Israeli Defence Minister Yoav gallant said the military is prepared to use forces from the air, Land And Sea to allow thousands of displaced israelis to return to their homes in the north. Mr gallant also said the next phase of the war against Lebanons Hezbollah will begin soon and that the killing of hezbollah S Leader was not the final step. Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief of hezbollah, naim qaissem, said the groups fighters are ready to confront an invasion. He acknowledged that Hassan Nasrallah s assassination was a big blow but said all fallen commanders would soon be replaced. We are hearing the British Government has chartered a flight for vulnerable british citizens. Presidentjoe biden maintained his call for an end to fighting. Weve also heard from the us department of defense. Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh spoke to the bbc about the conflict in the last hour. What doing along the Northern Border is conducting limited operations to dismantle Hezbollah Infrastructur
This is bbc news. Lets go straight back to that breaking news of the last few minutes. We will you knew the live scenes In Beirut. A massive explosion in the last little while from beirut. There you see the seconds after the explosion. We are hearing that there have been multiple explosions. That is coming to us from our correspondents on the ground in terms of the pictures you can see. Hugo bachegais pictures you can see. Hugo bachega is In Beirut for us, telling us this explosion is in one of the strongholds in the south of beirut. The Israeli Military also updating in the last few minutes, saying that they are currently striking Terror Targets, that is how they describe it, currently striking Terror Targets belong to hezbollah in the southern lebanon. This happened about five or seven minutes ago. You can see just the skyline, beirut, and the size of that explosion. Of course that fits entirely with what we have seen in terms of tactics from israel since monday, the sort of strikes.
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
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
The powerful lebanese militant Group Hezbollah says it has attacked Military Targets in a series of Rocket Salvos into northern israel, following israeli Air Strikes in lebanon on monday which lebanon says killed 558 people. The Israeli Military said more than 20 rockets were launched from lebanon, some of which were intercepted by air defences. Sirens have sounded over northern israel this morning, and distant booms were heard in the galilee region. Yesterday, the military said A Million people in and around the northern city of haifa took refuge in shelters because of Hezbollah Rockets. Overnight, residents fleeing the israeli bombardment in Southern Lebanon crammed roads to reach temporary shelters in beirut. The israeli strikes made monday the deadliest day in lebanon in decades the idf says It Hit around 1,600 targets which it described as Hezbollah Cruise missiles, rockets and drones. Washington is sending a small number of additional troops to the region, as the Sense Of crisis