Its operations in lebanon as leaders weigh options to retaliate against iran's long—range missile assault on tuesday. If israel does respond to the strike, then the islamic republic has vowed to retaliate against israel and countries it sees as supporting it. Us presidentjoe biden said the us is now discussing the possibility of israeli strikes on iran's oil infrastructure. Oil prices have increased 10% since iran's strike on tuesday, which was launched after israel's killing of hassan nasrallah, leader of the iran—backed hezbollah. Meanwhile, hopes are dimming of a ceasfire in gaza or lebanon. Nearly one year on from hamas�*s attacks on 7 october, israeli forces are still in gaza and 97 hostages remain unaccounted for. As the humanitarian situation worsens in both countries, us charities now say 30% of lebanon's 5. 8 million people are now displaced. Southern lebanon's salah ghandour hospital says it's been attacked by israel, after it was warned to evacuate. They say nine members of staff were hurt. An israeli air strike hit near a main border crossing point where people were fleeing from lebanon to neighboring syria on friday. Israel's military said it hit hezbollah targets near the masnaa crossing, and claimed the group was using it to smuggle weapons into lebanon. The strike destroyed a section of the road, cutting off vehicle access. But people are now walking across the rubble to get out. More than 300,000 people have left lebanon for syria in the past 10 days. 0ur correspondent lucy williamson has the latest from the israel—lebanon border. Hezbollah rockets are no longer a response to israeli troops in gaza, but to israeli troops at home, mapping their path through lebanon's border villages. We're starting to see more signs of resistance to israeli forces on the other side of the border. Even a year of air strikes, intelligence operations, raids by special forces have not destroyed hezbollah�*s ability to fight back just a few miles in. Sirens. We've just heard some bursts of small arms fire and what sounded like some grenades from the israeli army, and now you can hear the sirens going off, telling us to get out of the area. Explosions. We've just heard a series of very loud explosions, what seems to be rockets landing nearby, some small arms fire across the border. It seems the israeli army is pushing into a location, and this was the response. Go. Most of the residents along this border have been evacuated. Come on, time to go. But in the arab—israeli town ofjish a few miles down the road, many people have stayed. The sound of israeli artillery firing from the hill above. The mayor is one of many here with family ties to lebanon. Israel's ground war has sparked mixed emotions, he says. It's more than afraid. Afraid is something forjust a few minutes. We have one year of afraid. I can't. . . I don't know how to say it, but it's fear for a long time. And they don't know when, how, how it will finish. This is israel's third ground war in lebanon. So far, those wars have been easier to start than to end. Lucy williamson, bbc news, the israel—lebanon border. Joining me live is aaron david miller, senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace. Welcome to you, aaron. Always good to have you with us here on the programme. So as we just heard in that report from lucy, israel now having its third ground war with lebanon, and she was saying there in that report that these wars are hard to end. So what do you think? and i nope it's a difficult question. But what do you think israel's endgame is here? i mean, the endgame is clear — to push hezbollah, and most of its military infrastructure, north of the river, perhaps even further than that, in order to ensure that there are no cross—border incursions by hezbollah forces or that their high—trajectory weapons cannot, on a daily basis essentially, make life in israel intolerable. The problem, of course, is without a major military intervention, and the capacity to prevent hezbollah�*s return, it seems to me it's highly unlikely that the military operation the israelis have in train will be able to accomplish either of those objectives. I mean it's hard to talk about diplomacy now, but it seems to me that if you really want a secure israeli—lebanese border, then you're going to have to figure out a way to do it diplomatically. First to identify the points of contention. There are a dozen along the israeli—lebanese land border. Half of them have been resolved, but to resolve the others and then of course to implement un security council resolution 1701 which brought to an end the war of 2006. We're a long way away from that. And i'm afraid that it's going to be increasingly frustrating for the israelis to achieve what they want to achieve, certainly in a matter of weeks that they're claiming. If you look at the situation right now, we've got those threats from hezbollah, from iranian proxies. You've also got those drone attacks from iraq. So i wonder how you think israel will go about balancing what is a multifront challenge and, of course, also the situation, the conflict there in gaza as well. Yeah, i'm not sure the israelis are that concerned about the southern front. I mean after all, hamas is an organised military force —— as an organised military force has been decimated. 23 out of its 24 been decimated. 