Transcript
A (0:00)
As events accelerate in the Middle east, the team here at ARC Media is increasing our coverage. More conversations, more context, more time spent trying to help make sense of what's happening. And all with an expanding cast of podcast hosts, analysts and journalists. Our Inside CallMeBack subscribers help make this expanded coverage possible. It helps us be here when it matters most. If you're not yet an inside Call Me Back subscriber, this is an important time to join us. To subscribe, you can follow the link in our show Notes or visit ark media.org and to our insiders. Thank you. You are listening to an ARC Media podcast.
B (0:48)
I think that when an Arab government that's been at war with Israel says we are willing to sit down at the table with you, Israel should say yes every time. That doesn't mean you say yes to everything they ask for, but you say yes to that meeting. When the President of the United States says, let's meet in my office, you say yes and you explore what is possible. So Israel's not going to ever just put its security in someone else's hands and go to sleep. But if the Lebanese armed forces can be deployed in the south to reclaim their own territory and to remove the Hezbollah threat from Israel's border, that's something worth exploring.
A (1:34)
10:00am on Sunday, April 26 here in New York City. It is 5:00pm On Sunday, April 26, in Israel. Today we are taking a closer look at what's been happening along Israel's northern border since the 2024 ceasefire with the government of Lebanon and why. Despite the pause in full scale war fighting with Hezbollah, the situation is increasingly unstable. While Hezbollah's capabilities were severely degraded during the 2024 war, Israel has been operating under the view that the threat from Hezbollah never really went away. While the agreement called for the Lebanese government and the Lebanese armed forces to pull Hezbollah back from southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese armed forces to step in, Israeli officials argue that implementation has been incomplete at best. In response, Israel has continued carrying out targeted strikes against what it sees as emerging threat, particularly weapons transfers and infrastructure tied to Hezbollah and its Iranian backers. At the same time, Hezbollah has been working to rebuild, quietly restoring its arsenal and reorganizing. Lebanon's internal crisis has made it difficult for the sovereign state of Lebanon to fully rein in the terror group, which leaves Israel facing a familiar dilemma how to prevent a stronger Hezbollah from re emerging without triggering another major war. Israel's north has already paid a heavy price. During the fighting in 2024, tens of thousands of civilians were forced to evacuate their homes as rockets and missiles targeted border communities. And even now, not everyone has been able to return. The IDF also suffered casualties in what has been a difficult campaign against a deeply entrenched opponent. All of this shapes how Israel is approaching the current moment with a focus on security, prevention and the long term goal of making northern Israel safe again. All this against the backdrop of ongoing negotiations right now in real time, between the government of Israel and the government of Lebanon, mediated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. So to unpack this fragile status quo, what's really changed since the ceasefire, what hasn't, what's going on with these negotiations and where things might be heading next, Matt Levitt returns to the podcast. Matt is currently at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has had a number of positions in government, including in intelligence at the US Department of Treasury. And prior to that, he was a counterterrorism expert for the FBI, where he served in that role during 9 11. And he is a longtime expert on Hezbollah, Iran and the regional security dynamics. Matt, thanks for coming back to the podcast.
