Transcription
We're following developments out of the Middle East. Uh, the US and Israel have launched new strikes on Iran, while Iran is fighting back with attacks on Gulf States and Israel. Amid the fighting, Iran has named Muchaba Hosini Ham as its new supreme leader. He takes over for his father, who was killed in the first hours of the war.
More on this, we're joined by CBS News senior national security correspondent Charlie Vaga from northern Israel. So Charlie, uh, it's so interesting because up until this moment, there were questions as to who might become the new Supreme Leader. Uh, including some names that were floated that were relatively, and I say relatively, uh, in a theocracy, a dictatorship, um, that were relatively moderate. But apparently, according to the reports I've read, um, the Ayatollah's son is perhaps even more radical than his father.
You know, Vlad, I think it sort of sends a message because, as you said, this was not one of the front names or the, the front runners that we would have thought might have stepped into that role. And it also kind of goes against the whole theocracy movement, uh, 1979 of the revolution that's that said we shouldn't have hereditary leaders here, that should be based on their merit and their leadership skills and qualities. So, the fact that they decided to go ahead and literally name the Ayatollah's son as the new supreme leader sends a message out, particularly to the United States, kind of like, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
This is a person who's never held any government office. He hasn't made a bunch of public speak, uh, speeches. However, he is thought among insiders to be the power behind the robes, as they call it. So, he has been part of the decision-making. He's been a sort of consiliary to his father. So, he's, he's certainly in the inner circle. But again, we also remember how many people were wiped out in the first wave of attacks. A lot of leadership went away there. And this is, this is definitely based on a hereditary decision that this is the Ayatollah, the Ayatollah's son. We don't know a lot about of him, about him, but we think that he has at least the same sort of ideals that his father had.
And also, just a roadblock for the US, what they say is their mission, which is to bring about regime change, democracy for the pal, for the Iranian people, right? Um, to have the Ayatollah's son now be the new supreme leader. But let's talk a bit about how this war is spreading out, and Israel is fighting really on two fronts, not just Iran, but also in Lebanon against Hezbollah. What's the latest there?
Yeah, Adriana, that's the reason we came up here to, uh, northern Israel. And a couple days ago, we were right on the border. We're about 20 miles south of the border now in Haifa. But we went right up to the border, and it was noisy up there. There was a lot of fighting going on. We think it was probably a lot of outgoing, uh, Israeli artillery that was being shot, uh, into, uh, suspected Hezbollah targets. But they've got almost 400 people that have been killed in fighting. You know, we haven't reported it as much as what's going on in Iran, but the Israelis are engaged in a kinetic conflict. And we spoke to an Israeli, um, local commander who said that they've actually put forces a little bit into Lebanon, and that they've actually recorded their first, uh, two fatalities, two Israeli soldiers who were killed on that Lebanese side. Because what they're trying to do is to try to push Hezbollah back after October 7th, when Hezbollah started firing, uh, rockets and and actually some ground, uh, maneuvers here. They evacuated almost everybody from this region for about 18 months now. Commanders say, "We're not going to do that." And one of the reasons is, where do you go? Because the whole country is being targeted. There's not a sort of safe place to go. But they feel confident enough that they can hold Hezbollah. But a couple of nights ago, they rained down right here in Haifa. They went right after the port, went after military targets here. Almost all of them were intercepted. They didn't do any major damage that we can report. But this is an active front. And the reason this is important for the United States, they said, "Well, this isn't our war." No. But when Hezbollah, who sat out for the first few days, by the way, they started in, uh, March 2nd. Once Hezbollah joined this fight, they can fire hundreds or thousands of rockets at any given time, and they can coordinate with Iran. Uh, and we saw, I was in Tel Aviv yesterday when we saw that damage that that rained down on that city. And what that does is it overwhelms Israeli defenses. Now, if Hezbollah is firing into Israel, that enables Iran to point its weapons toward US targets and allies in this region.
All right, Charlie Daka, thank you so much for all of that reporting. Stay safe. All the best too, and your crew.