Global News Podcast - Israeli expands ground offensive against Hezbollah

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

The IDF is moving into a new area in the south-west of Lebanon, deploying a new division. Also, Interpol intensifies investigation into remains of murdered women in cold cases, and China slaps tariffs on European brandy.

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. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and at 13 hours GMT on Tuesday the 8th of October, these are our main stories.

Israel expands its ground defensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah, sending in thousands more troops. Even as Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets into Israel, its deputy leader supports a call for a ceasefire without linking it to one in Gaza. China announces new tariffs on brandy imports from the EU in retaliation for duties imposed by the bloc on its electric vehicles. Also in this podcast, the European initiative to identify female murder victims in cold cases. That's the thing with the dunes. The wind blows and the sand washes away, so we don't have any evidence. And when in-flight entertainment goes wrong. The Israeli military has deployed thousands more troops in Lebanon as it expands its ground

defensive against Hezbollah. This comes as a Lebanese militant group has fired one of its biggest rocket barrages into northern Israel since it started its cross-border attacks a year ago in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza, aiming more than 100 rockets at the port city of Haifa. Israel says most of them were intercepted by air defence systems, but there was some damage to buildings. I got more on these developments with our correspondent Nick Beek, who's in northern Israel near the border, starting with Israel's expanding ground operations in Lebanon. What we've been hearing this morning is that a fourth division from the Israeli military is now involved in the invasion into Lebanon. The Israelis haven't given exact

details in terms of troop numbers, but I think it's fair to assume that thousands more soldiers will be heading towards this border. And also the Israelis have been saying that they're expanding the operation. And quite specifically, if I give you sort of a sense of where we are in the north of the country, there have been two main entry points towards the east of the border between Israel and Lebanon. But now the Israelis are saying they're going right to the west, so basically next to the Mediterranean Sea, and they say they're launching operations from there.

They say they're limited, localised and targeted. Critics, though, say that those were the same words that were used to describe Israeli military operations in Gaza over the past year, and they point out that a reported 40,000 people died during those. And this comes as Hezbollah has fired more than 100 rockets into northern Israel today. Yes, that's right. On the anniversary of them launching this campaign in solidarity with Hamas, and the focus today seems to have been the city of Haifa, Israel's third city. No reported deaths there or serious casualties,

but certainly some houses and some cars damaged. And Haifa is quite significant, Jeanette, because yesterday it was hit as well. And that was the first time there'd been a direct hit on that city for nearly 20 years. It was back in 2006, the last time that Hezbollah and Israel were engaged in a ground war. So I think it's an illustration how, you know, history is repeating itself and also how things do seem to be intensifying here on this particular front.

Nick Beek in northern Israel. Meanwhile, the deputy leader of Hezbollah has issued a defiant message, hours after yet another senior figure in the group was killed by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut. The group's deputy leader, Naeem Qasem, said in a televised speech that Israel would not achieve its goals and claimed the group's capabilities were unaffected. I say to you that our capacities are fine. Our fighters on the front are steadfast and the leadership is cohesive. But at the same time, Naim Qasem said he supported a call from Lebanon's parliament for a ceasefire with Israel in what's thought to be the first time Hezbollah has not tied a truce in Lebanon to one in Gaza. I asked our Middle East editor Mike Thompson if Naim

Kassim is now de facto leader of Hezbollah. Yes, he would be at the moment because a successor hasn't been formally chosen, although he himself, that's Kassim, has said that one will be chosen in what he called the earliest opportunity. But for the moment, he will be the head of the organization. Because many of the leaders of Hezbollah have been killed by Israel. So it's hard to know who could replace such a charismatic figure as Hassan Nasrallah. One thing that Naeem Qasem has going for him is that he has been deputy for more than three decades. He has indeed, yes. He was appointed deputy in 1991, so that's a long time to go. But as you said, the competition for the top job isn't that plentiful

because Israel has been so successful through those attacks on the pages and handheld radios, for instance, and also various airstrikes on Beirut. They've got rid of so many people, including Hashim Sefaidin, who was thought to be the man who would step into Nasrallah's shoes. And this message from Naeem Qasim, it was very defiant, as you would expect. But it was interesting, wasn't it, that he didn't call for a ceasefire deal in Gaza. And that was the whole reason that Hezbollah started its cross-border attacks into Israel a year ago. Yes, it was only at the end of September that he said Hezbollah will keep fighting Israel in support of the Palestinians. So now he's talking about this possibility of a ceasefire, really saying he would support that view that's been put forward by the Speaker of

