Google Speech-to-Text API Automatic Transcription (Chirp). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:01that. That's the Sanchez effect. Tens of millions are
00:00:05now watching, and we're just getting
00:00:07started.
00:00:18of And
00:00:18he should have an election, and he can't raise the price of oil.
00:00:22It's not enough. Donald Trump says Kief needs a new
00:00:26leader, that says Washington lift sanctions on the
00:00:29of Russian diesel supply." twice, meanwhile,
00:00:31of vladimirsky makes his own demands before holding any election,
00:00:34saying there needs to be 60 days of total cease
00:00:38fire. the hoouties worn against
00:00:42anyone using sorry airspace, and it comes after devastating
00:00:45strike on Ririyad's main airport and leaves 12 people dead and
00:00:49more than 300 wounded. the movie confirm to RT, they
00:00:53were behind the attack. these attacks are yemeny
00:00:57of attacks. we do not do this
00:00:58of out of revenge or to take... vengeance, but rather to force the Saudi leadership to accept
00:01:02a comprehensive and permanent
00:01:04of peace by agreeing to end the wardy attacks are now intensifying
00:01:08of across southern Lebanon, they're increasingly striking areas beyond the
00:01:12shifting boundaries of its so-called yellow
00:01:15of zone. as ADF strikes a
00:01:17of Lebanon continue unabated, the country's prime minister reveals a
00:01:20crippling budget deficit. It leaves financial recovery a
00:01:24distant prospect, despite offers of support from
00:01:27Hezbollah. The village. was destroyed, there
00:01:31is no sign of life. People were given
00:01:34of ready-made housing
00:01:35of units to live in, but they are completely bare. There is nothing inside. Life
00:01:39is difficult due to the constant presence of aircraft and ongoing
00:01:42strikes. We are always
00:01:43anxious.
00:01:51And it's time for the news on RT International. My name is Igor Piskanov and it's always
00:01:55great to have your
00:01:58a company. new Vladimir demand. Zelensky saying
00:01:59is he making wants a 60-day total ceasefire and in
00:02:03return he'll go to the polls. the offer comes after he was
00:02:07blindsided by Donald Trump's diesel deal with Vladimir Putin. The US
00:02:11president then upped the anti even further, suggesting its time
00:02:14for new leadership in Kieve. Is
00:02:18Zolensky delaying peace because he can't hold elections
00:02:22of while you created that war? Well
00:02:24I think he could have an election and he could have settled this
00:02:27many times and he should. have an election and
00:02:31he can't raise the price of oil, it's not enough. it does
00:02:35appear that
00:02:36of Zelensky has fallen out of grace and an unprecedented
00:02:40manner
00:02:41of for Donald Trump to come out and not only say that you know it's
00:02:45time for for Ukraine to to get another leader for him to come
00:02:49out and say it's Zelensky's fault
00:02:52that a
00:02:53of peace agreement still hasn't been reached that he has
00:02:56denied offer after peace of... for
00:03:00coming up with
00:03:01of his own conditions, we've uh
00:03:03of course seen this happen multiple times, but for the president
00:03:06of the United States to come out and say so, he's
00:03:10of again unprecedented and
00:03:12of hugely, hugely damaging for Zelensky
00:03:16himself, Zelensky needs to hang
00:03:19to every single thread of
00:03:23legitimacy that he
00:03:24in can. This is the same Zelensky whose
00:03:27of presidential term expired years. ago, this is the
00:03:31same Zelensky who has refused election, saying you,
00:03:35it's it's simply too difficult, even as Russia has
00:03:38held elections along frontline
00:03:42settlementts uh,
00:03:43of included, so
00:03:44of there's certainly the the diplomatic pressure that is being
00:03:48piled on Zelensky, as for Russia, Donald
00:03:52Trump thanked Russia for all the diesel
00:03:56that will now be supplied
00:03:58of to the United States, Russia. agreed to send
00:04:01us millions and
00:04:04of millions of barrels of oil and it's diesel, that's what
00:04:08we really need, so thank
00:04:10of you. there was a build up to this, this didn't come out
00:04:14of the blue. you had the United States, with
00:04:18the conflict with Iran, there's been a huge
00:04:21shortage in global oil supplies.
00:04:25the United States, it's you know, it's a
00:04:27of common phrase, people vote at.
