Global News Podcast - Israel and Hezbollah clash in southern Lebanon

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

Israel's military says a team commander has died in the fighting, a day after it announced its invasion. Also: we ask how Israel will respond to Iran's missile attack, and reaction from the US vice-president debate.

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. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Thank you. Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We are recording this at 13 hours GMT on Wednesday 2nd October.

Israeli and Hezbollah forces clash in southern Lebanon a day after Israel announced it was invading. Israel's military says a captain in an army commander unit has been killed in the fighting. We hear from northern Israel and we'll ask about the likely response to the huge barrage of missiles fired by Iran. Also in the podcast, the US vice presidential candidates go head to head in the most cordial TV debate of the campaign. And... This cargo belongs to the Harahara people, the silver, the gold, and we think it should be raised from the seabed to stop treasure hunters looking into it. Who owns the world's most valuable shipwreck. In recent weeks, Israel has made the most of its air superiority over Hezbollah,

using airstrikes and huge bombs to kill more than a thousand people in Lebanon. But now Israeli troops are fighting direct battles with Hezbollah on the ground. They have become more vulnerable. In the past few hours, Israel has confirmed that an officer in an army commander unit has been killed in combat inside Lebanon. Israel has sent extra forces over the border, regular infantry and armoured units. The latest fighting comes as Israelis reel from Tuesday night's huge missile barrage from Iran, as I heard from Nick Beek in northern Israel. I think a lot of people, Oliver, would have looked up at the skies yesterday and been alarmed by what they saw. The Iranian missiles overhead, a lot of them passing by here,

heading to other major towns and cities further into the country itself. But, yeah, many people having to take shelter and staying there for a long time until they were told it was relatively safe to come out. This morning, once again, there's been more explosions. There has been the dull thud in the background of Israeli artillery fire, so that's outgoing fire, but also much louder explosions once again, and that has been the Hezbollah rockets that continue to be fired, more than 100 today, according to the Israeli military,

and they've been intercepted pretty much overhead. So we've heard that as well. And, of course, that is concerning for people living here. A lot of them were displaced months ago. They actually live much nearer to the border but have been forced to live away from it because of the ongoing threat of rockets. And concerning for many Israelis with family in the military,

the news that at least one Israeli commander has been killed in fighting in Lebanon and clashes there are increasing while Israel has sent extra troops across the border. Yes, absolutely. I think for a lot of Israeli families, as they prepare to mark the Jewish New Year this evening, it's a time of huge concern. We know that more troops are moving towards the northern border. And as you say, this morning, the IDF confirming that a 22-year-old soldier was killed in the early hours of this morning, actually inside Lebanon. Hezbollah had said early on that there had been these clashes and that casualties had been sustained by the Israelis. And the IDF have now confirmed this. They're saying that they're engaged in close quarters fighting with Hezbollah,

which, of course, for the Israelis carries a large risk because Hezbollah knows this territory so well. This is land that they've been operating on and been around for years and years. And so there is a concern there. Nonetheless, the Israelis are saying they are bringing more forces in to join in the mission. Unclear what that will be in the long term. Certainly the stated aim is to push Hezbollah back sufficiently so that in the future the people I describe living here at the moment can return to their homes, but that is a long way off

and it is fraught with difficulty for the Israelis from their point of view. Nick Beek in northern Israel. Well, Iran's barrage on Tuesday evening was reported to be fraught with difficulty for the Israelis from their point of view. Nick Beek in northern Israel. Well, Iran's barrage on Tuesday evening was reported to be about twice the size of the one it launched in April. Israel said most of the 180 ballistic missiles were intercepted by its air defences. But the head of Iran's military, General Mohamed Barghari, said it had the capacity to step up attacks if needed.

