Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 6 minutes ago
India Today’s team is on the ground across the Middle East, covering the escalating conflict. Sweta Singh reports from the Jordan-Israel border, Ashutosh Mishra from Al Dera in UAE, and Ashraf Wani from Beirut, Lebanon.

Israel has launched an all-out offensive against Hezbollah, warning civilians repeatedly to take shelter. In Beirut, Wani reports widespread destruction in the southern suburbs, with thousands displaced, many taking refuge on roads, in schools, parks, and stadiums. IDF helicopter operations in the Bekaa Valley targeted Hezbollah positions but failed to achieve their objectives, leaving 41 dead.

In Jordan, missiles fired by Iran hit US and local sites, with civilians reporting injuries. The US confirmed damage to a THAAD radar system, forcing a switch to Patriot missiles.

In UAE, 121 drones and 16 ballistic missiles were intercepted, with life continuing despite heightened alerts. Across the region, civilians face hardship, displacement, and uncertainty amid mounting casualties.

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00Kashmita, I want to come to you first to get a sense of what you're picking up from the ground.
00:06Needless to say, Israel is on an all-out offensive because they are saying that they will not back down.
00:11They have to take it to its logical conclusion.
00:13But the civilians also who are being given that warning again and again to stay safe, to stay in the
00:20bunkers, what do you see?
00:24Suwesha, I'm yet to enter Israel because it being a Saturday, I was trying to cross in from the land
00:31border.
00:32But there is big news coming in from Jordan because not just that, Jordan has actually spoken up against what
00:41Iran has tried to do.
00:43Iran has targeted not just U.S. locations in Jordan, but also locations that have been entirely Jordanian as it
00:52was put forth by the Brigadier General here.
00:55They've made it a point to say that they've had civilians who've had sharpening injuries and they're not very happy
01:03with what Iran is doing.
01:05At the same time, the big news coming from here is what U.S. was denying or rather not saying
01:10anything since day one of the war.
01:12On the first day and the second day of the conflict, Iran had shot its missiles towards various U.S.
01:19bases.
01:20And one of the bases is here in Jordan.
01:24And finally, the U.S. has accepted that there was damage to the THAAD radar system.
01:31Now, that completely means that if the radar system of the THAAD air defense battery is damaged, they have to
01:40switch to the Patriot ones, the missiles of which are already in short supply.
01:45So, Iran is not just firing away and not reaching its targets, but it is indeed inflicting pain to its
01:57adversaries.
01:58And that is the big reason why, despite the fact that Donald Trump says that they are having advances, there
02:06are minor issues, which means that the objective, the stated objective with which they started has still not been met.
02:15And nobody knows how long all this could go on, Suwesha.
02:20Suwesha, I request you to stay on.
02:22Ashravani and Ashutosh also joining us on the broadcast.
02:25Ashutosh, quickly coming to you because some in Dubai are also saying that are the authorities playing down the sort
02:32of attack that happened at the airport,
02:35although the authorities saying that it was only the debris that had fallen and largely everything is all right.
02:40But what is it that you're picking up from the ground?
02:47But there is also a data that was issued by the Ministry of Defense of UAE, where it says that
02:52today itself, on the seventh day, there were around 121 drones were intercepted.
02:57Now, for them, 119 were intercepted.
03:00Two, somehow, you know, there was impact and they landed on the UAE territory.
03:05At the same time, 16 ballistic missiles were also intercepted that was fired by Iran.
03:10So, at least the number of siren alert, alarm that were issued by the government.
03:15Of course, in such situation, any government would turn down the number because potentially it could be chaotic and it
03:22could also lead to a fear.
03:23And now, as we know, the UAE, not just across Middle East, but across the global terrain, remains one of
03:29the most safest cities.
03:30And for a nation like this, they have ever hardly seen this kind of escalation.
03:35Missiles falling in their territory, drones are being attacked.
