this is bbc news. the headlines... israel continues striking beirut, with several sites hit across the lebanese capital over the past few hours. a number of hospitals are now closed in lebanon because of the airstrikes — with the humanitarian situation worsening by the hour. the head of the un refugee agency has described conditions in lebanon as terrible after two weeks of an israeli offensive against hezbollah. donald trump is preparing to return to the city where survived an assassination attempt injuly — with a month to go until the presidential election. this is the seam who live in butler pennsylvania, where the rally is under way in front of huge crowds of his supporters. security is tight following criticism of the secret service operation injuly. the former president will deliver his

speech in around 90 minutes�* time from behind a bullet—proof glass. i'll have a full bulletin of news for you at nine o'clock. now on bbc news, newscast. newscast, from the bbc. it's laura in the studio. and it's paddy in the studio. so, we are recording just after 2:00 on saturday afternoon and, paddy, it has been another week of mounting, mounting, mounting tensions and more and more worrying conflict going on in the middle east. last saturday we were talking about, is a wider war now inevitable? and somebody, a former official, said to me yesterday... actually, sorry, a former foreign minister said to me yesterday on the phone, "let's get real. this is a war now. we shouldn't be talking about escalation." yes, because on friday, that's last week, the hezbollah leader, hassan nasrallah, was killed by an israeli air strike on beirut. that's just before our

last weekend's edition. and three days later, on monday, israel invaded lebanon. and the next day, tuesday, iran launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles at israel. and it's interesting, isn't it? what we wanted to do this afternoon was really think about iran, because behind all of the different groups, hezbollah, hamas, what's happening in lebanon, what's been happening in gaza, what's been happening in different parts of israel, what's been happening in the west bank. this is, in the very big picture, about the very bitter tension between israel and iran. so we're joined this afternoon, to help us with this is baran abbasi, who's a reporter and presenter from bbc persian. because i think, really, we thought we'd try to give newscasters more of an understanding about iran, what's going on there, what the intense rivalry and aggression between iran and israel is all about. and just first of all, i think we have to remind people that iran, the iranian regime and the iranian people are absolutely not the same thing, right? exactly. the iranian regime is very

unpopular among the majority of ordinary iranians. and the fact that iran decided to respond to israel's attack on hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah, his killing on friday, and to launch a barrage of missiles at israel on wednesday, this is not something that is supported by the majority of ordinary iranians _ also unpopular, of course, is israel. and you were educated at the university of tehran, i read. now i bet on the campus, israel is seen as an enemy of iran, i don't think... no—one is saying that the people of iran could get by peacefully with israel easily. well, a lot of ordinary iranians, including students, believe that they do not have any conflict with the israeli regime or any country in the world. so they believe that this is a conflict between the two governments, not not the people of israel or iran.

it's more complicated than that, isn't it? because the buttons aren'tjust being pressed by the leaders but being pressed by the revolutionary guard, who are their own state within a state. well, the revolutionary guards are very close to iran's supreme leader. the president might not have much power. but the final say in all state matters lies with the supreme leader, who is very close to the irgc. they work together and the irgc is very loyal to the supreme leader. so, yes, this this was a decision that was made by the leader and the irgc, not the president. but it's very clear that the government, the executive branch in iran, doesn't have much power. so the irgc is the revolutionary guards? yeah.

iranian revolutionary guards. so let's get back to basic principles, because i think newscasters are not being daft if they're struggling to sort of keep up with some of this because it is a fast moving situation and there's so much history involved. so, can you explain then to people what the reason behind the tension between iran and israel is? well, it all happened after the islamic revolution in iran in 1979, when ayatollah ruhollah khomeini came to power in iran. and, at the time, the idea was to export the idea of the revolution. and that's when iran decided to create a proxy forces in the region. and one of them was hezbollah in lebanon and also hamas in gaza, in the palestinian territories. so before the revolution, the administration of the shah of iran and israel had good relations. but after the revolution, everything changed.

