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Hezbollah Pagers Explode in Lebanon, Wounding Hundreds; Sean "Diddy" Combs Indicted on Federal Charges; Aired 10-11a ET
Aired September 17, 2024 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This happened in many parts of Lebanon, many of those parts of Lebanon where Hezbollah operates,
where individuals carrying pagers --- those pagers have exploded.
Now whether it was simultaneously or roughly at about the same time, it's not clear. But it does appear that someone, presumably the Israelis, has
infiltrated Hezbollah's communications system, whereby they've been able to cause these pagers to explode, causing hundreds apparently of injuries.
We understand that Lebanese hospitals have put out a call for people to donate all types of blood, for medical personnel to return immediately to
their places of work because this seems to be a medical emergency across many parts of Lebanon.
And, of course, assuming that it is Israel, that's behind this incident, it really represents a major infiltration of Hezbollah's systems of
communications. And it comes just over a month since, on the 30th of July, Israel struck and killed a Fuad Shukr, who was a senior commander for
Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Which in itself represented a serious infiltration of Hezbollah's security system. So this is an event the likes of which we have not seen happen in
Lebanon at all. And it's certainly going to shake the confidence of Hezbollah in its confrontation with Israel.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And Ben, as we're getting more information in, to confirm, these pagers, mostly belonging to
Hezbollah, exploding. Initially, we were looking at the number of people that were injured.
Could you confirm for us what we know right now?
You're saying hundreds of people were injured. That is what we have.
WEDEMAN: Well, we're seeing dozens of people injured. But as -- given that this is a breaking story and it's just come out within the last hour or so,
the numbers are general at best.
But it certainly seems to be -- well, I mean, what we're seeing is they are -- these explosions are being reported in multiple locations including
Tyre, Nabataea, the southern suburbs of Beirut. And these are all areas where Hezbollah operates.
GIOKOS: Quite important to also understand the context here. We know that Israel yesterday officially widening the goals of its war to its northern
border with Lebanon.
How important that is that messaging versus what we're seeing playing out today with us, as we say, this very bizarre situation that's playing out,
these pagers that are exploding?
WEDEMAN: Well, what we've heard in recent weeks is Israeli officials, senior Israeli officials talking about winding down the war in Gaza and
refocusing on Lebanon. Of course, Lebanon, since the 8th of October, Hezbollah has been launching rockets into Israel. Israel has been striking
back daily.
Since then, there has been an escalation going back to late July, when, of course, there was that strike on Majdal Shams, which is in the Israeli
occupied Syrian Golan Heights, which left 12 children dead, 12 Syrian children dead.
And that has really set the stage for this period of escalation that has -- tensions have remained very high since then. And of course, the Israelis
have been concerned that Hezbollah could launch the kind of attack that Hamas did on the 7th on October last year.
And therefore, you've seen, for instance, more than 62,000 Israelis have been forced to leave their homes in northern Israel. More than 100,000
Lebanese civilians have left their homes in southern Lebanon because of the exchange of fire every day.
And the pressure is mounting on the Israeli government to somehow restore peace and quiet to the border area.
And as that pressure mounts, what we're seeing is that the Israelis are putting more pressure on Hezbollah. And this incident, this very strange
series of incidents of exploding pagers, seems to fit within the context of those escalating tensions.
GIOKOS: We've also got Paula Hancocks with us as we get more information about these pagers exploding, wounding, most for the most part, Hezbollah
members, from what we understand.
[10:05:00]
What are you learning right now?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point, we're hearing from state media NNA as well, saying that they're putting hospitals in the area
on high alert and also that the ministry of health has actually urged residents who have pagers to discard them at this point.
Because obviously this is -- this has just happening at this point. It's very recent and there's no understanding of what exactly has happened at
this point. So they're trying to make sure that there are not going to be others that are going to be caught up in whatever has occurred at this
point.
So the question now is what exactly happened, who was responsible. As you heard Ben there, the -- certainly that the feeling in Lebanon will be
looking directly to Israel. Now we haven't heard anything from Israel. We don't know exactly what has happened. I have to caution.
But of course, it does come at a time when tensions are extremely high between Israel and Lebanon, when we've just heard from the security cabinet
just yesterday, saying that they have added another objective when it comes to the war against Hamas.
And that objective is to make sure that they can allow tens of thousands of residents to return to northern Israel, meaning they want to try and end
the threat from Hezbollah when it comes to that that northern border.
So it's certainly been more of a focus in the last 24 hours.
GIOKOS: It has indeed. I mean, there's a lot of questions. We just don't know how these pagers exploded. We don't know who's behind this. We don't
know exactly what played out. All we know right now is that people are injured, mostly Hezbollah members.
