Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade strikes despite 'ceasefire'

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Mm-hmm.

An invitation only body of podcast professionals from acclaimed organizations to Which include the BBC. Grow your audience, celebrate your team, and stand out. The final entry deadline to submit is the twenty-sixth of June. Enter your podcast at signalaward.com for consideration.

Hello and welcome to News Hour Live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Could the latest clashes between Israel and Hezbollah derail the peace agreement signed this week between the US and Iran?

Thank you.

We've just arrived at the hospital here in Abati and we've just heard two loud explosions in the distance. A third one.

Thick.

smoke billowing from a location not far from here.

Uh

Just behind the hills. And the airstrecks continue. The ambulances that arrive drive straight past the emergency room and pull up to the mall. The workers look exhausted. They remove the body bag from the car, take it into the morgue, but leave it on the floor. I'm not allowed in, but peering through the door I can see it's full. More than forty bodies I'm told. The new dead joined the old, all killed in the same war.

It has been the most intense night since the beginning of the war, and there were many civilian casualties because lots of people had returned to their homes.

كتير من العالم رجاء

Ali is with the Red Cross. One of his best friends was killed in the strikes. He's holding back tears.

The problem is that here in Lebanon we got used to it. And I have been a first responder with Red Cross for more than thirty years, and deaths now are only a number to us.

It's been a very intense afternoon. As we are perched on this hilltop, we have a 360-degree view of the valley and all the surrounding villages are being hit.

We've just left the hospital.

And On the road there was a an airstrike and an emergency team. retrieving a body. There's only one road out of Nabatea now

Amen.

We're spinning up to leave the city.

Amen.

There's now a new ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah.

But here

The same watchful Israeli drone flies overhead. Efforts have so far failed to bring quiet to this country. The Lebanese wait, skeptical but hopeful, to finally have some peace.

The BBC Zugo Bachia with that report from Southern Lebanon. Well during the negotiations ahead of the US Iran deal signed this week. Tehran had insisted that a ceasefire in southern Lebanon was a crucial part of the deal. So do these latest clashes put the US Iran deal in jeopardy? A short time ago we got through to Omu Khazani, he's a reporter for the Los Angeles Times currently in Tehran. And first I asked him how the Iranian authorities are spinning the deal to the people.

So far it's been welcome by people on the streets. and by the media circles and also journalists and analysts in Tehran as a success for Tehran. And more importantly, it was quite a difficult thing to sell to the public. especially after the assassination of the Iran Supreme Leader, negotiating with the with the United States was a red line for authorities, but seems that They are actually selling it as a success to the public and public are welcoming it.

Right, I mean there's been so few details about exactly what's in this deal. Are are there any parts of it that are being picked out and pointed to by the authorities in Tehran? What do they understand is in in the deal?

The recognition of Iran's missile program, which uh seems that it was a red line for Trump administration in previous negotiations. It seems that no longer they are trying to uh say that there should be no missiles, no enrichment at all. And now Iranian authorities are saying that they have recognized our right for enrichment, although it's the low level of enrichment, but it's been recognized by Trump administration and to say this is sold to the public as a great success.

And in terms of how ordinary people feel about it, there must be some disquiet about what's happening in southern Lebanon. That was one of the red lines for the regime in Tehran that they wanted a ceasefire in southern Lebanon. It we understand that's not really holding at the moment.

Yes, actually no majority of the people here on streets are happy about the deal, but ordinary people on the streets are skeptical about It's going to hold or it's going to last how long? Because they say basically Trump is a whimsical person and BB Netanyahu is a person that who wants to d to devastate the deal because basically it's not in his favour. But if we take a look at the markets in Iran, markets show that uh the the the Iranian society, Iranian business, Iranian economy as

So is the thinking then that this deal will hold no matter what happens in southern Lebanon, or is there a fear that it will fall apart and and then what?

When you're talking to journalists or experts, they say that it's going to hold because Iran has a new leverage And that's the straight of Hormuz and this is a real bargaining chip and a a card that Iran can play anytime.

