Explosion. This is what beirut has been enduring, massive israeli strikes that could ignite the whole region because israel killed its target, sheikh hassan nasrallah. For his followers, it's a devastating blow, for his iranian backers, a strategic loss. The longtime leader of hezbollah was a long time in hiding. This was the moment, in a new york hotel room on friday, when binyamin netanyahu approved the strike on his old enemy. Translation: the state of israel yesterday eliminated the master murderer hassan nasrallah. We settled accounts with the one responsible for the murder of countless israelis and many citizens of other countries. Nasrallah was not another terrorist, he was the terrorist. Israel claims this is a historic turning point. For many in beirut, it's a time of fear. Plenty were fleeing the city today, clinging to the hope of finding safety somewhere. But there is danger in every direction in lebanon. We travelled through dahieh, the hezbollah stronghold now looking anything but. It's been bombed time after time. This is just one of the locations that has been hit. There's smoke still rising here. There's ash in the air and you can smell the explosives, and i can hear a drone now overhead. The strike here happened overnight, and since then, there's been no letup. In beirut*s martyrs* square, many slept in the open and remained there today, new homeless from the middle east's newest war. The governor of beirut, who has no connection with hezbollah, fears for his city. What do you think is the israeli plan here, what are they trying to do? i don't know, but israel want to kill and to kill and to kill. You cannot predict what israel can do. But you fear the worst? may god protect this country. It seems a very sad moment for you. It's the saddest moment in my life. Thank you. And a moment of grave danger for lebanon and the middle east. Israel says its work is not finished. Noone can be sure what will come next. Orla guerin, bbc news, beirut. Let's bring you some more reaction now from the region. Isreal*s chief of general staff justified the strike saying nasrallah indiscriminately murdered israeli civilians and aimed to end this war with the destruction of the state of israel. Adding, we are determined to continue destroying the hezbollah terrorist organization and to keep fighting. In the past hour, iran has called for an emergency un security council meeting. Its ambassador saying this iran will not hesitate to exercise its inherent rights under international law to take every measure in defense of its vital national and security interests. And the iranbacked houthis in yemen released a statement saying: the martyrdom will increase the strength of sacrifice determination and continuity. President biden was asked about nasrallah*s killing as he walked out of church in delaware a short while ago. Let's take a listen. Mr president! is a ground incursion into lebanon inevitable? time for a ceasefire. Our reporter meghan owen is taking a closer look at the timeline of nasrallah*s assasination. On friday afternoon around 5pm beirut time, is really by minister benjamin netanyahu tells world leaders of the un general assembly in new york our enemies, are your enemies and that israel will continue to strike 11 on. Well, around an hour later, there are reports of a huge explosion in the southern suburbs of beirut. This is the moment the bbc breaks the news. I this is the moment the bbc breaks the news. breaks the news. I want to share the _ breaks the news. I want to share the live _ breaks the news. I want to share the live pictures breaks the news. I want to | share the live pictures that are coming into us from beirut. Because there are pictures of a huge amount of black smoke over beirut. *. * , huge amount of black smoke over beirut. *. *, ,. beirut. And that's explosion was captured _ beirut. And that's explosion was captured on _ beirut. And that's explosion was captured on the beirut. And that's explosion was captured on the street. Beirut. And that's explosion i was captured on the street by our team in beirut. Around 20 minutes later, the idf claims that it has attacked hezbollah*s central headquarters. Hezbollah's central headuuarters. . headquarters. Moments ago, the israel defense _ headquarters. Moments ago, the israel defense forces _ headquarters. Moments ago, the israel defense forces carried israel defense forces carried out a precise strike on the central headquarter of the hezbollah terror organisation that served as an epicentre of hezbollah terror. hezbollah terror. While in the hour was unfolded, _ hezbollah terror. While in the hour was unfolded, we hezbollah terror. While in the hour was unfolded, we have l hezbollah terror. While in the hour was unfolded, we have seen scenes of wider devastation, we see buildings reduced to rubble, fires and rescue workers searching desperately for survivors. Workers searching desperately forsurvivors. Reports workers searching desperately for survivors. Reports then emerged that hezbollah's leader hassan nasrallah was a target of the strike. That hezbollah sources tell various media that he is alive and safe. Shortly after 8pm in beirut, the pentagon announces that the us had no advance warning of the strike. . had no advance warning of the strike. . .. strike. Having no involvement, havinu strike. Having no involvement, having no _ strike. Having no involvement, having no knowledge _ strike. Having no involvement, having no knowledge of strike. Having no involvement, having no knowledge of the having no knowledge of the strike was actually going to occur, we are still pulling for more details and trying to understand the operation itself. ~. understand the operation itself. ~. *. itself. Meanwhile, ben'amin netanyahush itself. Meanwhile, ben'amin netanyahu's office h itself. Meanwhile, benjamin netanyahu's office after neta nyahu's office after releasing netanyahu's office after releasing this photo that they say shows him approving the strike in beirut from his hotel room and announced that he will cut his troop to new york short and return to israel. Overnight, israel launches a fresh wave of strikes on hezbollah targets, we see smoke and flames are rising across the night sky, beirut is under intense bombardment. In the early hours of the morning, it is unclear whether nasrallah it is unclear whether nasrallah it is alive or not according to a us official. The city wakes up to thick smoke rising from several locations in southern beirut suburb. Shortly before iiam, beirut suburb. Shortly before am, local beirut suburb. Shortly before iiam, localtime, at beirut suburb. Shortly before am, local time, at the israeli military post on x that hassan nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorise the world, in their words. And at around 2:30, hezbollah confirms the death of its leader and pledges to fight on. Joining me live is rami khouri, director of global engagement and seniorfellow, issam fares institute for public policy and international affairs at the american university of beirut. Welcome to you, thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. People are putting it in different terms but essentially the messages that this is an inflection point, when you see this going next? this inflection point, when you see this going next? this going next? this is a really historic _ this