What This War Looks Like on Israel’s Lebanon Border

Summary

The Chris Cuomo Project

Episode: What This War Looks Like on Israel’s Lebanon Border
Air Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Chris Cuomo

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Chris Cuomo travels to the northernmost part of Israel, on the border with Lebanon, to witness and report firsthand on the realities of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Through interviews with Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers and kibbutz residents, Cuomo explores how the war has radically transformed daily life in these frontline communities and analyzes the implications for regional and global politics, including the evolving role of the U.S. and the current status of Lebanon. The episode provides a unique, on-the-ground perspective on the human cost, psychological strain, and societal shifts in Israel due to the conflict.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Strategic Importance of the Lebanon Border

• Lebanon as a Bellwether: Cuomo argues the resolution of the Iran conflict cannot be understood without examining the situation in Lebanon, noting, "As Lebanon goes, so does the American time in the region." (02:45)
• Hezbollah as Iran’s Proxy: He clarifies that the U.S. has greenlit Israel's campaign against Hezbollah, emphasizing its significance as the largest terror group and Iran’s main regional proxy (02:00–03:00).

2. Transformation of Kibbutz Life Post-10/7

• Kibbutz Origins and Irony: "The irony is that the people who live there are the most sympathetic towards... Palestine, Gaza... trying to collaborate... They're very liberal people. They're like Hippie people. So for them to have gotten attacked on 10/7 added to the nature of the crime," notes Cuomo (01:30).
• Security Overhaul:
  • Before the attack (“10/7”), kibbutzim had almost no security profile—now, they are heavily fortified communities with autonomous surveillance and defense measures.
  • Residents stress that security was self-funded: "Not the government, not the army... So we had to do it by ourselves." (07:10)

3. Civilian Experience: Daily Life Amid War

• Impact on Children and Families:
  • Residents describe children adapting to constant alarms and recognizing rockets and missiles: "My kids, wherever they go, they always ask me what the security room is. So life has become... our norm, and it's not what we want." (10:15)
  • Chris recounts children playing a game to identify missiles: “They could identify what was a rocket, what was a missile… and they were four or five years old. And it makes you wonder how do you deal with that?” (10:57)
• Non-Evacuation and Routine: One kibbutz wasn’t evacuated despite proximity to the front; 70% of its population stayed, maintaining as much normalcy as possible for children, including conducting daycare in bomb shelters for months (09:18–10:14).

4. Military and Civilian Blurring

• No Civil-Military Divide: Cuomo observes, "It's like everybody is one step from the military. There's really no division in Israeli society between the two because they're in... straight up warfare mode." (05:00)
• Combat Medic’s Experience: A resident and combat medic describes juggling reserve duty (over 700 days in two years) with civilian life and explains the emotional toll on families (11:38–12:37).

5. Changing Warfare Dynamics

• IDF Operations in Lebanon: Unlike previous conflicts, Israeli troops now operate inside Southern Lebanon, indicating a more prolonged and intense phase of fighting (04:00, 13:00).
• Hezbollah’s Tactics: IDF soldiers and residents share stories of infiltrations, Hezbollah's commando units buying real estate in former Christian villages, and the constant threat posed by the group's proximity (17:24–18:27).
• Heavy Shelling and Response Time: Residents live under near-constant rocket threat—sometimes with as little as five seconds to reach shelter (24:12–24:16).

6. Regional & Political Context

• Lebanese Government’s Plea: Cuomo reveals that, for the first time, Lebanon’s government is asking the U.S. for help with Hezbollah: "We can't control Hezbollah. We need you to come in and do it." (14:50)
• Societal Shifts: Kibbutz residents note the shock of being attacked despite their history of bridge-building and peace efforts, describing it as “a real mind blower. And it's a shift, there is a huge shift in the state of mind.” (19:36–20:20)
• International Perception: Cuomo discusses divergent global views, especially criticism of Israel abroad, contrasting them with the local perspective of perpetual existential threat (25:10–25:48).

7. Resilience and Philosophy of Israeli Border Life

• Motivation to Stay: Residents see their presence at the border as crucial to national security and a personal mission of resilience. One states, "We define the borders of this country and we cannot allow our borders to be weak." (26:45–27:55)
• Life vs. War Dichotomy: "How do you balance enjoying life... it's literally right there, what's going on. It is literally what you look at that's so beautiful around you is also home to what wants you not to exist." (28:03)
• Sense of Purpose: "It's about being significant. It's about knowing that you are part of something bigger than you. It's about being a part of an idea that serves not only this region, but the world." (28:31–28:35)

8. Brutality and the Human Cost

• Kindergarten Under Fire: Residents show Cuomo a kindergarten with bulletproof glass—evidence of machine-gun fire, underlining the indiscriminate nature of Hezbollah's tactics: "From close range you would be shooting bullets, trying to get through those windows to hit the kids inside..." (29:33)
• Collateral Damage and Accountability: Cuomo stresses, “There has to be accountability, there has to be transparency...” when discussing civilian casualties on both sides (29:33–30:58).

