live from washington. this is bbc news. the us strikes houthi targets in yemen for the fifth time in a week — as tensions rise in the middle east. an exchange of missiles between iran and pakistan stokes fears of wider regional escalation. and a scathing report concludes the police response to the uvalde school massacre in texas was a failure. hello, i'm azadeh moshiri. welcome to the programme. we start with the growing tensions in the middle east — against the backdrop of the israel—gaza war. iran and its proxies are involved in exchanges of ground fire and air strikes across multiple countries. in yemen, us strikes targeted houthi positions for the fifth time in a week.

us central command confirms they destroyed two houthi anti—ship missiles that were heading towards the southern red sea. this comes one day after the us re—designated houthi fighters that are backed by iran as global terrorists, — citing their ongoing attacks against ships in the red sea. meanwhile iran condemned a missile attack on its own territory, from neighbouring pakistan. state television says nine people were killed. it comes two days after iran ordered its own strikes across the border which are thought to have killed two children, and focused the world's attention on the troubled frontier region between the two countries, known as balochistan. militant groups on both sides are thought to be based there, and it's also an area rife with crossborder drug trafficking. both iran and pakistan claim they're now targetting the militant groups hiding out in the mountainous region, resulting in an increasingly strained relationship, between the two countries. in a moment we'll hear

from the bbc�*s farhat javed, who's in balochistan. but first, caroline davies has the latest, from the pakistani capital, islamabad. rubble and dust. the aftermath of today's strike by pakistan in iran. nine killed, say iran's state media, children and women among them. pakistan says this was about national security. pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated, and specifically targeted, precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in sistan and balochistan province of iran. this action is a manifestation of pakistan's unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats. most are seeing pakistan's attack as a response to this — iran's missile strike inside pakistan two days ago, on what it claims was a terrorist base. pakistan says two children died. iran's justification

is strikingly similar to pakistan's. translation: we won'tl allow them to play games with our national security. when it comes to the security of our country, we won't stand upon ceremony with terrorists in pakistan. iran has been trying to show its strength in the region with strikes in syria and iraq, too. now it's seen a strike on its own soil and there are fears things could escalate. despite this strike, pakistan says it doesn't want a fight. and you can see the background to this. the economy here is weak. there's political instability. there's an election due in less than a month, and there are already difficult relations with india and neighbouring afghanistan. iran, too, has plenty occupying it, but there's real concern about how it might react. the hope is that they would use one of the many channels they have available to them, foreign office, the embassy in islamabad, the military channels that it has open to it,

in order to reach out and try and de—escalate the situation. and there are some indications that that might actually be the case. but considering that the first strike itself was unprecedented, so what iran does next from a kinetic standpoint is anybody�*s guess. iran has condemned pakistan's attack. the question is, will that be all it does? caroline davies, bbc news, islamabad. well, the remote province of balochistan is located in the far south west corner of pakistan, and bordering iran, and farhat tayeb who's there, sent us this report. the timing is very important. this escalation has occurred just days before a general election in pakistan, where an interim government is in place and election campaigning is in full swing. this is an unprecedented incident between two nations that otherwise boast of historically brotherly ties. but both iran and pakistan have long been accusing each other of harbouring militant groups. we see that people are supporting pakistan's response.

they acknowledge it could raise escalation between the two countries but they also think this was needed to bring both the countries, to get both the countries to step back from the brink. as iran's presence on the global stage grows, i broke down the country's motivations with abbas milani. he's the founder and director of the iranian studies program at stanford. first, i would like to start by asking you why did iran think it was worth the risk of upsetting the pakistani government in order to conduct these strikes? trying to figure out the rationality of the regime is sometimes very difficult that under these circumstances, iran has been hit several times over the last two or three weeks so these proxies have been hit in lebanon, in syria, the second—in—command was assassinated and iran, because

it considers itself to be a powerfulforce in the region needed to respond. there was a lot of rhetoric that these attacks would not remain unretaliated and i think they put themselves in this corner. clearly, i think they miscalculated what the pakistanis would do if they attacked. do you think that pakistan's response and retaliatory strike will put this issue to bed? everything that i see from the iranian side, the rhetoric, the announcement that the foreign ministry made, the announcement that many of the elements within the regime have made, clearly indicate that they do not want an expansion of the event. iran's economy is much like that of pakistan. iran is having an

