live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. palestinian officials say three leaders of the islamichhad militant group have been killed in israeli air raids on the gaza strip. the us state of texas is preparing for an influx of migrants, days after a mass shooting and car crash left 16 people dead. russia has launched its biggest wave of drone attacks on ukraine in months. ten regions were targeted overnight, and at least three civilians were killed. we start with a developing story tonight. you're looking at a live

shot in gaza city, where just hours ago. the israeli military has carried out air raids in the gaza strip, striking targets belonging to the islamichhad militant group. palestinian officials said three commanders of the group were among at least nine people killed. several others have been wounded. civilians are reportedly among the dead. airstrikes are going on in different areas, also across the gaza strip. it started at

two o'clock in the morning with the airstrikes targeting three locations, two in gaza city, the main city, and one in the south, rafa, quickly the news was spread around with bombs, everyone was awake and the ministry said that nine people were killed and several others were killed and several others were injured. ms nymagee had issued a statement saying that three of the top leaders — top military commanders were killed alongside their wives and some of their children also killed me attack. if nymagee had said we would revenge. —— islamic jihad has said that they would have been. the funeral is around midday. it has been a long night with bombings, to we're hearing from security sources that there were about 30 targeting houses, and then they started to target every

target of islamicjihad, the military compound, training facilities for islamicjihad facilities for islamic jihad were facilities for islamicjihad were targeted. facilities for islamic 'ihad were targeted.�* facilities for islamic 'ihad were targeted. facilities for islamic 'ihad were tarueted. ~ , ., ~ were targeted. why do you think were targeted. why do you think we are seeing — were targeted. why do you think we are seeing is _ were targeted. why do you think we are seeing is really _ were targeted. why do you think we are seeing is really forces - we are seeing is really forces target islamicjihad now? islamicjihad was quite active in the attacks in the west bank and quite recently we had a situation where one of the prisoners was on hunger strike, in prison a couple of days ago, and also they fired about 100 rockets from gaza into southern israel. then, quickly, intimidation was there and they announced a ceasefire. not everybody was believing the ceasefire. we had this morning these sudden attacks by israel, hammes, the group governing gaza here —— hamas. they said they would retaliate for what they would retaliate for what they called a big massacre on

civilians and islamicjihad in gaza. ., ~ civilians and islamicjihad in gaza. . ., , , gaza. thank you for bringing is the latest _ gaza. thank you for bringing is the latest update. _ to the us state of texas, where the driver of a car that struck a group of people at a bus stop, killing eight, has been charged with manslaughter. it happened in the city of brownsville, texas, which is right near the mexico border. police have identified the driver as george alvarez, a 34—year—old brownsville resident with a lengthy criminal history. investigators have not yet determined if the incident was intentional or accidental. and further north in texas, more details have been released about the eight victims of a mass shooting at a shopping mall outside dallas. they include a three—year—old boy and his parents, two other young children and an engineerfrom india. earlier, i spoke with texas congressman vicente gonzalez. he's a democrat and represents brownsville.

let's start with the car running into a group of people, killing eight, what updates have you heard on the investigation? good evening. law enforcement conducting a thorough investigation, the suspect has been arrested and has been arraigned, bond has been set on him — i think it is over $3 million. he is a person with a very long rap sheet. there is nothing to give uncertainty that it was a hate crime or that it was anything other than an accident at this time. police aren't investigating it but we don't have any proof police are investigating it but we don't have any proof that it was intentional, and i just want to be very clear about with that,

you know, we want to be clear of tension going on around the southern border, there is a lot of activity with the impending lifting of title 42, so a lot is happening along the southern border of the united states. congressmen, speaking about the tension, do you think that the rhetoric around the border could lead to more incidents like this one? well, i we don't know if this was intentional but we certainly should not promote a rhetoric that would create something like what happened in el paso, like the walmart in el paso a few years ago — with the trump administration — or other similar instances that have actually been hate crimes around the country. we need to be very, very careful about how we address migration and migrants in this country. that is something you have to be very careful about, congressmen, and i want to ask what we have seen from house republicans — they will vote on the sweeping border security package on thursday — and what would do — it would codify the remain mexico programme, the trump era policy requiring asylum seekers to remain in mexico,

