Downtown abbey who has died at the age of 89 years old. He welcome to the World Today an hour of international news from the bbc . The lebanese Capital Beirut has been rocked by a series of powerful explosions after another series of israeli Air Strikes on the city this time reportedly aimed at the leader of his brother, Hasan Nasrallah. Israel said it was attacking hezbollah s central headquarters In Beirut s southern suburb of dahhiyeh there are reports of half a dozen buildings being destroyed, with many casualties. Israeli media are reporting Hasan Nasrallah was the target but a source close to his brother said the leader is alive. Heres the latest on the situation with the bbc s Orla Guerlin explosions. Israel has struck beirut with a series of massive explosions. Its hard to imagine a bigger escalation or a starker picture of war. And here was the aftermath. The Hezbollah Stronghold of dahieh in the Southern Suburbs, now looking like gaza. Many lebanese fear thats where things ar
whether u.s. forces will be able to enter afghan homes for so-called night raids. according to karzai s spokesman in a phone call yesterday with secretary of state john kerry, the afghan president said that he would end his opposition tonight raids if he received a letter from president obama apologizing for what he termed military mistakes in afghanistan. national security adviser susan rice has denied these reports. the u.s. afghan security agreement will be debated this week in kabul by a traditional loyal jury ga, a council of about 3,000 village elders, governors, academics and religious scholars. karzai has said he will not sign an agreement without the approval. to say these are uncertain times in the mideast would be a vast understatement. reports of the deal in afghanistan came only hours after two bombs exploded at the iranian embassy in beirut, killing over 23, injuring 100.
great deal of flexibility. in fact, karzai s government does not want this letter. this is about karzai himself. by the way, karzai is not particularly concerned about winning over public opinion. karzai has said he s not going to run in the next elections, which are just in april. so this is more about his legacy. he wants to be remembered by his people as the man who came into this country who helped bring it, if you will, into a modern era and then who stood up to the americans and said we re going to keep an american presence here for our long-term stability, but we re going to do it with the americans begging to stay and with them confined to their bases. so it is not that he has an aggressive populous and is facing an imminent election. ayman, i want to turn quickly, if we can, over to the bombing in beirut. i wonder whether you think retaliation is a certainty here.
ahmadinejad and just a short time ago hezbollah s tv released this video. hasan meeting with the iranian president. it s been four years since he has been seen in public. he has always appeared by video link. that s because they fear assassination by the israelis. it took place in iranian embassy in beirut. he gave him israeli rifle as gift. he says it was captured in the war in 2006. at a rally ahmadinejad didn t waste a chance to slam israel saying quote the zionist will eventually disappear. he was speaking to a village that loved iran because iran has helped to rebuild it since the war. some estimates say iran has shelled out as much as $1 billion to represent rebuild and reconstruct lebanon. iran offered 450 multi-million-dollars in loans for water and electricity projects as well as military assistance but so far lebanon has not signed off on the deal.
hariri was assassinated in 2005. so of course hezbollah has they are the leading to believe, to behind this attack, gregg. gregg: well, conor, we know the ambassador was a very outspoken critic of hezbollah of the that is a pretty dangerous thing to be doing when you re in lebanon. is that likely what cost him his life? reporter: so this is pleased to be a very professional attack. the type that has hezbollah carried out in the past and has the ability to carry out but beirut s been rocked by a lot of violence in recent weeks and month, particularly an attack on the iranian embassy in beirut. there are plenty of groups in lebanon that can carry out these types of attacks. shatah has been outspoken critic of hezbollah, al qaeda and syria s assad. he was on his way to an anti-syrian meeting. he has made a lot of enemies in