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Fears Of A Wider Conflict Escalate As Hezbollah Confirms Leader Killed In Israeli Strike; State Dept. Orders Non-Emergency Personnel And Families To Leave Lebanon; SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 Rocket To ISS; At Least 55 Killed As Floodwaters Ravage The Southeast. At Least 55 Killed as Floodwaters Ravage the Southeast; Hezbollah Confirms Hassan Nasrallah Killed in Israel Strike. Aired 1-2 pm ET

Aired September 28, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:01:24]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington in for Fredricka Whitfield. I want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We're continuing to follow major breaking news out of the Middle East right now. Israel confirming, confirming it carried out another strike just a short time ago on various Hezbollah targets in Beirut.

Our CNN teams are on the ground witnessing smoke rising after an explosion in the city's heavily populated southern suburbs. This latest strike comes just hours after Hezbollah confirmed an Israeli strike on Friday killed its longtime leader and founder, Hassan Nasrallah. A senior Iranian commander was also killed, according to Iran's state media.

The news of Nasrallah's death is being celebrated by senior U.S. officials who call his demise welcome. President Biden issuing a formal public statement only moments ago, calling it, and I'm quoting him now, "a measure of justice." But he's also again calling for de- escalation, with fears growing big time right now about the possibility of a full-scale war breaking out in the Middle East.

Iran's supreme leader saying today, and I'm quoting him now, "all regional resistance forces," end quote, are standing with Hezbollah. Israel has already intercepted a missile launched from Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthi rebels are based.

And this is just coming into CNN right now, the U.S. State Department ordering non-emergency personnel and their families to immediately leave Lebanon amid growing fears that all-out war is imminent.

CNN's Kevin Liptak and CNN's Jomana Karadsheh are tracking all of these late breaking developments for us. Kevin, you're there in Washington, what more is the Biden administration saying about all of this? KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, certainly they're watching all of this very closely with the eye towards a wider conflict opening between Israel and Hezbollah, between Israel and Iran. And certainly that's something that President Biden and all of his top officials very much want to avoid.

And you see that reflected in the statement that we received from President Biden just within the last hour calling the death of Hassan Nasrallah a measure of justice for his victims, which he specified includes Americans, and saying that Hassan Nasrallah and the terror group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror.

The president saying that, "Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means." He says, "It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability."

And just as a reminder, Wolf, the United States had been working to secure a 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border ahead of this strike in Beirut. The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had essentially rejected that. But the U.S. says that it was still continuing to work to try and lower the temperature, to try and ease the tensions, and in their hopes, to try and bring a ceasefire about in Gaza as well.

Of course, the strike certainly would seem to cause greater escalation in the region, and that's something that President Biden is very concerned about. And you see that reflected in the decision from the State Department that we just learned about within the last couple of minutes to order certain employees and their families at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to evacuate Lebanon.

Now, this does stop short of a full embassy evacuation.

[13:05:03]

They aren't going that far yet, but they say that due to the volatile and unpredictable security situation in Beirut, they're asking these people, they're ordering them to leave. And I think that gives you a sense of just how serious the U.S. is taking this situation and how quickly they think that it could deteriorate.

Of course, we have heard from President Biden, from the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, from the Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they think diplomacy is the way to go because they do view a potential war between Israel and Lebanon as very destructive.

And you heard just yesterday from the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, that casualties in that kind of war would exceed those in the war in Gaza. And so they're watching all of this very, very closely. And certainly, they want to lower the temperatures.

BLITZER: So basically, Kevin, and I'm looking at the statement that the State Department released there, they're ordering non-essential U.S. Embassy personnel and their families to immediately leave Lebanon. They're also urging all U.S. citizens right now, all U.S. citizens who may be in Beirut or elsewhere in Lebanon, to immediately leave.

The statement's saying, "Due to the increased volatility following airstrikes within Beirut and the volatile, an unpredictable security situation throughout Lebanon, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Lebanon while commercial options still remain available."

It adds this, "At this time, commercial flights are available, but at reduced capacity. If the security situation worsens, commercial options to depart may become unavailable." And they urge all U.S. citizens to check flight options right now. This is a pretty serious development that's unfolding, Kevin, and it underscores the danger that exists in Lebanon right now.