iran so far has created proxy forces in iraq, yemen, gaza and lebanon. and the biggest force, the biggest, proxy group for iran was hezbollah. that came under huge attacks in the past couple of days. that was very humiliating, both for hezbollah and for iran. i mean, the history is, isn't it, that the shah and his family were put in place by the west after a coup which the americans and the british launched? so the history goes on, and on and on. but i wonder if you can take us to the current, reading the size of the attacks, the difference between the attack in april, which was telegraphed to the iranians, to the israelis and to the americans, and to the west, what iran would be sending — slow drones, helping the west and and israel to shoot them down.

the difference between that and the attack that happened just a few days ago is that it was not so easy to be shot down. it was seen as an escalation from the first strike, which was absolutely unprecedented. the first strike included slow drones, and iran had given a 72 hour warning to the regional countries and also the united states. so israel was ready and the region was ready, and a lot of the missiles and drones were shot down even before they reached israel. and israel said that 99% of all the projectiles were shot down. this time, iran apparently did not give any warnings, and also they didn't use drones any more. they were all ballistic missiles. so in terms of power and force, it was more powerful. and it seemed that iran this time did mean to cause some damage to israel. and as we talk now, at 2:20 on saturday, the expectation is that an israeli retaliation for that attack is coming in the next... maybe even in the next couple of hours, but perhaps overnight. i just wonder, how do you think the people in iran will be feeling?

have you heard from anybody? we know it's very difficult to get information out from iran. and also it's very brave forjournalists like you to be reporting on iran when you may still have friends and relatives there. how do you think people in iran will be feeling right now? well, they have been reacting on social media since iran decided to attack israel, because it was widely believed that probably iran would leave it to hezbollah to respond to the killing of its leader, hassan nasrallah. the words that the supreme leader used after the killing of nasrallah was not as harsh as before, and so the iranian regime was left with the option whether to respond or not. and a lot of people were hoping that iran wouldn't. and the fact that iran did so on wednesday was hugely criticised by the iranian people, who believe that iran knows that it could have a devastating effect on the iranians.

it could risk a direct confrontation, a bigger confrontation between iran and israel, and it could even involve the united states that might feel that, even reluctantly, that they need to support israel. so there has been a lot of criticism of the regime for deciding to attack israel the second time. and iranians have been suffering under a lot of economic hardship, huge economic hardship. they have been under sanctions. and even before that, iranians did not support iran's efforts to create proxy forces in the region. they believe that iran is sending funds and weapons to these groups, whilst the money should be spent on the iranian people, on improving their public services and the lives of their ordinary iranians. so the fact that now iran is risking getting involved in a bigger war is very concerning for iranians. there's a hashtag trending on among persian speaking

social media users that is "war is horrific". and then they're talking about what happened in the '80s and the eight years of war between iran and iraq and how devastating it was for the iranian people. but there are also, of course, hardliners. they are not the majority, of course, they are a very small minority. but they supported the attack by iran against israel, and they are supporting further attacks — and they are using the same hashtag saying that, yes, war is horrific, but only for israel. and also the iranians are using the hashtag to comment on the iranian regime itself, because it seems that whenever the regime feels cornered, it becomes more aggressive in the region and more repressive inside of the country. and they are saying that, well, the regime killed hundreds of people during the last round of protests, nationwide protests two years ago, they executed at least eight protesters. many people suffered

life changing injuries. many were imprisoned. and they said that, well, war is horrific, but we feel that we've been in a war with the regime for over 40 years. well, we're going to say that this is going to escalate. we know that we're headed for a more serious response, because the prime minister of israel has said iran is going to pay a heavy price. do we then expect any strike on iran by israel to then meet with immediate retaliation by iran? well, iran has said that it will do so, but iran has not always acted according to what it has threatened. for example, in the first attack by iran against israel, it happened in april when israel attacked iran's consulate in damascus. but a few months later, injuly, israelassassinated hamas leader ismail haniyeh on iranian soil. and then the iranian leader that said that there

will be a harsh punishment, but nothing happened. iran said that it was exercising restraint because it believed that it was being dragged into a regional war by israel. also, it seemed that iran didn't want to sabotage a deal, a ceasefire deal between iran. it all emphasises a weak us president and a weak united nations. and, in many ways, we're seeing the results of all of that come true just with weeks to go to the us election. so we say thank you very much to you. and for english speaking and for persian speaking newscasters, we can read you and hear you on the bbc website. great. how lucky. now, this podcast will also fall very close to the one year anniversary of the october the 7th attacks, when hamas attacked israel. 1,200 people were killed, 251 israelis and foreigners were taken. and still, one year on, 97 hostages remain unaccounted for, say israel.

