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Truce Appears to Hold Despite Accusations of Violations; Ukraine Reels from Massive Attack on Its Energy System; Biden Criticizes Trump's Planned Tariffs for Canada & Mexico. Aired 4-4:30 am ET

Aired November 29, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

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BASSEL YASSIN, SHOPKEEPER (through translator): We will work on getting our businesses back better than before. And don't let the occupation think that it has defeated us.

GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: We will not allow to breach the arrangements. We will respond immediately to every violation.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the early morning hours, Russia launching yet more massive aerial strikes against Ukraine.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): The targets were energy infrastructure and ordinary civilian objects. Many were shot down and our electronic warfare systems performed well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: French President Emmanuel Macron is to tour Notre Dame Cathedral one week before the historic building officially reopens, rising from the ashes after the devastating fire five years ago which shook Parisians and the world.

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ANNOUNCER: Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN Newsroom with Anna Coren.

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all our viewers around the world. I'm Anna Coren.

It's 5 p.m. here in Hong Kong, 11 a.m. in Lebanon, where the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is now in its third day and appears to be holding by and large despite new accusations against both sides.

Israel says it thwarted what it called terrorist activity and struck a rocket storage site used by Hezbollah on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Lebanese army claims Israel has breached the terms of the ceasefire numerous times since it went into effect on Wednesday morning. Here's the Israeli Foreign Minister.

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SA'AR: What will happen in the ground is the most important thing and we will not allow to breach the arrangement. We will respond immediately to every violation. We will not let Hezbollah to go down, to go south and then the Litani River. We will not let Hezbollah to rearm again and build itself as a danger to Israel once again.

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COREN: The people of Lebanon, meanwhile, are desperate for a return to normalcy. Thousands displaced by the 13 months of fighting have started returning to their homes and businesses, many of them destroyed, even as Israel warns that some areas are not safe yet.

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BASSEL YASSIN, SHOPKEEPER (through translator): Thank God now we're back and we're back stronger and better than before. We have strength and determination and we're cleaning up our stores. We will work on getting our businesses back better than before and don't let the occupation think that it has defeated us.

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COREN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sounding more optimistic about a ceasefire in Gaza but he insists on achieving one of his major goals. Here's what he told Israel's Channel 14.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I'm ready for a ceasefire at any moment, but ending the war, I'm not ready for that because we also need to achieve the elimination of Hamas.

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COREN: Meanwhile, Israel's attacks continue. Gaza's health ministry says Israeli bombs killed at least 20 people on Thursday. Several homes in Nuseirat were hit, sending dozens of victims to Al-Ahli Hospital with injuries. The hospital director claims Israeli forces are blocking delivery of medical supplies, food and fuel to the hospital. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

Let's go live now to Abu Dhabi and CNN's Paula Hancocks, who's standing by. Paula, let's start with the situation in Lebanon. It's a tenuous truce but it seems to be holding. Is there growing confidence this could be long-lasting?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anna, I don't think there's growing confidence yet. There is certainly cautious optimism when it comes to those in Lebanon that this could last. But, of course, there are some in Israel that still don't agree with the fact this ceasefire was carried out in the first place. What we're hearing, though, is -- that it is an uneasy truce, that it is holding for the most part. There have been a couple of occasions where both sides have accused the other of breaching the terms of this ceasefire. You mentioned them briefly, the fact that Israel carried out an airstrike on what it said was Hezbollah terrorists, and they say that was in an area where Hezbollah had stored some of its medium- range rockets. And there was a separate incident as well where Israel says that it did target what it called suspects in southern Lebanon.

[04:05:00]

Now, for its part, the Lebanese army, which is going to take control as per this ceasefire in southern Lebanon and patrol this area to make sure Hezbollah cannot regroup and rearm, they have said that Israel, on a number of occasions, have breached the terms of the ceasefire. So it is going to last 60 days. This is how long this ceasefire system will last until, as many hope, it will be the basis of a permanent ceasefire.

We have heard it be made very clear on a number of occasions by Israeli officials that they won't be pulling out the Israeli military immediately, and they are saying to residents of much of southern Lebanon, in fact, more than 70 villages and towns, do not return home at this point. It is not safe, and we will tell you when it is safe, because they still have the Israeli military stationed in this area.

