Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240929

Itself that Hassan Nasrallah had been killed in what was a huge Air Strike Last Night here in the lebanese capital. We saw and heard the plume of smoke, we heard the repeated loud blast echoing across all the buildings you can see around me. We needed to wait over 12 hours for the confirmation. Israel said early on this morning they had killed Hassan Nasrallah. It was more a matter of waiting for hezbollah itself to make the confirmation before it became a 100 guaranteed report. It is a significant and pivotal moment not just for the conflict, but for the wider Middle East. The repercussions of what has happened here will have an impact notjust on the continued fighting between israel and lebanon, but also on the wider part of the region as well. Now, strikes have continued today here in beirut. I want to show you the strikes that have been going on in lebanon. Officials here say that nearly 800 people have now been killed since monday, and that particular attack i was describing to you that killed Hassan Nasrallah took place here in beirut. You can see the proximity of the airport in the Southern Suburbs of the city, a Hezbollah Stronghold. This is a blow to that group, but also to its main backer and finance, iran. Already, we are waiting to see how iranian proxies, and there are various of them across the region, we are talking about iranian backed Militia Groups in iraq and syria, and the houthis in yemen, and of course, hamas in gaza, who are waiting to see what the response may be. And a Grassroots Response on the streets of beirut, people who have seen Hassan Nasrallah leading the hezbollah organisation. He was there at the inception, he was a figurehead of the group, and you have seen emotion on the street here as well for People Today who have only ever known him as this important figure in their lives. If they are hezbollah supporters or living in one of those areas. It has been a fast moving day, and our senior international Correspondent Orla Guerin has been following developments. This is what beirut endured overnight massive israeli strikes that could ignite the whole region. By day, confirmation from hezbollah that its long time leader, sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, had been killed. For his followers, its a devastating loss. Israel gave this account of killing its old enemy Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the terrorist army hezbollah, was killed by Israel Defense forces in a precise strike in beirut Last Night while he was in hezbollah� s central headquarters commanding more imminent attacks against the people of israel. Its people here who are fleeing today, some heading to the north or the east, clinging to the hope that theyll find safety, even as Ambulances Rush in for new wounded. We travelled through dahieh, the Hezbollah Stronghold now looking anything but. Its been bombed time after time. This is just one of the locations that has been hit. Theres smoke still rising here, theres ash in the air, and you can smell the explosives, and i can hear a drone now overhead. The strike here happened overnight, and since then, there has been no let up. In beirut� s martyrs� square, many slept in the open, and remained there today, new homeless from the Middle Easts newest war. The governor of beirut fears for his city. What do you think is the israeli plan here . What are they trying to do . I dont know, but israel want to kill and to kill and to kill. You cannot predict what israel can do. But you fear the worst . May god protect this country. It seems a very sad moment for you. Its the saddest moment in my life. Thank you. And a moment of Grave Danger for more than hezbollah. No one can be sure what will come next. Orla guerin, bbc news, beirut. Hassan nasrallah was a key target for israel and had been for many years, notjust in the last year since the Cross Border attacks began on the 8th of october, the day, of course, after those devastating attacks on the 7th Of October in southern israel. He has been a Focal Point of israel for a long time. He commanded the organisation for more than three decades. We know that a lot of specific israeli intelligence went into the mission. To give you a bit of context, israel said that hezbollah� s command centre, the headquarters that they targeted, hezbollah� s command centre, was buried deep underneath a building in a dahieh in the Southern Suburbs of beirut. Hassan nasrallah had not been seen in public for years because of fears of being assassinated by israel. When he made speeches, it was always in secret locations because of fear of disclosing his location. When he did rallies, he did it via Video Link on a big screen. For years he wasnt present in front of a crowd, such was the rhetorical price put on his head, and the Fact Israel managed to target and kill him in this very large operation which also of course happened in a civilian area, with residential buildings where families and children were living, israel has talked today about what a significant success that was for them. Our Security Correspondent Frank Gardner looks now at a man who is one of the most well known and influential in the Middle East. Said Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure in the violent world of Middle East militias, a hero to many lebanese shia, to israel and other some western countries, a leading terrorist. His assassination by israel is