Perspective

With 570 people killed and more than 750,000 displaced amid fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon finds itself in what Iva Kovic-Chahine, head of the Beirut-based news outlet L’Orient Today, describes as an “absurd” situation. She tells FRANCE 24 that many Lebanese felt “intense rage” after the Iran-backed group fired rockets into Israel to protest the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Lebanese government faces growing pressure to enter direct talks with Israel to end the fighting, though Kovic-Chahine warns of a “vicious circle” between calls for negotiations and demands for Hezbollah’s disarmament.

After accusing Israel of “unlawfully” using white phosphorus over residential areas of a southern Lebanese town last week, Human Rights Watch says Israel “must be pressured by its allied countries” to prevent such incidents from happening again. Speaking to FRANCE 24, HRW Communications Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Ahmed Benchemsi, said countries could “even impose targeted sanctions on officials who are credibly implicated in grave crimes”. White phosphorus, which ignites upon contact with oxygen, can cause extreme harm to humans. “It can burn people not only thermally, but also chemically, down to the bone,” Benchemsi emphasised.

One week after hostilities resumed between Israel and Hezbollah, UNICEF has sounded the alarm over the situation for children in Lebanon. According to the health ministry, more than 80 children have been killed in the fighting. Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF Lebanon’s chief of advocacy and communication, told FRANCE 24 that Lebanese children have suffered “deep psychological and emotional scars” that have accumulated since clashes between Israel and Hezbollah intensified during the Gaza war. He said many children now “internalise the idea of death”, adding that “childhood in Lebanon is just not OK now”.

The former head of the French military mission to the UN has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how long the war in the Middle East could go on. General Dominique Trinquand says the war is now a logistics battle, which depends entirely on how many drones and missiles, and the means of launching them, remain. The difficulty for the US and Israel is that they know exactly how many they have, but it is much harder to know how many the Iranians can rely on. He spoke to us in Perspective.

One of the officials leading efforts to provide humanitarian aid for people who have been forced to flee their homes in Lebanon has told FRANCE 24 that the needs are immense. Many of those displaced are from the capital Beirut, amid the Israeli bombings there. Others are from the south of the country, where Israeli forces are carrying out what they call a limited incursion as they tell civilians to leave their homes. In Perspective, we spoke to Adéa Guillot from CARE France.

The deputy director of the European Council on Foreign Relations' Paris office has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how European nations are already being sucked into the war in Iran. Camille Lons pointed out that although any direct help for the US or Israel has been labelled as only defensive, attacks on French and British bases have already occurred. She noted that other major issues such as energy prices and the provision of weapons – bearing in mind European requirements for supplies to Ukraine – could also be impacted if the war goes on. She spoke to us in Perspective.

A male ballet dancer has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his love for ballet and his aim to encourage more men to dance en pointe. The art of dancing on the tip of your toes is usually seen as a musical box-style female role, but Kadeem En Pointe has trained himself to be able to do it as well. He spoke to us in Perspective about his desire to inspire people through dance.

The author of a new book that warns of the breakdown of the nation-state – the system that provides essential pillars such as citizenship, the law, the economy and healthcare – is warning that the current system risks collapsing. On the day that US President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union speech in Washington, Rana Dasgupta says that states are struggling to uphold the constitution and the rule of law. He says that the post-1945 period has been exceptional and we are now entering a stage where the interests of states are diverging from the interests of their citizens. He spoke to us in Perspective.

As the world marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Estonia's ambassador to France has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his country's determination to continue to support Ukraine and its allies in Europe. Estonia shares a nearly 300-kilometre border with Russia and is today celebrating its National Day. Viljar Lubi told us in Perspective that while Russia is lingering in the past, Europe wants to move on.

As the world marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish ambassador to France has spoken of her country's commitment to the Ukrainian cause. It is now almost two years since Sweden joined NATO after years of being a nonaligned country. Caroline Vicini says it was a big but necessary step for Sweden. She spoke to us in Perspective.