Front Burner - As bombs rain down, Israel readies potential Lebanon invasion

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

On Wednesday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces released a video of their top commander telling troops on the northern border to prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon. The mid-week Lebanese death toll, following Israel’s air strikes that began Monday, is more than 600 people. Hezbollah on Wednesday also shot a ballistic missile towards Tel Aviv for the first time, although it was intercepted and caused no injuries.The Israel-Hezbollah conflict is escalating in a serious way.Today, we’re speaking to Tasnim Chaaban. She is a reporter for L’Orient Today, Lebanon’s long-running English-language newspaper, and she and her family made a harrowing journey to Beirut this week from an area of southern Lebanon under heavy bombardment.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson. On Wednesday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces released a video of their top commander telling troops on the northern border to prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon. You can hear the planes here. We are attacking all day, both to prepare the ground for the possibility of your entry, but also to continue striking Hezbollah. Since the start of the war in Gaza, the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah

has been exchanging cross-border attacks with the Israeli military. Prior to this week, some 110,000 people in southern Lebanon have been displaced by the fighting, and 600 killed, including around 100 civilians. 90,000 Israelis had also been evacuated from their homes in the north of the country, and some 50 people have been killed in Israel and Israeli-occupied areas. About half were civilians, according to army figures. But this week has seen major escalations. figures. But this week has seen major escalations. As of this recording on Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes had killed 615 people since Monday, including dozens of children, according to

Lebanon's health minister. Two Canadians have been reported among the dead. Experts say Monday's barrage alone created one of the highest daily death tolls in 21st century warfare. Hezbollah has also been firing rockets at Israel. On Wednesday, they attempted to hit Tel Aviv for the first time, but the rockets were intercepted. For a view of all of this from the ground in Lebanon, I'm joined today by Tasneen Shaban. She's a reporter for L'Oréan Today, Lebanon's long-standing English-language newspaper. Teznim, hi. Thank you so much for making the time. Thank you for having me.

So I know that you live in Beirut, but that when these Israeli airstrikes started escalating at the end of last week, you were visiting your family in the south of the country, which is where the most intense bombing has happened. And can you tell me a bit about what you and your family have gone through since Monday? Yeah, sure. It started off with a very chill morning with the family and basically us walking around the farm, feeding the chickens and the ducks and then we saw the announcements of warnings basically from Daniel Hagari and Afihai Adrai the spokesperson for the IDF in the English language and the Arabic language both.

Today, based on precise intelligence we conducted extensive strikes against Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon that posed an imminent threat. The IDF strike 1,300 targets until now. They had a video demonstration that was extremely reminiscent of a Shifa hospital complex where they had this 3D animation of weapons being hidden in houses. where they had like this 3D animation of weapons being hidden in houses. Cruise missiles, rockets, launchers, and explosive UAVs inside civilian homes hidden behind the Lebanese population.

Let's look at an example that we identified. I kind of had a discussion with the parents about the possibility of them leaving with me because I had to go to work to Beirut. Usually it's an hour drive. And they were obviously very reluctant to move. Yeah. Why? Tell me more about that conversation. Yeah, of course. So they built that house when they got married.

They literally, my dad literally designed that house. We live in a very big farmland. We have a bunch of trees, avocados, apples, cherries, grapes. It's 100% self-sustained farmland. We have our own well. We have our own solar panels. We have trees that my grandparents grew, trees that my uncles grew. They have all of their memories.

That piece of land is home. It's everything you own and everything you have put all your efforts and work into yeah they have gone through numerous wars so for whatever reason dad believed it's not gonna escalate this massively right so they were extremely basically reluctant to leave but they did right yeah they did, right? Yeah, they did. Once the bombardment started, it was extremely heavy. Around 11, the bombardment started and it was incessant, literally almost circling our house slash our village.

So we could see the smoke rise from all around. The house was shaking. The glass was shaking. Our neighbors were literally screaming. Across our farmland, there's another farmland that houses a bunch of Syrian refugees who work on the farmland. And they have a lot of kids. Obviously, the kids were screaming their lungs out. So I basically insisted.

And I was like, yeah, I'm not leaving here unless you leave. And if you'd like us to die all together in this house just for us to stay in the house then sure I'll stay but I'm not leaving without you guys do you mind if I ask you what the evacuation and that journey was like of course I spent a good hour trying to find uh cat. She's almost 11 years old. She's been part of the family, basically. So obviously we're not leaving her behind. We packed up.

We got in our cars. Leaving on side, there was only one bomb that we saw on the outskirts. And then as soon as we got on the highway, it was jam-packed. And I think you mentioned before that the drive to Beirut from your parents' farm is usually about an hour, right? Exactly. And that hour-long drive took us 10-plus hours to make it to Beirut. Wow. You made it to Beirut, obviously. We're speaking to you.

