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Hezbollah Claims "Complete Success" In Strikes On Israel; Hezbollah Says 'First Phase' Of Response To Israel Has Ended With 'Complete Success': Israeli Military Striking "Terror Targets In Lebanon"; Israel Conducts Preemptive Strikes Against Hezbollah; IDF: Israel Launches Preemptive Strikes In Lebanon As Hezbollah Is Seen Preparing Missile and Rocket Attack. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 25, 2024 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL, NEW YORK: -- You can go to Doha, Qatar, you can go to Cairo, Egypt, you can email each other and you can WhatsApp each other, but it's going nowhere. So they felt comfortable that they will not be accused of undermining these negotiations, and, ergo, they retaliated.

What people don't understand (inaudible) how many people in Israel, per your previous question is, what is the aim of all this? I mean, what are the political objectives here? OK, they struck, we strike. They struck, we strike back. Where is this going? And the answer is, nowhere.

MICHAEL HOLMES, AUSTRALIAN NEWS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yeah. Always great to get your analysis. Alon Pinkas, appreciate you there.

PINKAS: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: All right, I am Michael Holmes. And we'll have more of our breaking news in just a moment with Ivan Watson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

IVAN WATSON, ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello and welcome, I'm Ivan Watson, we begin with breaking news from the Middle East. Hezbollah is claiming success in what it calls the first phase of its retaliatory strikes on Israel. The militant group says, it has fired some 300 rockets in recent hours as Israel's air defenses worked to shoot them down.

Earlier, Israel said, it struck Hezbollah militants in Lebanon as they were preparing to launch their attacks. Israel says, its strikes are continuing. Hezbollah was responding to the recent killing of its top military commander near Beirut. Israel is accusing the group of endangering Lebanese civilians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: From right next to the homes of Lebanese civilians in the South of Lebanon, we can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians. We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm's way immediately for their own safety. Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah's attacks on our civilians. We are operating in self defense from

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now, we have reporters, of course, on the ground in the region. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Ben Wedeman, joins us live from Beirut, Lebanon. Nic to you, first, the region has been on edge for a month, really, since the Israeli assassination of Fuad Shukr, the Hezbollah Commander, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

And now, it appears we have confirmation that Hezbollah has now begun its retaliation for that attack. Explain to us how this is being received in Israel, how the Israeli military is now retaliating, and give us a sense of the mood on the ground in Tel Aviv.

Well, the military has been postured for a long time, particularly, the Air Force, to counter strike ahead of any perceived threat, and that's what the IDF is saying they did last night. Right now, Israel's security cabinet is still meeting. Right now, you can hear fighter jets in the skies above Tel Aviv.

So, right now, this is still an active ongoing dynamic, I would say, assessment situation by the Israeli military, and politicians here, to consider what Hezbollah has a) done in terms of its attempted missile launches, b) in terms of what the IDF has been able to achieve in its counter strikes, and see, if you will, decide whether or not more counter strikes of the type that Israel said they took last night are necessary.

We know that the Home Front Command here has been put on a heightened state of alert. And the message over the past month or so here has been no change to that Home Front instruction for the civilians of Israel in terms of their preparedness in case of attack. That has changed, and that remains in place, no gatherings of more than 30 people allowed from Tel Aviv all the way to the northern border. The air raid shelters in Haifa have been opened in the north.

One lady was injured by shrapnel in Acre in the north. So, the country is now postured on a much greater sort of readiness, if you will, not just the military, as we've seen over the past month, but for civilians as well, to be aware, and prepared for more incoming strikes. But I think, the point of where everything is at right now will be inside that ongoing security cabinet meeting where they decide Israel's next moves.

WATSON: Well, I'm going to turn now to Ben Wedeman, who is live in Beirut. Ben, can you bring us up-to-date on the announcements that came from Hezbollah this morning what they say they have done? And can you give a sense of what kind of damage may have been inflicted by this announced Israeli pre-emptive series of strikes in southern Lebanon?

