Iran attacks Israel after invasion of Lebanon: BBC Learning English from the News

From BBC Learning English,

this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme:

Iran attacks Israel. Netanyahu threatens response.

Hello, I'm Phil.

And I'm Beth.

In this programme, we look at one big news story

and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

as well as a worksheet, on our website.

bbclearningenglish.com.

So let's hear more about this story.

So the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said

that his country will respond to Iran's missile attack on Israel

on Tuesday night.

Iran fired about 180 missiles at Israel –

most were intercepted, and that means stopped.

Iran's attack followed the invasion of Lebanon

and the killing of the Hezbollah leader.

Israel says that they're taking military action

to prevent Hezbollah attacking northern Israel from southern Lebanon.

But Lebanese authorities say

that over a thousand people have been killed in the last two weeks,

and that over a million people have had to leave their homes.

And I have a headline here

about the Israeli leader's comments following the Iran missile attack.

Netanyahu says Iran will pay for missile attack

as Israel sends more troops to Lebanon.

And that's from BBC News.

And again, that headline: Netanyahu says Iran will pay for missile attack

as Israel sends more troops to Lebanon.

And that's from BBC News.

So Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister,

has said that Iran will pay for this missile attack.

And we're looking at 'pay for' something.

Now, Phil, there is an obvious meaning of this expression 'pay

for' which everyone will know.

So we use money to get something that we didn't have before

and that's 'pay for'.

So, for example, you pay for your bus or train ticket when you come to work.

Yes, but 'pay for' is also often used to mean suffer the consequences

of something seen as bad.

Yes. And that's what's happening here in this headline.

So Netanyahu is saying that there will be negative consequences for Iran –

they will pay for the attack.

So an example of how we could use this in another context

is you could say that someone will pay for their lifestyle choices.

For example, He smoked all his life,

but paid for it by getting a series of breathing problems as he got older.

And we also hear 'pay the price' or 'pay a high price' for something.

So, a different example,

She paid a high price for not studying and failed all her exams.

So, we had 'pay for' something,

which is suffer the consequences of doing something seen as bad.

And, for example, he paid for his laziness by getting fired.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about the crisis in the Middle East.

Israel's strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon killed its leader.

The group Hezbollah is supported by Iran,

and Iran's attack on Israel is a response to this.

And we've got a headline talking about this: Iran attack: Regime may have felt

it needed to flex its muscles to try to stem Israel's expanding actions.

And that's from Sky News.

And again that headline: Iran attack: Regime may have felt

it needed to flex its muscles to try to stem Israel's expanding actions.

And that's from Sky News.

So, this headline is considering what might have led Iran

to launch this attack on Israel.

And we're going to look at the phrase 'flex its muscles'.

Now, literally, this is what bodybuilders do.

They bend their arms and legs to show off the size of their muscles.

They're showing how strong they are. But

flex its muscles is often used as a metaphor.

When we say someone is 'flexing their muscles'

we mean they're demonstrating their strength.

They're showing just how strong they are.

In this case, the writer is saying that the Iranian government felt

that they needed to demonstrate their military strength.

And as well as talking about military strength,

flexing muscles is also often used to talk about political authority.

So, for example, a political leader might remove their rivals

from important jobs, to flex their muscles – to show how strong they are.

So, we had flex muscles, which means show how strong you are.

For example, The police released pictures of the arrested gangster

to flex their muscles.

This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about Iran, Israel and Lebanon. And

our next headline is a story from before Iran's attack on Israel

when Israeli troops invaded Lebanon.

Now, Israel's invasion of Lebanon was described by the Israeli military

as a limited, localised and targeted operation against Hezbollah.

But as we've said, Lebanese authorities have said

that over a thousand people have been killed in the last two weeks

and that over a million people have had to leave their homes.

Now I have a headline here that describes this military action.

This is from Al Jazeera.

Flares and explosions as Israel announces Lebanon offensive.

That headline again: Flares

and explosions as Israel announces Lebanon offensive.

And that's from Al Jazeera.

Now this headline is describing what was happening as Israeli forces moved

into Lebanon.

We're going to look at the noun 'offensive'.

Now, you might actually know this more as an adjective.

If we describe something as offensive, um,

as an adjective, then that means that it's insulting –

it causes offence to people.

But here we're looking at the noun.

Yeah, but if we think about being insulted,

if you find something offensive, it's almost like being attacked.

And that sense is what is closest to the noun here,

because an offensive is a planned military attack.

Now, here, this was a ground offensive,

and that means that soldiers were on the ground attacking.

And now this noun also has a more general use.

And you'll often find that a lot of business language uses military imagery

and 'offensive' is another example of this.

So, 'an offensive' can be an effort or a campaign to do something

that's quite bold.

So a company might have planned a marketing offensive

when they launch lots of new adverts, or they might have a product

which they're going to use to launch an offensive on a new market

because they think it's going to be really successful

and take lots of customers away from their rivals.

Yeah, that really retains that image of being aggressive, bold,

a big campaign.

We've had an offensive, which is a planned military campaign.

For example, The army launched their offensive at midnight.

And that's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another news story.

And if you found this programme interesting, we have

a lot more episodes of Learning English from the News on our website.

Just go to bbclearningenglish.com.

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Just search for BBC Learning English on your favourite platform.

Thanks for joining us.

Goodbye. Bye.