in an airstrike in beirut. israel says mr shukr, who has been hezbollah's top military leader for years, was responsible for an attack that killed 12 children and young people in the israeli—occupied golan heights on saturday. israel's retaliation on tuesday struck a beirut suburb. lebanon's health ministry says at least three people have been killed and 7a were injured. lebanon's prime minister condemned the strike as a "criminal act", calling it a "clear and explicit violation of international law". israel's defence minister, yoav gallant, has said mr shukr "has the blood of many israelis on his hands". but the iran—backed group has denied responsibility for the golan heights attack. as the region braces for a larger—scale israeli retaliation there are fears a serious escalation with hezbollah could dash hopes of a ceasefire in gaza. correspondent quentin somerville sent this update from the scene of that beirut strike. israel's response came

just before sunset — a drone attack, three strikes on a building in beirut�*s southern suburb of dahiyeh. explosions could be heard across the city, an attack that lebanon has been bracing itself against for days. the target, a hezbollah commander israel blames for the attack on majdal shams, in the occupied golan heights. emergency services here are still working to rescue the injured — it's not known if the commander was killed. this is the building that was struck by an israeli drone. we believe three rockets hit the building. as you can see, this is a heavily built—up civilian area but israel says it had the hezbollah commander it holds responsible for the majdal shams attack in its sites. there are mixed reports about whether he actually made it out alive, but we know there's been at least one woman killed and a number of people

injured here tonight. this area of southern beirut was the same area in which a hamas official was targeted and killed by israel back in january this year — the big question now though is, what comes next? because israel has said its response will be severe, and it would take a number of days. so this strike here in beirut may not be the end of it. a new footage has emerged tonight of saturday's attack in the golan — children playing quietly, then an air raid siren. there was no time to take cover. it left 12 dead, all children and young adults, watching a nearby football match. hezbollah, which has fired thousands of rockets and missiles into israel in the last ten months, denies it was behind the attack. the iranian—backed group stands shoulder—to—shoulder with hamas, but it's far better armed and its fighters more formidable. the conflict here was mainly contained to border areas and military targets —

the unwritten rules of this almost—war. but saturday's attack on the golan on civilians has pushed lebanon and israel to the brink. the united states and others had been working to contain things. how hezbollah responds to tonight's assassination attempt, and what israel does next, will determine whether war here is inevitable. quentin sommerville, bbc news, beirut. i want to get your reaction to this strike and the apparent targets. it this strike and the apparent taraets. ., , this strike and the apparent taraets. . , ., targets. it was quite a significant _ targets. it was quite a significant event - targets. it was quite a significant event i - targets. it was quite a l significant event i would targets. it was quite a - significant event i would say. one — significant event i would say. one of— significant event i would say. one of the most significant events_

one of the most significant events of the war on the north, for sure — events of the war on the north, for sure. you could say that fuad — for sure. you could say that fuad shukr is the number two of operations— fuad shukr is the number two of operations for hezbollah and he is responsible for the attack on saturday that killed 12 children in majdal shams the village — children in majdal shams the village in golan heights in the north— village in golan heights in the north of— village in golan heights in the north of israel. it was carried in beirut. _ north of israel. it was carried in beirut, and that is significant because according to a lot — significant because according to a lot of the reporting, americans are putting on pressure on israelis not to carry— pressure on israelis not to carry on_ pressure on israelis not to carry on any attacks in beirut, to carry— carry on any attacks in beirut, to carry out _ carry on any attacks in beirut, to carry out a proportional response that was proportionate to what — response that was proportionate to what has belied did and the israelis — to what has belied did and the israelis felt they needed to do something very significant. and their_ something very significant. and their target was responsible, was one _ their target was responsible,

