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CNN Live Saturday

Hezbollah is Launching Dozens of Rockets at Israel; Israeli Miltary Moves Across Lebanon Border in Limited Military Action; Lebanon Reports Hundreds of Civilians Killed and Wounded; First U.S. Marines in Beirut Since Bombing 23 Years Ago

Aired July 22, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This is the scene in the Middle East right now. Hezbollah is launching dozens of rockets at Israel. The latest attacks target towns in the north.
It's all happening as the Israel military keeps up its air and ground attacks on Lebanon. Good afternoon from the CNN center in Atlanta. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. It's 2:00 p.m. here in Atlanta and 9:00 p.m. in parts of the Middle East, including Israel and Lebanon. We have CNN reporters across the Middle East, providing constant updates as the crisis there unfolds. Let's check in right now with Randi Kaye at the update desk -- Randi?

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Fred. I'm at the CNN International desk where we are monitoring all the feeds, getting all the very latest information coming to us from the Middle East. We have our international experts here working the phones, watching the feeds, as they come in. We're working -- feeds coming in from at least ten different sources, ten different networks in that region. We'll bring you the very latest. When we get it, you'll get it -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Randi.

This is what we know right now. Israeli Defense Forces exchanged fire with Hezbollah guerillas today in a Lebanese border village. Israeli tanks and soldiers moved across the border this morning, but officials say it was a limited action, not the beginning of a major ground invasion. Hezbollah rocket fire continued to rain down on northern Israel. Several injuries were reported there, but no deaths.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making final preparations for her trip to the Middle East tomorrow. President Bush says she'll focus on strategies to confront Hezbollah, as well as to confront two countries Mr. Bush accuses of helping Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.

Israel says there are no plans for a full-scale ground invasion into Lebanon, but Israeli tanks are now rolling across the border. Our Paula Newton is watching events unfold from the small Israeli town of Metula -- Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. We were there watching those Israeli tanks, APCs, and armored bulldozers do their work in southern Lebanon today. That is in Maroun al-Ras. We can now confirm the Israeli Defense Forces claim they have cleansed that village, in their words of Hezbollah militants.

There was quite a firefight there in the last couple of days, and even today, there were two Katyushas fired at the Israeli post. And, plus, one soldier was lightly injured from machine gun fire. They are now saying that they, at that village, will hold their position.

What they did was they went in for these pinpoint attacks because it just wasn't working from the air. There were too many bunkers, camouflage that Hezbollah has been setting up for years now. And they want to go in, do some reconnaissance, do some pinpoints attacks, call in more air strikes, and continue to shell those locations.

And Israeli commanders tell us that, indeed, there are several villages, maybe as many as ten, that they want to go into in exactly this manner and try and hold. And they say they will hold it until it can be turned over at least to a multi-national force or later on, the Lebanese army, so that Hezbollah cannot again fire at their soldiers just across the border in Israel -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And so, Paula, while the IDF is reporting that they have cleansed the village of Hezbollah militants, is there any truth to what Hezbollah is reporting, that it fired upon and destroyed three Israeli tanks in that same town?

NEWTOWN: The Israeli army has not categorically denied that to us. They have told us that they have no information that there is anything wrong with any tanks. The tanks we saw were not even encountering any mortar rounds from Hezbollah. Like I said, there was some machine gun fire, and then two Katyushas that landed very closely.

Again, those Katyushas not very easy to pinpoint or target. But we didn't have any -- we didn't see anything. We still don't have any information from the Israeli army that three tanks were taken out there -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: In the meantime, what does the town of Metula look like to you?

NEWTON: Well, here in Metula, things are fairly quiet today. Over there in Avivim, it is completely deserted, and there were only a few civilians around to kind of protect the town. More importantly, people in Maroun al-Ra, there still are sill civilians there. We saw at least one woman come off the hill for treatment in Israel, of all things, because she was wounded by shrapnel from an Israeli shell.

The problem here, Fredricka, as we've been hearing from our correspondents in southern Lebanon, it's very difficult to leave these villages. And Israel has said they will continue to bombard them from the air and on the ground -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Paula Newton in Metula -- thank you so much -- Israel.