00:04:31of pump, the price of uh petrol, the price of
00:04:34diesel are hugely important for American
00:04:38voters as well as for the American
00:04:41uh economy, for the financial system, they
00:04:45depend on cars, on vehicles to get to and from
00:04:49work to transport goods
00:04:51in a manner that you few European nations
00:04:54in depend
00:04:56of on, there you have the United States under pressure due to the conflict.
00:05:00with Iran asking Russia to supply it with diesel fuel to
00:05:03keep prices lower ahead of elections, incredibly
00:05:07important for Donald Trump, and Donald
00:05:10Trump comes out publicly, repeatedly, asking Zelensky to
00:05:14cool it with strikes on Russian oil refineries. It doesn't matter
00:05:18if that Russian oil is going to the United States or to other countries.
00:05:22The point is to supply global oil markets to keep
00:05:26prices low. What does Zelenski do? Zelensky comes out and
00:05:30says we're going to burn it all.
00:05:33Ukraine will be prepared to see strikes on Russian oil refineries if
00:05:37Russia stops attacking our energy infrastructure. Any de-escalation
00:05:41steps must be. and accompanied by genuine
00:05:44guarantees. this is
00:05:47essentially worst nightmare,
00:05:50when
00:05:51the statements were
00:05:53published, then they made the
00:05:56rounds, all over the world, zelensky
00:05:59began frantically calling european
00:06:03leaders essentially trying to garner their support
00:06:07for them to come out and publicly say, despite what trump is
00:06:11saying we stand. with Zelensky frantically,
00:06:15there was
00:06:16uh there were reports of four calls that he would
00:06:20uh stop calls with other European leaders when others would pick up, it
00:06:24was, it was chaos. Nevertheless, nevertheless, this
00:06:28is for Zelensky, Russia and the United States
00:06:31trading after a break of
00:06:35four and a half years, well that is
00:06:38nightmare for Zelensky, it means that the...
00:06:42these attempts to isolate Russia to pretend the
00:06:4612% the world's surface doesn't exist,
00:06:50something that the Europeans have been trying very hard to do,
00:06:53that that isn't working, worse than that, Zelensky's
00:06:57own legitimacy is being questioned by the people who
00:07:01supply most of his munitions for
00:07:05Zelensky again a double
00:07:08nightmare. We are not in diplomatic
00:07:12Dead end. "close down Putin's entire economy, so
00:07:15Russia's mouth shut, don't feed them with your sales, just impose sanctions on their
00:07:19weapons, open Starling to Ukraine, you did open it when you were responding
00:07:23to Iran, there's another way to conduct negotiations that will help push Putin toward
00:07:27negotiations, he doesn't want this, I think that President Trump can do
00:07:31more and as our ally he should do
00:07:33more, the
00:07:37point that Russia was making when it was saying that
00:07:40Zelensky can't..." be negotiated with that he has
00:07:44unrealistic expectations. four and a half years into this
00:07:48war, Russia saddled with the most severe
00:07:52sanctions in recorded history, and
00:07:56Zelensky is coming out and saying, well, we need more
00:07:59sanctions. Russia, which is again
00:08:03stood up to Ukraine's assaults,
00:08:051,600 drones launched at
00:08:08night, and Zelensky is saying, we just need... launch
00:08:12more drones, this is the reason that Marshall
00:08:16says again, he can't be negotiated with, and they need
00:08:20to be new elections in Ukraine,
00:08:23sentiment that seemingly has now reached the
00:08:27United States, but Kiif is not the
00:08:31only one against Washington lifting sanctions on Moscow, on Monday, the
00:08:35EU will vote on whether to impose it's a largest ever package of
00:08:39restrictions. Suspending
00:08:43sanctions on Russian diesel provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war. This
00:08:47is not the time ease pressure on Russia and Europe won't. On Monday EU
00:08:50foreign ministers intend to approve the biggest set of sanctions listings targeting Russia's
00:08:54war machines since the start the war. Despite the
00:08:58United Front between Brussels and Kief. One former
00:09:02Ukrainian MP says the biggest threat to his country comes from
00:09:05Vladimirsky himself. Today
00:09:09true patriots the country must understand two points.
