Hezbollah� s headquarters, which every lc was deep beneath a civilian area in the dahieh, in southern beirut. Then we seen the scenes of destruction, whole buildings razed to the ground. Though strikes carried on through the night. There was that first very powerful series of explosions. But then the idea for sending out messages to people living in the southern suburbs that further strikes were coming, and they continued until about three oclock this morning. You can see the final hint of the smoke still rising over beirut this morning. Lets hear what the idea of to say about that mission. Translation ,. ,. , translation this is not our only Tool Translation this is not our only tool. Lets translation this is not our only tool. Lets be translation this is not our only tool. Lets be clear, only tool. Lets be clear, there are other tools to follow. The message is clear in who threatens the state of israel, we wont know how to reach them, in the north, in the south, in far away places. Eventually after a long period of preparation for our various strategies in the lebanon, we have started to implement them. The strike has been in preparation for a long time and was carried out at the right time, in a very sharp way, and now we are starting to prepare the next moves. I underscore once again, we are at high readiness on all fronts, all of our forces will be coordinated together. There will be good coordination, very good preparation. Coordination, very good preparation. Coordination, very good rearation. , preparation. That was the head ofthe preparation. That was the head of the israeli preparation. That was the head of the Israeli Army preparation. That was the head of the israeli Army Briefing of the israeli Army Briefing other members of the military on the operation last night. We are containing to keep you up to date with the situation here in beirut. Lets speak now to rami abukalam, a british lebanese journalist living in beirut. Tell me where you are now and what you have seen over the last few hours. Last few hours. The last few hours has last few hours. The last few hours has been last few hours. The last few hours has been relatively i hours has been relatively quiet, but overnight they were quite a lot of strikes and you could heal them. Obviously Yesterdays Strike was enormous. And only 15 minutes drive away from it, buildings and glass were shaking. We have heard explosions and Sonic Boom is a lot over the last few months, but this one just kept going. Very scary. Me months, but this one ust kept going. Very scary going. Very scary. We seen overnight going. Very scary. We seen overnight and going. Very scary. We seen overnight and this going. Very scary. We seen overnight and this morning| going. Very scary. We seen i overnight and this morning as well those people who have had to move out of dahieh, they dont really have anywhere to go. You can really see the civilian impact of that this morning as well. Absolutely. Peo Le Morning as well. Absolutely. Peeple are morning as well. Absolutely. People are sleeping morning as well. Absolutely. People are sleeping on morning as well. Absolutely. People are sleeping on the l people are sleeping on the streets. I look to a school the other day that was housing refugees. There are people living in is purely off donations. The government here is any pretty weak state, and the community is stepping in. The Feed And Displacement here is pretty bad, yeah. Just the Feed And Displacement here is pretty bad, yeah. Is pretty bad, yeah. Just tried to explain is pretty bad, yeah. Just tried to explain and is pretty bad, yeah. Just tried to explain and do is pretty bad, yeah. Just tried to explain and do more is pretty bad, yeah. Just tried to explain and do more for. Is pretty bad, yeah. Just tried | to explain and do more for us. We seen people leaving the south of beirut over the last week or so and trying to find places to be, but i didnt really get a sense that people were leaving dahieh. Because the kind of strides you are getting there were significant but smaller than you when We Saw yesterday. Some people had left but many people had stayed there. It left but many people had stayed there. ,. , , left but many people had stayed there. ,. , , there. It is obviously densely pepulated there. It is obviously densely pepulated place there. It is obviously densely populated place with there. It is obviously densely populated place with a there. It is obviously densely populated place with a lot. There. It is obviously densely populated place with a lot of| populated place with a lot of people living there. I heard that some people had been leaving. I spoke to a Security Guard Yesterday at a hospital, he was at The End of his shift and was watching the news, and he was deciding whether to go to his brothers in the mountains or go back to dahieh to pick up some clues and money, and Hejust Couldnt decide. I think a lot of people are staying, a lot of people are staying, a lot of people are elderly and show that they dont want to move as well and thats probably a big factor as well. , thats probably a big factor as well. , , well. Leaving the country is obviously well. Leaving the country is obviously very well. Leaving the country is obviously very difficult well. Leaving the country is obviously very difficult at i well. Leaving