hugely significant. It removes at a stroke a key figure in irans so called Axis Of Resistance against israel. Hassan nasrallah had been Secretary General of hezbollah for 32 years, overseeing its growth into the worlds most heavily armed non State Army and a political party. He was born in lebanon in 1960 in beirut� s eastern district. He took over the leadership in 1992 when his predecessor was assassinated by israel. Armed with up to the minute intelligence, the israeli Air Force targeted the underground bunker where hezbollah� s leadership was meeting. This is both a major escalation and a challenge to iran. Hezbollah� s power has been seriously weakened by the recent assassinations, the sabotage of communications, and Air Strikes on its weapons dumps. But it still possesses powerful long range missiles hidden underground. Will they now aim these at Tel Aviv and other cities in revenge . Will israel send troops into lebanon to find and destroy them . And can hezbollah recover from all of these blows . Hezbollah� s strategic ally is iran. Key to what happens next in the Middle East is what Ayatollah Khamenei decides. Iran has been humiliated, but it can ill afford a war with israel. Frank gardner, bbc news. Our international editor, jeremy bowen, is injerusalem. I spoke to him about what this means for the future of his brother. Hezbollah has to decide what it does. They have to reconstitute their command structure. Theyve lost all their top leaders, pretty much, as well as nasrallah. They have to try and find how they communicate with each other, and they have to decide what they do with the rest of their arsenal. And it seems pretty clear that they still have some very potent weapons, some of which are hidden away in mountains and in tunnels. So what do they do . The way that wars might spread or war might spread in the region depends on the responses of the parties involved in it. And if, for example, for example, hezbollah decided that they needed to use their weapons because they might lose them, then a fiercer onslaught on israel, killing civilians perhaps, israel might respond with a much even stronger response. Now, the israelis themselves have been talking about perhaps a Ground Invasion of southern lebanon. That, too, would be yet another escalatory steps. And theres also the issue about what iran, hezbollah� s backer, would do. They have shown they dont want a wider war in the Middle East, but perhaps theyre looking at the pressure now that they, indirectly, and hezbollah, directly, are under and thinking that if they dont respond more fiercely, then not only will they lose some of the allegiance of their allies and clients, but also it might amount to a strategic defeat of sorts for them. Jeremy bowen reflecting on the responses and reactions that there might be over the next few hours and days. We heard in the last hour or so a first response from the us president Joe Biden, who made comments about that is really Air Strike that happened Last Night and the death of Hassan Nasrallah. Lets go to washington and speak to our correspondent deneke umar. Tell us. Or, what is it President Biden has had to say . Jenny kumar. Yes, the last hour, we have had a statement from Joe Biden saying the death of nasrallah is a Measure Ofjustice for his many victims, and he points to the Hundreds Of American Victims and tombs of other nationalities that he says have died as a result of the resume. Victims of other nationalities. He reiterates the us is fully supportive of israels right to defend itself. He also says that he has ordered a bolstering of the Defence Posture of Us Military Forces in the middle East Region to act as a deterrent against further escalation from iran, and he has reiterated the need for a diplomatic solution. And what wider significance, jenny, can we attach to those remarks from President Biden . Well, these remarks are pretty much consistent with the message that we have had from President Biden� s administration for months now, for the last year, where the us has reiterated its support, often called for israel to be mindful and to avoid civilian deaths, and also called for a Ceasefire And Hostage deal. But there is a sense of growing tension in the white house, and frustration with this latest strike. President biden said yesterday that the us did not know that it was going to happen, and it has happened in a week when the un appealed for a week when the un appealed for a 21 day ceasefire, and in his remarks today, President Biden did not make any reference to that. Also, we learnt that prime Minister Netanyahu ordered this strikejust moments ordered this strike just moments before he appeared before the Un General Assembly in New York, so a number of issues there that have perhaps led to a sense of the us feeling that their requests for israel to act in a certain way are not necessarily being adhered to or listen to. Listened to. Thank you, Jenny Kumar in washington. Of course, there will be an election in the us in the next few weeks, and by january, of course, there will be a new president in place, be it Kamala Harris or donald trump. Nobody knows quite yet, but what will be interesting, i think, is to see what us policy to israel will be in the future, and of course, it has been a real hot Topic Issue as well as part of the Election Campaign too. So over the next few months again, the us response, the us reaction will be interesting to track, as will the regional response