Mercy flight brings Aussie back from conflict

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Good morning.

Welcome to AM.

It's Thursday, the 5th of March.

I'm Melissa Clark in Canberra, coming to you from Nunnerwall Country and acknowledging

other custodians.

Australians who've been stranded for days in Dubai have arrived home safely on the

first Australian flight out of the UAE since the US in Israeli strikes on Iran escalated

into a region-wide conflict.

More than 230 Australians arrived in Sydney on the Emirates flight, with another three flights

scheduled to depart from the UAE today.

Meanwhile, six defect crisis response teams have headed to the Middle East to help the

thousands of Australians still stuck.

As David Sparks reports.

Family and friends were thrilled as the exhausted but relieved group of repatriated Australians

walked into view at Sydney Airport.

Among them, 19 students from Barker College, who'd been on their way to Turkey for a robotics

competition.

We were stuck in Dubai for like five days.

We were told not to go on our phones, try to conserve battery, but we were taken to

a bunker underground, so we were pretty safe.

How scary was it?

Not that scary.

I wasn't really thinking very clearly at the time, it was tired.

Traveling with the students was staff member Dianne Becker and her one-year-old daughter,

Clara.

It's really hard right to know what is going to happen.

You need to be ready for anything, right?

And it's not just about me, it's about the people that are around me as well, so it's

complicated, right?

But I think it's good that we were able to come back home.

Sam Brown was another arrival on the flight from Dubai, along with her four-year-old daughter.

She was grateful to be reunited with her children.

We were in Dubai and we were separated from our teenagers, so it's been a lot that we're

absolutely delighted, absolutely dying.

So we recently moved to Dubai and yeah, just totally shocked about the situation.

It was just absolutely surreal, absolutely surreal.

We were in our house that we recently moved to and I never thought I'd been in a situation

where I had explosions over my living room, you know, front door rattling kind of stuff.

But the kids were great.

We were in really good communication with them and we just couldn't believe we got on

that flight.

Yeah, so grateful.

Sam Brown's teenage daughter, Lila, was relieved to welcome her mum home.

I'm very happy and I've enjoyed it.

Yeah, a bit nervous this week at school and everything, but no, it's really nice to see

everyone.

Yeah.

At Melbourne Airport, triathlete Emma Carney was among the arrivals.

She was working with the Saudi triathlon federation, coaching athletes in Bahrain when

war broke out in Iran.

She's grateful to be home.

You know, when your plane's in turbulence and you hear a bit of a thud, when you hear

a thud in a plane over a war zone, it's not a good feeling.

That was the worst bit.

So it all sort of kicked off on Friday and things got a little bit hectic.

You know, you sort of hear there were alarms and you could sort of tell that missiles were

evacuated.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says more flights are coming in today.

I understand and I just, I want to make sure I'm very careful about this because things

can cancel at the last minute because we are talking about a conflict zone, but I understand

there are three flights scheduled today from the UAE.

So we are hoping, all of Australia is hoping that those flights can depart safely.

And the minister is concerned about how the Middle East conflict is spreading.

Well, we know that the degrading of military assets is part of conflict, but I am concerned

that the conflict is spreading so much.

I am concerned, for example, that Iran is now seeking to strike Turkey, which is a

NATO member.

Now, the more this conflict spreads, the harder it will be for peace and stability to

be resumed.

And at some point there has to be a return to diplomacy and dialogue for there to be

stability.

The federal government is sending crisis response teams to the Middle East to help thousands

of Australian Australians in the region.

The first team is on its way, although the government won't say where it's going due

to security concerns.

David Sparks reporting.

The Trump administration appears still unclear on whether it's waging a military operation

or a war on Iran, but whatever it is, the Pentagon claims it's winning.

In a media briefing full of fighting talk, the Secretary of War said the regime was

toast, and he gloted about the torpedoing of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean

with more than 80 sailors reportedly killed.

And NATO air defences have shot down an Iranian ballistic missile as it headed towards Turkish

airspace.

Barbara Miller has joined me from Washington.

Barb, quite the media briefing from Pete Hegg says, let's start with this warship,

sunker off Sri Lanka.

What did he have to say about that?

He said that the vessel had thought it was safe and international waters, but that it

had suffered a quiet death.

Now he said that this ship was nicknamed the Soleimani, a reference to the Iranian general

Khasem Soleimani assassinated during Trump's first term.

And he said, I guess, Putin got him twice.

As far as the navy, the wider navy was concerned, he said they were in the Persian Gulf.

He said the Iranian Air Force was no more, and he said in a matter of days, U.S. and

Israeli Air Forces would have total control over Iranian skies.

So you get the sense this was really quite a sort of chest thumping media appear in

spy Pete Hegg said, let's just give you a little flavor of that.

Our rules of engagement are bold, precise, and designed to unleash American power, not

shackle it.

This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight.

We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be.

Yet Pete Hegg said was saying that this was very early days of this operation.

He said that more and larger waves were coming.

And when he was asked about this key question of how long all this is going to take, he

said, you know, it could take time, it could be three weeks, it could be eight weeks.

