for a negotiated settlement that brings the afghan people the piece that they so urgently deserve and creates a stable region. we welcome the role of the secretary general's personal envoys on our know is playing in support of this objective. to close, i'd like to express my appreciation for efforts taken by partners and allies to maintain international civilian and diplomatic operations in afghanistan. we are thankful to those who have stepped up in this critical role. and as we continue with our military withdrawal from afghanistan, we want all afghans to know as president biden has stated that we remain committed to a strong partnership with the country and its people. us security assistance continues to afghan forces as does our development and humanitarian aid to the african people . we will continue our diplomatic engagement in support of peace. we urge

afghans to remain resolute and to know that the international community is behind them. i thank you. joining us here on the edge, is it been listening to the un headquarters in new york, where the security council is discussing the deteriorating situation in afghanistan? we just heard there from jeffrey de la renters, the us deputy ambassador to do the united nations and christian salumi has been monitoring this for us in new york and kristin the u. s. representative there, once again, reiterating that both sides need to recommit to piece, particularly it's all about indeed, and he called on the international community to help fill the void that has been

left by his countries. withdrawal of troops from the region. we heard very strong that calls for action during this session from the un representative for afghanistan. in particular, we're getting a picture of a very dire situation in the country. as the taliban has advanced on cities, this was predicted by deborah lyons 6 weeks ago. and we've seen that it is the taliban that has been advancing and the government forces who have been responding and it's civilians who have been caught in the crossfire. there's been over a 1000 casualties and just the last month that's a 50 percent increase in casualties. refugees streaming over the border. and what we're hearing from you and officials is the need for a strong international response. the call from deborah lions was for

demands for an end to be attacks on cities and end to the violence in a unified pressure on the taliban. in particular, she said that the international community, many members were reluctant to deal with them, but they looked at them as a partner for peace, for the afghan, lead afghan own peace process. you hear that over and over again here at the united nations that any piece for afghanistan has to come from within. but she said that things have been moving in the wrong direction and that it's time for the international community to put pressure on the parties here. and she described the situation as at a crucial turning point. one that could see the country descend into full scale civil war. and kristen as this particular session at the

security council continues, what, what are we expecting at the end of it? well, earlier this week the security council did issue a statement expressing their concern about the increasing violence and the human rights situation. particularly the, the attack on a un compound that left a local police officer dead and could in the words of the un and the security council constitute a war crime. what further action they may take. we are not expecting anything to happen today, but we are hearing rumblings from the council members that they are worried about the situation. and in september a month from now, the mandate for the un office in afghanistan comes up for renewal. so many are

seeing that as an opportunity when the international community could bolster efforts in the region to get to a a ceasefire and a more inclusive government. and before that happens, there's talk about the upcoming piece talks in doha and an effort to rally the international community behind a consistent message for the parties there to help calm the situation. all right, kristen, thanks very much. kristen salumi life force there at the united nations headquarters where the security council has been having that special session on the situation in afghanistan. now, the head of the u. n's assistance mission in afghanistan as warned members to take urgent action and prevent the country from descending into a catastrophe. afghanistan is now at

a dangerous turning point. a head lies either a genuine, teach negotiation or a tragically intertwined set of crises and increasingly brutal conflict. combined with an acute humanitarian situation and multiplying human rights abuses, i do believe that the security council and the broader international community can help prevent the most dire scenarios. but it will require acting in unity and acting quickly. of the taliban made major gains on friday pictures released by the on group show it's fighters near the airport in syringe, after they captured the southern city. it is the 1st provincial capital for in the month long tale bond offensive, or diplomatic editor james base is in cobble with more well on the ground

we have seen, i think the international community completely surprised number one by president biden, and the speed of his pull out number 2 by the taliban and the speed that they filled the vacuum 1st going to the northern areas that are going to start, not that traditional stronghold taking lots of territory that then going to the border areas then now to the south. and so that some of the key cities in the south but also to other parts of africa and pushing in on the cities. and that has continued in recent hours. the battle in laska god continues right in the heart of the provincial capital of helmand in nimrod. which is next to helmand, just to the west of it, that the battles have been underway and ins around the regional capital. they're the taliban now for the 1st time have control of a provincial capital. they seem to achieve that from most reports without many shots being fired. they took the prison there,