as well, as we have been talking about here in the Middle East. It is a huge development. We have talked over the last Week Orso have talked over the last week or so about the continuing escalation that began with those exploding Pager And Walkie talkie Attacks On Hezbollah members here in lebanon. We then had israeli Air Strikes lebanon. We then had israeli airstrikes in lebanon. We then had israeli Air Strikes in the South And E is of the country. We had strikes in the Southern Suburbs of the capital beirut, what israel called precise strikes, where they killed various commanders in hezbollah, with strikes that were actually sort of targeting one or two macro apartments within a building, but then we saw again Last Night, another significant escalation. It is a word we keep using, but further Escalation Yesterday Evening when we saw and heard that a huge strike here in beirut, which we now know killed the leader of hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, more than 30 years the leader of that group, involved in its creation, very much a figurehead for it, and it leaves questions about what happens now in lebanon and in the wider Middle East as well. So it is a hugely pivotal moment. There is a lot of concern about what happens next, but i think one thing thatis next, but i think one thing that is fair to say is that, as the last week, but obviously, as the duration of this conflict, and in fact, going back decades, it is difficult to ever really predict what will happen next in this region. But there is certainly Fear And Concern certainly among ordinary people here who have seen was before and who are just hoping that this can be de escalated and that those tensions can perhaps be brought back down. Anna foster there, reporting from beirut. In the last hour, the israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has spoken about the killing of Hassan Nasrallah. He called it an historic turning point. He said israel had Settled The Score and was determined to continue striking its enemies. Lets take a listen to what he said. Translation their homes in the north, having translation their homes in the north, having quiet translation their homes in the north, having quiet for translation their homes in the north, having quiet for years, north, having quiet for years, because as long as nasrallah would be alive, he would have quickly rehabilitated hezbollah. Thats why i gave the instruction. His death enables us to sooner bring back our peoples to the northern border, to their homes next to the northern border, and increases the chances of bringing back our hostages. I would like to thank the Air Force, the mossad, the shin bet, the idea for the huge achievement. In israel, we have incredible achievements, but we have a lot of work to do. In the next few days, we will be facing serious challenges, and we will do that together. Nasrallah said that we are a spider web, nasrallah said that we are a spiderweb, but nasrallah said that we are a spider web, but instead of that, he found out that we are a united and strong nation that is determined to guarantee its survival and its future, and not only nasrallah found this out, the entire Middle East found this out. Everybody who is suffering because of iran and its proxies in Syria And Iran and other places, all of these people are today filled with hope. I am saying to everyone, israel stands with you, and to the regime of the ayatollahs, i say, anyone who strikes against us, we will strikes against us, we will strike against them. There is no place in iran or anywhere else in the Middle East where we will not reach. Israels long arm will reach everywhere, and you know that this is correct. Citizens of israel, these are great days. This seems like a historic turning point. A year ago, seems like a historic turning point. A yearago, i seems like a historic turning point. A year ago, i looked over the seven, our enemies attacked us and thought that we were on the way to destruction, and a year later, one strike after the other, one achievement after the other, now they are realising how futile their hopes were. Israel is in an upswing. We are victorious. We are determined to keep striking our enemies. We will return our people to their homes in the north and bring back all our hostages. Were not forgetting them for a single minute. My brothers and sisters, dear people of israel, this day, i am saying to you again even louder, fight together, and with gods help, together, and with gods help, together we will be victorious. He who tries to kill you, you should rise up and kill him first. That is the israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Who Hasjust minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has just arrived minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Who Hasjust arrived back minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has just arrived back in israel, giving a News Conference the. He was in the us until a few hours ago, and in fact, gave the order for the operation to target the leader of hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, from his Hotel Room in New York while he was at the united nations general assembly. We have had some reaction from the Uk Government to Hassan Nasrallahs killing. The foreign secretary, david lammy, said he had spoken with lebanons Prime Minister najib mikati. In a statement, Mr Lammy said both men had agreed on the need for an immediate ceasefire