the country is. Obviously very difficult at the moment. I think only of the lebanese national carrier is flying occasional flights to iraq and iran. People that they want to leave, tickets are in short supply, and if they can find them they are very expensive. Find them they are very exensive. ~ ,. , expensive. Absolutely. Other airlines have expensive. Absolutely. Other airlines have cancelled expensive. Absolutely. Other airlines have cancelled their. Airlines have cancelled their flights. The Foreign Office in the uk are saying the are trying to create more commercial flights so british nationals can get out. But definitely it is difficult. There is a lot of talk about getting boats to cyprus, which can be unaffordable for many people. Not many people have foreign passports, not other people have that as an option. Definitely it is a lot of internal displacement for now. Took us through the geography of beirut. Certainly some people i know, because of the proximity of dahieh to the airport, they are concerned about trying to go to the airport to leave because they feel it is too close to that area who that has been targeted. It area who that has been targeted area who that has been targeted. Area who that has been tarueted. ,. , targeted. It is the only way in and out of targeted. It is the only way in and out of the targeted. It is the only way in and out of the country, targeted. It is the only way in | and out of the country, really. Syria is a difficult proposition for many people, given the complexities there. The airport is very important. On friday we had from the idf that it was potentially going to be a target. In was here and i was evacuated on a navy destroyer, and that was because at the airport was closed. People are very scared here. If the airport gets hit, i think that level of fear will go up even more. It that level of fear will go up even more. Even more. It is worth reflecting even more. It is worth reflecting for even more. It is worth reflecting for a even more. It is worth. Reflecting for a moment even more. It is worth reflecting for a moment on 2006. Foryou reflecting for a moment on 2006. For you and many people here, those memories are still fresh in the mind, memories of the route being attacked. Just tried to explain for us, if you wish, how that is impacting the way people are seeing this crisis. ,. , way people are seeing this crisis. , , way people are seeing this crisis. , ~ crisis. Yeah, that was scary. A lot of infrastructure crisis. Yeah, that was scary. A lot of infrastructure was crisis. Yeah, that was scary. A lot of infrastructure was hit, i lot of infrastructure was hit, like the airport. Air strikes, people fleeing. There is an interesting comparison here that you lot people have been killed already. In the entire 33 that that conflict went on in 2006, i think over A Thousand people died. On monday We Saw 600 people killed, almost half of that entire conflict in one day. In a gaza, i think that fiat is even higher now, where nobody knows where it is safe, nobody knows where it is safe, nobody knows where they can go, civilians will be attacked. I think that is even starker now than it was then. ,. ~ is even starker now than it was then. ,. , ~ u, is even starker now than it was then. , w. , then. Ramey, Take Care and thank you then. Ramey, Take Care and thank you for then. Ramey, Take Care and thank you forjoining then. Ramey, Take Care and thank you forjoining us. Then. Ramey, Take Care and| thank you forjoining us. Just a line to bring you from the reuters News Agency, which reflect something we first heard last night. When those strikes were going on, and we werejust talking about strikes were going on, and we were just talking about how the airport is to dahieh but at the strikes were going on, israel made a comment last night about hezbollah weapons coming in through the airport. That has been a sort of topic of tension. The report says that doesnt happen. Israel says thatis doesnt happen. Israel says that is one way that hezbollah actually brings its weapons end, through the Civilian Airport. Nobody really knows the truth about it, it is difficult to establish. But israel said last night that the airport was not to be used to bring in weapons, and they said if there were attempts to do that that they would stop it. Lebanons Transport Ministry in at the last few minutes say they told an iranian aircraft not to enter lebanese airspace after the israeli warning. It said israel warned Air Traffic Control at Beirut Airport that it would use force if the plane landed. This is what a source in the Airline Industry has told reuters. That is a real issue. The airport is right on the southern fringes of the city of beirut. It is really the only way for people in and out of this country. That is why people pay particular attention. There is only one Civilian Airport here in beirut. Obviously, getting out through Syria Or Israel is an impossibility for people. But i also have those internally displaced people, Tens Of Thousands of them and i have left the south. But also people within beirut who have been trying to get away from those southern areas after the idf sent out those messages telling people to move. A lot of people dont have anywhere to go. A lot of them are in the area that borders the water. We saw people sleeping in the streets overnight. 