let go of prisoners. some of them taliban. they used humvees and other vehicles that originally supplied by the u. s. and nato. they are now in the hands of taliban having been captured by african forces ins around they control the government buildings. they control the airport and the government to very much on the edge of that provincial capital of nym rose. and we're hearing that the human cost of that is a lot of displacement. people crossing the border into iran were told as many as 20000 people cross the radians, trying to stop the beating back people as they try and cross that border. of victoria fontaine is professor of peace studies at the american university of afghanistan. she joins us via skype now from cobble, thanks very much for being with with us. so i want to ask you, 1st of all, what do you, what do you make of the current situation on the ground in afghanistan and the, the international, international communities can't response to it. well,

the situation of course, is very concerning. it has in say the in, so what do you just report that the national community has been far too intelligent with the taliban. append to now, and i think that's what we have heard in united nation is really a wake up core for many of those. also wish for supporters with a whole to really on the ground that seems to be cation of war crimes, elected war crimes, and some certified crime by the independent jimmy white commission. and the longer this goes on, as the taliban continue to, to make these gains across afghanistan, does it put more pressure on the united states to, to, to reassess their decision to, to completely pull out of the country. absolutely. the fact that

the, the town of here right did not for the next week was the thanks to a whole the great security for the rising, but are still us ethical. and i think that in the future that can be no. let's say security for major cities can stand without. you went down to combination of those 3 factors. is this something that the afghan government could have done to to, to better prevent the situation? absolutely. a few weeks ago, president gandy posted on in a speech that you know, he, he had the us. and then last week he said that you went with to week and i think that that he has been much more of his strategy and which one of the guys with regards and station of that particular week,

which simply clearly has not been the case between the up and government, the current government and administration and as far as where things go from here, obviously it is, it is a very fluid situation, particularly on the ground with, with, with, with these battles. but there is, did this withdraw as it stands is, is going to be completed by mid september. what sort of a picture could you see at, at that point, as we get closer to the end of the year? well, fighting season stops are usually when the winter hits in the month of october, november. so the i think that it's going to be extending fulton for major urban centers to hold until then for then the fight and susan to, to end up into the next. the next spring and then you know, the situation on the ground and internationally could change. but i think that at

the moment what, what needs to happen is really for the major urban centers to hold round as much as possible. and for the popular righty to ask and national defense 40 keep to c t 's anom until the particular time frame. victoria font can, thanks very much for being with us. now we've got plenty more head on this news, including floods threatening to make hunger in north korea, even worse with crops being wiped down. candy olympic spirit takes root in rio, 5 years on from the games. we visit the legacy project. it's defying expectations. in sport, the men's race walkers accused the i o. c of making

a terrible mistake by scrapping their events for paris. ah . now to another major escalation between has buller and israel. the iran back group says if 519 rockets from southern lebanon towards israeli positions in the occupied chabad farms aboard a district most were intercepted or fell in open land israeli military fire back with artillery and says, while it doesn't want to war, it is prepared for one if necessary. as bala says fridays, barraged was retaliation for israeli as strikes, which targeted southern lebanon a day earlier was a hot joins us from a blur and a sock in southern lebanon. so they know what more do we know at this point?

well, it appears that the latest round of cross border violence has now and there is a cautious call. ma has the law and israel neither one of them the last time and it seemed interested in a major escalation. the area behind me was a baffled ground. this morning, the flare up of violence has been locked, claiming responsibility for launching a rockets from southern lebanon towards the ship on farms. but in the last statement, i think they made it very clear that they are not interested in an escalation when they said that we targeted areas around empty spaces around israeli military outpost. so basically saying we could have the outpost if we wanted to and we could have cars casualties. what we understand from sources close to has by law, as well as telling the israelis you cannot change the rules of engagement which have been in place since the war in 2006. because early on thursday is ralph responded to rocket fire with air strikes the 1st time it's use the air strikes instead of artillery shelling on thursday. but there was also another message today

. many observers will tell you iran through it's ally has been telling the israelis, if you start war with us, then we have allies across the region ready and willing to support us because the israeli defense minister, yesterday the day before said that we are ready to engage iran directly, militarily engage iran directly. so the iranian fluids outline has the last saying that we can open multiple fronts. what is also interesting is how the fuji's and the m and, and the mass, the palestinian movement, issued statements as expressing support to as well as actions. so the message to the israelis, we can open a number of front if we want to, if you decide to launch attacks against us. all right, dana, thanks for that over now to northern israel. where holder abdul hamid is. she is in kitty kitty sure mono holder. what's the latest where you are

we've actually moved a bit closer to the border actually just beyond the row of trees that i don't know if you can see it. well, just behind that is lebanon. now, but what we understand the rockets were load somewhere from that area behind those hills inside lebanon, 3 of them. i actually landed on that m d field that you see there, the other another 10 had been intercepted by the i don't the fence system and i noticed 3 landed in an empty field on this side. now. the defense minister benny gan, they'd have consultation with his chief of staff and with other senior leadership out of the military here at the moment it seems that really israel is not seeking an escalation. i think it authorities here were taken a bit by surprised they didn't expect that the that they would detention would rise