If the Zionist regime that has gone crazy is not controlled by America and Europe and wants to continue these crimes or wants to do anything against our sovereignty and territorial integrity, tonight's operation will be repeated several times stronger and all their infrastructure will be targeted. I asked Parham Gobardi of the BBC Persian service what he made of the scale of the Iranian assault. One of the significant differences between this attack and the previous one a few months ago was that in the previous one,

Iranian regime used a combination of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Cruise missiles take up to a few hours to reach Israel. Drones take about six hours to reach Israel. But the ballistic missiles are the one that only take a few minutes. And this time, Iran used only ballistic missiles, and they claim that they've used hypersonic ballistic missiles. When you're using drones that take up to eight hours, seven hours, six hours to get to Israel. So, you know, Western powers and Israel can prepare themselves. And that's why they managed to intercept almost 90% of Iranian missiles thrown at Israel last time. But this time, we don't know exactly how many hit the ground. But what appears from the footages that we all

have seen, it shows that Iran managed to strike more missiles at Israel this time around. However, how many of them hit the target correctly, it's too early to judge. But it must know that by doing that, it is inviting a retaliation from Israel. That's correct. However, the Iranian officials have sent message to the Americans. This is what the Iranian foreign minister said today that they have said that this was the end of our operation. And if Israel retaliates, we are going to strike even harder this time. But they are sending a message that they do not want to continue and escalate any further. Will this kind of attack satisfy Iran's allies, who in a way think it hasn't been doing enough to help them in their war against

Israel? It has satisfied multiple groups. It has satisfied Iranian heartliners. They were criticising the Iranian authorities, the Iranian commanders in the past few days, live on Iranian state TV, which was quite unprecedented. So last night they took to the streets and they celebrated. But ironically, some Iranian opposition figures also are happy with the further escalation between Iran and Israel, especially after Benjamin Netanyahu sent a message to Iranian people that change will come sooner than you expect. Now, Iran says if Israel retaliates, it will deliver a response that's stronger and more powerful. Is there more that Iran can do? Like I said, so the ballistic missiles can reach Israel within a few minutes. Now, Americans say that Iran has given prior warning. So Iran

denies that. But however, if Iran strikes, you know, massively with ballistic missiles from different parts of Iran, and as we've seen that many of them have reached Israel, so the Iron Dome, David's thing did not manage to intercept all of them. So if that would be the case, then, you know, it can be quite dangerous. Gabbadi of the BBC Persian service. Israel's foreign minister has barred the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres from entering Israel over his failure to quote, unequivocally condemn Iran's attack. The UN Security Council is due to meet later in New York. Israel's staunchest ally, the United States, helped to repel Iran's assault. So what is the view in Washington?

I spoke to our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman. The tone coming out of most US officials has been that they believe that the attack was defeated in their words and that was in large part due to Israel's own anti-missile defense systems but also because of US support they had two naval destroyers at sea that fired interceptors and it's not clear whether or not actually any of those made contact, but they say they fired 12 interceptors from their ships. So there was U.S. support once again. That happened back in April as well when the Iranians fired missiles and drones at Israel. Beyond that, the question is then about what happens next. hours before the missile strikes was a warning to the Iranians that there would be, in the words of

the Americans, severe consequences for a direct military attack on the Israelis. That has obviously now happened. And all we could get yesterday, really, and I pressed the State Department spokesman on this repeatedly, about what they're considering now is that they said they were working with the Israelis to establish what the response would be. When I pressed on the degree to which diplomacy would be part of it, the spokesman said that they have throughout this conflict, in his words, used a combination of deterrence and diplomacy. But you'd have to think, given the nature of the warning that went out beforehand, they're going to be going harder on the deterrence side of this, i.e. military action or backing the Israelis carrying out military action, but at least diplomatically supported by the US. And I guess we're all waiting to see when that comes. Tom Bateman in Washington. So the last exchange of airstrikes between Israel and Iran

earlier this year was brought to an end with relatively little damage, not least thanks to US calls for restraint. But this time may be different, as we heard from our security correspondent, Frank Gardner. If you remember back in April, Iran fired around 300 missiles and drones in response to Israel's airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. At that time, Israel's allies said, please don't retaliate too hard. We don't want to start a whole regional Middle East war. And Israel listened to that and carried out a fairly symbolic strike on Iran's air defenses near Isfahan,