I've got CNN U.S. national security analyst Juliette Kayyem with us now as well to weigh in on the story.
And the question is how these pagers exploded.
Could you give me a sense, just hearing the top lines of breaking news coming through, what are your initial reaction?
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: OK, so the range of possibilities of how this could be done is limited there. It is hard to
imagine that a remote detonation of a mere pager would cause this kind of damage. We're still learning.
But it does seem like injuries are significant, at least from the reporting so far. What is in the range of possible is Israel somehow infiltrated the
distribution of the pagers. Hezbollah is a organized entity, terrorist organization. They need their people to communicate in ways that are not
using public data or public wi-fi.
And pagers tend to be the way. And so the question I have, the most likely scenario is that this happened in the supply chain, that somehow the
distribution of the pagers to Hezbollah members were pagers that Israel at some stage -- if it's Israel, I'm sorry, the most likely perpetrator of
this.
That whoever planned this would be able to detonate simultaneously to wreak the most havoc on the threat.
I will say secondly, communications is key. This is, this is, this is for organizations to be able to organize a fund raise, recruit, plan. They need
to be able to communicate amongst each other.
So going after Hezbollah's communications network is in some ways more significant than going after a single leader, because they are going to be
scrambling. They don't know who to trust, they don't know how to communicate. Hezbollah leadership doesn't even know who's hurt.
So this is what someone like me would look at in these early moments of what is happening in southern Lebanon.
GIOKOS: I just want Ben to weigh in on this.
Ben, as we say, we've got a lot of questions about who's behind this, how this could have happened, as Juliette just mentioned. She believes that it
could be in the supply chain. Again, these all probabilities that could be playing out.
So what are your thoughts?
WEDEMAN: Yes, I think it's -- when I first saw that this had happened, I was reminded of what happened in 1996 with Palestinian militant with Hamas
name, Yahya Ayyash. He was otherwise known as al-Muhandis, the Engineer, somebody who was the mastermind behind a series of suicide bombings in
Israel.
The explosives expert for Hamas. What happened in 1996 is that these Israelis, through spies and others, collaborators in Gaza, they were able
to switch the cell phone that Yahya Ayyash used. And one day he picked up his cell phone to receive a call and it exploded and blew his head off.
So the Israelis definitely have the ability but we're not talking about one device, one pager.
[10:10:03]
We are talking about potentially hundreds of pagers exploding, perhaps simultaneously, which would represent a level of sophistication far beyond
we've seen, anything we've seen anywhere else. So it's not a one-off incident.
This is an entire system of communications that's been compromised. And certainly for an organization that, like Hezbollah, which tries to avoid
using, for instance, the publicly used cell phone company in Lebanon -- they have their own internal system of communication, which they perhaps
thought was secure.
But now what we've seen, from the events of today, it is not secure at all. It has been infiltrated. Of course, we don't know for sure it -- but most
likely by the Israelis -- Eleni.
GIOKOS: Juliette, as we've now ascertained, we're waiting for more information. We are waiting to get more detail about this could have --
what could have happened. But Ben mentioned earlier that the government is now suggesting that anyone that does have a pager within Lebanon, they
should discard this device.
Could you give me a sense of, from a security perspective, if you infiltrate devices, specifically with an aim, whether you're able to target
specific people, groups of people? For example, Hezbollah, like we've seen here, which clearly was the target?
KAYYEM: This would not be a limited attack. Look, the most people, most civilians would be using cell phones. I think one can feel safe about that,
although if you're if you're Lebanese and not a member of Hezbollah, you might be a little bit, a little bit worried, just given the extent of the
potential damage that is going on.
The pagers are a self-contained communications network. And so Israel could limit the harm.
Where they can't limit the harm is just, important for people to understand, is that what we're seeing from Lebanon now is their emergency
management and medical capacity is now going to be completely stretched, given the injuries that are going on.
And, therefore, not able to serve normal civilian and emergency management needs that happen every day in a country like Lebanon.
So it will impact the Lebanese, probably not related to their cell phones or even other pagers but in terms of the emergency management and medical
response, which we're seeing from Lebanon is already stretching.
It's all hands on deck from what we're hearing from Lebanon. And so we can only surmise how big the -- how extensive this attack was. But it wasn't --
as Ben was saying, it wasn't one or two people at this stage. So that is that's where we are. And it is important that this is a communications
network.
Hezbollah is flying blind. That's what the attackers wanted, presumably Israel. And so information is not going to be very well gathered about who
was harmed, whether they were members of Hezbollah and the extent of the injuries.
GIOKOS: Yes. Of course, we are getting this information in real time at this point.
Paula, Israel has been very clear on its aims with Lebanon specifically, Hezbollah as well. And deems it as a threat to Ben's point. We've seen
attacks like this in the past. We're going to be analyzing this in real time. So give me a sense of what we're seeing right now between Israel and
Lebanon and how just tense the situation actually is.
HANCOCKS: For months now, really, since the middle of October, we have been seeing this almost daily tit-for-tat between Hezbollah and Israel.
There have been missiles flying in both directions.
Just within the last 24 hours, we've heard, from the Israeli side, there was a security cabinet meeting, where it was approved that there would be
an additional objective to the war against Hamas, to the war in Gaza.
And that objective is to ensure that tens of thousands of Israeli residents can move back to the border with Lebanon. Now more than 60,000 Israeli
residents that were moved south just after October 7th, because they've -- it was believed it wasn't safe for them in that area.
And what we're hearing from certain elements of the Israeli political scene, certainly, the more far right elements, is that they want the war to
move north. We've also heard it from the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, saying to troops in Gaza that they should be ready to shift their focus to
what's happening on the northern border.
[10:15:03]
So Israel has been very clear that it is seriously considering opening another front, because that front is not necessarily open when it comes to
a war at this point. But there is this daily tit-for-tat and some significant attacks on both sides.
So it has very much been a focus for Israel in the past few days, specifically.
GIOKOS: Yes.
Ben, could you give me a sense of what happens next?
Hezbollah has been clearly attacked. You've got these pagers exploding. We've been updating as much as possible. We're waiting for more
information. This is clearly going to infuriate Hezbollah in a big way, depending on who was targeted, who was hit, how many people have been
injured or seriously fatally injured?
Could you give me a sense of potential retaliation here, depending on who is behind this?
WEDEMAN: Well, assuming that Israel is behind it, Hezbollah will certainly publicly declare its intention to retaliate against these incidents today.
The question is, what can it do?
It did respond to the 30th of July killing of Fuad Shukr, that senior Hezbollah commander, with an attack almost a month later. But that attack,
although involving, I believe, more than 300 missiles and drones, caused very limited damage in Israel itself.
So it's questionable what Hezbollah is able to do unless it decides to use some of the kind of ammunition, the weapons that they haven't used until
now, which would certainly lead to an even greater escalation.
But in terms of a limited response to this incident or series of incidents today, its options are limited because what we've seen, certainly last
month, was that the Israelis are able to essentially prevent any of Hezbollah's short-term, short-range missiles and drones to cause any
significant damage whatsoever.
GIOKOS: And Juliette, if you've got pagers exploding, we're talking about as being a main form of communication, being off-grid in many ways, not
using telco companies.
If we -- and again, we don't know the extent; we're talking about hundreds of pagers.
In terms of the ability of a group like Hezbollah not being able to communicate effectively and potentially, this could happen again, right?
This could not be an isolated incident. We just don't know how many of these pagers could be at risk for the militant group.
What does it actually mean for their ability to retaliate in what they will clearly see as not only a provocation but also potentially an escalation?
KAYYEM: That's exactly right. Well, this denigrates their present communications capacity. This is how Hezbollah does communicate to plan,
organize, fundraise, recruit, know where everyone is and to have a unified approach to their planning.
So the question is, is Hezbollah sophisticated enough that they have a plan B communications system?
I think that's highly unlikely. These are systems that are expensive. They're hard to distribute. They obviously -- this system got infiltrated
somehow. They are going to be suspicious of other communications networks. We don't know where people are physically, if they're together, perhaps
they can communicate.
But they can't -- it will be more difficult to send messages out and they will have to do that on public platforms. So they will have to do that on
telecoms systems or even -- we don't know the extent that Israel has infiltrated other communication systems within Lebanon.
So I suspect they don't have a plan B. I could be wrong but it would have been expensive. They could turn to that plan B, a new set of pagers,
whatever it is. But right now, they are scrambling.
This is what Israel likely -- the perpetrators likely wanted because it will delay their ability to respond and it will allow -- Israel --
Hezbollah is not going to be able to respond quickly or, as importantly, defend itself right now.
So it is a vulnerability that is going to exist.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYYEM: -- time.
GIOKOS: And we have to say this. I mean, initial reporting that Hezbollah pagers were targeted and that is what we understand in terms of the people
that were injured. We just don't know whether that extends to also other civilians. We just heard from the Lebanese ministry of health urging all
health workers to report in for work.
[10:20:00]
Given the large number of injuries in the pager explosion, again, speaking to the fact that this could be bigger than the initial numbers that we have
been reporting of hundreds. We still don't know what this means.
They've also said that they'd like people to donate blood in anticipation of increased need as well. Again, perhaps pointing to the scale of these
pagers exploding.
