Israel’s prime minister warned his military would ‘break boundaries in every sense of the word’ as he threatened to extend a ‘buffer zone’ in Lebanon as war with Hezbollah and Iran continues

Benjamin Netanyahu has made a chilling vow to extend Israel’s “buffer zone” into southern Lebanon and threatens to continue his war against Hezbollah.

A terrifying new map could show what this “larger buffer zone” might look like after the Israeli prime minister threatened to seize land in the neighbouring nation. Tensions between Israel and its neighbour intensified after Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in retaliation to Netanyahu and Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran – which killed the supreme leader on February 28. Netanyahu warned he and his military were “breaking boundaries in every sense of the word”.

The leader claims his latest plans are in response to Israel’s conflict with Iran, saying: “We are simply creating a larger buffer zone. Now, dismantling Hezbollah is our focus.

READ MORE: Moment British war correspondent Steve Sweeney nearly killed in Israeli strikeREAD MORE: ‘Donald Trump ‘wilfully ignorant’ on Iran – I know as I’ve served on frontline’

“This is related to the overall campaign with Iran, which is still ongoing contrary to what has been reported in the media but it is our intention to do everything to fundamentally change the situation in Lebanon.”

In a meeting with Israel’s military chief of staff, the country’s defence minister Israel Katz said the forces would “control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani” – a river in Lebanon around 20 miles north of the border with Israel.

Katz also said the bridges over this river “have been blown up and the IDF will control the remaining bridges” after the defence minister claimed Hezbollah were using the bridged to move weapons over into southern Lebanon.

In a video statement, Netanyahu said: “We have created a genuine security zone preventing any infiltration toward the Galilee and the northern border. We are expanding this zone to push the threat from anti-tank missiles further away and to establish a broader buffer zone.”

On Monday, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said his country should “apply sovereignty” to parts of southern Lebanon in a shocking call.

This comes as Israel continues to wage war against Iran and Hezbollah, despite Trump dishing out mixed messages on whether he wants to end the conflict or continue.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon ordered US ground troops to the Middle East but negotiators also sent Iran a 15-point peace plan. Despite this, the US President said: “They [Iran] are begging to work out a deal. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that. I don’t know if we’re willing to do that. They should have done that four weeks ago. They should have done it two years ago.”

Trump and Netanyahu have also appeared to clash after the Israeli leaders suggestion for the US to encourage a street uprising to challenge the Iranian regime. the US President told the Israeli Prime Minister during a telephone conversation last week: “Why the hell should we tell people to take to the streets when they’ll just get mowed down.”

Iran “is not going to buckle” in the face of Donald Trump’s threats against the country, a BBC expert has predicted.

Lyse Doucet, the corporation’s senior international correspondent, spoke out after the president’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, said America would “unleash hell” unless Tehran agrees to peace talks.

“If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before,” Leavitt said on Wednesday.

But speaking on Radio 4′s Today programme, Doucet said that was a “fundamental misperception” of Iran’s position.

She said: “Iran does not want a ceasefire, it will not negotiate a ceasefire, even though President Trump, according to Israeli media, is now looking for a one month ceasefire.

“It wants an end to this war, but it’s also making maximalist demands to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

“This is where we are in the war. It’s not going to buckle under any threats – another fundamental misperception in this war.”

Are any cooking oils good for us?

The healthiest cooking oils, ranked

1) Olive oil, especially extra-virgin olive oil

2) Avocado oil

3) Rapeseed oil

4) Fats that are solid at room temperature, like beef tallow, coconut oil, and butter

A cuddly Eurasian lynx toy representing “one of Scotland’s missing species” replaced the missing Conservative representative.

A stuffed toy representing “one of Scotland’s missing species” was used to stand in for the missing Scottish Conservatives at a recent Holyrood elections hustings event in Perthshire.

The Scottish Rewilding Alliance held the first ever hustings dedicated to debating rewilding issues at Pitlochry Festival Theatre to mark World Rewilding Day on Friday, March 20.

Introducing the final panellist – where a Conservative representative would have sat – the evening’s chairperson Jennifer Reoch said the Eurasian lynx was “notoriously shy and rests undercover during the day to avoid people”.

The scene was reminiscent of the famous Have I Got News for You episode when Roy Hattersley was replaced by a tub of lard. In June 1993 panellist Paul Merton was memorably joined by a tub of lard after the Labour MP reportedly pulled out of doing the BBC show at the last minute for the third time.

According to the Scottish Rewilding Alliance, which organised Friday’s election hustings in Pitlochry ahead of the May 7 elections, “the Scottish Conservatives declined to attend despite multiple invites.”

According to Steve Micklewright, co-convenor of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance and chief executive of charity Trees for Life, The Rewilding Nation: Hope for Nature Husting event was held in Perthshire “due to it being home to the most rewilding spaces in Scotland”.

Alongside the lynx on the panel were: Scottish Green Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Mark Ruskell, Reform Central Scotland MSP Graham Simpson, Scottish Labour candidate for Perthshire North Angela Bailey, SNP Stirling councillor Gene Maxwell and Scottish Liberal Democrat Edinburgh Central candidate Charles Dundas.

After introducing the panel, TV and radio presenter Jennifer Reoch – who was chairing the hustings – told the audience: “Unfortunately, the Conservative Party were unable to send a representative this evening, which leads me to my final panel member to represent one of Scotland’s missing species, the Eurasian lynx.