was one of the main people responsible for the 1983 beirut marine — responsible for the 1983 beirut marine barracks bombing that killed — marine barracks bombing that killed hundreds of americans. it is difficult for the americans to be upset with the israelis — americans to be upset with the israelis about this. the israelis _ israelis about this. the israelis settle the score for americans... i israelis settle the score for americans. . ._ israelis settle the score for americans... i believe he was on a wanted _ americans... i believe he was on a wanted list _ americans... i believe he was on a wanted list for _ americans... i believe he was on a wanted list for israelis i on a wanted list for israelis and a known target for the us. given the significance of fuad shukr in hezbollah, how do you think the group or react? that is the $64,000 _ think the group or react? twat is the $64,000 question. i don't think they can take this sitting down. i think they have to do something significant in response. the question is how much do they want to escalate? the danger is for both sides at this escalates to all out war. i don't think either side wants

that. in fact, i don't think either side wants that. infact, i i don't think either side wants that. in fact, i think hezbollah is kind of happy with the status quo because actually it is made a number of significant achievements in this war, from its point of view, because it is forced israel to evacuate all of the people in the north from the border, about 80,000 people. this is the first time in the history of israel in one of its wards where their territory inside israel proper has been can —— contested. what they had of hezbollah would like is to end the war with the north with a state of instability, with a political problem for the israelis. so if it escalates to all out war, they can get invasion of lebanon by israel and i think israel would eventually win that war but it would be extremely costly for both sides. t0

would be extremely costly for both sides-— both sides. to get a sense of what israel _ both sides. to get a sense of what israel wants. _ both sides. to get a sense of what israelwants. each - both sides. to get a sense of what israel wants. each side | what israel wants. each side trading attacks, between israel and iraq. any clues in that situation towards the way israel may decide to either continue or let it be? fire israel may decide to either continue or let it be? are in a ickle. continue or let it be? are in a pickle. because _ continue or let it be? are in a pickle. because the _ continue or let it be? are in a pickle. because the all- continue or let it be? are in a pickle. because the all out i continue or let it be? are in a. pickle. because the all out war with hezbollah could bring in the israeli billions —— the iranians, and the israelis need american support to make war against hezbollah and against iran and also against hezbollah. hezbollah has 150,000 rockets and missiles and about 20,000 of those are precision guided, and it can overwhelm the defensive systems of israel. they do not want to go into that war without the political backing of the united states. that is on the one

hand. on the other hand, this issue in the north is actually intolerable politically to the israeli leadership. they want to push hezbollah back from the border. they want to convince their own public in the north that their lives are safe. that they will not be subject to attack, like the people in the south were on october seven. but they don't have an easy answer to that problem. my guess is what they want is to deal some severe blows to hezbollah like this one today and then eventually get to a ceasefire. but it is a very volatile situation and hard to read exactly what they would want. ~ . ., , ., ., want. michael duran, from the hudson institute, _ want. michael duran, from the hudson institute, thank- want. michael duran, from the hudson institute, thank you i want. michael duran, from the | hudson institute, thank you for your insights.

at least 11 people have been killed and dozens injured in ongoing protests after president nicolas maduro was declared the winner of venezuela's presidential election for a third time. the organisation of american states has said there was "exceptional manipulation" in sunday's presidential election. the opposition says it won 70% of the votes and can prove it with receipts from voting machines. thousands gathered peacefully on tuesday in the capital, caracas, in support of the opposition, that's in contrast to monday's violent protests. the leader of the opposition, has called on her supporters to remain peaceful. regional neighbours including brazil, colombia, and the us have condemned violence against demonstrators. the leaders called for full transparency. the white house added that the leaders shared the perspective that the election outcome represents a critical moment for democracy

in the hemisphere. the foreign policy chief of the eu said... the foreign policy chief of the eu more than 700 have been arrested including the leader of the opposition. the president accused the opposition of starting a coup. more protests broke out today around the city of caracas. thousands and thousands of people turned out to demonstrate against president maduro and his claim to victory in sunday's presidential elections. some of those that we spoke to said they believe the election was a fraud, they believe that people needed to keep fighting, and they hoped that pressure from the streets would help to change the situation. some, though, argued that it would only be if the military or police decided to join the opposition that anything would change. now the opposition leader, maria corina machado,

