Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade strikes despite 'ceasefire'

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1:18Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Could the latest clashes between Israel and Hezbollah derail the peace agreement signed this week between the US and Iran? Less than 24 hours since a ceasefire was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah, and already there's been a new wave of Israeli attacks involving warplanes, drones, artillery, including in the eastern Beqar Valley, a traditional stronghold of Hezbollah. Lebanese officials say that at least 15 people have been killed. Well, the Israeli military had warned that it would retaliate if Hezbollah continued attacks on northern Israel.

2:01And earlier today, an Israeli military official said that 50 projectiles had been fired towards Israel overnight. We did ask the Israeli government for an interview on this, but no one was available. But the latest violence follows Israeli strikes on Friday that killed around 47 people and wounded nearly 100 others in Nabatea. Israel says it was retaliation for the killing of four soldiers by Hezbollah. Our Middle East correspondent Ugo Batshega was in Nabatea yesterday and sent this report.

2:37We've just arrived at the hospital here in Nabatea and we've just heard two loud explosions in the distance. a third one. I can see a huge plume of dense, thick smoke billowing from a location not far from here, just behind the hills.

3:04And the airstacks continue. The ambulances that arrive drive straight past the emergency room and pull up to the morgue. The workers look exhausted. They remove the body bag from the car, take it into the morgue, but leave it on the floor. I'm not allowed in, but peering through the door, I can see it's full. More than 40 bodies, I'm told. The new dad joined the old, all killed in the same war. It has been the most intense night since the beginning of the war, and there were many civilian casualties because lots of people had returned to their homes. Ali is with the Red Cross. One of his best friends was killed in the strikes.

3:50He's holding back tears. The problem is that here in Lebanon, we got used to it. And I have been a first responder with the Red Cross for more than 30 years. And deaths now are only a number to us.

4:08It's been a very intense afternoon. As we are perched on this hilltop, we have a 360-degree view of the valley and all the surrounding villages are being hit.

4:21We've just left the hospital and on the road there was a motorcycle still in flames after being hit by an airstrike and an emergency team retrieving a body. There's only one road out of Nabatia now who's speeding up to leave the city. There's now a new ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. But here, the same watchful Israeli drone flies overhead. Efforts have so far failed to bring quiet to this country. The Lebanese wait, sceptical but hopeful to finally have some peace. The BBC's Ugo Bechega with that report from southern Lebanon. Well, during the negotiations ahead of the US-Iran deal signed this week, Tehran had insisted that a ceasefire in southern Lebanon was a crucial part of the deal.

5:21So do these latest clashes put the US-Iran deal in jeopardy? A short time ago, we got through to Omar Khazani. He's a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, currently in Tehran. And first, I asked him how the Iranian authorities are spinning the deal to the people. So far, it's been welcomed by people on the streets and by the media circles and also journalists and analysts in Tehran as a success for Tehran. And more importantly, it was quite a difficult thing to sell to the public, especially after the assassination of the Iran Supreme Leader. Negotiating with the United States was a red line for authorities, but it seems that they're actually selling it as a success to the public and public are welcoming it.

6:14Right. I mean, there's been so few details about exactly what's in this deal. Are there any parts of it that are being picked out and pointed to by the authorities in Tehran? What do they understand is in the deal? The recognition of Iran's missile program, which seems that was a red line for Trump administration in previous negotiations, seems that no longer they are trying to say that there should be no missiles, no enrichment at all. And now Iranian authorities are saying that they have recognized our rights for enrichment, though it's the low level of enrichment, but it's been recognized by Trump administration.

6:57And they say this is sold to the public as a great success. The government is talking about gaining such success as the US government has agreed to unfreeze Iran's billions of dollars of frozen assets. And in terms of how ordinary people feel about it, there must be some disquiet about what's happening in southern Lebanon. That was one of the red lines for the regime in Tehran that they wanted a ceasefire in southern Lebanon. We understand that's not really holding at the moment. Yes, actually, no. Majority of the people here on the streets are happy about the deal. But ordinary people on the streets are skeptical about how it's going to hold or it's going to last how long because they say basically Trump is a whimsical person and Bibi Netanyahu is a person who wants to devastate the deal because basically it's not in his favor.

