Transcript
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Could the war in Gaza turn into a two-front war for Israel? Well, there's concern that the cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into a second war - this one in the north. NPR's Jane Arraf sat down in Beirut with a spokesman for Hezbollah to talk about the conflict.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: The Hezbollah office is in a nondescript building on the southern edge of Beirut. Ibrahim Al-Moussawi is the Hezbollah spokesman, a member of Lebanon's Parliament and a U.K.-educated professor of English literature.
IBRAHIM AL-MOUSSAWI: Some like to say that Lebanon is controlled by Hezbollah now; it has the upper hand.
ARRAF: He says that's not true, but says the militia created to fight Israel after its 1982 invasion of Lebanon now has undeniable political power as well. Hezbollah means party of God. It's backed and armed by Iran. Since 1997, the U.S. has designated the group a terrorist organization. Al-Moussawi says Hezbollah was created because Lebanon's army was kept deliberately weak by countries, including the United States. As for Iran, he says it offers concrete help.
AL-MOUSSAWI: We are the friends of Iran. Iran is ready to install plants for electricity. You know we are in shortage for electricity.
ARRAF: Last October, Hezbollah began launching rocket and drone attacks across the Lebanese-Israeli border to support Hamas in the war in Gaza. Israel retaliated. Recently, fears have grown that relatively limited strikes by both sides will widen into all-out war - a war Al-Moussawi says no one wants.
AL-MOUSSAWI: Why didn't we start an all-out war? Because we don't want that, because we are fighting, and we are target military posts only so far.
ARRAF: But on each side, civilians have been killed and tens of thousands evacuated from their homes. Israel has moved troops to the north for a possible offensive. And Hezbollah says if it comes to that, it will be ready.
AL-MOUSSAWI: They'll regret it more than we would regret it if they start.
ARRAF: Last month, Hezbollah released high-resolution video of military sites taken by drones that slipped through Israel's air defenses. Hezbollah has been stockpiling long-range rockets. As for concerns that Israel could target Beirut Airport as it has in past conflicts...
AL-MOUSSAWI: If they want to receive a similar - not a similar, not an equal - a very big attack against their airports, they can do it. I believe there is no chance of that because there is a deterrent force. There is a balance of terror. They have to make huge calculations before they can go into it.
ARRAF: Intelligence experts say Israel would have a much tougher time fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon than Hamas in Gaza. Here's Harrison Mann, who left the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in May to protest U.S. Gaza policy.
HARRISON MANN: Hezbollah has only gotten stronger, both in terms of man power and, you know, importantly, in terms of the quality of their weaponry. So in terms of defending their territory, I'd say they're certainly as good as anybody else in the region.
ARRAF: Al-Moussawi, the Hezbollah spokesman, says he thinks one factor weighing against full-scale war is that it's the last thing the U.S. wants because it would involve Iran and Iran-backed armed groups in other countries called the Axis of Resistance.
AL-MOUSSAWI: If the war started, it's going to be the war of the Axis - of the whole Axis. It will start. They can never control. They cannot monopolize. They cannot know the domino effect where it reaches.
ARRAF: He says that means if Hamas decides on a cease-fire there - even a temporary one - Hezbollah will comply.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Beirut.
(SOUNDBITE OF MORRIS LAFLEUR'S "LONGING FOR LIGHT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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