Air ride sirens are sounding all across northern Israel. Towns along the border have been under a barrage of Hezbollah rocket attacks. A few exploded in the port city of Haifa, and that's where we find our Fionnuala Sweeney -- Fionnuala?

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, yes, indeed. It's just after 9:00 at night here in Israel, and there tends to be a kind of routine to these rockets. And that's why we may not know when they're going to be fired. They tend to happen only during daylight hours because it is far easier for the Israeli military to track them.

Now, in the town of Safed (ph) in northern Israel, there have been two people injured when there was a barrage of rocket attacks. And about 20 minutes from here in the adjoining towns of Carmel and Nahariya, ten people have been injured in a barrage of rocket attacks.

And here in Haifa, there were nine air raid soundings during the day. We saw seven Katyusha rockets land at one point in an open area, and no injuries reported.

But it is very clear that the -- at the end of day 11 of this conflict, there is still no letup in the Hezbollah's ability to strike and throw rockets into northern Israel. So it's still quite tense here in Haifa, and indeed, throughout northern Israel as you have been hearing from Paula Newton.

Fredrick, back to you.

WHITFIELD: And so, Fionnuala, has it been fairly hit or miss, as a lack of better wording? When people hear the sirens, it doesn't necessarily guarantee that they've been seeing these rockets make land fall in their communities there.

SWEENEY: Well, you know, there's some argument about that. I mean, what is happening on the southern Lebanese border is that when these rockets are fired, there tends to be not fired just at one city or town, but at several cities and towns across the whole band of northern Israel.

But what happens is, when the air raid sirens go off, because these rockets are quite crudely targeted, it's not easy for Hezbollah to exactly pinpoint where they might land. And it is, as you put it, very hit and miss.

But the problem is, of course, if you're hit, it's extremely unfortunate. And so what happens is when the air raid sirens go off, people usually go into the nearest building. If they're in a building, which most buildings are here, with the reinforced room, that's where they tend to go.

Sometimes the rockets lands in the streets; sometime in open areas. And it tends to be what people are congregated that these rockets will hit. I mean, there are 300,000 people living in Haifa, and it is quite a big town. I mean, it's more than a town. It's a small city. So the chances of these rockets hitting people are minimal if they take normal precautions, but as we see, many people have been injured -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right. Fionnuala Sweeney, thanks so much, from Haifa. Israeli war planes continue to unleash attacks on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. CNN's Alessio Vinci is with us now from Beirut.

And what's happening there, Allesio?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, a lot of activity down in the southern part of Lebanon. But also in the northern part of Lebanon we have seen reports today of air strikes targeting especially telecommunication and television antennas.

We understand that television programs have been knocked off the air throughout the northern part of Lebanon, the radio stations such as the LBC, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, Future TV, and the Hezbollah-run al-Manar television.

Several strikes throughout the day, one person, an LBC employee was killed. Two were injured as a result of that air strike. Television pictures showing extensive damage, including firemen trying to contain fire and people trying to dig through the rubble to see if anyone had been caught beneath the crumbling concrete as a result of those attacks.

We also understand that a telephone system has been crippled. No cell phones will work in northern Lebanon these days anymore. As well, we understand that some land lines, so clearly here, Israel trying to isolate also the northern part of the country, especially the part, of course, bordering with Syria.

Israel has long charged that the Hezbollah has been re-supplied by Syria and probably through those roads and those telecommunication means in the northern part of the country. All this, of course, while the fighting continues in the south. We're seeing thousands of people leaving the southern part of Lebanon, driving towards the north.

We're seeing cars with white flags, those conveys carrying civilians, have come several times under repeated attacks by the Israeli military, causing extensive civilian casualties. We also heard that Israel had given the villagers of the southern part of Lebanon a 4:00 p.m. local time deadline to get out, and we are seeing reporters there -- CNN reporters in the region have seen those cars moving towards the north.

Not all of them have arrived here in Beirut, of course. We understand that most of them have found shelter in central Lebanon. And we understand, according to local media, by the way, Fredricka, that the shelters are reserved for the women and children. The men actually are staying outside of it. So that is an interesting tidbit perhaps from the local media here.

Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. And, Alessio, while the most recent strikes are taking place in the suburbs of Beirut, is there a sense of -- or maybe even a false sense of security there in downtown Beirut, or Beirut proper, since I'm already hearing a couple of the motorcycles behind you, and there haven't been the strikes to hit that downtown area in a few days?

VINCI: No. The area where we are here has never been hit, and we never came anywhere near a strike. The closest is about, perhaps, three or four miles to my left here.

And those strikes to those communication antennas are up in the northern part of the country. We haven't even heard the explosions here. So today it was a rather quiet day here in Beirut. And, indeed, if you go throughout town, there is at least an appearance of calmness and people going about their business.

Obviously, the southern part of Beirut, that has come under repeated attack. That area is completely isolated. But today, we have not seen any attacks there yet.

WHITFIELD: All right. Alessio Vinci in Beirut. Thank you so much for that update.

Our extensive coverage of the Middle East crisis continues all day then into the night. Beginning at 7:00 Eastern, John Roberts put it in perspective with "THIS WEEK AT WAR." At 8:00, it's "CNN PRESENTS." Anderson Cooper hosts this special look inside Hezbollah. Then Larry King is live at 9:00, followed by a special edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360," live from Beirut at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Will U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice be able to bring about any changes in the Middle East? Coming up, a look at her plans.

And as Israeli troops continue on the attack throughout Lebanon, I'll get the official view from the government on how long the offensive might last, the Israeli government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Those are the latest pictures you're seeing out of Nahariya, Israel, with strikes taking place there earlier today. It is another bloody day in the Middle East. Here's what we know right now. In northern Israel, dozens of rockets have struck the region today, injuring at least two people.

Across the border in Lebanon, Israeli forces are still on the attack, killing at least one person, injuring two others in air strikes on television and telephone transmission towers. And just inside southern Lebanon, Israeli tanks and troops are on the move as part of Israel's pinpoint operation to root out Hezbollah fighters and weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the Middle East tomorrow. First, she'll meet with President Bush and Saudi officials at the White House. Rice was briefed on the crisis by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. She'll go to Israel and the West Bank to talk with the Israeli prime minister and the Palestinian president.

Then it's on to Rome for talks with Arab leaders and European officials, as well. President Bush says Rice's talks with Middle East leaders will focus on putting pressure on Hezbollah and its supporters. In his weekly radio address today, Mr. Bush called Syria a primary sponsor of the militant group Hezbollah. The president says Rice will make it clear that resolving the crisis depends on confronting Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The recent crisis in the region was triggered by the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by the terrorist group Hezbollah and the launch of rockets against Israeli cities. I believe sovereign nations have the right to defend their people from terrorist attack and to take the necessary action to prevent those attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Randi Kaye is monitoring the developments in the Middle East, and she's at the International Update Desk right now. Randi, what do you have?

KAYE: Hello once again, Fred. We have been able to confirm -- CNN now confirming here at the International Desk that Israeli troops have ousted Hezbollah guerillas from the key southern Lebanese town of Maroun al-Ras. We've been watching the video that you're looking at right now throughout the day, as the tanks rolled through there, knocked down the border fence at the U.N. observation post.

Not calling this a full-scale ground invasion, but we are getting word -- and that word coming from Major General Benny Gantz -- confirming that Israeli forces now control this border village. It's just across from the Israeli city of Avivim.

And the major general saying that, in summary, it can be said that the area of Maroun al-Ras that has served as an Hezbollah vantage point over Avivim now serves as an Israeli vantage point. And that is the word, the latest word coming from the Middle East -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: Is there any way of knowing the percentage of the Hezbollah attacks, whether, you know, this was an area that was a pretty predominant launch point?

KAYE: Well, we know that there's been a lot of back and forth going on throughout the day between Hezbollah forces and Israeli forces in that area. This is one of the key southern points of Lebanon that Israel was looking to take over.

It has been serving as a staging ground for attempted Hezbollah attacks. The Katyusha rockets have been coming from this area, just today even being fired into Israel. So it's really a key area, the staging ground, as I mentioned, for these Hezbollah attacks on nearby Israeli border towns, such as Avivim.

