The Pat Kenny show looked at the latest on the American-Israeli war on Iran as it seems to have intensified overnight.

Israel has announced a new wave of broad-scale strikes on Tehran and US President Donald Trump said Iran’s unconditional surrender is the only thing that will satisfy him to end the escalating war. 

His remarks on social media were a setback for hopes of a quick end to the conflict. 

Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian said some countries had begun mediation efforts to end the war. 

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News International Editor told the Pat Kenny Show that bombings attacks had been relentless in the Lebanese capital over the last few days. 

She noted the “very unusual” airborne incursion of Israeli forces in the East of the Beqaa Valley. 

“There was actual fighting between Israeli forces who came into the country and armed men on the ground, presumably Hezbollah and others,” she told Newstalk. 

“The Israeli forces were extracted but the Lebanese Government is saying that at least 16 people have been left dead,” she added. 

Since the beginning of strikes it is estimated that 200 people have been killed in Lebanon and up to 30’000 have been displaced. 

She noted ongoing tensions between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah: “the Justice Minister is now trying to take out a case against the Hezbollah leader because they feel that Hezbollah is dragging them into a war which it just can't cope with.”

Indeed, Lebanon had been the scene of conflict as recently as 2024. 

Now the country is grappling with unprecedented levels of displacement and homelessness. 

Ms Hilsum told Newstalk that hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated from Beirut and its suburbs. 

“They're now sleeping on the Corniche, they’re sleeping in the main Martyrs Square. I was talking to some of them yesterday and they seem fatalistic about it.”

“I spoke to a young woman who is a graphic designer who’s sleeping in the car with three other family members and doesn’t know how she’s meant to complete her studies.”

She explained that so far, the population was surrounded by threats made by Israeli forces to flatten the Southern suburbs. 

“The Lebanese government is very weak”, she told Newsalk. 

“It has many different factions within it and it is unable to control Hezbollah, but certainly the Lebanese I speak to are upset with Israel. 

“They're angry with Israel, they blame the country and Hezbollah because they say Hezbollah is weaker and they know that if they fire into Israel they will cause its fury.

“They’re afraid this could further widen the war. 

She noted that one of the many issues about the USA-Israel war against Iran is that "President Trump's goals keep changing and the method that he is using seems inadequate for some of those changing goals.”

President Donald Trump. Picture by: Carlos Barria. 

“It's obviously somewhat of a humiliation for Russia when one of its allies comes under pressure and Russia is not able to afford effective assistance," Prof Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government at DCU said. 

He labelled Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments as a "bravado front” saying there is an interesting Russian Ukrainian dynamic in the current hostilities. 

“The Ukrainians have been asked by the Americans to help them ward off these drones. The question of where this will impact the Ukrainian conflict, I mean if Trump was to turn on Putin and again, we don't know about compromise. 

‘We don't know about what Putin might have in terms of the Epstein files so we don't know whether it's possible for Trump to react to this move by the Russians.”

He acknowledged that Iran is also attacking energy infrastructure in the region including Saudi Arabia's largest refinery which points to how significant the economics of war remain. 

“Objectives are unclear”, he told Pat Kenny. 

“It seems in this case that [America] is following the Israeli playbook when it comes to Iran.”

Main Image: Anti-Israel billboard in Iran. Picture by: ZUMA.