In the lebanese capital, beirut. 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 don't 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 lebanon's 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 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 can you tell us there on the ground? it's just after 1am here in beirut, and the last hour, we have seen and heard that really particularly powerful explosion from an israeli air strike. Now, the reason we know it was an israeli air strike is because the idf, particularly at night, tend to issue warnings, they do not do it for every air strike but around about midnight at local time, we do often see on social media and social media platforms, they have maps of certain areas, the southern suburbs where hezbollah are based and ask people in those areas to evacuate to an area of about 500 metres clear. And that is what happened again this evening which is why we believe that these were idf strikes following those warnings. What is different is as you can see, the impact of this particular explosion is huge and this ball of flame rising into the sky. People here are tyring to work out what could been hit to produce that sort of affect their early suggestions that it might*ve hit a petrol station because there is one there in that area and the target may be a building nearby was the target in the petrol station may have ignited and that is the one thing being discussed her but is also been some secondary flashes and secondary explosions and some people saying perhaps that it was some sort of weapon storage area that is been hit and hezbollah said just a few days ago that they were not storing weapons in those areas but we know that actually strikes over the last week, two weeks including the one that killed hassan nasrallah, the leader of hezbollah has been focused on that area and that is are the top leadership is in at the moment, it is too early to say what it specific target was but you can see how powerful that explosion was and all over the city. Really dramatic images we are seeing, some of those shots taking place about an hour or so ago. Just remind us about this particular area that we believe the israeli strikes are focusing on. Hezbollah struggled ebutt savelli because most to the beirut airport? == most to the beirut airport? hezbollah _ most to the beirut airport? hezbollah stronghold but also close to the beirut airport? bus of those southern suburbs are close to the airport and that causes real concern for people here. Most of the commercial air traffic has now stopped, all you really seen a coming in and out of the airport is the lebanese flag carrier, middle east airlines, they are still flying their roots, really what we are seeing a side that is no commercial airline, we are seeing governments chartering planes to take their nationals out of the country. So there are concerns that if something were to happen to the airport or to the runway. Being operational. It's very difficult to get out at that stage because you can't go south by israel because that is a closed border with fighting going on along it. Most people cannot go out to the east through syria unless they have the right paperwork, visas or syrian passports for example so thatis syrian passports for example so that is the main route in and out. Some people are sailing out. Some people are sailing out where they can from middle port areas in cities further north in the country. But the airport is crucial, that is why this is a particular cause of concern. And the southern suburbs, but is worth hezbollah are based, that is where their top commanders and leadership are based and we know that israel have managed to kill really quite a number of those top hezbollah operatives of the last two weeks or so including their leader hassan nasrallah, including some of their senior commanders who were responsible for things like intelligence, communications, hezbollah*s drone and rocky programmes and we know as well that the idf are focusing on the south of the country where they say there is military infrastructure, weapons storage, that kind of thing. But remember of course, beirut is a capital city, there are a lot of people living here, these are densely populated areas and even people who live and those southern suburbs are not all hezbollah operatives or members, there are families there, there are civilians, there, there are civilians, there are children in those areas as well, there have been civilian deaths in those israeli air strikes in those areas. And as you see tonight, even after two weeks or so of focus and target by israel, those strikes are still going on. * * those strikes are still going on. * ~ ~. those strikes are still going on. * ~ ~.. on. And anne arran, we still do not have _ on. And anne arran, we still do not have any on. And anne arran, we still do not have any reports _ on. And anne arran, we still do not have any reports telling on. And anne arran, we still do not have any reports telling us| not have any reports telling us exactly what has been taking place in the game, how many people may have been killed in the latest strike, but if wouldn't mind walking us through those humanitarian concerns we have been hearing from un officials, we believe hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by this fighting? have been displaced by this fiuuhtin ? , have been displaced by this fiuuhtin? ,. have been displaced by this fiuuhtin ? ,... fighting? yes, more than a million now _ fighting? yes, more than a million now at _ fighting? yes, more than a million now at last fighting? yes, more than a million now at last count, i fighting? yes, more than a l million now at last count, 1. 2 million, which is more than a fifth of the population of this country. A lot of people, to give you an idea of the fear that people are feeling, you have a lot of syrian refugees in lebanon who fled the civil war in syria, they came across here to try and get some sort of safety. We know that tens of thousands of those have now gone back again across the border in the last few days because they feel that they will be safer back in syria than they are in lebanon at the moment. The government has around 900 shelters operating from a lot of those are places like schools, buildings that have been requisitioned and repurposed, but the un says that all of those shelters are full, that's why you're seeing people sleeping on the streets and places here like beirut, it doesn't have a lot of open space, it's not a city that is very green with parks and areas that people can naturally go, so you see people on the streets, there were on the steps of the big mosque that you see in the background, wherever they can find, wherever they can find, wherever they can be, you have families with whatever they can grab essentially from their homes before they left. Many of them have been displaced for more than a week now and the lebanese state has really been struggling with the challenge of that. There has been a huge economic crisis here for years now. Theyjust do not have the backup of the infrastructure in place to