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American Morning

Condoleezza Rice Meets With Lebanese Prime Minister, Next Stop Israel; Day 13 of Fighting Between Israel, Hezbollah; Syria's Role in Middle East Crisis

Aired July 24, 2006 - 09:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everybody. I'm Miles O'Brien, reporting live from Haifa, Israel, inside a shelter at the Dan Panorama hotel.
Another air raid siren has just blown almost precisely an hour after the first one of the day. We're taking cover for a period of time. Don't know what is happening outside at the moment.

We do know this: an hour ago a single missile struck north of Haifa, did not hit a building, did not hurt anybody.

Yesterday was an entirely different scene. No less than 14 missiles or Katyusha rockets rained down on this city. Two were killed, dozens were hurt. A tremendous amount of damage as fighting continues to escalate here in the Middle East.

This is a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

Thanks for being with us.

Soledad is joining us from New York -- Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Miles. Thanks.

Good morning to you, and stay safe. We heard that siren going off.

Let's check in with what's happening in the middle of this crisis.

First to Anthony Mills. He's covering Beirut for us.

Anthony, good morning. What's happening there?

ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, about two hours ago, behind me a convoy sped past amid high security and up the hill to my right, into the offices of the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora. That convoy was carrying, of course, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

She's currently meeting with the Lebanese prime minister, and we understand that they are discussing two crucial issues. One, how to get the violence here to stop. And, two, how to get humanitarian aid into Lebanon. On the first front, it's easier said than done. Israel and America have asked Lebanon to stop Hezbollah from firing rockets into Israel. And that's not easy for the Lebanese government to do because they are powerless to take on Hezbollah. In fact, the Lebanese government itself has two Hezbollah ministers within its ranks, and also the Lebanese army is composed, to a significant extent, of Shiite Muslims. Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim party.

The question is, what would those soldiers do if asked to forcibly stop Hezbollah? And the answer is, well, it could disintegrate into civil war.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Anthony Mills for us this morning.

Anthony, thanks for watch things from Beirut.

The next stop after Beirut for the secretary of state is Israel. And that's where CNN's John King is following the story.

Hey, John. Good morning.

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

Secretary Rice will make it here tonight. No formal discussions planned, but she will have dinner with Israel's foreign minister. And then tomorrow discussions with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other top Israeli officials. But U.S. officials say anyone expecting a major diplomatic breakthrough, meaning a cease-fire and end of hostilities from this trip, will go away disappointed.

Secretary Rice will be here, number one, to ask the Israeli to continue what Anthony Mills just highlighted, to keep open the humanitarian corners, to try to get more food, more aid, more medicine up into Lebanon to those who need that help. But she will not be, as many around the world are urging her to do, urging the Israelis to agree to an immediate cease-fire. U.S. officials say that would be counterproductive to Israel's security right now.

So don't look for anything like that. In fact, U.S. officials telling us they think it will be a week, maybe even two weeks before you can have a framework for a cease-fire to take place.

Secretary Rice will be here in Jerusalem for those discussions with the Israeli officials, then she goes on to Rome, where she will see Lebanese officials again, also moderate Arab allies of the United States, European officials as well. It is in Rome that they will try to come up with a framework for a cease-fire, including some form of an international force, but U.S. officials telling us there is no consensus on just how that would work just yet.

So, again, difficult diplomacy for the secretary first in Beirut, then here in Jerusalem, then on to Rome. And, Soledad, as all this plays out, many are saying, well, if you want to control Hezbollah, why won't the United States talk directly to Syria? But the White House says it simply will not do that right now. It still has significant differences with the Syrian government, does not plan any high level face-to-face communications with the Syrian government. Instead, will ask its Arab allies, like Saudi Arabia, like Egypt, and like Jordan, to convey messages back and forth. The administration says it believes that's the right approach, but there are many critics to that approach -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Clearly a very difficult negotiation ahead, and it's only just getting under way.

John King is in Jerusalem for us this morning.

Thanks, John.

Let's get right back to Miles, who is in Haifa -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad, we're still in the shelter. We just got the all clear. Let's go on out and see what happened.

We have no reports at all yet on what might or might not have happened. We do know this: an hour ago, when we were sent down to the shelter after the siren blared, the single rocket which was fired did no harm whatsoever. As a matter of fact, it landed north of the city.

It didn't hit a building. Didn't hit anybody.

Standing in contrast to what happened yesterday, which was just rockets raining down on this city. The city, as a result today, is virtually a ghost town. There are people here. I'm not saying it's empty, but -- and there goes another siren. We're going to have to go back in.

While I walk in, let's tell our viewers about what's going on to the north. Just north of the border into -- into Lebanon, Israeli defense forces are focusing on what they say is tantamount to the Hezbollah capital in southern -- southern Lebanon. A lot of intense fighting there under way right now. Obviously a very heavily defended spot, if it is in fact a Hezbollah headquarters of some kind.