9. Community Rebuild and Resolve

• Rapid Rebuilding: Residents quickly return after each round of fighting, rebuilding homes and infrastructure: "We came back after the ceasefire and then immediately started to rebuild everything. Private houses, communal buildings, everything rebuilt." (32:12)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Change in Security:
  • "We had to do it by ourselves. We did our best in fomo, so we will be prepared for… hopefully won’t be, but next time." – Kibbutz Resident (07:10)
• On Children’s New Normal:
  • “My kids, wherever they go, they always ask me what the security room is. So life has become… our norm, and it's not what we want...” – Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident (10:15)
• On Purpose and Resilience:
  • “It's about being significant. It's about knowing that you are part of something bigger than you.” – Kibbutz Resident (28:35)
• On the Reality of Terror:
  • “This is what terror is all about, you know, to create this one specific media event that will give them the awareness they're looking for.” – Israeli Defense Force Soldier (21:12)
• On Living on the Border:
  • “We define the borders of this country and we cannot allow our borders to be weak.” – Kibbutz Resident (27:55)
• On Global Perceptions:
  • “The American dialogue for Israel is very bad right now. And they are seen as the bully, not the bullied." – Chris Cuomo (25:10)

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Key Segments & Timestamps

• Background and Strategic Importance of the North: 02:00–04:30
• Transformation of Kibbutz Security Post-10/7: 06:02–08:30
• Civilian Lifelines: Children, School & War: 09:18–12:37
• Hezbollah’s Tactics and Village Takeovers: 17:24–19:27
• Life on the Border—Proximity of Danger: 24:12–25:48
• Discussion on Balancing War & Daily Life: 26:45–28:35
• Kindergarten Under Fire—Visible Brutality of Conflict: 29:33–35:40
• Community Rebuilding and Resilience: 32:12–34:37

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Memorable Moments

• Chris recounts little children playing a missile-identification game (10:57).
• Residents point out the kindergarten’s bulletproof glass riddled with bullet holes (35:04).
• IDF soldier explains that in some areas the warning time to reach a bomb shelter is five seconds (24:15).
• A kibbutz resident reflects philosophically on the meaning of life and significance in a warzone (28:35).

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Tone and Atmosphere

Cuomo’s reporting is direct, empathetic, and critical, focusing on unvarnished realities rather than simplistic narratives. His tone is urgent but deeply human, honoring both the fear and the determination of those living on Israel’s northern frontier. The interviews are candid, blending moments of gallows humor, raw exhaustion, and philosophical reflection with the ever-present threat of violence.

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Summary:
This episode offers an unfiltered, ground-level view of what it means for Israeli civilians—especially in kibbutzim—living at the epicenter of the Israel-Lebanon conflict. With deeply personal insights, on-the-ground reporting, and candid discussion, Cuomo illuminates the war’s existential stakes for Israel, the psychological transformation of its liberal border communities, and the global implications if the struggle with Hezbollah remains unresolved.

Transcript

[Chris Cuomo]

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[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Okay?

[Chris Cuomo]

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[Kibbutz Resident]

you set up all the catalysts since 107? There was nothing here. I mean, basically there was nothing here. A few supplies. And this has all been acquired

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

since.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Since the. This is all part of it.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

I did part of it.

[Chris Cuomo]

My concern is if there's another insurgency.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Yes, of course, that was the major concern.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yeah.

[Chris Cuomo]

Car Bloom. Very strategic intersection here. And during the war, the national height of war, there was a fear that if his ballot broke through here, they could cut off the whole galley panhandle north of here, control the role. And when the war started, and correct

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

me if I'm wrong, they had one rifle here.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Yes, that's right.

[Chris Cuomo]

One rifle. Right.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

And they just weren't prepared for this thing.

