this is bbc news, the headlines... iran strikes at israel with an unprecedented attack,

involving more than 300 drones and missiles. the israelis say 99% were intercepted. the us, britain and jordan, were among the countries involved in israel's defence. some of the missiles were intercepted outside earth's atmosphere. some supporters of the iranian government in tehran celebrate the attack — iran warns israel not to retaliate. the iranian retaliatory action comes after israel's strike on its consulate in syria two weeks ago. president biden says he'll agree a diplomatic response to the attack with other g7 leaders. the united nations security council will hold an emergency meeting later. welcome to the programme. thank you for your company. an extraordinary sensitive moment in the middle east and we havejust sensitive moment in the middle east and we have just heard in the last hour our first reaction from israel,

from a member of the war cabinet. his quote, we will exact a price from iran in the fashion and timing thatis from iran in the fashion and timing that is right for us. we will exact a price from iran in the fashion and timing that is right for us. we are keeping an eye on that meeting of the israeli war cabinet too on the g7 meeting that is due and also united nation's security council. global diplomacy on its way right now. first let's look at what happened overnight. sirens wail. these are the skies above israel, some 300 drones and missiles launched at israel and israel says 99% were intercepted and shot down. next let's go tojordan, because they were only shot down over the

skies of israel. jordan, the us and uk also helped shoot them down. let's go to damascus, the syrian skies. similar pictures again. as to the damage done in israel, they say there was no deaths and a military base was hit with minor damage and one young girl is injured and in hospital. let's look at a still image of the iron dome, one of israel's fence mechanisms, intercepting missiles fired from the ground into the skies, intercepted as they come into the airspace. and now the geography of what has happened. basically, the significance and importance of how this will be playing out. let's look at that map, you can see iran on the right—hand side, and the distance

between iran and israel, and, in fact, this is the first time iran has directly attacked israel from iranians soil. join me now is my bbc arabic colleague. carine torbey, who's in beirut. talk us through the view from lebanon. , , .,, ., talk us through the view from lebanon. , .,, ., , , lebanon. yesterday was a very tense ni . ht lebanon. yesterday was a very tense night indeed — lebanon. yesterday was a very tense night indeed in _ lebanon. yesterday was a very tense night indeed in lebanon, _ lebanon. yesterday was a very tense night indeed in lebanon, the - night indeed in lebanon, the question on everyone's�*s mind was, would hezbollah take part in the retaliation? it clearly was becoming clear hours after the beginning of that announcement of the strikes that announcement of the strikes that hezbollah was not taking part in the attack by iran, and that brought a little bit of relief because people here were worried that if hezbollah were to be

involved there, it would bring more intense air strikes from israel. it is known that hezbollah and the israeli army have been confronting each other for six months israeli army have been confronting each otherfor six months now, from southern lebanon and northern israel. question was, would that change anything on the ground, and therefore take things to a different level? so far, things seem to be contained to what has become the new normal. the question is whether the israeli response to the iranian retaliation would bring any new elements to the four. this retaliation would bring any new elements to the four.— elements to the four. this is of course a delicate _ elements to the four. this is of course a delicate situation - elements to the four. this is of course a delicate situation withj elements to the four. this is of. course a delicate situation with so many people looking towards israel right now as to any response. what will be the calculation there of

those hezbollah, about any potential escalation or next steps?— escalation or next steps? hezbollah has said in the _ escalation or next steps? hezbollah has said in the past _ escalation or next steps? hezbollah has said in the past that _ escalation or next steps? hezbollah has said in the past that any - has said in the past that any escalation by israel will be met by further escalation from hezbollah. it has been a kind of understanding that basically none of the parties want a full—blown war but also that a possibility of things going out of control is not completely off the table. these are very anxious, tense times and very worrying times and everything might be really on the balance for the next couple of days, before we establish whether these things are back to the normal, which is not quite normal, for both sides.

0r whether we are witnessing a new phase in this conflict. or whether we are witnessing a new phase in this conflict.— phase in this conflict. thank you very much _ phase in this conflict. thank you very much for— phase in this conflict. thank you very much for that. _ phase in this conflict. thank you very much for that. a _ phase in this conflict. thank you very much for that. a line - phase in this conflict. thank you very much for that. a line from | phase in this conflict. thank you . very much for that. a line from afp news agency saying the us does not want to see the middle east crisis escalates, that come from the white house as the us does not want to see the middle east crisis escalates. we will get more from the us reaction in a moment. so where does this leave the already tense situation in the middle east? i've been speaking withjeremy bowen, our international editor, and our security correspondent frank gardner. jeremy told me first about where the position for israel and its allies. the message coming from israel's western allies, particularly the us, also the british, rishi sunak, the british prime minister, has just said that britain was also involved in shooting down drones, and he said this is now a time for cool heads. in other words, a message to israel — "you've got a victory here.