CNN's Paula Newton is just south of the border into Lebanon. And she has been watching this all unfold -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fighting continues. Explosions, grenades, mortars, they are not exactly sure what Hezbollah is firing at them at this point, but they continue to fight in.

We can say that those Israeli ground troops are now getting ready for an even larger ground offensive in Bint Jubail. They have met so much resistance from Hezbollah, Miles. We know that casualties continue to show up at the hospital on the hour. Some of them seriously wounded. In the meantime, Miles, we saw a helicopter crash. It had just gone into southern Israel to have some backup, throw in a missile to help with some of the Hezbollah posts there. When it was coming back in it was forced to make a landing. It landed on an electrical pole, and then it was quite an inferno, unfortunately.

Two soldiers were evacuated from that location. And we continue to see those explosions. There were flares and ammunitions exploding everywhere.

It's a tough day out here, Miles, for those Israeli troops. They were prepared for it. They knew that Hezbollah would continue to show strong resistance, because the Israeli army says that Bint Jubail, where that fight is going on right now, they call it the terror capital of Hezbollah.

They believe that in the last six years they have built that city up, or that town up, really, to contain tunnels, bunkers, caves that have a huge cache of their arsenal. And I should add, Miles, that when you continue to come under fire there in Haifa, they haven't gotten to the Hezbollah stronghold where your rockets are flying into right now. They want to try to secure this first, and they will move further west and try to stop those rockets into Haifa.

But, Miles, the Israeli army has already warned Haifa that, look, until we finish the job here and then finish with more airstrikes on that side of the border going west, Haifa is still going to be directly in the line of fire -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Newton, who is reporting to us just south of the border in northern Israel. Just south of the border with Lebanon.

Soledad, we had had a quieter day up to this point. As we -- as I told you earlier, about nine sirens blared yesterday. Two so far today.

It was our understanding, and Israeli defense forces reported going after, a rocket launching site, apparent rocket launching site in Tyre, Lebanon. But clearly, there's still a lot of capability left and Hezbollah continues to fire off those rockets.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles, can I make -- give you two quick questions. First of all, when those sirens go off, less chitchat and get in a little faster. You're making us a little nervous here as we watch that as you do your slow walk and talk.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: It's OK, run. We're good with that.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. All right.

S. O'BRIEN: Number two, how come you're not wearing a flak jacket? I mean, you know...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, here's the thing. S. O'BRIEN: Go ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: First of all, we're very high above the city. And this is a pretty safe spot. And number two, I think I probably would have wilted and fainted by now. So the flak jacket would save me on one account, but would probably kill me at the end of the day because it's so hot out here. So, what I'm doing is, I'm moving as fast as I can for cover whenever I hear that siren, and not wearing the vest because it's just too darn hot.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Well, move faster, OK? We're keeping our eye on you.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

S. O'BRIEN: Faster. Thanks, Miles.

Let's get a look what's happening "Across America" today.

Police are investigating a series of sniper shootings along two major highways in Indiana. One person was killed, another injured when a sniper shot at two pickup trucks in the southern part of the state.

Two other shootings took place northeast of Indianapolis. Nobody was hurt. Police don't know if the shootings are related.

Jury deliberations begin in Houston today in the Andrea Yates retrial. She is pleading innocent by reason of insanity. Yates is charged in three of her five children's drowning deaths. An appeals court overturned her 2002 conviction because of false testimony.

Heat and power problems are plaguing several major cities across the country. The lights slowly coming back on in the St. Louis area after last week's violent storms. But about a quarter-million homes and businesses still without power. Temperatures are expected to be back into the 90s this week. President Bush has approved Missouri's request for federal help.

At least 5,000 customers in New York City are entering the second week without power. There's no word on when the power is going to come back on either. About 26,000 Con Ed customers lost power during last week's heat wave. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is holding a press conference 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. He's going to talk about the situation there.

A blistering heat wave in California to tell you about. It's being blamed for at least four deaths, including a patient at a nursing home who died. Another patient is in critical condition now. More than a hundred residents were evacuated from the Stockton facility yesterday after their AC failed. Police say they're now looking into possible criminal charges.

That brings us right to the forecast and Chad Myers at the CNN Center with an update for us.

Hey, Chad. Good morning again.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.

Look at the heat here in Sacramento. And usually it can be hot in Sacramento, but, you know, we're talking Redding and Chico and places that really don't get all that much heat, especially that far north -- 108 degrees today. It was 112 over the weekend.

And the heat is already on this morning, or let's say the cool never get there is. It's already 95 in Vegas and 91 in Phoenix. And the whole area there, the inland empire, at 95 or above. So you can't even get any relief in the overnight hours from the heat.

