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CNN International: Hamas Allies Condemn Killing of Senior Leader; Japan Airlines: Jet Was Cleared to Land; Russia Pounds Regions In Eastern Ukraine with Airstrikes; Republican Lawmakers to Tour Southern Border Today. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 03, 2024 - 08:00   ET

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

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London.

Just ahead, a senior Hamas leader was killed in Lebanon. Why that is raising fears of a wider conflict in the region.

Investigators begin their search into what caused a fiery runway collision in Japan.

[08:00:03]

We're live in Tokyo for you.

And the migrant crisis at the U.S. Mexico border is a hot election topic in America. The U.S. House speaker is heading for Texas, and so is CNN. Details, later.

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FOSTER: Well, U.S. -- a U.S. official is telling CNN that Israel carried out a deadly strike in Lebanon that killed a senior Hamas leader. Israel has not claimed responsibility, for Tuesday's attack in Beirut, that killed Saleh al-Arouri.

His death has unleashed a firestorm of condemnation from Hamas allies, including Iran, Houthi rebels and Hezbollah.

And Lebanon's prime minister called the strike a new Israeli crime. All of that is raising fears of potential escalation in fighting in that region.

I want to bring in Elliott Gotkine live from Tel Aviv.

Elliott, take us to exactly what we know.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: What we know is that Saleh al-Arouri was one of the founding members of Hamas's military wing. He was a deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, and as far back as a number of years ago, the U.S. had a bounty on his head, for information leading to him, because of his designation as a terrorist.

So, he was well known. He was a target for Israel, Israel has said Hamas leaders will be targets, and Israel will reach them wherever they are in the world. This is what he said in the wake of the Hamas led massacres of October 7th. So, he certainly had motive. He certainly has the ability to carry out an attack. But for some reason, officially, it's not coming out and saying, yes, it was us that did it.

We have, however, heard from one Danny Danon. He's a close ally of Netanyahu. He's in the prime minister's Likud Party. He's a former Israeli envoy to the United Nations. And he posted on X yesterday, saying that I congratulate the IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad and security services for the targeted killing of Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut. Everyone involved in the massacre of October 7th needs to know that we will get them and close accounts with them.

And those sentiments had been echoed by the head of the Mossad, Israel's equivalent of the CIA today, David Barnea, saying that whoever took part directly or indirectly in part of the October 7th massacres, his blood is on his head. So I think all fingers are pointing to Israel right now.

The big question is what does this mean? If anything, it will impact the war with Hamas in Gaza because it's not like Hamas could not stop fighting Israel, because it's already in the middle of doing that. I think the real fear here is the possibility of escalation between Israel and the Iranian proxy Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Now, Israel, one of Israel's spokesman, Mark Regev, last night, was at pains to point out that whoever did this attack, without saying it was Israel, whoever did this attack wasn't targeting Hezbollah or Lebanon, they were just targeting Hamas, which I suppose was a very unsettle way of saying to Hezbollah, this is not your fight, this is between us and Hamas.

So, in that respect, Israel may be calculating that Hezbollah may not see this as a cause for escalation. And so, for now, the war that isn't yet a full blown war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon will continue. And I suppose there are hopes, not just in Israel, but in the wider region, and internationally, that this will not lead to an escalation, although obviously, we'll have to wait and see, Max.

FOSTER: Yeah, Elliott in Tel Aviv, thank you for that.

Iranian state media reporting that two blasts in the city of Kreminna have killed at least 20 people and injured 50 others. It happened near the grave site of slain military commander Qasem Soleimani, seen here in file video. He was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq four years ago today, and remains a revered figure in Iran. There's no word on who was behind today's blasts.

We're getting a better idea on the conditions during Tuesday's collision at the Tokyo airport. A Japan Airlines passenger jet hit a coast guard plane, burst into flames as it landed. The airline says the jet was cleared to land.

Making matters worse, the in-flight announcement system on the jet malfunctioned during the evacuation, so the crew had to use a megaphone to shout. Several investigations are now underway.

Let's get the latest from Will Ripley in Tokyo. One thing that appears to be emerging is the bravery, professionalism of the crew here.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: During very difficult circumstances, but, of course, the bigger question here as we celebrate the bravery of the crew and diligence of their efforts to evacuate all of the passengers safely, the bigger question is, why did this happen?

And today, Japan's transport ministry here in Tokyo released the official transcripts of the conversations during a crucial four-minute period, from 5:43 p.m. to 5:47 p.m.

These four minutes was the time that the Japan Airlines Flight 516 was making its final descent into Haneda Airport, while at the same time, the Japan coast guard turboprop aircraft was on the runway getting ready for takeoff.