7:55But if we take a look at the markets in Iran, markets show that the Iranian society, Iranian business, Iranian economy has relatively positively reacted to the deal. The Iran stock market has started to grow in the past two weeks, you know, substantial growth, 12 % every week. And Iran's currency, which had depreciated 30-40 % before the war started, has started to regain its value in the past two or three weeks. Though currently the economic situation is not very good because the rampant inflation, which started from January, is still having its effect on the lives of ordinary people. So is the thinking then that this deal will hold no matter what happens in southern Lebanon?

8:48Or is there a fear that it will fall apart and then what? When you're talking to journalists or experts, they say that it's going to hold because Iran has a new leverage and that's the Strait of Hormuz. And this is a real bargaining chip and a card that Iran can play anytime. Is it possible to know how Mr Trump is viewed in Tehran at the moment by the leadership? If you talk to senior Iranian politicians, they do not take him very seriously now because they had his threats and he did not make good on his threats a couple of times. The positions that Iranian authorities are taking these days, I think that they are more hard line than a couple of months ago.

9:37And they believe that they can win against him. That's Ahmed Khazani there, reporter for the Los Angeles Times, currently in Tehran, speaking to us a short time ago. We can cross now to Tel Aviv and speak to Anshul Pfeffer, Israel correspondent at The Economist. Anshul, thanks for coming on. First of all, on these latest clashes in South Lebanon, we did try to speak to the Israeli government today. We couldn't get anyone available to speak. But the military has said the actions of the Israeli forces are in direct retaliation of Hezbollah attacks. But doesn't this latest violence undermine that peace deal between the United States and Iran?

10:24Well, it certainly undermines the deal since the deal includes a ceasefire. The deal, the memorandum of understanding is what we have so far, does include a ceasefire in Lebanon. But the terms there are extremely vague. And it seems that both Iran has problems reigning in its proxy, Hezbollah, and Israel is acting independently despite what Donald Trump has requested from Netanyahu. But where does this leave the relationship between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Trump? because, you know, Mr. Neznyan is insisting there's unfinished business in Lebanon, but we know that relationship is under strain. We saw J.D.

11:06Vance coming out very critically towards Israeli factions last week. Isn't that relationship under strain by this? It's under a great deal of strain and we're seeing in the open way in which both Mr. Trump and Vice President Vance have both been very critical of the Israeli government in recent days. At the same time, there is a war going on on the ground between Hezbollah and Israel. Israeli troops are operating in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is firing at them. And then last week, they also launched rockets inside Israel. So as you said, it's unfinished business. And while Trump seems to be very happy with the deal that he's reached, It doesn't have adequate details and guarantees in it to end the situation in Lebanon at the same time.

11:58What did you make of Omid's analysis there coming from Tehran, saying that the regime there are looking at this as if they've got new leverage because of the Strait of Hormuz. They're very triumphant that they're getting to keep their long range missiles, which is something that Mr Netanyahu was very concerned about before this war. Yeah, and that's not something that's been addressed in the deal, the long-range missiles, which is a huge concern for Israel. And one of the reasons there's a lot of criticism here in Israel, both of Netanyahu for launching a war in which this issue hasn't been dealt with, and with Donald Trump for reaching a deal where the issue is not addressed.

12:40So here in Jerusalem, there's a huge amount of criticism, both of Netanyahu and of Trump. But that does put Netanyahu in a bind, especially with what's happening in Lebanon, where it doesn't seem as if he can really fully call the shots. And if he does give order to the Israeli army to continue fighting there, then he risks the strategic relationship with America. Well, and he's in an awkward position anyway, isn't he? Because it's an election year in Israel. And if the polls are to be believed, he doesn't look as if he's doing very well. No, the polls are not very good for Netanyahu right now.

13:13And basically, he has now taken two blows because the two things that Netanyahu has been presenting to the Israeli public for so long is that he is the one who can guarantee Israeli security from Iran. That doesn't seem to have been dealt with. And he is the one who has a unique, intimate relationship with Donald Trump and the experience and the closeness to work with him like no other person. And that doesn't seem to be the case right now either. So on Netanyahu's two main selling points to the Israeli public, he's really taken a battering in the last few days. Very good to speak to you, Anshul, as always.

13:51Thank you so much for coming on. That's Anshul Pfeffer there, Israel correspondent for The Economist there. And we'll bring you up to date with any more developments on that story here on NewsHour for the BBC World Service.