[01:05:00]

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ivan, we've seen two statements put out early in the morning from Hezbollah, saying that they have begun the response to the 30th of July killing of Senior Hezbollah Military Commander, Fuad Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut. In their second statement, they said then, in the first phase of their response to that assassination, they conducted 11 strikes focused on Israeli military positions.

And in that statement it said that, that those targets were intentional to allow the passage of drones into the depth of Israel, and that they have passed. So, on the assumption they saying, it's the first phase there, we must assume there is a second phase to the best of -- the best of our knowledge, it hasn't happened yet. Now, the official Lebanese national news agency is reporting the most intense strikes on South Lebanon since the 8th of October, when those cross- border exchanges of fire began.

They say, one Syrian has been has been injured. These are obviously preliminary reports, and we know that there aren't a lot of civilians left in southern Lebanon at this point, more than 100,000 have fled to safer ground further north, and so, we're just waiting to see what happens next. Now, regarding the situation in Beirut, I've seen now four commercial aircraft coming into the airport.

So, it doesn't appear that the airport has in, there's one coming right now, has stopped its operations. But certainly, this is something people have been waiting now for almost four weeks to see how Hezbollah will respond to these to the assassination of Fuad Shukr. What we've seen, certainly, in the last few days, is an intensification of cross-border fire.

Hezbollah has said that yesterday, for instance, it launched 12 strikes on Israeli targets, the day before 15 strikes. So, it's been running on an average of well over 10 for probably the last week, and of course, we have seen also strikes well inside Lebanon by Israeli war planes, two significant ones on what appear to be weapons depots in the Beqaa Valley, one in the central Beqaa Valley, one further north.

Now, the Israelis are saying that they were able to take out launchers in the south of the country. Until now, the strikes are limited to the south. We shall see if they spread further north. But, it's worth noting that Hezbollah's real high value weaponry, its long range precision missiles, are clearly not near the Israeli border. They keep them further away. And it does not appear that, at least today, those facilities that house those high value weapons have not been struck yet. Ivan?

WATSON: It does appear that this is now an escalation, certainly, in rhetoric and in cross-border fire of a border conflict that's been going on, really, for 10 months, since the initial Hamas attacks on Israel out of Gaza, and then, Hezbollah began launching attacks to support Hamas. I want to go to you, Nic, the -- some 320 rockets and missiles that Hezbollah claims to have fired at Israel, are you getting any reports on what kind of damage, any potential casualties as a result of this salvo this morning?

NIC ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR, CNN: Yeah, the IDF is putting the figure a little bit lower than that. They're saying at the moment more than 200 or more than 250, apart from the one civilian injured in Acre in the north from shrapnel, a lady. We're not aware of casualties. However, I think there are a couple of things that we can say here with a small degree of clarity.

The idea -- the Hezbollah target list is 11 military facilities, and many of those have been targeted by Hezbollah in the past. One of the most significant and pertinent to what Hezbollah claimed that it was targeting these particular locations so that it could penetrate its drones and other weapons systems deeper into Israel, one of those targets close to the border is a big air monitoring site where the Israeli Air Force and the defense capabilities have one of their largest areas of monitoring.

That was the number one place on Hezbollah's list. And the IDF, at the moment, are saying it's too soon for them to comment on anything that may have happened at that air base.

[01:10:00]

That is typical of the IDF, they do not rush to either clarify Hezbollah's claims, or rush to put out information about injuries and casualties to soldiers, or rush to put out information about damage to defensive or offensive military equipment, but it is something we can expect an assessment on later, and it's certainly something that will be being factored into that Security Council cabinet at the moment to assess Hezbollah's accuracy and capabilities.

But, I think the other important thing to say here is that these 11 targets, albeit military ones, what will cross a red line for Israel in terms of potential for escalation of response is, if there have been high civilian casualties. Now, Hezbollah is claiming, claiming at the moment that they're only targeting military sites, and that is sort of within the expected red lines of both countries.

However, we don't have a full readout of what's been hit, who's been injured, and the extent of the damage done, from Israel's perspective, if the -- if the damage is, maybe deep, then they may feel the need to take stronger and further preventative action. We saw them over the past couple of days striking when weapons storage facilities quite north in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.

