00:00The Israeli military has occupied a chunk of southern Lebanon since Hezbollah went to war with Israel on March 2nd.
00:08Hundreds of thousands of residents there have been displaced,
00:11and new estimates from Hezbollah officials suggest several thousand of its fighters have been killed,
00:17though the group publicly disputed the figure, saying it does not have the full toll.
00:22Still, it's a steep cost, with severe political consequences.
00:26In Beirut, opposition has hardened against Hezbollah.
00:30Domestic rivals say it's exposing Lebanon to repeated wars with Israel.
00:35But Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim al-Masawi said it's not a matter of numbers.
00:40It isn't that we don't care for people's lives, but we care more for our dignity and sovereignty and the
00:47protection of people.
00:48When you start this war of defence against the war of aggression, you don't go into making calculations of how
00:58many is going to be killed.
01:01He denied the group was acting on Iran's behalf when it restarted attacks on Israel, as alleged by opponents,
01:08after Israel and the United States launched the war on Iran in late February.
01:13He said Hezbollah saw a window of opportunity while Israel was engaged with Iran.
01:18Where we could break this vicious cycle, break this equation or formula where the Israelis can target, assassinate, bombard, kill,
01:27without any revenge, without any retaliation, without any response.
01:32More than a dozen Hezbollah officials told Reuters aligning with Tehran in the war was a way to force Lebanon
01:38onto the agenda of wider U.S.-Iran negotiations.
01:43Yazeed Saeed, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, said the group had, quote,
01:50shown more resilience than many thought possible.
01:52But it's not a strategic gain because if Hezbollah's goal is to keep hitting Israel until Israel accepts to restore
02:02the previous formula of mutual observance of a ceasefire,
02:11then Hezbollah is failing in achieving that goal.
02:14In April, Lebanon's government held face-to-face talks with Israel for the first time in decades, a decision Hezbollah
02:21firmly opposed.
02:23Israel said peace talks must include disarming Hezbollah, which the group ruled out.
02:29Meanwhile, Iran has demanded that any deal to end the wider war must involve Hezbollah.
02:35But Washington has signalled Lebanon may not be addressed in a final settlement with Iran.
02:40Iran.
02:40Iran.
02:40Iran.
02:41Iran.
02:41Iran.
02:42Iran.
02:42Iran.
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