I just want to give a little bit of context here.
And actually, Juliette, I'd like for you to jump in. I mean, I haven't personally seen a pager for many years.
Just how much in use are pagers generally not only within groups like Hezbollah but perhaps even within the civilian population?
Because that is the fear now. We just don't know what the numbers look like and whether it extends beyond Hezbollah.
KAYYEM: So I don't know the numbers. But I mean, basically, most countries are set up that not -- that citizens are on telecoms systems with --
through their cell phones, Apple, Android or whatever else.
There are, however, distinct communities that still use pagers that are relevant for this. One is nefarious communities, terrorist groups, drug
trafficking, human trafficking, whatever else, because they don't -- they don't want to create that vulnerability that someone might be listening in
because they're direct.
The second is public safety and medical. They often use this because, in an emergency, public systems can become overwhelmed. So they want direct lines
of communication. I do a lot of work in public safety planning.
It's the only time I ever see beepers anymore is within law enforcement in emergency management and medical emergency management. So this may have an
impact.
I, just knowing how Hezbollah plans itself, it would not be drawing on generally public systems to buy beepers. They are sophisticated enough and
secretive enough, they had direct manufacturing line for these beepers.
And more likely than not, some entity got into that supply chain and planned this --
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: OK, we -- so, Juliette, you're going to stay with us. We've got Paula as well as Ben. Stand by. We will have much more on this breaking
news out of Lebanon. And, of course, we're keeping tabs on all the developments there.
But we want to take you to another breaking news story that is playing right now as well. All right, so more breaking news out of New York. Music
mogul, Sean "Diddy" Combs, is in a federal courtroom in Manhattan right now, according to a law enforcement official.
And an indictment against him was just unsealed. We've learned he faced federal charges of racketeering, conspiracy and sex trafficking. He was
arrested last night in New York. Combs' attorney says, his client will be pleading not guilty. So that indictment unsealed right now.
We've got Areva Martin standing by. She's a civil rights attorney and legal affairs commentator.
Great to have you with us, Areva. We now have that unsealed indictment.
What more do we know about the charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs?
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: What we know, Eleni, is that these charges are not surprising, given the turn of events that started around
November 2023, when Cassie Ventura, a former girlfriend of Sean Combs, filed that explosive civil lawsuit, making allegations of sexual assault,
rape and sex trafficking.
That lawsuit was settled very quickly. But after the filing of that lawsuit, we saw a variety of other lawsuits being filed with very similar
allegations. And then fast forward to March of this year, we saw homes of Sean Combs in Miami, in Los Angeles, being raided; phones being confiscated
from him at an airport.
And there were rumors that subpoenas were being served on witnesses and that a grand jury had been empaneled in New York to look at, consider
evidence against him for these very charges.
So these charges, sex trafficking, conspiracy, racketeering charges, that many thought were long in coming when you look at the decades that have
produced allegations of violence and violence against women related to Sean Combs.
GIOKOS: So we also heard from his attorney outside the courtroom a short while ago, and you were saying that Sean "Diddy" Combs will be pleading not
guilty and they'll be fighting this.
So what are we expecting to happen in court today?
What are the next steps?
MARTIN: Yes, he will enter a plea. If he is arraigned today, he can enter a legal plea, basically stating that he's guilty/not guilty, just a legal
plea. And then the proceedings will begin.
[10:25:04]
Dates will be set. It's yet to be determined if he will be afforded the opportunity to post some kind of bail to remain out of jail. As his lawyer
says, he fights these charges. But it's very important to note, these are very, very serious charges.
They echo and they have an eerie similarity to charges filed against R. Kelly, another music icon, who is now serving a 30-year prison term for
very similar allegations that were filed against him in New York and then an ultimate conviction at trial.
GIOKOS: Areva Martin, thank you so much for that update. We appreciate it, of course, that's one of the top stories, breaking new stories we're
covering this hour.
But I want to take you back now to the top story. Hundreds of people in Lebanon have been injured in an attack targeting the pagers of Hezbollah
members. A Lebanese security source tells CNN -- and we're now learning from an Iranian news outlet -- that among them was Iran's ambassador to
Lebanon.
There was also injured health workers across Lebanon are being asked to urgent do report to work, given the large number of injured people being
transferred to hospitals. The attack happened primarily in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Now this comes after Israel yesterday officially widened the goals of its war to its northern border with Lebanon. Israel, of course, not commenting
on today's attack.
We've got Juliette with us. We've got Paula with us as well to give us a bit of analysis.
Paula, I want to come to you first. And we've just heard from, of course, the Lebanese health department, saying everyone needs to report to work.