LIPTAK: Yes. And I think you've been hearing the State Department and American officials sort of ramp up these warnings over the last several weeks, and it's certainly over the last several days as it appeared that an escalation was at hand as those cross-border tensions grew worse and worse.

And I think, you know, what they want to do is to make sure that Americans are able to get out while they're still able to get out. Because already, you've seen today certain commercial air carriers canceling their flights to Beirut.

And there is a certain fear and there is a precedent for these situations to deteriorate very quickly and for a commercial air travel to suddenly very quickly become unavailable for Americans who may want to get out and that leaves the State Department and Washington generally more responsible for trying to get Americans out.

So they want to make sure that as they are able to, that they are able to leave and it does underscore how tense the situation is, how quickly they think that it could deteriorate. But at the same time, they don't think that it's necessarily inevitable. And that's why you see President Biden calling for de-escalation now, calling for renewed diplomacy.

Of course, that large part will depend on what Iran does next and what Hezbollah does next, but it will also depend on Israel and it will depend on the Prime Minister Netanyahu. The United States, at this point, doesn't appear to have a ton of influence with the government of Israel at the moment.

That's part of why you haven't seen President Biden speak with his counterpart, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in over a month, but certainly all sides now calling for diplomacy, and they're watching very closely to see how this will unfold.

BLITZER: Very tense situation indeed. Kevin Liptak, thanks for your reporting. We'll get back to you I'm sure soon. You're working your sources.

I want to go to CNN's Jomana Karadsheh right now. She's joining us live from Beirut. Jomana, the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, now claims it killed a senior Hezbollah intelligence leader in a strike there earlier this morning. What more can you tell us? What else are you learning?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Wolf, these airstrikes have continued now for more than 24 hours these intense, pretty much continuous strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs where you do have the presence of Hezbollah. This is one of the most densely populated parts of the country.

And we have been seeing airstrike after airstrike, which started, of course, yesterday at about 6:00 p.m. local time with that huge airstrikes that we know killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. And since then, the Israeli military made it clear that they are going to continue striking several areas of the southern suburbs late last night.

The Arabic language spokesman for the IDF in a post on X, telling the residents of several neighborhoods that they need to get out of these neighborhoods because they were going to start striking what they said are Hezbollah weapons storage facility.

[13:10:02]

In a short time after that, and it's very hard to know if most people managed to get out of these areas, we saw the Israeli military begin those airstrikes that, as I said, are continuing right now throughout the day and into the night right now. And what we have also seen is this mass exodus of people, not just from these neighborhoods, but from other parts of Beirut's southern suburbs.

And in the last hour or so, we are again seeing the spokesman for the IDF in a post on X again, saying he's issued a warning to the residents of Lebanon, especially those in the Beqaa region, the southern suburbs of Beirut in southern Lebanon. If you are near Hezbollah property, combat equipment, interest or other facilities belonging to it for your safety and the safety of your families, we ask you to stay away from these areas and not return.

I mean, this is, first of all, Wolf, people would not really know if they are near these Hezbollah facilities. And the second thing here is this is addressed to the people of Lebanon. So you can imagine if we saw so much fear, panic that led to a mass exodus of people from the southern suburbs yesterday, what is this going to cause right now in this country where people were already absolutely terrified of these airstrikes and of what is coming next.

I mean, in the last 10 days or so, Lebanese officials have told us they have seen the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. It was mostly in southern Lebanon and in the eastern Beqaa region where these airstrikes have been focused. But now you are seeing this expand beyond that here in the capital and beyond.

And in addition to that, you know -- and when we talk about displacement, Wolf, as I mentioned to you last hour, we have seen people sleeping on the streets. Not enough facilities are up and running right now, these schools that have been turned into shelters to accommodate people. So you have families who don't know where to go.

And, you know, this has been blow after blow, I mean, a major blow would not begin to describe what has happened to Hezbollah in the last 24 hours. But as we have heard from Lebanese officials and as we are witnessing here, it is taking its toll as well on the civilian population, on the women and children of Lebanon. And people here really fear that this may not be the end, that this is just the beginning, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, that's an enormous fear that's going on right now. Jomana, we'll get back to you. Stay safe over there in Beirut. Kevin Liptak, thanks very much once again to you. I know you're in Washington.