03:37So, when you have never seen this kind of history in the recent past, and that's a more preventive step
03:42that why the government is taking.
03:44It is not that they are not issuing advisory.
03:46They are always putting on the alert whenever, look at the traffic right behind me.
03:50This is Aldera.
03:50They're not exactly Dubai.
03:52We're in Aldera, the part of old Dubai, a certain distance from the new Dubai town that what it is
03:57iconically known for.
03:58But in Aldera, you see the traffic moving on the road.
04:01So, clearly, people, despite the apprehension, the business goes as it is.
04:05The offices are open.
04:06Of course, relevant traffic in certain areas is quite limited because the apprehension continues.
04:11But the people are united, fighting against this.
04:14And that's where the government role comes play.
04:16There are certain sanctions have been imposed.
04:18Certain restrictions have been imposed with regards to sharing the photograph, videos.
04:21And that's only because of what the government is saying, that if it goes in the public, it will be
04:25chaotic.
04:26And it will bring the morale down at the same time.
04:30It will be harmful for the business of UAE that it is known for including tourism, including business, including arrival
04:37of passengers, arrival of the people.
04:41The airport authorities are quite active.
04:43Every time there is an airspace violated by the projectiles, they are immediately shutting down the operations.
04:48But minutes there is anticipation and assessment about the security, they are yet again resuming.
04:53The airlines are cooperating with the passengers.
04:56The passengers are cooperating with the airline authorities.
04:59So, somehow, the operations on and off is continued.
05:01Situation is quite apprehensive.
05:04There is concern.
05:05But at the same time, life is just moving on here across part of UAE, perhaps, including Aldera, where I
05:11am reporting from.
05:12So, yes, at some extent, it is right to say that the government is exactly doubting the data.
05:16But it is for a cause that government realizes that it will be chaotic.
05:21And they do not want public life to be disturbed.
05:25So, Isha.
05:27Oh, yes.
05:27And even those on the ground, civilians especially, lauding the authorities there for the way it is being managed.
05:33I want to go to Ashraf Pani now joining us on the broadcast.
05:36Ashraf, you've got us reports from South Beirut especially, where everything has been raised to the ground.
05:42It's like nothing exists.
05:43It's a civilian population that has also taken a hit, despite the mass warnings from the IDF to evacuate.
05:51But the IDF making it very clear that they had to go for the Hezbollah strongholds, I beg your pardon.
06:00They had to destroy them and they are achieving their targets.
06:06Yes, absolutely, Svesha.
06:07But we are now seeing another turn in this ongoing war.
06:11As we do know that during the last one and a half year, there was a ceasefire between the Hezbollah
06:18and the IDF.
06:18But after the killing of the supreme leader of Iran, Hezbollah has started again attacks on Israel and also to
06:27the northern Israel.
06:28And is inflicting some kind of damage there.
06:30That is why Israel wants us to get rid of this threat, which is roaming there on the border in
06:37the northern Israel, so that they have assured the warnings, not only in the northern South Beirut, but also in
06:46the south Lebanon.
06:4750 villages had been already asked to move towards the south of the Latine River.
06:52That means 8% of the area, they want the Lebanon to vacate.
06:58And also same is the scenario with the capital where I am currently standing in Beirut, where the most populated
07:03south suburb of the Beirut has been asked by the IDF to the people to move away from their homes
07:10in the thousands of numbers.
07:12And that has created a panic here in the Lebanon, where those people should go.
07:17They are just facing hardships.
07:21Some of them are moving towards Syria for their safety.
07:25And some who could not manage these things, they are just taking shelter on the roads, in the parks, in
07:31the schools.
07:32Even the shelters are getting lesser and lesser.
07:35That is why now the stadium has been opened.
07:37That is the football stadium here in Beirut for the displaced people.
07:41And also today, what we reported exclusively on India today was a new turn in the operations of IDF.