00:09:13first, Vladimir Zelensky will never agree to an end to the
00:09:16war, and his continued stay in power is guarantee that the war will
00:09:20continue. Second, the continuation the war will result in the
00:09:24total loss of statehood for Ukraine and a catastrophe for its
00:09:28population. It is Zelensky himself whose adequacy and
00:09:31sanity are subject to serious doubt, who is the main enemy of
00:09:35Ukraine and its people. Too much is at stake. The people are
00:09:38waiting for justice and decisiveness. Ukraine cannot remain.
00:09:42hostage to the unhealthy ambitions and personal interests of a man who has
00:09:46imagined himself to be Napoleon.
00:09:49And to get more on this last cross
00:09:50live now to former US Marine Core Intelligence officer Scott Rider.
00:09:54Welcome to the program, sir. Vladimir Zelensky has
00:09:58responded to Trump's call for new Ukrainian leadership with new demand
00:10:02to have a 60-day cease fire in order to organize elections, but
00:10:05is he any position though to demand anything anymore, especially
00:10:09considering Russia held its own elections without any cease fire.
00:10:14No, Vlodimir Zelinski, I mean it's it's difficult to call him
00:10:18president, even though he claims that title is, it's been pointed out, uh,
00:10:22his mandate expired a while back, and he...
00:10:25um, hasn't held a new election, but uh, Zelinsky
00:10:29is in the position to dictate terms to nobody, uh, he's
00:10:32losing the war on the battlefield, he's losing the war
00:10:36economically, he's losing the war uh politically, both
00:10:40at home and abroad. um, the the bottom line is that
00:10:44president Trump is absolutely correct here, that uh, it's time for
00:10:47Zelensky to go, the question is, uh, who
00:10:51will replace him
00:10:52and will this alter the uh the the the reality that
00:10:56currently has uh settled in over Ukraine, Ukraine is defeated
00:11:00state, the uh experiment that Europe and the United States foisted
00:11:04on Ukraine uh in beginning this conflict um by
00:11:08empowering western Ukrainian nationalists, this experiment has
00:11:11failed, and unless you replace Zelinsky with somebody
00:11:15who recognizes the failure of this experiment and acts
00:11:19um accordingly, you're just going to get a continuation the
00:11:22same. Now let's talk some more about Trump's calls for new
00:11:26leadership in Kiev. What do you think this rethoric will do
00:11:30to US Ukraine
00:11:31relations? Well, I mean U.S. Ukrainian
00:11:35relations are are an enigma, because on
00:11:39the one hand you have President Trump saying that he's
00:11:41directed Zelinski not to strike diesel
00:11:45production. Meanwhile, the CIA continues to provide
00:11:49intelligence to Ukraine to facilitate long-range
00:11:53drone attacks against Russia. and oil refineries uh, rather
00:11:57than directing Zelensky to stop the attacks, why doesn't the president
00:12:01direct the CIA to stop providing the intelligence that
00:12:04enables these attacks, so there's a lot of internal
00:12:08contradictions to President Trump's poster b
00:12:11ukraine, and of course there's the recent
00:12:15deal between the US and Russia, which gives Moscow wavor to
00:12:19export its diesel to America, and that agreement was announced
00:12:22while a Ukrainian delegation. was in Miami and
00:12:26reportedly left the negotiations right after the news broke,
00:12:30how likely is it that Zelensky will change his tune and start pursuing
00:12:33peace? zelensky will never pursue
00:12:37peace because Zelensky cannot uh remain politically
00:12:41viable as the uh leader of Ukraine
00:12:45um as long if there's a possibility the war ending.
00:12:49he is key component of this corruption
00:12:52scheme that um is the conflict with
00:12:56Russia and Ukraine today, this scheme that takes hundreds
00:13:00of billions of dollars from, western donor nations, and
00:13:04then launders it through Ukraine and feeds it back
00:13:07into various political and economic
00:13:10entities, uh, Zelinski doesn't want peace, he can't exist with
00:13:14peace, he will never pursue peace, so it's highly unlikely
00:13:18you're going to see him changing course, he needs war, he needs this war to
00:13:22continue, and I think President Trump is finally... recognize this reality and that's why
00:13:26he's calling for his removal and Zelensky repeatedly
00:13:30ignored Trump's request to stop striking a Russian energy
00:13:33infrastructure. Instead he ramped these attacks
00:13:37up, but I guess the question is what has given Zelanski
00:13:41the confidence to flat out defy Trump?