WHITFIELD: OK. Randi Kaye, thank you so much.

In Lebanon, the toll is heavy for civilians caught in the crossfire. We'll have a report out of that region in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Images of the exodus of Lebanese refugees heading to the border, looking for safe haven. And now, these images that we're seeing coming across northern Lebanon today, television broadcasts and television, as well as phone transmissions, have been on the blink after Israeli air strikes.

Lebanese Broadcasting Station, LBC, says one of its workers was killed, and two others were wounded in a strike on one of its transmission towers. Lebanon reports hundreds of civilians killed and wounded in the nearly two weeks of fighting now across the southern part of the country. As the dead are buried, many people are picking up and leaving to escape the fighting. Here's CNN's Karl Penhaul.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There no mourners, no memorial service. Just the stench of corpses on this hot Friday afternoon. Israeli warplanes have stopped bombing for a few moments. The sound now is of Lebanese soldiers carrying the dead to their grave.

Backhoes stand ready to cover the coffins. City mayor Posein Husseini tells me all these victims from days of Israeli bombardment were civilians. More dead lie uncollected.

"There are hundreds, 200 or 300 more bodies lying in the villages, but we can't get them because the Israeli planes are bombing," he tells me. Husseini says he has no exact tally of casualties in and around this port city. "How do you think I feel?" he asks me as he walks away to weep in private.

Many are now fleeing after nine days of Israeli air attacks against what Israel says are Hezbollah positions in residential neighborhoods. Israel's marching ground forces less than ten miles to the south, and this town is well within the zone Israel warns civilians must evacuate. These people are heading north.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw death in my own eyes.

PENHAUL: They have no time to share more details. Heading south, an International Red Cross aid convoy arrives. Volunteers unload blankets and rations for 500 people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have enough insurance, a lot of security to come.

PENHAUL: It's the first Red Cross mission, here and a clerk says he has no clear picture yet of the humanitarian situation in south Lebanon. Inside the school that's now an aid center and shelter, I find 2-month-old baby Muhammad covered in blisters and burns.

With hand signs, his father, Ismael Ibrahim (ph) says the family left home a week ago three miles south of here when an Israeli helicopter filed a missile. He says Mohammed's burns were caused by a shower of scorching phosphorus. His wife, Falzi (ph) is still too upset to talk. The Red Cross medic says he can't tell what caused the burns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I have no idea.

PENHAUL: Across the city, the backhoes get to work, scraping earth over the shadows of the living, the remains of the dead. Then the air attacks crank up again. Israeli jets pound Tyre's suburbs. Many people here predict this may be only the beginning of mass burials.

I counted 87 coffins here. And as you can see, the bulldozers are now moving in to cover them with earth, each coffin labeled with a name and a number. In one case, I counted 22 people from a single family. Perhaps, that's why there aren't any relatives here to say their last goodbyes.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Tyre, Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Israeli troops are moving forward on the ground in southern Lebanon. Will they launch a full-scale assault? I'll talk to an Israeli official in a moment. And we'll check in at the president's ranch for the latest on the administration's response to the crisis in the Middle East.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: As we continue our comprehensive coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, here's what we know right now. Israel says it has taken control of a village in southern Lebanon after crossing the border earlier today. Israeli officials say this is not a major ground invasion, just a limited operation to establish a half-mile buffer zone along the Lebanon-Israeli border.

Israel is also keeping up its air strikes inside Lebanon. Several communications tower were hit, disrupting television and phone service in northern Lebanon.

President Bush discussed the Middle East crisis today during a phone call with the Turkish prime minister. The White House says they focused on humanitarian aid and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's scheduled trip to the region, a mission that begins tomorrow.

Israeli troops are moving into an area of southern Lebanon previously controlled by Hezbollah guerillas. Israel says it's creating a buffer zone that I just mentioned. But the move has some wondering if Israel is getting ready to launch a full-scale ground offensive. Brian Todd shows us what an operation like this would look like.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leaflets in Arabic, warning civilians get out of Lebanon's southernmost frontier. An Israeli armored column poised for a possible ground assault that experts say would be a vicious fight.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: The nature of that fight is very up close, it's very personal, it's very complex terrain.