So still a real sense, I guess perhaps that's understandable that the U.S. is not giving

a sense of when this will end.

It's just such a key question for an administration who said that it wasn't going to start wars.

And Pete Hegg said was asked about the reported strike on a girls school in Iran, talk me through

that exchange.

Yeah, this was the BBC reporter at the State Department, really pressing him on whether

the U.S. now knew it had struck that school with the reported deaths of more than 150 people,

many of them young girls.

Let's just come in where Pete Hegg said answers the question.

All I know, all I can say is that we're investigating that.

We of course never target civilian targets, but we're taking a look at investigating that.

Red time front.

Just on the basis that with the information you would have, your reconnaissance abilities,

to gather information, I mean, it's several days on now.

So is there any clarity on whose munition this was?

We're investigating it.

And briefly, just on another issue, he was asked about those reports that NATO air defense,

he said, short down an Iranian missile headed towards Turkish airspace.

He said, look, I'll have to get back to you on exactly what that looked like, but he said

he did not think that that incident would trigger NATO's article five.

Barbara Miller there.

Israel is demanding every Lebanese resident in the country's south leave their home and

move north as it expands its strikes against claimed Hezbollah sites across the region.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese have already been displaced in the last few days since Israel

retaliated against Hezbollah for firing rockets in solidarity with Iran.

But the dramatic development could displace many, many more people and came hours after

the Lebanese capital was hit by multiple large strikes, Middle East correspondent Matthew

Doran reports.

Bay root is being pummeled.

From before sunrise, the Israeli military launched strikes across the southern suburbs,

the area of Dahia often referred to as Hezbollah's stronghold.

But this time, the IDF went further afield to hitting a hotel near the Lebanese presidential

palace in Bhubda, a Christian area.

The comfort hotel's owner is Elaine Chimley.

At four in the morning, they struck the hotel, we don't know why, we're still in shock.

The Israeli military says it strikes across Bay root and beyond have targeted the militant

group Hezbollah, which entered the broader regional conflict two nights ago.

As staff started the mammoth task of clearing the debris, local council member Sami

Mammari explained their assessment.

Definitely, we are in time of war, we fear that there might be some of these places that

are connected or affiliated to Hezbollah.

In this particular case, this is a hotel, they might be coming in and out without us knowing

we don't have that much manpower, but after that incident, we are working on it around

the clock.

But Elaine Chimley says his hotel has been housing people displaced as a result of Israeli

bombing raids.

He has no knowledge of anyone connected with Hezbollah staying there.

Like everyone else, we heard what happened at Strange because those who know us know we

are not supporters of Hezbollah.

We respect everyone, all political parties, but we're very far from Hezbollah.

The strike in Bhubda was one of many in Bay root, which came before a startling announcement

from the Israeli military, ordering the evacuation of the entirety of southern Lebanon, saying

the whole area would become a target.

The demand, potentially displacing hundreds of thousands of people, although some living

in villages are insisting they're not moving.

South on the Israeli side of the border, phonolerts warned locals of incoming drones from

the north, ahead of a massive bombing raid by the IDF.

In the Israeli town of Matula, surrounded to the north, east and west by Lebanon, the

streets were eerily quiet.

Local Yossi Rice says he'd been going back and forth to his safe room for most of the

day, with multiple emergency warnings coming through.

I'm sure that also the Lebanese do not want Hezbollah.

They don't want them, just as the garsams do not want Hamas.

Despite the danger, Yossi believes the current conflicts on his doorstep will be for the best

in the long run.

We'll be good for the Lebanese people and for the garsam people, and we all live together

in respect and peace, and we'll drink coffee and enjoy each other's company.

This is Matudor and in Matula, reporting for AM.

Human rights groups have put the death toll in Iran at 2,400 people.

It's hard to get information from inside Iran because of a regime imposed communications

blackout.

But ABC correspondent Bridget Rollison has spoken to Professor Ford Darzy, who is in

Iran and supports the Islamic regime.

Iran is targeting US bases in the Persian Gulf, and other legitimate military targets.

We're very sad that this is happening, but we have no other choice.

And there are some unintended hits when Iran is sending drones and ballistic missiles.

Some of them are intercepted, and then the debris fall in places that Iran did not

intend to hit, but if they hit them and if something else is hit, then that's not Iran's

responsibility.

Trump and not on you who started this war, anyone that is killed, including Americans,

the blood is on their hands.

American say that this campaign is ahead of Shed Joon that's taken out many senior figures.

Is it time up for the Islamic regime?

No, these are pipe dreams.

Trump has unified Iranians more than any Iranian politician could ever do.

Is Iran prepared to talk with the US?

Iran was in the middle of negotiations in June when Iran was attacked.

This was a deception operation.

Trump attacked Iran in June, calling the operation the Midnight Hammer.

It took that hammer and smashed the negotiation table.

Iran was generous enough to provide him with another.

Negotiations table, and he bombed the second one.

I think Iranians have run out of negotiation table to give him.

