a long time, an.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Incredibly long time. I mean, he had been doing televised events,
and he had been doing all of that, but out
of fear of assassination, he had not been seen publicly.
And so I guess that just paints a picture as
to how significant it is that he was both found
and targeted in this air strike over the weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
And a man who has spent the majority of his
adult life at the hell of this group. So, given
the significance of Nozraala as a senior figure in this conflict,
what has the reaction been.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Well, I think as expected, the response has been very
varied depending on who and where it is coming from.
So if we start with the US and Israel, who
of course are close allies to one another, they both
described Nostralla as a terrorist. Prime Minister Benjamin Natanier, who said,
and I'm quoting directly here, he said, we have set
alled accounts with someone who was responsible for the murder
(10:51):
of countless Israelis and many nationals of other countries, including
hundreds of Americans and dozens of French. Nosrala was not
just another terrorist, He was the terrorist. US President Joe
Biden said in a statement following the announcement of Nasralla's
death that his death from an Israeli air strike is
a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands
(11:11):
of Americans, Israeli and Lebanese civilians. And one of the
points that Joe Biden made quite clear in his statement
was that he believes that Nasralla miscalculated on October eighth
in beginning to send those rockets over, and that's what
was really echoed by Kamala Harris in her statement as well.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
You've mentioned Zara that Hesbela is controlled, resourced, directed by Iran.
So what has the Iranian response been.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Well, I'd say starkly different to what we saw from
Israel and from the US, which is of course to
be expected. So Iranian state media reported that Iran's Supreme
Leader Iatollah Ali Khmani declared five days of national mourning
for Nusrala. He described Nosralla as quote a path and
a school of thought that would continue through Hesbella's activity
(12:01):
of significance. He said that Iran would continue its fight
to confront the enemy and that Israel would face crushing
blows as all regional resistance forces are ready to become involved.
And I think it's important there to just explain Hesbalah
is not the only proxy army that Iran has. We
have also seen the Huthis in Yemen be equipped, resourced
(12:21):
and directed by Iran. And there is also, of course
the connection between Hamas and Iran. On the latter point,
Hamas's previous political leader, Ismail Hania, was killed in Iran
on Iranian soil, and all of this really just shows
how deep this kind of regional conflict goes. Speaking now
of Lebanon, it has declared three days of mourning following
(12:45):
Maasrala's death.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So what happens from here? Obviously we have seen the
headlines for nearly a year now about concerns surrounding escalating conflict,
Israel's war in Gaza expanding, you know, across the Middle
East broadly, So what happens from here? Are we there now?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah? Well, I mean, in the days before Nastraula was killed,
there were already a number of nations calling for a
seasire between Israel and Hezbala. So it was I'd say
a very rare form of unity to see the US, Australia, Canada,
the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the
United Arab Emirates, UK and Qatar all come together and
(13:30):
call for a twenty one day ceasefire. And that was
to quote conclude a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on
both sides of the border to return to their homes safely.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Wow, it's not every day you have most of the
world's most powerful Western democracies joining forces with the UAE
and Saudi authorities to sign a joint declaration exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
It was quite a big step, but of course that
was before what happened this weekend. Also before the weekend,
the US had committed to sending forces to the region
in response to what it labeled as increased tension, but
all of that changed this weekend. What happens from here
is unknown. In terms of hes Bala's senior leadership, it
(14:13):
wasn't just an Australa that was killed. We understand that
much of the kind of senior command has been killed
by Israeli forces, and that means that the group that
has reigned with such power for so long is now
really at the stage of having to rebuild. And what
that looks like in its newest iteration, we really don't
know at this stage. We also don't know where it
(14:34):
leaves the conflict with Israel. Hes Blah and indeed Iran
have committed to retaliation, but we don't know when, how
what that will look like, so we will have to
wait and see. Just to bring this closer to home
for a moment, over the weekend, there were a number
of protests and rallies held across the country that was
to mark what's called a National Day of Action for
(14:56):
Gaza that was being run by the Australia Palestine Advocacy.
At some of those rallies, people were holding signs of
either Nasralla himself, photos of the leader who had just
been killed, or of Hezbollah's own signage. And what we've
seen now is quite a strong political response to the
events of the weekend. From the government side. We've seen
(15:19):
Penny Wog, our Foreign Minister, come out and say we
condemn any indication of support for a terrorist organization such
as Hesbolah not only threatens national security but fuels fear
and division in our communities. All of us, including every
political leader, must stand together to reject terrorism and extremism.
And then on the other side of politics, we had
Peter Dudden and he has come out and demanded that
(15:41):
there be law changes and laws that are passed with urgency.
According to him, that would see visas canceled of people
that were seen to be supporting Hesbeala over the weekend.
In response, we had Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke say
that he would consider refusing and canceling visas for anyone
who seeks to incite discord in Australia and that he
(16:03):
condemned quote any indication of support for a terrorist organization.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
And the Australian Federal Police have also responded since the protests,
They've said that they can't arrest someone for displaying images
associated with an extremist group, so the legislation doesn't exist
there yet. No doubt we'll see more conversation around this
over the weeks to come. Zara, thank you so much
for breaking that one down for us today. An incredibly
(16:27):
complex story and one that no doubt will continue to develop,
and we will keep you up to date here on
The Daily Os.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Calcotin woman from Gadigl Country. The Daily Os acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the
first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
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