[08:05:05]

Now, the transcripts reveal that the passenger plane was given instructions to proceed with landing on runway C, at the same time, the coast guard plane was told to hold point, that basically needs, stay in place, stay where you are.

The question is, did the aircraft control know where the coast guard aircraft actually was? When they told them to hold point, did they know they were actually on the runway, right in path of this passenger plane?

Also, we are getting some new information, new social media videos from inside the cabin, during those crucial seconds when the evacuation began, take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

RIPLEY: As anyone who's ever experienced a chaotic emergency situation knows, things always seem to go wrong around you. In this case, some of the exit doors weren't working. The communication system inside the plane was not working, children were screaming, people were terrified, and yet those flight attendants, nine in the back, along with three pilots upfront, flight attendants used megaphones, engaged passengers with clear instructions to get to the exits, nobody tried to grab their carry on bags, and the evacuation proceed safely.

One other question that's being asked is why did the pilots of the commercial plane not see that there was an aircraft on the runway, and abort the landing? The visibility was good at the time of this crash. So, that is something else they will be trying to find out from the cockpit voice recorder of that airliner, which is now just a pile of plastic and metal.

They have not been able to locate the cockpit voice recorder as of yet, Max, although on the coast guard plane, they are listening to those audio recordings, but they are missing another crucial piece, that cockpit voice recorder from the Japan Airlines jet.

FOSTER: Will in Tokyo, thank you.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the earthquake that struck Japan on Monday has risen to 73. Search and rescue efforts continuing in central Japan where the 7.5 magnitude earthquake caused extensive damage. The region has seen dozens of aftershocks, and with electricity out in some areas, those in the hard-hit Noto peninsula are shopping in the dark.

Russia has been pounding regions in eastern Ukraine with airstrikes, as the war drags on nearly two years after the full scale invasion. At least two people killed, dozens injured on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday, that Russia launched at least 500 missiles and drones at the Ukrainian territory in the past five days, including a massive bombardment of Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Clare Sebastian has been monitoring all of this.

Ukraine, not taking this lying down either.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think this is -- this is something to remember as we look at the attacks, the air attacks that have escalated over the past few days, is that they on both sides, it is an exchange. And, obviously, we saw on Saturday that there was, Russia blamed on Ukraine on an attack on Belgorod, very deadly, one of the deadliest incidents with Russian civilians in the war, some 25 killed.

Now, those attacks have continued. On Tuesday, the governor of the Belgorod said it was a very intense day, one person is killed, 11 were injured, and these missiles have been shot down mostly, he says it was from shrapnel that someone was killed, another dozen missiles shut down this morning.

So, look, a dozen or so missiles pales obviously in comparison to the 500 drones and missiles that Ukraine claims Russia has fired over the last five days. Does it move the needle? Not necessarily, but it does distract to Russia, perhaps pulling some air defenses away from the front lines, perhaps in attempt to test Russia society support of the war.

But certainly, it does show that Ukraine is sending signals that it is not being cowed by these attacks from Russia, nor the threat of retaliation for these cross border attacks.

FOSTER: And you wonder how -- how long Russia can continue this intensity of attacks?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, we have been trying to figure out the missile stockpile that Russia has, obviously, impossible to know for sure. They have been massively ramping up production and defense spending, what we can find comes from the main director of intelligence, the Ukrainian ministry of defense. They estimate at the beginning of November that Russia had a stockpile of some 870 high precision missiles, which would suggest they have fired 300 as President Zelenskyy has said in the last five years, that's a significant dent.

We didn't know if that number is correct, the replacement rate is also crucial of course, if they continue to do these attacks in October, Ukraine says they produced some 115 missiles. That is a higher replacement rate.

All of this suggests especially as I say, they are ramping up production all of the time, they are able to continue with this strategy, if this is part of the playbook going forward, in the last few days, it suggests it is.

FOSTER: In terms of strategy going ahead, do you see a difference this year? I know it's very early on, but you have speeches from leaders, you have seen how the two sides are reacting?

SEBASTIAN: So, the scale of this aerial assault over the past five days does suggest that this is potentially a new phase.

[08:10:02]

And these are sort of a different sort of aerial assault we saw on the power grid last year, incense they were larger in terms of number of missiles, different types of missiles suggests a sort of renewed effort to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses and take advantage of the hesitation we see from its allies.

We cannot forget that Ukraine was able to avert some 70 of the almost 100 missiles Russia fired on Tuesday, including what Russia calls hypersonic Kinzhal missiles. So, they were still able to use the Western weapons they have to great effect. Obviously, they aren't getting any more from the U.S., as of now.

So, I think the big question is how long can Ukraine last? How long can Russia last?

FOSTER: OK. Clare, thank you.

Happening today in Texas, U.S. House Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson are set to visit the southern border. Let's get a closer look at the surge of migrant crossings.