has asked for her side to remain peaceful. she said that people shouldn't give in to provocations set by the government — in her words — and said that they had proof that their side had won this election, after gathering more physical receipts from some of the country's electronic voting machines. the government, on the other hand, has accused the opposition of instigating, in their words, a coup, with both president maduro and his defence minister saying that this is a coup that is trying to destabilise the country of venezuela, and they argue this is backed by, in their words, "us imperialism". they have also accused foreign governments around the world of interfering with the election and this is a reference to the fact that many, many countries and governments around the world have said that they want proof from the president of his electoral win if they are to recognise the election results, arguing that there is significant evidence that these results are not credible.

nicolas maduro, in response, has cut diplomatic ties with some countries, including some in latin america, also cutting off international flights from wednesday to panama. for more i have been speaking to venezuelan american political dissident, francisco marquez, now lives here in the us. i spoke to him earlier. thank you for stopping by. i'm sure you have been following very closely the events taking place in venezuela. what have you been hearing from friends or family there or members of the opposition about what is taking place and whether or not these protests we have been seeing will continue? what happened on july 28th was that the venezuelan people spoke clearly with 67% of the vote for edmundo gonzalez and 30% for nicolas maduro. and these are notjust numbers taken out of nowhere, the opposition forces have gathererd 81.2% of the voting tallies. these are tallies that are printed by the machines... these are paper copies. these are paper copies printed by the machine — that notjust come out of nowhere — they clearly prove that the opposition won and by the way, these can be

audited and i will finish with this, it has been more than 48 hours, more than three days basically, since the election took place. the electoral authority declared maduro the winner without posting a single specific vote either by voting centre or state. that said, maduro has been declared the winner, he is still in power, and does not look like he is set to step down. as you watch the events unfolding, what do you think might take place next? are you afraid that there could be some form of escalating violence? there's been a massive escalation of violence. i was in prison in 2016 for four months in four different prisons. they tortured a person for 30 minutes in front of me to send me a message and in the last 24 hours there have been 15 assassinations and at least 80 confirmed reports of imprisonment. having said that, there have been millions of people on the street. people are not

showing fear and they coming up full force, more and more by the day, and i think we are at a point that if we create enough pressure in venezuela and internationally, the regime will be forced to concede because there has never been such a brazen attempt, i would even say in the recent history of latin america of such open massive fraud. you were in prison in venezuela under the maduro government. you were arrested while collecting signatures for a recall referendum against venezuelan president nicolas maduro. what goes through your mind now when you see people out onto the streets. we also heard reports of opposition members being detained. we heard reports that there will be patrols across the country. it just shows the strength and resilience of venezuelan people. i am, unfortunately, one of 14,000 cases of illegal attainment since 2014, since maduro

started the regime and get after 14,000 people have been detained, you still see millions of people on the street. what does that tell you? after 25 years of dictatorship in the maduro regime, people are still wanting to vote and fight for freedom and that is very relevant to what we're trying to do right now. maria corina machado and edmundo gonzalez are together in this fight and edmundo gonzalez should be declared by the international community as the leader. hamas has announced that one of its leaders have been killed. it was announced in a statement. he was killed in tehran, in iran, on tuesday while he was attending the inauguration ceremony of their new president. hamas confirming the death in a statement, saying the following. . ..

they said he was killed in a raid on his residence after participating in the inauguration ceremony. that is just coming in. one of the top leaders of hamas, has been killed and that statement has come in from hamas and also from the revolutionary guards, killed in the capital of tehran, where he was attending the inauguration ceremony for iran's new president. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. an inquest has heard how a woman who was killed in a crossbow attack alongside her mother and sister managed to call the police and give her address before she was cut off.