election soon and by all indications it will not be properly participated so the regime feels isolated but the regime needs to also keep its posture on being a tough bully and neighbour. and the last iranian elections have a low participation as well. domestically, from what you can gather, given the problems at hand and given the economic issues you are describing, is there support for a lot of these regional activities that the irgc, the revolutionary guards are conducting a board? every indication that i have seen, some of the polling available is difficult to pole in iran and it is difficult there. but in all polling that i have seen, the people of iran are not happy. the amount of money they are spending on proxy

wars, the amount of money iran is spending in gaza and lebanon and supporting proxies in iraq is in the billions and the iranian youth are unemployed, the iranian economy is bleeding, they are running out of currency right now to give your audience a sense, in 1979 a dollar would purchase seven toman. now, you get 55,000. and all this pressure is on everyday lives of people who are increasingly, i think, dissatisfied with the regime and i think the regime knows it. i think pakistan knows it and iraq knows it and mr netanyahu knows and all of them are trying to take the message to iran that we know how isolated you are and that is one of the reasons, i think, in the last few weeks iranian officials close to the regime have hinted, dangerously,

that iran may be making a new announcement on the nuclear front. to me, that is one of the things to watch for. given those historic protests that we witnessed, the women led protests, the dissatisfaction is evident in iran. why does iran rely on these proxy wars on its backing of hamas, hezbollah, the houthis? what is the endgame? clearly by what they have done and what they have said is twofold. one is to use these proxies in order to forestall or delay or make impossible an attack by israel or the united states and that is part of its strategic posture. also they are unambiguously forces that have been used in the past and friend to use again

if the iranian populace rise up against them. in the last uprising, two years ago, they clearly brought hezbollah units and they brought iraqi shiite units and marched on iranian cities and said that restless to we can bring these others in because i think they realise that even their own security forces are beginning to feel isolated and weak. thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate it. my pleasure. well as israeli forces continue their assault in southern gaza, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu says he has told the us he opposes an existing palestinian state in any post—war scenario. washington has long maintained that agreeing to a pathway to a palestinian state is the only way to achieve a lasting peace between israelis and palestinians. the us has been

quick to respond. white house national security spokesperson john kirby said of netanyahu's comments, quote: "we obviously see it differently." kirby also said presidentjoe biden would, quote: "not stop working toward a two—state solution." for the latest on the war, mark lowen sent this update from jerusalem. well, in the south of gaza, they have reported the heaviest fighting so far this year, with intense military air strikes by israel around khan younis, the largest city in the south of gaza, and rafah as well, with the israeli defence forces saying dozens have been killed as they say, terrorists, and the hamas—run health ministry says 93 people were killed in overnight strikes, and that they — there's real concern for those sheltering around nasah hospital, the largest still functioning in the south of gaza where intense fighting is taking place. the israelis say they're targeting terror cells in the vicinity of the hospital, but remember more than half of the hospitals in gaza are completely out

of operation, only 15 of the 36 in the territory are still partially functioning. the number sheltering in the south of gaza are enormous. rafah had a pre—war population of 280,000, it's now over one million. so, there's a huge concern over the israeli air strikes in that area. now, meanwhile, the — the aid and the medicines that qatar and france managed to strike a deal on, with the israelis and palestinians, have now come into gaza. this is much needed medicine for some a0 or so hostages, israeli hostages being held by hamas in need of medicines and also medical aid for palestinians in gaza that israel has agreed to, as part of this deal.

that medical aid came in on military aircraft from qatar into egypt and we understand they are now in gaza and it will be a huge logistical operation to get them to the hostages who are most in need. we are now well past 100 days in this war and the palestinians, the hamas run health ministry saying the death toll of people in gaza is over 24,000, death toll of people in gaza is over24,000, close death toll of people in gaza is over 24,000, close to 25,000. the israeli signalling that they will soon wrap up the most intense ground operations in the south and will move more towards small—scale operations. but we are not yet seeing evidence of that, we still see evidence of that, we still see evidence of that, we still see evidence of huge israeli airstrikes and huge military operations in the south as israelis continue to pursue operations and their aims of destroying hamas. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news in the uk. thousands of public sector workers in northern ireland have staged rallies during what was billed

as the country's largest strike in 50 years. more than 100,000 public sector workers took part, calling for increased pay and better conditions. the strikes caused major disruption, with most bus and train services being cancelled, and schools closed. health services were also disrupted. tata steel is to go ahead with plans to close both blast furnaces at its port talbot factory in south wales. up to 3,000 jobs could go, with a formal announcement expected on friday. the company is due to replace the furnaces with an electric version, which is more environmentally friendly, but needs fewer workers. and the prince of wales has visited his wife catherine in hospital as she recovers from her surgery. the princess of wales is said to be "doing well" in her recovery. catherine has spent her second night in hospital after a successful planned abdominal surgery at the london clinic private hospital.

