Hello and welcome to BBC News with me, Loquesta Burak. Tensions remain high in the Middle East following further Israeli strikes on Southern Lebanon and the occupied West Bank overnight. This large explosion was seen near Beirut's international airport, which borders the suburb of Dakhia, a Hezbelar stronghold, which has been a continuing target for Israeli attacks. Reports cite Israeli officials said a key target had been Hashem Saafiedin, Hezbelar Qatar's presumed leader in waiting and cousin of its late chief, Hassan Nasrallah. The Lebanese Health Ministry has said that 37 people have died in airstrikes in the capital and in Southern Lebanon. Else, in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military says it's killed a senior Hamas figure following a strike on a refugee camp in the city of Talqam. Palestinian health officials say at least 18 people were killed in the strike on a cafe. Our Middle East Correspondent, Hugo Bashega, sent this report from Beirut.
Another night in Beirut, and more Israeli airstrikes. War returns to this city, and this attack came with no warning. We went to inspect the damage. A residential building near the Lebanese Parliament. Beirut appears increasingly under threat. This is where an emergency response group, linked to Hezbollah, operated. Now, gone. They were just emergency service workers. This is the truth. We only saw them helping people out, says Mustafa, who lives on the 10th floor of the building head. The damage in this building gives you a sense of the power of this attack and They've been cleaning up the rubble here, but we can still see some surgical masks and gloves and bandages as well. You can probably hear the sound of Jones flying overhead. This is a densely populated district here in central Beirut. These are some of the victims of the attack. They include one rescue officer and two paramedics. The recent Israeli airstrikes have killed 97 medical of workers across Lebanon, according to the Health Minister. The Israeli military hasn't commented about this attack. But this Hezbol IMP remains defiant. Things are clear.
Our position has remained unchanged. We've not deviated an inch from it, and we shall continue down this path.
The cemetery across the street wasn't spared the damage. These days in Beirut, there's no peace for the living or the dead. Hugo Mashik of BBC News, Beirut.
Saeed Shahata from BBC Arabic updated us on the latest from the overnight period.
There is continuing Israeli air strikes, and one of them is reported from Israeli sources who is targeting Hashem Safiuddin, the potential successor of Hassan Nasrallah to be the leader of Hezbollah. But there is no confirmed news about he was dead or not, and There's no statement from Hezbollah. So still this report about they were targeting him, but he was deep underground. At the same time, the explosion were heard in Beirut because it was striking Dahlia, which is the stronghold of the Hezbollah. In addition to that, there is two missiles were launched at Al-Masna border crossing area between Syria and Lebanon because Israel accusing Hezbollah of smuggling weapons from Syria to Lebanon. But the Leban authorities said, All borders are controlled, so they're denying this happening. So Israeli working very hard on this front in order to push Hezbollah on the ground further and to try to dry the source of weapons to it according to the Israeli authorities.
What do we know about those supply chains of arms trying to get into Lebanon for Hezbollah? Are they supplied over-ground, underground?
How do they get to the group? There is many ways for these weapons to come. Mainly came from Iran, but after what happened between Iran and Israel, and one of the airplanes were stopped to land in Beirut a few days ago because Israeli said that it has some weapons and some personnel on the airplane, even it's a civilian airplane. It is also coming because it is a strong presence of Hezbollah in Syria, was helping the President of Syria, Bachar al-Assad, to fight the extremist and the revolt against him in Syria. There is many sources coming from the Yehouthi, through the Eid So there is many sources for the organs coming to Hezbollah, but still, they have, according to military statistics, have 150,000 missiles and drones, which is a very strong thing to face. And still, the Israeli said it's still a strong enemy. The war is not over yet. So there is still Hezbollah and one of the evidence of that, eight Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday because according to Israeli military, after the clashes on the ground. So the fight is fierce between them. And I think the ground operation will be faced by a strong opposition, as the Deputy Leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassim said, will be ready for any clashes with Israeli on the ground.
And that was Saeed Shahata there. Well, earlier, I spoke to Dr. Simon Frankl Pratt, a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Melbourne. I asked for his assessment of Israel's current strategy around that key border area?
Israel seems to be trying to escalate things in order to conclude the matter, since the other possible conclusion, a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza, is clearly not forthcoming. Israel has, in the past few weeks, just effectively deleted Hezbollah's strategic and senior leadership. Since Hezbollah is now in a very weak position, it looks as though Israel is trying to press the matter by invading on the ground and attacking and destroying the physical infrastructure throughout the border area and south of Lebanon that has been threatening Israel's north for so long.
When you say Hezbollah is in a weak position, are we talking about leadership or arms?
Well, you can have all the arms you want. If you don't have the veteran commanders and strategists and leaders to direct the use of those arms, they're not going to do you all that much good. So yes, Hezbollah has plenty of rank and file personnel, but the senior leaders of the organization cannot be easily replaced. They have many decades, in some cases, of combat experience, of training, of long-standing relationships with partners in Iran and in other parts of the region. Without those senior leaders, the organization is way, way weaker than it has been in decades.
We'll get to energy and oil in a moment in that current strategy. First off, a question I put to my colleague, and that was the supply of arms to Hezbollah. What do we know about the supply routes in which those arms actually get into Lebanon?
I would say that the main supply route continues to be via Syria. For years now, this role years now, Israel will occasionally bomb arm shipments that travel from Iran through Syria and into Lebanon into the hands of Hezbollah. I think that their stockpiles are pretty extensive at this point. So even if those arms delivery routes close down for the time being, Hezbollah has physically what it needs to harass or threaten the entirety of Israel, certainly the center.
A fresh wave of air strikes rocked Lebanon's capital Beirut on Friday, as Israel continued its battle against Lebanese armed group ...