the un says israel's subsequent invasion of gaza has led to more than 41,000 being killed and more than 90,000 wounded. hamas is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many western powers, including the united kingdom. for our show, broadcasting on radio 4, we're meeting two people who have felt the grief and loss of the israel families and the grief and loss of the palestinian families. and you have spoken to the mother of one of the hostages. yeah. i spoke to idit 0hel. her son alon was one of the young people who was at the music festival where hamas arrived and killed many people, and took other people hostages. and i spoke to her about how her year has been, how she's been managing, and whether she thinks she will see her son ever again. she doesn't know where he is.

she believes he's alive. she told me, "as a mother, i feel that he is alive." but the last 12 months in the middle east has just seen, you know, thousands and thousands and thousands of people living perfectly ordinary lives being caught up in violence, being caught up in these bitter, bitter conflicts and terrible outbursts of violence. and it was incredibly powerful just to listen to her story. so we're going to play newscasters a bit of it now. can you tell us what happened to your son? my son was kidnapped on the 7th of october from a shelter in re�*im, bomb shelter, when he was in the nova festival with his friends. he got there around 5:30 in the morning, and about 6:00, he had to leave. they were starting rockets flying everywhere, and they had to get cover.

so they got into this bomb shelter. and during this time they were with other, you know, civilians like them. there were about 27 in that bomb shelter. and the hamas comes and starts to throw grenades into the bomb shelter and... fighting, with the shooting and everything. and, during that, he was taken with three others. seven only survived that bomb shelter. two of his friends murdered and two of his friends survived to tell about it. and all the rest, sadly, were murdered. have you heard anything about where he might be? do you have any information? no. alon was was kidnapped alive. i have no information about exactly where he is in gaza. we don't know.

you know, as a mother, i can feel that he's alive, but i haven't been in touch with him or know about him for the past 12 months. so the 7th of october, will be, yeah, a year. which is unbelievable. what's it like for you, having him away in danger, not knowing where he is? sometimes it's really hard to breathe when you think about it. like, i don't know if he's in the tunnels. you know, you're thinking, how is he coping for so many months? if he's getting food to eat, if he's getting medicine or whatever? it's something that is not something that i can comprehend.

you know, as a mother, you have to look out for your kids. and you have to make sure that they are safe. so in my situation, it's a heartbreaking thing. i wake up every morning doing everything i can to bring him home. before i go back to to sleep at night i think, "did i do everything i could ? " and sometimes it's very hard to answer those questions. i haven't, you know, ithink... i try to talk to him, you know, and send him my love. but the fact that i haven't listened to his voice and heard him, and know where he is, not... it's really hard. sometimes i find myself either crying orfind myself thinking, what else can i do?

but i'm continuing to fight and advocate for him non—stop, all over the world and in israel. and, for me, that helps. knowing that i'm doing something, anything i can, to make sure that alon is not forgotten. that everybody knows about him and how wonderful a human being he is. she went on to tell me that his friends were getting a new apartment, and he was meant to be moving into a new apartment. and i think i'll always remember, she said his friends are keeping a room for him for when he comes home. so, for all of the people who've been caught up in this terrible spasm in the middle east. which of course it does seem every now and again, maybe once a decade or once every two decades, there is this sort of huge conflagration where people

from right across that region get pulled into it. but the suffering of the hostage families isjust impossible to imagine but i think important to hear. yes. and apart from anything else, many of them are fiercely critical of the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, for letting this october the 7th happen due to intelligence failures. and in many ways, if jeremy bowen was here, he'd say the country has been blaming him. and then what's happening with the war in lebanon is that the public have been supporting the war on hezbollah. so this is another reason why you have to hear from the hostages, because they are important to understanding israeli domestic opinion. and when we next havejeremy in oursights, laura, we can ask him how all this war in lebanon has shifted the public opinion and the problems that benjamin netanyahu was facing from criticism from the hostage families. that's right. because actually, someone