hannah hunt also sent a text message saying she was tied up. the inquest was told that she was still alive when police officers arrived. the housing secretary, angela rayner, has set out changes to england's planning laws to help deliver labour's promise of 1.5 million new homes by 2029. housing targets would become mandatory again and low—quality green belt would be reclassified as grey belts, but the conservatives say it would force suburban areas to take more housing from urban labour areas. tuesday has become the hottest day of the year so far as a heatwave continues to affect large parts of the uk. met office measuring stations in south—west london reached 32 degrees. london, southern england and south—eastern wales are expected to meet the official criteria for a heatwave this week. you're live with bbc news. uk prime minister keir starmer has condemned a violent protest that took place in the northern town of southport on tuesday

night, following the fatal stabbing of three girls on monday. demonstrators chanting far—right slogans clashed with police. one officer was injured as objects were thrown, with a police van set alight. police say tuesday's violence erupted when several hundred people from the english defence league began to throw items at a mosque. the three children killed in the knife attack at a taylor swift—themed day camp have been named, as 9—year—old alice aguiar, 6—year—old bebe king, and elsie dot stancombe, who was 7. police say 5 other children and two adults are in a critical condition in hospital. this was the scene as people gathered for a vigil for those victims. a 17—year—old man remains in custody following yesterday's attack. our home affairs correspondent daniel sanford has more on this story. tonight, the tragedy of southport descended into violence. a few hundred people had gathered outside

the local mosque for a protest. they had been fired up by social media posts that suggested — incorrectly — an islamist link to monday's stabbings. now the protest has turned into a small riot, with large rocks being thrown at police officers wearing riot helmets and carrying shields. at times, there was extreme violence, as heavy rocks rained down on officers, and a police vehicle was set on fire. the home secretary had earlier warned about disinformation linked to the attack. this seems to have been one of the consequences. the suspect has no known links to islam. yesterday, the usual quiet of this modern cul—de—sac, where the 17—year—old suspect lived, in banks, just outside southport, had been shattered by the arrival of armed police officers. and today, the close remained closed, as forensic officers

meticulously gathered evidence. the 17—year—old is being held on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. the suspect was born in cardiff to parents who had moved to the uk from rwanda. the family, including his older brother, moved to the southport area 11 years ago, and to this close in banks seven years ago. we do know his name, but it is unlawful for us to identify him, because he is under 18 and involved in criminal proceedings. neighbours say he left his home in banks yesterday in a taxi at around 11.30am. he was wearing a covid—style facemask. about a quarter of an hour later, a man arrived in a taxi on hart street. the police were called at 11:47am to reports of a stabbing at the taylor swift—themed dance event, just off hart street. the suspect was arrested at the scene. this 3d animation shows how the hart space dance studio, where the stabbings happened, is down a cul—de—sac, with only one way in and one way out.

so it may have been difficult for people to escape once the attack started. the new home secretary was in southport this morning to lay flowers and meet the police, fire, and ambulance staff who responded to what she called an unimaginable attack. it's beyond every parent's worst nightmare. you had what should have been a children's party, having fun at the beginning of the summer holidays, could then turn into something so devastating. with police forensics teams poring over the streets around the attack site today, the 17—year—old remains in custody but has not been charged. but that was before tonight's riot, in which one officer suffered a broken nose. merseyside police said the violence was sickening for a community already devastated by the tragic loss of three young lives. us lawmakers have questioned two security officials about the failures that led to

the assassination attempt on former president trump's pennsylvania campaign rally earlier this month. the joint hearing with acting secret service director ronald rowe and fbi deputy director paul abbate at times grew heated as lawmakers pressed both men about the communication breakdowns between law enforcement on the ground. some senators demanded accountability for the operation, which mr rowe acknowledged in his opening remarks was a failure. our north america correspondent nomia iqbal has been following the hearing. mr rowe was clearly keen to strike a very different tone to his predecessor, kimberly cheatle, who when she was there last week was accused of being very defensive, she gave very vague answers that led to that inevitable conclusion of her standing down. mr rowe has now steped up to be the acting head of the secret service and he went in and he was completely remorseful, as we heard there in the statement, taking responsibility for the failures, saying that he could not sleep at night, that he was ashamed but he also was very forceful, as well. there are a few points

during the hearing where there were shouting matches with some republican senators. kamala harris has no challenges for the democratic nomination and she launched a campaign less than ten days ago but has already secured the support of