so much over the last 72 hours. this border? yes, there had been rockets launched from 11 and into israel over the past few months. quite sporadically, but i think the thinking now really among these really leadership is that has been had replied b, as it said, because of those air strikes that were carried out. but it seemed that because of where the rockets had landed here, what was targeted inside israel? well, there's really, leadership thinks that his book is not seeking a, an escalation or further escalation, but this is a very volatile region. we do know that the military here all along the border, is on high alert. there is no, they didn't b f up their positions along the border any way they, they had permanently, there are many bases all along this very volatile border. so they didn't need to do that yet. people here are told to be cautious. i, the, the,

the officials have actually spoken with the head of the municipalities in this, not in northern israel, and said that they would be in constant coordination for any developments. but it does, it does seem, or at least the messages good, coming out at the moment from the top military leadership. israel is that doesn't seem that they want an escalation at this point. all right, hold on that, i mean life or stay in northern israel. thanks for the was to talk more about all of this now with rami horry, he is the director of global engagement and professor of journalism at the american university of bay route to join us via skype from boston. rami, thanks so much for being with us. so let me ask you, 1st of all, what do you make of what's been happening in the, in that region between the northern israel and has bala and leveled on this. is

this, these, these tit for tat attacks? is this the way for each side to say we're here and we can hit you anytime, but we'd rather not? yes has, and what you're seeing is a perpetuation of a situation that's been an effect since 2006, which is a deterrence between the forces of hezbollah and the israeli on forces. quite an extraordinary situation when you think about it, that of an armed militant group like has been like to reach the parents with an incredible power like israel, with its nuclear weapons, an american support. but that's the situation that exists and they have rules of engagement that are very clear, which is you can do reciprocal acts against one another. if you should, a soldier, we should a soldier. if you should have cow, we shoot a cow. and if you shouldn't, to empty fields, we shouldn't empty fields. and this is exactly what they're doing. they're sending messages with these attacks to empty fields that we can get you if we want. but we

don't want to war and have the impact, essentially of really, you know, militarized emails sending a message saying, look, we don't like you were going to fight you if you want to. war will make a war. but we'd rather not. there are some new wrinkles, though that are fascinating, which is that has been the claim responsibility, which doesn't very often do publicly and the likes to keep things big us, the israelis used jet fighters to attack lebanon yesterday, again heading to areas, but using jet fighters instead of artillery, as in i mentioned, these are new little little twists, but the most significant thing in my view is the incident that happened earlier today was the group of villagers in south lebanon, who stopped the bottle of unit that was going to fire rockets were coming back from firearms and had a truck full of these rockets and stopped them. and there was discussions and it

wasn't clear from the reports. some of the villagers were trying to stop has been le, from doing this. and others are saying, no, we support you. but it shows you the tensions that arise in south club. and then of course, this has been for the last 3030 years or so you had before the palestinian gorillas and south lebanon. the israel is occupied south lebanon for many years and stuff the situation. so the ramifications of the conflict between palestine and israel, you see them now and lebanon. you see them in syria, my, where the iran, of course, behind the sands, iran, israel, heading each other ships on the gulf and other places. these are the ramifications of the core conflict between how cindy and i am, it is really zionism which has been going on for about 6070 years that we have to always keep in mind. and these are situations that keep recurring because of the fundamental conflict in palestine and israel hasn't ended. and the

secondary conflicts with how mass now, the hotel is the iranians. these are all going on as well. yeah. just picking up on the, on the iran connection that because of course, that has bullies as seen as, as a proxy of iran. to what extent is this is this perhaps could be seen as, as iran trying to send a message to israel sue through the mouthpiece of his book. this is clearly a situation where iran and has been coordinated very closely. it's widely the, made them and passionately debated, and lebanon is, has a puppet of iran, can iran order has led to attack israel, or is, has been primarily a lebanese islamist and regional force that is strategically linked to iran, but makes its own decisions. nobody has asked that question definitively, but clearly there is a link about what has mala does what iran does, what the,