00:13:45I don't think it's confidence, I think it's desperation. I think he
00:13:48recognizes that this is the end, this is a this is the
00:13:52captain the Titanic, the ship has struck the iceber. "the engine rooms
00:13:56are flooded, the ships starting to list and he knows that it's
00:13:59over. um, and so he's desperately looking for
00:14:02alternatives, looking for options, but none will manifest
00:14:06themselves. he's going to Europe for for assistance, there is no more
00:14:10assistance that Europe can provide, and Europe needs to be careful,
00:14:14because
00:14:15you know, Europe is in the process
00:14:19of very delicate negotiation with the United States about the future of
00:14:23NATO, and if Europe'. against the president on Ukraine
00:14:27uh the president may make uh the president the United States may make the determination
00:14:31that uh maybe the United States doesn't need to be part of Europe's
00:14:34security framework and this would be disastrous for Europe so Zelensky
00:14:38has no options open to him and I don't think Europe is going to be able to provide any
00:14:42uh semblance of um you know life-saving
00:14:46mechanism for Zelensky and do you think Trump's changing
00:14:49attitude towards Zelensky will have uh an effect on
00:14:53Washington's relations with european leaders who are still so eager to
00:14:57prolong the conflict? well, I do believe it will be. I
00:15:01mean, look, Europe is married to the conflict in Ukraine for number of reasons,
00:15:04but the first and foremost is fact that their entire
00:15:08economic system and political system
00:15:12depends upon the Ukrainian conflict to create the
00:15:15conditions that enable defense spending and
00:15:19uh, posturing Russia as a threat that props them up by providing an
00:15:23external threat to...
00:15:37think it's support for continuation of this conflict, this spells you know
00:15:41political problems for Europe, and so we're going to see Europe coming up
00:15:45well
00:15:45you face to face with you know lose lose
00:15:48situation uh support Ukraine and lose because Ukraine
00:15:52cannot be recovered, it is a sunk ship
00:15:55or go against the president or support the
00:15:59president and lose Ukraine thereby you undermining your economic
00:16:03and political foundation now, the Europeans have built
00:16:06this house. It's a horrible house, the roofs c gaming in, they're going to have to
00:16:10live with it. All right, Scott Rider, former US Marine Core
00:16:14Intelligence officer, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing your analysis with
00:16:17us. Thanks for having
00:16:19me. Now a huti
00:16:23military spokesperson has warned anyone from using Saudi Arabia's
00:16:27airports or airspace. That's after attack by the militant group
00:16:31on the main airport in Riyadh left 12 people dead and more than
00:16:35300 wounded. "the
00:16:39Yemeny armed forces renew their warning to all shipping companies, airlines,
00:16:42experts, employees, workers and travelers against using Saudi airports
00:16:46and airspace, as they are exposed to targeting and are a theater for
00:16:50operations by our forces, with the exception the airports of Mecca
00:16:54al-Mukarrama and Medinah al-Munawara. We urge everyone to
00:16:58take our warning seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any
00:17:01failed interceptions. Unverified footage circulating
00:17:05online appears to show the aftermath. inside the airport, the
00:17:09site has been evacuated and all flights suspended, Moscow has condemned
00:17:13to the strike and called on both sides to abandon attacks on civilian
00:17:17infrastructure. Riyad based correspondent says as the strike
00:17:21inflicted substantial damage to terminals which handle both domestic
00:17:25and international
00:17:26flights.
00:17:29indeed, this statement was issued by the Saudi General Authority of Civil
00:17:33aviation approximately six hours after the initial announcement made
00:17:37earlier today, it provided details on the number of casualties,
00:17:41confirming 12 dead and 309 wounded, including several in
00:17:45critical condition currently receiving treatment at hospitals in
00:17:48Riyadh. Among the dead were four Saudi nationals, two
00:17:52Bangladeshis, one American citizen, one Egyptian, one
00:17:55Jordanian, one Syrian, and one Palestinian. May they all rest
00:17:59in peace. Airport operations remain suspended for the time being
00:18:03as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of facilities
00:18:07in the... continuation of operational processes. The recent statement
00:18:11also confirms that efforts are underway to assess the extent the material
00:18:14damages in coordination with authorities. Today's toll may represent
00:18:18the highest recorded from either Huthi or Iranian attacks during assaults on
00:18:22the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I must also mention the attempt to maintain
00:18:26operations at King Fodd International Airport in Damasham, which is
00:18:30situated outside the city. We are currently managing the situation as
00:18:34there has also been an incident outside the airport area. This provides a
00:18:38summary of what has transpired thus far and we are waiting further details
00:18:41regarding the injuries that are being treated. Furthermore, we have received
00:18:45information concerning the extent the damage to that airport. According to our
00:18:49sources, the areas impacted were terminal 3 and terminal 4.