And that seemed to be a sort of slight escalation in Israel's position to strike so deep inside of Lebanon, so far north, not the first time they've done it, but the -- but the video coming that we were receiving of showing secondary explosions at those weapons storage facilities, really did seem to indicate that Israel was intentionally taking out areas or locations that had quite a large amount of Hezbollah munition stored in them.

That alone seemed to signal that they were preparing for a concern that those weapons could be used in the near-term. So, what does that actually mean about where we're at today? This means that Israel's target set list will include weapon storage facilities, and this is not what they're saying to us. This is just an assessment of what we've seen, will include weapon storage facilities that they think could be used in the near future in a strike against Israel.

So, when Hezbollah talks about a first phase of strikes, Israel will be looking to see what they consider the second phase may be, and where those weapons may be stored. So, I think that's the scenario we're in at the moment, in terms of battle damage assessment on the ground, the IDF yet to release a clear picture of that and only one civilian casualty as we are aware so far at least.

WATSON: And Nic and Ben, you know, one of the barometers of the level of violence being carried out is, frankly, whether or not the airports in both countries are still functioning. And we've heard there was a pause of flights coming in and out of Tel Aviv airport this morning. And as Ben has indicated, planes have been landing commercial planes at Beirut airport, which suggests that, for now, the authorities are still allowing this kind of traffic to continue.

Ben, I want to turn to you with a question to help our audience out. There are two armed groups that Israel has been in combat with for the past 10 months, the Palestinian group, Hamas; and the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah. You have extensively reported on both of these militant groups. Can you describe? Can you introduce them and kind of describe the differences between them, aside from one being located in the Palestinian territories and the other being in Lebanon?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly by all accounts, Hezbollah is the best armed, best trained, most disciplined, non-state actor in the world. They have been fighting the Israelis going back to the early 1980s, they've received significant financial weapons and training from Iran, and they have significant combat experience, not just in Lebanon, fighting the Israelis, where they were the only military force in Arab history, in history, to drive the Israelis out of another country's territory without some sort of negotiated process. Now, Hezbollah fighters have experienced from fighting the opposition to rebels in Syria as well.

[01:15:00]

So -- and what I've seen from going back decades, is that this is not a ragtag military operation. Hezbollah fighters are disciplined, well trained, and as the Israelis discovered, to their regret, they are determined fighters who take full advantage of the terrain, the rocky, rugged mountain terrain of southern Lebanon.

Hamas is in a different situation, where they have, clearly, we've seen, on October 6, their military capabilities have dramatically improved in recent years, but they're at a disadvantage. Lebanon has borders, a long border with Syria, and Syria, of course, with Iraq and Iraq to Iran, and basically they have strategic depth that Hamas simply doesn't have. Hamas is surrounded by Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean, and it's very difficult to get things in and out of the Gaza Strip.

Lebanon much, much easier, so it has this sort of strategic depth that takes full advantage of. So, it's definitely a group that the Israelis think twice before attacking. They know that Hezbollah has weapons, has long range precision missiles they can reach almost, or if not, all the way to a lot in the far south of Israel. And we saw, in 2006, 34 days of cross-border fire, then Israeli troops entered South Lebanon and were essentially fought to a standstill by Lebanon.

So, certainly in this conflict that we are in at the moment, Israel will take full advantage of its air superiority. But in terms of any sort of land invasion, entry into southern Lebanon, that's a whole different scenario. And given that the Israeli military has been fighting in Gaza for now 10 months, and by all reports, is the troops are exhausted. They're running short of some equipment and ammunition. I suspect that, in this round, if it escalates, it will be probably restricted to air strikes rather than an invasion. Ivan?

WATSON: Thanks, Ben. And I want to point out before I let both of you go, that you're both standing there on rooftops, with densely populated cities behind you. Whatever happens in the hours and days ahead between armed groups will also likely impact hundreds of thousands, millions potentially, of ordinary civilians, and that's something that we have to keep in mind while discussing the deadly conflict between these -- these armed factions.

Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv, Ben Wedeman in Beirut. Thank you very much, and we'll be checking back in with you as this progresses. I'm joined now by Retired U.S. Army Major General Mark MacCarley, good to see you, as we're watching this unfold across the border between Israel and Lebanon, I'd like to ask you, your opinion, based on what you're seeing, kind of the statements coming out from Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

Is this -- can you pronounce this, the escalation leading to a broader regional war, or is it just kind of another incremental step in this long running deadly border conflict that has been going on between Hezbollah and Israel for some 10 months now?

MARK MACCARLEY, U.S. ARMY MAJOR GENERAL (RET.): I think the most important thing we have to do right now is to take seriously the statements, certainly, the banner statement that you have immediately in front of us on the screen where Hezbollah has declared complete success with its missile attack with 300 missiles. I'm not sure what complete success means.

From my position and my background, that would suggest that there was significant damage, whether to military or civilian targets, in the north of Israel. We have no such confirmation of that. But, the interesting question is that Hezbollah has suggested, and suggest, is not even the strongest word has stated that, to be another phase to this particular retaliatory action. And that's, I'm sure, is what is troubling and challenging to the IDF high command as it determines whether or not the next action will be an avalanche of Hezbollah rockets.

[01:20:00]

It still has a substantial inventory. That avalanche perhaps having greater success, and as we discussed half an hour or so ago, because the Israeli defense system has been somewhat degraded. the reason I say that degraded is the statement made just a minute ago that the sensing system at the airbase, Israeli air base, within a couple of kilometers of the border with Lebanon, there has been something resembling damage.

If that's the case, if the ability to determine as quickly as possible that there is a rocket attack, if that system is taken down, then, that might suggest that the next effort, if it takes place today, and remember, it could take place tomorrow, it could take place a week, this game, this next episode is certainly in the hands and the decision making (inaudible). But if that's the case with the sensors down, then you could see what is suggested, a tranche of drones that could come across the border, once again, in an attempt to overwhelm Israeli defenses, and in many instances, drones, as we've become quite familiar, in conflicts in different parts of this world, those drones are very, very hard to intercept.

There are massive numbers of drones, and that could indeed be the second phase of that Hezbollah is suggesting. The big question is, how will this ever end? And that is a question left to people with far greater insight into the challenges of this war.

WATSON: OK, one of those actors is President Biden, Mr. MacCarley, the White House says that he's been following these events closely and has reaffirmed that the U.S. will support Israel's right to defend itself. To that end, can you tell me about the military assets that the U.S. has brought into the region in recent weeks, and what capabilities they could potentially bring to the table to support Israel if this continues to escalate.

MACCARLEY: Right. Assuming that when we say this continues to escalate, and I take that this to mean that we're going to see continued rocket assaults against Israel, then the systems put in place right now by the U.S. include the two carrier battle groups. Those battle groups include naval vessels that have, what we call, a ballistic missile system, the technical title are standard missiles, the Block 2 Offshore, could provide and would provide the type of defense by when a similar situation took place.

But a situation that has now been discounted, we have amongst ourselves, American forces, what we have in both the Mediterranean the Red Sea, we also have the patriot systems. Those systems are shared, meaning that, we have systems deployed in Jordan, in the Emirates, and those systems themselves were used a couple of months ago, will most probably be used now, if we see what Hezbollah is suggesting as Phase 2, which is a much more significant assault and attack on Israel.

So, we have those systems. So, those are the type of weapons that I think are most prominent, the systems from the U.S. and its allies that can provide some level of protection to Israel, and perhaps, as we saw in July, if we're successful, if Israel and its allies, U.S., are successful in basically blocking these multiple rocket and drone attach, so that the damage is insignificant, and the damage does not affect civilian population centers, maybe, just maybe, both sides will stand down.

WATSON: Quickly, Mark, have you ever seen the U.S. military over the course of this conflict intervening to protect Israel from Hezbollah?