you're live with bbc news. now, to a scathing report looking into the deadly 2022 school shooting in uvalde, texas. the us attorney general, merrick garland, has called the police response a failure, that should not have happened. mr garland spoke after the release of a highly critical report which said officers demonstrated no sense of urgency nor coordination in their response to the incident. when the gunman burst into robb elementary school on may 24th 2022, hundreds of police officers rushed to the scene, but it took more than an hour for them to confront him. this is the moment a police officer went for hand sanitizer during the active shooting. the gunman killed 19 students and 2 teachers. that delay sparked outrage among the victims�* families and across the us. it also prompted the us department ofjustice to investigate, producing today's report that runs 600 pages long.

it found "cascading failures of leadership, decision—making, "tactics, policy and training". some of the victims�* loved ones gave their reaction to the report. some victims family members were actually at robb elementary school when the shooting took place, including alfred garza, whose10—year—old daughter ameriejoe garza, was killed. alfred has been critical of the law enforcement response and spoke to me just a short while ago. mr garza, thank you so much for your time. i can't imagine how difficult this is for you right now. i realise a report like this isn't going to bring back your daughter, but does it bring any sense of closure to you? not closure yet. you know, i understand

for some of the families the families of the survivors and people who lost children this can be retraumatising in a sense, even for myself, but i do realise something like this could open that door to what we ultimately want, and that's the accountability portion of this whole ordeal. as far as i know, the report was very extensive and very detailed and they spent a lot of man—hours on this report, brought in a lot of experts, interviews and hopefully, some of this information that is out in this report will help us expedite that process for accountability. you have been pushing for accountability for some time. what does accountability look like to you after this report? i mean, there's no question that mistakes were made. there were plenty of mistakes that were made and unfortunately, these

mistakes cost lives, potentially cost lives. you know, it is one thing to make a mistake at a mcdonald's drive—through, you know — "hey you messed up our order." but these mistakes cost lives, people died because of these mistakes, and somebody needs to be held accountable for that, you know? the fact that so many — a lot of what this report has stated, we already knew a lot of it, for the most part. but just the fact that these people were standing in this hallway for so long and doing nothing, you know, it isjust a hard pill to swallow. it's a hard pill to swallow when you know these people signed up for what they signed up for and then, they are in this hallway with this guy in this classroom full of children and then, they do nothing. that's — it's very infuriating.

so, i hope that this extensive report bring some type of accountability to whomever it falls upon. before i let you go, i also want to ask you because your community still depends on police forces for protection but what is that relationship like right now between the community and the police? i think the community has lost a lot of respect for our local law enforcement and it's just... it — it — i can't even begin, you know what i mean? there is just a lot of respect that has been lost for our local law enforcement. i personally don't — i don't believe that they could help me in a situation where my life was in danger any more, especially because

of this situation. you know, i think pretty much what they are good for is just giving tickets, you know? i mean, i will be honest with you, they are good for stopping you when you're doing something. if their life isn't in danger, then they are probably good for that. but if there is a real threat presenting itself, i don't think they would do good in that situation at all. they've already proved that. could you just remind us and tell us about your ameriejo and for people who have not been following this as closely and are dealing with the reality of these children whose lives ended far too soon — your child was only ten years old — what is it you remember most about her? her touch. that's — that's something that, you know, that —

i can remember like it was yesterday, i was looking at pictures that we attended — it was my... i have a set of twin sisters and they had a sweet 16 and amerie, that is the photo she was wearing the purple dress and we took a photo together and i can remember that day vividly, the last day i spent with her and ameriejo had a connection like no other. she was a lot like me. she was very quick—witted, like to playjokes and laugh a lot, all the time. it was not serious business. when me and her were together, it was playtime pretty much. we were always on each other and getting on each other�*s cases and making fun of each other, kind of roasting each other and just played pranks on each other, stuff like that. so, she was very much like me and what i miss most isjust her touch. she was a very happy person. she liked to see others laugh. she was a very outgoing, outspoken person. and, i mean, i miss her dearly.

