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Rice In Beirut; Israeli Helicopter Crash; Humanitarian Efforts; Sharon's Health; Americans Evacuate Lebanon

Aired July 24, 2004 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Miles O'Brien reporting live from Haifa, Israel, above a city which so far today has been very quiet.
Back to you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll check back with you in just a moment, Miles.

First, though, the breaking news at this hour.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is in Beirut. She arrived there just within the hour. It's an unannounced stop on her shuttle diplomacy over this crisis. She's meeting with the Lebanese prime minister about the humanitarian problems created with this conflict. After this stop, she's going to head to Israel. Let's get right to CNN's John King. He's covering the secretary's trip in the Middle East. He's in Jerusalem for us this morning.

Hey, John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Obviously this unscheduled stop adding some drama to this high- profile diplomatic mission by Secretary of State Rice. A high-profile trip, but a trip in which there are remarkably low expectations. As you noted, Secretary Rice touching down in Beirut a short time ago. A senior White House official back in Washington telling me just a short time ago this was planned all along, but the White House and the State Department did not announce the Beirut stop because of security concerns.

While in Beirut, she will meet with Prime Minister Siniora. We are told that her chief concern in the meetings today is on how to get more humanitarian assistance to the people of Lebanon, who have been displaced, many injured, many killed, of course. The humanitarian crisis Secretary Rice will focus on in these conversations.

She also will begin to discuss ways to secure southern Lebanon, this senior official tells us, and that, of course, will also be one of her subjects of concern when she moves on from Beirut here to Israel tonight. Dinner with Israeli officials tonight. More substantive conversations here in Israel tomorrow.

But again, U.S. officials are telling us, do not look for any diplomatic breakthrough here. They described this more as a fact- finding trip. They say we are still seven, perhaps 10 days, perhaps even more than that away from having any consensus on whether there can be a cease-fire, what type of international force might go into southern Lebanon to provide a buffer between Hezbollah and the Israelis.

Exactly what type of force that might be, when a cease-fire might be able to be negotiated, that will be more of a concern when Secretary Rice moves on to her third stop. First, Beirut, then here in Israel. Then she will go to Rome to meet with moderate Arab allies, Lebanese officials there as well.

But again, Soledad, 13 days into the Israeli confrontation with Hezbollah and Lebanon, this is the first face-to-face U.S. diplomatic mission to the region and officials are saying Secretary Rice is here, as she's in Beirut now, to focus on the humanitarian concerns, but there is no effort to broker an immediate cease-fire. That is something the Lebanese government has asked for. That is something the Saudi government asked for over the weekend. Many Arab nations, many others around the world say the United States should pressure Israel for an immediate cease-fire, but the Bush administration says it will not do that. That it believes Israel has every right and every reason to continue to attack Hezbollah.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: While you're talking, John, we're taking a look at some pictures of a helicopter leaving. That is Secretary Rice taking off from Cyprus as she's making her way right across the Mediterranean into Beirut.

Let me ask you a question. You've listed the agenda. A big item missing is any kind of meeting with Damascus or in Damascus.

KING: And that is one of the key question marks here. This Bush administration has had no relations with Syria for some time after the Syrian government was blamed for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. The United States withdrew its ambassador and the Bush administration says right now it has no plans to sit down with Syria.

Many are saying, even if the administration has significant and serious disputes with Syria, some even saying with Iran, that this is a time for the administration to sit down and try to at least broker some solution to this crisis. But the United States, for now, says it will rely on Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and others in the Arab world to try to pressure Syria to end its relationships with Iran and with Hezbollah, to try to pressure Syria, to tell it it will become even further isolated if it will not do that.

There's a great deal of pressure on the administration to have at least one round of direct face-to-face discussions between say someone at Secretary Rice's level and the foreign minister of Syria. But for now, Soledad, the administration says no, it will go through its partners to do that.

S. O'BRIEN: John King is in Jerusalem with an update on Secretary Rice's trip and what lies ahead for her. Thanks, John. Appreciate it.

Let's get right back out to Miles who's in Haifa, Israel, today.

Hey, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Hello, Soledad.

In Haifa, where it is quiet. But just a few miles from here, north of the border, Israeli defense forces are involved in some fierce fighting as they target a Hezbollah stronghold. No less than the capital of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

And in the midst of all this, we hear reports of casualties on the part of the Israeli defense forces. Perhaps as many as nine soldiers injured. And also a chopper crash that apparently occurred just this side, on the Israeli side of the border, very near Avivim, which you've heard about, in a town called Rehanya (ph). Joining us on the line right now is CNN's Paula Newton, who actually witnessed this chopper crash.

Paula, what have you seen?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, unfortunately, when it came down, it seemed to hit some type of an electrical pole, because afterwards we saw quite a few explosions coming from the scene and it just kept sparking up more and more explosions. Very quickly, two ambulances came on the scene. The Israeli defense forces confirmed that they believe it was an accident that took the chopper down and there are probably about six people injured.

At this point, though, they're still checking the site to make sure that there was not any Hezbollah activity, but they believe, at this point, that it was some type of an accident. Unfortunately, though, Miles, when it did go down, the explosions were really quite rapid afterwards, and that's what we've witnessed from our vantage point on the hill.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. So just to try to get it straight in our minds here, it wasn't that the helicopter hit the power lines and crashed, it was hitting the power lines after some sort of problem developed?

NEWTON: Yes, we don't believe so. We believe when it was coming down it must have hit something electrical. We were on the same electrical power source at that point in time and where we were from our live location, our power went down immediately. So we can only assume that that's what it was. And the explosions, Miles, from our vantage point, were quite incredible.

But as I say, quite a few ambulances and paramedics on the scene quite quickly. Some locals rushed up and tried to start doing something with the fire, although it was quite involved by the time they got there. And I believe that already the pilots, the navigator, any soldiers that were on board, are already away from the scene. But as I see, it's knocked out power to a good portion of this community. It's a frantic day here, Miles. We have lots of helicopters in the air. I've seen at least six at this point and artillery continues to fly in.

And when I say six, that's what I see from the Israeli side. Right now we're looking at a ridge, which is that town we've been speaking about for so many days, Maroun al-Ras, that the Israeli army says that they control. On the other side of it is Bin Jabil (ph), which is a terrorist stronghold of Hezbollah and that is where the fierce fighting is going on now. Miles, we were at hospital earlier and saw several soldiers injured after what is intense fighting there in Bin Jabil.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, we were just talking with a professor of history here at the University of Haifa and he was not at all surprised that they would be met with fierce fighting on the part of Hezbollah in Bin Jabil because it is more than a stronghold. He views it as a Hezbollah capital of sorts in southern Lebanon. So everything you're reporting indicates they're being met with tremendous defenses there.

NEWTON: Yes, Miles. And the key thing is here, remember, is as we see that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on the ground in Beirut, you do get the sense that this forward movement is continuing and that they want to be able to get into Bin Jabil with boots on the ground as soon as possible before any kind of cease-fire. Again, we've been seeing for days here now that when they try and strike these targets from the air, they're not seeing a bunch of little outposts that Hezbollah has all over these town that are absolutely camouflaged. They feel that if they can get soldiers to Bin Jabil and then call in for more air strikes, they will take out a lot of the weaponry that Hezbollah has on this side of the border and perhaps take out some of the fighters as well.

I should say that there are unconfirmed reports that they have captured two Hezbollah fighters and killed several more overnight.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And another thought here. If it is, in fact, you know, the capital of Hezbollah in the south, is there reason to believe that the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is there?

NEWTON: Absolutely not. You would know that southern Lebanon is just way too dangerous a place for him to be right now. And keep in mind, they operate very autonomously here, Hezbollah, and they've been operating in southern Lebanon for years. They will keep their leader relatively safe -- safer in Beirut for sure than Bin Jabil.

But we think that there are almost a thousand of Hezbollah that are, let's say, in more formal fighting force, but that there could be as many as 2,000 volunteers from the area that have now come in to help in this area right here. The reason we saw such fierce fighting in the last few days, even in Maroun al-Ras, is because they knew that once the Israelis controlled that town, which is very high up on the ridge, that they will have the full vantage point of coming forward into Bin Jabil. And that's what is going on right now, Miles.

And I'm telling you, yesterday, in certain spots here, where we would see a lot of the forward movements, I'm talking about a lot of the engineering folks that go in ahead of time and try and clear mines and stuff like that. We've seen a lot of them move forward today and right into southern Lebanon. So they've probably gone in, try and clear the roads, de-mine what they can, figure out some safe passage through and now they've come in with their forward troops.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Newton on the line now just south of the border with Lebanon in northern Israel. Please, you and your crew, stay safe there.

Meanwhile, here in Haifa, a city that has been really in the cross-hairs of Hezbollah for the 13 days now since this all began, today has been a quiet day. As a matter of fact, the air raid sirens here have not blared once. By this time yesterday, at least a half dozen times they had blared and people had to run for shelters.

