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Mediators Call for Urgent Talks for a Ceasefire and Hostage Deal; Trump Renews Attacks on Harris and Democrats; Sources: Hezbollah May Strike Israel Independent Of Iran; Alleged Terror Plot Cancels Taylor Swift Concerts In Vienna. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired August 09, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome everyone, I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate your company. This is "CNN Newsroom."

Coming up on the program, mediators call for urgent talks to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. Experts say it's the only way to have peace in the Middle East.

A public meltdown. Team Harris takes jabs at Trump's news conference, which was filled with the usual attacks and lies against his Democratic rivals.

And Swifties unite despite cancellations over possible terror attacks, the latest on the Eras tour investigation.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: The threat of a wider war in the Middle East is sparking a renewed push for an end to the root cause of the current tensions, that is, of course, the war in Gaza. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt are calling for Israel and Hamas to resume ceasefire and hostage talks next week, possibly in Doha or Cairo. Israel says it will send a negotiating team, Hamas has yet to respond.

It's been nearly two weeks since talks in Rome failed. The sponsors of the talks released a joint statement saying in part, quote, "There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It's time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire and implement this agreement."

The U.S. is still pledging to defend Israel from any retaliation from Iran, warning Tehran of serious consequences for its economy and new government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We continue to make clear to Iran that they should not escalate this conflict, they should not take any further escalatory steps, that those steps are not in their interest, they're not in the interest of the wider region and that is a point we will continue to impress in all of our diplomatic engagements in the region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, the Israeli military says at least 25 projectiles were fired from southern Lebanon into Israel within an hour on Thursday. CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lebanon is waiting and waiting and waiting for Hezbollah to strike back at Israel for its assassination last week of the group's top military commander.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed revenge is coming. Officials in Washington have warned it's imminent. The fear is that it won't stop there, that Israel will strike back, setting Lebanon and Israel on a slippery downward slope to all-out war.

Thursday Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant put out a warning on X, formerly Twitter, vowing that Israel will fight back with all its might. Both sides continue to exchange fire along the border, daily clashes that may seem far away to people in cities like here, Beirut.

But Tuesday and Wednesday Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier multiple times over the capital, providing a stark reminder that the calm here is deceptive.

Lebanon's health minister Firass Abiad saying the country's south is already at war, but worse could come.

DR. FIRASS ABIAD, LEBANESE PUBLIC HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): Currently we are in a state of war, and not potential war. I mean, in southern Lebanon there are attacks on a daily basis. There are martyrs and wounded. From the health sector alone there are more than 22 martyrs. And this is contrary to all international norms, laws and treaties that are supposed to abide by the laws of the United Nations. We are currently in a war, but our fear is the expansion and increase of these attacks.

WEDEMAN: The U.S. and others are reportedly frantically trying to head off an escalation. The war in Gaza that has set the region on edge is now entering its 11th month and rages on with no end in sight. The efforts of the would-be peacemakers perhaps too little, too late.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: H.A. Hellyer is a Middle East Studies scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joins me now from Cairo, Egypt. Thanks for doing so, doctor. So how big and perhaps crucially how complex do you think the response will be from Iran and other fronts like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, militia proxies in Iraq and Syria?

[02:05:08]

H.A. HELLYER, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Thank you for having me on your program, Michael. So the reality is, is that none of us really know. I think that there will be a response.

The question is by whom and when. I don't think that anybody can have any doubt about that. The Iranians were -- were quite understandably very taken aback by an assassination on their own territory in Tehran. And of course, it was quite embarrassing because it happened shortly after the inauguration of their president, the new president, obviously.

The -- the Hamas leader was somebody who was right in the heart of Tehran. So there has to be a response in that regard. And of course, Hezbollah are responding to the assassination of one of their top military commanders. So I think that it's inevitable that there will be a response. There have been hints over the last couple of days that Iran might lessen or I don't think forego, but might lessen the response if there were a ceasefire.

And the Iranian regime is not, you know, generally a good actor in the region. But on this particular point, with regards to a ceasefire, I think it's incredibly important irrespective of whatever response comes from Iran or Hezbollah. The region is in a dynamic of escalation. It's a dynamic that only leads to devastating wars and conflicts.