TODD: Former American and Israeli officers, some who have served in the region, say if Israeli forces launch across the border in bulk, their goal will likely be to establish a buffer zone.

COL. GARY ANDERSON, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): The Israelis are likely to advance along one of three axis. Those are the main lines of communications into southern Lebanon. And they'll likely advance to the Litani River, which seems to be the maximum range, of ...

TODD (on camera): Where are we talking about here? There it is.

ANDERSON: ... of -- along this line. That seems to be the maximum range of most of the missiles that are being fired into Israel now.

TODD (voice-over): Retired Marine Colonel Gary Anderson and other experts say Hezbollah has got a mobile, well organized force, numbering anywhere from a thousand to more than 10,000, with rockets, other heavy weaponry, and a web of underground tunnels and bunkers.

ANDERSON: They probably use them to hide the equipment, pop off a round, fire it, and try to get it back underground before an Israeli unmanned aircraft or manned aircraft can get overhead to spot them.

TODD: Hezbollah can also draw the Israelis into close combat, possibly negating the use of airstrikes that might hit friendly forces, all tactics the Israelis can counter with their experience fighting Hezbollah. But once they've taken it, how do they keep the buffer zone secure?

COL. PATRICK LANG (RET.), MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I know the IDF does not want to occupy part of Lebanon again. But they've somehow gotten themselves into a position in which there may be no other choice.

TODD: No other choice except to leave that occupation up to some other entity, possibly a U.N. stabilization force. But analysts say the Israelis aren't likely to trust that outside force more than its own army to keep that buffer zone secure.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Israel's offensive against Hezbollah in south Lebanon could last at least a few more weeks. That's what diplomatic sources are telling CNN. Miri Eisen is a spokeswoman for the Israeli government. She is also a retired colonel with the Israeli military intelligence, and she joins us now from Tel Aviv.

Good to see you, Miri. Well, first let's talk about this village, Maroun al-Ras, Lebanon, where your forces are reporting that they have cleansed the village of Hezbollah. If that is indeed the case, how significant is this in this operation? MIRI EISEN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESWOMAN: You have to try and see for us where we are right now on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Maroun al-Ras is a small village. It wouldn't really be that important, but it happens to be at the top of a hill, and that hill overlooks a large portion of the northern Israeli area, which means that it helps Hezbollah target those civilian targets that they have been firing at over the last already 11 days.

From that hill, they can look in and virtually see some of the million Israelis who are underground in their bomb shelters. For us it was one strategic point to go in and to take over because of the Hezbollah terrorists, but it does not say that we have an intention to invade or to come back into southern Lebanon as we were. We already withdrew and we have no intention, if possible, to go back.

WHITFIELD: Well, how primary of a location do you believe this was for Hezbollah? How often used, how significant was this positioning in your belief, of Hezbollah's presence in this town?

EISEN: It's not just in the town of Maroun al-Ras. It's in all of the towns in southern Lebanon, and that's exactly what Hezbollah did. They took over all of southern Lebanon after we withdrew in 2000. We withdrew, hoping for peace, and what happened is that Hezbollah terrorists came into all of the towns, all of the villages, all along our northern border, coming into there, bringing in the rockets, building up that buildup that I heard your military commentators talking about before.

So for six years, Israel stood when they fired rockets at us, when they tried to cross the border. This time they crossed the border, they kidnapped two servicemen, firing rockets all over the place and enough is enough. We can't go back to the situation where we have these terrorists all along our northern border.

WHITFIELD: So when you say there is no intention to occupy like Israel occupied southern Lebanon for many years -- 18 years -- once before, how is this incursion not to be confused with starting that all over again?

EISEN: I think Israelis are both more mature and understanding, with all of the difficulties that we're in right now. When we went into Lebanon in 1982, we also wanted to have rocket fire far away from northern Israel.

But this time, we actually have a terrorist organization which is part of the Lebanese government, taking the Lebanese government hostage, taking the Lebanese people hostage, using them as shields while they fire into the civilian population of Israel.

