: israeli air attacks series of israeli air attacks on those suburbs. we have seen people in the capital beirut, this is martyr square, you can see the big mosque at the centre of the city. and i can still see people who came from the southern suburbs who left last night. people sitting on the steps of the mosque, they have been on the square and been along the water. people moving away from those areas because we have seen again this morning, fresh strikes from israel as they continue the operation against hezbollah. this is the latest from our consequent correspondence. heavy artillery fire. a devastating blow inflicted by israel, hitting the heart of hezbollah�*s command centre in beirut. within hours, the israeli military announced they had eliminated, as they put it, the group's leader.

hassan nasrallah had been secretary general of hezbollah for 32 years, overseeing its growth into the world's most heavily armed non—state army. he was born in lebanon in 1960, growing up in beirut�*s eastern bourj hammoud district. he took over the leadership in 1992 when his predecessor was assassinated by israel. to thousands, maybe millions of shia muslims in lebanon and beyond, he was a hero. to israel, he was a wanted terrorist. armed with up—to—the—minute intelligence, the israeli air force targeted the underground bunker where hezbollah�*s leadership was meeting. this is both a major escalation and a challenge to iran. translation: this is not | the limit of our capabilities. we must be very clear, there are more tools at our disposal and the message is simple — anyone who threatens the state of israel will be reached, whether in the north, the south or even a more distant places.

or even in more distant places. hezbollah�*s power has been seriously weakened by the recent assassinations, the sabotage of its communications, and air strikes on its weapon dumps. but it still possesses powerful long—range missiles, hidden underground. will they now aim these at tel aviv and other cities in revenge? will israel send troops into lebanon to find and destroy them 7 and can hezbollah recover from all these blows? i probably think they will fight on. they'll take a few days to reorganise their command and control, that has been utterly destroyed by very good israeli intelligence and incredible tactics, but it's not strategy. hezbollah�*s strategic ally is iran. key to what happens next in the middle east is what ayatollah khamenei decides. iran has been humiliated but can it ill afford a war with israel. frank gardner, bbc news.

some of those people who have left the suburbs of beirut, still around in the area now, are we are told being supported... they are trying to find ways to feed people and give them shelter, but we have also seen over the last week now, people fleeing from the southern part of lebanon, when those israeli air strikes started on monday. and also from the bekaa valley in the east. a lot of displaced people right now. we have talked about the difficulties of leaving the country. most commercial airlines have stopped flying. in terms of land crossing, israel to the south is not an option for people to leave. and of course you have syria to the east. the un has said in the last few minutes that they think 50,000 syrians who were in lebanon, there was a large syrian refugee population in

lebanon, a lot of them living very difficult lives... while lebanon has been going through a variety of crises, syrian refugees in this country, in many cases, have been blamed for taking resources and it has led to a real feeling of resentment towards them, and are really, really difficult life for many of those syrian refugees, who were fleeing war across the border. the un says they think 50,000 have now gone back into syria in the last week, trying to flee the ongoing fighting. in terms of those displaced people, our middle east correspondent hugo bachega has been getting the latest. killing one of israel's great

enemies, the powerful hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, seen here in a speech last week. he came to power more than 30 years ago, and transformed hezbollah into a major military and politicalforce, with the help of its main supporter, iran. an assassination that could have unpredictable consequences. translation: ., ., , translation: of our many strategies _ translation: of our many strategies for _ translation: of our many strategies for lebanon, - translation: of our many strategies for lebanon, we | translation: of our many - strategies for lebanon, we have started to implement them. and this strike has been in preparation for a long time and was carried out at the right time, in a very sharp way. and now, we are starting to prepare the next moves. i underscore once again we are at high readiness on all fronts, all our forces readiness on all fronts, all ourforces are readiness on all fronts, all our forces are organised together. there will be good coordination, very good preparation.— preparation. israel is indicating _ preparation. israel is indicating its - preparation. israel is indicating its fight i preparation. israel is - indicating its fight against hezbollah will continue, and it's likely to include a ground incursion into southern lebanon. overnight in beirut, or israeli air strikes and more