[Chris Cuomo]

We weren't paired for it in any way. And fortunately his bowler did not break

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

through, but they could have cut off

[Chris Cuomo]

the other part of the country. So now you have a system in place to give you some early warning and weaponry.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Yeah, all these cameras and everything. It's something we did just in October, actually, basically with a lot of like, donations and people that helped us. And we did it on ourselves, actually, in the kibbutz. I mean, not the. Not the government. Nobody actually helped us. Not the government, not the army. Yeah. And the army. Right. So we had to do it by ourselves. We did our best in fomo, so we will be prepared for. Hopefully won't be, but next time.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Did the army ever play the electricity bills?

[Chris Cuomo]

No. So this is all infrastructure that the kibbutz set up. So this is the. This is not you allowing the military to come in and have an operations center here. No. You belong to the kibbutz. Yeah. Not, you know, so it's a. It's its own private enterprise. Does every kibbutz in the area do this or. No?

[Kibbutz Resident]

Most of them. Some of them. It took some time to do it. I mean, it took them a few months or even a year, but yeah. Now I think most of the kibbutz, I mean, they realize they must do it. I mean, they must protect themselves.

[Chris Cuomo]

So you went from having really no security profile because who would want to attack you? You're just a farm, you know.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Yeah. Just to give you that.

[Chris Cuomo]

But after 10, 7, now you have it set up like you are a high value target.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Exactly.

[Chris Cuomo]

And you have to have the ability to see, but also to respond.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yeah.

[Chris Cuomo]

So how. What has that done to what Komoot's life is about.

[Kibbutz Resident]

You want to answer this question? Actually,

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

This guy is a tough soldier.

[Chris Cuomo]

He's got a lot of combat strength.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Don't let the baby fool you.

[Kibbutz Resident]

That's just a prop.

[Chris Cuomo]

This is where you live, and this is community for you. And what is it like to shift from a place that was almost kind of a sanctuary from that type of conflict to now this?

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

Well, it was very, very weird. It was very surrealistic because we had a kibbutz, okay. And then we weren't evacuated. This kibbutz wasn't evacuated between here and the next place that it was evacuated. It's 800 meters.

[Chris Cuomo]

Somebody told you the five kilometer thing? Yeah. Very arbitrary because it comes with this

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

notion, oh, maybe the Redwan horse could have come through and take it.

[Chris Cuomo]

But it's 800 meters, right?

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

So we weren't evacuated. So we were here maybe 70% of population. So we had to keep. We had to keep the kids moving on, and we had to keep the. They were in the daycare, in the bomb shelters for a long time, for maybe four or five months. So. But we were very, very adamant, especially from the point of view from the case in the kibbotson, to make sure that life carried on as normal, as normal as we can.

[Chris Cuomo]

But this is the new norm.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

This is the new normal. Unfortunately, my kids, wherever they go, they always ask me what the security room is. So life has become. This has become our norm, and it's not what we want, okay? Because we. We live here mostly on tourism, people coming to visit our beautiful area, all that kind of stuff. And then suddenly we. Now, we did that a year ago, and now we're doing it again. So that sanctuary you talk to, that suddenly becomes a war zone. And suddenly we have alarms, and suddenly kids have to go into bomb shelters and kids don't go to school, and it's very disruptive.

[Chris Cuomo]

I saw these two little ones at the airport. I had three of these. I got to tell you, I don't miss this phase. I see these two little ones. One is like three, one is like five. Brother, sister. And they're playing a game as we're crossing the same bridge, pulled over because there's alarms, right? Sirens, and they're playing a game of, look, there it is. And, you know, the. The sister looks up in the air and the brother laughs. But they could identify what was a rocket, what was a missile, whether it was a curlicue or a straight line. And they were four or five years old. And it makes you wonder how do you deal with that? Like, what world is this for them?

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

It's a different world. I had to go to the army. I was in the army for nearly two years, 734 days of the reserve duty. Half of it was done here and then half of it was in Lebanon and in Gaza. And I'm a combat medicine medic in the Israeli army. Medics are frontline soldiers. So we do a lot of combat, combat there. So it's very hard because they also suddenly dance at home. Suddenly. And then suddenly we have to keep them. My middle son always come to me and say, what are the Muslims about? Why don't we break Iran? Why do we have a war? And then I said to him, okay,

[Chris Cuomo]

we have to buy the machine as well.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

But it will take some time because it's closed. And I hate this war. You know, it's very, very.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

It's very.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

It's very hard for me to understand. They just kind of go, this is how we do this. And then it's very hard for them to understand that, okay, we're not.