We heard from the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in that Channel 14 interview. He said, if this framework, this ceasefire, is violated, it will lead to an intense war. So Israel is being very clear that if it perceives a violation of this ceasefire, then they will act forcefully.

Anna?

COREN: Paula, there is obviously hope that the Lebanon ceasefire is perhaps a precursor for Gaza. We obviously heard those comments earlier from the Israeli Prime Minister, but we know this is a very different situation.

HANCOCKS: And that's what Netanyahu said, Anna. He said that there were two very different directives and objectives when it came to these two wars. In Lebanon, the Israeli military and the government said that they wanted to be able to move tens of thousands of residents back to the border and make it safe for them.

In Gaza, they have been very clear, the Prime Minister saying he wants to eliminate Hamas. So what he's saying is he's very happy to have a ceasefire at this point. And he believes that the killing of the former chief, Yahya Sinwar, will make that easier, something that Washington has backed up. But he's not ready for the end of the war.

Now, of course, what that does is it makes it very difficult for those who are going to be mediating and negotiating to try and convince Hamas to sign on to a deal where the war is not going to be ended. We've heard from Hamas itself saying that they want a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of IDF troops from Gaza. Everything we're hearing from the Israeli side suggests that that is not what Netanyahu is looking at, at this point.

Anna?

COREN: Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi. Good to see you. Appreciate the report. Thank you.

Well, Saleh El Machnouk is a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute. He joins us now from Beirut.

Saleh, thank you for joining us. I want to start with how people are feeling returning to their homes in Lebanon, to these devastated neighborhoods. There's obviously a mixture of emotions. What have you been witnessing where you are in Beirut?

SALEH EL MACHNOUK, NON-RESIDENT FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Good morning, Anna. Thank you for having me. So, for about 48 hours, self- evidently, there was a feeling of relief. The solid majority of Lebanese want this war to end, but not only for it to end, but for this to be the last war where Lebanon is used as proxy territory for regional battles.

However, beginning yesterday, I would say the mood of cautious optimism has begun to be restrained. If not, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it is now behind us. This increasingly feels like a pause in fighting. This increasingly feels like this agreement is unsustainable. All signs do point out to the intention, predominantly of Hezbollah, of circumventing this agreement.

We've seen a number of statements by Hezbollah officials undermining the army, limiting the ability of UNIFIL to carry out its job. Therefore, it increasingly feels like this is an opportunity not to end the war, but to rearm, re-equip, and live to fight another day, unfortunately.

COREN: I would like to talk more about why you feel this truce is unsustainable, because obviously we saw Israel strike Hezbollah militants, but there didn't seem to be an indication or a desire that either side wants to return to all-out war. That's not how you're reading the situation.

EL MACHNOUK: Anna, we've seen this movie before. This is -- this is a repeat of 2006 on steroids. What happened in 2006 is after an initial early acquiescence of Hezbollah to the terms of the agreement, we saw attack on UNIFIL peacekeepers. We saw an overtaking of the Lebanese government in 2008. And since then, there was a gradual process of rearming and re-equipping, which led us to the current war.

[04:10:20]

So, what I've seen over the past 48 hours in terms of statements by Hezbollah officials actually point out to the fact that this agreement will not, in fact, be sustainable, as imagined by the mediator, which is the United States.

And if this pause in fighting wants to have a chance of survival, there needs to be a very concerted effort by the international community to keep its eye on the ball and not repeat the mistakes of 2006. Primarily by -- sorry.

COREN: Saleh, I was just going to say, if this is as tenuous as what you are saying, I guess this does not bode well for a ceasefire in Gaza.

EL MACHNOUK: I don't think -- I think there's an overstating of the intrinsic relationship between a ceasefire in Lebanon and a ceasefire in Gaza. The situation in Gaza has its own very difficult particularities and would need to be solved on its own, but at least vis-a-vis Lebanon. Unless there's a concerted and holistic effort to support the Lebanese army, to ensure that the Lebanese government is standing by this deal, and to make sure that UNIFIL soldiers do not behave as hostages but rather as sovereignty-enhancing peacekeepers, in addition to making sure that Iran wants to push Hezbollah to abide by this deal, there's very little chance that this deal will lead to a permanent situation of calm and stability here in Lebanon.

