white house national security spokesmanjohn kirby added that three facilities were hit in iraq and four were hit in syria. the airstrikes were against iran's islamic revolutionary guards corp quds force and affiliated militia groups. these are new pictures released by us central command these are new pictures released by us central command of 8—1 bombers taking off to carry out the airstrikes. well, presidentjoe biden issued a statement on the strikes, saying: well, the strikes

are in retaliation of a deadly drone attack on us forces last sunday. three us soldiers were killed and more than a0 personnel injured at a us base called tower 22 injordan, near the border with syria. the white house blamed an iran—backed militia called islamic resistance in iraq, and vowed a "very consequential response". shortly before this round of strikes, the bodies of the three sergeants — williamj rivers, kennedy sanders and breonna moffett — islamic resistance in iraq, and vowed a "very consequential response". shortly before this round of strikes, the bodies of the three sergeants — williamj rivers, kennedy sanders and breonna moffett — were repatriated to the us state of delaware, where they posthumously received military honours. president biden and first lady jill biden were in attendance of the ceremony. iran has denied all involvement, calling the accusations "baseless" and saying it was not involved in the decision—making of resistance groups. meanwhile, the iraqi military spokesperson yahya rasool has responded to the strikes saying" responded to

the strikes saying: yahya rasool he added that the outcomes will have severe implications on the security and stability in the region. live now to our middle east correspondent. hugo bachega, who's in baghdad for us. hello to you. what more can you tell us about these strikes? american officials are saying that the strikes were successful, that the strikes hit the intended targets and that they are still gathering information to assess the damage caused by those strikes and whether any militants have been killed. we know that 85 targets were hit in seven different locations in iraq and syria. those locations along the border of the two

countries. these facilities hit, we're talking about military infrastructure, command and control centres, bunkers, record facilities, used by these groups supported by iran but also by the iranians revolutionary guard corps. these american strikes are going to target iranian personnel and interests into those two countries and for those two countries and for those who have been talking about those attacks so it was not really a surprise when they happened last night. i think american officials work not indicating what they were going to do and perhaps this was a reason. president biden was walking a fine line, and he wanted to send a strong response where three us troops were killed. at the same time, he does not want to escalate

the situation in the middle east even further, in other words he does not want to drag iran into a direct confrontation so i think by saying, by indicating what the authorities were planning to do, they gave time for those senior commanders, for those leaders to leave those bases and that would minimise civilian cases. —— american officials were indicating what they were going to do. it will now be about waiting to see what response is.— what response is. talk us through _ what response is. talk us through about _ what response is. talk us through about what - what response is. talk us through about what has l what response is. talk us - through about what has been said about this by the iraqis? the iraqis have strongly criticised these attacks. the spokesperson for the military saying this is a violation of the country's coventry and this could have unpredictable consequences. —— sullivan tree.

not only here in iraq but across the region. —— sovereign. when they decided to carry out this retaliation, us officials had been saying that they do not want to escalate they do not want to escalate the situation in the region and they do not want to have a wall with iran but at the same time they want to send a strong response that these attacks need to stop. more than 160 attacks have been carried out by these iranian affiliated groups on us spaces in iraq and syria. the americans have responded to those attacks but obviously were unable to stop these attacks by these groups. now, we're seeing a stronger reaction from the americans. the indication is that this is just the beginning. the white house has been saying that this

retaliation is going to be conducted over a number of days and i think the expectation is that more tigers are going to be hit here in iraq and also in syria. be hit here in iraq and also in s ria. . ~' ,, , be hit here in iraq and also in sria. . , . live now to minnesota to speak to retired generaljoseph votel, former commander in the us central command and senior fellow at the middle east institute. thank you very much for coming onto the programme. can i get your assessment than on these strikes in terms of their timing, the fact that they were announced in advance and indeed the scale of them?— the scale of them? thank you and it is good _ the scale of them? thank you and it is good to _ the scale of them? thank you and it is good to be _ the scale of them? thank you and it is good to be with - the scale of them? thank you and it is good to be with you. | and it is good to be with you. i think the strikes we looked at, that we watched take place this afternoon us time, were pretty much as we expected. these target went directly after militant groups and iranian facilitator and leadership and support