I want to get some analysis right now on all these breaking news developments in the Middle East. Joining us now is Victoria Coates. She's a former Deputy National Security Adviser and she's Vice President of Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

Victoria, thanks so much for joining us. How do you assess this call for all American citizens, basically, to leave Lebanon right now, this call from the State Department?

VICTORIA COATES, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, good afternoon, Wolf. And I think this is only prudent when you have these very volatile situations to request non-essential personnel evacuate from the embassy compound. And most of your viewers probably don't know this, but the embassy in Beirut is very difficult to secure physically so it is vulnerable. So this is a smart thing to do.

And then to have people take advantage of commercial options while those are still available, then there are also plans for a maritime evacuation to Cyprus that are probably being dusted off and refreshed. So, I think that the State Department is doing exactly what it should do in this situation.

BLITZER: You said earlier today that Israel has created an opportunity right now to break Hezbollah's grip on the people of Lebanon and you suggested that a ceasefire would only serve as a lifeline to that group. We're talking about Hezbollah. What are you suggesting should happen now?

COATES: Well, this has been a remarkable, really, three weeks, but particularly 72 hours, Wolf, where Israel has broken the paradigm, which is that you can go just so far, you can't go any farther, that you're trying to reason with Hezbollah, I mean, over and over again from 1990 on.

The United Nations and the international community have offered Hezbollah deals that they can be politically active if they'll just disarm. You know, this fighting could stop tomorrow if they stopped firing rockets at Israel. If they would do that, Israel would stop. That they don't want to be doing this. And what the other thing we've learned, though, with the elimination of Hassan Nasrallah, is that Israel has really restored its intelligence edge, which was after the catastrophic failure of October 7th, in some question.

[13:15:09]

Well, that's back with a vengeance and the region is on notice that Israel can reach out and touch you wherever you are. So, my hope would be that the people of Lebanon would see this as an opportunity to break this stalemate, to break the grip of Hezbollah on their society, which has turned that beautiful, wonderful country into, you know, a really problematic, almost failed state.

BLITZER: Yes, and I noticed in the President Biden statement, he said that -- he called the Israeli airstrike that wound up killing Hassan Nasrallah, a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians.

And a lot of people don't know the history in Lebanon, that there's been enormous tension, including occasionally bloodshed, between the largely Shia Muslims, who control Hezbollah, and the Sunni Muslims, who are a main part of Lebanon, right?

COATES: Yes. and one other thing that's important to remember that after Nasrallah took over Hezbollah in 1992, he immediately started the plot that was executed in Buenos Aires two years later to blow up the AMIA Jewish center there, killing 80 people. That's in our hemisphere, Wolf, and that was -- we just marked the 30th anniversary of that.

So, yes, Hezbollah is a horrible problem in Lebanon, but it doesn't stay in Lebanon. And they also have designs on Americans and on our region.

BLITZER: Yes. And a lot of people don't realize that a lot of Lebanese Sunni Muslims, mostly Sunni Muslims, have no great love for Hezbollah at all. And I've been to Beirut, I've been to Lebanon, and I've heard that directly. It's a serious problem.

Was Hezbollah directly involved in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut?

COATES: This was just as Hezbollah was coming together. So particularly, the Marine barracks bombing in 1983 was a -- it was a kind of a seminal event for the then nascent Hezbollah. And I've worked on that a fair amount because my old boss Don Rumsfeld was called the day after the bombing on October 23rd to be President Reagan's special envoy for the Middle East and to try to put some kind of stabilization into the situation.

And quite frankly, and he would say this if he were here, he failed. It was not a situation that could be resolved then as Hezbollah started gaining strength. So my hope would be that, you know, after now. 40 plus years of this, that if Israel is seriously degrading Hezbollah to the extent that it can't function as a proper military, that it's degraded to a guerrilla group, that Lebanon, particularly the Sunni, as you said, but also the Christians, Wolf, might see this as their opportunity to say, to Shiite Lebanese, you know, this is over.

That we've got to work together. We've got to reestablish our country. As I said, it's a beautiful country. It could be very prosperous and secure, but not under these circumstances.

BLITZER: Yes, yes, absolutely right.

Victoria Coates, thank you very much for your analysis. We appreciate it very, very much.