residents urged to evacuate. —— more israeli air strikes. this is the central square in beirut and hundreds of people spent the night here after fleeing tahir, also in the mosque on that side. and on this side, tents have been set up. a lot of people say they don't know where they are going to go if the israeli air continue. translation: ., , translation: certainly, in the end, war translation: certainly, in the end. war is— translation: certainly, in the end, war is not _ translation: certainly, in the end, war is not beneficial- translation: certainly, in the end, war is not beneficial for. end, war is not beneficialfor anyone. look at these people sleeping in the streets. i anyone. look at these people sleeping in the streets.- sleeping in the streets. i “ust want a mi sleeping in the streets. i “ust want a roof over i sleeping in the streets. i “ust want a roof over my i sleeping in the streets. ijust want a roof over my head - sleeping in the streets. ijust want a roof over my head forj sleeping in the streets. ijust - want a roof over my head for me and my— want a roof over my head for me and my sort _ want a roof over my head for me and my son. his kids and his wife~ — and my son. his kids and his wife~ they— and my son. his kids and his wife. they have been searching all morning but have found nothing _ all morning but have found nothinu. , nothing. there were fresh rockets from _ nothing. there were fresh rockets from hezbollah i nothing. there were fresh i rockets from hezbollah into northern israel this morning. the group has been weakened,

but it's still powerful. it hasn't yet deployed its most sophisticated missiles, a calculation that could change. hassan nasrallah may have been killed, but this has the potential to spark a regional war. ~ , ., war. well, it is indeed a significant _ war. well, it is indeed a significant moment, - war. well, it is indeed aj significant moment, not war. well, it is indeed a - significant moment, notjust significant moment, not just here significant moment, notjust here in lebanon but for the wider middle east. as the hours and days go on, we will see those continuing reactions coming in to that news in the last couple of hours that the large israeli strike in beirut last night killed the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah. we will expect to see reaction from the region, and also as well from world leaders. it is a significant and dangerous moment for the middle east, and as the reaction and responses happen, we will keep you up—to—date on bbc news. happen, we will keep you up-to-date on bbc news. thank ou, we up-to-date on bbc news. thank you. we will— up-to-date on bbc news. thank you. we will be _ up-to-date on bbc news. thank you, we will be back _ up-to-date on bbc news. thank you, we will be back with - up-to-date on bbc news. thank you, we will be back with anna l you, we will be back with anna in beirut later on bbc news. let's remind ourselves exactly who hassan nasrallah was. he

was the leader of the lebanon shi'ite islamist hezbollah movement with close links to iran. one of the best—known and most influential figures. iran. one of the best—known and most influentialfigures. born in 1960, he grew up in beirut�*s eastern neighbourhood. he became the leader of hezbollah in 1992 at the age of 32 after his predecessor was assassinated in an israeli helicopter strike. assassinated in an israeli helicopterstrike. he assassinated in an israeli helicopter strike. he played a key role in turning heads dollar into a powerful political and military force. under his leadership, he helped hezbollah train hundreds of fighters from the palestinian militant group hamas. he also obtained missiles and rockets from iran for use against israel. in his most recent speech, he blamed israel for detonating thousands of pagers and walkie—talkies used by haswell are members which killed 39 people and wounded thousands more, and said it was

all red lines. he acknowledged the group had sat a unprecedented blow. a week after that speech, israel say he is dead. our security correspondent frank gardner is here. from time to time, we have militant leaders killed and there is someone waiting in the wings to take over. this is a different order of magnitude. it is, i mean, look, hezbollah will have a succession plan. three obvious contenders being talked about, and they too potentially have a limited life span given israel is determined to take apart this organisation and its entire command and control structure. it is very different, this is far more significant than the taking down of some isis or al-qaeda leader that most of us have never heard of. this man has been a central part of middle eastern politics, love him or loathe him, for the last 32 years. he has been the torchbearer for is ran�*s

islamic revolution and its entire —— for iran's islamic revolution and its entire expansion across the middle east. they are more than just a local proxy militia for iran in south lebanon. they have been trained, they have gone to the defence of president bashar el—assad in syria and propped up el—assad in syria and propped up his regime. many of their fighters have been there in the last few years and are battle hardened and experienced. but right now they are leaderless, rudderless and wounded, they are baying for revenge. the big question is what will iran do? iran is their principal backer. when those pager explosions went off, one went off in the vicinity of the iranian ambassador. some people might ask why the iranian ambassador has a pager belonging to a prescribed terrorist group. that shows how closely iran and hezbollah operate together. you said how powerful and well

resourced hezbollah are, to what extent have they been weakened in the last few weeks? the pager and walkie—talkie explosions went for their communications. the reason why they had these 20th century rather outmoded forms of communication was because hassan nasrallah himself had given an order not to trust mobile phones, because they are very easily hacked and tracked by israeli military intelligence. it is one of their specialities, kind of military cyber hacking of communications. that of course meant they would have to find other ways of communicating. it hasn't completely stopped them communicating but it's made it that much harder. it has sown a lot of mistrust and suspicion. but what they have also done the israelis, is to carry out a number of targeted assassinations. they have taken out about 15 members of the hezbollah leadership. the head of their so—called air force.