it would resume construction of the border wall, and ngos helping migrants, what do you think of this bill? well, i was against the lifting of title 42, but we do need to have a humanitarian bill at the same time. we need to continue funding ngos, we need to continue creating processing centres far from the border. i have been creating the safe zone act, kind of like our green zone, but the safe zone , 1000 — 2000 miles away from the border, where some seekers can go and process asylum there, and take the pressure off and allow border patrol and law enforcement to do what they have been trained to do. and it also takes the cartels out of the equation, and that is an urgency, but we think what the republicans are proposing is something that doesn't have a chance of passing. maybe in the house, but for sure not in the senate, and it is not something that would be of serious consideration to this administration, it's really just a political messaging tool and not intended to fix

the problems on the southern border. let's talk about some of the issues because you have said that you support keeping title 42 in place. it was used originally used as a health policy in the covid area. if we see what the administration, the biden administration has done, sending troops through the region ahead the possible lifting, ending of this policy, you also were able to speak to the homeland secretary earlier as well on friday. do you think the administration is prepared for the exploration of title 42 this week? i know they have done a lot, taken a lot of measures, there is an application where migrants are urged to take, more outreach is done on the other side of the border but i think we could never take enough time to make certain

that we have the infrastructure in place along the border and that when we do have migrants coming in, that it is done in an orderly way. there is nothing better than having safe zones and asylum centres in other countries, 1000, 2000 from on the border, those who are being processed there. and if we can ultimately allow them in when we get to the southern border, why not allow them in from the distant place they are in and allow them to fly into their final destination? it would be much more humane, it would be easier, it would certainly take the pressure off the southern border and be safer for migrants coming. at the same time we need to come to terms with the fact that about 75 to 80% of asylum seekers will never, ever qualify for legal asylum in this country. that is why we need to find ways to vet them far away. if we allow them in, let's allow them in in a humane, orderly way, and if not let's try and help them in their home country or wherever they may be around the world. coming back to title 42, if it expires, what is your concern? what will we see at the southern border? well, my concern is that we

have enough infrastructure in place to actually process as many claims as we have, as of right now there's a 20000—30,000 asylum seekers just waiting right across the border, there is supposed to be another 60,000 making the track — i just spoke with the president of guatemala a few days ago and he is telling me there is 200,000 in—line back in, you know, central america, and panama and colombia, i mean, that isjust a tremendous amount of people, and if they all showed up to our border in a disorderly way it would cause tremendous chaos along the southern border, and it is very concerned for me in southern texas and i want to do everything we can, i also want more cooperation with the governments of mexico, the governments of south america, and governments along we need to part with them to stop this migration and deal with it in an orderly, humane way before it gets to the southern border.

congressmen, even with title 42 in place we have seen a record number border crossings along the southern border so had a significant impact on reducing migration? it really has, they would be a lot more without title 42 but we have to remember we have other laws in place, even if we remove title 42, we have title 8 we can continue to remove folks who show up to the southern border unauthorised. under the conditions we're looking at, we to have a very strict, orderly process on the southern border, and i would expect to see many immediate removals, even under title 8 — after lifting the title 42 on the border. what we're trying to do is make sure everything is peaceful, orderly and the removal or acceptance into the country process is done in a peaceful and orderly way. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. mags has raised eight guide dogs. spencer was with mags for more than a year but covid restrictions prevented her

from meeting spencer's new owner and he was desperate to meet her. jerry quinn lost his eyesight four years ago and spencer has been his lifeline. the bbc programme reunion hotel contacted mags and made this moment happen. hello! spencer! it was just amazing. spencer jumped all over me. he absolutely knew me. i didn't know if you would, you never know if they will, but he did. after all that time. it was a very emotional meeting for all three of them. just to think i was worthy to have him. i knew what i had brought spencer up for, but you don't really, you know, take it to heart. he means the world to me.

