becoming the first major economy to turn away from the fossil fuel. i'm sumi somaskanda. thanks for joining us. the us state department says israel is currently conducting where there are indications an israeli ground operation is imminent. this is the life —— life seen in beirut, leiva blasts in the city. the uk government has chartered a flight to help british nationals leave lebanon scheduled to leave on wednesday. tanks are seen gathering on israel's northern border — israeli defence minister yoav gallant said the military is prepared to use forces "from the air, land and sea" — to allow thousands of

displaced israelis to return to their homes in the north. meanwhile, the deputy chief of hezbollah, naim qaissem, said the group's fighters are ready to confront an invasion. he acknowledged that the assassination of leader hassan nasrallah was a big blow, but said all fallen commanders would soon be replaced. president joe biden maintained his call for an end to fighting. we've also heard from the us department of defense. deputy pentagon press secretary sabrina singh spoke to the bbc about the conflict in the last hour. what they're doing along the northern border is conducting limited operations to dismantle hezbollah infrastructure, but again it's really for the israelis to speak to in their own operations. what the secretary continues to urge for is to seek a diplomatic solution. we certainly want to see regional tensions cool, we want to see... we see the best path forward is through diplomatic means, and so that is what we are continuing to push for. officials in lebanon say more than 1,000 people have been killed in the last two weeks.

lebanese prime minister najib mikati says recent israeli air strikes could result in the "largest displacement movement" that his country has ever seen. he said the number of displaced people could reach up to a million. the world food programme launched an emergency operation in lebanon. joining me live, aaron david miller, senior fellow carnegie endowment for international peace. always good to have you on bbc news. we are hearing from the israelis that a limited operation has begun, we've heard from our correspondents on the ground that a southern route is being hit at the moment. how can you describe what we are witnessing? is this an all—out war? what we are witnessing? is this an all-out war?— an all-out war? know, an all-out— an all-out war? know, an all-out war _ an all-out war? know, an all-out war requires - an all-out war? know, an all-out war requires two l an all-out war? know, an - all-out war requires two sides all—out war requires two sides exerting maximum influence to the weapons they possess. right now, you see the israelis deploy extraordinary amount of intelligence and operational effectiveness, but there's been very little from the other side. whether or not that is because the command and control has been disrupted, whether or not the israelis have been

really successful in knocking out much of hezbollah's inventory of hype check tree weapons is unclear, but again, i think event right now are in the hands of the locals, not in the hands of the locals, not in the hands of external parlors —— hi inventory. if you wanted to fanatic solution, what you need are parties, at least three, who have the kind of willingness —— if you want a different medic solution. second, whatever leadership will replace nostril, and the third will be iran. how are they cow collating the loss of, they cow collating the loss of, the lesser of influence of one of their key proxies?— of their key proxies? you're sa in: of their key proxies? you're saying there's _ of their key proxies? you're saying there's no _ of their key proxies? you're saying there's no urgency i saying there's no urgency behind any sort of diplomatic at the moment and how do the us and allies inject that sense of urgency? and allies in'ect that sense of uraen ? , . ,

urgency? there is urgency, i will not talk _ urgency? there is urgency, i will not talk about _ urgency? there is urgency, i will not talk about the - urgency? there is urgency, i will not talk about the entire different international committed to it as it does not exist on macro there are three core decision—makers now and none of them as far as we know are on them as far as we know are on the same page. 0ne them as far as we know are on the same page. one is that yahoo government. to be sure, it has a set of objectives and the power to these achieve much of what they set out to do —— netanyahu government. the second is hezbollah and the 30s iran. 0ne second is hezbollah and the 30s iran. one of the key actors... if the international committee wanted to use this opportunity to strengthen the government... you have so much indecision that in order to have a negotiation, need leaders who are prepared, who are in control, and were prepared to make decisions. ijust don't see has bowled backing down and

i don't think the iranians are on the cusp, they don't want to escalate, they are also not interested in rolling over. $5 interested in rolling over. as our interested in rolling over. as your speaking we are looking at pictures of beirut, and we understand is really army is saying it has started targeted ground raids in southern lebanon. that is indeed what we heard from the us state department as well. given the way the previous conflict between israel and the hezbollah ended in 2006, or these release pulling out, what do you think has changed since then in terms of these two facing off against each other? i think what's been revealed is the incapacity of hezbollah. if they had precision guided missiles, they may have these missiles, they may have these missiles in the hundreds, that could devastate israel population centres. they are not using it. what you have right now is and israeli margin for manoeuvre. it is continuing