No less than 14 rockets or missiles, many of them believed to be Katyusha, rained down on this city yesterday, causing in two separate cases fatalities. An Israeli-Arab carpenter who was simply at work was killed in one case. Another man, a 60-year-old grandfather, just driving his car, happened to be driving along near a cliff, a piece of shrapnel deflected, killing him. Dozens of others were hurt. Tremendous amount of damage caused to some homes here.

It was a day when many Israelis, on Sunday, returning to work, came back to their homes here in Haifa with the hopes that the worst was over. Instead, they were met with the worst, a terrible day here in Haifa. And yet today, subsequent to Israeli attacks, attacks on Tyre and Sidon in southern Lebanon where perhaps those Katyusha rockets were launched, it has been a quiet day. So for people in Haifa, the dawn of Monday has been a tremendous improvement over the last 24 hours.

Back to you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

I want to show you some live pictures. This is coming to us from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. You can see Secretary Rice in Beirut. This is her -- well, we're blocked a little bit by a photographer right now. But she'll coming out.

She'll be meeting with the Lebanese prime minister. A lot of pressure expected to be placed on him to put some pressure on Hezbollah and bring an end to this crisis. It's just about 2:00 in the afternoon there in Beirut and the secretary arrives after 13 days of this crisis in the Middle East. After this visit with the Lebanese prime minister, she moves on to visits with Israeli officials and then onto an international conference in Rome. Those are some pictures coming to us now live from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, LBC. We'll continue to watch what's happening as the secretary begins really the first round of shuttle diplomacy as she makes her way.

And you can see, obviously, she's being closely followed by the press. And it's a little bit of a tight squeeze and a tight push in. No surprise there. Journalists camped out in Beirut following this story. Not only the fighting, but some of the devastation that's happened to some of the civilian areas in Beirut, but all around southern Lebanon, where you just heard Miles reporting on that helicopter crash and the Israeli defense forces capture of one city.

There you go, the Lebanese LBC, Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. That was some of their live coverage. We can break away from those pictures now.

The people of Lebanon, as I was saying, really caught in the crossfire here. Southern Lebanon is in shambles. You've seen some of the pictures from there. Southern Beirut, too. As many as half a million people have been displaced by the Israeli bombs. The chief relief agent for the United Nations is now there. He knows, though, there is not much he can do, at least right now. CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, has that story for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Jan Egeland, the U.N.'s top relief coordinator, is the most senior international official to tour Beirut's bombed-out buildings. And he's shocked.

JAN EGELAND, U.N. RELIEF COORDINATOR: We are calling for a total stop to these attacks, which are, in our view, excessive and indiscriminate.

ROBERTSON: In Hezbollah's heartland, he told the guerrilla group to stop shelling Israel.

EGELAND: The rockets going into Israel have to stop.

ROBERTSON: Despite the rhetoric, though, he is powerless to stop the fighting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good luck.

ROBERTSON: His job is to get food, medicine and bedding to the hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes in the south of the country. And right now, he doesn't have security guarantees from the Israeli government to do that either.

EGELAND: At the moment, there are no humanitarian corridors inside Lebanon. Many believe that. Many even countries, leaders, believe that and announce that. It's not true. We only have until Beirut and we can distribute here, but we cannot go down south.

ROBERTSON: In a Beirut park, crammed with refugees, Egeland came face-to-face with the growing anger of people that the international community is yet to help.

Families are gathering under trees to try and get shelter from the sun. They've got a few possessions, a towel here, some cooking implements here, a plastic bag of possessions. But what they're saying to us here is, don't send people to come and watch and talk to us. What we need is food. We need permanent shelter. We need the bombing to stop, they're telling us, and they want to go home.

Egeland says that in Beirut alone as many as 120,000 people are in refugees centers like this. He plans an emergency three-month, $100 million relief effort, convoys of 100 trucks to distribute supplies shipped into Beirut in the southern port city of Tyre. But the plan is still dependent on Israeli say-so, and that worries the already overstretched Lebanese officials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far we did not receive any formal initiative. Simply, people will die in place.

ROBERTSON: Ikram Ibrahim (ph) did manage to make the perilous journey from south of Lebanon. Shelled when hiding at home and again on the road, she says.

"We were all injured," she says. "My husband lost his legs. My three-year-old lost a finger."

For many others still in the south, the rush northwards for safety continues, fleeing shelling, following Israeli warnings they should evacuate their homes. Lebanese government figures put the total number of displaced people at well over half a million, most still stuck out of the U.N.'s reach in the south.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: You can help. There are several organizations that are working to help the people who have been affected by the crisis in the Middle East. You can find that list right on our website. Go to cnn.com/mideast.

