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Israel and Hezbollah Target Each Other in New Strikes; "Vast Majority" of Those Seeking Treatment for Injuries Were Civilians; Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Calls Deaths from Electronic Attacks "Massacres"; U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Heading to Paris after Ceasefire Talks in Cairo; Top IDF Commander Has Completed Approval of Plans for Northern Arena; Israeli Town Empties Out amid Hezbollah Attacks. Aired 10- 11a ET

Aired September 19, 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]

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ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos.

Now the Middle East is increasingly on edge amid fears Israel is moving its military focus to its northern neighbor. The leader of the Lebanese

militant group, Hezbollah, is due to speak anytime now after his fighters were targeted in two ways of attacks using electronic devices in Lebanon.

The harm done by hundreds of explosions in no way limited to members of Hezbollah. The group is blaming Israel for both attacks. Now Israel is not

commenting on either one. But CNN has learned that it was behind the first, in which pagers exploded across the country.

And we've seen new attacks across the border overnight. Israel's defense minister Yoav Gallant says a new era in the war is beginning, with the

center of gravity for Israeli forces moving north.

Lebanon says dozens were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded in the two waves of attacks on wireless devices. Last hour, I spoke with the Lebanese health

minister. He began by explaining what the hospitals in Lebanon have been dealing with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. FIRASS ABIAD, LEBANESE HEALTH MINISTER: We've had two days where we had a large number of those who are injured coming to the hospitals. The

total tally of those who are dead is 37, including two children, an 8-year- old girl and 11-year-old boy.

Now in the hospitals, the vast majority of the injuries on the first day were mainly in the face and in the upper extremity. We've seen people who

have lost their eyesight because their eyes have been damaged.

And we've seen people where they have lost the use of their hands, whether they've had amputation of fingers or a completely mangled hand. And I think

that a large number of those are going to have a life-changing injury to deal with.

GIOKOS: Minister, you mentioned child casualties.

Could you give us a sense or a picture of how many civilians unaffiliated with Hezbollah could have been caught up in this?

ABIAD: It's very difficult to say, because, you know, this didn't happen on a battlefield.

GIOKOS: Yes.

ABIAD: I mean, even those who might be affiliated with Hezbollah, the vast majority of what we saw were civilians coming in. They came from -- they

were part in a market, as some of the videos had shown. They were in the street. They were in their cars. Some of them were actually working in

hospitals.

We have a nurse who lost his, you know, who died because of this. We have some other, three healthcare workers who are severely injured. So this

happened in a civilian sort of environment. It didn't happen on a battlefield.

And that's why it's difficult to say, you know, to sort of differentiate between, let's say, combatants and non-combatants.

And this is one of the reasons why Lebanon and the government considers this an indiscriminate attack in the sense that, you know, it's clearly

when those devices were detonated, there was no concern that, you know, there are civilians nearby and they might be injured.

GIOKOS: So, Minister, here's the question -- and we've seen some of the visuals in the video of various devices exploding in public spaces, as you

say, even in the market for example.

What kind of injuries are we talking about here if you're just in close proximity of a device like this detonating?

ABIAD: So, you know, there are two types of injuries that we've noticed. The first one, this is the pager. And here, what apparently happens is that

those pagers went off. People were looking at the, you know, the message and then they exploded.

And that explains why the main injuries are to hands and to the face, to the eyes. And these are the vast majority we've had up until now. We've

operated on 900 or we performed 955 operations on patients.

And as I said, a large number of them have lost the use, the function in their eyes or in their hands.

Now on the second day, these were the walkie-talkies, which are bigger devices and they caused a much bigger injury. And a lot of those patients

ended up either having, you know, extensive surgeries.

And it also explains why we have a higher tally of fatalities in the second day. You know, we in the first day, we had 12 deaths; in the second day we

had 20 -- sorry, 25.

GIOKOS: Minister, I -- 25. Minister, I want to talk about the ability for hospitals to deal with this kind of influx of injuries.

[10:05:00]

And I know a lot of people are currently in ICU as well. Lebanon has been dealing with the lack of government funding, specifically to hospitals;

been dealing with various crises.

What kind of scenarios are we looking at here, your ability to be able to deal with these types of attacks?

ABIAD: Well, indeed, that was the main worry when the conflict started. And from day one, you know, we were working on a scenario where there are

mass casualties.

Now, because, you know, the health system is working in a low resource environment, then it became a very important role for coordination and for

making sure we have the right plan to be able to absorb any large number of casualties.

So we have been instigating a disaster plan where, you know, different hospitals can deal with this. And indeed, you know, this was an action two

days ago, where we had 1,100 ambulances transporting almost 2,000 patients from in different parts of the country.

And at one point we were transferring patients from the south of Lebanon to the north of Lebanon and almost 90 hospitals were receiving those patients.