[Chris Cuomo]

You don't have to be old to know that it's wrong also.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

But also they called him. They call them bad guys. And so they don't actually understand all the bad guys here again. And they understand it because they that age. I have eight old. I got a six year old and him. So. And it's. For us, it's very. Because we have to wake up in the middle of the night, go to the.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yeah.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

And for us, it's very. We're trying to keep routine going, trying to keep our lives the same. It's not the same.

[Kibbutz Resident]

No

[Chris Cuomo]

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[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

A year ago when we had the first round against Hezbollah, they flooded all the houses over there because under every house they found a bunker with grenades, maps, including maps of my house and my neighborhood. It was a Christian village up to 2000 until 2011. Hezbollah commando unit Radouan bought all the real estate and relocate themselves with their families over there. And we, we didn't notice this. And during the war, the first round we flattened every house over there because they watching. On the entire Israeli territory, more than 34 anti tank missiles have been launched from this area to civilian targets. And the main plan, the main goal was to infiltrate from there to this community, to Kfar Giladi. Right now if you see there is a new base on the top of the hill.

[Chris Cuomo]

Huh?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

It's a Lebanese new base built in the last six months. Right now there is Israeli soldier over there.

[Chris Cuomo]

So this was Hezbollah?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yes.

[Chris Cuomo]

Now it isn't.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Now it isn't.

[Chris Cuomo]

So you cleaned out the village the last time and now you put the military on top.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Exactly.

[Chris Cuomo]

So that you literally have the high ground and they can't attack downhill at you and oversee you.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Exactly. The biggest challenge we have here on the northern border, that it's the topographic issue that the Lebanese are controlling from topographic point of view on any civilian community, we need to say that it's only this part of the village. We have a lot of work, we have 120km of border. So it's only one spot. But this spot is a very strategic one because they are watching the entire communities here in, in Israel. Let's step in.

[Kibbutz Resident]

This is my house.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Sorry about the mess. This is, this is family and war together. It's not a good combination.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yes, but it's a, it's a very, you know, it's such a strange world for a strange life for you guys. Now, you know, there's something that I try to explain to the American audience the idea of the kibbutzim, or as we say, the kibbutzes being attacked, that the population, the people who chose to live there, especially in the south, but true here as well as you know, they were the most sympathetic, they were the most about building bridges to the perceived enemies. So for them to get attacked was a real mind blower.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

It's a real mind blower. And it's a shift, there is a huge shift in the state of mind.

[Chris Cuomo]

Right. And it changed also in real time over there.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

This is behind the hill, it's a village called El khiyam. And the IDF is already there. As you can see, 30000 people that lives in Elhiyam controlled by Hezbollah. 100.

[Chris Cuomo]

So I hear the boom and I see dust. But you know exactly what that is. Yeah. So what is it?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

So there is a battle there between the IDF and the Hezbollah units right now. Part of the goal of the IDF to take over the first line of villages that controlling Israel from, from above. And there is a battle over there between the IDF and Hezbollah. And as you can see.

[Chris Cuomo]

And what do you think that was?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

They blow up the bunker or something or maybe shoot about, you know, shooting on Hezbollah fighter that shooting them. So there is a real battle behind the, behind this hill. By the way, this hill is already Lebanon.

[Chris Cuomo]

We're going up there in a bit. We're going up to this community up there. Gotcha. You're going up to the line.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Going up right is the northmost village in Israel surrounding 270 degree border. This is a day set we saw earlier. And the main threat right now, the main challenge we are facing with is steel infiltration. There is some indication that they are eager to infiltrate to Israel. Maybe not like in October 7th, thousands of terrorists, but even a group of 10 people infiltrate. This is what terror is all about, you know, to create this one specific media event that will give them the awareness they're looking for.

[Chris Cuomo]

How do you balance life and war literally being right in your backyard?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

I'm asking this question every morning together with my wife. It's very complex. It's a complex situation right now. But you know, we faced even a worse situation when we were being evacuated from here. Even though I was here as part of the first responding team. My boys, my family have been evacuated. This reality for us, we prefer this kind of reality than being refugees in our own state. And it's complicated. You saw my children, they are trying to learn through Zoom and Google, Meet, etc. And we are all here.

[Chris Cuomo]

Can they reach you?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yeah, they can reach. There is also a Hezbollah village over there behind this hill and over here. But as I mentioned, the first step the IDF took when the Iran Israel war was started, it's to take over the first line of villages to protect us. Because our expectation from our government, from our government, from our army was we are not going to be evacuated again. Make everything you can to secure our presence here in our own house. And for that we're giving other good words for the IDF that took it as a new doctrine. And now they are inside Lebanon, inside here in Israel.

