Global News Podcast - Hezbollah behind a deadly drone attack in northern Israel

Episode Date: October 13, 2024

Hezbollah claims responsibility for a drone attack in northern Israel which killed four soldiers, and injured more than 60. Also: the UN demands answers after Israeli tanks drove into their compound in Lebanon.

Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising. I'm Lucy Hockings from the Global Story Podcast, where we're looking at disinformation online and its potential influence on the upcoming US presidential election. Why people fall for online conspiracy theories and what happens when real-world events are shaped by online disinformation. And how AI could affect the result of next month's election. The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed and many more injured in a drone attack by Hezbollah on a military base in northern Israel.

UN peacekeepers demand answers from Israel over what they call shocking new violations by IDF troops in southern Lebanon. SpaceX successfully tests a rocket capable of recycling its parts, and it could be a game changer. Also in this podcast... Welcome to a night of total terror. The origin of zombies explained in a new exhibition in Paris. The Israeli army says a drone strike on one of its bases has killed four soldiers and injured many more. Hezbollah has already claimed responsibility for the strike near Ben Yamina in northern Israel, saying it was targeting an IDF military training camp in response to attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut on Thursday.

It appears many of the injured were in a communal canteen when it was struck. Anna Foster in Beirut gave us the latest on this developing story. What we're seeing on social media tonight is pictures of what appears to be a dining hall at a military facility with a huge hole torn in the roof with chairs overturned and spread around the floor. This appears to be a significant attack by Hezbollah on a military installation inside northern Israel. Now, volunteer paramedics, rescuers say that around 65 people

have been taken to hospital, some of them critically injured, some of them more likely so. Of course, the question is how Hezbollah managed to evade Israel's very sophisticated missile defence system with this drone attack. Hezbollah are firing several hundred missiles and rockets still every day into northern Israel. Most of them were picked up. This one wasn't. So questions will be asked about how it's managed to get through. And here in Lebanon today as well, fierce fighting has continued.

The Lebanese health ministry say that 51 people have been killed today, nearly 200 injured as those fierce Israeli airstrikes continue in the south of Lebanon. Anna Foster. Meanwhile, the United Nations interim force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL is demanding a full explanation after two Israeli tanks drove through the gates of one of their compounds in southern Lebanon early on Sunday morning. Andrea Tenenti is a spokesman for Unifil. It's very concerning what happened today, what happened the day before, what happened the last

several days. Several attacks against our peacekeepers. Today we had Israeli forces entering inside one of our positions in the middle of the night. They stayed there for 45 minutes, damaging the entrance and leaving shortly after. And then there was an explosion immediately, one hour later, outside the base with smoke. And our Ghanian peacekeepers, 15, although they were wearing masks, they had irritation of the skin, gastrointestinal problems, and they are now recovering. So the situation is serious. It has been serious, as I said, since IDF decided and informed us

they would enter inside Lebanese territory for these targeted incursions. And after that, they announced the mission to leave some of the positions close to the blue line. And there was an unanimous decision with all the troop-contributing countries to stay, because that's our role. In response, the Israeli Defence Force said the tanks were attempting to assist injured Israeli soldiers in the area and inadvertently destroyed the gates of the compound. Relations between UNIFIL and the Israeli government have been strained in recent days, and in a speech posted online, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,

demanded the UN peacekeepers left southern Lebanon. Our correspondent, Jonathan Head, is in Beirut. Israel, of course, has all sorts of differences with the UN. There are constant resolutions in the UN that are critical of Israel. And Israel has long been very critical of UNIFIL. Remember, UNIFIL. Remember, UNIFIL's mandate, the operation goes back a long way, back to the late 1970s, but its mandate is supposed to be to keep the south of Lebanon demilitarized. And Israel argues that UNIFIL

has failed at that, that Hezbollah has been allowed to come in while UNIFIL is present there and build its tunnels and build all its capabilities for firing rockets into northern Israel. So the irritation goes back a very long way. I think from the point of view of the United Nations and its supporters, and many countries have made statements to support its mission, they would rather have the mission there. And they want Israel at least to respect it. Even the United States is telling Israel, respect the UN mission there. There won't be a meeting of minds on this. Israel is pushing ahead in a very difficult ground operation in southern Lebanon, facing a lot of resistance from Hezbollah units. And it simply wants those UN forces out of the way. And it's warning, if you don't, you will be

in danger and you will endanger our own troops. And what do you think Israel's strategy is there? Well, it's interesting. We don't really know what its long-term goals are. You know, we hear Israeli commanders saying, look, as far as we're concerned, once we've made northern Israel safe, once we've incapacitated Hezbollah's military infrastructure here, then our job is done. But many people suspect Israel's got bigger goals

