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00:00Ballistic missiles rain down on Israel, an unprecedented response by Iran after weeks
00:12of Israeli escalation, pushing the region to a dangerous new precipice.
00:26This is the story of how the past few weeks brought the Middle East to a dangerous new
00:31moment.
00:32The status quo cannot continue.
00:36This requires a change in the balance of power on our northern border.
00:44Hezbollah launched the first attack against Israeli positions last year on October 8,
00:49in support of Gaza.
00:52Israel retaliated.
00:54A year on from those exchanges of fire, the conflict has reached a new level.
01:01The 17th of September saw a new escalation begin.
01:08Pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives exploded.
01:13Simultaneous attacks in supermarkets, on the streets, in cars and in homes across Lebanon.
01:21The enemy has crossed all red lines.
01:26Israel says its intent on eliminating the threat of Hezbollah.
01:31Over 1,000 have been killed and many more injured and almost a million displaced since
01:37Israel launched a huge wave of devastating airstrikes on Lebanon.
01:46My siblings and their children were all killed here.
01:53And then?
02:01In the last hour, Israel has claimed to have killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah,
02:06in an overnight strike.
02:10How did rapid escalation change the face of Lebanon and set the region on a dangerous
02:16new course?
02:25I am Kareen Torbay, the Beirut correspondent for BBC Arabic.
02:29I grew up in Lebanon.
02:31This country is no stranger to crisis, nor is it surprised by wars and tension with its
02:38neighbour Israel.
02:40Over the last year, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in a relatively low-level conflict
02:47following the Hamas attack on Israel.
02:50They exchanged fire across the border.
02:54But the speed and scale of what is happening now has been shocking and unprecedented.
03:03It has sent waves of disbelief and panic throughout the region.
03:08We captured this through extensive underground reporting.
03:13In this special programme, we'll look back at how we got here and what it means.
03:21It was an attack like something from a tale of espionage.
03:25It's the middle of September, and people are going about their everyday lives when
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04:32Probably this is the worst day of my life as a physician.
04:37Unfortunately, we were not able to save a lot of eyes.
04:40I can tell you that probably more than 60 to 70 percent of the patients
04:45ended up with eviscerating or removing at least one of their eyes.
04:50And we're talking about young population, about patients in their 20s.
04:56I was outside the hospital.
04:59Relatives waited for news of their loved ones.
05:02The shock and fear palpable.
05:05Of course, Lebanon is still in a state of shock and disbelief about what happened.
05:11But there are also very pressing questions today on everyone's mind.
05:15First of all, what did actually happen? How did it happen?
05:20And second of all is basically how is this going to affect
05:25the ongoing confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel
05:29that has been on daily basis witnessing cross-border hostilities
05:36between the two parties for 11 months now.
05:39But what happened at this point is a major escalation of unprecedented level.
05:49And it didn't stop there.
05:52The next day, as Hezbollah buried the dead.
05:57Fresh attacks.
06:00We were there.
06:05In the panic and confusion, people asked us to put our cameras down.
06:11This is a scene next to the funeral where the funeral was being held.
06:17And as you can see, people are gathering.
06:20We asked what's happening.
06:22They told us another pager blew up on a young man.
06:31This time it wasn't pagers.
06:33It was the walkie-talkies of Hezbollah operatives.
06:37Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for either attack,
06:40there is widespread belief in Lebanon that it is Israel that carried out both of them.
06:47Now as Hezbollah and the country are still reeling from the shock,
06:51the main question is, what's next?
06:56Whether this was a coordinated plan by Israel or not,
06:59these attacks were the trigger of what came next.
07:07If you're just joining us, we are expecting to hear from the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
07:13Two days after the pager attack,
07:15Hassan Nasrallah, longtime leader of Hezbollah,
07:18and closely aligned with Israel's arch foe, Iran,
07:22announced that the attack would not go unpunished.
07:27The enemy has crossed all red lines.
07:36Israeli airstrikes stretched further into Lebanon in an attempt to further diminish Hezbollah.