And I think it's incredibly important that we come back from that, that we actively look for a way to deescalate. And that starts and ends with a ceasefire in Gaza. It's a ceasefire that, unfortunately, the Israelis have been loath to jump at. The Israeli press has been awash with reports of how Netanyahu has been sabotaging talks, frankly, for months. And I think that it's actually incredibly annoying and irritating to Washington, D.C. as well.

But alas, they haven't been willing to come out publicly and talk, you know, very bluntly and blatantly about this and also use the leverage that is at D.C.'s hands in order to force a ceasefire to go through.

HOLMES: It is true that all roads in this conflict lead back to Gaza. When it comes to possible retaliation, what do you think the targeting strategy might be for Iran? Presumably they don't want Israeli civilian casualties with the response that that would provoke from Israel. So where might they point their weapons?

HELLYER: So there are many different targets, but here's the thing, Michael. When we talk about -- so what you're describing is, quote- unquote, "a calculated escalation," right? But it's calculated. It's calibrated. And so we can say that we responded, but not so much that the Israelis have to then respond with something even greater. That means that we, you know, so that's the game that people are playing right now. And the Israelis and Hezbollah have been playing that game for the last nine or 10 months now. But here's the reality. There's really no such thing. There's no such

thing as having a perfectly calibrated escalation. When you set things into motion, then the law of unintended consequences comes into play. You can't guarantee that you'll shoot precisely that number of missiles into that particular geographical area and that number of people get killed or injured. There's simply no way to so forensically tighten it in that point. So it could be that they plan to only hit, for example, military targets of a particular type.

And then, you know, something goes wrong because on the way, maybe a rocket misfires or malfunctions and hits. You know, I personally think that's what happened at shams in the Syrian-occupied Golan Heights where a rocket of some sort killed these 12 children, these 12 Syrian children who are under Israeli occupation. I don't think that Hezbollah meant to kill those kids. I'm sure that they were aiming at a more military target. It doesn't make any sense otherwise.

But it's what happened. And I think that we have to be very sort of wide eyed to the fact that unintended consequences in such a deeply tense situation, it can have incredible consequences and ramifications. We've already seen Gaza go through tens of thousands of people killed by the Israelis, the vast majority of whom are civilians. We don't need to see a much wider regional conflict where more and more innocent people die.

HOLMES: I wanted to ask you real quick, with Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, proxies in Syria and Iraq perhaps gearing up for a role in whatever happens while the Israeli military is, of course, fully engaged in Gaza, will Hezbollah perhaps see Israel vulnerable militarily stretched thin? Real quick, if you can.

[02:10:00]

HELLYER: So the fact is, is that if Hezbollah want to launch a wide scale attack in the north, then I think that they would inflict an incredible amount of damage, at least on the north, the north of Israel.

But the question is, does Hezbollah want that precisely for the reasons that you laid out in terms of retaliation? I don't think they do.

So I think that they will retaliate. They will engage in a reprisal. But I think that they will try to calibrate it in order to ensure that, you know, that's the end of the matter.

My concern is that their calibration will prove not to be precise enough, in which case the Israelis will then respond. And then we get into this ongoing cycle and spiral where, again, devastating for everybody involved.

HOLMES: Right. Right. I appreciate the analysis. Dr. H.A. Hellyer in Cairo. Thank you so much.

HELLYER: Thank you. HOLMES: It is shortly after 9 a.m. in Russia's Kursk region on the

border with Ukraine and Russian forces are still trying to repel Ukraine's largest incursion in the more than two year old war.

Russian officials say 66 people have been wounded and the fighting appears to be ongoing. According to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin met with regional leaders and said there would be compensation for those forced to evacuate. Some residents appealing for help on social media rejecting Moscow's claims that the situation is under control. A Ukrainian presidential adviser praising Western allies who said they have no issue with the incursion.

A public meltdown. The Harris campaign taking shots at Donald Trump after his first news conference since the Democratic ticket was announced. Trump's rambling comments were filled with the usual attacks and false claims about Kamala Harris and her running mate. And now the two nominees have agreed to face off on the national stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10th. I'm looking forward to it and hope he shows up.

REPORTER: Are you open to more debates?