COREN: Do the Lebanese army, do the International Peacekeeping Force, I mean, do they have the support of the majority of Lebanese?

EL MACHNOUK: Absolutely, I don't think there's any doubt about it. I mean, they had it prior to the current war and we've seen in poll after poll an increasing number of Lebanese that are fed up of the recurring state of continued warfare on Lebanese territory in the service of regional powers. They want the Lebanese army to take over the south. We've seen jubilation in numerous villages in welcoming the Lebanese army troops in the south.

But on the other hand, we've also seen numerous statements saying that the Lebanese army and UNIFIL should not basically take control of the south as they should, and they have no role in ensuring that Hezbollah withdraws from the south of the Litani as the agreement suggests. So it's still very much an open question and the Lebanese people by themselves will not be able to handle this situation. I think international effort is very much needed to ensure that this agreement is sustainable, primarily in dealing with Iranian interference with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

COREN: A very important point to end on. Saleh El Machnouk joining us from Beirut. We certainly appreciate your analysis. Thank you.

EL MACHNOUK: Thank you.

COREN: Well, Russia has launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine for a second day in a row. The Ukrainian Air Force says more than 130 drones went after targets across the country overnight. A majority of them were shot down, but at least eight people were still injured.

Ukraine says Russian drones and missiles also rained down on its energy system the night before, including on the facility near Odesa. The strikes wounded at least five people and left more than a million homes in the dark. Moscow claims it targeted only military and defense industry facilities. Ukraine's President is painting a very different picture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Over 90 missiles and nearly 100 strike drones were launched. The targets were energy infrastructure and ordinary civilian objects. Many were shot down, and our electronic warfare systems performed well. But unfortunately, there were also hits. Some of the strikes involved caliber missiles with cluster warheads, a particularly dangerous type of Russian weaponry used against civilians.

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COREN: In Kyiv, the air raid alert lasted for nine hours, forcing people to take shelter in metro stations. U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the attack as horrific. Ukraine says that was the 11th time this year that its energy system took major hits, which does not bode well as winter begins.

[04:15:07]

For more, let's go to Fred Pleitgen, joining us from Moscow. Fred, tell us the latest information on these attacks and how Ukrainians are holding up.

PLEITGEN: Well, I think it's pretty difficult for the Ukrainians right now. Especially after the energy grid was hit yesterday. And there's certainly also some trends that I think that we can see as far as these Russian attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure, energy infrastructure, of course, civilian infrastructure as well, are concerned.

I think one of the things that we're seeing is that the Russians seem to have some mass new capability of mass producing these strike drones that have been used. You have two days in a row where you had gigantic amounts of missiles attacking sites in Ukraine. Of course, yesterday morning, the big one also used 90 missiles, but also more than 100 drones, as the Russians themselves have said.

And then this overnight attack tonight that we've had with 130 of these drones. Obviously, the Ukrainians saying that there was some damage that was done, especially in Odesa region where several people were wounded, also in the Kyiv region as well, where I think one person was wounded. So that definitely the fact that the Russians are able to consistently send big swarms of these drones towards Ukrainian territory.

Obviously, the Ukrainians able to take a lot of those down, but the damage certainly is there. And it's definitely something that also keeps Ukraine's air defense systems on their toes pretty much the entire time. And I think the second thing that we're also seeing, Anna, is that the Ukrainians seem to have upped their game as far as what they call these radio electronic countermeasures are concerned.

I think one of the interesting things that we saw in this attack overnight here is that the Ukrainians say that of those 132 drones, I think it was, they took 88 down with their air defenses, but also 40 or more than 40 of those drones were lost, they say, due to active countermeasures. So it certainly seems as though the Ukrainians have some new capabilities as far as that is concerned.

At the same time, we do see this aerial campaign that the Russians have been conducting definitely kick into a new gear. Of course, that massive attack that we saw yesterday morning, Vladimir Putin then later came out while he was in Astana at a conference and said that that was a direct result or a direct answer, as he put it, to the Ukrainians using those U.S.-provided ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles and the Russians saying that there will always be a big answer on their part when those missiles are used, Anna.