07:48One of the operations launched today was invasion with the helicopters inside the Beka Valley, where the four helicopters carrying
07:57the special forces of IDF landed, in fact.
08:00But they could not succeed in achieving their goal and left from there.
08:05But 41 people also killed in that operation and the strikes by the IDF.
08:11The death count is mounting.
08:12The number has now touched it.
08:14More than 290 and 800 are injured.
08:17So very chaotic condition in the Lebanon after the Iran in the recent eight days of war.
08:24All right, Shweta, I want to come back to you.
08:27Given the fact that Donald Trump is still reiterating and justifying why these strikes were important,
08:36to say that Iran would have been a nuclear power had they not struck,
08:40but also claiming that they have literally crushed the Navy and the Air Force of Iran,
08:48while Iran says that we will not surrender, we will not back down,
08:51and we will continue to fight this.
08:54But is the version of the US and what you're picking up from sources in the IDF
09:01also believable to the fact that they may have crippled Iran to a great extent?
09:07They have decimated Iran.
09:10But since we talk about the naval power of Iran and we look at the combat boats and other such
09:17assets,
09:17it amounts to around 120 to 140 of what is available in the public domain.
09:25Now, if Donald Trump about two days ago says that 20-odd ships,
09:3020-odd combat ships have been destroyed of the Iranian Navy
09:33and now he puts the figure at 45 plus, I mean, it's a huge figure.
09:38A country who lose half their Navy in such a war would come down to their knees.
09:44But that's not the case.
09:46Now, the other thing is that when he talks about the nuclear capacity,
09:49the same thing was said last year during the 12-day ward.
09:53But that was not the case and a later assessment pointed out.
09:56So this time when the US is saying this and the IDF in fact right now is busy tackling the
10:05Hezbollah,
10:06they've increased their military presence across the Israeli northern borders with Lebanon.
10:13And they're also doing that.
10:15But the US is completely concentrating on Iran.
10:18And as far as the press conferences go, so far they've spoken about the nuclear facility being completely decimated,
10:25about the Navy, half of it being finished.
10:29Air Force, I don't know how many times we've heard that the Air Force, the combat Air Force assets have
10:38been destroyed.
10:38So I think then all of us and especially Donald Trump's domestic audience wants answers then why the war is
10:46still going on
10:47and why is an assessment saying that it would take at least 100 days to finish this war.
10:54So I think, Subhajah, all of us, what we can do is listen to these press conferences and wait.
10:59Because on ground you've either got visuals like Lebanon, which Ashraf Wani is showing,
11:04or of Iran that the US and the IDF in Israel are releasing bit by bit.
11:11Because in all the other countries we've at least got either interceptions, mid-air,
11:16or a few missiles or rockets or drones which managed to make their way.
11:23And every country right now is concerned with the civilian casualties or injuries that they are facing, Subhajah.
11:31Oh yes, absolutely, Shweta.
11:32And let me take that point to Ashraf Wani who continues to say with us,
11:34especially Ashraf, given the fact that Israel has been very straight up with Lebanon,
11:38to say that there is no animosity there, but they cannot afford any proxy activation.
11:42Having said that, the people in Lebanon, the governments are having to damage control to safeguard their people.
11:51And in a bid to take on the Hezbollah, the IDF has been largely targeting massive areas in Lebanon.
12:01Now, with regards to how many days this will last,
12:04what is the position as far as Hezbollah strongholds are concerned,
12:09how exactly are the Hezbollah groups now strategizing in terms of counter-strikes?
12:16What do you see on the ground?
12:23And we can say the kind of animity between the Hezbollah and Israel is not hidden.
12:31There was a decade-old war which started earlier in the 90s
12:35when Hassan Nasrullah formed this strongest militia for Iran in Lebanon.
12:42And it was the militia and we can say some proxies of Iran
12:46which compelled then the idea to move away.
12:52...
12:52...
12:52...
12:52...
Comments

Recommended