i truly hope you understand what you've done for me. in ukraine, at least three civilians have been killed in the largest wave of russian drone attacks. the overnight attacks targeted 10 regions of ukraine. this is some of the aftermath in kyiv. the mayor of the ukrainian capital said russia had fired 60 iranian—made drones into ukraine, and while they had been shot down, debris had hit apartment buildings. the southern city of 0desa has also been targeted. i spoke earlier to evelyn farkas, the former us deputy assistant secretary of defence for russia and ukraine. why do you think we're seeing this russia grown straight from russia right now? i this russia grown straight from russia right now?— russia right now? i think clearly the _ russia right now? i think clearly the russians - russia right now? i think clearly the russians are l clearly the russians are worried about the song coming offensive, that is one. the second factor of courses that they pay very close attention to dates. tomorrow for them as victory day, day they commemorate a victory over nazi germany, and so vladimir putin historically has always wanted

to show pomp and circumstance, and that russia was a great power on this day. it is very hard for him. i think tomorrow is going to be an interesting test because of course the russian resistance inside of russian resistance inside of russia has been, i believe, making it hard for him and making it hard for him and making the situation insecure so that he is reluctant — he is now not going to have a big military parade the way they normally do. what do you think we will see out of russia tomorrow? it is a good question, i am sure that we will see speeches and a lot of, you know, happy talk — i don't know about happy talk — i don't know about happy talk but basically they will try and put a good face on it. but they will not be allowing their people to process with pictures of the fallen. that is something that was very traditionally important to russians and of course they were showing long deceased grandfathers, and the russian government was very concerned that this year they might be

showing recently deceased sons. you mentioned, evelyn, the anticipated counteroffensive from ukraine. do you think happen soon and are ready do you do you think ukraine is? mt; you do you think ukraine is? my sense is you do you think ukraine is? m sense is that it is you do you think ukraine is? m1 sense is that it is going to happen so because of what us officials have said in private, the fact that the equipment that we have promised the ukrainians seems to be reaching the field, that the training has already occurred, so i think it is really a matter of weeks, not months, and — and i do believe the ukrainians will be successful. 0f do believe the ukrainians will be successful. of course, it is a high—risk operation when you are going right into — if they go where the russians are fortified. at some point they will obviously have to encounter russians. they need the element of surprise but they have the advantage of having better equipment, better training and of course the force of will. i want to ask about how the

white house is looking to those weeks and months ahead, the president of the council on foreign nations said the following on foreign affairs. do you think the white house in the west need to start thinking beyond weapons shipments and supplying weapons and start considering negotiating a settlement of some sort? ila. settlement of some sort? no, now was not — settlement of some sort? no, now was not the _ settlement of some sort? no, now was not the time, - settlement of some sort? iifr, now was not the time, we're just about to see what ukraine can do with all the new web very, all the new training with the equipment, with the personnel they have been training and holding back from places like bakhmut. we need to give them a chance to see what they can do, this is not the time to go to the negotiating table, first of all aside from what ijust said which is the facts on the ground that we need to see what ukrainians can do with what we have given them, ukrainians themselves do

not want to go to a negotiating table and neither do the russians, the russians will have to be persuaded by ukrainian advances and ukrainians will have to take the measure of how much gains they can make, at which point do they say we want to press on all we want to go to the negotiating table. and that is also up to them. pare negotiating table. and that is also up to them.— also up to them. are you confident _ also up to them. are you confident ukraine - also up to them. are you confident ukraine can - also up to them. are you confident ukraine can be| confident ukraine can be successful whenever this counteroffensive does start? i am, it is assumed they will back all their territory away, they may take a lot some of it to make the russian forces fully and they surrender so vladimir putin has no alternative he has, he can't fight so he has to negotiate. we have to see they will get back from fighting or a combination of military fighting and negotiating. looking at the relationship between washington and kyiv, washington post article said