basically saying, OK, we're not going to do a lot of damage. We're just going to show you how far our reach is. This time, I think the gloves are coming off because Iran fired 180 missiles, many of which were ballistic, some of which have got through. So Israel's deterrent clearly isn't strong enough for Iran. And both countries are basically in a kind of face-off situation. So what will it hit? I think its first targets are likely to be the missile launch sites that fired those missiles at Israel. It'll want to take out the launch pads, the silos, the command and control centers, the refueling, all of those things. It may try and hit some of the coastal air defenses. It could potentially, and Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli prime minister, is saying now is

the perfect opportunity to hit Iran's nuclear facilities that Israel's been worried about for a long time because it suspects that Iran is building or getting to the point where it could build a nuclear warhead and the means to deliver it. So that would obviously up the stakes a lot. It could go after Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps bases. There's a whole range of different targets. And the problem is that Iran is then going to retaliate as well. And there's lots of ways that it could retaliate.

But is Iran still reluctant to get engaged in a full scale war with Israel? Well, there will have been a heated, urgent debate in Iranian elite security and intelligence circles, together with the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Ayatollah, about how hard they should retaliate. Because the hardliners will say, look, we can't just simply stand back and watch as Hezbollah, our main ally, our first line of defence in the Middle East, is taken apart by Israel. And they assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, and they assassinated Hassan Nasrallah. We've got to do something. So those hardliners will have won out. The pragmatists who will have said, hang on, I think we should just retaliate in our own time, they lost out.

Our security correspondent, Frank Gardner. And staying with the Middle East. Hello, I'm Jackie Leonard, and we'll be recording a special episode of the Global News podcast to mark one year since Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza. We'll be putting your questions to our correspondents who've been covering the Middle East for the past 12 months. Please send us your questions, ideally a voice note by email to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. And still to come on the Global News Podcast. We're starting to find things that are small that could host life that are within sort of reach, if you like.

And so I think that's one of the really exciting things. It kind of brings us a step closer to finding something that we could actually talk to. The new planet causing excitement among astronomers. To be continued... plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. Other news now, and the highlight of the last US vice-presidential debate four years ago

was when a fly landed on Mike Pence's hair. Tuesday night's match-up between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz could certainly have more of an impact, given how tight the election is. For Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, there was a chance to introduce himself and his would-be boss Kamala, just eight weeks after they joined forces on the Democratic ticket. J.D. Vance, Republican senator from Ohio, would have wanted to show he could be a reliable deputy for Donald Trump, who would become the oldest person ever elected president if he wins in November. So how did the running mates do? Our North America correspondent

John Sudworth was watching. America decides, the vice presidential debate. Earlier today, Iran launched its largest attack yet on Israel. The first question of the night, the crisis in the Middle East. And Tim Walz began by attacking his opponent's boss, Donald Trump. Steady leadership is going to matter. It's clear a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is going to matter. It's clear a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment. But J.D. Vance, Mr. Trump's pick for vice president, was quick to respond in kind, hitting back on Kamala Harris's record. Iran is as close to a nuclear weapon today as they have ever been. And Governor Walz,

you blame Donald Trump. Who has been the vice president for the last three and a half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine. We're going to turn now to immigration. As expected, another topic loomed large. And Mr. Vance referenced his somewhat unusual personal backstory for a national Republican politician, the subject of a bestselling book about impoverished Rust Belt roots and his mother's addiction to drugs. Kamala Harris has opened the floodgates. And what it's meant is that a lot of fentanyl is coming into our country. I had a mother who struggled with opioid addiction and has gotten clean. I don't want people who are struggling with addiction to be deprived of their

second chance because Kamala Harris let in fentanyl at record levels. Donald Trump had four years and he promised you, America, how easy it would be. I'll build you a big, beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it. Less than 2% of that wall got built and Mexico didn't pay a dime. This was a combative, robust performance from both men. But for the American media watching here in the spin room, there was also something unusual on display on that stage, the sense of a genuine debate. Now to the issue of reproductive rights. Mr. Walsh brought up the loss of the federal right

to an abortion, something Donald Trump has claimed credit for. Just mind your own business. Things worked best when Roe versus Wade was in place. And from Mr. Vance, an attempt to address his party's difficulties on the issue. My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue where they frankly just don't trust us. And although it was back on testy ground by the end, there was plenty of agreement too. Well, I've enjoyed tonight's debate and I think there was a lot of commonality here. In a divided country, a real exchange at least, and perhaps a glimmer of hope, whatever side you're on.