hezbollah doesn't have planes or fighterjet but it has drones and missiles, and it took out the head of the drone programme. they have taken out someone who i think i am right in saying was ahead their southern command, south lebanon, where they are most active. —— was the head of their southern command. the head of that whole organisation has been removed. they have been doing targeted air strikes on ammunition dumps, weapons supplied, a lot of which because they are in residential areas have killed lebanese civilians who are nothing to do with hezbollah. israel says we warned them to get away, but the fact is the civilian death toll is unacceptably high. but israel is on a roll, they think they have hezbollah on the ropes, on the back foot, they are determined to press home their advantage and remove once and for all this threat to their northern border, which has forced roughly 63,000 israeli residents to move south. this is a very broad and

flawed analogy, but it would be the equivalent in britain of everybody north of leeds living within danger of rocket attacks from north of the scottish border. israel is a small country, they have all had to move south and they are living in hotels, on friends' living room sofas and floors and so on. a greater number have had to move north from the lebanese side of the border. a greater number have been killed there, so lebanon is caught in the middle here. it's really tough for lebanese civilians, but israel doesn't seem to be interested in listening to calls for a ceasefire right now. ~ ., , ., ., ~ calls for a ceasefire right now. ~ ., , ., .,~ ., now. what should we make of the fact the israeli _ now. what should we make of the fact the israeli prime _ now. what should we make of the fact the israeli prime minister - fact the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was at the united nations in new york when the go—ahead was given for this to take place? he the go-ahead was given for this to take place?— to take place? he didn't go to make peace. _ to take place? he didn't go to make peace, he _ to take place? he didn't go to make peace, he went - to take place? he didn't go to| make peace, he went there... to take place? he didn't go to - make peace, he went there... he said, i didn't plan to come here but i can't sit idly by and hear all of the lies and the libels and the fabrications

of the people accusing israel of the people accusing israel of war crimes... so he gave that very robust uncompromising speech yesterday, to which a lot of arab and muslim ambassadors walked out, they were not prepared to sit and listen to that. for much of the time, netanyahu is a deeply unpopular israeli leader. a lot of israelis can't stand him. but right now, he is riding high in public opinion because, to some extent, in the israeli eyes, he has redeemed himself for the failures of october the 7th, which was on his watch. the murderous barbaric raid into the south of israel, carrying out those sadistic mutilations of people, just horrific. but that happened on his watch. he knows that when the war ends, he is going to have to face the music, his coalition will probably fall apart, they will be elections and someone else will probably become prime minister. but for

now, on the cusp of his 75th birthday in three weeks, he is at the top of his rhetorical form, and he is giving the idf all the support and help they want to prosecute this war and drive hezbollah notjust north of the border but to so deplete their capabilities militarily that they can no longer threaten. this could go one of two ways. it could force some kind of ceasefire deal, but that would be seen as capitulation by hezbollah and they are in no mood for that. or hezbollah could up the ante. they still have a lot of very powerful long—range precision guided missiles buried in tunnels, they could launch these at a tel aviv and other cities. they could potentially overwhelm, partially overwhelm israel's iron dome air defences. but to do that would almost certainly ground in iran and the united states. israel's retaliation against lebanon

would be catastrophic, i think. they would probably hit things like beirut airport, reservoirs, power stations, a lot of infrastructure would be hit and it would be devastating for lebanon, as if what is happening so far isn't already. but in doing this, israel must recognise that it's heading towards, if not already tipped over into, the prospects of a wider regional conflict.- wider regional conflict. they will take that. _ wider regional conflict. they will take that. they - wider regional conflict. they will take that. they are - will take that. they are saying, this is escalating to de—escalates. they are saying enough is enough, we have put up enough is enough, we have put up with being shelled on our northern borderfor 11 months, it's time to send a message to our enemies that we can reach you wherever. the interesting thing is iran, which is of course the one that doesn't control hezbollah but trains it, and bums itand control hezbollah but trains it, and bums it and founded it at the beginning back in the 19805... -- at the beginning back in the 1980s... —— and funds it. iran still thinks it owes israel one for the assassination of ismail haniyeh onjuly 31st in tehran,