We've just heard the news from Iranian media talking about the ambassador, Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, also injured in these attacks.
We're getting information in real time right now.
But given the scope of things, we just don't know the scale of things, what more context can we add to the story, which clearly is not only very
shocking but, again, showing just how tense things are becoming in the region, specifically between Israel and Lebanon?
HANCOCKS: Well, Eleni, I think we can take a lot from what the ministry of health has said about the scale of what has happened here. Now we did hear
from a Lebanese security source that it was hundreds that had been injured.
And then you have this public announcement, according to state media, from the ministry of health, saying, due to the large number of injuries, all
health workers have to come back to work. They have to come back to hospitals because of the sheer number of injured that are trying to access
these hospitals and being brought into the hospitals.
At this point, you have members of the public being asked to donate blood to these hospitals as well to help those injured. So it gives an idea of
just how significant this event has been and how many people potentially have been affected.
We've also got the ministry of health urging people with pagers to discard them. Now we know that Hezbollah uses these pagers but, of course, they may
not be the only ones and they may not be the only ones being injured at this point, we simply don't know.
But the fact that the ministry of health has specified that this is such a significant event does suggest that the number of injuries maybe quite
significant.
And then of course, hearing from the Iranian media outlet, the semi official mere news that Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, has
been injured. Now we don't know what to read into that at this point.
We know that Hezbollah is Iranian equipped, Iranian funded, Iranian sponsored. It is one of the Iranian proxies. But yes, we, all we have at
this point is that one line that the ambassador has been one of those that has been injured in this event.
GIOKOS: All right.
Do we have Ben Wedeman with us?
All right. Ben, you're listening in on all these new lines that are coming in. Iran's ambassador to Lebanon injured in this attack, according to
Iranian media. We are hearing Lebanese health department really asking for all health workers to report back to work.
We don't know what the target is. We don't know who the target was. We're getting more information on this front, Ben. But as this is all coming to a
head at this stage, I wonder, from your perspective -- and this is a big concern -- what it means for the region from a security perspective, from
an escalation point of view as well, Ben.
WEDEMAN: Well, this certainly represents a serious escalation because what we're talking about is, according to these Lebanese security sources,
hundreds of people being injured. And by all accounts, they seem to be all Hezbollah members.
And probably these are Hezbollah members who are not rank and file. These are probably local commanders, people who are in charge of units, lead
units from Hezbollah.
[10:30:04]
And the fact that Mojtaba Amani, the Iranian ambassador to Beirut, may be among the injured, sort of brings it up another level, because you are
talking about an Iranian diplomat being injured in this.
Don't forget that, on the 1st of April of this year, there was -- it is once widely believed to have been an Israeli strike on an Iranian
diplomatic complex in Damascus, which that set off a series of strikes and counter strikes, raising the temperature even further.
So this may be a similar event, where not only are there perhaps hundreds, perhaps more casualties among Hezbollah members but also a senior Iranian
diplomat as well. So certainly this sets the stage for a major escalation between not only Hezbollah and Israel but perhaps Iran as well.
GIOKOS: Ben Wedeman, thank you so much for joining us.
Now Firas Maksad, who is the director of outreach at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
As we're getting this breaking news in, with hundreds of people injured, specifically Hezbollah members after their pagers exploded.
Firas, great to have you with us.
What is your initial response to this news?
FIRAS MAKSAD, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: No doubt, a major operation and a wonderful -- wonderful is the wrong word -- but an
exceptional breakthrough for Israeli intelligence.
They're able to penetrate Hezbollah's telecommunication network and blow up hundreds, if not thousands of pagers all at once.
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: Firas, just to interject there, you mentioned Israeli intelligence being behind this.
Is that -- is that what you're characterizing this as, that Israel was behind this?
We don't have confirmation of that, of course. We're getting information in real time.
Why do you assume it's Israel?
MAKSAD: Absolutely. I mean, in the context of all that's happening, there is very little doubt in my mind and I think in the mind of most Middle East
watchers, that Israeli intelligence is behind this.
Now Israel does have a long track record of sometimes -- quite often, actually -- not claiming its operations to allow for some plausible
deniability and perhaps allow the other side to deescalate and not feel that they are compelled to retaliate.
But for all practical reasons, everybody here would probably suspect Israel as being behind this operation.
GIOKOS: As we're getting more information in -- and the other piece of news from Iranian media is that the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was also
injured.
How significant is this?
MAKSAD: Well, I mean, this is very significant because we currently have the American envoy in Israel and in the region, very much for the purpose
of deescalating and preventing Israel from broadening this war, pulling Lebanon into it in a major way.