Showers and thunderstorms across the great lakes, also across northern Florida this morning. A couple of showers moving into Tallahassee and Gainesville as we speak now this morning.

No airport delays now. We did have Newark for a while with some delays, but otherwise they are back on time, back on schedule -- 82 in Toronto today, 88 in Chicago.

We will have that severe weather possible across the northern great lakes. Some showers across the Deep South. And because it is so humid now -- you think about the southwest and, oh, it's a hot, dry place. Yes, but it's hot and muggy now.

This time it was ugly. And yesterday, heat indexes over 120. In fact, Death Valley without the heat index got to 125.

Portland, you're a little cooler tomorrow. A high of 85. You were over 100 degrees there in the Columbia River Valley, in the gorge.

And you just usually don't get that kind of heat. It was an ugly weekend across the West. Maybe a little bit better this week -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh. Well, let's hope so. That's bad.

MYERS: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thanks for the update.

Much more ton Mideast in just a moment. Hezbollah says it's ready for an all-out ground war, but how does it really stack up against the Israeli forces? We're going to check in with CNN military analyst General David Grange just ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the region. She's in Beirut now. That was an unpublicized stop on her itinerary. It was reported to us after she arrived for security reasons. But one location on her itinerary which we're pretty certain will not pop up surprisingly to the media or to the public would be Damascus, Syria.

Joining us now to talk about Syria's role in this unfolding Middle East crisis is Bashar Ja'afari. He is the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations.

Ambassador Ja'afari, good to have you with us.

Do you wish Condoleezza Rice was traveling to Damascus?

BASHAR JA'AFARI, SYRIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me with you this morning.

Actually, in today's diplomacy you cannot say my way or the highway. You will have to get involved in negotiations with all concerned parties, and anywhere on earth. So you cannot pretend or assume to make peace, once again, a separate peace in the area, regardless of the core issues, which is the Palestinian occupied territories of the Golan, the Syrian Golan, occupied by Israel since 1967, and Shebaa Farms.

So, if Ms. Condoleezza Rice is going there to -- to reiterate once again the same mistakes, I am afraid that will lead nowhere.

M. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this, Ambassador Ja'afari. If Syria were inclined to do it, could it stop the violence on the part of Hezbollah today?

JA'AFARI: The only power now capable of stopping the fire is the American administration, nobody else.

M. O'BRIEN: The Syrians do not have sway with Hezbollah?

JA'AFARI: Hezbollah is a national resistance movement fighting for its -- for the sovereignty of Lebanon, for getting back the occupied Lebanese territories, for getting back 10,000 Arab prisoners in the Israeli jails. These people are fighting the same way George Washington did it 200 years ago.

M. O'BRIEN: George Washington? You're equating this to George Washington?

JA'AFARI: Absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: A lot of people looking at this see a regional dynamic here which is very troubling. You, your government supporting Hezbollah, your government, in turn, receiving support from Iran.

Let's listen to your colleague from the United States, John Bolton, and see what he has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I think the Iranians and the Syrians have engaged in an extensive amount of cooperation in recent weeks and months which has been very troubling. Whether Syria and Iran can be separated is a good question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about that links, your links to Iran, your links to Hezbollah. Are you -- is Syria not fanning the flames?

JA'AFARI: Well, actually, it's not up to the American delegate in the United Nations to determine in advance how Syria should behave in the area. We have our own foreign relationship with anybody -- with all countries all over the world. So it's up to our interest, national interest, to determine with whom we should have alliances and with whom we shouldn't. This is number one.

Number two is that the problem is not the Syrian-Iranian axis, as somebody would like to say. The problem is the American backing of the Israeli aggression against all the area since 1967. Providing Israel with 500 laser-bombed -- laser-guided bombs would mean that the American administration is agreeable to the destruction of Lebanon. This is a green light given to Israel to go ahead with its aggression against Lebanon and to extend the conflict to other countries in the area.

This is why our...

M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Ambassador, there are many people who believe that it is -- in fact, just the opposite could be true, that perhaps your country could in some way lead to a broadening crisis here. Let me ask you this, if the Israelis continue their push into southern Lebanon, where is the red line? At what point will they have gone far enough that it would somehow prompt military action on the part of your government?

JA'AFARI: Syria is not seeking any military confrontation with anybody. Syria is seeking peace, genuine peace in the area, genuine sentiment of the Arab-Israeli conflict. We are not seeking any military confrontation.

Our people are tired of this Israeli -- continuous Israeli aggression. We would like to reach an understanding with the American administration so that the whole peace process would be resumed once again on the basis of the (INAUDIBLE) resolutions 242338 and the Arab (INAUDIBLE) adopted in Beirut it set in 2002.

