Since October 7, CBS foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab has flaunted his sympathies for the genocidal and anti-Semitic groups besieging Israel, as NewsBusters has documented. But after spending his Monday report bemoaning that Israel had eliminated the entire leadership of the Hezbollah terrorist organization and was seemingly preparing to invade Lebanon, CBS Morning co-anchor Tony Dokoupil dropped his own bomb by saying Hezbollah got what was coming to them.
“It was in these massive Israeli air strikes on Friday night that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated. Triggering a major escalation of violence. All weekend, Israel has been relentlessly pounding sites across Lebanon's south and east,” Tyab lamented while beaming in from Lebanon.
Without questioning why Hezbollah’s command buildings were there to begin with, Tyab huffed that residential buildings were damaged in the strikes: “But mainly the southern Beirut suburb of Dahia where entire residential buildings have been flattened. We went to the aftermath of one Israeli strike on the end of Dahia which was still smoldering.”
Tyab also called the decapitation of the Hezbollah a “rapid escalation of violence” from Israel, while omitting the fact Hezbollah has been launching rockets at Israeli civilians for almost a year:
Over the past week, Israel has assassinated at least five Hezbollah commanders. 19 in the past few months, decapitating the Iranian-backed group's leadership. But this rapid escalation of violence has also killed at least 1,000 others in just the past two weeks. 105 on Sunday alone, according to the country's prime minister who also said nearly one million people have been displaced.
In wrapping up his report, Tyab warned that “Israel is preparing for some kind of ground invasion, something that has the potential of being far deadlier than anything we've seen so far.”
In an apparent response to Tyab’s framing of the situation, Dokoupil proclaimed that Hezbollah messed around and found out: “If Hezbollah thought that Israel was going to graciously take a year full of rockets, Hezbollah miscalculated.” Tyab could be seen reacting to colleague’s statement with a head tilt and a grimace (pictured above).
With Tyab unable to respond since his segment was over, Dokoupil pivoted to former National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster for analysis. The CBS anchor piled it onto Hezbollah with multiple quotes about how terrible their former leader was:
You know, in the aftermath of Hassan Nasrallah’s killing on Friday, you've got statements from Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden calling him a terrorist, saying he's got innocent blood on his hands. John Kirby said it's good for the region and good for the world that he's dead. For Americans who are confused by those statements, explain then. Why is Hezbollah's leader's death a positive?
McMaster reminded viewers that Hezbollah that was global terrorist organization that killed innocent people around the world while taking part in other heinous crimes (Click “expand”):
In the 1990s they really went global with assassinations in Europe, remember they shot down an airliner in Panama, they destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina. And in recent years, they've been the shock troops in Syria that have really contributed to half the Syrian population being dead, wounded, or displaced. So, there's tremendous blood on the hands of the organization.
They're also a criminal organization. They hold the Lebanese people hostage. They're one of the biggest narcotics trafficking organizations in the world and human trafficking organizations in the world.
The Lieutenant General why what Israel was doing was “a required response” by paraphrasing theologian and philosopher G.K. Chesterton: “hey, war's not the best way of settling differences, but sometimes it's the only way to ensure they're not settled for you.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CBS Mornings
September 30, 2024
7:05:59 a.m. Eastern(…)
IMTIAZ TYAB: It was in these massive Israeli air strikes on Friday night that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was assassinated. Triggering a major escalation of violence. All weekend, Israel has been relentlessly pounding sites across Lebanon's south and east. But mainly the southern Beirut suburb of Dahia where entire residential buildings have been flattened. We went to the aftermath of one Israeli strike on the end of Dahia which was still smoldering.
Well, this was once a five-story building, and it's pretty much all but obliterated.
[Explosion in the distance]
Okay. We don't know exactly what that was -- that clearly -- a very loud strike in the distance. And it really just underscores the situation across southern Beirut as Israel continues to strike it heavily.
Over the past week, Israel has assassinated at least five Hezbollah commanders. 19 in the past few months, decapitating the Iranian-backed group's leadership. But this rapid escalation of violence has also killed at least 1,000 others in just the past two weeks. 105 on Sunday alone, according to the country's prime minister who also said nearly one million people have been displaced.
At Beirut's iconic Blue Mosque, some families, many with young children, have come here desperate for safety.
Well, this place of worship has really become a refuge for those who have fled Israel's bombing, telling us that they would rather sleep here out in the open than go back to their neighborhoods until they know it's safe.
Like Samar al-Attrash and her three children, who left their home in Dahia with little more than the clothes on their backs. "I told my kids it's scary and that we can't go home," she says. "I'm only telling them a little at a time so I don't traumatize them."
[Cuts back to live]
Now, President Biden has said an all-out war must be avoided. But look at this video from CBS News Chris Livesay and his team who were on the northern Israeli border with Lebanon, where tanks and armored vehicles have been massing; in what's being described as the clearest sign yet Israel is preparing for some kind of ground invasion, something that has the potential of being far deadlier than anything we've seen so far. Tony.
TONY DOKOUPIL: Yeah. If Hezbollah thought that Israel was going to graciously take a year full of rockets, Hezbollah miscalculated. Imtiaz Tyab in Lebanon. Imtiaz, thank you so much.
Let's bring in CBS News contributor and former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. General, thank you so much for being here.
You know, in the aftermath of Hassan Nasrallah’s killing on Friday, you've got statements from Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden calling him a terrorist, saying he's got innocent blood on his hands. John Kirby said it's good for the region and good for the world that he's dead. For Americans who are confused by those statements, explain then. Why is Hezbollah's leader's death a positive?
H.R. MCMASTER: Yeah. Hezbollah's a devastating terrorist organization that has an impact obviously on Israel, who they have vowed to destroy and to kill all the Jews. But they're a global terrorist organization.
In the 1990s they really went global with assassinations in Europe, remember they shot down an airliner in Panama, they destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina. And in recent years, they've been the shock troops in Syria that have really contributed to half the Syrian population being dead, wounded, or displaced. So, there's tremendous blood on the hands of the organization.
They're also a criminal organization. They hold the Lebanese people hostage. They're one of the biggest narcotics trafficking organizations in the world and human trafficking organizations in the world.
So, it's a good thing for the world that he's dead as well as those 20 or so plus other top leaders who Israel's killed in the last week.
DOKOUPIL: So, there's two ways of looking at Israel's stepped up attacks on Hezbollah and Lebanon. You could say it's escalation and it’s going to lead to further war, or it’s a kind of deterrence to say, don’t even try it, stop it now, go no further. How do you view what they’re doing?
MCMASTER: I see it as a required response. Right? The -- The English theologian and philosopher G.K. Chesterton said ‘hey, war's not the best way of settling differences, but sometimes it's the only way to ensure they're not settled for you.’
And so, the Israelis – Just think about it from their perspective, they have 80,000 people displaced from the north, 10 percent of their territory is evacuated. They want to get their own people back. But really importantly, on October 8th, right, one day after those heinous attacks, Hezbollah started these rocket attacks back onto Israel in solidarity, you know, with Hamas.
But really they are a proxy force for the Iranians, as well. And I think when October 7th Iran really activated what they call the Ring of Fire around Israel. So, Israel has been in the most precarious security situation they've been in since 1948.
(…)