0ur Middle East correspondent, hugo bachega, has been out seeing these displaced people within beirut have been trying to find some shelter. This is marker square in the centre of beirut. 0n the side some tents have been set up by families, many of them carry only a few bags and rucksacks. This morning there were more warnings by the israeli military urging residents to evacuate certain parts of dahieh, an indication that more Air Strikes are going to happen. The country of lebanon are still digesting the news announced by the israeli military that the powerful long time leader of hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in the powerful Air Strike on dahieh last night. It is a dangerous moment in this conflict with unpredictable consequences. Honestly the fear here has been something like this could spark a wider regional conflict with other iranian backed groups across the region, joining hezbollah in this fight against israel. Israel have again been putting out a lot of messaging overnight and this morning about those strikes that they carried out. Justin at the last few moments they say that they are continuing to strike. This is in the woods of the idf, terrorist infrastructure, over 140 hezbollah targets. Buildings in which weapons were stored, strategic Weaponry Production facilities and under two other infrastructure cites, some of which were embedded under buildings here in beirut. They have also set out a profile of what they are currently former leader of the hezbollah terrorist organisation, Hassan Nasrallah. Israel this morning have announced his death. But as lewis and i were reflecting, that really only about 50 of the announcement. The key will be when either hezbollah here In Lebanon, or perhaps when iran confirmed the death of Hassan Nasrallah. Obviously israel have very sophisticated intelligence, but here In Lebanon people are digging through the areas of rubble as well. You can hear some really loud sirens going down there. They are still transporting patients around beirut at the moment because the hospitals are very filled. That as we were saying, it is kind of a crucial moment where 50 of this is in place, but not really the full picture. It has been a good number of hours now. Hezbollah havent really released anything about the fate of Hassan Nasrallah. I think that one key detail we are waiting for now. As we await for that piece of information, Ijust Want await for that piece of information, i just want to reflect on the scale of that moment. Earlier, ispoke reflect on the scale of that moment. Earlier, i spoke to Frank Gardner about his initial reaction is about what the idf has put out. Its a massive escalation, theres no question about it. This is israel throwing down the gauntlet to iran, basically saying, were not going to tolerate this any more. Were going to take apart this militant organisation that iran has built on their northern border. And this has repercussions throughout the whole Middle East, because hezbollah is bigger than just lebanon. Its been fighting in syria in support of president Bashar Al Assad against an insurgency there. Its trained fighters in iraq, in yemen and around the Middle East. It is irans sort of means of projecting the Iranian Islamic Revolution around the Middle East and even beyond. Hezbollah is even accused of activities, terrorist activities abroad. Its a proscribed terrorist organisation. But sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, or sayed Hassan Nasrallah, as people called him, he is revered by many shia muslims. Hes disliked by pretty much all the sunni arab governments, but hes revered by a lot of people and there will be calls for revenge. The key question now is, how is iran going to react to this . Because this is this is israel saying, right, the gloves are off. You know, they targeted a building where they knew he was. It was in a residential area, and there were several senior commanders with him. Systematically, hezbollah� s entire Command Structure is being dismantled by israel. Its like its like watching, i dont know, like a Predator Pick apart a carcass of an animal. Its taking it apart, first with the pager explosions, then all these Air Strikes. Of course, a lot of lebanese civilians are getting killed in the process. The Death Toll is very high already at over 800. And in the last war between Israel And Hezbollah in 2006, there were around A Thousand people, roughly, who were killed over 34 days. Well, were nearly at that figure afterjust a week. Where does this leave those conversations about fears of escalation, fears of regional conflict, the ceasefire . Those big questions that weve been talking about, frankly, for months and months and months. How does this change the perception, the operation, how theyre viewed . Well, its very clear that under Benjamin Netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, israel has no of stopping or backing down. They think theyve got hezbollah on the back foot, that theyve got them on the ropes and they are going for broke. Clearly, they dont think theres any value in having a 21 day ceasefire, which is what many of israels allies have been calling for. At the time that Benjamin Netanyahu was delivering his Speech Yesterday at the un, he already knew hed signed the order for this. You