You're in Beirut. But my understanding is you haven't actually been able to return to your home in the city either, right? And why not? Okay, so my house is in Bir Hassan. It is counted as part of the southern suburbs of Beirut. It is a Shia stronghold. The majority of the people living there are Shia. I'll just pause to explain this.

So within Lebanon, obviously, we have multiple religions, multiple sects. We have Muslims, Christians, Druze. And within the Muslims, there are multiple sects. The majority of those sects in Lebanon are either Sunnis or Shia. Shia tend to split among two major parties in Lebanon. They're Amal and Hezbollah. So my area is predominantly Shia, and most of the areas that have been bombarded have been Shia areas, not only Hezbollah areas. So we thought it's not really safe for us to stay at home. Okay. And your parents, where are your parents right now? They're in a hotel in Hamro.

I just want to back up here and do a bit of a chronology of events. So, as you know well, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, there were these attacks by Israel on pagers and walkie-talkies and other devices, which were reportedly targeting Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed militants unable to stop what U.S. officials tell NBC News is a vast Israeli covert operation targeting Hezbollah's personnel and its communications network. Last Wednesday, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Galan also said that they were shifting focus in the war to the north, which has widely been interpreted to mean Lebanon. The center of gravity is moving north. The meaning is that we are diverting forces, resources, energy towards the north. We have not forgotten about the abductees and we have not forgotten our tasks in the south. This is our duty and we are carrying it out at the same time. From Friday on, we've seen Hezbollah launch rocket attacks into northern Israel and we've also seen a major escalation of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, particularly since Monday. Across the rugged terrain of southern Lebanon,

Israeli airstrikes continue with intensity. On the roads from the south, a mass exodus. The UN says over 90,000 people have been forced from their homes since Monday. Israel has significantly escalated this conflict, unleashing one of its most intense and widespread air assaults on Lebanon in decades. You have just described some of those attacks in really vivid detail. But I'm just wondering if you could elaborate for our listeners a bit more on where exactly the Israeli bombings have been concentrated

and then what kind of damage they have done? So as of Monday forward, things have rapidly escalated and it's been more of a nationwide scale attack. Pre-Monday, there have been to a certain extent understood at least rules of engagement within Hezbollah and Israel and strikes have been more or less tit for tat with an escalation here an escalation there however as of Monday areas that we would have never thought would have been targeted were targeted most of the strikes launched on Lebanon were in areas that were predominantly, as explained before, Shia. However, it hasn't always been the case.

Jewish areas were targeted as well. And a couple areas that basically housed multiple sects were targeted. Rocket fell in Jbeil. Jbeil is an area that's predominantly Christian. That's pretty much about it. uh jubilee is an area that's predominantly christian that's pretty much about it you mentioned that your parents had been through conflicts between lebanon and israel before um you were in lebanon during the 2006 war between hezbollah and israel right yeah so that lasted 34 days and how does what you've seen this week compare to that one? To be honest, it's a thousand times worse.

Up until today, I can still hear the ringing in my ear. I've already sought therapy, to be honest about it, because I have a feeling that all those things that I'm feeling are psychosomatic. I have consistent ringing in my ear, consistent pressure, migraines all the time. I'm extremely fidgety. I cannot even take any loud noise. And yeah, they were extremely heavy, extremely strong. And yeah, very violent.

Yeah, sounds terrifying. Very violent. Yeah. Sounds terrifying. Very violent. We talked about what's been happening in Lebanon. Expand for me on how Hezbollah has responded this week militarily. Okay so Hezbollah seems to still show restraint within the way they're responding in the sense of even though we saw an attack on Tel Aviv today the attack was extremely small they didn't launch a lot of missiles they did launch a missile that I believe was not used before, Qatar-1 ballistic missile. Nonetheless, it was intercepted. And I believe Iran had warned Hezbollah to not fall into the trap of a quote-unquote all-out war, even though

in my opinion, we kind of already are in the middle of one to a certain extent, at least. And the only element to a certain extent as well is that's missing is a ground invasion which has been already in the talks off in the northern command of Israel. The head of the army visiting troops close to the northern border telling them to get ready to fight inside Lebanon. We're preparing the process of a maneuver which means that your military boots will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts. When you hear that, what's the first thing that goes through your mind? genuinely hoping this is gonna end soon and de-escalation is gonna happen but this tells me that this is gonna go on for much longer and it's gonna drag on for much longer and i really hope not but it feels like it might become another case and uh we're praying that

that does not happen um i genuinely hope that it doesn't it scares me it the possibility of not being able to go back home just gets me warmed up and tearing up honestly i was crying all day today just started to process my emotions about what has been happening but like the idea of not being able to go back to our farmland or back to go back to our home because of the idea of not being able to go back to our farmland or go back to our home because of the possibility of a ground incursion that might occupy further villages in the south is actually extremely scary. I'll see you next time. Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you.

Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo. 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. What is Israel saying about why they have been escalating these airstrikes now? I mean, it started off with them adding to the list of war goals the return of the displaced in the north, right?

Right, because tens of thousands of people have moved out or been displaced from northern Israel since October 7th. Exactly. So basically, as soon as they announced that, things really started escalating from there. The Pager attack started happening. The walkie-talkie happened. All of those happened right after that goal was added to the list of goals.

When you speak to people there, what do they think the long-term goal is here, or strategy is, on Israel's behalf? So, of course, in Gaza, even though they have managed to have presence throughout Gaza, nonetheless, at the same time, they have not managed to accomplish the goal that they want, which is basically eliminating Hamas and returning the hostages. And you have nationwide protests in Israel happening because they want a deal and they want their hostages back already.

Tonight, tens of thousands of protesters packing into central Tel Aviv in Israel's biggest protest since the war began to voice their anger after six more hostage bodies are found in Gaza. So at least that would, in a sense, give them a sense of, oh, there you go, we returned the displaced. I'm sure they hope to push Hezbollah past the Litani River, or at least, at least that. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video addressed to the Lebanese people saying, Israel's war is not with you. It's with Hezbollah.

For too long, Hezbollah has been using you as human shields. It placed rockets in your living rooms and missiles in your garage. How are people in Lebanon reacting to what he's saying there? I mean, mostly scoff and mockery, to be very honest with you. There have been a lot of memes going on about that, mainly targeted towards him saying that we're hiding rockets and missiles inside of our houses. Right. I think just to note earlier in the conversation, Right. I think just to note earlier in the conversation, you brought up that animation that was released by the IDF, right?

Which it was like a kind of x-ray interior of buildings with huge cruise missiles in them. But it was an animation, not actual video footage, right? so please continue yeah so uh basically there was a lot of mockery around that people just joking about the fact that uh going like oh thank you i didn't know my mom had those muscles inside of her pots and i didn't know that i had a nuke inside my living room oh thanks for letting me know and then in regards to his address to the Lebanese people, that was extremely reminiscent of his address to the people of Gaza and him saying that our war is not with you, it's with Hamas. But nonetheless, the death of civilians in Gaza have predominantly been civilians. And on top of that, I don't know if you guys saw that, but we actually had reported on that in Lorient today, Hezbollah actually asked civilians to leave combat zones and to leave areas that

might be targeted on Monday. They were going door to door asking people, please leave the area, there's going to be a massive scale attack. So if they're using people as human shields and they're asking them to leave their houses and leave the areas that are being bombed and leave the areas that are being targeted, that's the exact opposite of what he is saying. And to add to that, while a lot of European countries and some of the GCC countries

view Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, at the end of the day, within Lebanon, Hezbollah does not categorize as a terrorist organization. And it is within the Lebanese government. It is within the Lebanese society. They are part of the community. They have families. They have their kids. They live in those areas.

They go shopping just like any other person. So just like any combatant from any other nation in any other place, they have a civilian life outside that war. Hence the fact that they live in those areas. Right? Yeah. So just on the issue of weapons, that animation video aside, is there any independent reporting or evidence to confirm country, even Hezbollah opponents, Hezbollah political opponents have never insinuated that, have never made that claim. This is something that is legitimately unheard of within the Lebanese analysts talking about how, as this all unfolds, they're seeing a lot of echoes of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. This is something that you have nodded to throughout this conversation. Things like talk of human shields,

the warnings from Israel to evacuate, the mass displacement of civilians in a short window. And just to end this conversation, tell me a bit more about the kinds of conversations you're hearing about the idea of echoes and the kinds of fears that that's bringing up for people? Yeah, to be very honest with you, as of, I want to say, third, fourth month, we have consistently said that should Israel continue its campaign with impunity in Gaza, then South Lebanon would

be next. And now it seems like it's the whole of Lebanon. So yeah, this has been a fear within the Lebanese community. We have been seeing a lot of parallels with what has been happening in Gaza, the complete failure of the international community to do anything about the massacres in Gaza and this sense of lack of accountability that the state of Israel has emboldened in a sense to possibly do the same in Lebanon and continue its massacres on Gaza with impunity and without a fear of punishment, without a fear from the international community, with challenging the international community and with continued funds off, be it military or financial. So yeah, it definitely has been a worry for the Lebanese community.

And we definitely don't want to see that happen to Lebanon. And we would love to see a ceasefire happen in Laza. And of course, the hostages returned on both sides. Okay. Tasneem, I really want to thank you for your time. And I really, I hope you stay safe. Take care of yourself and your family. Thank you very much. And thank you very much for having me.

And thank you very much for covering the issue. Thank you for taking the time. We really appreciate it. All right. That is all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.