HARRIS: I am happy to have that conversation about an additional debate after September 10th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: In Michigan, Harris rallied with union workers while trying to draw a clear contrast with her Republican challenger on labor issues. Her running mate Tim Walz making it clear time is running out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Think about this. 89 wakeups. I've been saying this. 89 days. We can do anything for 89 days. Telling people sleep when you're dead. We got work to do. Right now. Right now. 89 days to make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Trump says he hasn't been campaigning lately because he is, quote, "leading by a lot," although recent polling indicates otherwise. He will hold a rally in Montana on Friday. It's his only one of the week. CNN's Kristen Holmes reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former President Donald Trump gave a very wide-ranging press conference on Thursday, speaking for more than an hour, calling Kamala Harris his now-rival, barely competent, calling her names, attacking Tim Walz, her now- running mate on the Democratic ticket. But he spent a lot of the time really doubling down on this new narrative that we've heard from the Republican Party.

And that was part of why they did this press conference, that Kamala Harris will not sit down for an interview, that she will not take questions from the press. Here's what he said about this.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's not doing any news conference. You know why she's not doing it? Because she can't do a news conference. She doesn't know how to do a news conference. She's not smart enough to do a news conference.

K. HOLMES: And when I talked to campaign officials, they did want a split screen of the fact that Harris has not sat down with reporters, has not answered any of those questions. But there was also some news made out of this press conference, the fact that Donald Trump agreed to three debates with Kamala Harris, one of them being the debate that he had agreed to with President Joe Biden on ABC on September 10th. Of course, he had agreed to that, then reneged. Now he is saying he will, in fact, do that debate.

Harris has not answered about the other two debates that were also proposed by Donald Trump for September. The other thing that was asked of him, partly by me, partly by other reporters, was why he wasn't campaigning more, why his campaign doesn't seem to have changed.

And he said that he didn't need to campaign, that he was leading by so much. But if you talk to his senior officials and advisers, they know that's not the case. They know that there's been a change in this ticket and in this race, given the enthusiasm we now see around Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the enthusiasm that is there that wasn't there for President Joe Biden. But clearly, Donald Trump getting under his skin, what he is seeing on the other side here with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, part of that being the crowd size.

He said there wasn't that much enthusiasm on that side when he was asked about the fact that there was all -- there was more bigger events for Harris than we had seen for Joe Biden. He instead lashed out at the media, saying the media inflated her numbers and downplayed his numbers.

[02:15:07]

The one thing is clear, he was out there, he was talking to reporters and he is definitely on the offensive right now as we are heading closer and closer to November.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Joining me now from Mountain View, California, is Republican strategist Lanhee Chen. He's a fellow at the Stanford University's Hoover Institution and also served as policy director for former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Good to see you. Trump could have used the time to outline, you know, cohesive policy plans, talk about issues. But as usual, it was rambling, it was grievance, it was scare tactics, complaints and lies, to be frank. Missed opportunity or is this just how his campaign is and will be?

LANHEE CHEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST AND FORMER MITT ROMNEY POLICY DIRECTOR: Well, the contrast between this press conference and what we saw out of the Trump campaign, let's say, for example, leading into the Republican National Convention could not be more different. So what you saw going into that convention and really even coming out of it was a pretty disciplined campaign. We did not see former President Trump out there doing these freewheeling press conferences. We saw a very disciplined message.

And really what you saw today was a reversion to the mean, as I would say. It's sort of what we've come to know and expect from President Trump in the way that he campaigns. And so I think that what you saw was a little bit of a lack of focus. I think you saw a lot of different issues being addressed in the press conference.

And this is nothing new for people who followed American politics and Donald Trump. I think the question is, how does something like this play in this totally new environment where he's not going up against Joe Biden? He's going up against Kamala Harris, somebody who brings a different kind of energy to the race. I think that question will play out over these next several weeks.

HOLMES: Yeah. Speak to him trying to figure out more about how to response to the ticket. Harris-Walz and his struggle to appeal to moderate or undecided voters. I mean, saying stuff like Walz will unleash hell on earth, that might play well with MAGA. But can that approach work with the independents or undecideds who may well swing the election?

CHEN: Well, that's an interesting question. I think the Trump campaign's theory of the case right now, the theory about how they win this election is they believe they're going to go out and find a bunch of voters who are much more episodic, do not participate in politics often, and they're going to motivate them. These are people who probably are working class, White voters. These are voters who reliably voted Democrat for many, many years, who probably in 2016 voted for Trump, thought about voting for him, if not voted for him in 2020.