And we're going to get back to the unfolding drama that's taking place in the Middle East right now. But there's another major story that's taking place down at Cape Canaveral where SpaceX is hoping to launch its Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station, part of the mission to bring those two stranded astronauts home finally after months and months and months being stranded there.

CNN's Kristin Fisher is joining us right now. Well, actually, before we go to Kristin, let's listen in to see what they're saying.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those nine Merlin (ph) engines now providing 1.7 million pounds of thrust, propelling Falcon 9 and Crew-9 and continuing to get good calls from teams here on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, these incredible views mean we are just a little bit past 30 minutes, or 30 seconds, into our 9th rotational crew mission.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Powers (ph) to level three nominal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Onboard Dragon and Falcon 9 with good callouts from mission control that everything is looking good. With that, Stage 1 is throttling down to pass through Max-Q, which is the period of maximum dynamic pressure on Falcon 9 during ascent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Max-Q.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Confirmation of Max-Q.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vehicle is supersonic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that Falcon 9 is now traveling faster than the speed of sound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage 1 throttle up.

[13:20:13]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stage 1, brother. Stage 1, brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy one, brother. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That call out for one bravo means we're in the second and final abort mode for the first stage and continuing to get good performance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And vac chill is underway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crew is pulling just over two Gs at this point. Next up, we heard the engine chill on the second stage. MVAC engine has begun, and then we will have MECO, or main engine cutoff, where the nine engines on the first stage will cut off ahead of the first and the second stages, and then will separate from one another.

Then, that single Merlin vacuum engine on the second stage will ignite, continue to carry Crew-9's orbit while the first stage begins its journey back to Earth.

Two minutes in and the crew is now traveling over --

BLITZER: All right, this is a very important, very dramatic development indeed. The spacecraft heading to the International Space Station right now for a five-month mission.

Kristin Fisher is joining us on the phone right now. Kristin, clearly one of the major objectives in addition to whatever else they're doing is to eventually bring home these two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, right?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, well, this is essentially a rescue mission of sorts. Although don't tell Boeing that they certainly don't like to look at this mission, Crew-9 mission like that. Inside the dragon capsule that you can see on your screen right now, there's only two astronauts. One NASA astronaut, the commander of this mission, Nick Hague and a Russian cosmonaut.

There are two empty seats. There were two other crew members that have been training with those other two people inside for over a year and a half, but they were kicked off the mission to make room for those Boeing Starliner test pilots, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who's now been up at the International Space Station for about 100 days now.

So those two empty seats inside the capsule right now, definitely a little bit different for SpaceX and NASA, but that is what was needed to do in order to bring Butch and Sunni home in February of 2025. So far, this is looking really good. This was the first time that humans have ever launched from this new launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This mission was delayed first by a hurricane, but they were able to dodge some thunderstorms today, Wolf, and get off the ground.

BLITZER: Yes, let's hope for the best. Let's hope Butch and Suni come home. They've been up there way, way too long. How long have they been up there stranded?

FISHER: Well, they launched in mid-June, so they've been up there for about 100 days now. Remember, this was only supposed to be a roughly eight-day long mission for Butch and Suni. It now is going to turn into an eight-month long mission.

And while they're up there, they've really just assimilated and become a part of the International Space Station crew. And so, what's going to happen is this Dragon spacecraft is going to spend the next 24 hours or so moving through space. It's been going to dock with the International Space Station.

And then the Russian cosmonaut and the NASA astronaut, the commander of this mission will become part of the International Space Station crew. And so, Butch and Suni are going to Behnam conducting scientific experiments, working on maintaining the space station. They've really shifted now from becoming Boeing Starliner test pilots to a part of the International Space Station crew.

BLITZER: And let's hope they come home. They have two empty seats aboard that spacecraft to be able to come home. And let's hope they do come home soon. They've been up there way, way too long.

Kristin Fisher, always helping us on these stories. Thank you very, very much.

And we'll be back in a moment.

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[13:28:38]

BASH: We'll bring you much more of our breaking news coverage of the dramatic developments unfolding in the Middle East. That's coming up in just a moment. But, first, there's another breaking story I hear in the United States. The threat of severe weather is not yet over after Hurricane Helene cut a massive path of destruction across the southeastern U.S. this week.