00:18:53Terminal 3 is designated for domestic flights between cities and Saudi
00:18:57Arabia, while Terminal 4 accommodates certain international
00:19:00carriers. A senior huthi spokesperson told RT
00:19:04that the group's actions were a direct response to aggression by the. sawdies
00:19:08against civilian areas in
00:19:09Yemen. Yes, these
00:19:13attacks are Yemeny attacks after 12 years of Saudi aggression, destroying
00:19:17Yemen infrastructure, whether airports, ports, even wedding and
00:19:21funeral halls as well as schools, hospitals and markets. It targeted
00:19:24everything in Yemen and targeted and destroyed all infrastructure, and today it
00:19:28acknowledges that airports are civilian facilities that must not be
00:19:32targeted under international law, but we say that we deal with Saudi
00:19:35Arabia in kind and our... military operations deep inside the Saudi
00:19:39entity will continue and will not end except by destroying all Saudi
00:19:43infrastructure belonging to the government, whether military facilities, airports,
00:19:47or even ports and any vital facilities belonging to the Saudi regime.
00:19:51We do not do this out of revenge or to take vengence, but rather to force the Saudi
00:19:55leadership to accept a comprehensive and permanent peace by agreeing to end the
00:19:58war and end the siege by both sides. The Saudi leadership can agree to
00:20:02achieve peace, and these are Yemen's demands. And this
00:20:06comes amid a... rapid escalation the conflict in Yemen, the Hutis have
00:20:10released footage which they say shows dozens of fighters from the
00:20:13Saudi-backed presidential council surrendering, and the video comes
00:20:17as Saudi Arabia and its regional partners plan to step up their military
00:20:21coordination on Monday, raising concerns that the conflict could
00:20:25expand further and draw more countries in,
00:20:29and earlier this week, Saudiled forces in Yemen already
00:20:32destroyed three the Khufi's rocket launch platforms, which they
00:20:36say claimed. Uh, they were used to quote, threaten
00:20:40regional security. The Saudi Air Force was said to have carried out
00:20:4459 air strikes and missile attacks in just 24 hours,
00:20:47causing multiple casualties. political consultant
00:20:51huzi says the attacks mark a dangerous escalation
00:20:55with civilian casualties are raising the stakes and the prospect of
00:20:59US involvement adding to the uncertainty across the entire
00:21:02region. It's not just the airport that is
00:21:06significance. I mean the escalation the
00:21:08Ansarullah's aggression against Saudi Arabia
00:21:12has been pushed to the limits. The significance
00:21:16here is uh the way I see it is it's part the...
