Munication devices, pagers and Walkie Talkies Which exploded. Hassan nasrallah described it as a massacre. Will people were killed and nearly 3000 Injured On Tuesday and yesterday. When he fight people were killed and 600 people injured in the Blast Ash mclean five people. He said it was an unprecedented blow for the group but said its ability to communicate remained intact. Us Secretary Of StateAntony Blinken said a ceasefire is still possible but the relationship between israel and Southern Lebanon needs to be resolved. Lets have a listen to what he had to say. We continue to work to get a Cease Fire for gaza over the finish line, and as we discussed with some of you just a day ago, in egypt, we believe that remains both possible and necessary. But meanwhile we dont want to see any as glittery actions by any party that make that even more difficult. There is a real problem that needs to be resolved when it comes to Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon, and that is the fact that since october the 8th, hezbollah has been Firing Rockets into israel, israel has been firing back, the population in both Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon has had to flee their homes, and we all want to see them be able to go back to their homes, and that requires a secure environment. The united states believes strongly and working together toward a diplomatic resolution and an agreement that would create the conditions for security that would allow people to return to their homes. 0ur chief international Correspondent Lyse Doucet gave us her analysis of the current situation in the middle east. A week on week, we are seeing an escalation. While everyone says, everyone gives the impression they want to avoid a wider war, they come ever closer to this brink. A Pull Back but then go to the brink again, and in a region where often it is an accidental tumbling into war that happens rather than something which is planned and executed on time, this really, really raises the danger level. But the prospect, the possibility of an israeli incursion into lebanon has been on the agenda or talk about almost since october the 7th. There were reports in the israeli media, is really officers had thought, this is the time. Now that we are at war with hamas in gaza, lets now deal with hezbollah once and for all, lets deal with all of the threats facing us, and they were told to Pull Back, but that possibility has always been there, and he was moved ever closer with the announcements this week by prime Minister Netanyahu that bringing the 60,000 israelis who had to be evacuated from that border region, that volatile region where hezbollah continues to fire rockets, they want to go home, add allowing them to return to their homes is now prime Minister Netanyahu is now prime Minister Netanyahu is saying, part of the war aims. Defence Minister Yoav gallant essentially saying, we have a compass to our military objectives, we should concentrate on bringing his really husband is by finding a Cease Fire. He has been saying the priority is to move to the north in order to make israel safe, and it has to be said to the residents in Southern Lebanon also are feeling, they also have had to Pull Back from the region, so you have on both sides tens of thousands of people very, very much caught up people very, very much caught up in this escalating tension. We will come to gaza in a second but i want to talk more about hezbollah. We heard from 0rla. In the statement, he said hezbollah� s capacity has not been diminished stub is a realistic statement . I think Eo Le realistic statement . I think peeple will realistic statement . I think people will see realistic statement . I think people will see that realistic statement . I think people will see that as realistic statement . I think i people will see that as trying to put a brave face on what has been. Huge setback for hezbollah in some anyways. We have been reporting this here on Bbc News now for the past few days. First of all, they went to what is very much a very old system, the pagers people thought were confined to museums, nobody releases this one way messaging system, but hezbollah, knowing the Cell Phones were compromise, had used this old fashioned used this old fashioned technology, used this old fashioned technology, believing they were safe. This kind of it has to be described, as a mass casualty attack, caught everybody by surprise and these images were so bloody. Affected hezbollah operatives but also affected children, people in the markets, wherever they went, it was a shock. There can Munication System seems to have taken a real hit, their confidence took a real hit, and the chaos that and that sense of vulnerability which is not a good look for an organisation which lives by its defiance and they have to be seen demobilising and be seen as a formidable. The second day, it was the walkie talkies, which had been optimised. They have taken a hit. They will have taken a hit. They will have to find new systems to have to find new systems to have a kind of a system that allows them to communicate at all levels of the organisation. Yes, today, Hassan Nasrallah said they are able to operate and they are still operating militarily. They fired rockets into israel today. Two is really soldiers were killed. Both sides have to keep indicating they are able and willing to take on their opponent after they are both going to go, we say all the time that no side once a wider war, no side wants this to isolate further, and that is true, but they are constantly gambling with this roulette, and its a very, very dangerous roulette. The most dangerous we have seen in decades. Lyse Doucet Brian Finucane is a Senior Adviser at the international Crisis Group and former Attorney Adviser at the us department of state. He told us about the legalities around these types of attacks. Since october eight, both Hezbollah And Israel have engaged in armed conflict, and their actions have been governed by the law of armed conflict, also known as the law of war, and that imposes certain obligations and certain prohibitions on both parties, including with respect to charting laws, prohibition on attacking civilians, a requirement to consider proportionality in an attack and to take precautions. For example of indiscriminate attacks, include with rockets or attacks directed against civilians, would be prohibited by the law of war. In addition, and relevant to these exploding pagers, israel is a party to an agreement that governs specific weapons, called the amended protocol two to the convention on certain conventional weapons. Lebanon is also party as is the us and this agreement contains a specific prohibition on the use of Booby Traps or other devices in the form of apparently harmless objects which are simply designed or constructed to contain explosive materials. The emerging information since these attacks, using pagers, suggest this prohibition is implicated by that action. 50. Implicated by that action. So, what would implicated by that action. So, what would be implicated by that action. 