Our CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the latest developments from the CNN Extreme Weather Center.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More than 36 hours after Helene made landfall, we're still dealing with impacts. More rain continuing to fall across states such as Tennessee as well as Kentucky. When you look at the scope of how much rain has fallen, really very intense amounts from Florida all the way up through North Carolina.

And if we zoom in, you can see some of these areas in this pink purple color here, indicating some of these locations that got more than a foot of rain. And for some of them, it was in a very short period of time. It also makes it a bit more easier to understand why all of these dots that you see here indicate river gauges that are either at or above flood stage.

Some of them even making record crest levels. Others are not even expected to crest until we get to Sunday, meaning, those river levels are going to continue to go up for at least the next several hours. Now, in terms of the forecast going forward, we are still anticipating some rain, the hardest hit areas, especially in western North Carolina and East Tennessee.

Most of these areas likely only up to an extra inch. But at this point, really anything can exacerbate the flooding concerns ongoing there.

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The highest amounts going forward will be a little bit farther north, where we could pick up maybe as much as two or even three inches of rain, and that goes through the day Monday. And that's why, at least for the next 24 hours, so through the day Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday, you still have the potential for additional flooding in some of these areas here, just like I said, for the next several hours.

BLITZER: Our meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, thank you very much for that update. We'll get back to you.

And to our viewers, thanks very much. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We're following major developments. U.S. officials now fear a wider war will result from the death of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. But is it inevitable? We'll ask the Israeli Defense Forces spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, when we come back. We'll be right back.

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[13:35:23]

BLITZER: We're staying on top of the breaking news out of the Middle East. Very significant developments indeed. Israeli Defense Forces are continuing to launch attacks on various Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

CNN teams seeing another huge plume of smoke after a strike earlier today in the Beirut area. These strikes coming after the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah announced an Israeli strike on Friday killed its leader. They confirmed it, Hassan Nasrallah.

I'm joined now by IDF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. Colonel, thanks so much for joining us. The IDF, as you know, says that strike in southern Beirut in that area also killed a senior Hezbollah intelligence leader.

First of all, what more can you tell us about that?

LT. COL. PETER LERNER, IDF SPOKESMAN: Operation New Order, as it's been called, is designed to change the reality on the ground that we've been facing under the control of Hassan Nasrallah for over three decades now.

So what we realized this afternoon was we conducted a strike in line with what we've been fulfilling before the strike against Nasrallah and after, which means taking out, decapitating the major leadership. So this intelligence official, a senior intelligence official, which is part of Hezbollah's intelligence directorate, was taken out. But also, we've conducted, continued to conduct strikes against strategic assets of Hezbollah, such as precision-guided missiles or rocket launchers.

And finally, the third component of our activities throughout the day is holding an interception of those who are actually planning, conducting, or conducting rocket launchers. And so we have been conducting an interception of them, taking them out of the equation.

BLITZER: I know that Israeli military and intelligence officials were saying that they thought they had excellent intelligence where Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was. But how did you actually confirm, I'm just curious, Colonel, how did you actually confirm that the Hezbollah leader was killed in that strike in Beirut?

LERNER: Wolf, we've been conducting and planning for a confrontation with Nasrallah precisely because he was building such a huge arsenal of weapons. They had over 200,000 rockets, missiles, drones. All of these capabilities, they accumulated for one purpose, to go to war with Israel.

So in order to be prepared for that action, Israel, since 2006, has been conducting extensive intelligence surveillance in order to understand the ins and outs of Hezbollah. And indeed, we had revealed the nerve center, the Hezbollah headquarters, where they were convening yesterday together with -- effectively with his Jihad Council, planning to conduct more attacks, more war efforts to try and infiltrate into Israel, perhaps. And this is when we conducted the strike in the course of this operation.

And in the aftermath of that, based on the understanding of what we knew, where he was on the real-time basis, the result of our strikes, we knew what we had conducted and how it would have been conducted. And indeed, of course, based on intelligence in the aftermath that was coming in, we had concluded in the early hours of this morning that indeed he had been killed in the strike. A conclusion that later received the approval also of Hezbollah themselves, that confirmed our understanding of the reality.

BLITZER: Colonel, the IDF has said these Israeli military operations against Hezbollah are meant to degrade and dismantle Hezbollah. Now that Hassan Nasrallah, the leader, is dead, have you achieved your intended goals?