We really hope this time to be sure that we don't return to that situation. Hezbollah, Nasrallah, they are puppets of the Iranians, they're supplied by Iran, they get all their weapons from Iran, and we really feel that we can't continue, as we waited over the last six years, for diplomacy to work. We continue having these rockets on our northern border. WHITFIELD: Where is the Israeli government on the plea for some sort of immediate cease-fire for at least humanitarian aid, because whether civilians were intentionally targeted or not, it's very clear that a number of civilians have than killed in this conflict.

EISEN: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, together with the Israeli defense minister has already declared that we opened what we're calling a humanitarian naval passageway from Cyprus to Lebanon to alleviate this problem.

Israel has no desire to make any of a humanitarian disaster, and at least to try to help both the international communities, supplies and to help the Lebanese out. This was already started two days ago and we will continue quietly to help this humanitarian corridor, bring supplies and bring people out of Lebanon.

WHITFIELD: And so, Miri, diplomatic sources are telling us that Israel is prepared to carry on, whether it be the incursions or these attacks, for a number of weeks. Is that your view?

EISEN: I certainly think so. I think one of the amazing sides of what's happening now -- and this is very different from the past -- is that there's any strong backing of the wall-to-wall backing of the Israeli community, of the Israel society, the million people who are in bomb shelters underground up north and all of the Israelis all over.

We feel that enough is enough. We can't live with these rockets on our border. And we have to change the situation.

WHITFIELD: And so what lengths are being made to perhaps avoid civilian casualties?

EISEN: Israel tries as hard as we can to minimize civilian casualties. We mentioned before, I heard the leaflets that we drop. We certainly have also loud speakers telling people to leave.

WHITFIELD: But the numbers are already more than 300.

EISEN: And we try up front to say where we're going to attack. There's no ...

WHITFIELD: But the numbers are already more than 300 and there's a lot of criticism about the asymmetry here so there seems -- it seems that the question is, what kind of concerted efforts are made to try to avoid civilian casualties?

EISEN: There's no question whatsoever that this is a tragedy. This is a war. Right now, Israel is fighting to stop rockets in Israel -- just today, there were 100 rockets fired into Israel. What would you have us do?

Israelis right now have tried for six years the diplomatic route and following the unprovoked attack last week, crossing into Israel, not just kidnapping our two servicemen, opening fire on dozens of Israeli villages. I'm happy that Israelis have been in their bomb shelters and are safer there, but Israelis do not intend in any way to target the civilian community of Lebanon.

WHITFIELD: All right.

EISEN: We feel that, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people.

WHITFIELD: All right. Miri Eisen, spokeswoman for the Israeli government. Thanks so much for joining us from Tel Aviv.

President Bush is monitoring the situation in the Middle East from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. He spoke by phone this morning with Turkey's prime minister about the crisis.

Elaine Quijano joins us now from Crawford with the latest -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Fredricka. Well, that's right. President Bush early this morning did engage in some diplomacy from his ranch here in Texas. The president calling the prime minister of Turkey to discuss the situation in the Middle East, specifically the humanitarian needs of the Lebanese people, but also, of course, the trip schedule to begin tomorrow of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region.

Now this morning in his weekly radio address, President Bush outlined what some of the broad goals of Secretary Rice's trip would be, mainly to make clear to leaders in the region that, in fact, the United States views Hezbollah and its backers, Iran and Syria, as the root causes of the problem.

Now, the secretary will leave for the Middle East tomorrow from Washington. She's going to be traveling to Israel to meet with the Israeli prime minister, also to the West Bank to meet with the Palestinian president. And then she will also be visiting with European and Arab allies at a conference.

One thing we know, she will not be offering up is the idea of an immediate cease-fire. We heard Secretary Rice say yesterday during a State Department briefing that she views that as a possible false promise if, in fact, violence were to flare up again.

Before she leaves for region, the secretary will sit down with President Bush who returns to the White House tomorrow, and they also will be sitting down with Saudi officials at the White House to discuss the latest developments -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Elaine Quijano in Crawford, Texas, thanks so much.