"bank it. "hang on to it. "do not escalate any further because the risks of escalating may be a strike back on to iranian territory are very great." israel has sustained a serious attack, but with a great deal of help from its allies, it has been able to withstand it. it was not a full—on assault in the way that perhaps it would have been had hezbollah in lebanonjoined in with their massive arsenal of missiles that over the years the iranians have helped them build up. frank gardener, if we can start with a similar question to you as well, your broad thoughts on where exactly the region stands now. ok, if you imagine a ladder with a lot of different rungs, we are halfway up that ladder of escalation. israel could choose to go up it or down it because right now we've seen a number of escalations, a number of red lines crossed, as jeremy puts it.

and this is certainly a red line. and it's the first time iran and israel have fired at each other. in this case, iran shooting directly at israel. and despite the fact that there is restraint being urged on all sides, israel's war cabinet is going to find what it calls a significant response. now, it can do that in a number of ways. it could bide its time — strategic patience. it could hit back at its proxies — iran's proxies — like hezbollah, as it has done, and others around the region. it could target the exact missile bases from which these drones and missiles were launched in iran. that would be an escalation. or it could go even further, and do an all—out attack on iranian revolutionary guards corps bases throughout iran. that would be a major escalation and one that would prompt, i think, a massive iranian response. and that's not what anybody in the region wants. everyone's calling for things

to calm down now, but i'm not sure that israel is going to let this one go, as it were. 0k, jeremy, can ijust get your thoughts on the iranian foreign minister coming out and saying, effectively, that this current action is finished, they described it as a defensive action, but if there are any more attacks, then they will respond. what do you think of the messaging there? well, let'sjust rewind back to the 1st of april. that's when the attack took place on the iranian diplomatic compound in damascus, killing senior officers, senior generals. but, i think more importantly for the iranians, hitting ground they consider to be and legally it is iranian soil. the israelis have made an unconvincing argument that the presence of those officers in the building rendered it not a diplomatic premise, but a military position that it was ok to hit. that is not a convincing argument.

so, iran made it very clear that they would respond. question — how were they going to do it? the suggestion was that perhaps they might try and do something a little bit oblique, something indirect. but they've opted for this full—on attack. the attack did not do a great deal of damage. was that because they assumed, having signaled so clearly that they were going to do it, so israel, the americans, the brits and others could get ready? or was that simply because they're simply not up to hurting israel with its formidable air defenses, along with its allies? so i think where we're at now is a time of great uncertainty. really, the rules of the game in the middle east have changed a lot since the hamas attacks on the 7th of october. and now that iran has their first israeli strike, iran's response, what will israel do next? we are very much in unknown territory here, but certainly

i think it's absolutely clear that if a way is not found to stop this steady escalation into a wider war, all—out war in the middle east, then it's going to keep on going in that direction, which would be absolutely catastrophic for all concerned. 0k. we're going to come back to the kind of what happens next question injust a moment. frank, just want to come to you on what did happen. could you just talk us through the nature of the attack, what you make of the combination of the missiles and the drones, how israel and indeed the allies responded in a kind of technical way to shoot down so many, 300 plus, from the skies? sure. well, israel had a massive advantage here that it knew it was coming. the us had already signalled this as from wednesday night. it had probably intercepted communications using its powerful signals intelligence network. the attack came in two phases — 170 drones were launched. now, they're quite slow.

they take several hours to reach israel, across the 1500 kilometers of distance between iran and israel. but iran also launched ballistic missiles, some of which, at least one of which was intercepted outside the earth's atmosphere. how were they intercepted? well, there are a number of different ways. you mentioned israel's iron dome there, which is its air defense system that has been shooting down a lot of rockets fired from gaza, for example, by hamas. but it's also got other methods, things called arrow and the david slingshot, and it's got patriot, but it was helped massively by the united states and to a lesser extent by the uk and jordan. jordan said that it intercepted a number of flying objects that entered its territory, ie iranian missiles and drones. the raf, britain's royal air force, which was already operating in along the borders of syria and iraq under something called

operation shader, to counter any kind of advance or resurgence of so—called islamic state of is, isis. they also shot down a number of drones so that they would have gone quite a circuitous route. and the us navy, which has got some very powerful warships in the region, in the red sea, they shot down some and some of theirjets took off. and also israeli air force fighters took off from from an air base in the south of israel, in the negev, to shoot them down. so it was a coordinated thing — highly expensive, by the way. 0ne estimate i've seen saying that this has cost israel up to $1 billion, but israel right now is patting itself on the back, saying, "we defeated this, we knocked out 99%." make no mistake, iran has got a massive arsenal of missiles, of ballistic missiles. it's got a whole lot more where these came from. 0k. jeremy, where do we go from here then? we have international meetings, the war cabinet in israel itself, the g7 convening.

what does happen next? interesting that whenjoe biden talked about convening the g7, so they're all going to be in front of their computer screens, he talked about a diplomatic response. that's clearly what he wants. but israel's war cabinet has, many times in the last six months, defied the will ofjoe biden. will they regard this issue as one in which they are able to do that, or will they feel that because of all the enormous amounts of help that they actually got last night, that actually they owe their allies one and they need to pull in their spikes in terms of confronting them and going, i did notice very early on that right wing voices in israel and those similar voices sustain the government in terms of votes in the parliament there were calling for a response, saying "this is a tough neighborhood.