know, hed given the go ahead for this operation. And then israel released that picture of him on the phone saying, yep, do it. So, the plans for this were drawn up already some time ago. I mean, israeli intelligence which dropped the ball massively on October 7 is now being hailed by israelis as being back up at the top of its form, because clearly they know theyve got incredible sources as to where people are. And i think some people are saying, well, this is because there is so much poverty in South Lebanon that some people are desperate and that theyve agreed to work for the israelis. They would be considered as traitors, of course. But the fact is, hezbollah is being dismantled bit by bit. That was Frank Gardner, our Security Correspondent giving his immediate reaction to that announcement by the idf. They say they have killed Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of hezbollah. Anna, isuppose there are three main areas of questions we are looking at now. Any response, what happens next, what this does to its thread for . Second group of questions around israel. What it means for their strategy is now, what it means for any ceasefire or a ground excursion. And the third basket of questions, i suppose, is at the international response, specifically iran. Can you to pick up on how significant iran is in all this . Is in all this . Im going to be lookin is in all this . Im going to be looking at is in all this . Im going to be looking at my is in all this . Im going to be looking at my phone is in all this . Im going to be looking at my phone while i. Looking at my phone while i speak to you, apologies for that, because what we discussed that, because what we discussed that we were waiting for, the idf have said this morning we have killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of hezbollah. I told you we were waiting for a possible response from hezbollah or iran. A semi official News Agency affiliated with iran is putting out Ace Statement from iran and its supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei. These are the words of, ali khamenei. The ruling Terrorist Regime has not learned from their criminal year long war in gaza. We let the zionist criminals now they are far too insignificant to cause any major damage to the infrastructure of leavening. All that the forces in the Region Stand By and support hezbollah. That is the Axis Of Resistance in the region, the houthis in yemen, hezbollah. Going back to the statement. It is incumbent on all muslims to stand by the people of lebanon and the proud hezbollah with whatever means they have an assistant in confronting the usurping, oppressive and wicked regime. Just to clarify, this is a statement i am reading that has come from an iranian News Agency, quoting the iranian supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei. What they are not saying specifically is any kind of confirmation of his death. It is clearly a statement of defiance. They are acknowledging the attacks. They are sent they will not be beaten by the attacks. What we thought it possibly was was whether or not they were going to confirm the death of Hassan Nasrallah. I think there is one interesting that there are the stands out to me. It is the one that says, let the criminals now they are far too insignificant to cause any major damage to the strong structure of hezbollah In Lebanon in. That perhaps echoes some of the lads coming out of iran last night, where they say they have people in place to succeed. They are possibly preparing the ground for this announcement later saying that the structure of the organisation, regardless of who needs it, will remain strong. This is me reading Between The Lines here. What we dont have from that statement is any confirmation either from hezbollah or from is any confirmation either from Hezbollah Orfrom Iran is any confirmation either from hezbollah or from iran that Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of hezbollah, was killed last night. Although israel this morning a very clearly saying that as far as they are concerned that strike was successful, they believe they have killed him. This is a crucial moment for the region, it is a crucial moment for lebanon, the Corn Hassan Nasrallah was a totemic figure, he was the face of the organisation. If you are in a Hezbollah Area here, you will often see posters with his face on. He makes speeches sort of semi regularly, which everybody listens to. When there are rallies, they put them on big screens. He is synonymous with the organisation, he is obviously a key target for israel. It is clear that if somebody was trying to defeat hezbollah, he is somebody they would remove from the organisation. At the moment we are a tiny bit closer. For me, i think they moment will be when we hear very clearly from either hezbollah or iran, where they say that he has been killed. We are still not at that stage yet, even though it is many hours since that major strike happened last night. As soon as we hear these new lines, these breaking developments, we are bringing them to you, so you wont miss anything as the story develops and changes throughout the day. As we await for that kind of comment from hezbollah or iran, i want to spend a couple of moments on focusing on what we did hearfrom the idf this morning. A couple of