We are not in favor of opening new fronts -- new military fronts, I mean. Our main demand is to stop the fire, a cease-fire should be declared immediately, and then an exchange of prisoners between Lebanon and Israel. And that's it.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, Mr. Ambassador, would you -- would you play your part by asking Hezbollah to stop sending missiles in the direction of where I stand right now?

JA'AFARI: Hezbollah is defending itself in a very disproportionate way.

M. O'BRIEN: How is aiming -- let me ask you, sir, how is aiming at civilians here in Haifa, how is that defending itself?

JA'AFARI: It's a pity that all civilians are targeted, either in Haifa or elsewhere. We are not favorable to any destruction of civilians or targeting civilians, but please look at the other side.

Look what is happening in Beirut, in Tripoli, in Tyre. Israel is destroying the whole Lebanon. And you are talking about Haifa, about a couple of rockets landing in Haifa from time to time? We are talking about the destruction of the whole country. Have a look at Lebanon, and then you will get to the conclusion.

M. O'BRIEN: OK. But, of course, if you're the family who lost a loved one because of those couple of rockets, it doesn't really matter.

Bashar Ja'afari, the ambassador from Syria to the United Nations.

Thank you for your time, sir.

JA'AFARI: Thank you very much. Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Miles.

Ahead this morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us live. He visit two Beirut hospitals. He says there's one big problem that's not getting the attention it needs. We'll talk about that.

Plus, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland has come out with some of the strongest criticism yet for Israel. We'll talk about that.

A special split edition of AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: The U.N.'s top relief official is condemning the Israeli bombardment. Jan Egeland inspected the destruction firsthand in Beirut yesterday and accused the Israeli Defense Force of violating humanitarian law.

He joins us live from Beirut this morning.

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

You have said that Israel has the right to defend herself. You said that in past interviews. But you've also said that the reaction of Israel is disproportionate.

What response do you think, sir, would be proportionate?

JANE EGELAND, U.N. EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR: What I said in the rubble of the bombardments, which is a Shia suburb where Hezbollah is very strong, I said three things that are totally wrong. Hezbollah's missiles into northern Israel, they are blending into the civilian population, which makes the civilian population very vulnerable. But thirdly, it's wrong to see block after block of apartment houses leveled to the ground, to see so many bridges, so many roads being destroyed so that it's made it impossible to even have relief work.

S. O'BRIEN: But as you point out in your item two of that three- point list, if they are hiding and exploiting essentially the civilians, Hezbollah, how then do you root them out? How -- what is the proportionate response?

EGELAND: What is a proportionate response, of course, is that they go after the military targets only. I don't think that the largest bridge in the Middle East that I saw today was bombed is primarily a military target. I think it's a civilian target. And I also see too many children being -- being maimed and wounded.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you trying to now persuade the Israeli government to open some kind of a safe passage corridor where people who want to get out safely could do so?

EGELAND: Yes, I am indeed having good negotiations through my representatives in Jerusalem now with the Israeli defense forces. They are at the moment saying that we can indeed start with land corridors down south and to the Bekaa Valley.

We already have relief supplies come to Beirut. We are today launching this appeal of $150 million for the Lebanese people. Eight hundred thousand are now displaced or in desperate need for international humanitarian assistance. But, of course, we're also asking for a cessation of hostilities.

Too many civilians are suffering both in northern Israel and all over here in Lebanon.

S. O'BRIEN: The cost of rebuilding in Lebanon is going to be huge. There's no question about that. But there is an argument, if you talk to Israelis, that would say this: by clearing out the hardened Hezbollah positions in the southern part of the country, there's -- there's an upside. The destruction has a value, because the Lebanese military cannot deal -- clearly cannot deal with Hezbollah.

Do you agree with that perspective?

EGELAND: What I agree with is the right of anybody to live in security and anybody to be able to defend themselves. What seems to be excessive now -- and, I mean, it's not me saying it, it's everybody who has traveled to Lebanon, everybody who has traveled here, say that the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the amount of damage to civilian housing, and so on, it's far beyond what we normally see in wars.

It has to be more proportionate. It has to be more targeted to those armed groups. And those armed groups have to be pressurized by the whole national community, including those states who back them, to stop the nonsense that has inflicted so much pain on their own people and on the peoples in both -- on both sides of the border.

S. O'BRIEN: Jan Egeland is the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator.

Thank you so much for talking with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.

EGELAND: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Hezbollah says it welcomes an all-out ground war. Can it really beat back the Israelis, though? We'll take a look at Hezbollah's strengths and weaknesses with a U.S. general just ahead.

Then later, that family we talked -- told you about last week. Look at these happy pictures. Oh, that desperate mother finally reunited with her small children. It's a happy ending.

They are going to join us live in the studio just ahead on this special edition of AMERICAN MORNING.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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