apparatus that supported those groups, most directly related to talent 22. the scope and scale of this was quite large. especially when compared to some of our earlier strikes. the intention was to do as much damage and is much difference —— disruption as could be done in this first body of strikes. what we will see is some follow—on is to this. as you are aware, as your listeners are aware, as your listeners are aware, as your listeners are aware, this is a fairly extensive network that iran and the militant groups have across iraq and syria so lots of opportunities to go after them. in terms of the timing of this, in terms of the timing of this, i think there are variety of things that contributed. first and foremost, the united states is to take a deliberate approach to this, not rush into this. it says i think that our

spokesman at the white house has said we have consulted with regional partners including the iraqis about these strikes. whether it plays an issue, the weather has not been great in the area in order to minimise collateral, even with sophisticated systems, we want to use the best weather, and likely good weather with support kind of this campaign approach that has been talked about. $5 approach that has been talked about. �* , ., , approach that has been talked about. �* , . , ., about. as we have been hearing, john about. as we have been hearing, john kirby _ about. as we have been hearing, john kirby has — about. as we have been hearing, john kirby has said _ about. as we have been hearing, john kirby has said this _ about. as we have been hearing, john kirby has said this is - john kirby has said this is just the beginning and in terms of what you might expect to follow, and indeed the response in retaliation to these strikes, how concerned are you about how far this is going to go and how much this could escalate? i go and how much this could escalate?— go and how much this could escalate? ~' , , , escalate? i think everybody is concerned _ escalate? i think everybody is concerned and _ escalate? i think everybody is concerned and i _ escalate? i think everybody is concerned and i think- escalate? i think everybody is| concerned and i think ankara's government has expressed this.

we're trying to find now to punish and deter without broadening this into a wider conflict. certainly between the united states and iran and lead to more instability in an already challenging situation in the middle east right now. i think what you saw, is going strictly after militant groups and its supporters, what you will see in the coming days is an expansion of that, perhaps the facilitation networks and opportunities for going after some direct iranians supporters, and other things related to that. i think it is important to appreciate, while we are talking a lot about military operations, the united states, as you well know, has a lot of tools available to us in the political, information, and economic realm, we have cyber capabilities that can be used, and of course we have an

extraordinary intelligence community that has tools that can be applied to this. and done in a fairly surgical fashion to try and achieve our objectives and not propellers into a direct conflict with iran. ., , . , ., iran. the ob'ective being to sto iran. the objective being to stop attacks _ iran. the objective being to stop attacks on _ iran. the objective being to stop attacks on american i stop attacks on american personnel and it is too early to say whether that is going to happen. but in terms ofjoe biden and wanting this to be concluded sooner rather than later— this is an election year after all, later— this is an election year afterall, he later— this is an election year after all, he will be very keen for this to be concluded as soon as possible, won't he? certainly. i think everybody wishes that. that iran would get the message and knock it off with these attacks. i think it is unlikely thatjust one body of strikes will solve the bigger problem. we will need to continue to put pressure on

them and leverage all the elements of national power to try to compel iran to change not only their behaviour but their support to these organisations and put pressure on the organisations to stop doing that and we know they can doing that and we know they can do that. we just saw that with one of the principal groups that operate in iraq, kaitab hezbollah, announcing they would stop attacks on the united states and that is a direct. we need to make the message unambiguous and we need to hold them responsible and be prepared to exert our wealth through military means and whatever else required until they change their behaviour. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much for “oining us. ., ~' thank you so much for “oining us. ., ~ , ., thank you so much for “oining us. . ~ i. ., ~ thank you so much for “oining us. thank you. thank you very much. former—