[Chris Cuomo]

How often is ordinance hitting over here?

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

If there Is alarm. We have five seconds.

[Chris Cuomo]

Five seconds.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Five seconds. Yeah. Very close, as you can see. And so the indicators is only when

[Chris Cuomo]

they reach the border has anything come close or are you watching things being launched and going down the country, which

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

depends on Hezbollah missiles. Some of their missiles towards Tel Aviv, Haifa, we can see them, you know, some of the short range missiles we can see, we can hear them and see them only when they hit. Last night, more than 45 rockets have been launched with this community. Thanks for the iron Dom system. Intercept all of them. But it's, it's a risky time. It's a risky time. We are very aware and, you know, to the situation and I need to emphasize that we are determined to stay here even though we live in a war zone.

[Chris Cuomo]

The American dialogue for Israel is very bad right now. And they are seen as the bully, not the bullied. And I always think that's interesting to know because then when you meet Israelis, although you are uniquely resilient people, you see enemies on literally all sides of you all the time. And yet there's this expectation that you're the one in control. That's hard to live with that because your reality is they'll, they're all coming at you, you're not coming at them.

[Kibbutz Resident]

And it's hard to, I think, communicate outside. And I think you being here enough time, I think it's easier to understand it like from within. Because first of all, you know that these are the facts. The facts are that we are being. The facts are that there is a challenge in almost all borders. As you said, this is a unique model, like a Jewish democracy within the Middle east that is a little bit hostile to the idea.

[Chris Cuomo]

Thank you.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Also to the idea, but also to the manifestation of what it looks like. Right. So I think it's challenging.

[Chris Cuomo]

How challenging is it day to day that you live in a place that is really beautiful and at the same time it is a potential war zone.

[Kibbutz Resident]

I think one thing that is super important to understand. Well, maybe a few things. First of all, it's not really beautiful. It's the most beautiful place in the world. Let's establish that you want to continue. So that's like. But that's not, that's not the added value. That's not why people are here. People are here because most of them understand that we define the borders of this country and we cannot allow our borders to be weak. Because if the borders are weak, the country is weak. It's too small to not make sure that we have strength and power and resilience all over, but it starts at the edges. So we have a role, if you want, regarding all the rest of the nine people who lives here. Not all Jewish, right? Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, you name it. We have everyone and we are here to protect everyone. This is also important to understand everybody who is Israeli. I think that in the sense of, like, why would you live here and not in a safer place? Every. Every place in Israel has its own challenges. I think it's about choosing the challenges that defines you as a person and that has the most important impact of.

[Chris Cuomo]

But how do you not. How do you b. How do you balance. How do you balance enjoying life with not just being Israeli, but it's literally right there, what's going on. It is literally what you look at that's so beautiful around you is also home to what wants you not to exist. How do you balance those two?

[Kibbutz Resident]

It's a fair question, I think.

[Chris Cuomo]

It's the only kind I ask.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Yeah. No, but I'll refer that question back to you. Right. What is the meaning of life? Like, why do you. What's the point of all of this? Right. It's about being significant. It's about knowing that you are part of something bigger than you. It's about being a part of an idea that serves not only this region, but the world. And that goes back to your first question, right? The interest of Americans and what's happening here, all in a safe and strong Israel, of course it's your interest. Do you really want to see the Middle east, like, being radical and the ground for terror actions all over the world that will affect and has affected in the past Americans as well? No, I think it's a joint effort to make this world a better place for my children and your children at the same time,

[Chris Cuomo]

this scene is really important. The idea that a school, a kindergarten, needs bulletproof glass is scary enough, but the idea that from close range you would be shooting bullets, trying to get through those windows to hit the kids inside really tells you about the brutality of Hezbollah. And look, war is hell. This is about enemies. This is about destruction. This is very intense. There's a difference, though, between intentional targeting and you hitting something, because either you had the wrong information, bad information, you were reckless, you were wrong. Those are all bad, too. There's no question what America has not yet taken responsibility for yet, but seems to be what they did with the tomahawk in Iran and Tehran, killing all those schoolgirls is fucking terrible. And what Israel is doing in Lebanon, where they're hitting, whether they're hospitals or communities or residences or non combatants is terrible. And it's going to happen. And there has to be accountability, there has to be transparency. But to shoot through the windows in a place that they know is set up to foster relations tells you how intense and terrible this can be. These are terrorists, no question about it.