23 out of its 2a battalions. Hamas is going to survive as an insurgency, which will make post—conflict politics in gaza extremely complicated and of course you have the prospect that hamas, over time — but it will take years to rebuild. The problem is, however, neither in gaza nor in lebanon. We're on the cusp of something the middle east has never experienced before which is a major multifront war, not using ground forces of course, but using ai, cyber, one—way attack drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, fighter aircraft. I'm referring specifically to the reality that within the next 48 hours or so, the israelis will respond to iran's ballistic missile surge earlier this week. And if the israelis do respond, even if they limit their response to ballistic missile launchers, weapons depots, i think the iranians are now so invested in trying to preserve their regime's credibility, which has been hit in so many ways over the last two weeks, that the iranians will respond, and if they respond along the lines that they did earlier this week, or even more severely, i suspect the israelis will broaden their target sets to include, at a minimum, economic infrastructure. And that, i suspect, will unleash the full power of iran's 3,000 ballistic missile inventory — not as sophisticated or as modernised as the israeli military capacity, but you could also draw in the united states. It's a very worrisome situation. We've got about 20 seconds left, but do you see, then, that conflict potentially spiralling with iran as opposed to purely through its proxies? i do. I think iran is now —— has now attacked israel twice. I think the israelis need to make sure that this does not become the new normal, but i'm afraid we are moving up the escalatory ladder. And we're in a more uncertain, dangerous point, i think, from a regional perspective, than the middle east has been in in decades or i would argue ever. — east has been in in decades or i would argue ever. Aaron david miller, senior _ i would argue ever. Aaron david miller, senior fellow _ i would argue ever. Aaron david miller, senior fellow at i would argue ever. Aaron david miller, senior fellow at the miller, senior fellow at the carnegie endowment for international peace, thank you for assessment, aaron. Lebanon says a number of hospitals in the south of the country are out of action. And the un says all 900 government shelters for the displaced are now full. 0ur senior international correspondent 0rla guerin reports from southern lebanon. An escape route from lebanon today, now passable, just, by foot. Israel bombed the road overnight, claiming hezbollah were smuggling weapons beneath it. Most of those struggling across this border are syrians, escaping lebanon's war to go home to their own. Who wouldn't want to escape this? explosions. Beirut last night, another massive israeli strike, one mile from the airport. The target — the likely next leader of hezbollah, his fate unknown. Day and night, and countrywide, israel is bombing. This is in the south, in tyre. Was there a hezbollah target here? we don't know, but locals say israel killed five people from one family, including two women and a baby. Everybody here were children. Children, everybody here. Why, why? hassan was here outside his coffee shop when the air strike killed his neighbours at the weekend. Translation: two missiles came. I saw the first one landing. I was thrown from there to there. And the second missile sent me flying again, me and the guys. Now i'm terrified if i hear this sound. Hassan insists there were no weapons stood nearby, and all the dead were civilians. Translation: it's not right. It's not right at all. I wish i had died with them. In lebanon now, many are lost and weary, and fear this war may bejust beginning. Explosions. So we are just hearing explosions now. That's the sound of outgoing fire. That's rockets being fired from quite close by hezbollah, targeting israeli positions, a whole stream of rockets being fired now. Israel has released this footage of its troops on lebanese soil, apparently advancing. But the invaders may face a hard fight here, as happened in the past. And how will the middle east look on the day after? few would dare to guess. 0rla guerin, bbc news, southern lebanon. Joining me live is ciaran donnelly, the senior vice—president of international programs at the international rescue committee. Good evening to you. Thank you for being with us. We were just seeing there in that report the situation in lebanon clearly from a humanitarian perspective, the situation is getting worse and worse. Hospitals out of action, of course, people fleeing on foot often due to bombed crossings. How are the aid efforts there coping? especially when we're also hearing that you've got shelters at full capacity? that's right. The international rescue committee has almost 400 staff working across lebanon and, of course, lebanon has struggled over the last number of years with the after effects of years with the after effects of the covid crisis, the beirut blast, it's suffering from an economic and a social service crisis. So this escalation and the humanitarian crisis that it has brought about comes on top of an already struggling economy and already struggling population and it really is having a devastating effect. There's about a quarter of the population, overa there's about a quarter of the population, over a million people, have been displaced, fleeing to beirut and further north. We're hearing that the 900 shelters that the government has established are already at capacity. Many people are not able to find shelter. People are sleeping in cars and under bridges and on the beaches, particularly some of the most vulnerable, including syrian refugees, over a million syrians have fled from syria into lebanon as a result of the 13—year—old civil war there. 