Let's take you right back to Miles, who is reporting for us from Haifa.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: In the midst of all of this, Soledad, the former prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, who suffered a debilitating stroke back in January, has taken a turn for the worse. We're told his family is at his bedside nearly constantly and doctors say the chances of him returning to any sort of degree of health are virtually nil. But we're told his health has actually worsened somewhat, although stabilized. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Jerusalem with more on Mr. Sharon's condition.

Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

Well, we have heard that over the past few days his condition has deteriorated dramatically. We understand that he has a problem with his kidney function and also he's suffering from an accumulation of fluids in his body.

Now, of course, Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli prime minister, is the man who masterminded the 1982 Lebanon invasion. The Israeli forces went in in 1982. They stayed there until 2000 when they evacuated from that area. And this is ironic that he would be in the news once again, the second time that the Israeli forces are now moving into Lebanon.

Now, we have heard from hospital sources that he has, since January 4th, when he had that massive stroke which put him into a coma, he is in a vegetative state. He's not expected to regain consciousness, even though straight after the initial stroke, he had many brain operations. And, obviously, this is just a further deterioration in his condition.

Now, conflicting reports as to whether his life is in danger or whether he has been stabilized at this point. But as you say, the hospital is saying that his family is at his side. One family friend saying this is unlikely to be the end. But, of course, it's very ironic that at the time Israeli forces are moving into Lebanon, once again, Ariel Sharon is in the headlines. Although very low down in the headlines, as, of course, he did leave political life as soon as he had that stroke back on January the 4th.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem with the latest on Ariel Sharon's condition. A bit of irony indeed. Many people would call the Israeli invasion into Lebanon in 1982 sort of Israel's Vietnam. It ended up being a bit of a quagmire ultimately.

Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks. We'll check back with you in just a moment as we continue our cover of the crisis in the Middle East.

First, though, a time to check the forecast with Chad. He's at the CNN Center.

Hey, Chad, what are you looking at now?

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the Middle East. How much is she really going to be able to accomplish? We're going to talk to one of her top lieutenants ahead this morning.

Also, word on the condition of those Israeli soldiers who have been kidnapped by Hezbollah. We'll get reaction from the brother of one of those soldiers.

And later this morning, life as a sitting target. You'll meet a family from northern Israel. See how they cope with the daily threat of rockets fire.

All those stories are straight ahead on our special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. We're back after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: We're watching two fronts for you today. Day 13 in the Middle East conflict. The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is in Beirut as we speak, beginning a diplomatic push. On the ground militarily, the Israelis continuing their push into southern Lebanon, targeting Bin Jubale (ph), a Hezbollah stronghold, viewed by many as sort of the capital of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

We're told there's fierce fighting underway there right now as Israeli defense forces try to seize that particular town. Joining me now for an update on all this is General Ido Nehushtan with the Israeli air force and, obviously, a member of the general staff.

General Nehushtan, good to have you with us.

First of all, if you could update us on this helicopter crash. What do you know so far about what happened?

BRIG GEN IDO NEHUSHTAN, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES: What we know now is that it was on its way home from a mission, probably, and some kind of an accident. We don't know yet the exact cause (INAUDIBLE).

M. O'BRIEN: All right. It was on its way back from Lebanon.

NEHUSHTAN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: What sort of helicopter was it?

NEHUSHTAN: It was, well, we cannot tell at this point.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, you don't know at this point. But, in any case, purely an accident. Do you have any reason to believe that it was brought down by enemy fire?

NEHUSHTAN: No, it was brought down -- it went down over Israeli skies.

M. O'BRIEN: What can you tell us about the number of forces that are in Lebanon now and being brought to bear on this town we just told people about?

NEHUSHTAN: Well, I won't go into specifics, of course, and numbers, but we operate in the number that we need. And now we're focusing, as you mentioned, in Bin Jubale. This is the capital of Hezbollah in the south Lebanon. And we feel that we make good progress. M. O'BRIEN: This comes after seizing Maroun al-Rras, a high point and, obviously, a strategically important point. Is Israel preparing -- are forces there preparing for a permanent occupation?

NEHUSHTAN: Well, no. Our aim is not to occupy. Our aim is targeting terrorists, targeting terrorist posts, infrastructure, and some missile launching sites that are in the vicinity. And this gives us a better stronghold in overlooking the area.

M. O'BRIEN: One of the United Nations' under secretaries, Jan Egeland, in charge of humanitarian affairs, yesterday while traveling in Lebanon said that what Israel is doing is disproportionate and, in fact, a violation of international law. What do you say to that?