the white house did not tell them anything about the discord intelligence leaks. what you make of the communications between the us and ukraine right now? i between the us and ukraine right now?— right now? i think the white house didn't _ right now? i think the white house didn't know - right now? i think the white house didn't know about. right now? i think the white l house didn't know about what was going on and discord themselves, i'm not sure i would point the finger at them for not living in the ukrainian government, maybe there was a time lapse there, frankly the united states as a sovereign power, ukrainian government as a sovereign power neither one she is all their secrets, and that's fine.— she is all their secrets, and that's fine. ~ , , i, that's fine. where things stand in the us do — that's fine. where things stand in the us do you _ that's fine. where things stand in the us do you think- that's fine. where things stand in the us do you think the - in the us do you think the domestic crisis in the us the politics of the 2024 campaign will distract this important focus on ukraine? i’m will distract this important focus on ukraine? i'm always worried that _ focus on ukraine? i'm always worried that we _ focus on ukraine? i'm always worried that we will - focus on ukraine? i'm always worried that we will take - focus on ukraine? i'm always worried that we will take our| worried that we will take our eye off the wall — mental and worry about petty things when we should be worried about the most important threat to the international order, human rights and democracy we have faced this world war ii, and

vladimir putin enters war right now and ukraine, i'm always going to be worried about that. i have reasons to be optimistic there been many republicans including on the far right, the speaker of the house of representatives kevin mccarthy has said clearly we are on the side of ukraine, and we don't agree russia's human rights violations and with their violations and with their violation of ukraine sovereignty. people like him and others have been now more clear about what is at stake and stand, so i am less worried than i was a month ago, but we need to keep on explaining to the public what is at stake here, what it is so important. it's important because if vladimir putin wins and ukraine he will turn to the republic of moldova and georgia he will challenge the nato countries, which means a world war. so there is a lot at stake.- there is a lot at stake. great to net there is a lot at stake. great

to get your _ there is a lot at stake. great to get your analysis, - there is a lot at stake. great to get your analysis, evelyn | to get your analysis, evelyn farkas. to cairo, where arab foreign ministers have readmitted syria to the arab league — 12 years after it was suspended for the violent suppression of protesters. translation: the return of syria is the beginning l of a movement, not the end. the direction of the resolution to the crisis in syria will take time for procedures to be implemented and it will be gradual. also, it is not a decision to resume relationships between arab states and syria. this is a sovereign decision, left for every country to take on its own. this decision, we are talking about the formation of a committee to communicate with the syrian government and regime. i spoke earlier to wa'el alzayat, a middle east expert and former diplomat. we heard from the head of the arab league saying this is the beginning of a new movement, what you think of that?

it does appear to be a new movement led by the united arab emirates and the ruler of saudi arabia and a few other countries. really, it is focused on perhaps reinserting or reasserting the arab rule in the syrian conflict and a potential resolution, and i think it will not succeed, but an effort also to perhaps counter or limit turkish and iranian influence in syria and perhaps address the growing problem of the drugs that are being manufactured and traded outside syria into the region. but it's definitely a significant development and one that will take time to play out to see how it ends up. do you think it is the right development to bring syria back into the arab league? it's not necessarily wrong for the arab countries to seek a resolution to the syrian conflict and perhaps engage with the government, because it is the government...it is unfortunate and i think counter—productive for syria

to be readmitted into the arab league and to be feted in arab countries, for assad to be welcome and for literally the red carpet to be rolled out in places like 0man before syria and the regime has delivered on any international community expectations regarding detainees, political prisoners, accountability, humanitarian access and assistance, let alone entering into a more serious political dialogue and eventual finding of a political solution to the conflict. none of that has happened, yet the regime seems to be getting rewarded anyway. how do you think the us should respond? the us really should be more clear and forthright in sharing its views with the arab capitals that admitting syria into their

league is not warranted and really to implement our own laws, such as the sanctions which levy punishments on any government or entity that engages into business activities with designated regimes, companies or officials. so there are a lot of tools for the administration, but i think the opposite is happening. there clearly is a tacit co—ordination and agreement with key arab states to do what they're doing, even though publicly the biden administration still opposes normalisation. the war is still going on, as we said, so what can be done to actually change the situation in syria? what's really needed is at least a majority of the international community deciding that they want end the conflict in syria, which means they need to protect civilians, especially those living outside the so—called regime—controlled