It also, in a manner that can also bring in and drag -- sorry, Iran, Hezbollah's main patron, which perhaps and has threatened before openly not
to stand by if Israel launches a major operation in Lebanon.
So yes, this has the hallmark of an Israeli operation. It has the propensity and the potentiality to broaden in a way that the American
administration has been pushing. And what kind of work through diplomacy for quite some time now, almost a year since October 7th.
GIOKOS: Juliette, in terms of Iranians' ambassador to Lebanon being part of the injured as well, we've spoken about this for the last few minutes,
to get a sense and understand what this means in terms of escalation, we've just heard from Firas. He says this has got the hallmarks of an Israeli
attack. We just don't know yet.
But how are you going to read into this in terms of what it could mean regionally?
KAYYEM: Yes. So when -- we don't have to be blind to the idea that, of course, this is Israel. I know it's not proven. There are no other, there's
no other entity that has the desire and capability of doing something like this.
And they hinted at it yesterday. So as for -- so this is -- the Iranians will see this as a direct attack on one of their senior government
officials. So one could imagine how Iran is going to react. It would be no different than if their ambassador, in their mind, was shot at,
assassinated, kidnapped or whatever else.
Now, they make -- the irony here, of course, is -- and the question I ask out loud is, what is, what is the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon doing with
a network of communications that is limited to Hezbollah?
[10:35:05]
And this is a -- we know why. And this is a -- but they're going to have to 'fess up to that. I think the Iranians will claim that he was on just a
usual beeper network. But it's clear the ties between Hezbollah and Iran and leadership flow through an ambassador or others who, who had direct
ties with Hezbollah.
But this is the regional conflict we've been -- we've been worried about every time we get to a moment where things could be triggered into a
greater -- I'm not minimizing what's already happening there; it's a regional conflict in some respects but it's not a regional war.
This is the -- the question is this, are we over the brink now or can all entities bring it back?
GIOKOS: All right, Paula, what more are we learning?
HANCOCKS: At this point, we know that there will be a press conference. We believe in the ministry of health in about an hour's time. So we're hoping
we'll get more clarity at that point as to what is the extent of this event and how many had been injured?
We know from a Lebanese security source that hundreds have been injured. We know that this is a pager system, if you like, that is used by the militant
group, Hezbollah. We don't know though the -- how many Hezbollah had been injured, how many civilians have been injured.
That's simply not information we have at this point so potentially in an hour's time, we will get a lot more clarity on what has happened. We do
know the public declarations from the ministry of health at this point have pointed to the fact that it is a significant event.
The fact that they're calling health officials back to their hospitals, saying everybody has to go back to work so that we can cope with the sheer
number of injured that are coming into the hospitals, calling for civilians to be -- to be given -- giving blood to help with those injuries.
So presumably they are significant injuries in some occasions.
GIOKOS: Yes. And we're waiting for that number but we do have some video just in to CNN, just showing some footage of health workers arriving at
hospitals. We'd just like to share that with you. This is what we have right now.
And you can see people arriving there. Paula, and to your point, and this is a clear message from the health department in Lebanon, saying people
need to report to work, which, again, we have the number of hundreds injured. We just don't know if that number is going to stay the same.
HANCOCKS: Exactly. Just the very fact that they have been calling people back shows that they understand that this is a major event that needs all
hands on deck, that they are going to have significant injuries.
And I've seen other footage where that -- it appears to be very chaotic. As you can imagine, if this would happen, it's an unexpected event, there are
injuries that, if people are being asked to donate blood, they're obviously significant injuries in some occasions.
And that's a necessity, to call on people to donate blood. And then urging citizens not to use pagers because they don't know how widespread this is
at this point.
GIOKOS: OK.
Firas, I want you to give me a sense of -- because we've got the immediate impact, so people that are injured, the health department trying to get
people back at work immediately. We again, trying to confirm the number of injured.
We know that it was Hezbollah pagers for now, still waiting for that. But there's a political element to this and it's a really big one at a time.
We've got incredible tension in the region. You have a war that is raging between Hamas and Israel. And, of course, that's spilling over into
Lebanon.
And the huge ramifications of an attack of this nature.
MAKSAD: Yes, no doubt that today's attack is a watershed moment in this conflict. That's been raging now for almost a year between Hezbollah and
Israel.
But it's not disconnected. There's a broader context here. We all recall, back in August, the assassination of Hezbollah chief of staff in the heart
of Hezbollah controlled suburbs of Beirut.
There has been a series of attacks against Hezbollah by Israel that can be designed to spark a major war, to be a pretext for broadening this war. I
think Hezbollah is very much being put in a difficult situation, a policy dilemma, if you may.
