Is Lebanon the key to peace in the Middle East?
4/22/202629 min
The shaky ceasefire between Iran and the US has been extended. Whether it lasts much longer or fighting resumes depends partly on Lebanon, where another fragile truce has been struck between Israel and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah. So why is Lebanon so important to peace with Iran? And what happens if the ceasefire fails?
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Guest: Jack Clover, assistant foreign news editor, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producers: Micaela Arneson, Edward Drummond.
We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com
Read more: With war in its DNA, will Hezbollah ever disarm?
Further listening: Trump’s ceasefire with Iran - what’s in it and what’s next
Clips: Channel 4, The Guardian, CNN, Global News, Middle East Eye, Reuters.
Photo: Getty Images.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLuke Jones· Host0:00
[gentle music] From The Times and The Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Luke Jones.
Jack Clover· Guest0:05
So we were driving into the suburb of, uh, Hay El Salam. This is the most impoverished part of Dahieh, which is the southern suburb of Beirut. This is Hezbollah country. This is a Hezbollah stronghold, and we are only there at the behest of Hezbollah. They've, they've organized what they call a tour. They've invited foreign journalists to show, who cannot report freely in that area, to show the kind of aftermath of an Israeli strike.
Luke Jones· Host0:40
Jack Clover is assistant foreign news editor for The Times and The Sunday Times, and he's just back from Lebanon. Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist group in the eyes of the UK government, has been at war with Israel again after the Israelis and the Americans killed the supreme leader of Hezbollah's financial and theological patron, Iran. For the past six days, there's been a ceasefire in Lebanon, but there was plenty of death and destruction in the lead-up.
Jack Clover· Guest1:07
So we arrive. There is a, a, a Hezbollah-affiliated MP wearing a pristine suit, picking his way through the rubble.
Luke Jones· Host1:16
He was keen to show Jack and the rest of the assembled press the impact of Israeli airstrikes.
Unknown speaker1:22
[crowd noise] [on loudspeaker]