to inflict permanent damage on Hezbollah, to stop it being able to recover. Whether that's possible or not, we don't know. But that could involve a much more sustained ground operation, even though we know from the past those have often been very costly for Israel. They're much more difficult than the airstrikes that Israel's been relying on before this ground operation. We've had three weeks of airstrikes now, and they proved to be very accurate in targeting Hezbollah leaders, albeit with a very, very high cost to civilians living in the parts of Lebanon where these airstrikes have happened. Is it your sense that UNIFIL will dig in? Well, they've got the backing of their member countries, of their donor countries. I

don't think they will leave. In the past, when Israel has invaded southern Lebanon, UNIFIL has stayed, but it does leave it rather impotent. At the same time, some people suspect Israel doesn't want the UN there because it doesn't want independent witnesses to what it does there. We don't know what the real motive is, but for the moment, the two sides are at loggerheads. The UN insists it has a mandate, it is backed by that mandate mandate and that it is not for Israel to tell it to get out of Lebanese sovereign territory. Jonathan Head. On Sunday, President Biden visited Florida, where he was shown the damage caused by Hurricane Milton, the second storm to hit the low-lying US state in recent weeks. The two powerful hurricanes caused widespread destruction, killing more than 250 people across the southern United States.

About a million people and businesses are still without power in the wake of powerful winds whipped up by Milton, which saw roofs ripped off houses and boats hurled into the air. The White House has declared a major disaster. This resident in Grove City, Osvaldo Cruz, said his house was wiped out by the storm. Total destruction. This is chaos. This was, as you can see it, you couldn't see through this lower floor. This was all walled in. As you can see, the walls are on the floor.

This was a garage door right there where you're standing. Now it's all open. There was no walls. Now there is nothing. Now, after this experience, you have to put things in perspective and see if it's worth it or not. Milton hit when Florida was still recovering from Hurricane Helene. President Biden praised residents for being resilient and said they could count on help from all levels of government.

This is all team effort, folks. We made a big difference and it saved lives. But there's much more to do. We're going to do everything we can to get power back in your home, not only helping you recover, but to help you build back stronger. I asked our North America correspondent, Rowan Bridge, what else President Biden promised. He promised $600 million to kind of help make the energy networks in Florida more resilient. But I think what was most notable about his speech was the tone with which he spoke. I mean, this was very much the president as healer in chief. He talked about his own experiences of

being out of his home for seven months when it was struck by lightning and the pain of losing family heirlooms, wedding rings, photos of your children that you can't replace. And he said that's the part that hurts the most. And I think also what was notable was the tone when it came to the politics. He talked about coming together not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans. We are one United States. And that is starkly in contrast to the way that sort of hurricane relief has become a political issue in the white heat of this political campaign with less than a month's go till voting. But he clearly decided that today wasn't the time or the place to get into the politics around this. And it is a huge recovery operation that's underway, isn't it? If you look at the scale of the damage involved, I mean, President Biden said the other day that Milton alone was estimated to have cost something like $50 billion worth of damage.

And that's before you take into account Helene, which was even more devastating. That went across six states of the southern United States. The estimates of damage to that vary widely, but you're talking again, in the tens of billions of dollars. And if you look at those pictures, I mean, people's lives have literally been turned upside down by this stuff. You know, you see what looked like holiday homes. I saw pictures from today where there were two homes that effectively were looking like they were sitting on top of each other. Such was the force of the 100 plus mile an hour winds that had slammed into the states. People are really suffering as a result of all of this. And there's still something around a million homes across parts of Florida, homes and businesses without power.

The expectation, we were told, was that most of those people would have power restored by Tuesday. But that's going to be almost a week that they will have gone without power, which gives you a sense of the scale of the kind of level of damage caused. Rowan Bridge. Police in the Indian city of Mumbai are investigating the motives behind the murder of the former state minister Baba Siddique. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with Saturday's shooting and a weapon was seized while the search continues for a third man. Officers are investigating a possible contract killing. Baba Siddique was a prominent Mumbai figure with ties to Bollywood.