Is it possible to know how Mr Trump is viewed in Tehran at the moment by the leadership?

If you talk to, you know, senior Iranian politicians, they do not take him very seriously now because they had his threats and they he did not make good on his threats. a couple of times. The positions that Iranian authorities are taking these days, I think that they are more hard line than the a couple of months ago. And they believe that they can win against him.

That's Ohmed Khazani, their reporter for the Los Angeles Times, currently in Tehran, speaking to us a short time ago. We can cross now to Tel Aviv and speak to Anshal Pfeffer, Israel correspondent at the Economist.

Well it certainly undermines the deal since the deal includes uh a ceasefire i i the well not the deal, the memorandum of understanding is what we have so far, does include a ceasefire in uh in Lebanon, but the terms there are extremely vague and it it seems that both Iran has uh problems reigning in its proxy Hezbollah and Israel is acting independently despite uh what Donald Trump s uh has has requested from Netanyahu.

But where does this leave the relationship between mister Netanyahu and mister Trump? Because you know, Mr Netanyahu s is insisting there's unfinished business in Lebanon, but we know that relationship is under strain. We saw J D Vance coming out. uh very critically uh towards Israeli factions last week. Uh isn't that relationship under strain by this?

It's under a great deal of strain and we're seeing in the open way in which both Mr Trump and uh Vice President Vance have both been very critical of the Israeli government in recent days. Uh At the same time, there is a there is a war going on on the ground between Hezbollah and Israel. Israel uh Isra Israeli troops are operating in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is firing at them and in

Um what did you make of Omed's analysis there coming from Tehran, saying that the regime there are looking at this as if they've got new leverage because of the Strait of Hormuz? Mae'n rwy'n triumfant, mae'n rwy'n cymdeithasol, mae'n rwy'n cymdeithasol, mae'n rwy'n cymdeithasol sy'n rwy'n cymdeithasol, mae'n rwy'n cymdeithasol sy'n rwy'n cymdeithasol, mae'n rwy'n cymdeithasol.

Yeah, and that's not something that's been addressed in the deal, the the the long range missiles. which is a huge uh concern for Israel and one of the reasons there's a lot of criticism here in Israel, both of Netanyahu for launching a war in which this issue hasn't been dealt with and for and with Donald Trump. for reaching a deal where the issue is not addressed.

Well, and he's in an awkward position anyway, isn't he? Because it's an election year in Israel and uh if the polls are to be believed, he doesn't look as if he's doing very well.

No, the polls are not very good for Netanyahu right now. And basically he has now taken two blows because the two things that Netanyahu has been presenting to the Israeli public for so long is that he is the one who can guarantee Israeli security from Iran. That doesn't seem to have been dealt with. And he is the one who has a unique intimate relationship with Donald Trump and the experience and the closeness to to work with him like no other

Very good to speak to you, Anshul, as always. Thank you so much for coming on. That's Anshul Pfeffer there, Israel correspondent. For the Economist there and uh we'll bring you up to date with any more developments on that story here on News Hour for the BBC World Service.

Coming up later, the enduring appeal of the album The Queen is Dead by the UK Indy band The Smiths, forty years after it was released.

Obviously a classic record, classic songwriting, great musicianship as well, actually, which isn't often noted, bringing lyrics, the funny, that great twist of melancholy and humour, great titles as well, each

More on that to come this hour and our top story this hour a number of people have been reportedly killed by Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was announced. and Bolivia's president. Rodrigo Paz has declared a state of emergency saying he's determined to end road blockades by protesters that have paralyzed the country.

This is Rebecca Kesby with News Hour live from the BBC next. Here in Britain, an investigation is underway after two trains collided on Friday afternoon just north of London. The driver of one of the trains was killed in the crash. Eighty nine other people were injured, and of them nine are said to be in a critical condition. Emergency services declared a major incident. Passengers have been describing the moment it happened.