50, what would be the implicated by that action. So, what would be the indications if either israel or hezbollah, in both those examples of war seem to have violated the laws in some way, what would be the records . If in some way, what would be the records . ,. , records . If their personnel were to travel records . If their personnel were to travel abroad, records . If their personnel| were to travel abroad, they could be subject to the criminal laws of various states. For israel, because it receives significant Military Support from the united states in particular but also from other countries, those countries could further curtail support for israel. As you are no doubt aware the United Kingdom recently announced certain restrictions on Export Licenses for arms to israel, some in terms of consequences, if there have been violations of the laws of war by either party, there could be, consequences, there could be further restrictions on Military Support to israel by various countries that are providing such aid, and just on the former, on the potential criminal implications, it is worth noting that under us law, violation. The convention on certain conventional weapons, being conducted willfully, resulting in the Injury Or Death of civilians, is a War Crime under us domestic lawful that should be a notable consideration for us policymakers if they are enabling such conduct or generally supporting a partner that breaches the law of war. Just briefly, what are the odds of any of this actually being taken up, though . I of any of this actually being taken up, though . Of any of this actually being taken up, though . I think the odds of further taken up, though . I think the odds of further restrictions i taken up, though . I think thej odds of further restrictions on aid to israel, not by the united states but other countries, may increase, and it is one more reason for the us to want to curtail the continuing fighting between Hezbollah And Israel and it should be another reason to try and bring about a Cease Fire in gaza. Brian finucane there. Still to come on the World Today yearly shots from the landing sea bed. We Take A Look at footage of the wreck of the Titan Submersible. Around the world and across the uk, this is Bbc News. The head of the Microsoft Threat Analysis centre has told the bbc that russia, Iran And China all have plans to disrupt the us election. All three countries have been found using ai powered Interference Campaigns for the first time. Bbc verify� s ai correspondent, marc cieslak, was given access to the Nerve Centre in New York. Times square, New York city, an unlikely location for a secure facility which monitors attempts by foreign governments to destabilise democracy. It is, however, home to mtac, the Microsoft Threat Analysis centre. Its job is to detect, assess and disrupt cyber enabled influence threats to democracies worldwide. The work thats carried out here is extremely sensitive. Were the very first people that have been permitted to film inside. Its also the first time russian, iranian and chinese attempts to influence a us election have all been detected at once. All three are in play, and this is the first cycle where weve had all three that we can definitely point to. Individuals from this organisation serve on a special president ial committee in the kremlin. Reports compiled by these analysts advise governments like the uk and us, as well as private companies, on digital threats. This team has noticed that the dramatic nature of the us election is complicating attempts at outside interference. The biggest impact of the switch of President Biden for Vice President harris has been its really thrown the russians so far off their game. They really focused on biden as somebody they needed to remove from office to get what they wanted in ukraine. Russian efforts have now pivoted to undermining the Harris Walz Campaign via a series of fake videos designed to provoke controversy. These analysts were instrumental in detecting iranian Election Influence Activity via a series of bogus websites. The Department Ofjustice seized 32 websites. They said they used al to create and spread disinformation via a campaign which this team has been tracking for more than two years, dubbed doppelganger. Doppelganger is best known for cloning the websites of well known international media. It makes fake versions of fox news, the washington post, which look very much like the original but are reworked entirely with pro russian propaganda. So youve got some examples up on your screen here. This one here, an article which says its from fox news, but is in fact an article which is from this group called doppelganger. Yes. This was in fact made in moscow. These analysts were instrumental in detecting iranian Election Influence Activity via a series of bogus websites. The fbi is now investigating this, as well as iranian hacking of the trump campaign. We found that in the Source Code for these websites, what they were doing was using al to rewrite content from a real place and using that for the bulk of their website. And then occasionally they would write real articles when it was a very specific political point they were trying to make. The third major player in this Election Interference is china using fake Social Media accounts to provoke a reaction in the us public. Experts are unconvinced these campaigns affect which way people actually vote, but they worry they are successful in increasing hostility on Social Media. Henry ajder is an expert in deepfakes and ai he told me hes not surprised about the actions of russia, china and iran. This year, huge year for elections around the world, we have started to see a notable increase in the amount of ai generated content being distributed on Social Media, being used to spread disinformation. I guess these campaigns are conducted by State Actors are nothing new. Weve seen this across several us elections previously. I guess what is significant about this is how these tools are changing, the way that these operations work on the back end, so to speak, how they potentially allow State Actors and other bad actors to scale the amount of content that theyre creating to make their workflows more efficient, and also, in some cases, to create entirely novel forms of ai generated content in the audio visual space. So its not necessarily surprising. It is concerning. But i would agree that so far, we havent seen these campaigns really kind of hit the nail, so to speak, in terms of fundamentally changing the landscape of voters intentions. But obviously this is still very early days when it comes to how these technologies are being used. Yeah. One thing that marc was saying in his report was about how these techniques can sometimes Increase Hostility on Social Media. Would you say thats one of the main areas where they can perhaps change things . Well, absolutely. And i think particularly because of the nature of how Social Media works and how engagement is driven by often divisive content. And one of the cases you mentioned there with china, for example, you know, the cases that theyre pulling on are really provocative. They are really playing into the really tenuous or difficult issues in american society today. And if you can generate, for example, ai generated imagery of people, you know, breaking into a store or of, you know, people who appear to be migrants committing crimes, you know, these are really flashpoint issues that can really raise the temperature, so to speak, and just drive further division. And again, this is a technique that weve seen State Actors use previously in elections with more kind of human driven manual content. But again, what these techniques, what these technologies like large language models and text to image generation tools, do is make it much easier and allow a much larger scale of Information Or Content to be generated than was previously possible. And, henry, i guess it begs the question, what can be done to try and mitigate these perceived threats . So its a really big challenge, ithink, in part because obviously the content itself, whether its ai generated or not, doesnt necessarily change the impact, right . You know, its a case where people use images from War Zones and misattribute them to new War Zones. Weve seen that, for example, in the current crisis going on in gaza. And Social Media platforms in particular, where a lot of this content is posted, you know, are doing a betterjob than they previously were at identifying this content, identifyi