in the heart of the iranian capital. israel never said, we did it, but everyone knows it was classic mossad, the israeli secret intelligence. it's what they do, assassinating iranian nuclear scientists in the past. iran still hasn't responded to that one. there was a real fear at the time that they would respond with more missiles that would again trigger... so we are still on a precipice here. this could go either way. a lot of people will be very worried. a lot of people in the region are going to be worried. for example, iran's allies in iraq, an iranian backed militia which have said, if war breaks out and there is full—scale war, and there is full—scale war, and i don't know at which point we stop saying there isn't a full—scale war... if there is a full—scale war... if there is a full—scale war, our first target would be the united arab emirates, because they made peace with israel in the abraham accords. i don't know how seriously that is being taken in abu dhabi, but the uae

has a small population, a small military, it is as rich as croesus, but it is very vulnerable, desalination plants, power stations, the last thing they want is another war in their region. for iast thing they want is another war in their region.— war in their region. for the moment. _ war in their region. for the moment, thank— war in their region. for the moment, thank you - war in their region. for the moment, thank you very . war in their region. for the - moment, thank you very much, frank gardner. our middle east correspondent is in a part of beirut where many displaced people spent the night in a small park. no doubt a great deal of panic, and wondering where people can run to, to be safe? , , , safe? exactly. these people s - ent safe? exactly. these people spent all — safe? exactly. these people spent all of _ safe? exactly. these people spent all of the _ safe? exactly. these people spent all of the night - safe? exactly. these people spent all of the night here i safe? exactly. these people l spent all of the night here and we spoke to some of them. they said there is no hope for some of them to go back, they are all destroyed, all the areas they were living in. heavily bombarded and also, if not, the roads are closed to tahir, and it is not considered safe. even

today, confirmation the hezbollah leader, hassan nasrallah, is killed in israeli air strikes. there were other air strikes. there were other air strikes. there were other air strikes on tahir, at least three air strikes we heard in downtown beirut coming from there, the smoke is still rising above the southern suburbs of the city. so you can imagine how these people feel. they are shocked also, as soon as they saw hezbollah�*s press office released a statement confirming that their leader is gone. some of them were crying. some of them were angry. we talked to one of the haswell supporters. he was talking to us very calm, but it was clear he is in a state of shock. —— the hezbollah supporters. i asked him what does he think. he said in his mind, mr

nasrallah will not be replaced, but he believes hezbollah can survive and still how continue. but it was clear that they were completely shaken. completely shocked because of this situation. and now there are fears that this anger will grow, because they cannot go back home. we even saw some families, they decided to go to syria, alongside some syrians. some lebanese also decided to go to syria, because they told us they don't think soon they can go back to tahir to live. how have the lebanese authorities tried to help the many people affected and displaced? it many people affected and diaplaced?_ displaced? it is a massive burden for _ displaced? it is a massive burden for the _ displaced? it is a massive l burden for the government. already it is not a government... they are a

temporary government. this country is waiting for the election of their president, which has been delayed for more than a year. so nothing is moving while war is happening in different parts of the country. schools and hospitals here, already packed with people injured in southern lebanon, in bekaa and many schools already full with full capacity... placing those people that took refuge from southern lebanon. and now there are people from tahir who themselves were hosting their relatives, but who fled from southern lebanon. now displaced. the lebanese government is not capable, due to their economic situation

crisis, war after war, they are not capable to handle this situation any further. this is what we see here. for situation any further. this is what we see here.— what we see here. for the moment. _ what we see here. for the moment, thank _ what we see here. for the moment, thank you - what we see here. for the moment, thank you very l what we see here. for the - moment, thank you very much. now the sport. seven premier league matches on saturday as defending champions manchester city head to newcastle in the lunchtime kick—off at st james's park. they were held to a second consecutive draw, 1—1 at st james' park. having dropped points against arsenal in a 2— to door, city took the lead with a neat finish byjosko gvardiol. anthony gordon earned a point from the penalty spot. newcastle still unbeaten at home since january. for manchester city midfielder mateo kovacic, it is not the result they were looking for. tough game, yeah, as always when we come here. always a tough place to come. unfortunately we did a little mistake may be in the penalty. yeah, i think it was a good

game, obviously apart from the result, we wanted to win. tough place, a point is never bad. a lot of games to play and continue.— lot of games to play and continue. we are happy, especially _ continue. we are happy, especially after - continue. we are happy, especially after last - continue. we are happy, i especially after last week. that — especially after last week. that was a good display, us playing _ that was a good display, us playing our way, brave. two teams — playing our way, brave. two teams going right at each other for 70 _ teams going right at each other for 70 minutes. the last 20, they— for 70 minutes. the last 20, they were _ for 70 minutes. the last 20, they were stronger than us. we had to— they were stronger than us. we had to defend really well to maintain the point. last season's runners—up arsenal travel to leicester looking to keep pace with league leaders city. there's a london derby as brentford take on west ham. chelsea host brighton. everton and crystal palace face each other, both searching for their first league wins of the season. forest take on fulham, while in the evening kick—off, wolves host second—placed liverpool. their manager arne slot happy with how the season has gone so far, with just the one small blip. i think it's been a positive start. with a small