People flew into one another and chairs broke. When people flew into one another, the seats that they were on broke backwards into the people behind them. I'd probably say ninety percent of the people on my carriage had injuries. I'd probably say four of us were uninjured in a full carriage. Everyone else had either a serious wound that was bleeding profusely, or a situation where they couldn't stand or they couldn't move their neck.

Well, Tony Miles is a railway journalist and a contributor to Modern Railways magazine. He joins us live. Tony, um what do we think happened to cause this crash?

It's

It's too early to get any uh absolute details. Obviously what we've got is two trains sort of going in the same direction and th one has stopped to report a a problem and another train has gone into the back of it. So the investigations are going to be over whether the signals

Well some of the injuries do sound very bad indeed. I mean eyewitnesses are talking of lots multiple injuries in in a couple of the carriages. How um does this compare to other rail crashes in the UK? And what's the safety rate?

We so rarely have them that it's it's very difficult to uh to to really uh make uh big comparisons. Uh the the railways in the UK have a very strong safety record, probably one of the safest in Europe, if not the safest. And uh so uh th there's there's not a lot of data on on um injuries from from crashes at this sort of speed. Unfortunately it wasn't very high speed because the the rear train had just come across a junction and and would have only just been starting to pick up speed anyway.

It does seem as if staff on the train were able to help passengers to evacuate. Um the driver we now know had been killed, but there'd been a series of strikes here in the UK. recently, um, protesting against the idea of driver only trains. I guess that's sort of thrown up in in this example again.

Uh it did cross my mind or almost as soon as I saw that that staff had been um acting uh very professionally, not only in assisting passengers, but also they

Uh

They took actions to make sure that the the signals on the JSON tracks were were set back at red to make sure any other trains that were coming in either direction were uh alerted by red signals. So a v very professional action. And one of the questions, sadly, I asked many years ago of people

Tony, good to speak to you. Thanks so much for joining us. That's Tony Miles there, contributor to Modern Railways magazine.

Now in nineteen ninety one after the First Gulf War the Kurds of Northern Iraq carried out an uprising against the brutal government of President Saddam Hussein, it was unsuccessful, and fearing revenge hundreds of thousands of Kurds fled into the mountains. The UK military, along with other Allied countries, created a safe haven in northern Iraq to keep Saddam's forces out and to protect the Kurdish population.

I am not tithing. I am not tithing.

I'm watching.

I'm at the Arkola Theatre in London, where they're rehearsing for the play Safe Haven, which begins soon, and I'm with some of the actors and the director and the writer of the play. So Chris, just tell us why you wanted to write this play.

Because it's an amazing story. There was a potential genocide happening in the Kurdish mountains and a few brave British diplomats prevented a genocide.

So your story it's based around who?

It's based around one of the key British diplomats, Catherine Rowe, is the heroine of the story. So they worked round the Foreign Office because she felt herself to be an outsider, she was very interested in human rights. And sadly she actually had to leave the Foreign Office at the end of the year because she'd gone too far. And the irony is that she'd gone too far actually in helping save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Fighting in the mountains is not the only way.

We need to train doctors too.

My name is Yad Deen and I am the producer and director of Safe Haven. I was born in Kurdistan. My parents and I fled when I was six or seven months. I have a very personal connection to this story, that journey that they made through the mountains. on foot, on horseback, to the border of Iran. So when Chris approached me to direct and produce a safe haven, I was immediately drawn to it.

I'm sure there's so many times that I...

I think it's okay.

I'm Boo Jackson. I play Catherine in safe favour.

How do you see the role? How do you bring across her role to the public?

We met her on the first day of rehearsals which was amazing. She's completely remarkable. It's a funny balancing act of her being a woman in the Foreign Office in 1991 who was able to make such profound change but also Mae'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gweithio.

And should I not be there for you?

No. Hi, I'm Omar Aga. And I'm playing Delaware, Aladdin, a doctor from Kurdistan, also a real person, also someone who we met, he is and was, but in the world of the play as well, heavily involved in raising awareness of what was happening in Kurdistan. Also trying to rescue his own sister who was

Do you hear that? What the gas?

