Was a violation of international law. Volker turk said he was appalled by the breadth and impact of the Attacks, which left at least 37 dead and thousands injured. Hezbollah has confirmed that its senior military commander, Ibrahim Aqil, was among those killed in fridays israeli airstrike on a building in the southern suburbs of beirut. The israeli envoy at the un, danny danon, has not mentioned the explosions but said his country would do whatever it took to defend itself. Lets start with those comments from the un human Rights Chief volker turk. These Attacks represent a new development in warfare. Where Communication Tools become weapons, simultaneously exploding across marketplaces, On Street Corners and in homes as daily life unfolds. Authorities have reportedly dismantled unexploded devices in universities, banks and hospitals. This has unleashed widespread fear, Panic And Horror among people in lebanon. At the same meeting the United Nations political affairs chief, rosemary dicarlo, warned that the Middle East is at risk of a conflict that could dwarf the devastation witnessed in the region so far. As we approach a full year of near daily exchanges of fire across the blue Line And Bloodshed in gaza, too many lives have been lost, too many people have been displaced and too many livelihoods have been destroyed. But if things continue as they are, we risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even and suffering witnessed so far. It is not too late to avoid such folly. There is still room for diplomacy, which must be used without delay. As we said, israels representative to the un, danny danon, did not mention the Exploding Pagers and Walkie Talkies directly, but stressed israels right to defend itself. We will not allow hezbollah s terror to dictate the future of our nation. If hezbollah does not retreat from our border and back to the north of the Litani River through diplomatic efforts, israel will be left with no choice but to use any means within our rights to defend our citizens and enable the evacuees of the north to return to their homes. That is the very latest in terms of diplomacy. Lets have a look at the situation on the ground in beirut and self. We have live pictures coming into the bbc. As you can see, people still working to clear the debris and look for survivors. This is the Beirut Suburb after hezbollah confirmed that two of its senior commanders were killed in the israeli Attack on that suburb. They are saying that suburb. They are saying that Ibrahim Aqil was killed. Just that live shot continuing there that we are continuing to monitor as the diplomacy as we were hearing at the United Nations is ongoing. Lebanons Minister Of Public Health Dr Firass abiad joins us. Thank you very much for speaking to us at Bbc News. Just bring us up today in terms of the latest on the ground there. We saw the devastation in beirut. Can you confirm who has been killed in terms of the hezbollah senior figures . This was a residential hezbollah senior figures . Ti 3 was a residential building and we are still clearing the rubble to see whether there are any survivors. Up until now the number of people who were killed was much higher i can report than the one that came yesterday and we will be issuing a report very soon with the latest tally, that includes three children and three women. The reports from hezbollah is that two of its commanders were included within those who were killed in that Attack. 50 included within those who were killed in that Attack. Killed in that Attack. So in terms of killed in that Attack. So in terms of when killed in that Attack. So in terms of when were killed in that Attack. So in l terms of when were talking about 37 killed from the Walkie Talkie at explosions, you are saying that that tally is higher including three children . Is higher including three children .. children . Now, the tally im talkin children . Now, the tally im talking about children . Now, the tally im talking about is children . Now, the tally im talking about is from children . Now, the tally im talking about is from the talking about is from the explosion on the buildings. The tally is now higher than 37, we are reporting two additional deaths from the pager explosions. Deaths from the pager exlosions. ~ ,.. explosions. Thank you for confirming explosions. Thank you for confirming that. Explosions. Thank you for confirming that. How explosions. Thank you for confirming that. How is i explosions. Thank you for l confirming that. How is the Health Service coping with the amount of casualties that you are seeing currently . You Know, i think it are seeing currently . You Know, i think it is are seeing currently . You Know, i think it is a are seeing currently . You Know, | think it is a bit i think it is a bit overwhelming in the sense that lebanon have been suffering from multiple crisis as you Know. We have had a portion of our Health Care workers who have left the country as a consequence of the financial crisis. And that is why preparing for this conflict and these Attacks that are ongoing has become pretty much challenging. Now we have activated our Disaster Emergency plans, anticipating a large number of casualties stop andindeed large number of casualties stop and indeed on tuesday we received almost 3000 casualties in a matter of a few hours. 