to havel hezbollah, notjust in the south but in beirut, and the south but in beirut, and the israeli are now on the cusp of a ground up which is designed, i suspect, of a ground up which is designed, isuspect, to of a ground up which is designed, i suspect, to get a total infrastructure, structure above ground, some of the anti—tank guided missiles which have done huge amount of damage in northern israel, to see if they can somehow neutralise this at some point, if israelis do want to create space for different medic solution, they have to committee kate that —— a diplomatic solution. is there a diplomatic solution. is there a hezbollah centre that could actually respond? will the actually respond ? will the iranians actually respond? will the iranians choose to support that or will they just fall back iranians choose to support that or will theyjust fall back on trying to rebuild hezbollah and contribute hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars they have used two beef up this proxy which now is proving to be quite... late

proxy which now is proving to be quite- - -— proxy which now is proving to be quite... proxy which now is proving to be uuite... ~ . , , ., be quite... we have 'ust seen a statement * be quite... we have 'ust seen a statement on h be quite... we have 'ust seen a statement on x, _ be quite... we have just seen a statement on x, formerly - be quite... we have just seen a| statement on x, formerly known as twitter, from the israel defense forces. i want to read out a bit and ask you what it means. it says... these targets are located in villages close to the border and pose an immediate threat to israeli communities... it goes on to then say the idf is continuing to operate to achieve the goals of the war and is doing everything necessary to defend the citizens of israel and return the citizens of northern israel to their homes. what do you read from that statement? it’s read from that statement? it's a carefully _ read from that statement? it�*s a carefully calibre to statement which preserves the option to expand this. it presumably satisfies the americans, who have been pushing the is released to stop

any major grout incursion into lebanon, and it seems to be smart policy. the israelis onto but lebanon from 80 to 2000, where withdrew, according to the terms of humans occur to council resolution 1701, has below mac is still in violation of that, and it is very unhappy extremes. —— has the knack. —— has the knack. they don't want to stay there... they don't want to stay there- - -_ they don't want to stay there... ., ., ., ., there... that would involve a war on two — there... that would involve a war on two fronts _ there... that would involve a war on two fronts are - there... that would involve a war on two fronts are israel. | war on two fronts are israel. you're saying that is not what israel wants?— israel wants? the israelis are not fighting — israel wants? the israelis are not fighting a _ israel wants? the israelis are not fighting a war _ israel wants? the israelis are not fighting a war on - israel wants? the israelis are not fighting a war on two - not fighting a war on two fronts right now. if you are referring to the second front as gaza, one of the reasons the israelis i think chose to focus on the northern border is they have persuaded themselves that hamas is an organised military force structurally defeated. the prime ministers at the un,

the organised italians have been decimated. i think the israelis believe they more or less have achieved what they will achieve militarily and they are turning to lebanon. the core question, i cannot answer it and we cannot answer it, whether or not this is the beginning ofan it, whether or not this is the beginning of an operation to change hezbollah's operation so you might open up space for a diplomatic solution. to do at the israelis said investing in what they wanted to, to return the 70,000 israelis to the border communities, towns south of the border, or alternatively, are they really not interested in diplomacy, they don't want a regional war but they will just continue to degrade and undermine hezbollah's capacity as an organised fighting force? i suspect these release have quite a lot of undermining left

to do. we're not about talking, we are talking, i'm afraid, about shooting.— we are talking, i'm afraid, about shooting. the us says it believes a _ about shooting. the us says it believes a widening _ about shooting. the us says it believes a widening conflict i about shooting. the us says it believes a widening conflict is| believes a widening conflict is not the way to make northern israel safe for those tens of thousands of israelis to return, but what you're saying is, the negotiations have not reached that point yet? right, there are negotiations, - reached that point yet? right, there are negotiations, and i reached that point yet? right, | there are negotiations, and the security council resolution, you need to beef up the lebanese armed forces, beef up the unifil down there. that will take months to negotiate. no one should be under any illusion a two week, three week cease—fire is going to fundamentally alter the balance of power and create a pathway thatis of power and create a pathway that is somehow seamlessly going to return this piece of the middle east to a happy state. that's not going to happen. you've got three wars

of attrition which are going to continue to be fought under... israel, hamas, that is not done yet, hamas will survive as an insurgency in lebanon. number two, the israel hezbollah problem. and of course the main event, israeland iran, and if iran has concluded that hezbollah is so diminished that it lacks any return capacity, i'm wondering whether or not iran might decide, they are a nuclear weapons threshold state, that the only real deterrence, the only thing that will actually deter anyone thinking about overthrowing the regime or attacking iran will be actually a deliverable nuclear weapon. be actually a deliverable nuclearweapon. i be actually a deliverable nuclear weapon. i don't know whether the iranians had made that calculation, but the pieces on this puzzle are now scattered on the floor and they don't quite all fit together.