us. thank you. thank you very much. former commander - us. thank you. thank you very much. former commander ofl us. thank you. thank you very i much. former commander of us central command. _ live now to washington dc to speak to brett bruen, former director of global engagement at the white house and us diplomat. picking up on that last point about whether the us can actually compel iran to withdraw its support from these groups. how likely is that and is a us going about it in the right way, do you think? i do think they — right way, do you think? i do think they are _ right way, do you think? i gr think they are because i think the only way to get tyrone to back up is to increase the cost and that is in fact what days strike and those that will come in the next few days. —— tehran. they will ultimately make tehran recalculate and has was emphasised and reemphasised is not to escalate the situation. we have to hit them hard enough for them to rethink

the value of what they have been doing in supporting some of these proxies while not inciting them, while not pushing them into a corner where they feel they have to retaliate on an even larger scales. ., , ., , ., ., scales. can you explain what the other— scales. can you explain what the other options _ scales. can you explain what the other options are - scales. can you explain what the other options are in - scales. can you explain what. the other options are in terms of non—military attempts to get iran to do as the us wants? we seak iran to do as the us wants? we speak not _ iran to do as the us wants? - speak not only of these direct military operations, there are cyber attacks that can debilitate some of the critical infrastructure as well, the security, the military operations that iran has to make life uncomfortable. let's not forget, it would not be a surprise to many of the bbc viewers, that iran is already under serious economic sanctions so there is not a whole lot more that the biden administration can do on that

front. nonetheless, ithink pressure is also being applied through other intermediaries, the europeans as well as regional powers. let's not forget ridyard among other regional capitals establishing bilateral relations recently with tehran and those pressure points are going to be pushed. what does iran want in all of this? a good question. and i think ultimately if you go back to thejcp ultimately if you go back to the jcp away, ultimately if you go back to thejcp away, then nuclear deal negotiated by my former boss, 0bama,... welcomed into the international community, less as a pariah state. now, after president trump pulled out of that they have been a spot and have been trying to both save a rattle but also increase the cost on the west and

particularly the us by withdrawing from thejcp away. with the situation in gaza, this has been an opportune moment for iran to increase some of the costs that we are paying as a result and their goal is to get us to rethink our position and to negotiate a new our position and to negotiate a neijp away. our position and to negotiate a new jcp away-— new jcp away. what about the personnel. — new jcp away. what about the personnel. us _ new jcp away. what about the personnel, us personal- new jcp away. what about the personnel, us personal basedj new jcp away. what about the i personnel, us personal based in syria and iraq. in terms of the withdrawal and possibility of that, where do you think this all affects that?— all affects that? well, let's not forget _ all affects that? well, let's not forget we _ all affects that? well, let's not forget we are - all affects that? well, let's not forget we are still - all affects that? well, let's i not forget we are still dealing with remnants of isis, we are also obviously confronting a sade and to the brutality of his resume as well as other extremist group. there is a rationale for the 2500 or so us troops that remain in a row, as well as those positioned as they were unfortunately in the

case of this attack in northern jordan. the us is playing an outsized role in securing security, stability in the region, pulling that back would see that ramp up to extremist groups and as well send a strong signal to tay run that their efforts in pushing the us out are working. —— tehran thank you very much for talking for us and for your time. you can get all the latest news and analysis on what's going on in the middle east on our website, that's bbc.com/news let's take a step back and look at the tense situation in the region, particularly iran. although iran has denied any direct involvement in that drone attack, we know there are a number of pro—iranian militias based in iraq, syria, lebanon, the palestinian territories and as far south as yemen. all are opposed to israel and the united states. the bbc�*s analysis editor, ros atkins, takes a closer look now at what we know

about iran's alliances, and the so—called axis of resistance. as the crisis in the middle east escalates, there's one country the us references all the time. we do not want this war to widen. but if iran or its proxies attack us personnel anywhere, make no mistake — we will defend our people, we will defend our security, swiftly and decisively. last weekend, three us soldiers were killed in a drone attack. the location was north—eastern jordan. the target was a us military base called tower 22. the group claiming responsibility is the islamic resistance in iraq. but the us is clear on where blame really lies. 0ur teams here are continuing to do the analysis, but we know that iran is behind it, and certainly as as we've said before here in this in this briefing room, iran continues to arm