14:15Coming up later, the enduring appeal of the album The Queen Is Dead by the UK indie band The Smiths, 40 years after it was released. It's obviously a classic record, classic songwriting, great musicianship as well, actually, which isn't often noted. Brilliant lyrics, they're funny. They're great twists and melancholy and humour. Great titles as well, each. The title's like a name, like a vignette, it's like a film title or a book title. More on that to come this hour and our top story this hour. A number of people have been reportedly killed by Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon. A day after, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced and Bolivia's president, Rodrigo Paz, has declared a state of emergency, saying he's determined to end road blockades by protesters that have paralysed the country.

15:15This is Rebecca Kesby with NewsHour live from the BBC. Next, here in Britain, an investigation is underway after two trains collided on Friday afternoon just north of London. The driver of one of the trains was killed in the crash. 89 other people were injured and of them, nine are said to be in a critical condition. Emergency services declared a major incident. Passengers have been describing the moment it happened. And Brett Byatt is a teacher. He was on the train and a warning. His description is pretty graphic. People flew into one another and chairs broke. When people flew into one another, the seats that they were on broke backwards into the people behind them.

16:01I'd probably say 90 % of the people on my carriage had injuries. I'd probably say four of us were uninjured in a full carriage. Everyone else had either a serious wound that was bleeding profusely or a situation where they couldn't stand or they couldn't move their neck. Well, Tony Miles is a railway journalist and a contributor to Modern Railways magazine. He joins us live. Tony, what do we think happened to cause this crash? it's it's too early to get any uh absolute details obviously what we've got is two trains sort of going in the same direction and one has stopped to report a problem and another train has gone into the back of it so the investigations are going to be over whether the signals protecting the train that had stopped were definitely red protecting it and stopping any trains coming in that direction.

16:57Were they correctly showing red signals? And then did the driver on the train that sadly lost his life respond to those signals correctly? And was he trying to stop or did he misread them or were they showing the wrong colours? So it's either a problem with the signalling or the train and the investigators are now trying to work out which it is or could it be a combination of both. Well some of the injuries do sound very bad indeed. I mean eyewitnesses talking of lots, multiple injuries in a couple of the carriages. How does this compare to other rail crashes in the UK? And what's the safety record?

17:35We so rarely have them that it's very difficult to really make big comparisons. The railways in the UK have a very strong safety record, probably one of the safest in Europe, if not the safest. And so there's not a lot of data on injuries from crashes at this sort of speed. Unfortunately, it wasn't very high speed because the rear train had just come across a junction and would have only just been starting to pick up speed anyway. But there's a lot of research that goes into the interaction between people and things like tables and other seats and so on. And there's strong safety protocols in the design of railway vehicles, the seats and everything inside.

18:17So obviously, a lot of people want to learn from this to find out if there's things that could be done better. It does seem as if staff on the train were able to help passengers to evacuate. The driver we now know had been killed, but there've been a series of strikes here in the UK recently protesting against the idea of driver only trains. I guess that's sort of thrown up in this example again. It did cross my mind almost as soon as I saw that staff had been acting very professionally, not only in assisting passengers, but also they took actions to make sure that the signals on adjacent tracks were set back at red to make sure any other trains that were coming in either direction were alerted by red signals.

18:59So a very professional action. And one of the questions, sadly, I asked many years ago of people proposing removal of extra chaff on trains was what happens if the driver who would be the only person in a train, if their plans came to fruition, what would happen if that driver was incapacitated in some way? And I think this will inform discussions. Tony, good to speak to you. Thanks so much for joining us. That's Tony Miles there, contributor to Modern Railways magazine.

19:30Now in 1991, after the First Gulf War, the Kurds of northern Iraq carried out an uprising against the brutal government of President Saddam Hussein. It was unsuccessful and fearing revenge, hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled into the mountains. The UK military, along with other allied countries, created a safe haven in northern Iraq to keep Saddam's forces out and to protect the Kurdish population. A play about those events called Safe Haven is on in London next week and the BBC's Martin Venard has been to see it.

20:07I am not hiding, I'm not hiding. I'm watching. I'm at the Arcola Theatre in London where they're rehearsing for the play Safe Haven, which begins soon, and I'm with some of the actors and the director and the writer of the play. My name's Chris Bowers. I'm a former British diplomat and former journalist. So, Chris, just tell us why you wanted to write this play. Because it's an amazing story. There was a potential genocide happening in the Kurdish mountains, and a few brave British diplomats prevented a genocide. So your story, it's based around who? It's based around one of the key British diplomats, Catherine Rowe, who is the heroine of the story.