to bring an end to the bloodshed. His statement also said a diplomatic solution is the only way to restore Security And Stability for the lebanese and israeli people. Lets go to beirut now. Lets speak to former bbc Middle East correspondentjim muir. Throughout his career, jim covered numerous deployments in lebanon, including all phases of the lebanese civil war, which took place from 1975 to 1990. We spoke to you night after night during the last war of 2006 between israel and hezbollah. Thank you for coming on to talk to us. You are in beirut again, still. I wonder how things are there where you are . In how things are there where you are . ,. , how things are there where you are . ,. ,. ,. , are . In my particular area, we have not are . In my particular area, we have not been are . In my particular area, we have not been directly are . In my particular area, we have not been directly hit are . In my particular area, we have not been directly hit by l have not been directly hit by israeli strikes, but we have been affected by them, in that, obviously, we heard the huge explosions yesterday, The Ones that got Hassan Nasrallah. That was unprecedented. In all my years here, i have never heard anything quite like that before. A series of big explosions, but ramped together in about two seconds. Quite extraordinary. So we knew something was going on, and i actually said, nasrallah, because it is the only thing i could imagine would be of that enormity. So my region hasnt been actually hit. We can hear stuff going on from time to time, but what has happened is that, especially overnight Last Night, there has been quite a flood of displaced people coming in from the Southern Suburbs, because as you will recall, after hitting nasrallahs centre, the israelis want people in various specific areas of the Southern Suburbs to evacuate immediately and get well away from certain buildings, because they were going to be hit, which indeed they were during the night, along with a lot of other targets in various parts of the country. So the demography has changed basically overnight, and there are a lot of people overnight who have not been seen before. Lots of buildings, including my own on The One across the Cul De Sac here, are now full of people from out of town, just desperate to find somewhere to stay, and thats the same in many parts. They have actually been sleeping out in the streets. Luckily, the weather is ok at the moment for that, but if it had been earlier, it would be too hot, and later it will be wet and horrible, so that is the situation now. Just a lot of tension in people wondering what comes next. And, jim, you talk about that hit being something you have never experienced before, and said this must have been nasrallah when you heard it Last Night. What was known about so called Hezbollah H Q . Wasnt widely known that he might be there, and what sort of Compound Centre was it . Was it deep underground, underneath a residential building . Well, it was in an area that apparently, according to local people in that area, was known to be a kind of Hezbollah Sort of compound, as it were. The israelis knocked down for buildings, which presumably were all related to hezbollah. Now, Who Else was in the building, we dont really know. It could be that if there were residents, because these meetings were going on deep underground and thats why they had to use so many bombs to blast their way down to that level, if there were people in the building, we havent heard a lot about heavy casualties, heavy fatalities. We dont know how many. The initial Casualty Toll in the first few hours were something like two killed a lot wounded, injured, so we dont know how heavily populated it was, but it was known locally that this was a hezbollah area, so people who were wary would have been keeping well away from that area. How difficult is it to assess where this leads hezbollah . Somebody i spoke to elliott spoke about how it has been heavily damaged in terms of its personnel, but its weaponry remains pretty strong. Yes, but they still have got a lot of rockets, and if you follow their Social Media messages, a lot of it is, you know, we fired this salvo of rockets in that direction and this volley in another direction. They are still giving the impression they are very much in business. And of course, israel is hitting not just here in southern beirut, but all over the country, and especially the valley in the east, and today around the tyre district, where a friend tells me there is not a single village on the whole big area down there that has remained unscathed. So hezbollah is signalling that even after all these assassinations and after these assassinations and after the business of the Exploding Pagers and walkie talkies, which knocked out, i mean put Out Of Business at least 1500, maybe 2000 hezbollah fighters, they are still very much in business. But now you have got the boss gone, it is very hard to see that this will not have an effect. Theyve got communication problems, they cant get immediately in touch with one another, and they have command problems. It seems that, although they have lost a Big Raft of military commanders, they do seem to have a sort of Understudy Programme where one falls under is immediately replaced by somebody else, because there has been no letup in their rocketing, and of course, israel has been redoubling its efforts to get at those rockets and get at any hezbollah targets