Politicians and film stars have paid tribute. Here's the BBC's Marathi Mahuresh Connor with more. Baba Siddique was getting out of his office last night and while he was getting into his car, he was shot by three gunmen. Police have confirmed to us that two of them have been arrested. The third is still on the run. Mumbai police have formed five teams. Few of them are traveling outside the state because they have got some lead about them. But still it is not clear what was the motive behind the murder. Few notorious gangs have made some claims owning up the responsibility but according to police that is still not verified the point to note here is that baba siddiqui because he was a known

political figure and also had deep connections with indian film industry bollywood which is based in mumbai he had got death threats few days back that was reported to police and then he was giving the Y category security. Only few of them came away and the state gives them this security but he was still attacked and breaching that security the gunman reached him. So how that was possible that is the point of debate but Baba Siddiqui a well-known political figure as far as Mumbai is concerned, he was three-time member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He was also once the member of the cabinet and he was a known Bollywood figure. He had so many friends among the Bollywood celebrities

and his iftar parties used to be attended by many celebrities, especially from the film industry. Marathi Mahresh Connor. The number of migrants crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a treacherous route from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands has reached an all-time high. It's now one of the main gateways to reach Europe and is fast becoming one of the world's deadliest journeys.

The BBC has gained unprecedented access to the migrants prepared to take the dangerous crossing. Efrem Gebreab reports. It's early morning and a group of migrants crowd together on a traditional fishing boat as it leaves the beach in Senegal. Among them is farmer Mohamed Wali. He's never been to sea before, but is embarking on a perilous journey to try to reach Europe. I am asking you to pray for me. The time has come. He's agreed to pay people smugglers a thousand US dollars if he makes it across, leaving behind a wife and young children, in the hope he can better support them once he's there.

Nobody knows what could happen to me in these waters. But you have to take risks. If you don't have money, you don't matter. I'm their only hope, and I don't have money. Strong currents, towering waves, and relentless wind await this group of mostly young men on a journey of more than 1,000 kilometres across the Atlantic. They each have just a few bottles of water and a handful of biscuits to last them more than a week at sea. More than 30,000 migrants have made it by boat to the Canary Islands this year, more than double the figure from the same period last year.

Almost all of them are sub-Saharan Africans, fleeing poverty and conflict made worse by climate change. But officials on the Canary Islands say what awaits them on the rocky shores is an overwhelmed system at breaking point. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the president of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, described an oversaturated emergency system where sea rescuers, police and Red Cross volunteers are stretched beyond their limits.

Every 45 minutes, a migrant dies trying to reach our beaches. This means trafficking mafias are increasingly becoming more powerful. To better understand these criminal networks, the BBC spoke to one local smuggler organising boat trips to the Canaries. If you take a big boat, one that can carry two to three hundred people, and each of them pay around five hundred dollars. We are talking about a lot of money. The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that criminals make around $150 million a year on this route. When challenged about his role in this deadly trade, the smuggler was unrepentant and tells us there's

no shortage of people who are willing to risk it. It's a crime. Whoever gets caught should be put in prison. But there is no solution. You will see people in the water who have died, but the boats keep going. The Canary Islands government fears the worst is yet to come. Historically, the Mediterranean Sea has been the primary route for African migrants to reach Europe. But since the European Union introduced stricter security measures and struck agreements with North African countries, it's made it more difficult. Fernando Clavijo says it's one major reason that the longer route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is becoming more popular. For five days, the BBC heard no news from Mohamed. Then, one evening, he called. Go with Mohamed. He, one evening, he called. Call Mohamed.

He was back in Senegal. He explained that his boat had been less than a day away from reaching the Canary Islands when it started having problems. The motor was heating up and the wind was so strong. He said many on board feared the winds would pick up even more as they ventured further into the Atlantic Ocean and they decided to turn back to Senegal.

Mohamed told us he spent most of the journey standing up because of a lack of space and he slept in seawater mixed with fuel. He also ran out of water so had to drink from the sea. All of this has left him with injuries and health problems. But he says he's determined to try again to reach Europe. Ephraim Gebreab from BBC Africa Eye. There was a moment of history in marathon running on Sunday as the Kenyan runner Ruth Chetnodich smashed the women's world record by almost two minutes, winning the Chicago Marathon with a time of two hours, nine minutes and 57 seconds. And this is the moment she crossed

the finish line. Well, shortly after that moment, Ruth Cepnidich spoke to the BBC and described why breaking the record was so important. Since 2022 and I miss it with 14 seconds. I didn't give up. I just go back to Kenya and work on my areas where I was weak. What was in my mind was to push myself hard and I did it. It means a lot to me and a lot to my country Kenya that the World Record has gone back to Kenya again.