MACCARLEY: To the extent that there were missiles and rockets shot by Hezbollah back in July, so yes, but whether there was any further assistance, other than supplying a weapon systems to Israel, my answer at this point would be, no.

[01:25:00]

WATSON: All right. Retired U.S. General, Mark MacCarley, thank you very much for contributing from Los Angeles. I'm sure we'll be speaking again. This has been breaking news coverage of the ongoing and perhaps escalating conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back. A quick update on breaking news from the Middle East. Hezbollah says, its retaliation against Israel for the killing of its top commander was, in its words, a complete success. The militant group says, it fired more than 300 rockets from Lebanon in recent hours, with Israeli air defenses working to shoot them down. But earlier, Israel says, it hit Hezbollah militants just as they were preparing to launch.

And according to the IDF, Israeli strikes are continuing. The Tel Aviv airport is open again after its temporary closure Sunday morning because of the fighting. Alon Pinkas is a former Israeli Consul General in New York. He joins me now live from Tel Aviv in Israel. It is good to see you early this morning there, not so early rather.

You know, we were speaking, perhaps just yesterday or days ago, about ceasefire talks taking place regarding the conflict in Gaza, this latest round of escalatory fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, what impact do you see that happening on any hopes for peace around Gaza?

PINKAS: Good morning, Ivan. If you recall, in our last conversation about that ceasefire, we were both, I can speak for myself, but if I recall, we were both sceptical that it would produce an agreement. Now, the way to look at it may possibly be the other way around, that Hezbollah would not have launched this attack, this escalatory move, had it not been convinced that these talks in Gaza are leading nowhere and will produce no agreement.

Until now, Hezbollah and Iran as well, but particularly, Hezbollah, have been very careful not to mount any attack for fear of being criticized for undermining an agreement. And they were asked, even by the Iranians, who were asked by others, to curb their enthusiasm, so to speak. Now that they have realized that there's no agreement, they felt free to escalate. So, if you're asking how this affects the ceasefire, it doesn't. There is no ceasefire, and this is surely not going to be helpful toward that end of a ceasefire.

[01:30:00]

WATSON: Can I ask you, from your vantage point there in Tel Aviv, Israel has been at war now for 10 months. How is the population prepared? How is the economy prepared for a potential escalation with, arguably, a much more sophisticated enemy?

PINKAS: Well, the easy answer would be to just say, ill prepared. It's been long, it's been -- it's been difficult. The economy has taken severe hits. You know, both macro and micro economic indicators show that the economy has been hit significantly. You know, you talk about the airport there's, there's almost zero tourism coming into Israel. There was zero tourism coming into Israel during the summer. So, so that, that should be one indication.

Look, the public is anxious, and it is still devastated from October 7, and I don't think people are prepared for a broad escalation. The question, obviously, is Ivan, what kind of escalation are we looking at? Because we're in a vicious circle right now, in which, Israel's response depends on how former Hezbollah will retaliate and escalate, and then, Hezbollah's retaliation is dependent on the scope of Israel's reprisal. So, we're in this vicious cycle that, that it is almost impossible for an economy, for a society, and even for individuals, to cope with and adequately prepare for.

WATSON: Has the government been preparing Israeli society for the possibility of fighting a two-front war?

PINKAS: Yeah. Well, you know, reality has, rather than the government. The government has, basically -- is basically not communicating with Israeli society for the last 10 months. There's a Prime Minister who most Israelis, in consistent polls, is interested in his political survival, rather than in national security. While people justified the war in Gaza after the debacle and the catastrophe of October 7, a few short months after that, they ceased to understand what the political goals were.

And then, came the Hezbollah front, which actually began in October, but it deteriorated significantly at the beginning of 2024, and that already is seven or eight months ago. And so, the government keeps on talking about the need to deal with Hezbollah and the need to destroy Hamas in Gaza. But no, the government, at least, is not making the connection.