areas in the north, about 7 million people, to increase their assistance to vulnerable communities beyond just humanitarian assistance and including long—term reconstruction support, and most importantly put the time of political and dare i say military pressure on the regime in damascus to end its abuses and enter political dialogue. what we need is resolve, as we have seen to counter russian aggression in ukraine, putin and russia are in support of assad and his policies and we're not seeing the same determination, particularly from western nations against what is essentially indistinct audio. what about the dynamics in the arab league? what pressure can they put on syria? the head of the arab league said there is no military solution that's possible so in the region can fellow arab league members do something to change the situation in syria?

it's possible that again the saudis, the emiratis and other rich gulf countries may entice the regime in syria to perhaps release some prisoners, perhaps allow some refugees to return, maybe make certain promises, but if its exit from the lebanon war and the subsequent behaviour including the assassination of the former lebanese prime minister rafic hariri is any indication, i think the syrians will pocket any money the arabs will give them or any diplomatic credits and will continue misbehaving as they always have. this is a 40—year—plus ruler in damascus that the assad family has imposed on the country and no serious observer of syria would expect any change in behaviour, irrespective of how much they are enticed by their arab neighbours. wa'el alzayat, very good to have you on the programme. thanks for your analysis.

thank you for watching. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. the weather over the next few days will be such that we could see huge variations in conditions over just the space of a few miles. yes, a fairly showery outlook it is through the rest of tuesday and into wednesday. some of the showers where we do see them, though, could come with some particularly potent downpours. now, we will have seen some heavy rain through the night across england and wales especially. that will be edging away, still lingering first light, east anglia and the southeast, but a mild enough start for many. some clearer conditions in the west where temperatures are a little bit lower. but some showers will have continued overnight, southern scotland, northern england, and they could still be there through the morning rush hour, some of them on the heavy side. we will then, after seeing some sunny spells develop quite widely, showers get going more widely, like a rash developing across the country. they will be hit or miss,

but greater chance of missing them western half of england and wales through the afternoon, as well as western scotland. so some longer sunny spells here, maybe up to around 18 degrees in the east when the sunshine is out. but it's here where we could see some of those showers become thundery through the afternoon. southern and eastern england especially can be a little bit of hail mixed in and some gusty winds. they will fade, though, quite quickly into the first part of the evening, and then some clear skies through eastern areas overnight, leading to temperatures down to around five or six degrees in rural parts, a little bit fresher than the past couple of nights. but further west, more cloud starts to push its way in and yet more showers. so, it will be an east—west split. best of the morning sunshine in eastern areas and the west, some sunny spells, but often lots of cloud, generally more cloud around on wednesday compared with tuesday. and the showers are more widespread, greater chance of seeing some come your way. only a few places will avoid them. temperatures continue to dropjust a little bit, but pleasant enough in between those showers and in some of the sunnier moments. now the area of low pressure responsible for those showers becoming more widespread, drifts a bit further southwards

as you go through wednesday night into thursday. and it's around the centre where the showers are most likely to be. and around the centre is where they will be slow moving. notice how theyjust develop as we go through thursday widely across england, wales, southern scotland, and for part northern ireland. but it's across parts of england and wales where they could be at their worst with some thunder mixed in, and as i said, slow moving. so some large rainfall totals possible, to the north of scotland. while it feels cooler here, we will see the best of the drier weather. more dry weather, though, to come for all of us to end the week. feeling a bit warmer, too. maybe some late rain on saturday. take care.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. in the glossy tourist brochures, the seychelles, an archipelago of islands far off the coast of east africa, is portrayed as a little piece of paradise. but dig deeper and you find a very different reality — an island nation threatened by climate change, a population with the worst heroin addiction rate in the world and a political culture tainted by allegations of corruption.