NEHUSHTAN: Well, this is the city of Haifa. It's the third largest city in Israel, 20 miles from the border with Lebanon. You see, it's a days week, noon time, no one's there. It's a ghost city for 14 days. This has been the target for on-going attacks from Hezbollah. They target dozens of cities in this part of the country and the entire north is powerless. We do the utmost to prevent and discriminate (ph) casualties and minimize any casualties among civilians, unlike them.

M. O'BRIEN: But it is difficult and there have been many civilian deaths and casualties in Lebanon as a result of the Israeli actions. What do you say to that?

NEHUSHTAN: Well, I say that this is a strange war. I think it's a war that the world has not seen yet, because there is no benefit from this missile, no front line. The enemy doesn't have any war plans or warships. All you have is terrorists that fire missiles on our civilians from within their own civilians. It's very difficult to discriminate and hit only the right targets, yet we do the utmost and advise the civilians, please leave if you're in any vicinity of terrorists.

M. O'BRIEN: There is also the allegation on the part of that same United Nations under secretary, Jan Egeland, that Israeli defense forces are in some way making it difficult to get humanitarian aid in there. What do you say to that?

NEHUSHTAN: Well, I can tell you that we know of no difficulties. But nevertheless, we do the utmost effort to facilitate any evacuation of foreigners that we have going on in the last days and any humanitarian need whatsoever. I think that we'll do whatever is necessary and can be done.

M. O'BRIEN: So you flat out deny that?

NEHUSHTAN: Pardon?

M. O'BRIEN: You flat out deny it, what Jan Egeland said?

NEHUSHTAN: Well, I'm telling you, we're doing the utmost effort to assist any humanitarian needs. Of course, facilitating is a process that has to be coordinated, but we're doing the utmost, I think.

M. O'BRIEN: General Ido Nehushtan, thank you very much for being with us today.

He mentioned the humanitarian aid and the effort to get evacuees out. So far, 12,000 Americans who wanted to get out of Lebanon have made it to safety. Virtually everybody is out, but we are expecting to see upwards of 2,000 Americans making their way on that ferry ride from Lebanon to Cyprus today. CNN's Barbara Starr joining us now from Cyprus with more on the continuing evacuations.

Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, one of the most amazing aspects about this entire evacuation story is the number of American children that have fled the war zone, that were in Lebanon on their own for the summer without their parents. Many of them had been sent there to visit family and their grandparents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR, (voice over): Another U.S. navy warship prepares to dock in Cyprus. Hundreds of Americans on board fleeing the bombings in Lebanon. Karen Khoury has been here two days waiting for her twin sons to come out of the war zone. The boys, Jonathan and Jeffrey, had been in Beirut visiting their grandparents. At the port terminal, her excitement and anxiety is barely contained. The twins are teenagers, but that's beside the point.

KAREN KHOURY, MOTHER: Once a mother, always a mother, you know. It doesn't matter how old your kid is. And at least they have each other.

STARR: Karen got a high-tech "hello mom" during their journey.

KHOURY: Last time I heard from them was right before they boarded. They had S&Sed (ph) me that they were on the USS Nashville.

STARR: Karen knew the boys were OK.

KHOURY: They were a bit nervous and tense and everything, but they had liked to seem cool.

STARR: As the ship gets closer, she scans every face on the deck anxiously, but she doesn't see them.

KHOURY: I should have asked them what they were wearing.

STARR: As unaccompanied minors, the boys should have been among the first to be off the boat, but they are not there. Representatives from the State Department try to offer comfort.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it's emotional.

KHOURY: I'm pretty cool.

STARR: But still, the boys are nowhere to be found. Could they have been onboard another ship sent somewhere else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What ship they were getting on. Because I think one was going to Turkey today.

KHOURY: Oh no.

STARR: They're paged aboard ship but don't answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe they're down below. There's a thousand people on this boat. We'll just cross our fingers.

KHOURY: And then, finally, Jonathan and Jeffrey emerge from somewhere on the Nashville, exhausted. And they do exactly what their mother predicts, try to act cool. But at least mom gets a hug.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: So, Miles, finally a very happy reunion for one American family here in Cyprus. The question now perhaps here in Cyprus is, what is the next step for the U.S. military. One task they could wind up getting in the days ahead is to help deliver that such badly need humanitarian assistance back into Lebanon.

Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: That would be an interesting development. Certainly would hearken back to the days when Marines were stationed there at the airport. Brings back some bad memories for some people. Barbara, I'm sure the military is thinking long and hard about how they might do that.