anywhere in the country, and assassinating people as well, even on the road to damascus, for example, a couple of people in their cars have been taken out because they are trying to break any link between Syria And Lebanon that could mean operatives or weapons and things coming across that border. Jim, you have been so closely involved in what goes on in lebanon for so many years. You have watched hezbollah so closely as well. How do you read what iran may or may not do now, and its reluctance up to this moment to get further involved . Well, this has really put the ball in irans court, and its a big embarrassment to them, because they know if they react in the way that their instincts tell them to come in other words, to hit back and take revenge for what has happened, that will be falling into israels trap, because they know that israel wants to do them into a major war which will allow israel to strike their nuclear capabilities, etc. The supreme iranian national security council, for example, hasjust met national security council, for example, has just met and put out a statement saying this will redouble the resistance effort, etc. So there are lots of menacing noises coming out of menacing noises coming out of tehran, but we have not seen any action, they are going to be very wary about doing anything that would lure them into a war that might involve The Americans too, because they know they would come out second best in that. They have shied away from it from right back last october. They made it clear they did not want to have a big war with israel. They might encourage their allies or proxies around the region to carry on harassment or other kind of operations against, sometimes, The Americans or the iraqi and iranian backed militias in Iraq Firing missiles occasionally too, but iran does not want to get involved in a major war, which they know they would not win, which they simply dont want, and yet the pressure is really on them, because this is a huge blow to them. In a way, hezbollah is the jewel in the crown of their so called Axis Of Resistance, so it is a very major blow. There is probably pressure from within to do something, but equally, a knowledge that if they do, they will be playing into israels hands. And how significant is it that as far as it appears, the us, Israels Number one ally, was apparently blindsided by this action . Well, many people in the region just dont buy that. They say america is financing and arming israel, of course it knows what is going on, and is complicit in it, and of course, President Biden and even Kamala Harris have actually said the killing of nasrallah was justice achieved for some of his victims, so there is a lot of ambivalence on The American side about Israels War against hezbollah. Some of the people they are killing our people who are wanted by The Americans themselves because of things that happened back in the 80s, so basically, they are very ambivalent here, and certainly, america looks terribly weak when it calls one day for a ceasefire along with its allies, an immediate ceasefire for 21 days, the next thing that happens, Benjamin Netanyahu launches this massive escalation, killing Hassan Nasrallah, and The Americans are sort of left blinking in astonishment, so it makes them look either complicit or very, very weak, enabling but in no way controlling, and that is something that is baffling to many in the region. Thank you very much, jim. Former bbc Middle East correspondent, joining us from beirut. I spoke to Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Lieutenant colonel peter lerner, who told us more about how israel succeeded in targeting nasrallah. Operation new order was designed and implemented based on real time intelligence gathered on several years and based on the Government Instruction to bring back the 60,000 israelis who were evacuated from their houses for almost a year, precisely because of the actions, instructions and attacks that Hassan Nasrallah had given against israel. I Hassan Nasrallah had given against israel. Hassan nasrallah had given against israel. I want to come back to that against israel. I want to come back to that in against israel. I want to come back to that in just against israel. I want to come back to that in just a against israel. I want to come | back to that in just a moment. Can you tell us more about what is happening right now with mac we know israel is continuing to carry out strikes on lebanon at the moment. Carry out strikes on lebanon at the moment the moment. There are three core issues the moment. There are three core issues that the moment. There are three core issues that we the moment. There are three core issues that we are core issues that we are conducting currently. We are conducting currently. We are conducting Precision Strikes against perpetrators of terrorism. Earlier today, we took out one of hezbollahs senior intelligence officials. The second is indeed taking out the strategic assets that hezbollah has. They still have over 100,000, hezbollah has. They still have over100,000, probably hezbollah has. They still have over 100,000, probably more, rockets, missiles, drones some of those with precision guided missile capabilities. Last night, we took out the three different locations of coast to Sea Precision guided missiles, and this is one element that is important because those tools of Death And Terrorism still remain in the hands. The third is quick interception when