And they're counting on this group of people. It's not the MAGA base, to be clear. This is a different group of voters that they believe they can get to and motivate and bring out for this election who probably didn't vote in the midterm elections, would not vote if Donald Trump were not on the ballot.

And that's their theory. They need to figure out how to motivate those voters. Now, the reality is those voters may not be enough to get Trump across the finish line against Kamala Harris. They were enough to get him across the finish line against Joe Biden.

But this race is different now. So they're going to have to figure out if that theory still holds. And today's press conference probably spoke to those voters. It did not speak to the kind of typical suburban women voter that would be the traditional independent constituency that swings American elections.

HOLMES: I heard a Republican strategist on CNN actually after the news conference. And, you know, when asked about the lies that were told, essentially said, you know, people expect that from Trump. It's baked in. But how dangerous is that attitude? The oh, it's just Trump being Trump attitude, getting a free pass that others like Kamala Harris, for example, would not get normalizing what's normal.

CHEN: Well, and this is part of the problem we have, is that we've seen the same kind of roughly the same kind of performance since 2016.

And as a result, I do think whether we think it's right or not, that has been normalized. Now, whose job is it to call that out? Whose job is it to run an aggressive campaign? It's the Harris-Walz ticket campaign. It is their job now to prosecute the case against Donald Trump. And it's going to be up to them to see if they can run an effective campaign.

Remember, one of the challenges that we have had in this cycle so far is that Joe Biden and his team, they weren't running that kind of campaign. They were running a campaign to try and have Biden in some ways float above this, to look as though he was above the kind of conflict that this kind of engagement requires.

Clearly, Kamala Harris and Governor Walz, they're pushing this very differently. They're not going to have any trouble at all calling out Donald Trump. So I think this race is going to change. The dynamic of the race is going to change. And frankly, the responsibility for calling these things out does shift to the Democratic ticket.

[02:20:04]

HOLMES: Good point. I want to ask you this, too. Former Trump official Anthony Scaramucci said after the news conference that Trump looked and sounded scared. Would you agree with that? How worried do you think the campaign is about the momentum, about the numbers that are shifting?

CHEN: Well, they're projecting a lot of confidence publicly. I guess my perspective would be no campaign likes to be thrown a curveball. No campaign likes to have to deal with something that you have not had to deal with previously. From my experience on four presidential campaigns, I'll tell you, it is difficult when things happen that you didn't expect.

But the question now becomes how they'll adapt. They've got some professionals on that team who are very, very good, who have run a lot of campaigns before, who understand what it's going to take to get Donald Trump across that finish line to victory in November.

So we'll see how they respond and react. But there's no question they would have preferred the campaign as it was prior to whatever it was, 10 days, two weeks ago to the campaign they have now. Nobody likes that kind of change.

HOLMES: Well, fascinating. Lanhee Chen, I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

CHEN: Thank you.

HOLMES: Special counsel Jack Smith's office wants more time to prepare the case against Donald Trump in connection with the 2020 election subversion allegations in the wake of the Supreme Court's sweeping decision on presidential immunity. The prosecutors say they need more time to figure out how to proceed. A delay would mean any further action in the case could take place only in September at the earliest, a short time, of course, before the presidential election. A source said Trump's defense is happy to provide that extra time.

A new era in Bangladesh marked with jubilation and profound loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SINGDO, MAKDO'S BROTHER: People will forget him after some days. I cannot forget him because he is with my face, he is with my soul and he is with my body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: We'll hear from families who lost loved ones in the protests that ultimately toppled the government. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: U.S. stocks surged on Thursday after new jobs data erased, eased fears, rather, about the economy. You can see their green arrows across the board. First time unemployment claims fell last week to just over 230,000. The Dow gained nearly 700 points or 1.8 percent. The S&P rose 2.3 percent, its best day of the year after all those dips over the last week or two. And the Nasdaq composite added nearly 3 percent, its best day since February. The market is bouncing around.

[02:24:55]

Farmers are blocking a major highway in central Mexico, demanding overdue compensation from the government. The protest has left hundreds stranded in their vehicles for more than 40 hours. Traffic was allowed to pass for two hours on Wednesday before farmers resumed the blockade. The farmers want the government to pay them for land expropriated 60 years ago to build that very highway.

Well, it is the start of a new era in Bangladesh. The country's interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, was officially sworn in on Thursday. Yunus is a longtime critic of the former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country Monday after weeks of violent protests that left some 300 people dead.