00:21:20uh the regional movement basically since the war erupted and
00:21:24Trump stated that uh we'll make decision quote unquote
00:21:28one asked if the US would join sorry strikes against the hoothies,
00:21:32but what are the implications of a potential US military
00:21:35involvement for Yemen and the region? before
00:21:39uh, I mean before the statement it was clear how the United States of
00:21:43America so and evaluated the situation in Yemen
00:21:47and didn't they didn't want to intervene or... even to be involved
00:21:51in that matter, now I understand the
00:21:55statement since Saudi is one the most
00:21:59important allies in the region, giving that the size of Saudi Arabia is
00:22:02big, we've seen the same thing happening in Iran, it's not easy to
00:22:06protect all the land when the land is big, yet at the same
00:22:09time, we have to understand that the infrastructure of
00:22:13course it's important and along with the infrastructure we started to
00:22:17see losses in civilian lives, this is an
00:22:20important escalation that could not and should not be left
00:22:24unanswered, hence we will see
00:22:27developments on escalations over the next few hours or the next few
00:22:31days. Saudi Arabia coming under attack from
00:22:35the hoothies a daily basis and the Mecca defensive agreement between
00:22:39the Kingdom, Turkey and Pakistan in force. Ankara however
00:22:43however has question that it will not send its troops to another country for any
00:22:47military offensive. Let me
00:22:50stress again, my friends, that this is defense agreement. When a state
00:22:54party to this agreement comes under attack, you stand by it to help it defend
00:22:58itself. This is not an offensive agreement. In other words, Turkey will
00:23:02not send its forces to the territory of another state to carry out
00:23:05attack. In Mecca, three leaders signed a promise. An attack
00:23:09on one is attack on all. Turkia, Saudi
00:23:13Arabia, Pakistan. Two months on, that promise is
00:23:17under fire. Huthi missiles and drones keep hitting Saudi. airports and
00:23:20oil sites. Meeting in Riad, the Mecca Alliance agreed to send
00:23:24forces to the kingdom and quickly. The committee
00:23:28decided to move immediately to the practical implementation the collective
00:23:31defense commitments and to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed
00:23:35military forces and capabilities, and ensure their rapid deployment in the
00:23:39kingdom. In accordance with the approved arrangements and the national legislation the
00:23:43parties, thereby enhancing readiness, military integration, and the
00:23:47collective capacity to confront and counter threats. President Erdogan has
00:23:51spelled out what that support could look like:
00:23:54such support could take the form of intelligence, logistical or ammunition
00:23:58assistance. More advanced military support could also be considered depending on the
00:24:01scale the threat. Uncother keeps the details to itself and
00:24:05reports are filling the silence, special forces, pilots and aircraft
00:24:09helping defend Riyad and the Holy Cities. An American
00:24:13official says they help incluse Turkish drone operators, none of it is on the
00:24:17record. Monday's statement does set one condition. forces
00:24:20deploy in accordance with the national legislation of each country, in
00:24:24turkia, that means parliament, and parliament hasn't even
00:24:28ratified the pact. as for the mecca agreement, the
00:24:32process here has in fact matured in terms the work done by the
00:24:35ministry, but of course for the agreement to take effect, it will come to
00:24:39parliament, and since this work has matured,
00:24:41it will be sent to parliament within a few days. Ankara's
00:24:45ambitions reach beyond the red sea d who leads the
00:24:48nationalist MH the ruling party's partner in parliament,
00:24:52says the pact will elevate the country to the center of global
00:24:56geopolitics. this is an exceptionally sound and important
00:25:00agreement. its tendency towards expansion is also of immense
00:25:03strategic value. if these efforts are carried out under Turkey's
00:25:07leadership, this will bring us to the center, making us much more reputable
00:25:11in the world. so the next vote in Ankara is a
00:25:14treaty, not on troops. sending soldiers would take a second decision of
00:25:18its own. the arithmetic favors the government, the ruling
00:25:22alliance, the justice and development party and the nationalist movement
00:25:25party holds 326 of parliament's 600
00:25:29seats, the largest opposition party wants no part in it, and
00:25:33its leader uzguruza says, signing defense pack with a country at
00:25:37war makes Tur a party to that conflict.
00:25:41International agreements will have to be approved in this parliament if there are soldiers and
00:25:45weapons involved. We do not accept being part of Trump's Middle East order.
00:25:49We do not accept the... Trump, which will send soldiers to the deserts of
00:25:52Yemen for 100 years its
00:25:56role as defending Saudi
00:25:57Arabia.