disappointment of losing at home against nottingham forest. i think every home game you lose is a disappointment. especially if it's not against a team competing for top four. but overall, it's been a good start. not a perfect one. the style we play, the way we play is still very close i think to what you guys were used to for nine years. jannik sinner says he is "very disappointed and also surprised" wada are appealing against the decision to clear him of blame for two failed doping tests. the world anti—doping agency is appealing before the court of arbitration for sport against the tribunal verdict that the world number one's low level of a banned anabolic steroid were through no fault or negligence. the verdict ensured the us open winner, in action in beijing earlier today, escaped a ban. last month, sinner received an anti—doping sanction and was stripped of his money and ranking points from the indian wells tournament in march, due to testing positive for clostebol. he avoided a ban after successfully arguing to the sport's integrity agency

that he was inadvertently contaminated with the substance by his physiotherapist. that is the sport. stay with us on bbc news, plenty more on the situation in the middle east in the hours ahead. hello there. we're seeing a very much needed drier, sunnier spell of weather across the country this weekend. although it's not going to be the same as we move through sunday. today, by far the best of the drier and brighter weather. sunday it starts dry, but then we'll see wet and windy weather pushing into southern and western areas later on, as a new area of low pressure moves in. so this is the rainfall accumulations as we move through sunday into tuesday. looks like england and wales again bearing the brunt of the rainfall,

which is bad news here. ground is saturated and that's going to exacerbate already existing flooding issues. this area of high pressure, though, is what's brought us the fine and largely dry weather through today. and it's going to continue. probably the best of the sunshine later in the day will be towards the midlands, southern and eastern england. elsewhere, a bit more cloud further north and west with a few showers. most of the rain for northern scotland and it is a chilly day after that cold start 11 to 1a or 15 degrees as we head through tonight. it stays dry for most. most of the showers fizzle out and we'll see clear spells, and when we have the clearskies, central, northern and eastern parts with light winds, it's going to turn quite chilly once again, with a bit of mist and fog developing, but temperatures slowly recovering out west. that's because we've got this new area of low pressure working its way in to bring increasing breeze from the south. ourarea of high pressure, short lived and starts to ebb away into the near continent. it does mean sunday starts off fine. there will be some early sunshine around, but it will fade. probably the best of

the sunshine through the day for the northern half of scotland, where it will be warmest. turning cloudier, windier and wetter the further south and west that you are. as this area of low pressure moves in, we've got a couple of yellow warnings in force for rain and for wind here. temperature—wise, mid—teens again in the south, low to mid—teens further north. sunday night we see the wind and the rain increasing across england and wales, certainly towards the south and the west. some of that rain could be heavy like i mentioned could exacerbate flooding issues as that area of low pressure crosses the country into monday, it will become very slow moving. there is a bit of a question mark to the north and south extent of the rain. at the moment it looks like it's east anglia, the north midlands, northern england up into southern scotland, which could see some of the heaviest rainfall. again, that could cause issues across england and wales. sunshine and showers to the south, could be quite mild, 17 or 18 degrees here. the rain eventually clears away gradually on tuesday, and then wednesday onwards, high pressure builds in so it should turn fine and settled.

hello i'm martine croxall. welcome to our special coverage of the news that hezbollah has now confirmed that its leader, hassan nasrallah, has been killed in an israeli air strike in lebanon. he'd been its leader for more than 30 years. israel says the militia groups' command centre in the lebanese capital beirut was targeted in the strike. in its statement, israel's military said nasrallah had been "one of the country's biggest enemies throughout history" and his killing "had

made the world a better place". in a statement hezbollah vowed it would continue to "confront its enemies, support gaza and palestine — and defend the people of lebanon". let's show you these live pictures from beirut and let's show you these live pictures from beirut and you can see that they still think smoke rising over several locations over the south of the capital as air strikes by the israelis continue in several locations today. elsewhere, the israeli military say they are targeting parts of the valley where rockets were fired. a great many people spending the night outside in central beirut and along the seafront. thousands of people leaving their homes, not knowing where they can safely seek shelter in