I think it has motivated a lot of people and I think it's impossible in life. Ruth Chepnidich, the world's fastest female marathon runner. Still to come in the Global News Podcast. We are still going wild over here, over there. Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books. A big achievement for Elon Musk's SpaceX. I'm Lucy Hockings from the Global Story podcast, where we're looking at disinformation online

and its potential influence on the upcoming US presidential election. Why people fall for online conspiracy theories and what happens when real-world events are shaped by online disinformation and how AI could affect the result of next month's election. The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts. A row has broken out in Latin America after the office of the Argentine president, Javier Mille,

released a video which claimed Christopher Columbus helped civilise the region. It was posted on the anniversary of the explorer's arrival in the New World on October 12, 1492. And here's a taste of it. I spoke to our Latin America regional editor, Leonardo Rocha, who first translated that video for us. The video says that a new era of progress in civilization began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas on 12th of October 1492.

The introduction, the written introduction by the Argentine government is more controversial. They said his arrival marked the beginning of civilization in the Americas. And that's what enraged many people in the continent, especially left-wing governments. This is a debate that we have every year on the 12th of October, because it used to be called the Day of the Race, which has now been changed to many different names across Latin America, Day of Ethnic Diversity, Day of Indigenous Resistance, Days of Spanish Culture, whatever it is. But it is very controversial. The reaction has been quite strong. And what are people saying?

Well, the Cuban government, for example, Cuba's communist government, said there's nothing to celebrate. It's a legacy of pillage and the slave trade. Colombia said there was no discovery. President Petro said there was no discovery. Human beings were doing amazing things in the Americas before 1492. President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, said there were great cultures here before and on and on. I mean, the only country that's

excluded from that is Brazil because it was colonized by the Portuguese who arrived there later. But across Latin America, you have that. And every year you have the debate about the role of Columbus. What President Millet, he's been in power for less than a year. What he's done is basically to bring that back. And, for example, there was a statue of Christopher Columbus in Buenos Aires that had been moved away from the city centre

by a previous left government, and he said he was bringing it back to the presidential palace to honour the Euro-Argentines persecuted and humiliated by previous governments. I mean, President Millet is deliberately very controversial. And tell us the truth of it, because, of course, there were great civilisations already like the Aztecs and others, weren't there? That's the reality. I mean, you have left-wing governments who will say Columbus just brought disease and disgrace and violence,

which is partly true. I mean, Spain had just regained control of the peninsula from the Moors, from the Arabs, and the people who went to colonize the Americas were very violent. They were basically war heroes from defeating the Arabs. But I think the more moderate view here is that, OK, you have to recognize abuses, the violence of the Spanish colonisation. But Latin America is what it is because of this mix of indigenous peoples who've been largely, hardly done by,

but also the contribution from the Spanish, the Italian, the Portuguese and many other cultures. Leonardo Rocha. For a century, zombies, human beings who return from the dead, have appeared in dozens of films. Some of those films set out to terrify while others play for laughs. A new exhibition in Paris looks at how the zombie myth extended around the world from Haiti and it investigates a strong connection to the African slave trade. As Vincent Dowd reports. Welcome to a night of total terror.

The Quebron-Lea Museum in Paris looks at cultures worldwide. Its latest exhibition is all about zombies, partly about how we regard the walking undead today, influenced by films such as Night of the Living Dead, made in 1968 by George A. Romero. They're coming to get you, Barbara. You're ignorant. They're coming for you, Barbara. But the new exhibition also shows, using French and English, how the concept of the zombie moved first to Haiti from Africa and then into international popular culture.

Curator Philippe Charlier. Think about Hollywood zombies, book zombies. This is absolutely the fake one. The true one belongs to Haiti because you've got the conjunction of all the religions from sub-Saharan Africa. And second, you've got a slave territory. Only in Haiti you may find true and authentic zombies. The name zombie comes from black Africa, from sub-Saharan Africa, especially from Democratic Republic of Congo.

Zombie means ghost of a dead child. The concept moved during the slave trade because it was a spirit initially, but no corpse. Then with a zombie in Haiti, it's a corpse without any spirit. Cinema audiences may long have delighted in gory tales of the dead returning to life. Not dead? Are you mad? I saw her die. Zombie! But the exhibition shows that zombies entered pop culture only after a horrific era in history.

The trade in slaves found its focus in what is now Haiti. Roughly how many black African slaves came to Haiti? Oh, millions came to Haiti, also to America and Brazil too. We don't have yet scientific quantification of the number of slaves. How much of what we're looking at in this exhibition in Paris has its origins in the slave trade? Zombies in Haiti, so the original one, are a kind of new slave for people that make evil. They transform them into a new kind of slaves with poisons, with evil spirits also. Without this slave trauma, it would not have been possible to create zombies. And over here in this display case, we have a number of...