Lebanon's Parliament, who is, by the way, Hezbollah ally. So it's quite significant. And as you said, he hasn't tied this to a ceasefire in Gaza, which all the way along has been the thing Hezbollah have said. Pull out of there, Israel, and we will stop firing at you. Mike Thompson. Well, more than 2,000 people have been killed and nearly 10,000 injured in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing into Israel a year ago. In an interview with the BBC, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, Fouad Assanura, said the world had abandoned his country. He also accused Hezbollah of holding the government hostage. Mr. Assanura, a Sunni Muslim, was prime minister at the time of the last Israeli invasion in 2006.

Our correspondent, Anna Foster, asked him if he felt the world had failed to support Lebanon. Somehow, yes, it has been abandoned. And at the same time, there has been a lack of initiatives to be taken, and brave initiatives, I would say. Practically, the Lebanese as a state has been kidnapped by Hezbollah, and behind Hezbollah is Iran. This pistol, or this gun that was held by Hezbollah, instead of being pointed towards Israel, it started to become pointed towards something else,

towards domestically as a way of being used by Iran to interfere in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen. There's a real vacuum in Lebanese politics at the moment. But as you say, nobody stepped forward and clearly articulated the difference between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah. Why didn't they do that? They surely let the people of Lebanon down by doing that. Exactly, exactly. What has been going on since October 23, that things were dragging and getting worse and worse. It's very important nationally and from an Arabic point of view to associate with Gaza. But particularly now Lebanon cannot afford

in principle to get involved in such a matter. When the Gaza situation has become only 2.2 million Palestinians homeless, and all of Gaza is destroyed. To continue to link Lebanon's situation with Gaza is not wise, and particularly in view of the serious risks that we are having. Lebanon cannot afford to continue to be hijacked by the Iranian government, by Iran. I hope that something can really happen in order to save Lebanon. I strongly believe, strongly believe that it is very important to keep Lebanon alive. That was the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, Fouad Assanura. It's been less than two weeks since Hurricane Helene pummeled the southeast

of the United States, killing at least 230 people. But now an even more powerful storm is hurtling towards a highly populated stretch of Florida's coast, the Tampa Bay area, home to more than three million people, even as residents are still recovering from the massive damage wrought by Helene. Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall on Wednesday night, and it's feared it could cause storm surges into Tampa as high as four meters. Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis gave this update at a news conference. We have 51 counties currently under a state of emergency. As of the 5 a.m. advisory, Hurricane Milton is still a major hurricane. It is no longer a Category 5,

but it potentially could strengthen back to that as it makes its approach to the state of Florida. Maximum sustained winds are in excess of 150 miles an hour. Now, their forecasts do call for it to weaken before it gets to landfall. And maybe that's true. Let's hope it's true. Maybe it's not. But even if it does weaken, you're still looking at a major hurricane. It is going to have really, really significant impacts. Christian Benavides is a reporter from our sister network, CBS. He's in Tampa and says highways have been clogged with traffic there as people flee ahead of the storm. We know that folks are listening to those warnings. If you've seen some of the videos that just show the lines and lines of vehicles. In fact, just yesterday, leaving an area similar to where we're

located right here took about an hour and a half, what would normally be maybe 20, 30 minutes, just because so many folks are trying to get out. We are in St. Pete Beach. This is a barrier island community, part of the Tampa Bay area. And so much of it was devastated by Helene, which struck here not two weeks ago. Right behind me, a mountain of debris. And it's not just this. I mean, it's down the street. You've got all this debris out here. The concern is that it could get picked up by the wind and become a dangerous projectile. That's what officials are so concerned about. They are rushing, they say, to get all this debris into a location

