LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv this morning. It was intercepted.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This comes after a wave of Israeli strikes in Lebanon this week, killing upwards of 550 people in a single day, the deadliest in Lebanon in decades. Among the dead, dozens of women and children, including four teachers and two U.N. refugee agency workers, one a mom named Dina Darwish who was killed with her little boy, Jad (ph). Meanwhile, Western nations say they're trying to prevent this open warfare between Hezbollah and Israel from drawing in Iran, a key backer of Hezbollah. So far, Iran is sitting on the sidelines.
FADEL: NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam joins us now to discuss. Hi, Jackie.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: Morning, Leila.
FADEL: Morning. So give us a quick sense of the relationship between Hezbollah and Iran and why it's so important to this conflict.
NORTHAM: Iran has long supported Hezbollah financially, strategically and certainly provides much of its weaponry, its missiles and the like. But Hezbollah is also an important element of an Iranian strategy that it wants to fight its adversaries beyond its borders, and it does this by using proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza, whose operations have been severely damaged by Israel. And now Hezbollah is under unprecedented, devastating attack by Israel. And I spoke with Ali Vaez (ph), an Iranian specialist at the International Crisis Group, about this and what it means for Iran.
ALI VAEZ: If there's one thing the Islamic Republic hates more than anything else, it's the idea of having to fight the Americans because they don't underestimate the might of the United States (ph) Military.
NORTHAM: And that means that, in fact, Hezbollah, you know, Tehran's most powerful proxy, is supposed to protect Iran. But now the tables are turned, and it risks actually dragging Iran into the conflict it doesn't want.
FADEL: So if Iran's two major regional partners are under attack, and Hezbollah is the tip of Iran's regional network, does this mean that Iran will get involved?
NORTHAM: Well, analysts I spoke to said there's very little chance that Iran will enter into the fray unless Israel launched a serious attack on Iranian assets in the country, say, a military or a nuclear installation. Alex Vatanka (ph), the head of the Iran program at the Middle East Institute, told me that Iran's biggest fear about getting involved in the regional war is the U.S.
ALEX VATANKA: Hezbollah is the tip of the spear of Iran's regional network, and Hezbollah's weakening basically means that Iran would become much more vulnerable.
NORTHAM: So, Leila, it's likely Iran will just keep pumping more weapons to Hezbollah and perhaps send in more militias from Syria or Iraq.
FADEL: Now, Iran's new reformist president said at the U.N. that Israel is trying to provoke a regional war with these attacks on Lebanon. What do experts say about his accusation?
NORTHAM: Well, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Israel was trying to, quote, "trap" Iran into a broader conflict by attacking its most powerful proxy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Iran an existential threat to Israel in the past. But some analysts I spoke to said it was more like Israel was calling Iran's bluff, you know? Israel has been on a remarkable roll militarily in Gaza and now in Lebanon, although major questions have been raised about - that it's violated, you know, international law and failing to protect civilians in the prosecution of its wars.
And Hezbollah was seen as a formidable fighting force so far in this conflict. It's been backfooted by Israel against all expectations. And, you know, now we have Iran's president taking a softer tone at the U.N., even re-upping Iran's offer to enter into nuclear talks again, perhaps because of this crisis.
FADEL: NPR's Jackie Northam. Thank you, Jackie.
NORTHAM: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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