Transcript of Israel bombs Yemen and Lebanon in further military escalation | BBC News

Tonight, Israel has once again expanded its military operations here in the Middle East by bombing targets in Yemen. Further airstrikes on Hezbelar targets here in Lebanon have also continued through the day. The killing on Friday of Hezbelar's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has marked a rapid escalation in this conflict. Well, Israel announced the latest airstrikes in Yemen, which targeted power plants and the Port of Hodeida, were their response to missile attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The Houthi Health Ministry has said at least four people were killed and 29 wounded. And here in Lebanon, Israel attacked more than 120 targets across the day. Well, in a moment, we're here from our senior international correspondent, Orla Gerlin, who's returned from the Beccar Valley to assess the impact of Israel's campaign there. But first, let's get the latest on those Israeli airstrikes in Yemen and head to Jerusalem. Our correspondent, John Donison, is there. John, why has Israel decided to do this now?

Well, Israel says it attacks those who attack it. And ever since the war erupted in Gaza, almost a year ago, the fear has been that the conflict there could escalate into a wider regional war. And those fears were not eased today. Israel's military reach and power is long and strong. This is not Lebanon or Gaza, but almost 2,000 kilometers away in Yemen. The target, one of the country's biggest ports and two power stations, controlled by Iranian-backed Houthis. The operation directed by Israel's defense minister.

We have no interest in expanding the war. We have no interest in looking for additional fronts. But if somebody attacks Israel, as the Houthis have recently done with missiles and throughout the war with cruise missiles and drones, Anyone who carries out such an attack, we will settle the account with them, and we know how to do it.

Israel is not holding back. It's Air Force releasing footage as they set off for the raid. And earlier today, it says it shot down another drone launched from Yemen. For the past year, the Yemen Houthis have been trying to influence the conflict in the Middle East. This is their commander photos seizing a British-owned ship in the Red Sea last November. They have long-range missiles, are supported by Iran, and are fiercely opposed to Israel. Speaking yesterday, the Houthi's military spokesperson, Yaya Sereya, said they wouldn't stop until Israel ended its aggression against Gaza and Lebanon. Today's strikes in Yemen highlight another dangerous dangerous front in a war that threatened to engulf the region. John Donison, BBC News, Jerusalem.

Well, Israel also continued throughout the day today to launch airstrikes in the east of Lebanon, around Around 50 people, we're told, have been killed in that particular series of strikes. Our senior international correspondent, Ola Gerin, has sent this report from the Beccar Valley.

Israel It keeps hitting hard. For now, it looks unstoppable. This is the Beccar Valley this afternoon. There were at least 30 airstrikes in an hour. Danger in every direction. And new dead. Our neighbors, the Jamil family, are all gone, he says. As more airstrikes rain down, Nour Musaui lies in intensive care. She is six years old and was injured on her own doorstep on Monday. Her family say she's intelligent and chatty and loves meeting new people. But here, shortly before the attack, she was afraid and praying.. Her mother, Rima, now prays by her bedside. And suddenly, as we filmed, the planes were back. Well, within the last few seconds, we've had a strike.

We heard the plane in the air.

Then we felt the impact.

The windows here shook.

They rattled. And it's an indication of how nowhere here is safe.

Even patients in hospitals can't feel completely safe.

Minutes later, new wounded.

An ambulance has just arrived now bringing casualties from the latest airstrike. They're being treated in the emergency department. There's a lot of anger and tension. People are stressed, wondering when this is going to stop.

Back in intensive care, Noor's father, Abdulla, wants the world to see his child.

Was she fighting, he asks. She was playing at home. Does she have weapons? Half of her brain is gone. Noor was born after her parents had 10 years of IVF. Her father says he's not in his Ola, but now wishes he was. Orla Guirin, BBC News in the Beccar Valley.

Well, Hezbollah has suffered a string of blows to its command structure over the last fortnight, culminating in the killing of its elusive leader, Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. So how did the Israel Defense Forces manage to track him down, and how have they been able to target so many of Hezbollah's top commanders? Well, our security correspondent, Frank Garner, has been looking into it. Frank.

Well, targeting the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was a strategic decision by Israel. In hiding for years, he'd long been in Israel's sights. So how did they do it? Israeli intelligence was already widely assumed to be behind the lethal sabotage of all those thousands of Hezbolar's pages and walkie-talkies. The Mossad, that's Israel's overseas spy agency, is thought to have inserted explosives into the supply chain. Now, that was almost a fortnight ago. What's transpired since then is that Israel's penetration of the Hezbollah command structure goes deeper still. Just have a look at this pyramid here. The Israeli military says that it has assassinated all of these senior Hezbollah commanders. So just how has this Israeli campaign been able to penetrate Hezbollah's security so comprehensively?

It certainly looks like something that would have been put together over probably years. It would have been built up from multiple disciplines. So that's signals intelligence, interception of communications, the analysis of imagery, be that satellite or covertly taken photographs, but almost certainly some human intelligence.

Yeah, in other words, spies on the ground. Once the Israelis located Nasrallah, their Air Force F-15 warplanes reportedly dropped 80 bunker-busting bombs. They hit the underground cellar in South Beirut and Dakhia, where he was meeting top commanders. So it's clear that Hezbollah's security is deeply compromised by Israeli intelligence. Nasrallah will be replaced, and soon, by someone with similar religious credentials. But it could take years for that new leader to build up a following. And in this climate, time is probably not on his side.

Frank, thank you. Well, our Senior International Correspondent, Ola Gerin, joins me here in Beirut tonight. Ola, we can still hear the sound of that drone, that Israeli drone above our heads. It's been a near constant presence again today. You know this region so well. In your assessment, what is likely to happen next?

Anna, the US President, Joe Biden, is saying that all-out war must be avoided and that he will speak to the Israeli leader. I think if we've learned anything in the last year, it's that Biniam and Nathan Yahoo is not listening to the White House. I've been here for 12 days. I've been very struck by the tempo and the scale of Israel's escalation. As you've seen, we've had the Pager and walkie-talkie attacks. We've had the assassination of virtually the entire military leadership of Hamas. We've had airstrikes right across the country. We've had the killing of Hassan Nassrallah. The The picture that comes is that the Israeli military is going for broke. Now, Hezbollah is putting up a limited fight so far. Iran, its main backer, is staying on the sidelines so far. But we have Israel now fighting in Gaza, in Lebanon, and tonight in Yemen. So this is already a wider regional conflict. The fear is, will it become a wider regional war? Well, I have to say, if we look at the direction of travel, that is where everything is headed, and we are not seeing any diplomacy gaining traction. Many in Lebanon now fear becoming another Gaza.

They fear becoming a long war. We already have a thousand dead here. I was here in 2006 in the last war. It took a month to get to that death toll. Us military experts are saying this could get a lot worse before it gets a lot worse.