Can Israel Fight Hamas & Hezbollah At The Same Time And Win?: Reporter Grills Sec. Austin

1 year ago

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken & Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a press conference with officials in the Philippines and answered questions about the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

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Transcript

00:00May I call Liz Frieden of Fox News for her question directed to Secretary Austin.

00:09Liz?

00:11Secretary Austin, having just spoken with Israeli Defense Minister Golan yesterday,

00:16do you believe an Israeli operation in Lebanon is imminent,

00:19and can Israel fight both Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah at the same time and win?

00:24For Secretary Blinken,

00:26the U.S. is investing an unprecedented amount of money and resources to the Philippines.

00:31Why now, and why is the Philippines relevant to a potential invasion of Taiwan?

00:36For Secretary Manolo,

00:38following your meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang,

00:41he warned that U.S. intermediate-range missile deployment could start an arms race with China.

00:47Do you think that you're starting an arms race?

00:49Liz, that's three questions.

00:51There's supposed to be one question for Secretary Austin.

00:54I will deprive the others of their question.

00:57So, please, we will leave it to that, and we'll see which questions will be answered.

01:02Yes, Secretary Austin, please.

01:05Liz, thanks for your question.

01:07I believe that you asked whether or not a fight was between Israel and Lebanon,

01:16or Israel and Lebanon-Hezbollah, is inevitable, or imminent, excuse me.

01:24I don't believe that, while we've seen a lot of activity on Israel's northern border,

01:31we remain concerned about the potential of this escalating into a full-blown fight.

01:37And I don't believe that a fight is inevitable.

01:41I think that we'd like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion.

01:47As to whether or not Israel can manage a war in Gaza and a fight in Lebanon at the same time,

01:57Israel will do what it needs to defend itself, and it's demonstrated that time and again.

02:02We've committed to helping Israel defend itself for whatever it takes,

02:08and certainly that's not a scenario that we'd like to see occur.

02:12We'd like to see things resolved in a diplomatic fashion going forward.

Can Israel Fight Hamas & Hezbollah At The Same Time And Win?: Reporter Grills Sec. Austin

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