First time for hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. Israels intensifying Military Assault on lebanon has involved everything from Booby Trapped electronic devices to bunker busting bombs. As the Death Toll mounts, prime Minister Netanyahu says the target isnt the people of lebanon, its the armed militant group hezbollah, which continues to fire rockets into israel. So what, if anything, can the lebanese Government do to stave off a Gaza Style Catastrophe . My guest is lebanons economy minister, Amin Salam. Is his Government the very definition of powerless . Minister Amin Salam in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, stephen. Pleasure being with you. Thank you forjoining me. War is happening to lebanon, war is happening to lebanon, minister, and yet war minister, and yet war is the last thing that is the last thing that lebanon wants. Lebanon wants. How does that make how does that make you feel right now . You feel right now . You said it, stephen. You said it, stephen
A21 a 21 day ceasefire along the israeli lebanese border will generate significant support from europe as well as the arab nations. I will have more to say tomorrow. There s been no indication yet from israel or hezbollah if they will agree to the terms of the proposed ceasefire. It all comes as israel continued deadly air raids in southern lebanon on wednesday, killing at least 72 people, according to lebanon s health ministry. It brings the death toll from israeli strikes in lebanon to nearly 600 just this week. Lebanon says a quarter of those killed have been women and chlidren. Israel s military chief has told troops that israel s air strikes could pave the way for a possible ground invasion into lebanon. Israel said wednesday it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by hezbollah towards tel aviv the first such rocket to target the city. The un secretary general warned wednesday that hell is breaking loose in lebanon. Antonio guterres made the remarks at an emergency security cou
Minister amin salam in beirut, minister amin salam in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. In gaza, through diplomatic thank you, stephen. Thank you, stephen. Pleasure being with you. Pleasure being with you. Thank you forjoining me. Thank you forjoining me. War is happening to lebanon, war is happening to lebanon, minister, and yet war minister, and yet war is the last thing that is the last thing that lebanon wants. Lebanon wants. How does that make how does that make you feel right now? you feel right now? you said it, stephen. You said it, stephen. It s the last thing we need. It s the last thing we need. It s the last thing we would it s the last thing we would have wanted to happen have wanted to happen and we were hoping and praying and we were hoping and praying and doing our best for the past and doing our best for the past year, since the war started year, since the war started in gaza, through diplomatic channels, through every channel possible, to avoid going i
Areas of cloud, yes, But some spells of sunshine. And with that feed of humid air, we will see some pretty high temperatures on friday, widely into the 20s, Mid 20s for some including Western Scotland. We could get up to 25 degrees with some sunshine across that western side of scotland. What about the weekend . Well, still rather warm and humid, at least for a time. Some rain, particularly down towards the south, drier and brighter further north. This is bbc news. The headlines. The deadliest disaster in the English Channel this year. A pregnant woman is among 12 people whove died as a migrant boat capsizes. Russian missile strikes on the ukrainian military Institute Kill at least 51 people. Over a dozen could be trapped under the rubble. Benjamin netanyahu condemns the uks decision to suspend some Arms Exports to israel, calling it shameful. Now to the us, and its 62 days to go until Polling Day, lets return to the middle east, where the Health Ministry says at least 40,819 people ha
Vaccinating some babies against polio, a day before a mass immunisation programme is due to begin. Palestinian health workers carried out the vaccinations in nasser hospital in khan younis. Unicef says the vaccinations will take place for six and a half hours every day until wednesday. Israel and hamas have agreed to three localised pauses in fighting to enable the vaccination of more than 600,000 palestinian children. With more from jerusalem here s our correspondent, jon donnison. The official polio vaccination campaign doesn t start until sunday morning. It is being coordinated by the united nations but we do understand that the first babies have been vaccinated today in khan younis in the south of gaza. What it s going to involve and get under way as a series of three day, area specific pauses in fighting that both israel and hamas have agreed to. The key words there are area specific, so we re not talking about the formal ceasefire that diplomats have been pushing for weeks and