Newshour

Syrian government forces have left the southern city of Sweida, where days of sectarian clashes involving the Druze minority have left hundreds dead. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa made a call for unity in the middle of the night.

Also in the programme: proof that a technique using genetic material from three people to create embryos is leading to children born free of incurable and devastating mitochondrial disease; and an interview with Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for more than 100 days after taking part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.

After sectarian clashes in southern Syria, Israel launches airstrikes on Syrian government targets, saying it needs to protect the Druze ethnic minority. We attempt to explain a complicated situation with defence expert Dr Robert Geist Pinfold, and hear from an eyewitness in the city of Sweida and an advisor to the Syrian foreign minister.

Also in the programme: continuing controversy in the United States over the legacy of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein; the plight of hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have been abruptly deported from Iran; and a plan to breathe new life into the Victorian glasshouses at London's Kew Gardens.

(Photo: Damaged vehicles outside the Syrian Ministry of Defence building following an Israeli airstrike in Damascus; Credit: MOHAMMED AL RIFAI/EPA/Shutterstock)

Israel carried out a series of drone strike against Damascus, after the breakdown of a ceasefire between the Syrian government and fighters from the Druze community in the south of the country. The IDF says it is acting the protect the Druze community, and stop a military build-up by the government on its northern border. We bring the latest analysis from the region.

Also in the programme: a MAGA backlash after Trump's Attorney General says she won't publish the so called 'Epstein files'; and Labubu, the Chinese 'ugly-cute' elves that have overrun Tiktok.

(Picture:Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on Syria's defense ministry in Damascus, according to Al Jazeera TV, in Damascus, Syria July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi)

The British Government has revealed it has secretly moved thousands of Afghans to the UK, after a data leak by a defence official. We'll hear from the journalist who fought to reveal the story and an Afghan who says his family's safety has been threatened.

Also on the programme: our Washington correspondent who was having an early evening nap at home when Donald Trump gave him a call; and the world's biggest human imaging project that has scanned the bodies of 100,000 people.

(Photo: A captain of the Afghanistan army boards a British military plane at Kabul airport to be evacuated to the UK. Issue date: Tuesday August 24, 2021. Credit: Ministry of Defence)

president Trump says he is disappointed with Putin. Donald Trump talks to the BBC about Russia, the UK and the attempt on his life. Also in the programme: Israel strikes Syrian government forces, after tribal clashes in Syria’s Sweida; and the oldest marathon runner dies.

(Photo: President Trump speaking in the White House. Credit: Shutterstock)

Donald Trump says new weapons are en route to Ukraine and new sanctions could be heading to Russia as he gives vent to his frustrations with Vladimir Putin. We'll speak to one of the president's Ukraine envoys.

Also on the programme: the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert slams the current government's plans to move Gaza's entire population into a new area in the south; and the woman re-imagining the ancient sound of the oud.

(Photo: US President Donald Trump announces a deal to send US weapons to Ukraine through Nato in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 14, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Ukraine's President Zelensky has thanked the United States for its support, ahead of Donald Trump's expected announcement of more military hardware, to be paid for by the European Union.

Also in the programme: Taiwan doubles the length of its annual military drills; and "Crypto Week" in the US as Congress begins five days of debate aimed at overhauling American legislation around the entire crypto currency industry.

(Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and US Special Envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg (R), shaking hands during a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, 14 July 2025. Kellogg arrived in Ukraine to meet with senior Ukrainian officials amid the ongoing Russian invasion. Credit: Presidential Press Service of Ukraine/Handout/EPA/Shutterstock)

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has offered Moscow his full support on the war in Ukraine during talks with the visiting Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov. The Russian Foreign Ministry has posted video of the meeting in the resort city of Wonsan. Analysts say North Korea may be preparing to send additional troops to aid Russia's campaign.

Also, eyewitnesses in Gaza say an Israeli missile has hit a water distribution point killing at least 10 people, most of them children.

And a fusion of Chinese and old-time Appalachian music!

(Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Wonsan, North Korea. Credit: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump says he intends to impose 30 per cent tariffs on goods imported to the US from the EU and Mexico, starting from the first of August. He blames both the US trade deficit with the EU for this announcement, alongside Mexico's failure to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the US. An economist gives us his thoughts.

Also on the programme: We speak to a relative of a passenger killed in last month’s Air India plane crash after it emerged that fuel switches were cut off before the incident; two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank according to the Palestinian health ministry; and Polish tennis player Iga Switek wins this year’s women’s Wimbledon title.

(Photo: US President Donald Trump speaks to the media on 11th July 2025. Credit: Will Oliver/EPA/Shutterstock)

A preliminary report on the Air India crash that killed 260 people in June has found that both fuel control switches were in the cut-off position - a step that turns off the engines - moments before the plane crashed in Ahmedabad. Also on the programme, the US says it's aware of the killing of an American citizen in the occupied West Bank after his family said he'd been beaten to death by Jewish settlers; and, a look at the Wimbledon women's final.

(Wreckage of the Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane sits on the open ground, outside Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, where it took off and crashed nearby shortly afterwards, in Ahmedabad, India July 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave)