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airstrikes in beirut target financial institutions thought to be linked to hezbollah. with just over two weeks to go until the u.s. presidential election, kamala harris and donald trump continue their blitz of battleground states. plus, mold of a referendum on future european union membership despite claims of russian interference. ♪ a very warm welcome to world news america. israel is morning of further strikes on hezbollah's financial infrastructure after targeting more than a dozen bank branches in beirut. in the past few hours, israel's army issued fresh evacuation orders for the southern suburbs of the capital city. we are now getting reports of airstrikes in beirut. defense force is targeting a lebanese bank to stop large funds from voting to hezbollah and financing militant groups'

operations. the united nations special coordinator for lebanon told the bbc her office considers the israeli strikes punitive aeoplee bank for everyday funds. hezbollah launched 170 projectiles and rockets in retaliation for the israeli strikes, according to the idf. nick has been looking at social media footage from the strikes, including widely shared ai generated images. correspondent: israel has struck a number of bank premises in lebanon as part of the ongoing offensive against hezbollah. me show you where some of the strikes were in beirut. you can see a couple down in the south, within a couple kilometers of the airport, that are more up here. there were more strikes as well, but these are some of the ones we have been able to confirm and verify. let me show you some of the footage which also has been verified by the bbc team,

starting with this one from southern lebanon. you can see two buildings on fire, not this one, but this one here is a bank building. there is another video here, you can see a fireball in that building. both locations are registered sites of the bank. israel says it is targeting the bank because it is used by hezbollah and says the bank was storing funds for hezbollah which were being used to buy weapons and pay its military, but one expert from the defense think tank russo said this to us, this risk setting a dangerous precedent, blurring the line between military and civilian infrastructure. the u.n. also raised concerns that residents were only given a brief warning to evacuate. there is a lot of verified material out there, also fake imagery making the rounds, which we wanted to show you.

some of it has been viewed thousands of times online. this is one of them. it supposedly shows a plane landing in beirut airport, coming up under searches of ternional airport.x, but this that is not the same as the pictures we have of beirut airport. the plane, if you focus in on it, is also distorted. that image is false. showed you this one earlier. we thought it had been ai generated. now we are not so sure. we think it could be a real image with odd features, which could be to do with how the photo was taken and sent. it is quite complicated, but we will keep analyzing this sort of image to build up a picture of what happened. sumi: meanwhile, in gaza, israel's military operation against hamas continues with crime rates in the northern jubail the area. the idf security operations are

forcing mass displacement of civilians. eight groups say all three remaining hospitals in the north are running short of supplies and fuel after israel paused the delivery of human -- of humanitarian aid past the first week of october. while there is aid pouring in this morning, the white house says it is not enough. >> we are thankful for jordan's leadership in organizing these deliveries. we also call on all parties to cooperate in distributing the truckloads on the gaza side. sumi: american diplomats are setting up efforts in the middle east to bring about a cease-fire in gaza and lebanon. antony blinken is traveling to the middle east for his 11th trip since the war began just over a year ago. this time he will continue discussions on de-escalation and planning for a post-conflict period. secretary blinken is also -- in a way that ensures civilians on

both sides can return home. it comes as a middle east envoy has been meeting with hezbollah negotiators in beirut today. he said all parties are working on producing a formula that brings on end to the conflict once and for all. we will speak about all the development from jordan's foreign minister from 2000 to 2004, also deputy prime minister from 2004 to 2005. you for joining us. i want to start with what is happening in lebanon, because we are continuing to see strikes, israel targeting what it calls the financial infrastructure of hezbollah. what do you make up this latest escalation we are seeing on the ground? >> i think it's intention is to prolong the war, and in so doing, have netanyahu stay in power for the longest time. what is worrisome is israel as

normalized the practice of killing hundreds of people in return for targeting hezbollah leaders in lebanon or hamas leaders in gaza. that is very worrisome because it is creating a backlash among the population that is going to be difficult to address after the war. sumi: israel says not only is it targeting hezbollah targets, but it is hezbollah that is embedding itself among the population. what is your response? >> hezbollah is part of the lebanese population. where did they go? they are present in all areas of lebanon, but particularly in the south where the shiite community lives. this does not give an excuse in my view, or the view of international law, for israel to target hundreds of people in return for one person. sumi: so you are concerned we are going to see mass

frustration and anger among the civilian population. what would that lead to? >> if israel is talking about reading a new middle east. the israel cash the middle east israel is talking about creating, no one believes in peace anymore. how can you make peace with a country that is targeting civilians in such a manner? sumi: what does jordan believe in this position as an important player in the region and a negotiator? >> jordan believes that the core issue is the occupation. it is a 57-year-old occupation that needs to end. therefore, any political initiatives have to address this core issue. is there a political initiative to end occupation, and in so doing, create a peaceful situation for all people, or are we just going to see a military machine continue to wreak havoc as we have seen with israel

without any hope for a political settlement? sumi: clearly you know what israel will say to that, which is hamas has embedded itself in the population in gaza and that it cannot live with that kind of security threat habits border. -- at its border. what do you expect from israel going forward? >> israel has used a lot of excuses for not arriving at a cease-fire. israel used sinwar to say he is the obstacle behind the cease-fire. after he was killed, israel has publicly said it does not intend to have a cease-fire. in my view, mr. netanyahu does not want to give kamala harris any gift before the u.s. elections. sumi: you think this is political. correspondent: -- >> absolutely. even israelis themselves are saying that. it is clear his strategy is to prolong the war and just that.

there is no political vision, no political initiative on the table. secretary blinken has visited the region 11 times without any success at arriving at cease-fire. sumi: so you think these latest efforts from the secretary of state are not likely to be successful. >> think they are most likely to fail to says the other efforts have failed, because while the secretary's intention is to arrive at the cease-fire before u.s. elections, that is the same reason why netanyahu is not going to have a cease-fire. he is going to wait until the results of the u.s. elections are known. sumi: final question, where does that leave efforts to reach some sort of cessation of hostilities? >> i am afraid in the immediate term, such efforts would fail, and we will see a continuation of violence, because the political will to end this war is not particularly on the side of israel. sumi: always good to get your

perspective. thank you for joining us in the studio. the u.s. is investigating a leak of top-secret documents describing an american assessment of israel's plan to attack iran. u.s. house speaker mike johnson confirmed the leak on sunday, though no federal agencies have commented. the documents reportedly detail as rails attempted -- israel's attentive retaliation to a ballistic missile attack on october 1 in the aftermath of the assassination of the hezbollah leader. the group will replace the top leader next year. you ran movement will likely keep the identity of its leaders secret for security reasons. we will talk about the leaks with chairman of the house intelligence committee, mike turner, republican commerce been from the state of ohio -- republican congressman from the state of ohio. i want to start with what we

heard from the white house today. john kirby saying they don't know how the documents found their way into the public domain. what can you tell us? >> i can tell you this. if this has been a leak, it is criminal and it is espionage if it came from an american source. department of justice will be undertaking an investigation to locate that source. -- the department of justice will be undertaking an investigation to locate that source. it is a crimil act. luckily the administration, both israel have indicated this will not affect operations, but it does indicate the high stakes at the level of information that is discussed of what is occurring in the middle east. sumi: just a follow-up, there is a possibility that this could be a hack by a foreign entity? >> there is some discussion that

that may be the case, but what i am respond to his if this is a leak, and certainly there have -- there has been enough conjecture that leads us to lean toward this could be a leak, that this would be a criminal matter and a criminal matter of espionage. sumi: you said israel would not impact the security relationship going forward, but can you give us a sense of how significant the material is that was leaked? >> i think any leak is certainly a concern, because you do not know, regardless of the materials you see, you don't know whatever their materials may be out there, and -- what other materials may be out there. as you just heard from your prior interviewer, hezbollah, by the way, as you did a great job in pushing that interview, hezbollah is an illegitimate terrorist organization that occupies lebanon and continues to attack israel. it is unfortunate that people continue to legitimize them,

