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00:00 As Secretary of Defense, I am here in person to make something crystal clear.
00:08 America's support for Israel is ironclad.
00:11 Now, this is no time for neutrality or for false equivalence or for excuses for the inexcusable.
00:22 There is never any justification for terrorism.
00:27 And for more on the diplomatic efforts around this war, senior foreign affairs editor Rob
00:31 Parsons joins us here in the studio.
00:34 Rob, a huge mission here being undertaken by Austin and Blinken.
00:39 What's the likelihood of success?
00:41 Well, frankly, I don't think there's any great chance of success if the aim is the release
00:49 of the hostages.
00:52 But certainly it's one of the central conversations that Antony Blinken has been having with King
00:59 Abdullah in Jordan and will be having today with the authorities in Qatar.
01:05 Qatar is particularly important in this regard because it's been one of the main suppliers
01:10 and backers of Hamas over the last decade, somewhere in the region of $1 billion worth
01:17 of assistance to Hamas.
01:20 So Antony Blinken will be hoping that he will be able to persuade officials in Qatar to
01:26 use their influence with Hamas to seek the release, the unconditional release, as he's
01:32 putting it, of all those hostages.
01:35 How much influence Qatar still has over the situation, though, remains to be seen, given
01:41 the fact that the situation is so tense and that the Israeli authorities seem almost certain
01:48 now to launch a ground offensive, it would appear unlikely that they have very much influence.
01:55 Hamas officials have themselves made clear that they won't release any hostages until
01:59 the fighting is over.
02:02 So it doesn't leave an awful lot of room for manoeuvre.
02:04 Other areas that they've been discussing, first of all with King Abdullah II in Jordan,
02:10 was the possibility of opening humanitarian corridors for refugees in Gaza.
02:15 There does seem to be some hope of progress in that area.
02:19 King Abdullah, obviously very concerned that this should not lead to another exodus, mass
02:25 exodus of refugees from Gaza to countries like his own and to Egypt, which have had
02:31 to take on millions of refugees, Palestinian refugees, in the past.
02:36 So there does seem to have been some progress made in that area, with the two countries,
02:41 Jordan and the United States, discussing with the ICRC and with the United Nations relief
02:47 organisations the possibility of setting up relief camps inside Gaza itself, or perhaps
02:53 just across the border in Egypt as well.
02:56 Another big international concern here is that this conflict could spread inside the
03:02 region, this especially concerning Israel trading fire with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon
03:11 right now.
03:12 What's the situation there?
03:13 Yeah, obviously the situation is very tense and I would imagine that Antony Blinken will
03:17 be calling on Arab leaders to use whatever influence they have with Hezbollah to persuade
03:24 them not to get involved in this conflict on the side of Hamas.
03:28 The fear will be that if Israel, as it appears to be at the moment, is absolutely intent
03:34 on crushing Hamas and launches an offensive which seems to be making progress, that Hezbollah
03:41 will really have to think very seriously about whether to get involved or not.
03:46 Hezbollah will be loath to see Hamas crushed.
03:49 But on the other hand, as it's been making clear itself over the last few days, despite
03:54 the fact that there have been cross-border incidents, exchanges of artillery fire, Hezbollah
03:58 has its own agenda, which is not necessarily tied to that of Hamas.
04:03 So Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qasem, who's number two, who have been speaking
04:12 over the last 24 hours about the situation, clearly very concerned and want to show that
04:18 they are engaged to a degree at least with Hamas, but don't want to be sucked, I think
04:23 at this stage, into the conflict unless it can be avoided.
04:28 There is clearly a risk, however, I was suggesting, that if Israel really does seem on the verge
04:33 of crushing Hamas, that Hezbollah may get involved.
04:37 I think it could be fair to say that the people of southern Lebanon do not want that to happen.
04:41 They've already been leaving in large numbers from the border areas.
04:45 And the threat of possible US engagement with that naval fleet just off the coast of Lebanon
04:51 is something that clearly Hezbollah would have to take very seriously as well.
04:56 So many very delicate moving parts here, Rob.
04:58 Thank you for helping us make sense of it.
05:00 Mwah.