Well, most Americans apparently favor Israel in its fight with Hezbollah, but a recent CNN poll shows most are also opposed to joining the battle. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider has the numbers. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Do Americans want the United States to play an active role in trying to resolve the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah? The answer is clear. No. The public wants us to stay out of it. What about sending U.S. troops as part of an international peace keeping force? That sounds better, but the public is still divided and worried.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The world must deal with Hezbollah, with Syria, and continue to work to isolate Iran.

SCHNEIDER: Only 38 percent of the public approves of the way President Bush is handling the Israeli/Hezbollah crisis. Do Americans believe Israel has gone too far in its military response? No. Fewer than one third of Americans feel that way. Nearly half say Israel's response has been about right or hasn't gone far enough.

Does the public think Israel should continue to take military action until Hezbollah can no longer launch attacks, or seek a cease- fire as soon as possible? They're split, by party, in fact. Most Republicans say Israel should continue to attack until the threat is eliminated. Most Democrats want a cease-fire.

What about the evacuation of Americans in Lebanon? Fifty three percent think the government is handling it well. Some critics have made a comparison to another evacuation.

REP. JOHN DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: It seems to manifest some of the same things that we saw when this administration handled Katrina.

SCHNEIDER: But the public sees a big difference. Last September, 63 percent thought the Katrina evacuation was handled poorly. Only 29 percent feel that way about the Lebanon evacuation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Bill Schneider is part of the best political team on television.

Straight ahead, American marines back in Lebanon decades after one of the most devastating tragedies in U.S. military history. We'll show you how they're making a difference.

Also, we'll get the latest on how the fighting may play out from one of our top military analyst's point of view.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It's another day of bloodshed in the Middle East. Here's what we know right now. In northern Israel, dozens of rockets have struck the region today, injuring at least two people. Across the border in Lebanon, Israeli forces keep up their offensive. At least one person died and two others were injured in air strikes on television and telephone transmission towers. In the U.S., tears and hugs as some of the Americans, fleeing the fighting in Lebanon, return home. This scene at Baltimore Washington International Airport a short time ago.

After 11 days of fighting Hezbollah from the air, Israeli ground troops move into southern Lebanon. Is Israel preparing for an all out ground assault? Joining us by phone to talk about it, CNN military analyst and retired Army Brigadier General James Spider Marks. All right, glad you're able to be with us. Are you seeing a prelude to a major ground invasion?

MARKS: Fred, that's exactly what you see. Israeli forces have shown all the indicators of massing their troops, the heavy armor, their infantry, their artillery certainly is shaping the fight, as they say, and the air strikes continue. So, to maintain the posture of being prepared to go across the border, cross the line of departure, they have yet to pull the trigger in a very short period where you are going to have to back off that posture. You can't maintain this level of high readiness for too long a time or you'll lose your edge.

WHITFIELD: So, is part of the strategy here or the reason why this ground invasion has taken place because by air it's too difficult for any of these war planes to find the bunkers, to try to find any of these artillery warehouses or Hezbollah hideouts from the air?

MARKS: Fred, that's exactly the issue. A lot of the command and control facilities and the bunkers and the labyrinth of tunnels that certainly exist within the Hezbollah controlled zone are pretty deep and are pretty well protected, and certainly Hezbollah has a lot of capability that's above ground and can move. And the only way you can guarantee that you've achieved the level of reduction in the Hezbollah capabilities is to get across the border and to root the Hezbollah out. You always want to try to engage your enemy from a distance, but in order to guarantee that you've achieved the level that you're trying to achieve, a reduction, to achieve those effects, it' going to take ground forces across the border.

WHITFIELD: So the flip side to this is, if Hezbollah has, indeed, these longer range missiles that Israel has talked about being very concerned about, why hasn't Hezbollah used them?

MARKS: Well, they've used certainly the Katyusha and probably the Fajr rockets that get out to about 45 miles. The Zilzal, which goes certainly deeper, there may have been some attrition of the launchers. The rockets may exist, but the launchers may have been atritted (sic) through the air strikes so far.

WHITFIELD: I guess my question is, do you learn as much about them and what they're capable of doing by what they're not actually exercising?