STARR: Well, that's exactly right. We have talked to military officials in the region. And what they are telling us is, look, if they are ordered to do it, if the Bush administration decides that that's a task the U.S. military should undertake, that they are prepared to do it. That they feel they have an ability to do it very, very quickly. It's something, of course, that they think in the long-run needs to be done by civilian agencies, the U.N., some of the international assistance organizations. But if, make no mistake, there is any immediate requirement that the U.S. military can fulfill and they are asked to do it, they have the plans in place. They could be ready very quickly to do just that -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: CNN's Barbara Starr in Cyprus. Thank you very much.

Back to you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks.

Coming up this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now in the Middle East. Is her mission, though, already hamstrung by the U.S. relations with the Arab world? One of her top lieutenants will joins us live, just ahead.

And then later, you're going to meet an Israeli family making it by day by day as rockets fall right outside their windows. Their story of what it's like to live life as a target is just ahead on this special split edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Latest headlines now in the crisis in the Middle East. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the region right now. She's meeting with the Lebanese prime minister in Beirut. She arrived there just a short while ago. The stop kept secret for security reasons. Next up for the secretary of state is Israel. In Israel, a military helicopter crashed. That happened just a short while ago as well in northern Israel near the border. Our crew there saw the chopper apparently hit some power lines as it went down. That lead to several explosions and fires, too. Israel's military says it was an accident, not a shoot-down. At least six soldiers are reported injured.

Israeli troops are moving deeper into Southern Lebanon this morning. In one town, troops captured a pair of Hezbollah fighters. Israel's military says it has surrounded a Hezbollah stronghold near the Israel/Lebanon border.

New pictures in to us this morning from Tyre, in Southern Lebanon. People there, as you can see, fleeing the port for a cruise ship, which is headed for Cyprus.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials say most of the Americans who've wanted out have gotten out, making their way out of Beirut.

Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. You're watching a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Soledad O'Brien reporting from New York today.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien reporting from the third-largest city in Israel, Haifa, just about 15, 20 miles south of the Lebanese border, yesterday a target of many rocket attacks. Today it is quiet, and the streets are virtually empty. We'll be back with more on what's going on in Haifa and beyond in just a little bit -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks. We'll check with you in just a little bit.

The crisis now in its 13th day. And as we mentioned, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has arrived in the region to begin her diplomatic mission.

Joining us this morning to talk about that from the State Department is Secretary Rice's top deputy, Nicholas Burns. He is the undersecretary of state for political affairs.

Nice to see you, sir. Thank you for talking with us.

NICHOLAS BURNS, UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you. Good morning. S. O'BRIEN: First and foremost, let's talk about what the secretary of state has said. She says, "That the need for a cease- fire is urgent, but only when conditions are right." In many ways, that sounds contradictory. How could it both be urgent, but not right now?

BURNS: Because, Soledad, if you stop the righting right now, you'd hand Hezbollah a major victory, because they'd be positioned just north of Israel. They'd be able to fire those rockets at any time, as they did 90 of them yesterday into Israel.

So what we're trying to achieve is a real cease-fire, where Hezbollah pulls back, where there's a buffer zone in Southern Lebanon, where there can't be any more recipe for the kind of war that we've seen over the last two weeks.

This is a meaningful cease-fire that we're talking about. We want to bring an end to this fighting.

And Secretary Rice is in Beirut today. She'll also go to Israel, of course, to meet with Prime Minister Olmert to try to put together an arrangement between Israel and the Lebanese government to end this fighting in a way that will protect the security of Israel, and also protect the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and Lebanese government.

S. O'BRIEN: You've run through a little bit of her agenda. Why is a meeting in Damascus or in Syria in any way, shape or form a high- level meeting, why is that not on her agenda?

BURNS: You know, the problem is not lack of communications between the United States and Syria. We have a Syrian ambassador here in Washington. We have an American charge d'affaires in Damascus. The problem is that Syria is now arming Hezbollah. Syria and Iran working together have given Hezbollah some of the longer-range rocketry that have enabled Hezbollah to strike further into Israel than we had imagined several weeks ago. And so we are calling upon the Syrian government to stop its arming of Hezbollah and to right its policy, and to try to contribute towards a peaceful solution in the area.

S. O'BRIEN: So I still don't understand why that means no face- to-face conversations for the secretary of state.

BURNS: Well, because you know, the problem here is between Israel and Hezbollah, and that's the immediate problem. And we're talking to the two governments that will be critical in any kind of cease-fire. That's the Israeli government and the Lebanese governments. We, in fact, have not dealt with Syria at the highest levels, in terms of President Bush or Secretary Rice, since they assassinated, they helped to assassinate Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Lebanon a year and a half ago. So there's very good reason why Secretary Rice is not going to be going to Damascus on this trip.

