And as First Minister of scotland when his party faced the latest in a series of crises. John swinney, welcome to political thinking. Lovely to be with you, thank you. It has been something of a rollercoaster six months, havent it . You retire from Front Line politics, then the First Minister of scotland is forced from office and you decide to come back into Front Line politics, come to your partys rescue. Then Rishi Sunak calls a surprise early election in the summer, then you have a bit of a kick in the general election, the westminster election. Has it all been very stomach churning . Its been absolutely a whirlwind. A whirlwind, i think is the best way to describe it, because i quite literally, in the days before Humza Yousaf resigned as First Minister, was making further plans about what would be my gentle scaling down of political activity. And i was actually on the day that he resigned, giving a reflective speech about 25 years of devolution in scotland down here in london. And
These are the latest pictures we can bring you showing a large explosion following one of those strikes. Earlier on saturday, the Israeli Military had issued orders to residents of specific buildings in Southern Beirut to evacuate. We dont yet know what was hit in the strikes, but israeli forces have bombed areas reported to be Hezbollah Strongholds. They have also clashed with hezbollah fighters in lebanons southern border region. The Israeli Military says it has killed 440 hezbollah fighters since the start of the ground invasion. Meanwhile, hezbollah has fired rockets into northern israel, with reports that residential buildings were hit. Also on saturday, israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed iran s missile on his country earlier this week, saying israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks and we will do so. We can go live to our correspondent In Beirut, Anna Foster now. Anna, what is the latest you can tell us . Just after 1am he
Showing a large explosion following one of those strikes. Earlier on saturday, the Israeli Military had issued orders to residents of specific buildings in Southern Beirut to evacuate. We dont yet know what was hit in the strikes but israeli forces have bombed areas reported to be Hezbollah Strongholds. They have also clashed with hezbollah fighters in lebanons southern border region. The Israeli Military says it has killed 440 hezbollah fighters since the start of the ground invasion. Meanwhile, hezbollah has fired rockets into northern israel, with reports that residential buildings were hit. Also on saturday, israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed iran 5 Missile Attack on his country earlier this week saying israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and respond to these attacks and we will do so. Shortly after that blast took place in beirut i spoke to our correspondent there, anna foster. What have you been seeing and hearing what you tell us there on the gro
The blast. We can go to Beirut And Anna foster. We were speaking to our colleague who was saying the news has been reported on iranians media. That is right. It is an important moment. What i think will be a moment when you see a collective outpouring of grief in southern suburbs of beirut and the south of the country and the south of the Country And Bekaa valley is when we have the funeral. I have no indication when it will happen. It will happen reasonably quickly because these things always do. Perhaps tomorrow. That will be a big moment. If you look back to just over a week ago when we had the attacks with pagers and walkie talkies. People gathered at funerals and a second wave of attacks came then so when people go to a funeral they will remember what happened a week ago and be nervous. If you support hezbollah in the stronghold areas, they will want to be part of their collective grieving process. That is something that i think well have a real impact on the streets of beirut and
In beirut right now. Again, we have had strikes here through the day, and smoke once again rising on the skyline of the lebanese capital. The prime minister of this country, the Acting Prime Minister has called again for a diplomatic solution to the conflict and he warns that up to A Million people here in lebanon could be displaced by the ongoing violence. The streets of dahieh, this is the Beating Heart of hezbollah in beirut, now looking like a ghost town. Thousands have left, many more are still trying to leave. Driving through dahieh this morning, we saw cars packed with mattresses and bags. Some people seemed to be leaving on foot. Israeli Air Strikes destroyed this building yesterday. The smell of the explosives was still hanging in the air and we could hear the sound of drones flying overhead. Israel says it will continue to target hezbollah, even after killing the groups leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Dahieh is no longer safe. There is a tense and anxious wait in lebanon following