LERNER: They've built over the last 20 years this huge arsenal of wars. So it's not going to be a quick hit and run. It's not going to be an over anytime soon. From our perspective, we will pursue the terrorists, kill them in their steps, and take them out.

You know, as President Biden said in his announcement about the direct strike on Nasrallah, it is justice for all of his victims. This person, this arch-terrorist, left a trail of death, destruction, and devastation in Israel, in the Middle East, and well beyond in the U.S. and Europe as well.

So we're not concerned over him. And indeed, we will continue to make sure that whoever tries to pick up the control over that, whoever tries to lift an arm against Israel, to try and strike against Israel in these actions, we won't allow that to happen. [13:40:08]

So we will continue to push forward. We continue to take out Hezbollah operatives, to take out and destroy their terrorist capabilities, the rockets, the drones, the guided missiles. And indeed, we intend in creating a new order.

BLITZER: I know there are certain restrictions on what you can say publicly, but is it possible, Colonel, that we could see Israeli ground troops move inside Lebanon in the coming days and weeks?

LERNER: Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the IDF Chief of Staff, spoke with the forces, with reserve forces earlier this week, and he spoke to them about that option. Wolf, we need to understand there's a huge amount of different tools that we have in our toolbox. Ground operations is one of them. We are preparing for that if it is required, if we receive the instructions.

And of course, the primary goal with regard to the front with Hezbollah is to restore safety and security, so that 60,000 Israelis that have been evacuated from the front, precisely because of the aggression and actions of Hezbollah, can go home safely and securely. So we will achieve that goal. We're determined to achieve that goal, and we will use all of the tools necessary in order to gain that realization.

BLITZER: Are you concerned at all that Iran could directly get involved?

LERNER: Well, of course, we've seen in the past that Iran has, on one occasion, directly engaged Israel. It didn't work out too good for them from our perspective. We intercepted, together with international allies, of course, the U.S., the U.K., and others, against Iran, because Iran is a bad player.

I would suggest that Iran look very closely how we've dealt with Hamas, the leadership of Hamas, and how, in the last week and a half, we've effectively decapitated Hezbollah from its senior leadership all the way down to the operational and tactical staff.

There is a lot to lose here. I don't think anybody is interested in a further escalation, a broader war, but Israel needs to be prepared for that. We have to take the necessary steps.

As I said, you know, you wouldn't be happy being evacuated from your house because a terrorist organization had fired rockets at your town and forced you to evacuate. You would demand to go back home. 60,000 Israelis are demanding that from the Israeli government. The IDF is instructed to restore that safety and security.

For a year now, we've been trying, through the route of negotiations and diplomacy, that hasn't realized the outcome that is necessary for the people that have been evacuated. And so now we are pushing forward with military force.

BLITZER: IDF Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, thanks so much for joining us.

LERNER: Good day.

BLITZER: And when we come back, the power vacuum inside Hezbollah right now. Who's likely to replace the founder of the largest paramilitary group in the Middle East? Our own Nic Robertson is standing by. He'll join us. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:54]

BLITZER: We're continuing our special coverage of today's top story, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, who led the Iran-backed militant group for more than 30 years, has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Friday. Nasrallah's killing is stoking deep concerns over the possibility, and it's a very real possibility, of a full-scale war igniting throughout the Middle East.

CNN's Chief International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson, is joining us right now. He's live in Tel Aviv.

Nic, first of all, talk to our viewers a little bit about what it means for Hezbollah to be no longer led by Hassan Nasrallah, and do we actually know who is likely to replace him?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It means a massive upheaval and a massive change, which is obviously going to happen because not just the Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, has been removed from the leadership of Hezbollah, but a very significant number of commanders, commanders of the Southern Front, commanders of air forces, drones, missiles. These are the commanders that the IDF has been targeting.

We don't know yet who is going to take over full-time, if you will, from Hassan Nasrallah. His number two, Naim Kassam, is expected to sort of fill in as caretaker Secretary General. And we have an insight into his character. He's a few years older than Nasrallah. He's sort of in his early 70s. And when he was speaking at a funeral for some of those Hezbollah commanders who were killed last week, speaking at a funeral last weekend, he was sounding very sort of aggressive, if you will, that there's a new chapter now, that this is a battle without limits. So he looks like being, because he was the number two to Nasrallah, he looks like being the caretaker Secretary General.