going next? this is a really historic moment i this going next? this is a i really historic moment and this going next? this is a really historic moment and we don't know what's going to happen next. Everything that you hear or read about this next stage that's coming up, whether next move is coming up is speculation. Even the iranians and hezbollah leaders and the israeli government, all of them are not precisely sure of them are not precisely sure of what they are going to do next because of the very fluid situation. We do know that they will continue to be fighting and it may expand. It's already expanded from gaza to lebanon in a big way and you've got firing rockets at israel and people in iraq and so, the real big question here is how badly has hezbollah been damaged? if their ability to conduct military attacks against israel, which is a resistance movement, israel's aggression on palestine, if we cannot do that very effectively then this is a big blow to all the resistance forces and the region and two in one particularly. That's why i think everyone will probably take some action to fortify hezbollah and its present conditions. We don't know how badly their damaged, the israelis have not clarified exactly what they want to achieve in lebanon they keep coming up with different things that they want to do, to return there displaced people to northern israel, to stop rockets coming from lebanon to create a security zone so, it's a very, very fluid moment but we do know from history and many countries all around the world including ones that great britain experienced during the colonial error is that when you suppress people, they fight back. When you subjugate people, they resist and this is the basic dynamic that's going on. If you killed the resistant leaders, more militants will follow them and this has happened all over the world. I want to ask you about what you think this means for lebanese society, just in terms of the humanitarian cost but we can see that many people having to flee right now but also cognizant of the fact, if i'm not mistaken, half of the population supporting hezbollah, half of which doesn't really so ijust hezbollah, half of which doesn't really so i just wonder where you think this might go from here, if hezbollah indeed is significantly weakened, doesn't provide any kind of opportunity for the country to disentangle from hezbollah? it's possible. Hezbollah's relationship with lebanon has revolved over the years, there in the cabinet, the kingmakers, they have to approve any decision for you presidents so, but they only do that one are able to protect lebanon from israel which is the reason they were created and why people supported them especially when they pushed israel out of south lebanon in 1980. And they have probably have the country really supports them and the other half doesn't support them or is ambivalent about them but a lot of lebanese complaint that hezbollah keeps creating the situations where israel comes in and destroys many things in lebanon creates massive human suffering but the problem is that the average lebanese, like all arabs across the arab world have no capacity to influence the policies either of their governments or because most governments in the world have not been successful at providing security and developments and sovereignty. The governments sort of laid a backseat role and these nonstate actors coming to being hamas, the houthis, many others the region, real power is not vested in the institution of state, it is shared with the other religions, tribal, ideological movements and this is the real dilemma of the arab world. Lebanon is very typical of this. It's a strikingly impressive country, dynamic country, it's a wonderful country, it's a wonderful country but it's not because of the work of the government but it's because of the spirit of the people and their ability to be creative and dynamic and they've taken so many hits in they've taken so many hits in the last 25 30 years, mainly because of the aggression from israel but because of internal warfare, being entangled in the palestinian view and the rise of hezbollah. We palestinian view and the rise of hezbollah. palestinian view and the rise of hezbollah. We have to leave it there. Many _ of hezbollah. We have to leave it there. Many thanks of hezbollah. We have to leave it there. Many thanks indeed. It there. Many thanks indeed for sharing your analysis, we appreciated. Several southeastern us states are seeing significant flooding, after hurricane helene hit the region. At least 47 people have died and officials fear that number will increase. At least 3 million people are without power. The category four hurricane is the most powerful storm on record to hit florida's big bend area, and moved north into georgia and the carolinas after making landfall overnight on thursday. With gusts of 140 miles per hour and heavy rain, damages from the storm are estimated to be as high as $110 billion. Helene unleashed the worst flooding in a century in north carolina, essentially cutting off access to the western part of the state with forced road closures. And in atlanta, 13 inches of rain fell over 48 hours the most the city has seen over two days since 1878. Florida governor ron desantis says authorities are assessing the strom's damage throughout florida. Clearly, you saw a storm surge in excess of 15 feet. So that is much, much more significant than what we've seen in recent storms, like idalia and also debbie that hit, and that is really, really destructive. So as you look around here, you see some homes that are now just rubble. This stuff's coming in. It's fierce, and it just is unstoppable. So there's a lot of damage that we're seeing here. I spoke with cristiarn benavides, miami correspondent with our us news partner, cbs. Bring us uptodate with the level of destruction that's been seen on the ground. I should mention that you mentioned how helene impacted north carolina, the scene, the most deaths about this point, are also part of north carolina that currently have no selfservice internet service so, there are officials that are trying to get communications up and running there, this was a monster of a storm, if you just take a look at it, it was fastmoving, still over tennessee, the state of tennessee in fact has some flash flood warnings at this point. The cleanup will take some time, it will it's quite incredible to see some of the images particularly when you look at florida nine, this is a small community which is impacted by italia last year and now you have this major storm impacting it once again. These are homes that have been completely wiped out there, it's just so much completely wiped out there, it'sjust so much rebuilding that needs to take place across the southeast, at this point, we've got about 3 million customers, 3 million homes that have no power across the southeast, most appear to be in georgia where there are a million customers without power there but again, the impact on there but again, the impact on the carolinas, particularly north carolina is of historic proportions. I north carolina is of historic pronortions_ proportions. I have to say i know that. _ proportions. I have to say i know that, i _ proportions. I have to say i know that, i was there proportions. 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