Professor Ford Darzi in Tehran, he was speaking there to Bridget Rollison.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Karni will deliver a highly anticipated speech to federal parliament

today as part of his Indo-Pacific tour.

Last night, the Canadian leader addressed the Lowe Institute, where he again claimed the

international rules-based order is over, and called on middle powers to ban together

when dealing with countries like the US and China.

Political reporter Sarah Tamebska has more.

So ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Prime Minister of Canada.

Addressing the Lowe Institute, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Karni reasserted his view

of a new world order in a speech that echoed his now-famous Davos address.

Geostrategically, hedgements are increasingly acting without constraint to respect for

international norms or laws while others bear the consequences.

If we work together in a variable geometry, in other words, different coalitions for different

issues, we can do more than protect our sovereignty.

We can build something better, more prosperous, more just than what came before.

Today, Mark Karni will become the first Canadian leader in nearly 20 years to address Australia's

parliament.

After talks with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, on the agenda, trade, critical minerals

defence and maritime security, though Canada's prior interest in joining Pillar II of the

Orchist Defence Pact is no longer a priority, according to Canada's Defence Minister, David

McKinty.

We'll see where it lands.

Right now, we're very busy building bridges between Canada and other middle powers.

Philippines, Korea, Japan, India, as I mentioned, we're here in Australia.

Events in Iran will also dominate talks with both Australia and Canada among the first

nations to back the US-Israeli strikes.

Mark Karni yesterday conceded they were likely illegal.

Director of the Low Institute's International Security Program, Sam Rogovine, says it's

unlikely Australia will follow suit.

I don't see there's an awful lot to be gained by Australia picking a fight with the United

States over it.

The rules based order that Mark Karni pronounced the death of at Davos has always been a

pretty delicate plant.

There are certain elements of it that is in everyone's interest to maintain and that

will continue, but great powers have always been able to skirt the rules and just ignore

them whenever they please.

U.N. Saul is the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism.

He's urging Australian and other middle powers to take a stronger stance against what he

calls naked aggression.

Because a world with no international law, with no rules, a world which is governed by

the law of the jungle and might is right, is an incredibly dangerous place for all of

us.

U.N. special rapporteur Ben Saul there ending Sarah Tamebsky's report.

The war in the Middle East is also being fought online.

Fake videos are rapidly spreading and it's shaping the public's understanding of the conflict.

There are also fears that a cyber warfare campaign, which could affect critical infrastructure,

Isabel Masali prepared this report.

It seems like a triumph of military strength.

The clip titled an Iranian plane versus a U.S. ship has gained millions of views on

the platform X.

But it appears to be from a popular video game.

Viewers who may have been fooled include Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who reportedly reshared

and then quickly deleted it.

Vity Gain footage from previous conflicts, all that kind of stuff is unique to recycle and

repurpose and recontextualise.

Dr. T.J. Thompson from RMIT University explains it's not just video game clips.

The scale and pace of this conflict, combined with generative AI technology, is making it

harder to sort fact from fiction.

As for those creating the content, he says politics and money are the two biggest motivators.

It's difficult to load a certain way or to influence politics in a way that makes

modern things more difficult, makes it a little bit more distrusting, cynical, disengaged,

that kind of thing.

That's kind of one big goal.

What the other goal is to try to make money from engagement and attention online.

QUT expert in Iranian disinformation, Dr. Sanderan, says all sides are trying to control

the narratives.

But the Iranian side is probably the most deceptive and believed to involve a so-called cyber

army.

These are people who are hired to sit in an office like space, each of them controls

multiple accounts on social media platforms.

They follow the patterns of the day and what the regime wants them to do.

Beyond the misinformation battle, the cyber war has another possible front.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently warned Iran-aligned hackers may conduct

low-level cyber attacks, including overwhelming websites with internet traffic or malware strikes

that can permanently delete data.

Elliott Dellies is from Scythera Cybersecurity.

Cyberweapons are comparatively fairly easy to develop and deploy, so the sorts of things

that we may see targeted is entities like critical infrastructure providers and also as

well key government institutions.

In 2012 and 2013, Iran was behind a massive attack that crashed websites, including major

U.S. banks.

And as it fights this war, Elliott Dellies says Iran may look to Russian attacks on Ukraine

for its inspiration.

In 2017, the Russian government was attributed with an attack known as not-pettia against

Ukrainian critical infrastructure providers.

And that was used to attack the Ukrainian power grid, bus stations, gas stations, airports

and banks.

And that's the sort of activity that we might see as a result of a conflict like this.

But while Iran's military response has been clear, any cyber campaigns from it or its

allies are yet to be confirmed.

Isabel Masali reporting with Angus Randall and Lucy Carter.

And that's AM for today.

Thanks for your company.

I'm Melissa Clark.

Hi, it's Sam Hawley here, host of the ABC News Daily podcast.

It's been less than a week since the war in Iran began, but already it's having an

economic impact here.

Today Chief Business Correspondent, Ian Verenda, on why we're so economically vulnerable

to a conflict so far away and what we can expect in the weeks ahead.

Look for the ABC News Daily podcast on ABC Listen.