Will the Lebanon blasts lead to an escalation in the Middle East?
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah have exploded across Lebanon killing several people and injuring thousands more.
Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant says the country is "opening a new phase in the war" - and the "centre of gravity is shifting to the north through the diversion of resources and forces".
Sir Alex Younger, a former head of MI6, talks to Amol and Nick about the significance of the attacks, which were reportedly carried out by the Israeli spy agency Mossad.
They’re also joined by the presenter of Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet, Jay Rayner, for his moment of the week.
If you have a question you’d like Amol and Nick to answer, get in touch by sending us a message or voice note on WhatsApp to +44 330 123 4346 or send an email to today@bbc.co.uk.
To get Amol and Nick's take on the biggest stories of the week, with insights from behind the scenes at the UK's most influential radio news programme, subscribe to The Today Podcast on BBC Sounds so you don’t miss an episode.
You can also listen any time on your smart speaker by saying “Smart Speaker, ask BBC Sounds to play The Today Podcast.”
The Today Podcast is hosted by Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson, both presenters of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Amol was the BBC’s media editor for six years and is the former editor of the Independent, he’s also the current presenter of University Challenge. Nick was the BBC’s political editor for ten years before and was also ITV’s political editor.
The senior producers are Tom Smithard and Lewis Vickers, the producer is Joe Wilkinson, the editor is Louisa Lewis and the executive producer is Owenna Griffiths. Technical production from Hannah Montgomery and digital production from Charlie Henry and Joe Wilkinson.
Transcript
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| 0:21.6 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:25.3 | It really did sound like something out of the pages of an extraordinary thriller, the daring, |
| 0:32.8 | the scale of it, the audacity of it. And yet it's deadly serious. |
| 0:38.3 | Yeah, it's so strange as a story. People killed, thousands injured when the pages used by |
| 0:44.8 | Hezbollah operatives exploded simultaneously, thousands of them across Lebanon. |
| 0:50.6 | For the Iranian-backed militant group, it's a humiliation. It is, of course, a huge security breach. And it matters, because besides that conflict in Gaza, there's a long-running, rumbling potential war across Israel's northern border. |
| 1:08.1 | Yep. And we're going to untangle that war and untangle all these quite complex issues, |
| 1:12.3 | these quite complex terms in this podcast. |
| 1:14.8 | His Bollah blames Israel for the attack. |
| 1:16.8 | Multiple reports say that the Israeli spy agency Mossad placed explosives in the devices. |
| 1:23.2 | And the question we're going to try and answer as well is, |
| 1:25.2 | will this escalate as some, including President Biden, fear, |
| 1:28.4 | and how will it affect Israel's relationship with its closest allies? |
| 1:32.9 | And back with us once again to try and analyze that for us and to explain is the former boss of Our Spy Network, |
| 1:39.8 | the former boss of MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Alex Younger. Let's do it. |
| 1:45.1 | Hi, it's a mole in the Today podcast studio. And it is Nick here too. What's fascinating about what we've |
| 2:04.9 | seen happen is it is a reminder that Israel sees itself as being at war on multiple fronts, |
| 2:12.8 | not just against Hamas since those appalling murderous attacks back on October the 7th. |
... |
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