where it's not going to do something like that. But at this point, it's a race against the clock. You have to remember, I mean, there is just so much of it across so many communities, and there is so little time. You've really got just about 24 hours before you really should be hunkering down in this area because even though landfall may not happen for 36 hours or 48 hours, I mean, you've got to be, you're already feeling the impacts way before that. Another major concern is that so many folks here are already being displaced by Helene. So you've got a lot of hotels in central Florida that are already full. And now you add on to that that you've got more evacuation zones this time around. Folks are looking for

places to go to and they can't find them because the hotels are full. Christian Benavidez in Tampa. Months after falling out with the Kenyan president over deadly anti-government unrest sparked by planned tax rises, the deputy president is vowing to continue in his fight against impeachment proceedings. They were initiated by coalition allies of President William Ruto a week ago, and the deputy president, Rigadi Gashagwa, is expected to defend himself in parliament from accusations of enriching himself, stirring ethnic hatred and undermining the government. Speaking on the eve of the parliamentary debate, Mr Gashagwa denied all the charges against him,

describing them as politically motivated. There is no gross misconduct. There is no crime that has been committed. I have no intention whatsoever to resign from this job. I'll fight to the end. Our senior Africa correspondent Anne Soy is in Nairobi. She told me more about why the deputy president is facing this vote. There are 11 counts which MPs are accusing him of, including what he mentioned there, gross misconduct, breaking national and international laws, among others,

undermining the president, stalking ethnic division. And he came on national television yesterday. They were all live, and he spoke for more than two hours in what appeared to be a strategy to appeal to the sympathy of the public. And he said that he was elected by the public in a joint ticket to the president, and therefore MPs cannot overturn the will of the people. And as you heard there, he's vowed to fight to the president. And therefore, MPs cannot overturn the will of the people. And as you heard there, he's vowed to fight to the end, including even going to court to challenge this process. So far, there have been multiple efforts to try and stop the impeachments through the courts,

but they haven't been successful. And this seems to be the culmination of a major fallout between the Kenyan president and his deputy, who is insisting this is all politically motivated. Yes, the rift has been growing over recent months. And so it culminated in MPs, the vast majority of whom support the president bringing these impeachment proceedings. The deputy president will have a chance to defend himself later this afternoon. It is expected that it will sail through the National Assembly and go to the Senate, which is essentially the trial, where the trial will take place. And even there, it is expected that it will sail through.

What do Kenyans make of all this? The comments have been very different. There are those who are asking, you know, they were elected, the deputy president and the president were elected on a joint ticket. They do not want too much politicking. They want the government to deliver. And therefore, they think that this is a distraction from other things that are going on within government. However, there are those who are in support and they're saying that because they're in a joint ticket, they should be speaking with one voice. So divided opinions among the public. Anne Soy in Nairobi. Now, she was the mother of Whitney Houston, but Sissy Houston was an icon in her own right and lauded

as one of America's finest gospel singers. Her fans are in mourning after news of her death at the age of 91. Charles Anyogolu reports. Sissy Houston was a towering figure in the worlds of gospel and pop music. Her career spanned more than seven decades, during which she picked up numerous accolades, including two Grammy Awards. She also performed as a backing singer, or alongside superstars such as Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin and Beyonce. Her daughter Whitney died more than a decade ago by accidental drowning in a hotel bathroom at the age of 48. Her granddaughter,

Bobbi Christina Brown, died at the age of 22 from a combination of drowning and drugs. Charles Anyogolu. Still to come on this podcast, copying the English while Germans get annoyed with apostrophes in the wrong place. 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 Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free.

Simply subscribe to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to 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. To no one's surprise, China has hit back at the European Union just days after the EU imposed large tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, saying they were unfairly subsidised. Beijing has now imposed duties on imports of European brandy, a move that French brandy producers say will be catastrophic for them.

