Beyond the Headlines

Is Hezbollah a third player in the Israel-Gaza war?

There is a whiff of war in Lebanon. Haunted by memories of previous conflicts, many Lebanese are worried about a major escalation, and preparing for the worst.

Families have packed emergency bags in case they need to suddenly be evacuated. People have begun stockpiling medicine and water. In Tyre, the urban soundscape is occasionally interrupted by the sound of bombardment coming from the frontier. And elsewhere in southern Lebanon, which shares a border with Israel, some towns are deserted.

The border has been the site of a so far contained conflict between the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel – with nevertheless dozens of fatalities - in a splinter of the broader Israel-Gaza war.

On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada Homsi from The National’s Beirut bureau asks how Lebanon’s Hezbollah is involved in the current conflict - and where it could go from here.

Egypt’s dilemma as war rages between Israel and Gaza

The world’s attention has turned to a corner of the Sinai region of Egypt.

The location is the Rafah Crossing, where for days lorries laden with aid have queued to enter the Palestinian territory from Egypt. On the other side of the crossing, Palestinians and dual nationals trapped in Gaza wait under Israeli rocket fire in the hope of being able to leave.

But Egypt finds itself in an impossible situation – should it offer civilians from Gaza a safe route out of the territory and welcome them as refugees? Or should it keep its border closed and leave 2.3 million people at the mercy of Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’s attack on October 7.

In this week’s Beyond the Headlines, host Ismaeel Naar talks to The National’s Cairo correspondent, Hamza Hendawi, about the predicament facing Egypt.

What are the chances of the Israel-Gaza conflict becoming a Middle East war?

In September, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood in front of world leaders at the UN General Assembly and displayed two maps: one showing Israel’s isolation at the time of its creation in 1948, and another showing the Arab countries that have normalised relations with it. He referred to a “new Middle East”.
 
That came amid US-led talks aimed at Israel and Saudi Arabia establishing formal ties.
 
But today, as we record on October 18, we’re in a different reality. The Israel-Gaza war has created a dangerous potential turning point for the region - and the world - putting peace on the back burner.
 
On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Sulaiman Hakemy asks whether the Israel-Gaza war is the start of something much bigger – and even worse.

Bombed, displaced, deprived - Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe

The world is now witnessing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Thousands of residents have been killed or injured by 10 days of airstrikes. Hospitals and medical facilities are struggling to operate, and the enclave has no access to food, fuel, electricity or a clean water supply.

Ambulances and lorries full of humanitarian supplies are currently queuing on the Egyptian border with Gaza, waiting for a ceasefire to allow them in.

This is happening while hundreds of thousands of families have been internally displaced from northern Gaza to the south of the strip after an Israeli evacuation order. They are still struggling with the continued bombardment of airstrikes and often have nowhere to stay.

In this episode of Beyond The Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza. 

What is Israel’s end goal with its war on Gaza?

Israel was taken by surprise a week ago when Hamas stormed across its border. The surprise attack has had huge ramifications in the Middle East and for the world.

Leaders in western countries have backed Israel and said that the country has ‘’the right to defend itself’’ as it goes after Hamas with a bombing campaign in densely populated Gaza.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Ismaeel Naar speaks to officials and analysts about the Israeli response and what have been described as “failures” of the government ahead of the Hamas attack. They also discuss the subsequent diplomatic efforts since the attack on the morning of October 7 – and what could come next.

What’s happening in the Israel-Gaza war and where is it going?

At 6.30am on Saturday, October 7, Hamas fighters crossed from Gaza into southern Israel as more than 5,000 rockets were fired by the militants from the enclave into towns and cities. The group called the attack Operation Al Aqsa Flood.

In the hours and days that followed, more than 1,000 people have been killed on both sides as fighters opened fire at a music festival and then staged running battles with residents and armed forces. In response to the unprecedented breach in its security, Israel fired a barrage of rockets into Gaza and has threatened to destroy Hamas.

Israeli officials are calling the attacks "their 9/11" and have declared a total blockade of Gaza.

In this episode of Beyond The Headlines, host Nada AlTaher looks at what is happening in Israel and Gaza, how the people of both sides are dealing with the escalation of violence and what’s next, as the fighting, at the time of recording, shows no immediate signs of ending.

Britain’s party political conference season and the race to No 10

The next UK election may be more than a year away but the race for No 10 Downing Street has already begun.

Take this week Conservative conference in Manchester, with the governing party presenting themselves as agents of change – despite having been in power for 13 years and counting. Expect more salesmanship next week when pretenders Labour, who are well ahead in the polls, gather in Liverpool.  

 

In this week’s episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Damien McElroy explores whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak can turn his party’s fortunes around, examines how the Conservatives are facing the issues of the world - and discusses the policies anticipated towards the Middle East.

How a Saudi-Israeli agreement could transform the region

A landmark agreement to open diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel seems to be approaching. In a recent interview with Fox News, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country is moving closer to establishing relations with Israel.

 

Such a deal would mean the expansion of the Abraham Accords, which were signed three years ago with the US as a broker, and normalised relations between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. Morocco and Sudan have since joined.

 

The past few weeks have witnessed high-level visits to Riyadh by members of the Biden administration to discuss the matter; Saudi Arabia’sappointment of its first envoy to Palestine; and Israel's tourism minister landing in Saudi Arabia for a UN event, becoming the first Israeli minister to lead an official delegation there.

 

In this week’s Beyond The Headlines, host Ismaeel Naar looks at the recent moves towards the normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and asks what could this mean for the region and the Palestinians?

 

The correlation between climate change and extreme weather events

From the flash floods in Libya and the earthquakes in Morocco, Turkey and Syria, to the raging wildfires that scorched Maui and the hurricanes and typhoons that left devastation in their wake in the US: it's impossible to ignore the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

2023 has been marked by a series of apparently natural disasters. But just how natural were they? And how much did humanity contribute to them – via climate change?

On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Phil Green explores the influence of climate change on a year of catastrophes, how the Middle East is directly affected - and what can be done?

The Libya floods and the destruction that followed

You can’t control a storm. Especially one as bad as Storm Daniel. 

But when two dams which hadn’t been maintained since 2002 break; when authorities tell thousands of people to stay at home instead of evacuating them the night that Derna was swept into the sea; then you start to wonder, how much more could have been done to prevent the deaths of 11,000 people?

Entire neighbourhoods gone. Families killed in their own homes. Bodies turning up after the waves had brought them back to land. Search and rescue teams telling whomever has remained alive to quiet down so they can try and listen for a faint sound coming from under the rubble.

The scene was apocalyptic.

On this episode of Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher talks about Storm Daniel, its impacts on the city of Derna and the gigantic task ahead for authorities and rescue workers to sort through the rubble and identify the dead.