That report by John Sudworth. And just a reminder that we are doing a special Q&A podcast on the US presidential election in a couple of weeks. So if you have a question you'd like to put to our AmeriCast colleagues in Washington, please send us an email, globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk or tweet us at globalnewspod. And thanks to those who have already sent in voice notes. Rwanda is rushing to tackle its first known outbreak of the Marburg virus. Nine people have died and 18 others are being treated in hospital. The authorities in the

capital, Kigali, have announced restrictions on movement to try to contain the outbreak, as Richard Hamilton reports. Marburg is a haemorrhagic virus which produces fever, headaches, vomiting and diarrhoea, symptoms similar to Ebola, which belongs to the same family of viruses. These symptoms can take one to three weeks before they actually emerge. Marburg was first discovered in 1967 and has appeared intermittently in several African countries, including Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The virus can be transmitted by exposure to fruit bats and between people via bodily fluids through

unprotected sex and broken skin. The Rwandan health minister, Dr Sabin Sanzimana, told the BBC what measures they were taking. The country has been activating its national response mechanisms, so we've been doing contact tracing, testing, but more importantly treating those who were confirmed positive. And our intention is to stop the spread as we can. This is a very difficult virus to treat once you get it, but we are doing our best in the country and our system has been prepared to deal with such kind of outbreaks. Hospital visits to patients suspected of carrying the virus have also been banned,

and a maximum of 50 people are allowed to attend funerals. So where did the virus originate from? It's too early to say that we know exactly. This is something we're working on since day one. As you do contact tracing and investigating on the virus, you need some advanced tests to be performed, for example, sequencing. So you trace the variants and you may get to exactly where it came from. But as you know, this is a region where these kind of outbreaks have happened in the past. And we're also asking our colleagues, our neighbours and the region and our continent to see if we can share this information as we determine exactly where this virus started from. Although there's still no proven treatment for

Marburg, hydration has been seen to help recovery, and several new vaccines are currently on trial. Dr Sanzimana says they may take advantage of some of these. Rwanda is a highly organised society, some critics might say too organised, so the chances of the disease getting out of control are probably low. Richard Hamilton. It's being hailed as the most valuable shipwreck in the world. The San Jose, a Spanish galleon sunk by the British off the coast of Colombia more than 300 years ago. A US salvage company says the treasure on board could be worth up to $18 billion. But the big question is who actually owns it?

Gideon Long has been investigating. This is Greenwich. I'm in Greenwich in the southeast London. Famous of course for Greenwich Mean Time or GMT, the standard used for setting clocks around the world, but famous also for its maritime history. Greenwich is on the River Thames at the entrance to London, and it's home to Britain's National Maritime Museum. And I've come to see one painting in particular. I'm Simon Stevens. I'm curator of the Ship, Model and Boat Collection.

And we're standing in front of the painting that I've come here to see. Just tell our listeners what we're looking at here. OK, so we're looking at a really nice oil painting on canvas showing the action of Admiral Wager against the Spanish treasure fleet in 1708. Right. And in the centre of the picture, you've got Wager's ship firing guns at the San Jose, which was laden with gold, silver, jewels.

And then you've got fire and explosion on the left-hand side. It's a really dramatic painting, isn't it? Absolutely. And the masts are being blown away. The ship is heeling over. It's on its side. And as I understand it, the idea was not initially to blow up and destroy the San Jose. No, far from it.

I mean, what you really want to do with a ship that's laden with booty like this or treasure is you want to disable it. So it didn't quite work out that way? Not really, no. I mean, unfortunately, during the action, a cannonball went into the powder magazines of the San Jose and it blew up. Right. And within minutes, it sank to the bottom of the sea.