when as we all know they are a proxy of iran that continues to destabilize the area. as that area is destabilized in iran is attacking israel, israel has to defend itself, and we will be answering those direct attacks from iran. sumi: president biden has said he does not want israel to retaliate. to this point, we don't know exactly what israel's retaliation would be, but what do you think would be appropriate from your perspective? >> i think it is incredibly unfortunate that president biden continues to run around and say what people should not do. i think if iran attacks israel, in doing so, they should be fearful that all of their assets and all of their sites might be subject to attacks. i think that certainly israel, in looking to what they are going to attack and iran, should look at things that are going to diminish overall iran's capabilities to continue to attack israel.

certainly that could be some sites that have co-threats to what we are seeing in their support from russia and what we are seeing unfold in ukraine. iran has a number of vulnerabilities, including their nuclear weapons sites and including their energy production, that iran should be fearful as it continues to directly attack. sumi: i want to ask you a question about ukraine. the two of us have spoken many times on ukraine in the past. thousands of north korean troops are ready to fight in ukraine. what do we actually know about these troop movements, and what do you want to see the administration do here? >> i have been talking to the intelligence community and demanding briefings on this, but what is very concerning on the public side is we have president zelenskyy calling for the west for assurances that north korean troops, if they entered, that he would have additional support from the west, is the silence we

are hearing from the administration. this should be a redline for this administration. they are sleepwalking into a widening of this conflict. as the president continues his goodbye tour, he ought to be thinking about how this is unfolding. this should be a redline. sumi: what would that look like? >> first off, i don't think president biden should have a restriction on the use of ukrainian weapons for long-range into russian territory, where russian territories are directly attacking ukraine, but he certainly, even though he has that restriction, he certainly should apply that restriction to north korean troops. if north korean troops set up in russia and began to attack ukraine, ukraine should not be prevent from attacking back using u.s. weapons. north korean troops actually march into ukraine, i think nato and the united states ought to look directly into whether those troops are engaged, because we should not, as the united states and nato, stand back and let

north korean troops invade a european country and certainly a redline would discourage them from doing so and communicate to pressure that this is not good. sumi: we have to leave it there today, but thank you always for joining us on bbc news. monday marks the voter registration deadline in pennsylvania, with 15 days to go until the u.s. presidential election. and something you is one of seven swing states critical to the outcome of the election -- pennsylvania is one of seven swing states critical to the outcome of the election. present troubles a slight lead. -- president trump holds a slight lead in pennsylvania. ms. harris is visiting three swing states on monday. she will go to pennsylvania before michigan and wisconsin. she and out -- she answered audience questions on topics like childcare, but also said world leaders have expressed

concern to her about donald trump. vice pres. harris: we represent something imperfect. flawed as we may be, we represent the basis of our constitution. we represent a gold standard. this is about direct impact on the american people, and it most certainly will impact people around the world. sumi: former president trump has been spending the day in north carolina. he held a press conference at a town rocked by flitting from hurricane helene -- by flooding from hurricane helene near asheville. he also held a rally in greenville. he began by rallying against inflation. he then accused emma kratz of trying to rig the election, and blamed the biden administration for funding vladimir putin's invasion of ukraine. >> i watch how bad they were doing. they were destroying this country step-by-step. we would have had no war with ukraine, with russia. they went in because a lot of

things -- because of a lot of things. they went in because of our energy policy, because of bidens stupidity of his rhetoric. and they came in because they saw afghanistan and said wow, they are a paper tiger. putin saw that and went in. we would have never had october 7 with israel. sumi: trump has neither confirmed nor denied claims that he held seven phone calls with vladimir putin since leaving the white house. the allegations in a peer -- if you're in a new book by bob woodward. kamala harris has called putin a murderous dictator. but what are they saying about the u.s. election inside russia? from moscow, here is our russia editor, steve rosenberg. steve: russia is not voting, but it is watching closely. who does moscow want in the white house? well, when donald trump won in 2016, the russian parliament celebrated with champagne.