MARKS: Oh, absolutely, Fred. That's a very good point. Routinely during combat, in fact, every moment during combat, you go through what's called a restrike evaluation. You do battle damage assessment of what's already been destroyed. And you determine the effects that you've achieved. And then you make a determination as to whether you have to restrike a target or whether you go to one of the other targets on your list. That includes whether you go after it by air, by artillery or you use ground forces. So, there's a continual evaluation of where your friendly forces are relative to your enemy capabilities.

WHITFIELD: That the Israelis have put themselves in a limited ground warfare kind position, what we understand about Hezbollah's arsenal and capability, would it be able to sustain itself in ground warfare?

MARKS: It would and it would in what is known as asymmetric type of attacks. Those are ambushes, that's the execution of kill tactics, that's drawing small pockets of Israeli forces in to certain restricted areas, and then trying to attrit (sic) them. It's the death of a thousand cuts and you can sustain that for some time. But you won't have the clash of titans. You are not going to see tank battles. What you're going to see is Hezbollah trying to trip the lines of communication and to hit the Israelis from the rear. It would be guerrilla type tactics that I think Hezbollah would try to employ. But bear in mind, Israel knows that terrain, occupied that terrain. They left it six years ago, so certainly the Hezbollah fighters have the upper hand in that they've probably established a number of ambushes in some very difficult barricades and barriers for the advance of the Israeli forces.

WHITFIELD: Brigadier General James Marks. Thank you so much.

MARKS: Thanks Fred.

WHITFIELD:: Straight ahead, American marines back in Lebanon decades after one of the most devastating tragedies in U.S. military history. We will show you how they are making a difference in the evacuation.

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WHITFIELD: With explosions going off, you may think a celebration would be the last think on the minds of people in the Middle East. But one Israeli couple decided they weren't going to let rocket fire stand in the way of their wedding plans, so they slashed the guest list and moved the ceremony to a new and appropriate location, a bomb shelter.

And it has been 23 years since the U.S. Marine Corps pulled out of Lebanon, following the deadly bombing of their barracks in Beirut. Now they are part of the U.S. force being sent into Lebanon to retrieve stranded Americans. Barbara Starr takes us along for this historic trip ashore.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The military never expected to be here, offshore Lebanon, on a mission to rescue thousands of Americans from a war zone that erupted with little warning. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We trust in you that we're going to do the right thing father in heaven.

STARR: A last-minute prayer for success aboard the small boat that is about to land in Beirut. The U.S. marines will land on the beaches of Lebanon 23 years after their Beirut barracks were bombed and 241 marines were killed. In an extraordinary coincidence, many of the marines on this day are part of the same unit that was attacked. Today, they are making history. CNN is along.

SGT. MAJ. ROBERT PITCHFORD, U.S. MARINE CORPS: All the Marines are taught ever since boot camp is the history of the Marine Corps in Lebanon. I don't think it has registered on them yet how important this mission is. I think as time goes on and once they actually see the people ashore and realize the reaction of the people as we come in, I think it will hit home to them how important what they're doing is.

STARR: Forty marines land. They do what marines do. They quickly move, going to get the Americans. This day is all about rescue. The Lebanese army is watching.

(on camera): These marines here today tell us their main job will be to help as many Americans as they can get out of Lebanon. But make no mistake, if trouble breaks out, these marines are ready.

(voice-over): And suddenly, the Americans, trapped for days, emerge, by the hundreds. A human wave, as there always is in war, where the military rescues those who desperately need their help, the elderly, the very young and the Marines carry many of them to safety. The exhaustion, the fear suddenly gives way for one family. Finally safe, after enduring days of bombing.

Protection is everywhere in the face of possible attack by Hezbollah. We are escorted by some of the Navy's biggest guns. On this one run, nearly 400 people are evacuated by small boats to an amphibious war ship just offshore. It will be a long ride to safety. On deck, it is a site no one could have imagined, exhausted Americans wondering what will happen to them next, and marines determined to write a new page in their history in a country that 23 years ago caused them so much pain. Barbara Starr, CNN, off the coast of Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Keep it right here on CNN. Up next, a special hour of coverage on the Middle East crisis. We're continuing the coverage there. We will be right back.

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