Well, explain to me what they are, Philippe. These are iron shackles for slaves originating from Ghana, from Senegal, from Cameroon too, but also from Benin. Many of them have been found in Haiti, just to remember the memory of such slaves. Philippe Charlier says outside Haiti, there was little cultural interest in zombies until in 1915. Haiti was occupied by the United States of America.

And in the 1920s, 1930s, anthropologists discovered the zombie phenomenon. And it was later discovered also by Hollywood. The two main goals of this exhibition, the discovery, full discovery of what a true zombie is, and also the real voodoo culture from Haiti, which is absolutely beautiful and exceptional. The exhibition at the Kay Bronly Museum is fun, but it also shows France thinking through little understood aspects of the Atlantic slave trade and its legacy.

That report from Vincent Daoud in Paris. A leading international wine organisation has warned that climate change is amplifying challenges the industry already faces. 37 countries that belong to the French-based international organisation of vine and wine are calling for measures to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. Our Europe regional editor Danny Eberhard reports. The wine industry faces several significant problems, including a slowdown of international trade and changing patterns of consumption. But climate change is playing havoc too. Just ask wine growers in countries like Australia, Morocco and those in Mediterranean Europe. Vineyards can be damaged by extreme

weather events linked to climate change, floods, droughts and hail. Milder winters can mean vines bud earlier, leaving young growth vulnerable to spring frosts. Extreme conditions can also affect wine quality. One measure the nations recommend is preserving different varieties of vine. These could give growers more options in a changing climate. They note too that wine regions may shift geographically in the mid to long term. The thought of Britain or Sweden one day being a major competitor is enough to make any self-respecting French vigneron mutter fruitily into their glass. Danny Eberhard. It could well prove to be another giant space leap as SpaceX

rocket has returned its first stage booster section to the exact same launch pad it lifted off from. That's been viewed as a huge advance on the path towards rockets being reused and could greatly help our efforts to get to the moon, Mars and beyond. This was the reaction in SpaceX HQ when the booster landed safely. We are still going wild over here, over there. Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books. I spoke to the space scientist, Dr Simeon Barber. The SpaceX rocket, something called the Super Heavy Booster, which is a 70-metre long tube full of fuel, launched, first of all, it launched the spacecraft sitting on top of it.

It got to about 80 kilometers in altitude, then did a flip after releasing the spacecraft, and then amazingly came back to ground and landed safely where it had taken off from and was caught by what they call a pair of chopsticks, which is a pair of steel arms that the booster hovered between before they closed and gently held it tight to bring it safely to ground. So it was the first time this has ever been done, the first time a spacecraft booster has been caught on the ground. And the whole point is it can now be reused. And it could also, what, help us get to the moon and other planets? Yeah, so what SpaceX has demonstrated, their strategy is reusing spacecraft

because it's cheaper, if we're honest, but it's also greener, but it enables really fast turnaround. So what they need to be able to do is demonstrate they can land on any surface. So in the past, they've been landing out at sea, either on a boat or on the sea itself. But this is the first time they've landed this booster

that's capable of launching spacecraft to the moon. First time they've landed this booster that's capable of launching spacecraft to the moon. First time they've landed it on land on Earth. The next step is to do the same thing, but with the spacecraft itself, the bit that's on top. And if they can land that back on Earth, that it also means they can land it on moon. And then they can start taking humans to the moon, which is NASA's plan in two years time. And do you think this means that Elon Musk's strategy and the strategy of SpaceX is going to plan? I think the strategy of SpaceX has turned the space industry upside down, to be honest.

They're ahead of schedule. They weren't planning originally to do this chopsticks catch on this flight. It was meant to be on the next flight originally. They're doing things ahead of schedule, which is almost unheard of in any big industry project, and especially the space industry. So the strategy of doing lots of testing, accepting things will go wrong, but learning from those mishaps and pressing forward really seems to be paying dividends for sure. And how exciting is this for you as a space scientist? The moon could be a

destination within our reach to make regular trips, to take scientific payloads, to take scientists to do experiments. So this is all about making access to space sustainable. That might be to explore, it might be to use the moon to go on to Mars, but it does mean that we can do a huge amount of fantastic science experiments as part of those missions. So, yeah, amazing. Dr Simeon Barber. And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later.

If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producer is Isabella Jewell. The editor, as ever, is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. from the Global Story podcast, where we're looking at disinformation online and its potential influence on the upcoming US presidential election. Why people fall for online conspiracy theories

and what happens when real-world events are shaped by online disinformation and how AI could affect the result of next month's election. The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.