"not responding would be weak. "if israel is weak, it will be seen as vulnerable "and will be attacked again." so that's the debate that they will be having there in israel — do what the americans and the brits and others want or push back harder. thank you to jeremy thank you tojeremy and frank for that. thank you to jeremy and frank for that. ~ , ., , , that. musing from reuters news auen that. musing from reuters news agency stating _ that. musing from reuters news agency stating news _ that. musing from reuters news agency stating news agency - that. musing from reuters news agency stating news agency of l that. musing from reuters news - agency stating news agency of syria, syria and our irs iran, and this is what we have heard. they have said, iran's response to israel is a legitimate right to self—defence. they say iran's response to israel is a legitimate right to self defence. earlier i spoke to the economists defence editor, shashankjoshi. there is very consistent line coming out of iranian official since the immediate _ out of iranian official since tie: immediate aftermath out of iranian official since tie: immediate aftermath of out of iranian official since the: immediate aftermath of the strike, which is, we consider this matter closed. you stroke us, we have struck you, let's draw a line under

this. they are sending this message because they know there is real pressure on netanyahu to respond in some fashion in response to this attack, which would spark a new cycle of escalation, and what they are trying to shake is that iranians strike. from the iranian perspective, the most the escalator eat response would be business as usual, another —— the most the escalator east response. the most escalator east response. the most escalator attack would be... they are afraid of nuclear facilities being attacked and they are trying to signal from their perspective, they will conduct no further action if israel leaves it here. but there is no guarantee that will happen. can i ask you about the tactics used here? the drones fired, plus the

missiles, the number, the location, what is your assessment of this? there were about 331 projectiles fired, of those, about a third were ballistic missiles. ballistic missiles flying different ways, they fly in parabolic arcs, unlike cruise missiles and drones which fly relatively flat projectiles inside the atmosphere, much more slowly. ballistic missiles are more likely to penetrate air defences and get through and leave much less one time. it is notable that only a third of these weapons were ballistic missiles. they were probably targeted at israeli military bases, including the base that israel used to launch f 35 planes which conducted the original attack on the iranians consulate in lebanon. there was a symmetry to this. but had iran really wanted to cause more damage and iran sought to overwhelm israeli defences, i think they would have used a much higher

proportion of ballistic missiles and they didn't. that tells us something of interest and of note. the british prime minister has given his reaction to last night's attacks and explained the role the uk played. last night, iran launched a barrage of missiles and attack drones across the middle east towards israel. this was a dangerous and unnecessary escalation, which i have condemned in the strongest terms. thanks to an international co—ordinated effort which the united kingdom participated in, almost all of these missiles were intercepted, saving lives, notjust in israel, but in neighbouring countries likejordan as well. the raf sent additional planes to the region as part of our existing operations to counter daesh in iraq and syria, i can confirm our planes did shoot down a number of iranian attack drones, and i want to pay tribute to the bravery and professionalism of our pilots flying into the face

of danger, to protect civilians. go out to downing street now. —— we go live to downing street now. what was the role of the uk here? the uk, as the prime — was the role of the uk here? the uk, as the prime minister— was the role of the uk here? the uk, as the prime minister said _ was the role of the uk here? the uk, as the prime minister said there, - as the prime minister said there, participated in what he cold an international co—ordinated effort but the key was he confirmed raf jets shot down a number of iranians attack drones, even if we don't know how many. again, he reiterated that this was an international effort and we know us warplanes were involved as well, and france was patrolling airspace. we knowjordanianjets airspace. we knowjordanian jets were airspace. we knowjordanianjets were involved in the airspace as well. this was a big effort to defend israel against an unprecedented attack. what the prime minister went on to say, really big message coming out of downing street, but also from downing street's own counterparts and allies around the world, he is urging calm

heads to prevail. he has talked about restraint, those words are echoed by the labour leader sir keir starmer, because there is this big threat now of tensions escalating further within the region. it's an already volatile situation. so g7 leaders will be looking at these comments very closely from israeli war cabinet, because that is the unknown factor right now. we know the allies and downing street had been urging restraint and calm and they feel that this attack was unprecedented, they have condemned it but don't feel a military response is what is justified right now. israel, though, that remains to be seen, because they are still talking about the need to respond to an attack like this.— an attack like this. thank you for that. we will return to the hugely