In fact, Ivan, Israel has rejected the American concept or notion, that these are two connecting vessels, meaning that only a ceasefire in Gaza could de-escalate the situation in Lebanon. And what Hezbollah has been doing is jumping, you know, taking a hitchhike, so to speak, on the war in Gaza, but that Israel has no political goals vis-a-vis Hezbollah.

And so, people are not necessarily making the connections, nor is the government, except, and I need to add, that this, this caters to or serves Mr. Netanyahu's narrative, according to which, this is not about October 7, and this is not about the Hamas -- Hamas terror attack, but this is a great war, 360-degree war, he calls it, against Islamofascism centered in Iran, spreading its long arms or wings via proxies, and that this is a general war. The question is, is he describing a reality, or is he promoting that reality? And a lot of people are confused about that.

WATSON: There is some evidence that there is linkage between the conflict in Hamas and on Israel's northern border with Hezbollah, when there was a ceasefire earlier on, in this 10-month conflict, the firing across the Lebanese-Israeli border also subsided. We'll have to see what happens in the hours, days and weeks ahead among

PINKAS: A 100 days of (CROSSTALK)

WATSON: -- thinkers life in Tel Aviv. Thank you very much for your analysis.

PINKAS: Thank you.

WATSON: Thank you so much. And I'm sure we'll talk to you again soon. We will be right back with more breaking news on the conflict in the Middle East.

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[01:35:00]

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WATSON: Welcome back. Returning now to our top story. Back and forth strikes between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The militant group is claiming success after strikes on Israel that the group says is retaliation for the assassination last month of a key commander. Hezbollah says, it has fired some 300 rockets in recent hours. The Israeli military says, the militants fired about 200 rockets. Israel's air defenses are successfully shooting them down, but one injury has been reported in northern Israel.

[01:40:00]

Earlier, Israel said, it launched strikes on Hezbollah militants in Lebanon as they were preparing to launch attacks. Ben Wedeman joins us live from Beirut now with more. You know, Ben, the leader of Hezbollah, he announced, he warned, that there would be a retaliation. This is weeks ago, after the Israeli targeted assassination of the Hezbollah Commander, Fuad Shukr. And Hezbollah has announced this is, in fact, phase one of the retaliation. What is your sense of how much support there is within Lebanese society for these counter attacks by Hezbollah?

WEDEMAN: There is support for Hezbollah in Lebanese society, but it's not across the board. Obviously, within the Shiite community itself, there is support, not unanimous in any sense of the word. Keep in mind that 100,000 people have had to flee their homes in the predominantly Shiite towns and villages in the south, and there's a certain amount of resentment that that has happened. But at the same time, the Shiite community, which is a large minority here in Lebanon, by and large, is supportive of Hezbollah.

Keep in mind that it was Hezbollah that between 1985 and 2000 was the only Arab military force in history that was able to drive Israel out of occupied territory without any sort of negotiations. Hezbollah is also very attentive to the needs of its community, keeping in mind, of course, as you well know, Ivan, that the Lebanese central government is weak, largely bankrupt, and is unable to provide basic services, which Hezbollah, because of its support from Iran, because of its abilities, provides many of those services.

There is -- so yes, there is support. And for instance, I was speaking to a resident of southern Beirut, a Shiite, who was telling me that, for instance, yes, I go out, I drink whiskey and beer. I'm not a good Muslim, but nonetheless, when it comes to the breach, if it's necessary, he stands firmly behind Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of that organization.

On the other hand, there are many, many Lebanese who deeply resent the fact that Hezbollah is, for all intents and purposes, a state within a state that acts independently of the, albeit, very weak Lebanese central government. They feel that Lebanon has been sucked into this war against their will, and the country has suffered as a result.

Many people say, for instance, just across the street from the man who told me he drinks whiskey and supports Hezbollah, I met another man who told me, Gaza is not our war. This is Lebanon. We don't want anything to do with it. So, opinion is very divided, but because Hezbollah is the best organized, most disciplined political party, in addition to military force in Lebanon, that seems to be able to allow them to act independently of the government itself. Ivan?