and equip these groups to launch these attacks. iran calls these claims "baseless accusations". but iran does have a network of allies across the region. it has a name for it, the axis of resistance — united, it says, in its opposition to israel and the us. this axis includes the group behind the tower 22 attack. iran has taken advantage, frankly, of the current moment of conflict to do what iran has been doing for many, many years, which is to disrupt, to target the us and partners in a variety of ways, mostly through the efforts of its proxy militias. and since hamas's attack on october 7th and israel's response to it, this disruption has taken many forms. for example, houthi rebels in yemen have repeatedly attacked shipping in the red sea. the us says there have been over 160 attacks by militia on its military positions in iraq and syria. but how does this network

of allies work, how close is their relationship with iran, and what is iran trying to achieve? if we go back to 1979, there was an uprising in iran against the monarchy — iran became an islamic republic. eversince, it's sought to spread its influence in the region. in recent years, that's involved support for the assad regime in syria, where iranian forces have been deployed, support for large militant groups such as hezbollah in lebanon and the houthis in yemen, and support for smaller groups, including in iraq. we have a whole range of iraqi shia militias, which have been formed in lots of different ways and have very different connections with iran. and, in fact, they're in an umbrella movement that has non—shia militias included as well, so it's very complicated to navigate the types of links within that part of the axis of resistance. and iran's support for its network comes in severalforms. first, money. in 2020, the us estimated that iran gave hezbollah $700 million a year,

as well as $100 million a year to palestinian groups including hamas, and it estimates the houthis have received hundreds of millions of dollars too. iran doesn't acknowledge this funding. but as well as money, iran is supplying weapons too. recently, two us military personnel died in an operation to intercept a boat in the red sea. the us released this image. it says the boat was transporting iranian—made weapons to the houthis. 0r there's hezbollah. 0ne estimate put his arsenal at 130,000 rockets and missiles. it's believed many of them come from iran. and if iran is supplying money and weapons, is it also coordinating the actions of its allies? after october 7th, the us acknowledged, "we have not yet seen evidence that "iran directed or was behind this particular attack." more broadly, iran's allies appear to operate with a significant degree of independence. but that needs placing in context.

iran does not necessarily exert day—to—day operational control over each and every one of its proxies. but that being said, when you provide strategic direction, when you provide significant materiel, and you provide significant training, you cannot avoid culpability. and given this level of support from iran, inevitably, many are asking, what does it want? well, to understand this, we again need to look at iran's history — not least the iran—iraq war of the 1980s, which began when iraq invaded. iran doesn't necessarily see itself as an aggressive actor. it sees itself as deeply vulnerable. in particular, memories of the iran—iraq war, when it was very vulnerable to iraqi missiles and many people died,

are absolutely key in iran's political conception of where it sits in the region. so its whole policy is built on never again allowing itself to be encircled or isolated. and to meet that goal, the axis of resistance is crucial. it is not looking for a massive escalation and a war outright with the us or israel. what it's interested in, however, is maintaining the kind of equilibrium and violence groups that it has across the region. in a statement this week, iran's revolutionary guard said, "we do not seek war, but we are not afraid of war." iran's motivations and ambitions are a fiercely contested subject. but as the us calibrates its response to the tower 22 attack, there's no debate that the axis of resistance is crucial to iran's efforts to position itself in the region and to challenge israel and america.