“It’s a medium-sized cat with tufted ears and a short tail. It is notoriously shy and rests undercover during the day to avoid people.”

The event was livestreamed and is available to watch on YouTube: Rewilding Nation: Hope for Nature Hustings – World Rewilding Day 2026.

A spokesperson said: “Immediate action on marine protections, how rewilding supports local economies, space for nature alongside development and lynx reintroduction were hot topics.”

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “Unfortunately, a representative from our party was unable to attend this event.

“The Scottish Conservatives recognise the importance of protecting Scotland’s natural environment and believe that rewilding should proceed with community consent and in a way that does not affect the ability of farmers to continue to produce high-quality food.”

Matt Brittin has been named the new director general of the BBC. He joins the broadcaster after almost two decades working at Google: he was its president in Europe, the Middle East and Africa before leaving in 2024. He is already on the board of the Guardian Media Group.

The director general is the most senior executive at the BBC. The first director general was John Reith (later Lord Reith), a near legendary figure who dominated the organisation during its foundational period in the 1920s and 1930s.

Reith played a key role in establishing broadcasting in Britain and creating the BBC. He had an obsession with controlling all elements of the BBC’s work and was determined to increase his own power at the expense of subordinates and of the BBC’s board of governors.

Reith made the director general the most powerful office in the BBC. That power has since been diluted over the decades, but in theory the director general still has oversight of all the varied aspects of the BBC’s work. They must also defend the corporation from public criticism and take responsibility when things go wrong. Given the amount of criticism that the BBC has faced in recent years, this may be the hardest job in the UK media.

Crucially, the director general is regarded as editor-in-chief of BBC news content, and ultimately carries the can when problems arise in its current affairs coverage. This has brought down several directors general in the past.

In 2011, George Entwistle resigned over revelations concerning the BBC and the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal, and his mishandling of unfounded allegations broadcast by the BBC concerning Lord McAlpine. Entwistle only served 54 days in post.

Tim Davie resigned from the top job last year amid accusations that BBC current affairs coverage had breached its own editorial code on impartiality. Most notably, footage of a speech by Donald Trump had been misleadingly edited when shown on Panorama. The BBC still faces an unprecedented $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit from the US president.

Brittin will need to deal with these editorial issues. One of his first tasks will be to hire a new CEO of News, as Deborah Turness resigned along with Davie.

He will also have to lead the BBC into a brave new world. The TV licence system, which provides the BBC with most of its funding, is likely to be drastically reformed or abolished entirely. This may be accompanied with major changes in how the BBC is run and functions, as its royal charter is renewed over the coming year.

More and more of us are replacing analogue radio and live television with streaming. With his tech background, Brittin may be well placed to lead the BBC through this transition. He also faces the unenviable task of defending the BBC against inevitably escalating criticism during the charter review period. Candidates for the job do not seem to have been lining up at the doors of Broadcasting House.

Changing the BBC

How have previous directors general fared in times of profound change? The BBC struggled to find an effective leader during the second world war until William Haley, an experienced newspaper editor and director, was appointed. Haley expertly steered the BBC through the final stages of the war and into peacetime, navigating difficult questions about government intervention, possible commercial competition and, with the rise of TV, technological change.

Haley significantly altered the BBC’s radio offering to provide listeners with more choice, and set out to reestablish its television service, fending off the threat of commercial competition for almost a decade.

In the 1960s, Hugh Carleton Greene (brother of the novelist Graham Greene), shook up British broadcasting yet again, helping the BBC adapt to the possibly existential challenge posed by a young and feisty ITV. Greene focused on providing crowd-pleasing entertainment, but also pushed the boundaries of taste and opinion by establishing the political satire show That Was The Week That Was, and supporting hard-hitting dramas like Cathy Come Home and Up The Junction.

Haley and Greene both demonstrated what a confident director general, intent on securing the changes that would allow the BBC to survive, could achieve.

A more divisive figure was John Birt, later Baron Birt, who held the post from 1992 to 2000. Birt had made his name working for the BBC’s competitors in commercial TV. He was a devotee of new ideologies of corporate leadership and change. At the BBC he was determined to break up the dominance of its powerful departmental leaders and to impose central control.

In the wake of scandals over public affairs coverage that toppled one of his predecessors, Alasdair Milne, Birt demanded adherence to a new editorial code. And in order to prevent Margaret Thatcher’s government privatising the BBC, he set up a complex system of internal markets and external programme commissioning. Business consultants and highly-paid senior managers were recruited from the private sector to spearhead reform. Over 10,000 staff were laid off. Some people thought that Birt saved the BBC, but the playwright Dennis Potter likened him to a Dalek.

Brittin, like Birt, is an outsider to the BBC. Will he be a Dalek, or The Doctor that the BBC needs to vanquish its political and commercial adversaries? Appointing a leader from the world of big tech might give the BBC a valuable weapon in a media landscape dominated by the US-based streaming giants.

Brittin may also have the corporate leadership skills needed to bring a large, fiendishly complex organisation full of independently minded people through the massive changes that seem necessary if the BBC is to survive and flourish. Whether he has the equally crucial skills needed to be the public face of the BBC, defending it on-air and in the press against its many assailants, remains to be seen.