i'm about to have another child now. we got one coming here soon, probably within the next couple of weeks, any day now, and i know she would have been very happy to know that she was going to have another addition to the family, another baby sister. and, you know, that is what we think about a lot, you know? what would life be like if she was still here versus what life is like now she's not. so, that is the aspect of what we like to think about, what would life be like if she was still here? and just never forget her. i think about her all the time. she is on my facebook wallpaper — sorry, not my facebook wallpaper, my phone lock screen. so, every time i pick up my phone she is there. i see her every day all day and you know... thank you very much for sharing that with us and also my warmest, warmest feelings and congratulations on the fact that you have another child coming. so, thank you so much

for your time and thank you for sharing this with us, especially on a day like today that, as you said, i'm sure brings up a lot of really difficult emotions for you. yes, ma'am. thank you. that was alfred garza. there are more details from the report on the police report on our website. well, here in washington, congress has approved legislation to fund the government through to the end of february. that's as it scrambles to avoid a partial shutdown on saturday. the measure passed the senate by 77 votes to 18, more than clearing the 60 votes needed. it then passed the house of representatives 314 to 108, and is expected to be signed into law by presidentjoe biden later. but a bigger battle looms over the final budget and over stalled legislation to send aid to ukraine. the republican—led house says it will not entertain the plan unless democrats agree to a severe crackdown

at the us—mexico border. democrats are still at odds over how much to concede on republicans�* border demands. 0ne democrat arguing against those concessions is alex padilla, democratic senator from california. he spoke to the bbc a little earlier. apart from the budget negotiations and the negotiations and the negotiations plan, the president has requested what we refer to as a budget supplementary, additional funding to meet extraordinary circumstances, where traditional support and aid for our allied israel, additional support and aid for ukraine in theirfight against vladimir their fight against vladimir putin�*s theirfight against vladimir putin�*s aggression, support also for taiwan but also funding to strengthen security on the southern border of the united states. that all sounds

great but as with anything in the policy space, the devil is in the detail and i am concerned that we have seen no bill in writing yet to consider but from what we are hearing, there are significant changes on the table is a lot to be worried about. a republican colleagues seem determined to change the asylum system as we know it. the us offers a for those who qualify based on federal and international obligations and we want to make sure that we can strengthen border security in a humane way while maintaining our international obligations. now before we go, some news to chew on. false teeth belonging to britain�*s wartime prime minister, winston churchill, are going up for auction in the uk. the gold mounted teeth were considered so important to the delivery of his

famous victory speeches that he carried a spare pair with him at all times. that is all from us for this evening but, please, do keep watching bbc news. do keep watching bbc news. hello. the cold wintry snap continued on thursday with more snow that�*s been accumulating across parts of northern scotland, also northern ireland, around some exposed coasts of england and wales as well. this was the picture in highland. we�*ve got several centimetres even right down to sea level. up to 40cm over the higher ground. now, still a cold day to come on friday with some more snow but milder, windier and wetter weather arrives as we head through the course of the weekend. 0vernight, snow continuing to pile in across northern and western scotland in particular. a few showers perhaps

northern ireland, north—west england, so some slippery conditions as we start the day on friday around some western areas in particular. temperatures, i think, at 6:00 in the morning around about —2, —3 for many of us. a little bit milder perhaps under the cloud cover across parts of western scotland with the breeze picking up, too. we�*re going to continue to see snow across scotland but it�*ll mainly be over the higher ground because later in the day at lower levels, that is going to turn back to rain showers as that slightly milder air moves in. for much of northern ireland, england and wales, mist and fog clear away through the day to leave some sunshine and temperatures will be at that little bit less cold than recent days, so we�*re looking at highs between around about 4—6 degrees friday afternoon for most of us. and then, as we move through into the weekend, we�*ve got this area of high pressure which then moves its way out towards the southeast and that opens the doors for atlantic weather fronts to move their way in, so bringing some rain, some wind and some milder air — you can see the yellow and orange colours returning to the map as that arctic air gets squeezed away towards the east. so, for saturday, some fairly

heavy rain across parts of england and wales, particularly the further north you are. further south and east, you should stay mostly dry. could be some more rain across parts of scotland and northern ireland as well later on in the day. just wintry over the highest peaks but i think for most, it will be falling as rain. still relatively cool in the south and the east — six or seven — but double figures further west. into sunday, the next frontal system moves in, so it�*s really this central swathe of the british isles that are going to be particularly wet. windy, ithink, wherever you are on sunday. gales around exposed coasts and hills, too. temperatures in the low teens possibly for some of us in the south. single figures further north. but the outlook for the course of next week is for the much milder weather to return but it�*ll also be windy and often unsettled, too. bye— bye.

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which is straight after this programme.