I'm Lisa Zara and I play Anne and Zaria. Anne is the wife of

Oh

Clive, who works in the Foreign Office, and was a diplomat as well. Zeria, we say she's Kurdish-Iranian in this, so she's from a different part to Najat, from the lead characters. in the story who's in the mountains and they come across one another. I'm Iranian Welsh and so I did know about safe haven but more so I knew about the suffering that the Kurdish community have gone through.

And how important is it today that people get to know about this story?

Rydyn ni'n ei wneud yn ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud ei wneud

Martin Venard reporting and that new play, Safe Haven, is on in London next week, tracking uh that historic moment back in 1991 after the Kurdish uprising in northern Iraq.

The Signal Awards recognize the podcasts that define culture, and being honored by the Signal Awards sets your production team apart with recognition. The industry's top experts and access proof that your work is a standard bearer for podcasting worldwide by entering your work is heard by the Signal Awards Judging Academy.

Mm-hmm.

An invitation only body of podcast professionals from acclaimed organizations. Which include the BBC. Grow your audience, celebrate your team, and stand out. The final entry deadline to submit is the twenty sixth of June. Enter your podcast at signalaward.com for consideration.

Welcome back to News Hour and more on that uh game between Paraguay and Turkey last night at the World Cup, because there was a an historic decision taken. Um, player Miguel Almiron was given the first ever red card for covering his mouth while saying something to a member of the opposition. Team. It's the first time this rule has actually been uh applied uh since it came in. Um let's get some more details with Henry Winter, he's a columnist for sports magazine World Soccer.

The Benfica player Gian Gianluca Prestiani covered his mouth and said something to Vinnie Jr., the Real Madrid attacker, which was deemed to be eventually either racist or homophobic. And they then decided to actually clamp down even more on this so it could actually a player could be sent off when it happens during a game.

Right. So they're obviously trying to clamp down early and and enforce this law at the earliest opportunity. But I mean, it is quite common, isn't it, for players to hide what they're saying when they're talking to colleagues, you know, and perhaps when they're taking a a corner or or that sort of thing.

Yeah and that's such an important point. So th the aim is for it to be focused on when a one player is being confrontational as they call it, as the referee perceives it. to a player from the opposite team. It's not, as you say, when they're trying to pass on tactical instructions to each other, uh what runs they're going to make, who they should pick up, how a corner should be played.

Right, but uh do we know at this stage what was said to the the player um by Miguel Almiron or or

W we don't and this is one of the the elements of it and why there was a slight surprise they brought in a red card Clearly FIFA, the governing body of world football, and IFAB, who are the lawmakers, wanted to clamp down. And they often do this with World Cups. They bring in new rules and we have a clamp down and then there's a big debate about consistency. But there was slight surprise they went really

And briefly, how's it going down with players? Because a lot of these players do, you know, come up against each other in club matches as well, don't they? So there's all sorts of rivalries and reasons why they might have something to Jibuk the other one, it doesn't necessarily mean it would be racist or homophobic.

No, but I think the argument is if you're hiding your lips and whether it's bringing the shirt up over your lips or putting your hand over your lips, then you've obviously got something to hide and they are absolutely clamping down on that. But what is interesting is this is very much the at the discretion of the competition organisers to quote IFAB. So it'd be interesting to see if the Premier League and other major leagues take it on next season.

Good point. Nice to speak to you Henry. Thank you so much for that. That's Henry Winter there, columnist for sports magazine World Soccer, currently in the United States, of course, for the World Cup.

You're listening to News Hour Live from the BBC. I'm Rebecca Kesby and next we're heading to Cuba, which is continuing to struggle under the effects of the three months or so fuel blockade imposed by the Trump administration. Thank you.

Well thank you for inviting me. That it this is something that I've been advocating for many years with uh with the Cuban government. Uh the opening of the economy of profound economic reforms that will that includes the Cuban diaspora. Which in my personal opinion is Cuba's current biggest asset. We have no

Well that's right. I mean do you trust the government though to um, you know, keep to its word and let businesses like yours operate more freely or freely and allow you to make a difference?