December saw the largest migrant surge at the southern border in more than two decades, prompting local officials to call for help. But, currently, negotiations for proposed aid packages, tied together with Ukraine and Israel is at a stalemate on Capitol.

Ed Lavandera joins us from Eagle Pass, Texas, wondering whether or not this can unlock those tensions?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Biden administration is already blasting the Republican house speaker for making this visit as a bipartisan group of senators are in Washington, and have spent some time over the holiday break trying to negotiate a border security bill. All of this happening as the backdrop of the -- of CNN getting preliminarily illegal border crossings along the U.S. southern border in December, which topped 225,000, numbers we have not seen in 20 years. But as things go here on the U.S. southern border, there is an ebb and flow, which makes us a very inconsistent thing.

This is an area in Eagle Pass, Max, which has been one of the focal points along the U.S. southern border for this migration crisis. Just a few weeks ago, was filled with thousands and thousands of migrants. It has slow down dramatically in the last week or so.

And, you know, here, where we saw thousands, we don't see many migrants right now. That is happening on the day the House Speaker and a group of more than 50 House Republicans are expected to make this visit. The Biden administration already being frugal, saying this visit is hamstringing, crippling the negotiations that are going on in Washington.

But, the House Republicans are saying, you know, they are trying to get the focus on the border situation here, and hoping to push for some of the strict measures on the border, including expedited removal of migrants as well as perhaps a rollback to some Title 42 era policies, that would make it easier to deport migrants who arrive in the U.S. illegally.

But, you know, it kind of goes to show you, Max, just how incredibly delicate and how incredibly tense these border security bill negotiations will be and the political dynamic, it is something that has very few, if any politicians have been able to overcome in decades.

FOSTER: Is this going to become a defining issue in the election this year, do you think, Ed?

LAVANDERA: Well, Republicans are trying hard to make it one of the defining issues in all of this. Now, whether or not voters agree with that, there's a great deal, especially in Republican circles across the U.S., immigration does rank very high among something that those voters care about, almost all over the country. So, it does resonate with a great deal of people across the U.S., the country.

Now, whether or not the entire electorate, this will be one of the issues they care about the most, still remains to be seen. It is definitely a situation that the Biden administration acknowledges, that they need to focus on, they are pushing for, the problem is Democrats and Republicans are just incredibly far apart on the best way of approaching, dealing with the crisis they have seen on the U.S. southern border.

FOSTER: Ed Lavandera, I really appreciate you from the border there.

Now, the search is on for a new president at Harvard University, after Claudine Gay announced she was stepping down just six months into her tenure, the shorter in Harvard history. It comes after weeks of controversy, including a plagiarism scandal, and after a testing on Capitol Hill about antisemitism on campus, Gay, along with the president of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT gave answers that were widely criticized. Gay is the second Ivy League president to resign after Penn's president, Liz Magill.

Still to come, fears are growing of a possible escalation of fighting in the Middle East after killing of a senior Hamas leader.

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We'll bring you the view from Lebanon.

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FOSTER: We return to our top story now, looking at the potential fallout from the killing of a top Hamas leader in Lebanon. Hezbollah's secretary general set to give a speech later today. The Lebanese group is condemning Tuesdays killing of Saleh al-Arouri. As you may know, Hezbollah is the Middle East's most powerful paramilitary organization.

Meanwhile, a U.S. official tells CNN that Israel carried out the deadly strike, but Israel doesn't claim responsibility. All of this, raising fears of potential escalation in fighting in the region.

CNN's Nada Bashir is watching development in Lebanon. She joins us live in Beirut.

Nada, just tell us a bit more about al-Arouri, what do we know about the strike?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look, Max, we are talking about the number two and Hamas's political bureau, he was considered to be one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigade, which is Hamas's military wing. He is a significant figure in Hamas, this is certainly a significant escalation of what we have seen here.

We have heard from Hamas's political chief yesterday, Ismail Haniyeh. He described this as a cowardly assassination, condemning the strike, pointing the finger squarely at Israel, the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, as well as Lebanese national news agencies also pointing the finger at Israel. The Lebanese news agency reporting, this strike was carried out, an aerial strike they say, with three missiles just last night.

You can see behind me, this building, clearly damaged. We see the authorities still combing through the debris, forensics were here into late last night, combing through the rubble, which spread from about 100 meters. You can see, it was a very precise target, as you can see damage focused on this particular building, that impact was definitely significant.

Now, of course, Israel has neither claimed responsibility nor denied responsibility for the strike. We did hear yesterday from a senior adviser, Prime Benjamin Netanyahu, who told MSBNC that Israel is not claiming responsibility, whoever carried out this strike was clearly not targeting the Lebanese state, crucially, not targeting Hezbollah, but rather precisely targeting Hamas. Important to underscore a number of, of course, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously warned Israel were targets Hamas leaders, not just in Gaza, not just in the occupied West Bank but wherever they might be located.