37. . . About 10% of the health facilities in lebanon have closed. Hospitals have been evacuated. There's a shortage of medicines and health care workers. It really is a very, very dire humanitarian situation, and at risk of getting worse. I humanitarian situation, and at risk of getting worse. Risk of getting worse. I mean leads on all _ risk of getting worse. I mean leads on all fronts _ risk of getting worse. I mean leads on all fronts there, risk of getting worse. I mean leads on all fronts there, as| leads on all fronts there, as you were just mentioning. Leads on all fronts there, as you werejust mentioning. I just want to briefly touch on the situation in gaza as well, because the un now reporting a 40% rise in people missing out on food rations last month. Just bring us up to date, once again, about the situation there for civilians, and the challenges when it comes to clearly getting aid through, when we know that those air strikes continue as well. So the strikes continue as well. Sr the situation in gaza continues to be a humanitarian nightmare for people living there. 2 million people dependent on aid from the outside world and aid is not getting through in the quantities that's needed. We've seen a reduction in the volumes, both of aid trucks getting in, but also commercial trucks that are bringing in food and other supplies to keep markets going in gaza over the last couple of months. We saw a slight uptick at the beginning of the summer, but that really has reduced. And so the warnings that the international community has been sounding about food insecurity and levels of famine and catastrophic levels of food insecurity in gaza, are really very much on our minds, especially as we enter the winter months. What's needed to be able to remedy this is to remove some of the obstacles that we're seeing to the aid efforts. That includes security for aid workers on the ground, the ability to get both staff and supplies across the borders, to reduce and streamline some of the inspections and other administrative barriers that are stopping people from getting in, and stopping supplies from getting in. But critically, of course, it is in the midst of an ongoing conflict, an ongoing —— with ongoing air strikes on the ground in gaza, bombardments and so on, it's ground in gaza, bombardments and so on, its next to impossible to scale up the aid efforts to the level that's needed. So really what's needed is a ceasefire to bring about safety for palestinian civilians in gaza, a scale—up of the aid effort and, of course, a release of the hostages who still are held there. There's a real risk that with the widening of the conflict in the region, that gaza slips from the focus and things get even worse for the people there as winter begins to set in in the coming months. I wonder, has humanitarian, what kind —— as humanitarians, what kind —— as humanitarians, what kinds of conversations are you having about that? the fact that we are now speaking about the possibility of a broader conflict in the middle east? how does that complicate your efforts in terms of managing aid and keeping that attention on dire situations?— on dire situations? well, whether— on dire situations? well, whether it's, _ on dire situations? well, whether it's, for on dire situations? well, whether it's, for us on dire situations? well, whether it's, for us at. On dire situations? well, | whether it's, for us at the on dire situations? well, whether it's, for us at the irc as one aid agency or across the whole sector, we're really taking stock of the challenge of how do we keep our eye on multiple fronts at the same time. It's gaza today and it's lebanon today, but we've seen air strikes in yemen, the risk of a further deterioration. Obviously we've got 350,000 people who've gone from lebanon into syria, a country that's already suffering the effects of civil war. What we're doing is taking stock of how we can support our teams, how we can preposition funding and planning to be able to support the. The un is issuing flash appeals, as you'll have seen, and donors are beginning to allocate funding but it's not close to what's needed. Ciaran donnelly, _ close to what's needed. Ciaran donnelly, the _ close to what's needed. Ciaran donnelly, the vicepresident l close to what's needed. Ciaran| donnelly, the vicepresident of donnelly, the vice—president of international programmes at the international rescue committee, thanks a lot. International rescue committee, thanks a lot— iran's supreme leader ayatollah khamenei led prayers in tehran on friday morning, delivering a defiant address and saying his country will not back down in its confrontation with israel. Caroline hawley looks at the significance of his speech. The crowds were huge, the regime trying to project an image of strength after a series of humiliating blows to its allies. Supporters gathered first to commemorate the hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, killed in an israeli air strike a week ago today. And then out came the supreme leader, who last friday was reported to have gone into hiding amid fears for his safety. He tried to rally muslims across the middle east against israel. He defended the hamas attack of october 7 and insisted iran's missile attack earlier this week was a completely legitimate response to what israel had done. Translation: what our armed forces