fizz went flat went trump failed to amend u.s.-russian ties, but he continues to say things the kremlin loves. pres. trump: the problem is not that putin is smart, which of course he is smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. steve: and he avoids blaming russia for the war in ukraine. >> trump seems to be more pragmatic and lacking certain principles and being pragmatic and without principles, you make it easier to strike a deal. steve: by contrast -- vice pres. harris: if donald trump were president, putin would be sitting in kyiv right now. correspondent: kamala harris has called putin a murderous dictator. on the campaign trail, she said support for ukraine is an

american strategic interest. the u.s. presidential election campaign is rather like a traditional russian dl. it seems to go on and on forever. the question is, is russia doing more than just sitting on the sidelines watching? the kremlin has already been accused of meddling. i did administration claims the russian government is spreading disinformation through social media to try to influence the results of the 2024 vote. the russians deny it, but there is no denying that in recent years, u.s.-russian relations have gone from bad to worse to even worse than that. and yet, once upon a time, things were going swimmingly. at the end of the cold war, this american duct monument in moscow celebrated east-west friendship. though you would not know it,

talk to igor. "the u.s. was our enemy in soviet times. it does not matter who is president there." but marina writes the idea of a woman president. "i'm not saying it will be better or worse," she says, "but it would be different." so, russia and america have one thing in common, their presidents have always been men. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. sumi: voters in moldova backed a proposal to join the european union. the thin margin came as a shock to many observers. moldovan authorities are accusing russia of being behind a large-scale vote buying campaign, a claim backed by and u.s. officials. the quinlan denies the -- the kremlin denies the accusations. correspondent: this is a referendum on the that was called by moldova's president,

but she has struggled to get a yes vote. all of the polls ahead of the referendum were predicting a comfortable win, but in the end, there were 13,000 or so votes between a yes and a no, a very tight race. the president has come out and said that is a win. she has congratulated moldovans on tuesday in the past she has set for moldova towards the eu, but she also said it was a vile attack on moldova's democracy. what she was referring to was a network, essentially, a scheme that wasn't covered by police and prosecutors here ahead of the boat -- was uncovered by police and prosecutors here ahead of the boat to channel money to bribe people to vote against the eu. when i asked the president about that earlier today, i said, is this russian meddling specifically? she would not use the word russia, but she did talk about

criminal gangs and foreign forces. police have identified the money coming from moscow. at one polling station, we did see a woman looking for money. she told us that she had been paid to vote, although she would not say food for. but that was some evidence that on the ground, at least, this was not a clean fight. this was not a boat that the prime minister had to call, but she wanted it to really cement moldova's way towards europe, and that is because she has seen vladimir putin and his russia as a threat, particularly since the full-scale invasion of ukraine, which is right next door. she has got a win, but this is not a comfortable win, and i think it leaves open very widely, very broadly the question of where exactly moldova's future politically will lie. sumi: an influential u.s.-based cleric accused by the turkish president of allegedly orchestrating an attempted coup against him has died at the age

of 83. from his self-imposed exile in the u.s., he held a large movement in turkey which would later be designated as a terrorist group. erdogan once considered him an ally until they took control of war planes and tanks and helicopters in 2016. the group was blamed for the 250 people killed in that rebellion. your piece foreign minister says its forces will continue to fight against the group. -- turkey's foreign minister says its forces will continue to fight against the group. that is our show. you can find the latest stories on bbc.com/news. make sure to check us out on your favorite social media site. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ geoff: good evening. on the news hour tonight kamala harris hits the campaign trail with republican liz cheney while donald trump uses increasingly crass rhetoric during his political event