If they respond and respond forcibly to such attacks, this being the latest and perhaps arguably the biggest, then it risks giving Bibi Netanyahu, the
Israeli prime minister, the pretext he is looking forward, to broaden this war with Lebanon and potentially pull in Iran.
[10:40:00]
But if they don't, they lose and hemorrhage their deterrence, inviting Israel and Netanyahu to conduct further operations, as we see today.
There's a third option and really, I mean, my sense is, particularly with U.S. diplomacy, active on this.
And then with the presidential envoy in the region, Hezbollah can very much make that decision still to unbuckle the Lebanon front from the Gaza front.
That support front, which Hezbollah launched in support of Hamas in October 8, has run its course.
And really has very much yielded very little in terms of returns for both Lebanon and Hezbollah and the Iranian axis. So there is a third path here
to de-escalate. I'm just not too
(INAUDIBLE).
GIOKOS: Look, we've got Firas Maksad with us. We've got Juliette Kayyem and Paula Hancocks giving analysis on this breaking news story out of
Lebanon. We're going to a very short break. We'll update you with the latest when we come back, stay with CNN.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos. We've got more on our breaking news story this hour.
These are the first pictures in to us, showing people's pagers exploding in Lebanon. Now the government is urging people to get rid of their pagers
after this bizarre attack. Sources say pagers belonging to members of the Iran backed Hezbollah began exploding in areas where the group operates.
Let's just watch this video again. This is video just in to CNN. It shows the moment where pagers exploded. This is in one of the markets, as you can
see. Let's watch in.
All right. Really important video there. This is the first that we're seeing of a pager exploding. From what we understand --
All right. From what we understand, you can hear the explosion there and people running.
What we understand right now, the health department has said, all health workers need to report to work. People have been asked to donate blood. We
-- from what the initial numbers tell us, hundreds of people have been injured.
This is video, just in from Lebanon, of one of the pagers exploding. And these are pictures of people heading two hospitals as well.
All right, so we also hearing, Paula, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, part of the injured. I think the questions now become, we know we're asking
the questions of how find how many people have been injured, who was injured and so forth.
But importantly, who is behind this attack.
HANCOCKS: We have not heard from Israel. They have not confirmed or denied that they are behind this attack. I think you'd be hard-pressed to
find someone inside Lebanon who did not believe it was Israel.
[10:45:04]
And I think we have been hearing from our experts that we have had on our air as well, saying that Israel has the capability, it has the ability to
carry out this kind of significant attack. And it also has the intention to carry out this kind of attack.
We have been seeing tensions between Israel and Lebanon significantly increase over recent months.
Just yesterday, within the last 24 hours, the security cabinet saying that they have passed another objective for the war in Gaza, for the war against
Hamas and that is to make sure that tens of thousands of Israeli residents can move back to northern Israel along the border with Lebanon and where
Hezbollah is.
So we cannot say definitively but it is where the finger of blame is being pointed by many in the region and by many experts.
GIOKOS: Right.
We've also got Charles Lister, senior fellow, director of countering terrorism and extremism program, Middle East Institute from Washington.
I just, Charles we are playing this video again of the moment one of the pagers exploded. This as in a fruit market, would seem to be a fruit market
inside Lebanon. And you hear the explosion and then people disperse.
So this is one of the first pieces of footage that we're getting in after hundreds of people were injured; specifically, Hezbollah members
So Charles, we're seeing this video and, from what we understand, many of these incidents occurred to the point where people are being asked to
donate blood. But from a political perspective, from a terrorism perspective, there's so many elements to this.
What is your initial reaction to visit what you're seeing in this video but also, this overall incident?
CHARLES LISTER, SENIOR FELLOW, DIRECTOR OF COUNTERING TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM PROGRAM, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: First off, obviously this comes
within a dynamic whereby we've seen some fairly significant escalation on the front between Israel and Lebanon just in the recent days.
A lot of rhetoric coming from Israel about, as you said, just a little earlier, about the need for Israeli citizens to return to their homes in
the north. And the only way to accomplish that was to deal with the Lebanon front.
So it comes within that wider dynamic. And it's hard to ignore that. But the attack itself is, I mean, virtually unprecedented. It looks like well
over 1,000 members of Hezbollah or individuals linked to it have been injured in this attack, some of them in Syria. So in another country across
the border.
And then as you, as you just said, as well, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon. So the complexity, the sophistication, the wide scale, the wide reach of
the attack and then, of course, the context within which it comes makes this enormously significant.
There's been a lot of expectation and concern that we may be very near a major escalation between Israel and Lebanon and this could easily become
the pretext for that. But we're not there yet. We should say very clearly that I don't think actually anyone wants a full scale war.
But it is an incident like this with these kinds of wide-scale repercussions that could put us there anyway.