in government said to me the other day, it feels now that the only break on netanyahu is israeli public opinion. and even that hasn't stopped him. you know, he's been terribly unpopular through much of this year, but they went on to suggest, if you look six months ago, israel felt, someone in government was suggesting they felt as if things were very, very bad, what they were doing wasn't necessarily getting them anywhere. the terrible bombardment of gaza certainly wasn't making netanyahu any more popular. and yet now there is a sense that netanyahu does believe he's making progress. there is almost a pull on them because they've had success in targeting hezbolah. the walkie talkies, the exploding pagers and the successful assassination for the israeli government of nasrallah, nasrallah, the hezbollah leader. and there's a sense in our government that they look at what israel's doing and think, well, maybe actually he won't stop because they think they might be able to push to some kind of conclusion. but there's so much complicated diplomacy, politics, history in all of this.

and tomorrow on the programme, actually, we'll havejeremy on to help us understand this. but also we'll hopefully be hearing from someone from tehran, who's spoken also to somebody who's been stuck in gaza for the last year very movingly and hopefully will also be on the ground in beirut. but it is a massively fast moving, complicated jigsaw. as i say, we should say again, it's 2:30 on saturday and by the time we meet again tomorrow, it might be looking completely different. i think that's absolutely the case. we are meeting a british palestinian who's lost scores of his family, have been killed in different generations by israeli action in gaza. and we're also meeting the daughter of a hostage, two hostages. both the mum and dad was taken, although the mum was famously released. so that's broadcasting house, a sense of radio 4 tomorrow. and we have had a sense of what's on bbc one tomorrow. we have.

and then we will be reunited at shortly after 10:00 for the sunday edition of newscast. goodbye. newscast. newscast from the bbc.

hello. 0ctober so far has given us some welcome relief from the relentless rain of september. hope you have managed to get out and enjoy it. just look at

this beautiful scene from lang's head, hardly a cloud in the sky. as we move through the week ahead, the weather story is change. sunshine and blustery showers and then the potential for wet and windy weather, particularly through the middle part of the week in the middle part of the week in the south. rainfall accumulations showing we are all going to see some rain. the bright greens across south wales in south—west england, here we could see 70 to 80 millimetres over the next few days. low pressure will start to dominate the story once again. we are already seeing signs of that, with cloud and rain moving in. and that is going to continue to drift its way steadily north and east during the early hours of sunday morning. that is acting like a blanket. it's going to prevent the temperatures from falling too far. it would be as chilly start, but it will be a rather grey one. central and eastern england seeing the best of the dry weather. a few

scattered showers, but hopefully hit and miss. 0ut scattered showers, but hopefully hit and miss. out of the west, take a cloud, outbreaks of rain moving to northern ireland, wales and south—west england, and brighter colours denoting the intense job that rainfall for a time. temperatures are still likely to peak between 17 and 13 degrees. as you go through the evening, some of those showers per turn quite heavy as they move out of wales, once again open to the midlands and into the north of england. so they will take their time to clear away, they will take their time to clearaway, but they will take their time to clear away, but there will be some clearance down to the south—west. it's all about the low that is going to continue to move its way steadily eastwards, and then through the middle part of the week we've got another significant flow pressure. this has the remnants of what was hurricane kirk in there. at the moment it looks likely to stay to the south of the uk, but we will need to keep firming up on those details as we get closer to wednesday. 0ne details as we get closer to wednesday. one thing is for certain, once the loan moves through, the wind direction will swing around to more of a northerly and it will start to

feel noticeably cooler as we head into the weekend. be prepared for showers or longer spells of rain over the next few days.

live from london. this is bbc news. the israeli military launches more air strikes on beirut, as hezbollah fires rockets across the border into northern israel. this is the scene live in beirut. donald trump is about to speak at the site ofjuly's attempted assassination — this is the scene live from butler, pennsylvania — with exactly one month to go until the presidential election. doctors in the democratic republic of congo have begun a vaccination campaign to try to halt the spread of the mpox virus. and it started as a localjog, it is now a worldwide hit — parkrun celebrates 20 years.