A perilous moment between Israel and Iran

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Kate Adie presents stories from Israel, Nigeria, the US, Lithuania and France

Tensions between Iran and Israel this week have ramped up further after Tehran issued a warning that it would retaliate for a recent strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Israel never claimed responsibility for the attack but is widely considered to be behind it. This has compounded fears the conflict between Israel and Gaza will spill into a wider regional war. James Landale has been on an air drop mission to Gaza and reflects on recent events.

Ten years ago, 276 secondary school children were kidnapped in Nigeria's north-east by Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. Ninety one of the girls are still unaccounted for. Yemisi Adegoke went to meet some of the girls who escaped captivity – to hear about their memories of that day and its impact on their lives.

Mental health experts have expressed alarm in the United States about an increase in the rates of suicide there, with a particularly steep rise among young people. Will Vernon went to North Carolina to investigate why the deaths are happening.

Simon Worrall tells the story of the provenance of a wood panel painting by Rembrandt - a portrait of a beggar with a bulbous, drunkard’s nose. He traces it back from its origins in a Lithuanian Baltic Oak Forest to an auction house in Maryland.

One hundred and twenty years after the ‘entente cordiale’ was signed between Britain and France, French troops this week took part in the Changing the Guard ceremony in London at the same time as their British counterparts in Paris. Hugh Schofield reflects on whether – despite appearances – the relationship has in fact grown more detached.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Bridget Harney Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.7	Hello.
0:05.7	Today in the Nigerian town of Chibok in the country's northeast,
0:10.8	we hear from those who were kidnapped 10 years ago by the militant Islamist group
0:15.8	Boko Haram. Colleges in the US are stepping up mental health interventions due to a steep rise in the rate of suicides among young people
0:25.8	there.
0:27.2	In Lithuania, we track the journey of a lost Rembrandt wood panel from its origins in a Baltic oak forest to an auction house.
0:36.9	And we hear why the gift of a second hand book sent by post from the UK to Paris, got our Paris correspondent thinking about the true state
0:45.8	of the Entente Cordial. But first, tensions between Iran and Israel this week have ramped up further after Tehran issued a warning
0:55.4	that it would retaliate for a strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus two weeks
1:00.6	ago which killed 13 people.
1:04.0	Israel never claimed responsibility for the attack but is widely considered to be behind it.
1:10.0	This is compounded fears that conflict between Israel and Gaza will spill into a wider regional war.
1:18.0	And although Israel's Defence Minister said earlier this week that the time was ripe for a truce. There are still
1:24.6	many sticking points in the current US proposal of a six-week ceasefire. Divisions
1:30.8	within Israel's governing coalition have also intensified, in which far-right
1:37.0	and ultra-nationalist members insist that no concession should be made to Hamas and that the war must continue.
1:45.4	James Landale reflects on recent events.
1:48.8	I'm sitting in a briefing room at the King Abdullah military air base in Jordan, about an hour's drive outside the capital
1:56.1	Amman. Around me are pilots and navigators from nine different nations. They're huddled together pouring over maps and iPads,
2:05.5	scrutinising charts of Gaza, weather bulletins and security reports.
2:10.6	And it strikes me that this is possibly the purest form of international cooperation I've seen.
	...

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