07:44There seems to be no possibility of diplomacy getting through and de-escalating the situation.
07:55The center of gravity is moving towards the north.
07:58This means we are diverting forces, resources and energy towards the north.
08:09So how did it reach this point?
08:13Hezbollah has been launching rockets and missiles at Israeli military positions since October 8 last year,
08:20and Israel has been retaliating.
08:24Hezbollah called the Gaza Support Front in solidarity with Palestinians there.
08:30After Israel launched a war in Gaza following the October 7 attacks last year by Hamas on Israel,
08:38Hezbollah's goal was to divert Israeli military resources away from Gaza towards the northern front with Lebanon.
08:49We say to the enemies, government, army and society
08:53that the Lebanon front will not stop until the aggression on Gaza ends.
09:00This exchange of fire has had a huge impact on civilians,
09:04with about 150,000 displaced on both sides.
09:10Israelis from villages like these want to return to their homes without the threat of attack.
09:18Going back to something that we used to live that way is no longer an option.
09:24It's no longer an option that we are under the threat of some guy in Beirut
09:30that would like to pull the trigger anytime he likes.
09:35Pressure was building on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to return civilians to their homes
09:40after tens of thousands fled due to Hezbollah's attacks.
09:45For Netanyahu, this was a key motivation for stepping up strikes.
09:53Earlier in the year, we travelled with the UN to southern Lebanon to see the damage to thousands of villages there.
10:01What we found was empty villages, abandoned homes, peaceful life erased.
10:07It already felt like no man's land.
10:10This was a coffee shop and next to it, here, was a two-storey building standing.
10:16Now, it's reduced to this one massive hole in the ground.
10:25What's happened here in this area over the last year
10:28has ended one of the longest periods of relative calm between Israel and Lebanon.
10:35The two countries have a long history of hostilities and wars.
10:39Israel occupied southern Lebanon for decades
10:42and Hezbollah and Israel fought a month-long war in 2006.
10:49But this escalation felt different.
10:52There were real concerns, with tensions in the Middle East so high,
10:56this conflict, unlike those before, could spill over and result in a bigger, more dangerous regional war.
11:05Israel's increased attacks on the Iranian-backed Hezbollah
11:09meant the two long-running enemies, Israel and Iran, were watching each other's moves closely.
11:18For Lebanon and its people caught in the crossfire,
11:22what is happening in their country runs deep in their collective memory.
11:29A week after the Patriot attack, a further escalation rocked Lebanon.
11:33As morning broke, it brought with it one of the deadliest days in nearly 20 years in Lebanon,
11:39Israel unleashing the most intense and widespread airstrikes on the country.
11:45It began with warnings sent by a text message to the Lebanese people.
11:51There were threats made by phone.
11:55Then came the bombs.
12:03Lebanese officials say 490 people died on the first day of the intensified Israeli airstrikes.
12:12Tens of thousands fled their homes.
12:16Once again, destruction, devastation and displacement.
12:24There were bombs overhead. No one stayed. We all fled. We took our stuff and left.
12:35I'm scared. Scared for my wife and five children.
12:39The situation is really difficult and scary. I don't know what's happening to us.
12:45The warnings from the Israeli army became more widespread.
12:49Now starting this morning, the IDF has warned you to get out of harm's way.
12:54I urge you, take this warning seriously. Please, get out of harm's way now.
13:02In a matter of days, hundreds of thousands had fled their homes in southern and even eastern Lebanon.
13:09This is one of the main schools in Beirut turned into a shelter for the displaced from southern Lebanon.
13:15We understand that there are over 1,000 people in this building alone.
13:21In schools nearby also there is a similar number in every single one.
13:26An official here told me that they are opening on average one extra school every couple of hours
13:34to deal with the very large number of displaced.
13:39It's not just schools that were overwhelmed. Hospitals too have been struggling to deal with the wounded.
13:45Women and children among the casualties.
13:48We heard a very loud noise. Two strikes and we all flew. Each flew in a different direction.