0ther other news now. former president donald trump's federal trial on charges that he sought to overturn the 2020 election results has been postponed. the trial was to start next month but will now be delayed indefinitely. the delay is due to an appeal by mr trump in which he claims to be immune from prosecution for official actions taken while he was the president. the case could be delayed for several months as the appeal process plays out. here in the uk, police say the suspect in a corrosive—substance attack on a mother and her daughter in south london was last seen on the london underground at king's cross. abdul shokoor ezedi was seen boarding a victoria line train heading southbound at 9pm on wednesday. detectives have released new images of the suspect inside the station about 90 minutes after the attack. the woman, 31, remains "very poorly" with expected life—changing injuries. that is according to the met police.

two years to the day since devolution collapsed following a boycott over post—brexit trade rules — power sharing will return to northern ireland today. sinn fein's michelle 0'neill, will become the first minister — meaning the post will be held by an irish nationalist, for the first time. the largest unionist party, the dup, will nominate a deputy first minister. matthew 0'toole from the nationalist sdlp will become the new leader of the opposition. he says the government needs to address the crises in public sector services. we will have special coverage of this here later on bbc. so please stay with us for all of that. a quick recap on our main story. the united states has launched strikes on targets in syria and iraq in response to a drone attack last weekend, on a us military base that killed three soldiers. we can show these pictures of the b-1 we can show these pictures of the b—1 bomber is taking off to carry out strike. us central

command said its forces hit 85 targets in total. white house national security spokesmanjohn kirby added that three facilities were hit in iraq and four were hit in syria. stay with us. hello, there. some very mild conditions around at the moment. plenty of cloud but also some sunshine at times, such as here in aberdeenshire on friday. a blustery day of weather but temperatures lifted to 15 degrees. 15.5 degrees in the southeast of northern ireland but towards western coasts, a very different story. still mild but grey, drizzly, lots of low cloud, mistand murk, and not a lot is set to change through the weekend. it certainly stays mild and it will be blustery, too, with brisk southwesterly winds blowing. on saturday, high pressure remains towards the south. we keep the strength of the wind. this cold front just gradually sinking a little further southwards

but not making too many inroads at all into the south of england and wales where, again, a very mild start on saturday morning. temperatures in double figures. clear spells through the night. further north, here, a chillier start to the day but again, temperatures well above the average. but it's across northern england, northern ireland, and eastern scotland where we see the best of the day's sunshine. still strong, gusty winds to the east of the pennines. showers piling into western scotland. and just where we have this cold front across wales and stretching into east anglia, there could be some outbreaks of rain on and off. but it is grey, drizzly, mild for the south of the front. 13 or 1a celsius. even in cardiff, temperatures all the way up to 11 degrees as we go through the afternoon for the six nations rugby. there will be a brisk, westerly—southwesterly wind blowing, as well. on sunday, a few changes. now, this is a warm front. it's going to be dragging that very mild air further northwards as we head throughout the day, so we will see some rain to start the day in northern ireland, that rain pushing into western scotland, where it will turn really quite heavy, particularly as we go into the evening. again, very mild—feeling conditions, 8—11; celsius. those temperatures picking up for northern scotland later on through the night.

some particularly heavy downpours across western scotland as we head through sunday night and again into monday. some more spots, across western ross, into argyll, could see as much as 150—170 millimetres of rainfall. elsewhere, across the rest of the uk on monday, largely dry. again, a few spots of drizzle. to the west, the best of the brightness will be towards the east. but temperatures once again for many 12—14 celsius. there will be some brightness around on monday. on tuesday, we start to see perhaps a little bit more in the way of rain and a northerly wind developing could bring us colder conditions into wednesday.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the united states launches strikes in syria and iraq, against iran—linked militias. us central command says its forces hit 85 targets in total. the strikes were in retaliation to a drone attack last week on a us military base injordan which killed three soldiers and injured more than a0 others. presidentjoe biden says the us does not seek conflict in the middle east, but warned, "if you harm an american, we will respond."

now on bbc news, unspun world withjohn simpson. hello and welcome to unspun world. is russia now starting to win its war against ukraine? the huge moral dilemma is between saving lives and sacrificing ukrainian territory, identity or independent existence. what effect will south africa's genocide case have against israel at the international court ofjustice? the reason why this matters now is because these provisional measures have an immediate and binding effect on israel's ability to conduct its military operations in gaza.