20:50So they worked around the Foreign Office because she felt herself to be an outsider. She was very interested in human rights. And sadly, she actually had to leave the Foreign Office at the end of the year because she'd gone too far. And the irony is that she'd gone too far actually in helping save hundreds of thousands of lives. Fighting in the mountains is not the only way. We need to train doctors too. Anyway, we must stick to the story. My name is Yad Deen. I'm the producer and director of Safe Haven. I was born in Kurdistan. My parents and I fled when I was six or seven months. I have a very personal connection to this story, that journey that they made through the mountains, on foot, on horseback, to the border of Iran.

21:32So when Chris approached me to direct and produce Safe Haven, I was immediately drawn to it. I think I'll show you so many times to learn. I still don't know how to do it. I think you've got it. I'm Boo Jackson. I play Catherine in Safe Haven. How do you see the role? How do you bring across her role to the public? We met her on the first day of rehearsals, which was amazing. She's completely remarkable. It's a funny balancing act of her being a woman in the Foreign Office in 1991 who was able to make such profound change, but also having to kind of play the game of navigating being a woman in that environment.

22:12She talks a lot about feeling like an outsider in an inside institution, so kind of playing with that. So yeah, it's been a lot of navigation of that. Should my husband stop fighting Saddam? Of course not. And should I not be there for him when he returns? No. Hi, I'm Omar Agha, and I'm playing Dulaur Alaeddin, a doctor from Kurdistan, also a real person, also someone who we met. He is, and was, but in the world of the play as well, heavily involved in raising awareness of what was happening in Kurdistan, also trying to rescue his own sister, who was left behind there. while everything's happening in the foreign office branch of our story, he's trying to lobby and trying to get awareness.

22:50I'm Iraqi Kurd. And yeah, it's interesting because when I read about this story, I called my mum. My mum was around when this was happening. It's pretty emotional to be part of them telling that story. Do you hear that? Don't move. What if it's the gas? Let go. I'm Lisa Zara and I play Anne and Zaria. Anne is the wife of Clive, who works in the foreign office and was a diplomat as well. Zaria, we say she's Kurdish-Iranian in this, so she's from a different part to Najat, from the lead characters in the story who's in the mountains, and they come across one another. I'm Iranian-Welsh, and so I did know about Safe Haven, but more so I knew about the suffering that the Kurdish community have gone through.

23:31And how important is it today that people get to know about this story? We have to keep telling these stories because they're not going away. Art is a way of being able to really tell true stories about these special, wonderful people.

23:49Martin Venard reporting, and that new play Safe Haven is on in London next week, tracking that historic moment back in 1991 after the Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq.

24:15When you hear the phrase made in China, what do you think? I'm Tristan Redman. And I'm Asma Khalid. And together we host the Global Story podcast from the BBC. And today on our show, we look at the origins and evolution of made in China, because it actually wasn't inevitable. What we're talking about is the world's largest communist nation is at the beating heart of the capitalist system. For more, listen to The Global Story on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. with the new schwab teen investor account teens can gain hands-on investing experience and build positive money habits it's an account co-owned by you and your teen so you can monitor and engage with the account while your teen learns how to invest and manage money learn more at schwab.com

25:06Welcome back to NewsHour and more on that game between Paraguay and Turkey last night at the World Cup. Because there was an historic decision taken. Player Miguel Almiron was given the first ever red card for covering his mouth while saying something to a member of the opposition team. It's the first time this rule has actually been applied since it came in. Let's get some more details with Henry Winter. He's a columnist for sports magazine World Soccer, joining us live from the United States. Henry, first of all, I mean, this could have been a very important red card. Talk us through the rule and why it came in.

25:51historic moment because what happened a few months ago in a club game between Benfica and Real Madrid the Benfica player Gianluca Prestiani covered his mouth and said something to Vinny Jr the Real Madrid attacker which was deemed to be eventually either racist or homophobic and they then decided to actually clamp down even more on this so could actually a player could be sent off when it happens during a game. So as you mentioned, the Paraguay player, Almiron, who's not actually having the best of World Cups, having been booked already for diving, he obscured his lips and was deemed to have said something and was red carded.