significant events in the middle east in a moment. now to australia. more details have been emerging about the victims of the deadly knife attack, at a shopping centre in sydney yesterday. 6 people were killed and 12 injured. 0ur correspondent, katy watson, has the latest from sydney. from the early hours of sunday morning, sydneysiders came to pay their respects. this is a nation in shock, not used to violent attacks like this. i go to that mall with my friends and stuff, but it's just sad to think like you can't even really like shop normally now without thinking twice about who's around you and all that stuff. the attacker was named asjoel cauchi. we understand there is a history of mental_ we understand there is a history of mental health, but it will be the ongoing — mental health, but it will be the ongoing work of the investigators to

determine _ ongoing work of the investigators to determine what is activities were yesterday — determine what is activities were yesterday and the days before and there _ yesterday and the days before and there might be a motive. authorities sinrled out there might be a motive. authorities singled out the _ there might be a motive. authorities singled out the bravery _ there might be a motive. authorities singled out the bravery of _ there might be a motive. authorities singled out the bravery of the - singled out the bravery of the police officer who shot the assailant dead. they said her intervention saved many lives. the investigation is still very much under way and leads teams are working there and could be working through the early hours of monday morning, and the commissioner said at this stage, there are probably more questions than answers and that is something that will continue for the next few weeks. more details of the next few weeks. more details of the victims also emerged. ashley good died overnight while her little girl underwent surgery. a security guard was working when he died. after the panic on saturday, people here are grieving trying to understand why such a brutal attack happened. katy watson, bbc news, sydney.

those are the latest developments from australia. we now return to the middle east and in the next couple of hours, crucial couple of hours in the world of diplomacy as the world looks to israel to see, if anything, it does. —— it's does. these are live pictures from jerusalem. we also have our correspondence bureau across the region and these live pictures from tel aviv. we are waiting to see what comes out of the meeting of the war cabinet, benjamin netanyahu considering what options will be on the table now and speaking to his international allies. we also have these live pictures from israel lebanon border too. as for the international diplomacy, well, we're waiting for the united nations security council meeting, a g7 virtual meeting of world leaders, and crucially, in

israel itself, after that war cabinet meeting, to decide what the response will be to this. let's look at pictures again from over night. the 300 or so drones being fired towards israel and we are told 99% of them being shot down. these are live pictures ofjerusalem. stay with us for plenty more coverage coming up on the international diplomacy and decisions being made now in israel. this is bbc news. goodbye. hello. the warm spell of weather has come to an end, it's a much fresher today and the outlook is pointing to frequent showers with hail and thunder and very windy

weather for tomorrow. here's the weather map as we see that transition in 2a hours from the calm conditions we have had recently to this big low sitting on top of us, also dragging in colder air from the northern climes and making it feel colder than it recently has been. on to the forecast, temperatures in the middle of the afternoon hovering around the mid—teens in the southeast of the country, barely making double figures across the north, where we already have showers sweeping across. the winds freshening and the showers through the night generally confined to more northern and western areas. towards the end of the night, perhaps reaching central england but the southeast will stay dry. temperatures up to eight celsius in most major towns and cities. tomorrow, a band of showers across the country, gusty winds, showers could be torrential with hail and thunder, sunshine in—between and the gusts up to 50mph on coastal areas and not

far off that inland. a turbulent day with dramatic cloudscapes and changeable weatherfrom hour to hour. the lowest temperatures around ten celsius. that low will be barrelling across the uk into the north sea through the course of monday evening. tuesday, it will still have a sting in its tail, stronger winds and showers across the north sea coast, everywhere from yorkshire to east anglia. gusty winds of up to 50mph here but towards the west, the weather will be drier and brighter and the winds not quite as strong, not quite as chilly. but still around eight celsius in stornoway and typically up to 13 elsewhere across the uk. towards the end of the week, another weak front moving across uk bringing cloud more than rain and also this high nosing in, an indication the weather should dry out. the main message for now is a very

blustery day on the way tomorrow with big shower clouds but also sunny spells. bye— bye.

live from london. this is bbc news. iran strikes at israel with an unprecedented attack, involving more than 300 drones and missiles. the israelis say 99%

were intercepted. the us, britain and jordan were among the countries involved in israel's defence. some of the missiles were intercepted outside earth's atmosphere. president biden will have an urgent call with other g7 leaders. the un security council will hold an emergency meeting later. in tehran, supporters of the iranian government celebrate the attack — iran warns israel not to retaliate. this is the scene live injerusalem as benjamin netanyahu's war cabinet meets — the region is at a dangerous crossroads. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. israel is warning that it will retaliate after iran fired a huge barrage of drones and missiles at israel.

the israelis say that 99% of the projectiles were shot down —