Brussels says it will bring a case against the Chinese tariffs of the World Trade Organisation. Mariko Oi told Leanna Byrne all about the trade row between China and the EU. We're talking about EU's tariffs on Chinese EVs. We've been talking quite a lot about this, that Western carmakers accuse Chinese carmakers of basically flooding the markets with very affordable EVs, thanks to state subsidies. And that's why the EU and the US actually have taken measures to try and restrict their imports into their countries or into their region. And in response, China has

announced a retaliatory measure, if you like, imposing temporary anti-dumping measures on branding imports from the European Union. So as a result, not surprisingly, shares of those companies have been affected after the announcement. And they're investigating other products as well, aren't they? Yes, there has been an ongoing investigation, especially into EU pork products, for example. And they said that they would make objective and fair decision at the end of the probe. So we'll wait to find out what that means. But of course, it has been kind of an ongoing tit for tat, you know, starting with EVs, but involving many, many different products. So

it does feel like it's starting to, you know, feel a bit like that US-China trade war, but this time with the EU, while that trade war with the US is still ongoing as well. And Mariko, it's been a pretty busy day on the markets in Shanghai as well, hasn't it? Yeah, it was a bit of a strange day, if you like. Mainland Chinese stock market reopened after a week-long holiday known as Golden Week. And if you remember, before that holiday, there was quite a bit of a party, if you like. You know, shares were cheering, investors were cheering, all the stimulus measures announced by the Chinese government and central bank. And then

this morning at the open, the Shanghai Stock Index actually surged by 10%. So we all thought that that rally was going to continue. And then that rally started to fizzle out. And I mean, we were never sure about why that is. But it kind of coincided with a press conference held by one of the top Chinese official talking about stimulus measures and so on. And I think what analysts told us was that they were hoping to find out more details or further stimulus measures announcement during that press conference, which they didn't get. And that's why we started seeing that 10% rally down to even 1.5% and then ending about 3%, 4% level. Mariko Oi.

The death of a teenage girl is one of 46 cold cases which European police are seeking to solve as part of the second phase of a campaign aimed at finding the names of unidentified female murder victims. Details of each one have been published on Interpol's website, along with photographs of possible identifying items and facial reconstructions. The second phase of the Operation Identify Me campaign includes cases in Germany, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and France.

Anna Holligan joined French detectives at the scene of the teenager's murder. We're walking by the side of a road in Le Cellier, down to the spot where the murdered teenager's body was found. He may have dropped the body from the road. A pair of red shoes and a British 10 pence coin are among the very few clues. Not so much indeed, yes. On other cases, we have more clues. I'm Franck Danrol. I'm a superintendent, head of the office in charge of serious and violent crimes in France.

How would you describe this area? It's a quiet place to dispose a body. Maybe to commit a murder too. It's possible that the murder was committed there. From the road, you cannot see what happens there. Is this the case file? Yes. From that skull?

That is her skull?, from that skull. That is her skull? That was her skull. When she was found, there was more skin. There was still hair. The newspaper at the time... Leontine Gallois is the producer with me here in Le Cellier. And she's been going through some old newspaper articles. The journalist suggests that she might have been a victim of a car crash

or a hitchhiker that got abused by a car driver. What do you think of these theories? There is no sign on the body related to a car crash, but there is evidence that there was a murder. But it's such a quiet village, you would think when there is a teenager's body found in a ditch by the side of the road it would trigger some memory but we are we are we are very oftenly confronted to people

are not aware of what tragedy has happened just nearby then leontine receives a call from a woman who remembers at the time she was scared but no one really talked about it that much. Because she probably wasn't local. Yeah, she told me for sure she was not. No one knew her. Dr Susan Hitchen is head of Interpol's DNA unit. Women are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence. Let's not forget that these women have suffered a double injustice.

They've become victims twice. They have been killed through an act of violence and also they've been denied their name in death. All right, let's get in. When you come to the dunes where they go up, you have these beautiful pathways which are a bit more isolated. The woman in the dunes was Detective Sandra Basbank's first case 22 years ago. Take you up to where we found her. And as you can feel, she must have been, you know, strong and fit to take this walk. She remembers seeing the body with no obvious signs of injury or a struggle. She was lying here, face down the sand wearing red shoes shiny so that

was a bit odd if the scenario would have been that she was laying there and somebody would have been with her and pressing the head in the sand maybe but I just don't have the evidence for it but that's the thing with the dunes the wind blows and the sand washes away so we don't have the evidence for it. But that's the thing with the dunes. The wind blows and the sand washes away. So we don't have any evidence. The one thing she had in her pocket was three keys. One of the keys she was carrying was eventually traced back to Germany. But then the leads went cold. For your first case to be a cold case must be frustrating, like you can't close the book.