0ne in a matter of a few hours. One of the things that is making it more difficult is that really we are seeing also a lot of civilians that are being injured. These indiscriminate Attacks unfortunately are also resulting in a lot of these civilians and the geographical location is so wide because these pages were used by many people in their daily lives. That meant that almost 90 hospitals had to be involved in the response to that Attack. gs the response to that Attack. As we were saying a little bit earlier the United Nations high commissionerfor human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights was commissionerfor Human Rights was saying that this is a violation of international law, the use of these civilian devices such as pagers and Walkie Talkies. I assume you would be in Accord And Agreement with that . It would be in Accord And Agreement with that . It is a clear violation. Agreement with that . It is a clear violation. As agreement with that . It is a clear violation. As I Agreement with that . It is a clear violation. As i said, I Agreement with that . It is a | clear violation. As i said, the international humanitarian law is very clear that there is an onus, even during conflict, for civilians to be isolated or not to be targeted. But unfortunately what we are seeing within the recent conflicts is the parties involved are making no effort to differentiate the civilians and unfortunately that means it is making it much more difficult for Health Systems such as ours to prepare for the result of these Attacks. Result of these Attacks. Israel arc ues result of these Attacks. Israel argues that result of these Attacks. Israel argues that it result of these Attacks. Israel argues that it has result of these Attacks. Israel argues that it has to result of these Attacks. Israel argues that it has to continue j argues that it has to continue targeting hezbollah because of the conflict on the border. What is your response . I think irrespective what is your response . I think irrespective of what is your response . I think irrespective of how what is your response . I think irrespective of how you what is your response . I think irrespective of how you want l what is your response . I think| irrespective of how you want to justify the conflict but the fact that the international humanitarian law is very clear in the way that it organises conflict in the fact that during conflict civilians not be targeted. And whoever is doing the targeting, whether it is Israel Or Anybody else, this is Israel Or Anybody else, this is a violation of international humanitarian law that should be stopped. The only problem with israel is that they have bigger weapons so to speak and therefore the tallies of what they are doing is much, much higher and more difficult to deal with. Higher and more difficult to deal with deal with. Help us for our international deal with. Help us for our international Audience Deal with. Help us for our international audience to | international audience to understand in terms of the population of lebanon. How many people are hezbollah members . I dont think anybody Knows. Hezbollah is a non State Actor and as you Know we dont have, nobody has a good idea of how many members there are. But the fact is that those children and those Women Who were killed were not members of hezbollah. Those were citizens who happen to be nearby. And when those explosive devices, communication devices exploded, they exploded in hospitals, they exploded in hospitals, they exploded in markets, they exploded on the streets and therefore unfortunately for therefore U Nfortu nately for everyone therefore unfortunately for everyone else. Therefore unfortunately for everyone else. Thank you very much for everyone else. Thank you very much forjoining everyone else. Thank you very much forjoining us everyone else. Thank you very much forjoining us and everyone else. Thank you very much forjoining us and i everyone else. Thank you veryj much forjoining us and i Know you are rushing off to give that Press Conference. We will be monitoring that as well. Thank you for your time. And well be live with our correspondents in Beirut And Jerusalem later in this bulletin. Do stay with us for the very latest. And we have a live Page Online with the very latest Reaction And Analyis from our correspondents across the region. You will find that on the Bbc News website and app. Voting is under way in Sri Lanka to choose a new president who its hoped can repair the countrys finances after its catastrophic economic collapse two years ago which sparked mass protests and toppled the government. There are a record 38 candidates vying to be the next president , but none is a women. Live to our correspondent, samira hussain, who is at a Polling Station in colombo. Look, there has been a steady stream of people coming into this Polling Station to vote but of course live television and there is no one right this second but these elections are really important because they are the first president ial elections since those mass protests. You will remember these phenomenal photos of people storming the president ial palace. Well, that protest ended up toppling the government and actually have a guest with me now. He was one of the protesters at that time. I want to Know what do you think has changed since those protests so long ago . I think has changed since those protests so long ago . Protests so long ago . I think eole protests so long ago . I think peeple have protests so long ago . I think people have started protests so long ago . I think people have started to people have started to understand the power that they have as a citizen and how much influence they have on governance and how important it is to elect people, people have learnt how important it is to elect a responsible person and how much they need to give more attention as to what these people are, who they are and what theyre capable of. What are the biggest what theyre capable of. What are the biggest issues what theyre capable of. What are the biggest issues for what theyre capable of. What are the biggest issues for you in this election . I are the biggest issues for you in this election . In this election . I think the economic in this election . I think the economic crisis in this election . I think the economic crisis for in this election . I think the economic crisis for me in this election . I think the economic crisis for me is l economic crisis for me is something that affects everybody but for me personally the economic crisis and especially the accountability and the justice especially the Accountability And Thejustice aspect especially the accountability and the Justice Aspect when especially the Accountability And Thejustice aspect when it comes from the part of the state. We