what is mass, other people in the region, the syrians, they are all grouped together in 11 dynamic. and then this is, this is one of the achievements of the iranian revolution across the region. many people don't like it, many people like it. there's a huge split, ideologically in lebanon. and in the region is it's good to push back against israel and the us and others and right, bring our forces or support them. or do we try to find a peaceful resolution? nobody has answered that question either, but guess iran and has butler work closely together and they can send signals for each other. they can help each other. but if it comes down to an actual war, that really is not clear how far his vala would go to enter into war with israel. interferon asked it to, or to do a major attack which could trigger work because of what we saw on the village and

south lebanon today, which is there are many lebanese who don't like what his mom is doing. and don't want to to have another war trigger that destroys half of 11 or maybe more next time. so there's a constant tension at all different levels, local, regional, and international. could to speak, speak with you as always, rami horry in boston. appreciate your analysis. now emergency crews are continuing to battle. several wildfires that remain out of control in turkey opposition parties have criticized president wretched type odo and government for a lack of preparedness. authorities of contain nearly 205 over the past 9 days. at least 8 people have been killed. tens of thousands of people including taurus, i've had to move to say for areas where a suicide god has more on this now from dallas, mom, there had been roughly around $200.00 y as far as the report since the y fi started

more than a week ago so now in 6 provinces, there are still 13 active zones that are burning. and the, the local authorities here says that they now have a home. because by today, the wind has lost its momentum, and the heat is lower. and by tomorrow, they're expecting the humidity also to a little bit or rise, which they hope that this will help the fight against the wildfires. now we are in dilemma a port which has been one of the most crucial coordination center through the last 9 days here. and here that on the russian plains, the ukrainian, there be johnny and the run in a car as well here. and they get the water from the mediterranean sea and drop them on the active zones here, right behind me. there are 2 iranian and one other

b johnny, 17515. how the court there's, there's a fire fight and how to cook to have proven to be very much crucial in this battle . they are able to make around $123.00, in just one an hour and in total, in one drop they, they, they drop roughly around $2.00 tones on the active zones in total. so they are able to carry around with it while they are able to phone load around 30 tones of the water on the active zones. firefighter has become the 1st confirmed victim of the wildfires in greece, which continuing across the country, the intense blazes of force more evacuation is near the capital. athens firefighters are trying to stop the flames. from reaching populated areas,

prime minister is urging people to obey evacuation orders and not try to defend their own homes saying basra ivy is life for us in korea, natty, says a, what is the latest there? well, let me just start by saying the word, the firefighter is becoming more dangerous, just to give you an update. of course, we have the unfortunate death of one of the volunteer firefighters. we've seen at least 24 firefighters working here, and that a greater area in north of asking us to come to some sort of smoking or into we've been hospitalized in the few are in critical can different skill. and in the i, c, u, and on ventilators, and as you say, the prime minister think people value value their lives in coming through here,

you'll see the police is set up road blocks at the moment to try to keep people from returning to the stand or letting anybody else go inside other than rescue workers and that's because the residents inside the town for the last several hours have been refusing to leave, refusing to leave their properties alone. they don't trust that the civil protection groups that the civil protect your organization. it was firefighters have enough resources to perfect their homes, were talking about areas where people have watched their own homes, burn, they've watch neighbors. homes burned down to their, refusing to leave, to try and safeguard their properties as long as they possibly can until the fires come, leaving it to the last, wanted to try and evacuate many of these areas. but firefighters ordered and actually been on anyone entering it in the last few hours. they have agreed to leave, and the town has been evacuated within mandatory evacuation. this come in for several neighborhoods in the greater area of green or athens area and all over the country

1000000. we've seen the evacuation or discontinue just before we started this live . there was another emergency alert. and 2 more area in the east of athens have been ordered to evacuate zane bus. probably thank you. me now still ahead on as is it a data from english hospitals give more insight into how effective coverage 19 vaccines are against the delta various in a class of their own. we meet the palestinian students who have endured conflict, power cuts, and the pandemic, but still sit there exams and in sport find out who comes out on top after a crash filled 1st ever women's olympic madison finals. ah

hello there. we've seen intense heat across parts of europe and northern areas of africa, and that's edged into much of the live and bringing temperature is above average in syria, in iraq as well as iran and q wait. and as we go into the next few days, we are going to see temperatures at pick up across the gulf states. it's further south of that. things are looking cooler. we've got a southerly wind kicking in across yemen, anime on, and that is keeping temperatures down. we're also seeing if you showers across western areas of yemen, edging up into southern areas of saudi arabia. and these join up with the biggest storms that are brewing across that central band across africa. you can see that the pin rift valley. see some of those heavy showers and storms we could see, flooding across parts of the central african republic. and cameroon is likely to see some of those really heavy falls come sunday. but further south that is looking a lot hotter and dry. a temperature is in namibia and.