GIOKOS: We've got Ben Wedeman standing by as well for us.
Ben, Charles just said this is an unprecedented attack in terms of what we've seen. Charles also mentioned that this could extend beyond Lebanon's
borders, targeting other militant members, perhaps in Syria.
And from what we've been seeing playing out in the last couple of hours as we're learning a lot more, understanding the extent of this and the
sophistication of this attack, is really phenomenal just to see the extent of what is playing out.
WEDEMAN: Yes, Eleni, I think phenomenonal is really a great way to describe it. What we're talking about is indeed perhaps hundreds, perhaps
even thousands of members of Hezbollah injured almost simultaneously in what seems to be a massive infiltration by, I think we can safely assume,
Israel of Hezbollah's communications network.
And in terms of, for instance, on the 30th of July of this year, an Israeli drone fired two missiles into a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut,
killing Fuad Shukr. One man, a senior military commander for Hezbollah but that was one man.
Now we're talking about hundreds, perhaps thousands of members of Hezbollah. And because they've got the -- they had the pagers, it appears
that these were men who were probably officers, not Hezbollah's equivalent of enlisted men within the organization.
[10:50:00]
So this is a massive blow to Hezbollah which has sustained a series of blows over the last few months and has tried to retaliate but has largely
been unsuccessful. So really Hezbollah is at a crossroads.
Is it going to repeat what it did last month, about a month after Fuad Shukr was assassinated with a largely unsuccessful barrage of missiles and
drones at Israeli targets, which Israel was able to intercept?
Or is it going to decide we've had enough of this support front for the war in Gaza and we're going to go quiet?
Or will they escalate and start using their serious, longer-range heavy weapons that they have held in reserve until now?
So the situation is extremely dangerous at this point. And the fact that among the victims was the Iranian ambassador to Beirut brings in another,
broader dimension into this very dangerous landscape, Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right. All right. Ben Wedeman. Thank you so much. We've got Paula Hancocks, Juliette Kayyem joining us, Charles Lister as well as Firas
Maksad. Thank you so much for your insights and analysis, as this breaking news story is occurring, right now out of Lebanon. We will bring you more
news as it happens. Stay with CNN.
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GIOKOS: We've been covering two breaking news stories this hour, the very latest on exploding pagers in Lebanon. In just a moment, we'll bring you an
update on that story.
But for now the breaking news out of New York, music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is in a federal courtroom in Manhattan right now, according to a law
enforcement official and an indictment against him was just unsealed.
We've learned he faced federal charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking and he was arrested last night in New York. His attorney says
his client will plead not guilty. CNN's Kara Scannell is outside court in New York, with the latest.
Kara, many viewers will remember that shocking video of Sean Combs assaulting his longtime girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Do we think that the incident is related to all those charges that we've seen coming through today in those unsealed documents?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni, the indictment does reference a video of Combs kicking and beating a woman who is not
identified in the indictment. But it says that this took place in 2016. That is the date of the video that CNN obtained from the Intercontinental
Hotel in Century City.
And the indictment says this video did become public, so it seems like a clear reference to the video, the hotel surveillance video that CNN had
obtained.
Now this indictment though, covers a breadth of allegations, saying from at least 2008, Sean "Diddy" Combs and others, including some of his security,
his employees, his household staff saying they helped facilitate what they describe as the sex trafficking operation.
Saying that Diddy was engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and others, that he manipulated women by holding over
their heads their potential career futures. Remember, he was the CEO of Bad Boy Records, that he was also withholding money from them.
[10:55:00]
That he was even threatening some of them with -- by showing weapons and guns. But trying to control and manipulate these women to engage in sex
acts, including in what they describe in this as these parties that Diddy had, that they called freakoffs, where he would have the women come in to
these parties. There were drugs there.
They would have sex with male prostitutes. That's all according to this indictment. As you said, Diddy's lawyers said that he's innocent. He will
plead not guilty when he appears before a judge later today.
We're also expecting a press conference from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York to get into more about these charges and
where this investigation goes.
GIOKOS: All right, Kara Scannell, thank you so much for that update.
And before we go, I just want to remind you of the breaking news that we are following out of Lebanon this hour. A widespread and bizarre attack
targeting pagers belonging to the members of the Iran backed Hezbollah.
The pagers began exploding in areas where the group operates. And a security source says hundreds have been injured, including an Iranian media
outlet reporting the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon was also injured. And we will continue to follow the story for you. We will bring you news as it
happens.
As you can see, this of the images from Lebanon right now, as people rush to hospitals. The department of health have called all health workers to
report to work.
I'm Eleni Giokos. Thanks so much for joining us for CONNECT THE WORLD.
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