FOSTER: There are concerns that what happened here could trigger a broader escalation of tensions throughout the region. Just explain where those concerns come from, how realistic you think they are?

BASHIR: Well, this comes after weeks of mounting tensions on Lebanon's southern border between Israeli military and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. This region is an area, which is the Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, and, of course, Saleh al-Arouri was a senior Hamas this enormous figure, close ties with officials in Iran, in particular, close ties with the youth in Iran, and in particular, close ties with officials within Hezbollah.

This has raised concern. He previously had those warning from Hezbollah's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, warning that any strike, any attack on Israel or on Lebanese territory would trigger a response of equal severity on Israeli territory.

There were certainly concerns this could spark an escalation in tensions. We've seen exchanges of fire on the border from the outset of the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel repeatedly carried out strikes on Lebanese territories, in that southern region. In turn, Hezbollah carrying out strikes on Israeli targets across the border. We've seen a number of civilians killed on both sides, including journalists reporting in southern Lebanon.

Of course, we are expecting to hear later today from Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, that speech was scheduled before yesterday's strike, of course, they anticipated he will address this latest attack. All eyes will be waiting to see what he has to say about this.

Of course, there is also mounting concern this could trigger an escalation, more broadly, across the Middle East. We have already heard calls for protests to take place in the occupied West Bank. We have seen was escalated tensions in the red sea with the Houthi as well in Yemen. So, certainly, a huge amount of concern. This could trigger further escalation -- Max.

FOSTER: Okay. Nada in Beirut, thank you.

We'll be back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Let's return to our breaking news story out of Iran. Iranian state media now reporting that two blasts in the city of command have killed at least 73 people, injured 170, happening near the grave site of slain military commander Qassem Soleimani. He was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iran for years to ago today, remains a revered figure in Iran and running state media are calling today's explosions a terror attack.

Utah police say the 17-year-old boy who was a victim of cyber kidnapping has been reunited with his family and is returning to China. The boy and his family were extorted for more than one month, according to investigators, in a plot that cost the family tens of thousands of dollars.

CNN's David Culver reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Found cold, scared, but alive.

Riverdale police in Utah seen here rescuing 17-year-old Kai Zhuang, missing for three days, the Chinese exchange student had trekked this backcountry area, sleeping in this tent, running low on food. With him, several cell phones.

That's how police say virtual captors manipulated and controlled the teen, likely from thousands of miles away. They call it cyber kidnapping.

The cyber kidnappers convinced the victim, under duress, to take photos of themselves that make it appear they are being held captive, and then send the photos to their parents.

In China, Zhuang's parents equally terrified, unable to reach their son, reportedly receiving threatening messages, and contacting his school in Utah.

CASEY WARREN, RIVERDALE CITY, UTAH POLICE CHIEF: The reason why they have him secluded self in the woods, or away from somebody, and everybody in society, is so they can continue to extort as much money as possible.

[08:25:08]

CULVER: In recent months, police across China warning Chinese students in and out of China that these scammers often impersonate officials. They then intimidate the international students with threats of immediate arrest, deportation, and harsh sentencing if they do not cooperate. The police advising students if they get a call like that, hang-up immediately and contact the Chinese embassy or consulate, your teachers and classmates and your school, or the local police.

In November, Shanghai police reported a couple getting a threatening call while on the highway. They could hear their son's cries over the phone. The scammers demanding the equivalent of $70,000.

While on the phone, the couple spotted a police officer at a toll booth, who suspected it was a scam, and stopped the mother just as she was about to transfer the money.

There have been similar cases targeting folks across the U.S. in recent years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I didn't do what he said, he would kill my mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looked exactly like my sister was calling. It was a man's voice on the other end, screaming at me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IF somebody told me that wasn't my wife, I'd say you're lying.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so hard for me to describe to you how real this all sounded.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are in that crisis mode, and you immediately want to try to fix it, which in most cases means money.

CULVER: Police say Zhuang's family did just that, ultimately, transferring the equivalent of roughly $80,000 into Chinese bank accounts. When they found him, officers say Zhuang asked for two things, to talk to his family in China, to be sure they're okay, and to eat a warm cheeseburger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER (on camera): And the FBI is warning these scammers are growing increasingly sophisticated in their techniques because of technology, specifically, A.I.

In some cases, the FBI says they are able to impersonate the voices of your loved ones.

David Culver, CNN, Los Angeles.

FOSTER: Thank you for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London.

"World Sports with Patrick Snell" is up next.

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