And there it lay on the seabed of the Caribbean for the next 300 years. Until the 1980s, when a US salvage company, these days called Sea Search Armada, said it had found the wreck, it tried to persuade the Colombians to go into partnership to bring up the treasure and split the proceeds. But the two sides couldn't agree on who should get what share and plunge into a legal battle that's still going on. Then in 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos made a stunning announcement. 307 years after it was sunk, we have found, without any shadow of a doubt, the San Jose Galeon. El Galeon San Jose.

Santos said the Colombians had found the wreck independently of the Americans on a different bit of the seabed. The news made headlines around the world. Treasure hunters have called it the holy grail of shipwrecks and now it's been found. Colombia says it has located the Spanish Galleon, San José and its cargo, sunken treasure that could be worth billions. Now the Colombian and Spanish governments, as well as a U.S. salvage company, are fighting over who has legal claim to all that loot. As that CBS News report makes clear, Spain was now also involved. This was, after all, a Spanish ship. So Spain, Colombia, the U.S. salvage company, all staking a claim to the San Jose. And then, just to complicate matters further, enter Bolivia. A Bolivian indigenous people, the Jara Jara Nation, state their claim to the

treasure of the San Jose. They argue that this isn't Spanish treasure, it was stolen from their lands by the Spanish. Samuel Flores is a representative of the Jarajara. This cargo belongs to the Jarajara people, the silver, the gold, and we think it should be raised from the seabed to stop treasure hunters looking into it. The money should be returned to us. How many years have gone by? 300 years? They owe us that debt. And I hope that before too long, the San Jose can be a symbol. But what exactly is that treasure? What's down

there on the seabed? To find out more, I spoke to Carla Rand Phillips. She's a historian who's written a book about the San Jose. I asked her what the treasure would be worth these days. I try to resist giving present day estimates of anything. If you're talking about gold and silver coins, do we make an estimate based on the weight of the gold now and what gold would go for now on the market? Or do we look at what collectors might pay for these gold coins? The estimates of the treasure hunters are just, to me, they're laughable. And if the treasure is ever brought to the surface, who will get to keep it? It's a difficult, if not impossible, task to try to satisfy everyone. I don't think that can happen.

And that report was by Gideon Long. Finally, to a new discovery in space, a planet relatively close to our own solar system. It's six light years from Earth and orbits its own star. Dr Carly Howitt from Oxford University has been speaking to Emma Barnett. I think one of the really exciting things is that we're starting to find smaller planets. Up to now, it's been easier to find the big stuff. And the big stuff tends to be a bit gaseous. And that makes it hard for life to exist on it. The small planets like Hanay's Bound are really exciting because this one's quite close to us. So imagine there was life there. It's only six

light years away. So it's a bit of a slow conversation, six years there, six years back, 12 years for reply. But you can sort of get the idea that we're starting to find things that are small, that could host life, that are within sort of reach, if you like. And so I think that's one of the really exciting things. It kind of brings us a step closer to finding something that we could actually talk to. But why does that matter? Why is that important for us to know? Well, I think it's really hopeful, right? That idea that there's something bigger than us. And I think stepping back sometimes and looking at the sky and realising how small we are, put some of the problems we have into perspective. And hopefully it gives us hope that we can fix what's going on in our worlds as we look into the sky above and realise it was just a single thing in this great, enormous cosmos and we have that in common. Where do you think we need to learn about next? Or what's the hope, do you think, next? Well, I think there's so much going on in exoplanet research. We have PLATO that's coming online. That's an ESA mission, 2026. And we have the Nancy Gray Roman Space Telescope

and NASA one that's coming on 2027. I think we're going to be discovering exoplanets left, right and centre. And I think it's going to be really interesting to see what type of worlds they afford and also how unique our own solar system is as we start looking at others. So I think there's lots of cool exoplanet stuff still to come. Space expert Carly Howitt. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News Podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Martin Williams and produced by Alfie Habershon. Our editors, Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.

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