President there not only what what Kataput does, uh there's a resilient private sector that has taken over the Cuban economy for the past uh two, three years. They are the ones that are holding uh the Cuban the Cuban economy on their shoulders. They're the one importing over a billion dollars worth of food and beverages from the United States. They're the one that has all the uh grocery stores. They're the one that are doing logistics and

And what do you make of the State Department getting involved, you know, r calling it superficial smoke signals, being pretty disparaging about it? And of course the United States are behind that blockade which is part of the reason so many Cubans are suffering at the moment.

The State Department it's it's it's demanding uh a more broader uh economic reform. Uh I'm focused and some of us are focused off the fact that It's a huge step for the Cuban government to recognize us, the Cuban diaspora, especially the one living in the United States.

Of course. All right. Very good to speak to you, Ugo. Thanks so much. That's businessman Ugo Cancio there, speaking to us from Miami.

There has been throughout the recent history a lot of Exodus.

from the island.

And even recently as well we have experienced exodus, massive exodus from Cuba. So I think Susanna Pons, uh the choreography, wanted to tackle that theme that was uh always has been at the heart of the Cuban diaspora.

Carlos Acosta's young dancers are putting in some last minute practice before a week of dance performances at Sadlerswell's East in London.

This dance is called FUA and touches upon a difficult reality for many Cubans, emigration. While official figures on this haven't been released by the government Cuban economist Juan Carlos Albizu Campos estimates that the island's population fell by 18% between 2022 and 2023. And the situation on the island is getting worse. A fuel crisis due to the US blockade is causing regular blackouts and the collapse of Cuba's tourism industry. So how does Acosta Dancer keep going?

That's a major operation, but we try to do absolutely the best we can so that Still these dances can carry on having a future in in dance in general and don't be distracted by what's going on in Cuba at the moment. I think we are very resilient and we also see our industry as a refuge. So so long as there is a place to dance and there is a sort of like a family vibe where we protect each other, we keep them motivated and keep their careers going.

Heidi Nunez is one of the principal dancers in the Next Generation Showcase. In between rehearsals, she tells me why she connects so deeply with the choreography of the performance.

I imagine the outside of that

Bye.

opportunities or dreams or maybe just someone that I miss so much. I have a duet which is like um a goodbye. So I try to picture someone that I miss.

And remember.

All of the dancers are between 18 and 21 years old. There are several dances on the bill, all exploring different themes and styles. Carlos Acosta explains his vision behind the performance.

The entire evening it has so many pathways. It offers what a costa danza is solapa, which is a melting pot of dances, a fusion, a syncretism, as the symbol of. The human race, which uh as we all know, is a sort of a melting pot of races.

Acosta Danza Junior are bringing the energy of youth and the colour of Cuba to the stage. A far cry from recent headlines about their island.

The BBC's Isabella Jewel reporting there.

I think we have to move as quickly as possible. The position is completely unmaintainable for the country. We have a Prime Minister who has got absolutely no authority. The reason he's got no authority is because everybody assumes that Andy Burnham is about to challenge for the leadership and everybody assumes he's going to win.

So I've been speaking to George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times here in London. So Lord Faulkner is calling for Starmer to go soon. What are Keir Starmer's options and what will he do?

Well Kirstarmer has said publicly that he will fight for his job, but he's got a really agonizing weekend ahead of him. He's going to be talking to his cabinet colleagues, to his friends, to his family, trying to work out whether he really can fight to save his job. Now, my very strong sense is that he will be getting a clear message from people he trusts.

And of course he recently lost his defence secretary on b a policy issue and also another armed forces minister as well.

I mean this is John Healy, who's someone a mild mannered politician, normally extremely loyal to the Prime Minister. And in his resignation letter he came with this really devastating critique that the Prime Minister was unable, as he put it, to find the money necessary to defend the country. Now that is the first priority of any Prime Minister to defend the country. And when someone like John Healy is saying you're not up to the job, that's really serious.