That's true. But maybe, I'm just thinking, maybe she gave me a chance to be good at what I do, to always give that little bit extra, so you know, never give up. And that motto resulted in the identification of a British woman, Rita Roberts, 31 years after she was murdered in Belgium. Her family recognised a distinctive black rose tattoo Rita Roberts, 31 years after she was murdered in Belgium. Her family recognised a distinctive black rose tattoo that appeared in a BBC report about the first Identify Me campaign. I couldn't breathe. I had to sit down. My body just shook.

Rita's sister Donna hopes other families will get the same sense of closure. I know where she is and she's at peace and that is most important. Rita Roberts' sister Donna ending that report by Anna Holligan. The rules around the use of apostrophes in German-speaking countries have been loosened, sparking criticism from some grammar enthusiasts. The row is over the style in which many establishments are named, where apostrophes are commonly used. But as Harry Bly explains, many critics have dismissed this as an English grammar rule.

In English, an apostrophe can be used to show the possession of something, but it's not the same in German. Not in most cases. This is Oliver Berlau, one of our producers who's from Germany. There is, if a name, say, ends on an S sound, for instance, you could say Karl Marx's worldview, or Weltanschauung, as we say in German, then you have an apostrophe to show that it is a possessive form.

But all the others not. If somebody is called Peter and you have, let's say, Peter's bar, you wouldn't have an apostrophe there. Until now. It's colloquially known in Germany as the Depenapostrophe or Idiot's Apostrophe. But the Council, which oversees standard high German orthography, has allowed it because of its widespread use. Across Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland,

it's common to see establishments like Peter's Bar with an apostrophe. And while these rules were relaxed in July, it's this week that the backlash has been felt in the media because not all German speakers are happy with the decision. One newspaper columnist called it further proof of the English language's victory march. Here's Oliver again. The German language is rather distinct and they want to have clear rules. I mean, we Germans are a bit like that. We want the rules to be clear. The latest changes always sound a bit like, oh, do whatever you want. I mean,

it doesn't really matter. That is not something most Germans like. And this isn't the only way English grammar and words have become commonplace in German. The crew of an airplane is called Besatzung in German, which is a perfectly normal word, but some people prefer to use the word crew, thinking that it makes them sound more sophisticated or more cosmopolitan, perhaps. Some people say cartoon instead of Zeichentrickfilm. And Oliver, there are other ways that English has seeped into German, but not in standard English. It's almost like they've created their own English words. Yes, exactly.

One example is the new German word for a mobile phone, which is handy, because you carry it in your hand. But to an English person, it would sound odd to say, for instance, could you give me your handy, my handy what? That was Oliver Berlau ending that report by Harry Bly. Now, unless you're lucky enough to travel business, a long haul flight can be a trying experience. The whole palaver of going through security, cramped leg room and not being able to sleep properly while upright. But for some of us, the consolation is the chance to watch lots of films or television shows to make the journey pass more quickly.

Well, in theory anyway, but not for one plane load of passengers flying from Australia to Japan who got a bit of a surprise. Alfie Habershon reports. There's something vaguely luxurious about having your own TV, but when else could you spend nine hours staring at it completely guilt-free than on a flight? But for those travelling by Qantas airline from Sydney to Tokyo last week, the TV had other ideas. As the plane took to the sky, the steamy adult film Daddio began to play on every screen, and for almost an hour, there was no way to turn it off. One passenger described a series of gasps let out by parents, as scenes of a sexual nature, including graphic nudity, played out across the plane. While the film starring Dakota Johnson is legally restricted to those over 18,

its long periods of innocent-seeming dialogue between a woman and a taxi driver in New York may have been misunderstood by the cabin crew. Word of advice. Don't ever say the word love, all right? I just couldn't not say it anymore. Due to a technical problem, they had been forced to pick one film for everyone on board to watch, but Qantas has now apologised,

conceding that Daddio had not been a suitable choice. Of all the films they could have chosen, that report was by Alfie Havisham. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcasts at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Chris Hansen. The producer was Oliver Berlau. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janet Jalil. Until next time, goodbye. Thank you. 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

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