Lebanon in shock after coordinated attacks
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2024
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Iran has condemned Israel for Tuesday's synchronised explosions of Hezbollah pagers in Lebanon, calling it 'mass murder'. The Iranian ambassador to Beirut was among nearly three thousand people injured; twelve people died. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, denied that Washington had any prior knowledge of the attack. We speak to Dr Salah Zeineddine, Chief Medical Officer at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, where some of the injured were taken.
Also in the programme: Climate change is turbo-charging Somalia’s problems - but there's still hope; and Still reeling from crisis, Sri Lanka holds pivotal election.
And we will hear from the US state of Oregon and the debate around decriminalizing hard drugs such as fentanyl.
(Photo: Relatives of those injured by the pager blasts gathered at hospitals in Beirut and elsewhere. Credit: EPA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to News Hour live from the BBC World Service in London I'm |
| 0:07.7 | Rebecca Kespi and our main story today which we will return to throughout this program is the coordinated |
| 0:14.8 | attacks in Lebanon yesterday pages used by the armed group Hezbollah were |
| 0:19.6 | targeted but it's impossible to know how many civilians are among the 3,000 or so injured. |
| 0:26.0 | We do know that an 8 year old girl and a boy of 11 have also been killed |
| 0:31.0 | and that medical teams are struggling to cope with a number of |
| 0:34.5 | casualties. Later in the program we'll look at how these attacks were possible, |
| 0:38.9 | who made the pages and how are they modified into weapons and we'll look at the diplomatic reaction |
| 0:45.7 | to event and possible consequences but first let's head straight to Lebanon still in |
| 0:51.1 | shock and some chaos following those attacks first some views |
| 0:55.2 | from residents of the capital Beirut. |
| 0:58.8 | What happened yesterday was a complete surprise. No one can believe it. It's |
| 1:06.0 | unprecedented anywhere in the world. How could they blow up pages people were |
| 1:10.4 | using? It's unbelievable. There were explosions while people were at work, buying vegetables, walking down the street, or sitting in their cars. |
| 1:18.4 | I'm just a woman. |
| 1:22.4 | We're all shocked by this attack. It's a tragedy what's happening to us and to all the entire population. |
| 1:29.0 | May God protect Lebanon and every nation. |
| 1:32.0 | And just as we were listening to that... protect Lebanon and every nation. |
| 1:33.0 | And just as we were listening to that, |
| 1:35.0 | some news coming in from the Reuters news agency |
| 1:39.0 | saying that there have been a sound of at least one blast heard in Beirut's southern suburbs. |
| 1:44.8 | Ambulances have also been heard. |
... |
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