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Hello, welcome. I'm Katherine Bearer Hunger. Both United States and Iran are claiming to have launched strikes on targets over the weekend near the Strait of Hormuz, straining the already fragile ceasefire. The US military said it conducted what it called self-defense strikes on Iranian radar and command and control sites for drones. In a statement, US Central Command said the strikes took place on Saturday and Sunday on Qeshm Island and the small city of Goruk. The statement said the strikes were measured and deliberate in response to aggressive Iranian actions, including the shooting down of a US drone operating over international waters. The statement goes on to say US fighter aircraft swiftly responded by
eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed a clear threats to ships transiting regional waters. It ends by saying no American service members were harmed. Meanwhile, the diplomatic push for a deal between the US and Iran continues, but it's unclear if any progress has been made. US media has reported that President Trump requested edits to the proposed agreement. The BBC's US news partner, CBS, is reporting that the changes are related to the Strait of Hormuz and the removal of highly enriched uranium. Iran's foreign minister confirmed the talks were ongoing.
Talks and message exchanges are ongoing, and until there's a clear outcome, they can't be judged. All current speculation and conjecture, in my view, should be disregarded until matters become definitive. Now, meanwhile, in the past hour, the Israeli Prime Minister has ordered the IDF to carry out fresh strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. In a statement, Benjamin Netanyahu said this was due to what he called repeated violations of the ceasefire by Hezbollah. Earlier, France, Germany, and the UK all criticized Israel's push further into southern Lebanon as it escalates its campaign against Hezbollah. The United Nations Security Council is due to hold a meeting on the issue later today.
Well, let's get the very latest from our correspondents in Jerusalem and in Beirut. We'll start with Yoland Nel, who's in Jerusalem for us. So, Yoland, it looks like there was some military action over the weekend and now the statement from Israel about carrying out more strikes in Beirut. Yes, so if we look first of all at what's been happening in the Gulf, this is another strain on the 2-month ceasefire between the US and Israel and Iran with the US saying that it hit these Iranian targets in and next to the Strait of Hormuz and that saying that this was Iranian air defenses a ground control station and also two Iranian drones have been threatening commercial shipping. The language that
we've got from the US is very similar to that we heard last week when it talked about similar exchanges of fire that went on referring to these as being in self-defense and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard saying that it then struck a US airbase from which these attacks had been launched and you've got Kuwait where a major US airbase is located saying that sirens sounded across the country that they intercepted missiles and drones. There's also from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard um this statement where it says if the aggression's repeated the response will be completely different in the scale and nature and the responsibility for that will be with the US and it just reminds us how fragile this ceasefire looks, how quickly there
could be a more sort of serious escalation that could really threaten those ongoing efforts to secure a ceasefire. Now, on top of all of that, we've had this morning the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, putting out this very short statement saying that he and the Defense Minister have now given the go-ahead for strikes in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut, seen as being a Hezbollah stronghold. It's understood from the Israeli media that in the past couple of days, uh the Prime Minister, he's met twice with his own um cabinet talking about um ways to approach uh the situation in Lebanon, and there has really been this push um
to pivot from just having ground operations, seizing more territory in Lebanon, um to targeting Beirut uh once again. There was one uh targeted airstrike there last week. It's as what not these That's what the Israeli military called it, and that's the second time that it happened um since the ceasefire came into effect between Israel and Lebanon. Um so, now really this expectation um that, you know, things will accelerate there. And it's really understood this comes with a green light from the US after the US Secretary of State, Mark Rubio, was speaking to both the Lebanese President and the Prime Minister. Uh the suggestion really being that, you know, he was been proposing a ceasefire where
Hezbollah would stop fire first, but the Lebanese um didn't see that was something, you know, that would that they could uh push through. And briefly, Yolande, both the US and Iran saying that talks are continuing, that they are negotiating. So, that's a good sign, but we still have no clear idea about when this could be concluded. Um in indeed, and, you know, all of these things that are happening now do complicate efforts because there is a new statement from the uh Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, where he's talking about how um reiterating really how a ceasefire with Lebanon is integral to any kind of deal.
Um it has to be a regional ceasefire, not just between the US and Israel and Iran. He talked about the lack of trust that is at the moment between the two parties at this moment where we understand that the US has gone back with some requests by President Trump for a toughening of language in this memorandum of understanding that's being negotiated. And he talked to about how there were you know, changes in the US position and also what's happening with Israel in Lebanon at the moment, how that could undermine prospects for ceasefire. Yolande, thank you for that. Well, let's cross to Beirut now and speak to our Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab who's there for us. Selina, as we've
been hearing there's been a fresh Israeli statement calling for strikes in the Dahieh neighborhood of Beirut as well as obviously the push into southern Lebanon. How much of an escalation is this considering many are calling for peace? Well, it's a clear message of escalation. Especially it's coming at the time where there is a huge diplomatic efforts for de-escalation. We've heard as Yolande was mentioning about the talks between the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Israeli Prime Minister and the Lebanese President. Basically, at the starting point was to spare Lebanon any Beirut
any attacks and then that will lead into a gradual de-escalation into the south. And just you know, within the course of 24 hours we hear a contradicting message from the Israeli Prime Minister to attack Beirut, to attack the Dahieh neighborhood in Beirut which is the southern part of Beirut. Many here in Lebanon feel that whenever there is an approachment being between the Iranians and the Americans into a deal where the Iranians are adamant to have Lebanon as part of the deal, the Israeli escalate and you know, continue to put air strikes in Lebanon uh to separate the two files from each other.
They want to make sure that their fight against Hezbollah is continuing regardless whether there is a deal with Iran or not. And we've seen the expansion in the south, the occupation of a you know important landmark historical fortress uh at the forefront one which they have occupied between 1982 to 2000. So everything they're doing is to say that we're not sta it's stepping back. We're advancing and we don't care about any diplomatic efforts to de-escalate in Lebanon. And Lina, just tell us about life in southern Lebanon. Of course there have been evacuation orders for residents in many parts of southern Lebanon by Israel. Have a lot of people left? What is life like there?
It's been the case for the past few days where you know Israel started really escalating especially starting in the city of Tyre uh last Wednesday. And you know every day there were evacuation orders for people to leave their uh cities and towns. And they've reached a point where most of the population who've left from the south to the north uh reaching the city of Sidon. The city of Sidon said we cannot take any more people. You have to go north, go to Beirut or go to the mountains. And today we're expecting fresh you know uh round of uh evacuation because if Dahiyeh is uh is threatened then the residents of the areas that haven't been completely destroyed in Dahiyeh will be leaving. We don't know
when uh or where the hit is going to be but that's going to put you know many civilians in a panic mode and rush out for their safety uh with no clue uh you know where to go or when to come back. Lina, thank you. That's BBC's Lina Sinjab in Beirut there.