00:26:02The Saudis want to involve regional
00:26:06powers,
00:26:07not only from the Arab arena, but even within the Islamic world, they
00:26:11aim to bring in the Turks and entangle them, to involve the
00:26:14Pakistanis as well, seeking their help day and night, calling out for
00:26:18them to assist them, to fight alongside them, to share in the sin and
00:26:22aggression against our dear people. A senior official,
00:26:25Muhammad says the group doesn't expect Turkish
00:26:29or Pakistani troops inside Yemen, but even indirect
00:26:33help he warns counts as joining the war, and last
00:26:37month he warned Ankara and Islamabad would meet an
00:26:41iron fist. Yasan, RT in
00:26:43Istanbul. Amid a surge
00:26:47in IDF strikes on Lebanon. The country's prime minister has acknowledged
00:26:51a critical budget shortfall. Despite Hezball offering support, financial
00:26:55recovery remains a distant prospect with Washington tying
00:26:59additional help to the disarmament the militant group. Steve
00:27:03Sweeney explains. Well wearings ultra Al Gore, one
00:27:07the so-called pilot zones sitting right on the edge of Israel's yellow line, the
00:27:11zone of occupation, a drone hovers overhead watching us ominously. And
00:27:14just moments ago there was an air strikers fighter jets raw overhead watching
00:27:18us. Israely attacks are now intensifying across southern Lebanon,
00:27:22they're increasingly striking areas beyond the shifting boundaries of its
00:27:26so-called yellow zone. We have been displaced
00:27:30twice, first in 2024 and again. in
00:27:322026, this time the situation was truly tragic, most
00:27:36the village was destroyed, there is no sign of life, people
00:27:40were given ready-made housing units to live in, but they are completely
00:27:44bare. there is nothing inside, even securing water is difficult, and
00:27:48there it is absolutely no electricity. most people sleep by
00:27:51candle light. life is difficult due to
00:27:55the constant presence of aircraft and ongoing strikes. we are always
00:27:59anxious. there's nothing here, if need water pitch. i can't find
00:28:03one, i can't even make cup of tea or coffee. there's water, no
00:28:06refrigerator, no bed,
00:28:08no washing machine. there is absolutely nothing. it is extremely
00:28:12difficult. god help the army. it cannot even protect itself.
00:28:16let alone get the necessary weaponry. how then could it possibly
00:28:19protect civilians? had there been a strong state and a well-armed
00:28:23military, Israel would never have dared to invade. at least
00:28:2635 artillery shells hit Mansouri. this is village on the
00:28:30end of that zone where the israely forces. have progressively expanded
00:28:34their area of control. Mansori was then hit again on with air
00:28:37strikes, artillery and major detonations. And his rady fire is also
00:28:41reaching well beyond that so-called yellow zone. Near Maifordone, three
00:28:45Israeli artillery shells landed very close to journalists from Aljade and Navatia
00:28:49news. Uh, fortunately there were no injuries in that particular attack, but
00:28:53once again it highlights the danger to those reporting on Israely
00:28:56operations as journalists are routinely targeted. Israely forces
00:29:00attacked 15 southern towns with demolitions reported in six them
00:29:04and in Hula, Israeli troops planted explosives inside the Jabellammo
00:29:08public school and then detonated it just one of many schools destroyed in recent
00:29:12weeks. now all of this came immediately after prime minister now of salam traveled
00:29:16to nearby nabatia promising reconstruction. his visit
00:29:19however didn't go smoothly. he was confronted by residents demanding to
00:29:23know when they could return home. many angry at what they see is government
00:29:27action. locals used that relative calm around the visit to
00:29:31enter nabate alpha. and expect and inspect the home sorry for
00:29:35the first time in months, but even as salam spoke, the Israeli attacks were
00:29:38hitting the surrounding area. I am not here to sell you
00:29:42illusions nor to promise what I cannot deliver. We still need
00:29:46significant funding. And it's the cost here that's key. Salam previously
00:29:50identified the funding needed at 27 billion US dollars. A
00:29:53sum he says Lebanese State simply doesn't have. Now following his visit,
00:29:57Hesbollah secretary general Naim Kassam said that the organization would
00:30:01contribute to shelter. reconstruction for the people displaced from the
00:30:04south. Hez MP, Hassan Fadlal said on Saturday that this
00:30:08pledge would unsettle the United States with Washington insisting that
00:30:12AID is tied to disarmament. We will not discuss the final
00:30:16figures relating to aid for our people in the housing program, as this would come
00:30:20as a shock to the Americans. Well, exactly how much money Hesbollah can
00:30:24provide and when remains unclear, but the immediate problem isn't simply who
00:30:28pays for reconstruction, it's the expansion the Israeli occupation.
00:30:32Uniform. has documented Israeli forces operating from nearly 30 positions
00:30:35in southern Lebanon, including eight fortified bases. Israeli
00:30:39forces have already pushed beyond their own yellow line in some areas while Israely
00:30:43officials say they want to retain a security zone extending as
00:30:47much as 10 kilometers inside Lebanon. This comes as Salam
00:30:51continues to talk, at least on the surface about Israeli
00:30:54withdrawal, seemingly in contradiction with the reality on the
00:30:57ground. You're...