have still not seen any sort of accountability taken by those who are responsible for the economic Crisis Orfor responsible for the economic crisis or for the ministers and the parliamentarians who are not simply accused but were found guilty or were found attached to some sort of a scam. So there is this constant getaway. Like, when you are in power you get to get away with it. But since the uprising, people are now calling for more Accountability And Justice and i think that is something that whoever comes into power will have to deliver false whyjust to heavily clear, a lot of the blame for that economic crisis is named at the feet of politicians after decades of mismanagement. Im wondering how hopeful you are for Sri Lankas future . The Supreme Court itself decided, gave a verdict on who is responsible for the economic crisis. I think that is a good place to start. The Supreme Court named those who are responsible for it. But were also seeing in current state where there is a conflict between the judiciary and executive. So whoever comes into power, maybe this election will send a message as to how much the demands are of the people. So i think this will be a Turning Point for Sri Lanka. Excellent, thank you very much for your time. That is a political activist who participated in those protests two years ago. In terms of when we will get the results, it is going to take a little while because as you pointed out there are 38 candidates that are running in these elections, so we dont expect to get a clear sense of the winner until sometime tomorrow. Im sure we will be back with you later in the day. Samir Hussein Samira hussainjoining us from Sri Lanka. Lets return now to our top story and the tensions in the Middle East, after a top Hezbollah Military Commander was killed in an israeli Air Strike on the lebanese Capital Beirut on friday, in a major escalation that has added to fears of an all out war. Joining me now is daniel de simone, our Correspondent Injerusalem and our Middle East correspondent, Hugo Bachega who is in beirut in lebanon. If you go, lets start with you because of course that coverage we have been looking at those live pictures from beirut and the devastation following that strike on those two commanders but a lot of devastation of that suburb in beirut. Exactly and emergency that suburb in beirut. Exactly and emergency teams that suburb in beirut. Exactly and emergency teams are. That suburb in beirut. Exactlyl and emergency teams are still searching for people who are believed to be missing and could be under the rubble of this building that collapsed in the suburb here in beirut that is has blah s stronghold. Again, this was a major Attack. Hezbollah now saying that at least 13 senior members of the group were killed, including two top commanders including Ibrahim Aqil. These were leaders in the top unit. So again another major blow for hezbollah. This happensjust hezbollah. This happens just days hezbollah. This happensjust days after those explosions on pagers and Walkie Talkies in a major Security Breach for the group. It is ameliorating for them. Hezbollah wants to be seen as a powerful and sophisticated enemy by israel. So i think here in lebanon people are obviously waiting to hear how hezbollah are going to respond. This is a major escalation in the conflict with israel but i dont think hezbollah has as lots of options to give a strong response in this Attack because it is given repeated indications that it is not interested in a major war with israel. Hezbollah is supported by iran. It is important for iran to have a very strong hezbollah here in lebanon next israel. So it doesnt seem to be interested in major conflicts either but this is a group that is under pressure. It needs to be seen to be giving a response after this wave of humiliating Attacks and major setbacks after the israeli Attacks. Major setbacks after the israeli Attacks. And, daniel, when it comes israeli Attacks. And, daniel, when it comes to israeli Attacks. And, daniel, when it comes to the israeli Attacks. And, daniel, when it comes to the israeli | when it comes to the israeli Attacks a major setback for israel itself because you have the un describing Attacks with the un describing Attacks with the Walkie Talkies and pagers as a violation of humanitarian law. , as a violation of humanitarian law. ,. law. Thats right. I dont think the law. Thats right. I dont think the israeli law. Thats right. I dont think the israeli government will see think the israeli government will see it as a setback. There has been will see it as a setback. There has been also criticism by the un of has been also criticism by the un of israel and there is quite a contentious relationship between the un on israel, i think between the un on israel, i think it between the un on israel, i think it is between the un on israel, i think it is fair to say. The israeli think it is fair to say. The israeli military has been speaking since yesterday about the strikes in beirut. They are seeing the strikes in beirut. They are seeing this as a major blow against seeing this as a major blow against hezbollah, Killing Senior against hezbollah, Killing Senior commanders from the group senior commanders from the group and other figures. They are saying that when they carried are saying that when they carried out the strike, those people carried out the strike, those people were meeting in a basement in a residential building in beirut to plot Attacks against israelis. And the context for this is really a week the context for this is really a week of escalation by israel. At the a week of escalation by israel. At the beginning of the Week Ismel at the beginning of the Week Israel formally set out a War Goal Israel formally set out a War Goal relating to the north, that goal relating to the north, that was the first time, there are four that was the first time, there are four War Goals and until this are four War Goals and until this week there were three. They this week there were three. 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