it will be fascinating and tragic, i suspect, it will be fascinating and tragic, isuspect, and it will be fascinating and tragic, i suspect, and we are going to spend the next weeks and months try to figure out a new puzzle and at the end, let's hope the pieces fit together in a way that creates more stability, peace and prosperity for the people across the region, because the alternative is pretty bad. i just want to recap for people who are just just want to recap for people who arejustjoining us, looking at some live pictures from beirut right now, tense situation on the israel lebanon border, bbc reporter on the ground telling us that they have heard fresh strikes in southern beirut after israel's army ordered an evacuation of three areas. israel has said that it three areas. israel has said thatitis three areas. israel has said that it is launching the minted operations and we did see the statement from the israel defense forces on x, saying that in accordance with the decision... the statement goes on to say...

the statement goes on from there, but coming back to you, as we are watching closely these pictures from beirut and understand this really is on a nice edge at the moment, what do we know about hezbollah's capacity right now? 0bviously capacity right now? obviously we saw the wave of pager attacks, walkie—talkie attacks, and then the assassination of its leader hassan nasrallah. what do action know about the state of its forces? i what do action know about the state of its forces?— state of its forces? i don't know much. _ state of its forces? i don't know much. the - state of its forces? i don't know much. the israelis, | state of its forces? i don't - know much. the israelis, their intelligence have their ways of monitoring what sort of capacity hezbollah has left, but what is quite clear to me is this, that if in fact has boldor still possesses height —— hezbollah still possesses height your high trajectory weapons,

missiles, if it can attack infrastructure like the electricity grid or water desalination plans, they have not used them. that should tell you either they are command—and—control is so broken that no one can make the kinds of decisions and prepare for an israeli response or alternatively, they have civilly made a decision that, yes, they have these weapons, but they unwilling are to use them based on the consequences of what the israelis would do, so either way, this is checkmate for hezbollah. the chess game is not over, but a severe degradation of one of the most dangerous and well armed non—state actors in the world has taken place over the course of the last two weeks. they may have sufficient capacity to resist the israelis in southern lebanon. it is a

mountainous area, it is heavily forested they have had 18 years to prepare a defence of structure, the israelis are aware of this. we'll get some test, if the israelis move significantly on the ground in southern lebanon, what sort of resistance in response hezbollah is capable of. we are ttoin to hezbollah is capable of. we are going to ask — hezbollah is capable of. we are going to ask you _ hezbollah is capable of. we are going to ask you to _ hezbollah is capable of. we are going to ask you to stay - hezbollah is capable of. we are going to ask you to stay there. | going to ask you to stay there. we will take a short break and come back and talk about this very tense situation we are seeing at the israel lebanon border. aq seeing at the israel lebanon border. a0 with you in a few minutes, aaron. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the last remaining blast furnace at britain's biggest steel works in port talbot has ceased production. 2,800 jobs will be lost, and the closure marks the end of a century of traditional steel making in south wales. 0perators tata steel says it is "deeply conscious" of how difficult the closure is for the community, whilst the union unite called it "industrial vandalism". an accounting system used by post office sub—postmasters before the flawed horizon software was introduced is also likely to have been faulty.

a report into the capture system, which was used from 1992 to 1999, found it could have created cash shortfalls in accounts. an investigation into the it system was commissioned after some subpostmasters said they were wrongly accused of stealing. the uk's top civil servant, simon case, is to step down for health reasons. the cabinet secretary says he's been undergoing treatment for a "neurological condition" and will leave by the end of the year. mr case said the decision was "solely to do with health". the job involves advising the prime minister and cabinet and leading implementation of government policies. you are watching bbc news, and in the past few minutes, these really defence forces have issued statement on social media in hebrew, arabic and english. the english version reads in part, quote, in accordance with the decision of the clinical echelon, if you... party ground raids...