13:58Both of my cousins were killed and my father was killed.
14:05Lebanon's health system is under huge strain.
14:08ICUs filled with children with life-changing injuries.
14:12At the American University Hospital in Beirut, I met Dr. Ghassan Boussetta. He spent time working in Gaza.
14:20They have the same pattern of injuries. Blast injuries to the face, amputations to the limbs, injuries as a result of shrapnel.
14:28And so it's the same mechanism and the same place in these kids are being injured.
14:34Children with war wounds need between 5 and 12 surgeries by the time they return to their homes.
14:405 and 12 surgeries by the time they reach adult age.
14:43This is a growing body and so you need to come back again and again to do the reconstructive surgery.
14:49This video published by the IDF boasts of killing Hezbollah leaders one after the other.
14:55Amidst all the ongoing airstrikes, Israel was systematically targeting and killing senior Hezbollah leaders.
15:04Culminating in...
15:10Explosions
15:16We're in the office. We heard multiple explosions, one after the other.
15:22They were so loud, many of them. We don't know what was happening or where.
15:29It's in the middle of Beirut and this is what we can see from distance.
15:36This huge attack had a colossal impact.
15:41The target was Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah and one of the most prominent figures in Lebanon.
15:49Backed by Iran.
15:55The killing of Nasrallah was an earthquake for the party, the country and the region.
16:02For this woman, the news was shocking.
16:08Israel's Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu ordered Nasrallah's killing while at the UN.
16:13The IDF released this picture of what they say is that moment.
16:19His killing was a huge win for Israel.
16:22While at the UN, the Israeli leader made a vow to Hezbollah's backers.
16:27I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran.
16:30If you strike us, we will strike you.
16:34There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach.
16:40And that's true of the entire Middle East.
16:43There was no mention of diplomacy.
16:47Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised that the killing of Nasrallah
16:53Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised that the killing of Nasrallah would not go unavenged.
17:01But before any Iranian retaliation, Netanyahu attacked Iranian-backed groups in Yemen and Syria.
17:09And it didn't stop there.
17:12Israel's military says its troops have crossed the border into southern Lebanon.
17:17Israel launched the ground invasion into southern Lebanon the first in 18 years
17:23in what it called limited, localized and targeted raids against Hezbollah
17:28to return displaced Israelis to their homes in the north.
17:32Despite Israel's massive blows to Hezbollah, this remains a very challenging operation.
17:38Israel doesn't only have Hezbollah to contend with.
17:43Tonight at six, as we come on air, missiles from Iran have been fired towards Israel.
17:49On the 1st of October, the region held its breath.
17:53Tonight's escalation comes in response to Israel's overnight invasion of southern Lebanon.
18:01Almost 200 ballistic missiles were launched by Iran.
18:05The Israeli defense forces said most were intercepted by Israel's extensive defensive capabilities.
18:15But the IDF said some struck central and southern Israel with one fatality.
18:22There was a lot of booms. One of them, it was terrible.
18:29When we came out, I saw all the disaster, what's happening.
18:34We're happy we're still alive.
18:37The attack was widely condemned by the West, who called for restraint and de-escalation.
18:43But both Israel and Iran show no sign of backing down.
18:49The Middle East is still reeling from the Hamas attacks on the 7th of October last year.
18:55The horror of the last 12 months has been compounded in recent days
19:06by heightened tensions and escalations which have spread across the region with devastating consequences.
19:14The region has never felt more dangerous or uncertain.
19:18Peace and resolution seem to have been abandoned.
19:23All sides are promising more attacks, further escalation.
19:28Here in Lebanon, the horrors of this conflict are reminiscent of the countless bloody and violent chapters in the country's history.
19:38Memories of previous wars with Israel are seared in people's minds
19:43and are now mixed with fresh feelings of fear, despair and anxiety.
19:51People here have always felt they are living on the brink.
19:56Today, more than ever, uncertainty looms large as they wait for what's next.
20:03Something no one seems able to predict.
20:21For more UN videos visit www.un.org