S. O'BRIEN: John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., did an interview with Wolf Blitzer yesterday, and he was blunt on where he stands on this conflict. He said, for example, Israel's got a legitimate right, the same thing America is doing, frankly, if we were attacked, to deal with the problem of Hezbollah. He also said that it's -- the argument about a proportional -- disproportionate use of force. He said, I don't even understand what that argument is about. How is it possible to go in and negotiate now at such a tricky and tenuous time, when the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. has made it very clear where the U.S. stands? I mean, clearly, he's not impartial in this debate.

BURNS: Well, thank goodness that the United States has a clear view of this. Back a week ago in St. Petersburg, when the G-8 leaders were together, they all said that Israel has a right to defend itself. Kofi Annan has said that Israel has a right to defend itself. No one is disputing that, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And they've all gone on to say the force is too much. They've all gone on to say the force is too much, and that the Lebanese people are suffering. That's not what John Bolton has said.

BURNS: No one is disputing the fact that Israel has a right to defend itself. What we've got to do now is try to convince Hezbollah to withdraw from Southern Lebanon so that Israel can be secure. What we also have to do -- and you'll see Secretary Rice say this today -- we've got to get more assistance into the civilians in Lebanon. They are the victims of Hezbollah, and we'd like to help the United Nations open humanitarian corridors into Lebanon in the next several days to get food, and water and medical care into the Lebanese civilian population that has suffered so much over the last two weeks.

S. O'BRIEN: What about pressuring Israel into opening up some safe passages? I mean, if you read today's "L.A. Times" article, it talks about some German citizens and some Americans as well, American- Lebanese, civilians who described trying to find a roadway, and that they're being bombed because maybe someone assumes that they're Hezbollah because they're in a car. There are Lebanese citizens, as you well know, who can not leave. Taxi prices out are ridiculously high now. So they stay, even though they're warned. They have nowhere to go.

BURNS: Yes, and so we're trying to work with the Israeli government and the Lebanese government -- and Secretary Rice will be seeing both of them today -- and the United Nations, to agree that there should be certain points where humanitarian aid can come in so that the affected population in Lebanon can be served with the essentials of life that they need. It's a very tragic situation, as you well know, in Lebanon, and we are working to try to open up those corridors.

S. O'BRIEN: Nicholas Burns is the undersecretary of state for political affairs. Nice to see you, sir. Thanks for your time this morning.

BURNS: Thank you very much. Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's throw it right back to Miles, who's in Haifa this morning -- Miles. M. O'BRIEN: Well, even as you were speaking, Soledad, Mr. Burns' boss was speaking with the prime minister of Lebanon, Siniora. They are meeting right now in Beirut at the prime minister's residence. Condoleezza Rice making that stop, not publicly announced in advance. Apparently had been planned for some time, but for obvious security reasons, was not released on the public itinerary. That is where she is beginning her shuttle diplomacy here this afternoon in the Middle East.

Joining us on the line right now is a pool reporter who is with Secretary Rice's delegation, Libby Leist, who is with NBC News.

Libby, if you could step back a minute and give us a sense of how you first came to know about this and how in fact you made it into Beirut today.

LIBBY LEIST, POOL PRODUCER TRAVELING W/RICE: Well, we've been told, Miles, for a couple of days that we would actually be landing in Jerusalem this afternoon, and we thought up until the point where we got on the plane after refueling in Shannon, Ireland, and they said, we're actually going to Beirut. So you know, we learned on the plane on the way here. We were told to make no phone calls in Cyprus when we landed there, for security reasons, obviously, and then we hopped onto two Chinook helicopters. Rice was on one and the press corps was the other, and we landed at the U.S. embassy here and were quickly whisked away into a motorcade, and now we're here at the prime minister's office while Rice meets with Prime Minister Siniora -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, well, we should remind people, of course, Beirut International Airport was cratered and is inoperative, cratered by the Israeli Defense Forces, and thus the helicopter ride in.

Give us a sense, did you get any sort of indication on that plane ride as to how long this had been in the Works? was this always part of the plan? Is that your understanding?