did was the minimum punishment for the usurping zionist regime's astonishing crimes. On tuesday night, iran fired close to 200 ballistic missiles at israel, most of them shot down, with one palestinian man killed in the west bank. Benjamin netanyahu has said israel will pay a heavy price and warned there was nowhere in the middle east israel could not reach. Iran is now central to the conflict spreading across the region. It backs armed groups that are enemies of israel, and israel is taking them on one by one. Take gaza, where hamas has been pounded by israel, with thousands of its fighters killed. Now, hezbollah in lebanon, where israeli air strikes are taking out its leaders and infrastructure. And then the houthis in yemen have been attacking shipping in the red sea. Israel has struck them too, and all of this is a direct challenge to iran and its regional power. The supreme leader's message today was that despite these setbacks, its so—called axis of resistance won't back down. Hey, folks. And tonight, president biden said israel is still considering its response to iran's missile attack. Look, the israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them, not just from the iranians, but from everyone from hezbollah, the houthis. . . Anyway. But the fact is that they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties. Ayatollah ali khamenei also made it clear that iran will hit back if it feels it needs to, as it braces itself for israel's retaliation in whatever form that comes. Joining me is randa slim, senior fellow and director of conflict resolution at the middle east institute. Welcome to you. Good to have you here with us on the bbc. I just want to begin by getting your assessment on something one of my earlier guests was saying, aaron david miller, and he was saying, in his long career, he believes this is one of the most, if not the most, dangerous moment he has seen in the middle east. What's your take on that?— take on that? yes, i totally auree take on that? yes, i totally agree with _ take on that? yes, i totally agree with aaron. Take on that? yes, i totally agree with aaron. I take on that? yes, i totally agree with aaron. I mean l take on that? yes, i totally i agree with aaron. I mean we take on that? yes, i totally agree with aaron. I mean we are in the midst of a regional war right now, but the question is are we going to go into an all—out war? and i mean by that this larger confrontation between iran and israel. I hope that we don't get there. I hope that. . . I mean israel is going to respond. Most likely, depending on how israel responds, iran will react and maybe we are going to be in for a couple of rounds for tit—for—tat between the two countries and maybe eventually they'll come to some kind of an understanding on the cessation of that kind of exchange. [30 of that kind of exchange. Do ou see of that kind of exchange. Do you see the possibility for us involvement in that you see the possibility for us involvement in tha involvement in that well, depending _ involvement in that well, depending on _ involvement in that well, depending on how involvement in that well, depending on how iran i involvement in that well, depending on how iran responds to the israeli attack, israel cannot mount a war with iran, a sustained war with iran, targeting nuclear installations for example, without military support from the united states, sustained military support from the united states, and it all now hinges on what the israeli prime minister decides to do and what kinds of conversations are happening between cashing tonne dc and tel aviv and whether, this time, unlike previous times, president biden is able to influence mr netanyahu's decision—making. D0 netanyahu's decisionmaking. Do ou netanyahu's decision—making. Do you think he's able to? do you think washington has anything up think washington has anything up their sleeve that they haven't tried before when it comes to diplomatic leverage? we saw today, for example, president biden saying there needs to be attention paid to the civilian death toll here, whilst also saying israel has a right to defend itself. Right to defend itself. They have said _ right to defend itself. They have said the _ right to defend itself. They have said the same right to defend itself. They have said the same thing l right to defend itself. Iie: have said the same thing about israel paying attention to civilian death tolls in the past, when we're talking about gaza. I mean, the vice—president said, you know, israel has a right to defend itself but it's how israel defends itself. The whole talk about proportionality and we know now, we have the evidence, that israel did not pay any attention to that kind of talk to how it defended itself in gaza. This time, they have a little bit more leverage in terms of the support, the kind of support that israel would need to wage a sustained war against iran. I don't think israel is interested in this. I don't think iran is interested in this. They will react to each other. Israel will act. The other will react, then maybe there is another reaction and maybe it will be contained. That's my hope. That's my hope. I would imagine that it's all a question of calibration, for example, if you look at hezbollah, which has continued as well in that protract tit—for—tat you might call it, the continued strikes at least from their side as well, i mean do you think there's a risk of a miscalculation here and that essentially hezbollah as well could end up seeing this tip into