99% of the participating delegates, according to party leaders. the vice president is also expected to announce a running mate on tuesday and they will hold a joint rally in philadelphia before heading off to seven swing states in less than four days. before we go, those breaking news, that the palestinian militant group hamas says its leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed in tehran. the revolutionary guards have announced that ismail haniyeh was killed on tuesday in tehran, the capital of iran, while attending the inauguration ceremony of the new president. hamas confirmed the death saying it is morning the death saying it is morning the loss of ismail haniyeh, the head of the movement, was

killed in a treacherous zionist attack. after participating in the inauguration ceremony. more information at the top of the hour. we are handing over to colleagues in london. stay with us on bbc news. hello. tuesday brought us the warmest day of the year so far. several parts of london saw temperatures up to 32 celsius, including heathrow, kew gardens, saintjames' park, as well, and it's notjust been the warmest day of the year, we've also officially seen a heat wave already in some regions, especially kent, east malling, and bramham, in west yorkshire. these areas have seen temperatures exceed their heatwave threshold for sunday, monday, and tuesday. so, already, three consecutive days, and we may well see another day or so of heatwave conditions in some areas. so, it's still warm and humid again, but a thunderstorm risk, as we head through wednesday in the southeast of england. to start the day, then, we've got the heat and humidity in the south from the word go. it's fresher, further north, but long spells of sunshine,

lots of dry weather, light winds, really pleasant late—july day, but it is humid towards the south, and, as we head through the afternoon, you can see those showers and thunderstorms starting to crop up, particularly so across parts of kent, into sussex, as well. they'll be hit—and—miss, so you might not see one, but if you do catch one, could be some localised flooding. top temperatures still 28, possibly 29, for central and southern areas. low—20s or high teens, though, further north. now, heading on into wednesday evening and overnight into thursday, some of those heavy showers and thunderstorms become a little bit more extensive, especially across parts of england and wales. could be a bit of rain across the west of scotland, heading on into thursday, as well. it's going to be another really muggy, sticky night in the south — mid—to—high—teens here — a little bit warmer further north than it has been overnight, too. now, through thursday, we've got this first mass of heavy showers and thunderstorms, it clears away, and then, through the day, cloud and showers bubble up, so, again, some thunderstorms potentially breaking out, especially for england and wales, i think, during the afternoon. drier for scotland and northern ireland. temperatures 22—28 — so still above average for most of us.

we've still got that warm air with us, as we head through friday, but later on friday, and into saturday, a frontal system pushes its way eastwards and that's going to allow fresher air to start to move in from the west. so, a change in weather type, as we head through friday into saturday. still quite warm and sunny in the south and east, i think, through friday, but the winds pick up in the north and the west, with the arrival of some showers, as low pressure starts to move in. so, temperatures around about 16—21 for northern ireland and scotland, still about 28 in the far south east, but then, eventually, things do turn a little bit fresher and more unsettled as we head into the weekend. bye for now.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. when the race for the white house was a rerun contest between two old white guys, it seemed likely that 78—year—old donald trump would beat 81—year—old and increasingly frail, joe biden. but now the landscape's changed. team trump has to rethink

its strategy to take on the all—but—certain democratic party nominee, vice president kamala harris. younger, a woman of colour and clearly more energetic. my guest is democratic congressman adam smith. is his party now in danger of overestimating the kamala effect? congressman adam smith in seattle, welcome to hardtalk. well, thanks for having me. it's a pleasure to have you, congressman. let's start with the withdrawal of presidentjoe biden from the race. you were one of the most

outspoken and early democratic party politicians saying that his candidacy