[Kibbutz Resident]

So we have two fences going out to Lebanon on the northern part of Methula. So basically behind this fence all territory that you see is Lebanese territory. There's like a. A road over there that they go back and forth. Most of the people who use that is a pizza deliveries. They go to the un,

[Chris Cuomo]

the UN

[Kibbutz Resident]

based and they deliver their pizzas because that's what they do basically the un they sit down and eat pizzas on the border. They don't even have the courtesy of ordering from the Israeli side.

[Chris Cuomo]

Just remember the acronym is an oh,

[Kibbutz Resident]

thank you, thank you, thank you. So you know this problem as well. And you can see K, right? So the hill over there is already a Lebanese village.

[Chris Cuomo]

All blown up.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Remaining of our Lebanese village, yes. We're going to get a better look when we go close. But we're now actually riding like this is the border. You have a few of our, you know, fields over here. Metula is very big on apples. We have the best apples in the world. Not only the best view in the world, but also the best apples. And all of these houses were all hit. So this is after renovation. We are serious people here.

[Chris Cuomo]

Right.

[Kibbutz Resident]

We came back after the ceasefire and then immediately started to rebuild everything. Private houses, communal buildings, like everything rebuilt. Our mayor has a. A back like he came from the military. He was doing like engineer and whatever in the military. So he brings those unique qualities to very good use. And he's very on top up. You can see here one of the posts that are spread out all over Metula. Most of them you can't see because they're hidden. But this one is very clear and it's occupied like all, all day long. So the army's orders were take down any house that presents a significant threat to the community, to the Israeli communities that you can document. These are all here. Interesting, right? So you see this one didn't repaired yet. This one belongs to very close friends of ours. This one was completely ruined, went from the inside le and the missile came from Kil. So you can see the proximity. If we're Talking about about 100 meters. It's like mash, mash gold. You see the road is new. This was all turned up by everything was Grabbing I was.

[Chris Cuomo]

This road was all like ground up.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yeah.

[Kibbutz Resident]

No sidewalks, no nothing. Basically Metula now looks like you order it from Shane. It's like new Maxim. So we, you know, we shout out to the army and say whatever it is that you're doing this time, please, not on the new roads that we just built. Do it from somewhere else. So far they're listening, so forget. Oh, it's also a good for me. Like I see that they finished and they finished. Those are all ruined houses, like all together. If you look up there, you see the houses over there. Again, let me do this. So you can see the upper houses. The two severely injured. They haven't started because they. Those two houses can't do just renovation.

[Chris Cuomo]

They need to be taken down because they're not structurally sound.

[Kibbutz Resident]

So they haven't started yet. But all the rest. And we had like, you see the one just below that is actually renovating. We have this neighborhood, we have about 180 homes. So I think about 100 of them got direct hits by anti tank missiles. I'll stop for a second because I want you to look. So this is our kindergarten.

[Chris Cuomo]

Wow.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Okay. And it has armed, you know, glasses, which is funny to begin with. Like why would you. But you can see that that was. Sorry, sorry. Army. You almost took my hand. Okay, so this is like light weapons. It's not missiles.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yeah, Proximity. So those were bullets.

[Kibbutz Resident]

Those are bullets.

[Chris Cuomo]

Yes.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Said.

[Chris Cuomo]

Right. So the kindergarten, the kindergarten had bulletproof glass. Yeah. And they were literally shooting into the school.

[Israeli Defense Force Soldier]

Yeah, you can see it very good. Wow.

[Kibbutz Resident]

How close.

[Combat Medic and Kibbutz Resident]

Wow.

[Kibbutz Resident]

They were. So that will not be happening again.

[Chris Cuomo]

So this is the proximity of living the dream and living a nightmare. So here you have someone living their life. They are literally able to look into the windows of what were Hezbollah fighters that were able to take houses out. That is the reality going on in the northern front. This is the battle line. So thank you very much for subscribing and following checking out my coverage when I was over there, checking me out on News Nation, of course, 8pm midnight every weekday night, checking me out in the morning, which is where you put yourself at the center of the conversation on my radio show on SiriusXM124, POTUS channel 7 to 9 Eastern every morning. It's a feedback mechanism. You call in and we discuss. I'm different. I want you to be different. I don't want you to be one of these party pack animals that killing us. Be a critical thinker. Be a free agent. That's why I'm selling the merch. And now it looks like there's going to be plenty of need in the Middle east that we can send money to to help with organizations in their effort to help people get past what is going to be bloody and long and very, very destructive. I appreciate you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this work and witness history. I hope it's helpful to.