a full—scale war? tell me about that calibration from them? , , , , them? definitely. Definitely. I mean whenever _ them? definitely. Definitely. I mean whenever you _ them? definitely. Definitely. I mean whenever you have them? definitely. Definitely. I mean whenever you have this | mean whenever you have this kind of tit—for—tat, especially between two countries that do not have any kind of communication channels with them, even the united states has indirect communication channels with tehran. And the supreme leader is now super angry, feeling that he has been duped by the americans, that, according to some reports, he and his leadership were promised that there will be a gaza ceasefire and hence, if they were to restrain themselves after haniyeh's assassination, and they did that, they did not. . . And yet, you know, israel did the assassination against that principal ally, nasrallah. Assassination against that principalally, nasrallah. And principal ally, nasrallah. And they principalally, nasrallah. And they are in a very angry mode right now, in a very suspicious mode of the us and they are seeing the us as being. . . As running interference for the israelis. And so despite what the us said in terms of wanting a diplomatic solution in lebanon, despite what they said in terms of not wanting an all—out war, i don't think that tehran right now is paying attention that much to what the us says and so it's now up to the decision—making calculus of two leaders, the supreme leader on one hand in tehran and the prime minister of israel binyamin netanyahu. Prime minister of israel bin amin netan ahu. . . , ,, binyamin netanyahu. Randa slim, thank ou binyamin netanyahu. Randa slim, thank you for— binyamin netanyahu. Randa slim, thank you for being _ binyamin netanyahu. Randa slim, thank you for being with _ binyamin netanyahu. Randa slim, thank you for being with us. Thank you for being with us. You are watching bbc news, i'll have more for you at the top of the hour. Join me then if you can. Bye for now. Hello. For many of us, friday was a pretty mild day thanks to the south to southeasterly winds. The best of the sunshine was across england and wales. We had a top temperature of 18 degrees around the london area but for scotland and northern ireland, there was a lot more cloud than there has been, bringing outbreaks of rain over recent hours. Now, on the satellite picture, you can see the weather front that's bringing in that zone of cloudier weather over the north—west of the uk. A strong jet stream continues to develop this weather system and it's going to be bringing some very heavy rain into the republic of ireland, where there's probably going to be some flooding across southern areas. The front itself is very slow—moving, so over the next few hours, it's going to keep the largely clear skies across england and wales. One or two fog patches possible in the east, where temperatures could dip as low as about 3 or 4 degrees in the coldest spots. But across the north—west of the uk, temperatures staying up into double figures because we've got that cloud. There's a fair breeze around here, but we also have a bit of rain to come as well. Now, heading into the first part of saturday, there will be some pulses of heavy rain that works into northern ireland. The rain tending to come and go so there might be some brighter spells for the afternoon here. Rain at times too for western and northern areas of scotland, but away from that, for eastern and southern scotland, for the bulk of eastern wales and all of england, really, it should be a fine and a dry day with plenty of sunshine. It's going to be another mild one. Top temperatures could hit 18 degrees once again. Now, these weather fronts will then push eastwards through saturday night, weakening as they run into our area of high pressure to the east, so just a few patches of light rain. There will be some damp weather then for some as we start off sunday morning, but we've got a more pronounced band of heavier rain that, through the afternoon, will spread into northern ireland, this time wales and south—west england getting a bit of a soaking too. The south to southeasterly winds continue to drive up the mild air, so temperatures above average for most, looking at around 17 in london and cardiff and about 14 for edinburgh. Then into next week, this area of low pressure is going to continue to fire showers or some longer spells of rain across the uk. Meanwhile, a low pressure, perhaps to our south, contains the remnants of hurricane kirk. Well, that could bring some very strong winds to parts of western europe. Western france looking vulnerable at the moment. But here in the uk, it's an unsettled—looking week, quite windy at times, with showers or longer spells of rain next week. Bye bye. Voice—over: this is bbc news. We'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. This week, lara is feeling the pressure in her eyes. find this week, lara is feeling the pressure in her eyes. Pressure in her eyes. And of those eyes _ pressure in her eyes. And of those eyes are _ pressure in her eyes. And of those eyes are feeling pressure in her eyes. And of those eyes are feeling the l those eyes are feeling the cold, how about some antifog sunglasses?— sunglasses? talking of headwear, _ sunglasses? talking of headwear, here sunglasses? talking of headwear, here is sunglasses? talking of headwear, here is a i sunglasses? talking ofj headwear, here is a 3d sunglasses? talking of headwear, here is a 3d into it for a queen.