interesting lines and what seems to be a kind of military briefing this morning, as well as the claim that Hassan Nasrallah has been killed in these strikes. They say they have been prepared for a long time, that they also looking ahead can reach anyone who threatens israel, and they are prepared for their next moves. Lets get a little more detail from that Point Of View from our correspondent injerusalem, here isjon donnison. The israeli military has confirmed that Hassan Nasrallah has been eliminated, to use their term, and i think its a hugely significant and dangerous moment. Israel has vowed to defeat hezbollah. It is, in effect now at war with hezbollah and taking out its leader, who has been in charge of the powerful iranian backed Militia Group In Lebanon for decades, is really, really worrying. I mean, i think up until this point, israel has made the calculation that iran who backs funds, founded hezbollah is not ready to get directly involved in a full Scale War with israel. But the killing of Hassan Nasrallah is going to put that theory to the test. All Morning Weve had barrages of rockets being fired out of southern lebanon. And just after the moment when the confirmation from Israels Side saying that Hassan Nasrallah has been killed, we heard explosions pretty close to where we are here injerusalem, just on the skyline behind me. We saw what looked like a Hezbollah Rocket being shot down by Israels Missile Defence system. Thats something weve not seen in jerusalem in the last few weeks. So it does seem that hezbollah is pushing forward now, further launching rockets further into israel. Whether that is in direct response to what israel has said about the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, we dont know. But certainly the next few hours and days are going to be very concerning. I want to pick up on that last point they are, effectively that response from hezbollah. He was very clear there, he couldnt be directly drawing a line between the events concerning Hassan Nasrallah and what he has witnessed in the last few hours. Whats your assessment of any kind of response of what happens nextthe response can vary in size and scale. For something like this, and if indeed israel has, as they claim this morning, managed to killed Hassan Nasrallah, the expectation would be of some kind of significant response. That can come from a couple of different arenas. Hezbollah, first of all, are here In Lebanon, armed by iran. They did have a significant amount of armaments. What we dont know is how many of those remain and remain operational. We are in five days now of israeli Air Strikes across those areas and in the south of the country, where israel say they have been targeting specific Military Infrastructure belonging to hezbollah. We know they had a lot of it. We dont know how much is left our how they might be able to use it. Certainly, the assessment was hezbollah had missiles and long range enough to be able to get a long way into israel. If we go all the way back to October 7, those devastating attacks by her mass and other groups on israel, there was talk at that time, there was a lot of Rocket Fire coming out of gaza towards israel, but they only have a sort of distance they can get to. For people living in that gaza envelope, or tel aviv, for years it was a devastating way to live, to know you are within range of those weapons. But for hezbollah, it is different, because they have, or had, more powerful weapons which could target the whole of israel. So thatis target the whole of israel. So that is a real concern if they decided to use those. But then you look at the wider Axis Of Resistance, as it is known, irans a phillips in the region. You have hezbollah, hamas, you also have a rainy and backed militias in iraq around baghdad and other parts of the country. You have the houthis in yemen, and they have been Fighting Missiles. The attacks they have been carrying out In The Red Sea over the last months are linked to this. But they have also been Fighting Missiles towards israel as well. Then you have iran itself. Just a few months ago, there was that attack that iraq launched on israel, the first direct attack where are they sent long range weapons, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, many of them towards israel. Because israels allies got involved and shut them down, the disaster was averted in that respect. But obviously iran has got weapons it can use too. When you start to work through it like that, we talk about how something like this can turn into regional war, how it brings in other parties and organisations and other countries in. You see whats happening here is very much touchpaper to what could be a much Largerfire Touchpaper to what could be a much larger fire that could swallow up this region. That has been the concern from the start, that is why you have seen World Leaders trying to promote ceasefires and de escalates things all the time, because nobody wants this to become a regional war. We to become a regionalwar. We are seeing to become a regional war. We are seeing pictures of Hassan Nasrallah. I think we should underline a bit about what we know about him. Clearly an influentialfigure, leader of hezbollah for 30 years or so. Just tell us a bit about the man
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