let's go right to our correspondent anna foster who is standing by for us in beirut. we understand there is movement at the moment. what are you hearing and seeing? that's right, we've got some extra details to add to that statement from the idf you are reading there. they talk about the regular plan that they are operating to designed by the general staff and the northern command, they say for which the forces have prepared and trained in recent months. it says the ground forces are companied in their attack effort by the air force and artillery forces which attack military targets in the area into cornet did effort with the ground forces fighters. the stages of the campaign have been approved, it says, and are being carried out in accordance with the decisions at political levels of operation northern arrow continues according to the assessment of the situation. at the same time as

the fighting in gaza and other arenas, don't forget, that war still continues in gaza, israel also launch these large—scale operations against who the targets in yemen as well —— houthi targets. they will continue to fight and try for the targets of the war. this is something we have been waiting forfor something we have been waiting for for the last few hours of you and i spoke around an hour ago and talked about how difficult it was with the information vacuum, really, in the south was to so many people on the lebanese site have left their homes already, they'd let you begin go when there was israeli air strikes starting, equally on the israeli side, areas around ready ground operation had been launched had been a closed zone where civilians cannot go into. and now we know that we've had it confirmed from the israel defense forces that that ground operation has begun into lebanon tonight. [30 operation has begun into lebanon tonight.- operation has begun into

lebanon tonight. do we know what limited _ lebanon tonight. do we know what limited localised - lebanon tonight. do we know what limited localised and - what limited localised and targeted raids actually means? that's a great question, and it is not one that is easy to answer. it is such a subjective thing, isn't it? they always said they wanted it to be localised. the problem is, you cast your mind back to 2006 in the last time there was a war between israel and lebanon, and that really was disastrous for both sides in the end. israel as we said is still fighting in gaza, they lost soldiers in gaza, they lost soldiers in gaza, they lost soldiers in gaza, they will note that while public opinion is largely behind securing the north of israel and enabling people to return to their homes, they won't be, there will be any appetite to see any further loss of israeli military life, and similarly, here in lebanon, the caretaker prime ministers here said around a million people look set to be displaced by the ongoing attacks in the

fighting —— there will not be any appetite. long back to 2006, that war lasted more than 34 2006, that war lasted more than 3a days and more than 1000 people were killed here in lebanon. at the moment, it has gone on for about seven or eight days and the dental has been the same, so their real concerns how this could escalate. where could this get to? is there ever such a thing as a local, demarcated military operation? a force when they get across the border, we know they're operating in lebanon, they're operating in lebanon, they don't know what they will find, they don't know what hezbollah have left in terms of weaponry, in terms of fighters, it is an operation that israel has clearly planned and clearly wanted to carry out, i think it would also be interesting to see in the next few hours how the us, the uk, other allied countries respond to this, because of course they back israel politically, militarily, they had been talking very strongly about a cease—fire. at the un general assembly, you

were there reporting, you remember benjamin netanyahu made that speech, he talked about peace, there were talks going on behind the scenes where they were discussing it when one day cease—fire, where they could talk about this, try and de—escalate, and here we are a few days later with the beginnings of a ground operation, a new war tonight between lebanon and israel. just after that visit, we saw that assassination of hassan nasrallah, didn't we? certainly not a sign of de—escalation discussed in new york. in the meantime we are seeing lebanese officials say more than 1000 people have been killed in the last few weeks, we mentioned the massive displacement. how are things in beirut right now as we're looking at live pictures of the skyline? we heard more _ pictures of the skyline? - heard more loud air strikes in the last hour or two but the idf tend to do, it is a similar thing to what they do in gaza, if they have buildings that they know they are about to target, they will put out messages in the 30 minutes

beforehand, telling people to leave those areas. again tonight we had more of those messages and within a half hour, we heard the sound, loud, across the city, is only a couple of kilometres away, the southern suburbs, the hezbollah stronghold of beirut, and when you get those loud air strikes, they echo right around this city. they are loud and we see those great plumes of thick, dark smoke rising up into the air. there are still a lot of people sleeping on the streets here in beirut, people who left on friday evening when there was that large, the largest air strike we have seen here in beirut, which killed hassan nasrallah, leader of hezbollah, as you say. that was a particularly large strike because israel set on that night, they were targeting the sort of headquarters of hezbollah which they said was dug underground, underneath this civilian building. they used these huge bucker buster bombs that had last been seen

