Hello and welcome to the program this is News Hour from the BBC World Service

we're coming to you live from London I'm Paul Henley a heightened state of

alert is being reported in Lebanon ahead of a

possible reprisal by Israel to a rocket strike which killed a dozen young

people almost all of them children over the weekend, as they played football in the Israeli-occupied

Golan Heights. Many airlines have cancelled their flights in and out of the Lebanese capital

Beirut, while Germany, Britain and the Netherlands have called on their

citizens in Lebanon to leave urgently in case an all-out war breaks out.

Lebanon's foreign minister Abdullah Buhabib said he didn't want to see an escalation of the situation.

No of course we don't want war we don't want any expansion of the war we don't want

escalation and we're working on it this way. We don't

want escalation. The most important thing is that if they it's an opportunity for them to do something it shouldn't be big

because we know we cannot control Hezbollah retaliation as well so So Hezbollah is going to retaliate if they have it

if they have it in the normal situation well you know we have war in South

Lebanon whether we like it or not.

Hezbollah, the militia group in Lebanon, backed by Iran, is reported to be relocating

precision-guided weaponry in preparation for an escalation in the fighting with Israel.

Fighting continued along the Lebanon-Israel border since last October.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to give a strong response to Saturday's

strike.

He was speaking on a visit to the site of the attack at Madh D'Alshams.

I have come to my heart, I have got to vote for several years. We are embracing the families who are going through indescribable suffering.

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