LEIST: Well, her adviser's say, Secretary Rice's advisers say, this was something that she wanted to do. It was her idea. So you know, one would assume in the past week or so they started coming up with the travel schedule and she wanted to make a dramatic show of support for the Lebanese people at this difficult time. You know, one of her advisers came back and told us that their intent was to send a dramatic signal that the U.S. was behind them. And you know, one of the objectives of Secretary Rice's visit here today is to try to coordinate means of getting aid into the country as Undersecretary Burns just noted to you, Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and the difficulty, of course, from the U.S. perspective, is the support for Israel can be, as that Israel push continues into Southern Lebanon and the fighting with Hezbollah continues, can be directly at odds with this fledgling democracy of Prime Minister Siniora. The president has specifically stated it's important to nurture that democracy along. How fragile is that government now? LEIST: Well, secretary Rice -- we just came back from upstairs. We listened to a brief photo on when she was with the prime minister and she said, the first thing Secretary Rice said was that the president wanted to send his support to Prime Minister Siniora and to help prop up the government. So that is an indication that the U.S. is concerned about perhaps a weakening government here.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and one of the other concerns, of course, is that the Lebanese government would presume an Israeli incursion in the south to be an attack on all of Lebanon and would join the fight. Has there been much talk about that just yet?

LEIST: Not just yet. Again, we have just done an overnight flight from Washington D.C. and landing here pretty quick. So this week is really just beginning. And again, her main goal here was to pop into Lebanon and to Beirut very quickly, show her support, and we're not going to be here long. We're going to head out and head to Israel. So this week is just beginning with the diplomacy, and Rice has said all along that she is looking for a lasting solution to this problem. So it's obviously something that's going to be discussed in full this week when she meets with the Israelis and with the Arab leaders on Wednesday in Rome.

M. O'BRIEN: Libby Leist, pool reporter who is there at the prime minister's residence in Beirut as the secretary of state makes a publicly unannounced visit, beginning her shuttle diplomacy. Thank you for your time.

This all began nearly a month ago with the kidnapping of a single Israeli soldier south of here in Gaza, and since that time ratcheted up significantly on July 12th, when two other soldiers, border crossing guards, very near to where I stand now, were kidnapped by Hezbollah forces. One of the brothers of one of the kidnapped soldiers is joining us now, the brother of Eldad Regev is with us, Beni Regev.

Good to have you with us. I know this is a difficult time for your family. How are things going so far?

BENI REGEV, BROTHER OF KIDNAPPED SOLDIER: So far we are simply in the dark. We don't know anything about the shape of my brother, if he's alive. We ask for (INAUDIBLE) to give us, to help us to get some flight for my brother and the other kidnapped. We are simply in the dark.

M. O'BRIEN: We talked about the government in Beirut, and the foreign minister just yesterday indicated that he believes your brother is alive and well. That must have been somewhat reassuring. I suspect you'd like to hear and see more?

REGEV: True. He's just saying. It's not -- he didn't give proof, and it's very, by any nation in the world, by the U.N., by the international law, (INAUDIBLE) is the basic thing, that you must give to a prisoner, any prisoner, their prisoner, (INAUDIBLE) jail. They can have a visit from the Red Cross. We hope that my brother will get to see the Red Cross and give us a message or something like that. M. O'BRIEN: Now he and Ehud Goldwasser, who were captured together, were on their last day in the reserves. How does that sit with your family, as you consider their plight right now?

REGEV: The whole thing is very, very difficult. The last day, it's -- we don't think about that like that. It was (INAUDIBLE). He went to the army to serve the country, to defense Israel, so it was a defense mission. It was not attacking the Hezbollah, and right now we are (INAUDIBLE). They all think that (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE) is the only thing we get.

M. O'BRIEN: Final thought here. I know this is hard, but what has happened here is because of your brother's kidnapping, Ehud Goldwasser's kidnapping and previously Gilad Shalit's, has led to war. Is it worth it for just a few?

REGEV: We -- I don't think that you can say that Eldad they set up the fire or something like that. As he said, he was on a defense mission. He's a peaceful man. He loves to read -- mostly peaceful men, and Ehud, he is also a peaceful man. They are not asking for fight. They are not asking for fire. We are not -- it's not a comfort that the Lebanese right now are in suffer, or something like that. We want the fire to stop. We want them to get back. All the family waiting for them. They have little nephews here at home, waiting, asking about them. This is the main thing, we are simple men, we are asking for our brother to come back home.

M. O'BRIEN: Beni Regev, brother of one of the kidnapped soldiers. We wish you well. We wish your family well. And we'll be back with more AMERICAN MORNING after a short break.

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S. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" up next. Hello, Andy.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hi. A group of factory workers look to get even by taking over their company. We'll explain how they plan to do that.

Also, are we ready for this, Soledad? Washers and dryers hooked up to the Internet.

S. O'BRIEN: How would that work?

SERWER: Well, we'll explain.

S. O'BRIEN: Good tease. All right, Andy, thank you very much.

Also ahead this morning, much more on the crisis in the Middle East, as we continue to follow it for you. Is Israel now risking a wider conflict by stepping up its campaign in Lebanon? We're going to check with a top Israeli official. That's ahead.

You're watching a special split edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

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