Our Anna Coren spoke with family members who lost loved ones in the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the searing afternoon heat, tear gas hanging thickly in the air, 25-year-old Makdo hands out bottles of water. Does anyone need water? Water, brother, water.

The math graduate doing his MBA had been watching the protests on the streets of Dhaka Grove and decided he, too, wanted to play a role by helping fellow students.

But 15 minutes after this video was filmed, Makdo was shot in the head. His identical twin, Singdo, raced to the hospital, but Makdo was already dead. A small birthmark beneath his right eye was the only way people could tell them apart.

SINGDO: I'm watching him and I can see that he's sleeping the way he always sleep. I didn't have any realization in my whole body. I just hugged him and I cried for almost 30 minutes.

COREN: He is your twin. He is part of you.

SINGDO: He was not only my brother, he was my best friend. People will forget him after some days. I cannot forget him because he is with my face, he is with my soul and he is with my body.

COREN (voice-over): Makdo's death was a tipping point for the student- led protests that began early July over a quota system that gave preferential treatment in government jobs.

But the brutal and deadly crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to extinguish the protests backfired, igniting a firestorm of pent-up anger, frustration and defiance by a population tired of her increasingly authoritarian rule.

FARAH PORSHIA, PROTESTER: Anybody of my age, we have never been able to vote in a diplomatic manner. We have never attended an election because we have never given the right. We have never had a choice. There was no alternative.

COREN (voice-over): But for the Prime Minister, whose father founded Bangladesh, her 15-year iron rule had come to an end. As tens of thousands marched towards her residence calling for her resignation, Hasina boarded a helicopter and fled to neighboring India.

Jubilation was short-lived before Bangladesh descended into lawlessness. Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed Yunus has returned to Dhaka to set up an interim government, appealing for calm and an end to the violence.

But that's cold comfort for the mother of 13-year-old Mubarak. His TikTok videos is all she has left.

Oh God, there is so much pain in my heart, she weighs. But as one of the hundreds reportedly killed over the past month, his father believes his death will not be in vain.

My son has been martyred for this movement, he explains. This is for all people, for the future of Bangladesh. Anna Coren, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Still to come on the program, what we're learning about Hezbollah's plan of attack as Israel braces for a new government. Their retaliation, that's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:54]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: While the Middle East remains on edge anticipating a possible Iranian retaliation, Iran's largest and most powerful proxy group in the region could be an even bigger threat. Sources telling CNN that Hezbollah may strike Israel, independent of whatever Iran decides to do after the recent assassinations of senior Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.

The Lebanon-based militant group is moving faster than Iran in its planning and is looking to strike Israel possibly without notice in the coming days.

Israel and Hezbollah continue meanwhile, to exchange attacks across the Lebanon border.

Seth Jones is the senior vice president at the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He joins me now.

There's been reports that Hezbollah could strike Israel independently of Iran. How likely use unilateral action, what influence also does Iran have over Hezbollah and its decision-making?

SETH JONES, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, I don't think Hezbollah would conduct independent action without coordinating with Iran. Iran certainly suffered the attack on its soil against a senior Hamas leader, as well Hezbollah suffering attack against for Fu'ad Shukr, recently, one of its commanders in Lebanon.

So both Iran and Hezbollah have an incentive and all the indications are preparing for a response against Israel. But every indication is that has Hezbollah and Iran are at least talking to each other about how they're going to respond.

HOLMES: Right.

The Hezbollah leader, Nasrallah, he's made, you know, not unsurprisingly defined and threatening statements, but what do you think is his base appetite is for a broader conflict?

JONES: Well, I think Nasrallah has indicated and I take him at his word that he does want to respond. They want it to be a serious response against Israel but they don't want it to be a response that will trigger all-out war. What we've seen on the Israel-Lebanon border between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces really are thousands of attacks since October 7.

These are mostly small arms fire, some standoff weapons. So anything though that goes into a 2006 style war, would probably not be in Nasrallah is interest because parts of Lebanon would burn and burn badly.

HOLMES: Yeah, you co-wrote an article in foreign policy which was a fascinating read and I just want to read from part of it. You said, quote, if the conflict broadens, Hezbollah's massive rocket and missile arsenal and hardened military forces would pose a major threat to Israel with the disruption likely to be far more massive than Israel has experienced in decades, even including the October 7th attack. So what then broadly is Hezbollah's military capability if it wanted to, if not go all out, make a real statement in terms of doing damage in Israel?