WATSON: And Ben, you know, I asked the Former Israeli Diplomat, Alon Pinkas this, and I'll pose it to you, how prepared is Lebanese society and the Lebanese economy for the risk of a wider war with Israel right now?

WEDEMAN: Lebanon, as a country, is totally unprepared. Keep in mind that the government is essentially bankrupt. The Lebanese lira, the local currency, has lost more than 90 percent of its value in the last five years. The vast majority of Lebanese now, according to statistics, now lives below the poverty line.

Now, this conflict has been going on now for 10 and a half months. People do occasionally stock up on few food. If they have the money, they stock up on fuel and medicine, but, by and large, keep in mind that this is a country that has been through a 15-year civil war, a series of wars with Israel, an economic collapse, the Beirut port blast. It's a society that has been battered, and therefore, in a sense, people do what they can to prepare to the extent that they can do it.

[01:45:00]

But really they, just at this point, are hoping that this war does not escalate to something that engulfs the entire country, and they just stay calm and carry on. Ivan?

WATSON: And one of the peculiarities of Lebanon, Ben, is that, that you can have restaurants and shopping malls full in Beirut, and only a couple hours' drive away, shattered villages from this ongoing border conflict. Ben Wedeman, live in Beirut. Thank you very much. We'll be checking back in with you later. Now, for more on this situation, we're now joined by Mick Ryan, a

Retired General of the Australian Army. Thank you very much for joining the program. I'd like to ask you, how would you characterize, you know, as a military man, how would you describe the war that's been fought over the border between Hezbollah and the Israeli defense forces over more than 10 months now? What kind of -- how do military people describe this to each other?

MICK RYAN, AUSTRALIAN ARMY MAJOR GENERAL (RET.): Well, I think it's been a conflict since 7 October that's been carefully calibrated by both sides to try and find their opponent's weakness without escalating the situation to something that neither can control. I think today's attack, however, changes that dynamic.

WATSON: That is an ominous statement, and that is part of why we are in such breaking news coverage of this, anticipating that it could lead to far more bloodshed. This hasn't been a conflict involving really ground forces facing off against each other, which we did see in 2006 between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. This has been more in so far, from what I understand, of drones and rockets and missiles and airstrikes, correct?

RYAN: Well, it has been for several reasons. Firstly, the Israeli Defense Forces preoccupied with its grand operations in Gaza. It doesn't want to fight two wars on the ground at either ends of Israel. That would be very, very difficult indeed. But, Hezbollah probably doesn't want a grand conflict with Israel either, because it didn't do so well last time it did.

I think both sides have been comfortable with a certain threshold of violence with missiles and drones, and air strikes. But as I said before, I think today does change that dynamic somewhat.

WATSON: And, from your vantage point there in Brisbane, when you see the U.S. aircraft carrier, the fleets that have been brought to the region, what kind of a -- how are you gaming this out as we're at this tense moment?

RYAN: Well, I think what we've seen today is just the initial moves by Hezbollah and Israel in stepping up this conflict, whilst the massive presence by the U.S. Navy there that is deployed over the last few weeks, is designed to deter both sides. It's largely aimed at Iran, and as we've seen today, Iran did not participate in these strikes. And we might draw a couple of observations from that.

First, that it's using Hezbollah just to get a sense of Israeli defenses on the military bases that were attacked. Or secondly, it could be that Hezbollah is trying to probe a more reluctant Iran into action.

WATSON: It just goes to remind everybody about how complicated this region is, how many different actors there are, and all of this taking place against the backdrop of what are supposed to be ceasefire negotiations for the agonizing Gaza conflict in Cairo. When you look at the kind of dizzying array of different actors here, there are so many potential spoilers to trying to defuse the situation, aren't there?

RYAN: Well, there are. There's many people trying to defuse it, and there's also others who are trying to inflame it, which is why, it's taken decades to come to a solution for peace in the Middle East. The negotiations, particularly about the release of hostages, is a politically sensitive issue in Israel. I don't think that's going to go away, even if there are more Hezbollah attacks.