COREN: And, Fred, obviously you spend a lot of time in Ukraine, the people that you're speaking to on the ground, including the CNN team. I mean, how are they feeling about the fact that infrastructure, as we know, every winter as it approaches, you know, it's targeted, the ramp-up in these attacks, how are they feeling?

PLEITGEN: Yeah. Well, certainly I think that a lot of people are extremely concerned. I mean, they went through one winter from 2022 to 2023 where they already had big blackouts. Obviously people were in the cold for an extended period of time. That is certainly something that a lot of people are very concerned about. And we are really just, as you know, at the beginning of that season, November, or the end of November is not that cold yet, but certainly once you get into December, January, and February, the cold really does set in.

And a lot of this energy infrastructure, it's something that we definitely have to keep in mind as well, has already been targeted for an extended period of time. It gets repaired, all the time it gets repaired really quickly, but of course it does get decimated as time goes on. And I think that's definitely something that a lot of people on the ground in Ukraine are extremely concerned about, about that power grid just degrading over time as it keeps -- that attrition by these Russian strikes continues. That's one concern.

The other concern, of course, is the one over the new Russian weapons that have been used over the past couple of days, the past week really, that Orezhnik, as the Russians call it, massive multiple warhead ballistic missile that Vladimir Putin also yesterday once again threatened to use again and again. The Russians themselves saying that these are still in an experimental stage. But he also said that if the Russians pair several of those together, that it could have similar results as if they were using a small nuclear weapon.

COREN: Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, we appreciate the update, thank you.

Well, five years ago, a raging fire left Notre Dame in ruins. Well, now the legendary cathedral is close to reopening and today it's getting a high-ranking visitor. That's after the break.

And as tariffs loom large, the Mexican president addresses what was said and not said during her recent call with Donald Trump.

Plus, a world first as Australia passes a ban on social media for kids under the age of 16. Those stories and more when we return.

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COREN: Earlier this year, the Biden administration struggled to get Congress to approve more money for Ukraine. Well, now there is money to be spent, but the White House is running out of time to use it. Oren Liebermann explains.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. still has nearly $7 billion in authority to send weapons to Ukraine directly out of U.S. inventories and stockpiles. DOD, the Defense Department, has done this pretty much since the start of the war in what's known as presidential drawdown authority, allowing the U.S. to take 155- millimeter artillery rounds, HIMARS rounds and all kinds of other equipment out of -- directly out of U.S. stocks and send them as quickly as possible to Ukraine.

The challenge now is with that $6.8 billion or so left in the authority to send weapons to Ukraine, the administration isn't likely to be able to use that, according to a number of U.S. and defense officials with whom CNN has spoken.

Over the course of the past several months, according to officials, the U.S. has tried to get to about $750 million of supplies a month. Now, that number may go up to about a billion a month, with just under two months to go until January 20th and the incoming Trump administration. But even so, that will leave billions unused in this authority, this ability to send weapons directly to Ukraine.

The challenge is and has been for some time now that the U.S. can't simply send everything it has. It has to keep a baseline of weapons and munitions in its own inventories and only be able to send the excess. That has very much limited the ability of the U.S. to send weapons to Ukraine, and that's effectively what we're seeing here. The question, what will happen to that billions or so in unused authority to arm Ukraine? Well, that is up to the incoming Trump administration. Do they choose to effectively cut off the supply of weapons? Do they choose not to announce any new military aid packages and let go what's already in the pipeline to get to Ukraine? That will be up to President-elect Donald Trump and his team figuring out how to handle Ukraine.

Now, officials we've spoken with said there is still a lot in the pipeline to Ukraine that will get there before January 20th, but as we're seeing from the battlefield and the gains Russia is able to make, slow, grinding, brutal gains, Ukraine still very much needs U.S. help.

Oren Liebermann, CNN in Washington.