deal with such a huge displacement crisis as this one. Fighting is also continuing in gaza. Palestinian media have reported heavy shelling and missile srtrikes in north gaza and that casualties are reported. Earlier on saturday, israel called on palestinians to evacuate parts of central gaza, as the military said it was preparing to use great force against hamas fighters in the area. Meanwhile, propalestinian protests were held around the the globe on saturday these are pictures from london calling for a ceasefire in gaza and an end to the conflict. They come before the october 7th anniversary, a year after about 1,200 people were killed in the hamas attack in israel that sparked the current conflict. Joining me live is merissa khurma these are live pictures from lebanon. You can see on the screen at some are occurring to continue to burn, lighting up a bit of the night sky at about 3am in beirut, some dark smoke rising from that seen in lebanon. Joining me live is merissa khurma director of the middle east programme at the wilson center think tank. Thank you for being with us, what's your reaction? we just saw a live look at the city of beirut, but this was really a explosion, wasn't it? beirut, but this was really a explosion, wasn't it? yes, this was a massive _ explosion, wasn't it? yes, this was a massive explosion explosion, wasn't it? yes, this was a massive explosion and l was a massive explosion and unfortunately, the capital city of lebanon has been witnessing many of these explosions over the last week plus. People are terrified, you know, over the course of the last 11 months, they have watched what happened in gaza after the horrific hamas attacks of october the 7th, they have seen the destruction and the killing of more than 40,000 people. So the they are very worried that this is exactly the fate of their capital city. We don't know what exactly the israelis were bombing at this time, but of course there are always after the top commanders, as your correspondent mentioned, they have already eliminated many of them including hassan nasrallah, but of course, there's also a risk as this war continues and deepens further into lebanon, that this develops into idf mission creep, which may result in the idf reoccupying certain parts of southern lebanon. You have seen intense fighting of the border, so it does not look like this is ending any time soon. I like this is ending any time soon. . .. soon. I mean, we heard from the idf warning _ soon. I mean, we heard from the idf warning residents _ soon. I mean, we heard from the idf warning residents about soon. I mean, we heard from the idf warning residents about one | idf warning residents about one hour before the suspected strikes to place to move to safer areas but we do know of course this is a densely populated civilian area, also a hezbollah stronghold. Just walk through the humanitarian situation right now in lebanon for many, many people currently displaced from their homes. The humanitarian _ displaced from their homes. Tue: humanitarian situation displaced from their homes. Tte: humanitarian situation is deteriorating very, very rapidly. This is also happening in a country that is almost a failed state, with a radar economic situation, over 70% of the population are basically under the poverty line. a dire economic situation. High unemployment, shortages in food and fuel before even the war started. We hosted the lebanese foreign minister this past week at the wilson centre and he said there are very few shelters. We have seen footage and photos of people sleeping on the street, children and families sleeping in parking lots, and of course those who are displaced, there are overi million, one point 2 million as your correspondent mentioned, but there is rapidly also a food shortage, even coming through humanitarian aid agencies, and a lot of pressure on the health system, so they need a lot of medical supplies. So it's a truly horrific situation and increasingly becoming more and more difficult to control. Tt becoming more and more difficult to control. Difficult to control. It also seems as _ difficult to control. It also seems as though difficult to control. It also seems as though the seems as though the international pressure might be growing now in israel. We heard the french president emmanuel macron, for an immediate and lasting ceasefire lebanon, he also said that countries should stop shipping weapons to israel. Prime minister netanyahu called those comments hypocritical bar but want to make it a fairly forceful, is from the french president? these are a thing very forceful comments, unprecedented particularly that now we see all of this happening and unfolding in lebanon with high casualties, civilian casualties in particular. But i think what's important to note here is that yes, he called for a halt of deliveries of weapons, but then french tv also confirmed that missile defence aid or systems will not be halted. It is expected for the international community to reach this point and put more pressure, but at the end of the day, the one country that continues to support israel is the united states, and as netanyahu said, they will win with or without you, because of the unwavering support that they receive from the united states. * ,. ,. states. Briefly, where do you see the united _ states. Briefly, where do you see the united states states. Briefly, where do you see the united states right i states. Briefly, where do you i see the united states right now in lebanon, and tried to mediate some sort of potential ceasefire there but also in terms of potential response by israel for iran's recent missile attacks? israel for iran's recent missile attacks? ~. , missile attacks? with regards to lebanon. _ missile attacks? with regards to lebanon, there _ missile attacks? with regards to lebanon, there was missile attacks? with regards to lebanon, there was a missile attacks? with regards to lebanon, there was a 21 i missile attacks? with regardsl to lebanon, there was a 21 day ceasefire proposal that this administration was working on, but there were also mixed messages with senior administration officials saying that they also gave the nod to israel to go ahead and go after hezbollah. So these are mixed messages and it becomes very difficult for the united states to lead negotiations or any ceasefire talks with these types of reports coming out. I think the window for a ceasefire is very, very narrow. But with regards to an israeli response to the iranian missile attack, well, centre com chief general corolla is in israel, i assume meeting with senior military officials in israel, advising them on the response, but we are yet to see where this is going to happen and when. 0ne this is going to happen and when. One thing for sure, which is what the idf spokesperson highlighted today, is that it will be a significant attack. Merissa khurma, thank you for your respective. donald trump has just finished his rally in butler, pennsylvania, the site where he survived an assassination attempt injuly. Let's hear the moment he walked up to the podium. Cheering big cheers