The political groundswell in Israel is to get these hostages home. So, it'll be interesting to see how the government of Israel balances the negotiations over ceasefire in Gaza, the release of the hostages and defending Israel against these new Hezbollah attacks.

WATSON: It's quite a balancing act. Major General, Mick Ryan, thank you for your analysis, live from Brisbane. We will have more on this situation after this break.

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WATSON: We are following breaking news out of the Middle East. Hezbollah says, the first phase of its strikes against Israel has ended with quote, complete success. The militant group says, this phase was focused on targeting Israeli military sites.

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The group launched hundreds of rockets towards Israel, saying it was in response to the killing of a top military commander last month. The Israeli military also launched what it called pre-emptive strikes against terror targets in Lebanon.

Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu says, the IDF destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at Northern Israel. He says, quote, whoever hurts us, we hurt him. Thanks for watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Ivan Watson. Stay with CNN. Our coverage continues in just a moment.

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WATSON: Hello and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Ivan Watson, broadcasting live in Hong Kong. We begin with breaking news from the Middle East. That's where Hezbollah militants say, their retaliatory strikes in Israel in recent hours have been, quote, a complete success.

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WATSON (voice-over): This is what played out in northern Israel after the group said, it fired more than 300 rockets from Lebanon. Israel says, the group fired 200 rockets. Still Hezbollah call that the first phase of its retaliation for the recent killing of its top military commander. But, earlier, Israel said, it hit Hezbollah positions just as they were preparing to launch their strikes. Israel also says, its operations are continuing, and it accused the group of endangering Lebanese civilians. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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HAGARI: From right next to the homes of Lebanese civilians in the South of Lebanon, we can see that Hezbollah is preparing to launch an extensive attack on Israel, while endangering the Lebanese civilians. We warn the civilians located in the areas where Hezbollah is operating to move out of harm's way immediately for their own safety. Israel will not tolerate Hezbollah's attacks on our civilians. We are operating in self defense from

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WATSON: Now, CNN reporters are on the ground across the region covering all sides of this developing story. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv, Israel; and Ben Wedeman joins us live from Beirut, Lebanon. Ben and Nic, good to see you both. I'll go first to you, Ben, the region has been on the edge of its seats, so to speak, waiting for an advertised response from Hezbollah to the Israeli assassination of its commander at the end of last month. And now, it appears to have at least begun. Can you describe what Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for, and what you see unfolding perhaps in the days ahead?

WEDEMAN: Hezbollah has come out, Ivan, with a statement saying that this was its first phase of its response to the killing on the 30th of July of Senior Military Hezbollah Commander, Fuad Shukr. They said that they've launched more than 320 rockets or missiles on Israeli targets, 11 targets, in particular, all of them military targets.

And they said in this statement that their targeting of those military positions along the border was to open the way for attack drones to reach their targets deep within Israel, and they say that those drones did pass and struck their targets. Now, we don't -- even though Hezbollah claims that they were successfully struck, those Israeli targets, we have yet to see any sort of confirmation on that.

We do know that there has been an intense series of Israeli strikes on Lebanese towns and villages in the south of the country. According to the official national news agency, it has been the most intense period of Israeli strikes since the beginning of the war. They say, one person has been killed in a strike on a vehicle in the South. Now, as far as the second phase of Hezbollah's response, it's hard to say when or what that will be. Now, what we've seen in the past is --

WATSON: OK. I believe we have lost our signal to Ben Wedeman in Beirut. So, I will turn now to Nic Robertson, live in Tel Aviv, the Israeli military Nic says, it carried out pre-emptive attacks into southern Lebanon as it was seeing Hezbollah militants preparing their own salvo of rocket launches. Have you gotten any indication of whether that succeeded in stopping this barrage of rockets coming across the border?

ROBERTSON: Yeah, certainly the Israeli Air Force, the Israeli military, been on a hair trigger for any preparations by Hezbollah in Lebanon for a strike, a larger scale strike, on Israel. And that's what they saw happening. Now, as to the claims that Hezbollah has made about the success of its strikes that it claims were against 11 different military bases inside of Israel at the moment --