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COREN: Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President- elect Donald Trump on Thursday saying he's a, quote, "intelligent and experienced politician capable of finding solutions." Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan, Mr. Putin blamed President Joe

Biden for creating additional difficulties by giving Ukraine permission to launch longer-range U.S. missiles into Russia. But he suggested that things could improve after the inauguration of Trump, who has said, without saying how, that he would end the war in 24 hours.

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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): As far as I can imagine, the newly elected president is an intelligent and already quite experienced person. I think he will find a solution, especially after he went through such a, let's say, very serious test as the fight to return to the White House.

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COREN: Well, there's new reaction to Donald Trump's threat to hike up tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. U.S. President Joe Biden warned against that on Thanksgiving, saying it could screw up relations with close allies.

[04:25:05]

Well, CNN's Arlette Saenz reports on that. But first, a look at Mexico's response to the looming tariffs. Earlier this week, the Mexican President said they won't solve the issue of migration or drug consumption. spoke to Trump on Wednesday in response to the looming tariffs.

Earlier this week, the Mexican president said they won't solve the issue of migration or drug consumption. Claudia Sheinbaum spoke to Trump on Wednesday and later denied his claims that she agreed to shut down the border. CNN's Steve Contorno picks up the story.

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STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: 24 hours after President-elect Donald Trump and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum had a conversation by phone, there seems to be a disagreement over what exactly was said and agreed to. Trump writing on Truth Social that, quote, "Mexico's president has agreed to stop migration through Mexico and into the United States, effectively closing our southern border."

In a second post, Trump added, "Mexico will stop people from going to our southern border effective immediately. This will go a long way toward stopping the illegal invasion of the USA. Thank you."

In a press conference on Thursday, though, Sheinbaum had a different interpretation of the call. She said, quote, "everyone has their own way of communicating. But I can assure you, I give you the certainty that we would never and we would be incapable of it to propose that we would close the border. It has never been our approach. And of course, we don't agree with that."

This all stems from Donald Trump's threat to put a 25% tariff on Mexican goods if the country doesn't do more to slow the flow of migrants and drugs across the U.S. southern border.

Now, it was not immediately clear what policy concessions Trump had actually won in his negotiation or if the Mexican president had promised enough to get rid of that threat of a 25% tariff. When I asked the Trump transition team if that was the case, I did not immediately get a response.

Steve Contorno, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden weighed in on president-elect Trump's tariff threats for the first time, saying he hopes he will rethink some of the tariffs he wants to impose on Canada and Mexico, warning that it could jeopardize U.S. relations with some of the country's closest allies. President Biden was speaking to reporters as he visited a firehouse here in Nantucket, Massachusetts, really offering his first criticism of President-elect Donald Trump and his policy proposals since the November 5th election. Take a listen.

BIDEN: I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do. You know, look, one of the things you've heard me say before that we have an unusual situation in America. We're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies, Mexico and Canada. And the last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.

SAENZ: These comments from President Biden are significant and really serve as a reminder that he has very different views from President- elect Donald Trump about how to approach issues like the economy, trade and also relations with U.S. allies.

The President and Democrats during the campaign had warned that some of Trump's tariff threats would have inflationary impacts back at home, could potentially raise prices on goods across the boards of four Americans. But President Biden made these comments as he's spending the Thanksgiving holiday here in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

This is a bit of a family tradition for the Biden clan as they have been traveling to this island for decades now to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. But it is a poignant one as President Biden is preparing to leave office in January. He placed a round of calls to troops who were serving overseas this Thanksgiving holiday away from their families, calling into bases across the world, including in Guam, Bahrain and also Saudi Arabia, trying to thank those U.S. service members for their time.

President Biden told reporters that he is most thankful this holiday season for a peaceful transfer of power for diplomatic efforts and also a hope that they could try to achieve more progress when it comes to the conflicts in the Middle East as Biden is trying to work towards a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Arlette Saenz, CNN traveling with the President in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

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COREN: Four Democratic members of Congress from Connecticut were targeted with bomb threats while celebrating Thanksgiving at home with their families Thursday. Law enforcement responded and found no evidence of any devices.

Well, this comes just a day after several of Donald Trump's appointees were targeted with bomb threats and swatting, which is when a false crime is reported to draw an armed response by police to the location of the target.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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