But the person that some people are pointing to that may take over more permanently is the cousin of Nasrallah, much closer to his age, believed to be about 60. Nasrallah was in his mid-60s. And that is Hashem Safieddine.

[13:50:07]

He not only is a cousin of Nasrallah's, but he is also married into the family of very important Iranian military structure, if you will. He is the son-in-law of Qasem Soleimani, remembering that the United States in a drone strike killed Qasem Soleimani early in 2020. He was, Soleimani was the Iranian's number one top overseas forces operative. He was the commander of the Quds Force, of the elite IRGC, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Council.

So not only is Safieddine connected by birth to Nasrallah, he is also connected to their very powerful backers in Iran, who were very important figure in the Iranian structure and Iranian mindset as well. So he could be the person that picks up the reins.

And we don't know what he's like. Is he going to be harder line than Nasrallah? Is he going to take softer views? Nasrallah was very pragmatic. And this is the big question. You know, what is the future leadership of Hezbollah going to be like? And how are they going to act? And of course, that's the million-dollar question at the moment, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we shall see. All right. Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv for us. Thank you very much.

And we'll be right back with more news.

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[13:56:14]

BLITZER: Right now, we're learning more and more about Hurricane Helene's powerful and deadly impact in the United States, as cleanup efforts are underway across the Southeast specifically right now. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp earlier today said Helene spared no one, his words, spared no one.

Seventeen people confirmed dead in the state, including a firefighter, bringing the storm's death toll to 55 across five states. And this comes as a critical dam in eastern Tennessee is no longer in a state of imminent breach. State emergency officials announced at a news conference just in the last hour or so.

CNN's Isabel Rosales is joining us. She's joining us from hard-hit Asheville, North Carolina right now. Isabel, tell our viewers what you're seeing, what you're hearing. How bad is it there?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf. Here in the last 30 minutes or so, I've seen a dramatic increase of activity from first responders. Clearly, they are zoning in on this area now by the Swannanoa River, attempting to clear buildings. And in fact, if we

push in that away, you're going to see a truck right here and first responders with hard hats.

I'm told that that is the FEMA search and rescue team. I saw them just moments ago with these poles searching through the bushes on this area that was completely under floodwaters just yesterday. It appears to me searching for bodies, making sure that there aren't victims, making sure that there aren't people in need of help, and then clearing each building and moving on to a different zone. So they will be doing that. I've seen helicopters too from different first responders and a search and rescue drone as well. This area, of course, very hard hit. Downtown Asheville, not a lot of

damage. You're going to see different spectrums of danger and of risk of what happened here, depending on where you go. Up higher in the mountains, higher elevation, 4,000 feet or so. We're hearing stories of people that are trapped, including a mother of two who's pregnant that we spoke with, who says she has no food. She can't get out. The roads, the narrow roads around the mountain have collapsed. There are bridges that are damaged. She is stranded. We were able to chat with her via text.

Beyond that, here in Asheville, in the Biltmore Village area, business owners, they have a long road ahead of them to recovery. Listen to one business owner I spoke with.

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PATRICK MCNAMARA, OWNED FARM TO HOME MILK: I mean, if you take a look at this mud right here, take a look at this. That was two to three inches of solid (inaudible). And that's not an easy cleanup job.

ROSALES: Do you have any sense of just the monetary loss that is here?

MCNAMARA: I don't even want to think about that right now.

ROSALES: Understood.

MCNAMARA: You know, we -- I mean, the bright side is we've salvaged all of our fleet, which is nice. And nobody's hurt. So it's just how quickly you can rebound from this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And one of the biggest challenges, Wolf, was the fact that we were able to get what for people here is a lack of communication. There's no internet. Cell service is completely out. So people trying to get ahold of loved ones to tell them that they're OK, they're unable to do so. Now going on over 24 hours.

Also water. There's been a significant waterline break here in Asheville so there's no more running water. All of these very, very challenging conditions to try to dig out from Helene.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Isabel Rosales is in Asheville, North Carolina, thank you very much.

And we'll continue our breaking news coverage. Special coverage on the death of Hassan Nasrallah right after a quick break.

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