So the big threat to Starmer is obviously coming from Andy Burnham. He has just won the Makerfield by election. It takes him back to Parliament. It means he would be able to challenge. He's got a lot of supporters in the party. But how will his fate fare?

Yeah, I think Andy Burnham feels like he's got unstoppable momentum off the back of that by election victory. But why did he win? He's relatable to the public, he's a great communicator, he projects optimism. But and it's a huge but, he will confront exactly the same political and economic constraints. that Keir Starmer's been labouring under for the last two years since he became Prime Minister. And it's one thing being the mayor of Greater Manchester

Also, I mean you mentioned communication and that Andy Burnham's good at communication. Keir Starmer's a lawyer. He's always been criticised as being a little bit grey, lacking charisma, that sort of thing. But I mean some of the things he's achieved possibly have been underplayed. Net migration was down, growth is looking slightly better than was predicted in recent months. Why is Keir Starmer so unpopular?

It's a really good question. I think anyone listening to this outside Britain will think, What on earth is going on? If Andy Burnham succeeds Keir Starmer he will become Britain's seventh Prime Minister. I think the problem is there are four hundred Labour MPs who think that they may not be able to win their seats again if Keirstama remains Prime Minister. The the public have decided there's something about Keir Starmer they don't like.

And that was George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times here in London, reflecting on some of those political pressures hitting the uh British Prime Minister Keir Starmer this week.

Our top story this hour Israel has carried out further strikes on southern Lebanon saying it's responding to attacks from Hezbollah a day after a new ceasefire was announced. Earlier in this programme, Anshul Pfeffer, Israel correspondent at The Economist, told us that President Trump's insistence that the wars with Iran and Hezbollah must end has put the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a difficult position.

The two things that Netanyahu has been presenting to the Israeli public for so long is that he is the one who can guarantee Israeli security from Iran. That doesn't seem to have been dealt with. And he is the one who has a unique intimate relationship with Donald Trump and the experience to work with him like no other. And that doesn't seem to be the case right now either.

One of the headline: much of Europe is facing extreme high temperatures this weekend, with more records expected to be broken.

This is Rebecca Kesby with News Hour live from the BBC World Service.

Yes, I did head to uh Switzerland to the beautiful Lake Lucerne. where we had been expecting the US Vice President J. D. Vance to arrive and for Mohammed Bagr Ghalibaf on the uh Iranian side to arrive. There would be a formal ceremony and they would begin uh on the second day

Yeah, you mention uh the red line of uh a ceasefire in Lebanon and we're hearing that that's well, it doesn't seem to be holding at all at the moment. I mean how far does that complicate things? Going ahead in terms of the actual deal between the US and Iran?

It compliments them um tremendously. Uh from the very beginning of this process, Iran has made it clear that the issue of Lebanon is not just a bargaining chip, it's not an issue that it can negotiate away. Point one of that fourteen point memorandum of understanding. calls for a complete and in t inti total end to all military operations, including in Lebanon. And uh it was surprising that it had been so blunt

So briefly, Lise, I mean, do we think this deal is gonna hold? Will it even last a week at this stage?

I think it is there's delays but I don't think it's in danger yet. Iran wants the deal to succeed, it wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. President Trump certainly wants it to succeed, he wants to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. But I think we're just gonna have to get a new way of defining in the same way that a ceasefire is just becoming lesser fire. Uh the memorandum of understanding will continue to be the memorandum of misunderstanding.

All right, good to speak to you. Thank you so much for that. That's our Chief International Correspondent Lise Dusset, joining us with all the analysis live there. That's it for this edition. Thanks for listening.

The Signal Awards recognize the podcasts that define culture, and being honored by the Signal Awards sets your production team apart with recognition The industry's top experts and access proof that your work is a standard bearer for podcasting worldwide by entering your work is heard by the Signal Awards Judging Academy.

Mm-hmm.

An invitation only body of podcast professionals from acclaimed organizations and Which include the BBC. Grow your audience, celebrate your team, and stand out. The final entry deadline to submit is the twenty-sixth of June. Enter your podcast at signalaward.com for consideration.