in 2006 to get down deep and actually destroy those headquarters and killed, as we know, hossein knotts rolla. the idf said in operation they managed to kill about 20 other senior hezbollah commanders, and i think that raises an interesting question about what the response be to this ground operation. we don't know what hezbollah capabilities are, we know many of their top command structure have been killed in his early air strikes over the last few weeks or so. we know that those attacks which have concentrated on the south and east of lebanon, the hezbollah stronghold areas have been focused, israel says come on taking out hezbollah's military infrastructure, things like it's infrastructure, things like its stores of weapons, things like the actual infrastructure it uses to fire weapons. 0nly earlier today, the idf said they had destroyed a store of missiles only 1.5 km from beirut airport, so what do

hezbollah have left? do they have enough left to actually launch some kind of counterstrike inside israel? 0r counterstrike inside israel? or what about other iranian proxy groups in the region? you have iran themselves who have said that they will stand alongside hezbollah, but we don't know what kind of form that could take. similarly you have iranian backed militias in iraq, in syria as well of you have the houthis in yemen who have the houthis in yemen who have been firing missiles towards israel, and again yesterday, we saw that large israeli military operation targeting houthi military infrastructure, israel said, we saw these big burning tanks of oil in a port in yemen as well. we clearly this large israeli military operation that has real momentum.— military operation that has real momentum. military operation that has realmomentum. �* . ., real momentum. anna, thank you so much for— real momentum. anna, thank you so much for that _ real momentum. anna, thank you so much for that very _ real momentum. anna, thank you so much for that very latest - so much for that very latest update for beirut. thanks for joining us, and foster on the ground there, and just a reminder, those are live

pictures we are watching from beirut, we also have our life page up, beirut, we also have our life page up, and the latest we are hearing at this hour, israel's army saying on x they haven't started limited, localised and targeted raids against hezbollah close to the border. we are following the very latest on the story. we will bring you the latest at the top of the next hour. thanks for watching. hello there. well, as we start off 0ctober, things are looking a little drier for a couple of days, but it has been a very wet september across the southern half of the uk. in fact, some spots towards the south of england have seen three or four times the average september rainfall. and it's notjust been the wettest september on record for some places, it's also been the wettest month on record. there's been more flooding in didcot in 0xfordshire here on monday, more flood warnings in force as we head through the rest of the night, mostly for central and north—western areas of england,

where we're seeing the heaviest of the downpours. but that low has now pulled out into the north sea. still strong, gusty winds for these north sea—facing coasts, some more rain gradually sinking further southwards and eastwards across central—southern england. but some clear skies out towards the north and the west, so, here, a locally chilly start to the day on tuesday. now, on tuesday, that low is still bringing some more cloud and some rainjust swirling around it. some of that rain could push a little further westwards at times, it will be lighter than on monday, of course, and we've still got that brisk north—easterly wind across coastal areas of yorkshire, lincolnshire and down through northern areas of norfolk too. the best of the sunshine out towards the west, for much of scotland, into northern ireland, western wales and south—west england. and here, we could see temperatures rise to around 16 or 17 celsius. and then on wednesday, well, high pressure starts to edge down from the north, so we're all going to be seeing that dry, sunnier—feeling weather as we head through wednesday and thursday. but it's going to take a while,

i think, still for that low to clear across south—east england, east anglia. still some showers here and a bit more in the way of cloud. some of the showers blowing a little further westwards at times, but lots of sunshine further north and west, some areas of cloud at times. chance of one or two isolated showers, but temperatures 15 to 17 celsius in the best of the brightness. and on thursday, it's going to be a locally chilly start to the day. a touch of frost, perhaps, in the north, a bit of mist around with those lighter winds, but for the vast majority of us, a dry day with plenty of sunshine. cloud developing here and there, and temperatures have now returned to the seasonal average, so 1a to 17 degrees north to south. on friday, we start to see more cloud edging from the north and the west. the best of the sunshine further south and east. and over the weekend, well, we've got rain pushing eastwards again. bye—bye for now.

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 with me, michelle hussein. my guest is steven mcrae, who has been a principal dancer with the royal ballet here in london for the last 15 years. he has defied serious injury to come back to the stage again and again. so what is his message today for his profession and for the wider world of ballet, about how to look after a younger generation of dancers?

steven mcrae, welcome to hardtalk.