[02:35:06]

JONES: Yeah, it's a great question. I think it's important to note that Hezbollah poses a much different and frankly more significant threat than Hamas to Israel. Hezbollah has a much larger arsenal of missiles and rockets including some Fateh-110 ballistic missiles that are guided which have the ability to strike targets throughout Israel, somewhere between 120,000, and 200,000.

In addition, Hezbollah has some battle-hardened capabilities they deployed to Syria, beginning around 2014 to aid the Assad regime and trying to retake territory from the Islamic State and other groups. So they've been involved in recent combat.

I mean, Israel is a major, major country, has a serious military but it has blood does pose a serious threat if Israel were to send its forces north into southern Lebanon.

HOLMES: Yeah, yeah, all roads in this current outbreak of, you know, assassinations and tit-for-tat, be at Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and elsewhere. All of it goes back to what Israel's doing in Gaza. Would -- would a ceasefire agreement there have impact on these tensions, or has that horse bolted?

JONES: No. I think at the moment, the tensions with Hezbollah are really over the use of territory south of the Litani River and north of what's called the blue line along Israel's northern border. You know, the tensions around Gaza go back to October 7th. And the attacks that were perpetrated against kibbutzim on the Israeli side of the border. So, there could be frankly ceasefire discussions actions in Gaza, and the tensions would still be significant along Israel's northern border.

They're connected in some ways, but I think they essentially have to be resolved through different diplomatic channels.

HOLMES: Yeah, fascinating.

Seth Jones, always good to get your analysis. Thanks so much.

JONES: Thank you very much.

HOLMES: Well, the concerts might be called off due to an alleged terror plot.

But the Swifties spirit on full display in Vienna on Thursday. How fans made the best of a disappointing situation. That's when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Police in Austria are investigating an alleged terror plot against the Taylor Swift concert series.

The pop star's three scheduled Vienna shows are now canceled after authorities say they uncovered but a plan to attack the concert venue.

[02:40:02]

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three nights of record-breaking teen-ish revelry halted by unprecedented teen horror.

Austrian police Thursday outlined how this 19-year-old man had planned a suicide attack with knives and a bomb doting crowd and the periphery of Taylor Swift's three concerts in Vienna tonight, Friday and Saturday.

Here, where he lived an hour south, police found 21,000 euros fake cash, chemical bomb precursors and detonators, clearing nearly 60 homes in case of a blast, and troublingly, a police car blue light, perhaps meant to ease his vehicle into the crowd so he could attack.

He quit his job two weeks ago, changing his appearance, saying he planned something big.

Another teenager, 17, was detained Thursday, just outside the stadium where police say he'd been hard to work and a third teen, just 15- years-old, was also questioned.

Radicalized online by ISIS, the teenagers are Austrian born.

It left Swift fans 65,000 disappointed per night about as distraught as they can get.

Some in tears, but police very clear about how close they got.

GERHARD KARNER, AUSTRIAN INTERIOR MINISTER: We also have to say more specifically to the current events that major concerts are often a favorite target of Islamist attackers.

WALSH: Echoes of a horrific ISIS bombing in Manchester at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017 that killed 22 fans, after which Swift herself said in 2019, I was completely terrified to go on all this time because I didn't know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months.

Police clear ISIS radicalized the teens online, where they also got their bomb instructions.

OMAR HAIJAWI-PIRCHNER, AUSTRIAN DIRECTOR OF SECURITY SERVICES: We can see that in Austria, we have very young guys that are radicalized due to the fact that they are using online propaganda.

WALSH: The arrest adds to a litany of teen ISIS plots tracks in a landmark study by researchers Peter Neumann. Nearly two thirds of ISIS related arrests in Europe in the past nine months have been of teenagers.

PETER NEUMANN, TERRORISM EXPERT: They may mess up, they may change their mind, but at the end of the day, some of them may actually be quite useful, not least, because they are less suspicious. Who would think of a 13-year-old as a terrorist?

WALSH: Nobody surely, but now the threat is evolving, radicalized online in days and younger.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, spending part of your day with me.

I'm Michael Holmes.

"WORLD SPORT" coming up next. I'll see you tomorrow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)