Now this was something that helped us really absorb these almost, you know, 2,500 patients within a very short period of time. And a lot of those

patients are still in the hospital.

You know, up until now, we still have 11,343 patients still in hospitals. And when the second attack happened, we were really worried, because if we

had a similar, you know, outcomes like the day before, our hospitals would really have been overwhelmed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Right. Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah is delivering his address right now. Our teams are listening in and monitoring. We can bring

you the latest on all those messages from Hezbollah leader. I want to bring in now Jeremy Diamond, who is in Tel Aviv.

And joining us shortly with Ben Wedeman, standing by in Beirut.

I want to start with you, Jeremy. Importantly, we're waiting to hear from Hassan Nasrallah in terms of plan of retaliation, what that could mean as

Israel has been very clear about the fact that it's heading into a new era of war.

We also know that it's shoring up its teams on the ground at the northern border. Give us a sense of what this could mean and whether we're talking

about potential expansion of this war.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there certainly is that possibility, that very distinct possibility in the air right now, as we are

hearing not only the rhetoric ratcheting up.

Including those comments from the Israeli defense minister, talking about a new era of this war, talking about the center of gravity of this war moving

north.

But also as we are seeing military movements, including the 98th Division, a key fighting force in Gaza, over the course of the last year, being

redirected away from the Gaza Strip toward Israel's northern front.

That doesn't mean that war is inevitable and, for now, we also have -- we should note that we haven't seen other key moves that we might anticipate

before an all-out war, including, for example, the callup of additional reservists who would be sent to the northern front.

That for example, has not happened yet but there is no question that, following these two days of deadly attacks in Lebanon, the deadliest for

Hezbollah since the beginning of this war.

With at least 38 members of Hezbollah having been killed over the course of the last two days, 33 of whom were likely victims of these pager and

walkie-talkie attacks, there's no question that the temperature is very high at this moment.

And that Hezbollah, as we are likely to hear from Hassan Nasrallah, as he is speaking now, is vowing to retaliate and that is because they have been

so directly hit, not only in terms of the numbers of casualties here but also in terms of the way in which they have been -- their vulnerabilities

have been exposed.

And they have been embarrassed and they are weakened by these attacks, not only weakened from kind of resources and organization standpoint but

weakened from a public perception standpoint amid the -- when we think of the psychology of this war.

The psychology that Hezbollah very much needs to keep in mind with its supporters and with the Lebanese public as well. So we will wait and see

what Hassan Nasrallah avows will come in terms of a response.

And we will wait to see what that response will be, because it is that response that will likely determine what comes next and whether or not we

are indeed spilling into that all-out war that has been feared for nearly a year now.

Or whether these two parties will, as we have seen before, once again, step back from the brink.

GIOKOS: Very true. It is going to set the scene.

[10:10:00]

In terms of what is to come, we've got Ben Wedeman standing by in Beirut. We've got live pictures for you of the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah,

who is speaking right now.

And Ben, I'm just monitoring some of what he's saying. He's thanking the Lebanese health ministry for everything they've done but nothing yet in

terms of what will happen in terms of retaliation and what the plan is.

What are we expecting today?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think we're expecting, Eleni, for him to repeat vows of revenge that we've heard from

other Hezbollah sources as a result of the attacks of the last two days.

But don't expect him to get into any specifics. This is not something that they would intend to share. And I think there are low expectations about

what Hezbollah can actually do at this point.

I mean, we have a very good example of an Israeli attack and Hezbollah, Hezbollah response going back to last month on the 30th of July, Israel

killed a senior Hezbollah military commander, Fuad Shukr, in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Immediately we heard Hezbollah, Nasrallah in particular, say that Hezbollah would take revenge on Israel. It was not until the 25th of August that it

did that and Nasrallah claimed that they hit, for instance, the headquarters of Mossad, the headquarters of Israel's signal intelligence

agency, known as Unit 8200.

But we saw no evidence that they were actually hit their objectives. And it was something of a, to use a colloquialism, it was something of a nothing

burger. And given that, over the last two days, we've seen more evidence that Hezbollah's security intelligence apparatus has been compromised.

Clearly, the Israelis have information on the lot of the movements of and activities and identities of individual Hezbollah members, including senior

leaders.

And it's questionable how much they can actually do to take revenge on Israel, to inflict pain on Israel, given the fact that Israel clearly

knows, has a very good idea of what's going on within the organization itself. Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yes, Ben -- and Ben, we mustn't underestimate just what an embarrassment this has been for Hezbollah, for Nasrallah, in particular. We

also know that he was the one that encouraged, particularly to use things like pagers and get off-grid.

And now you're posing the question of whether Hezbollah has the resources to be able to retaliate effectively.

The question, still the underlying question is here, whether Hezbollah actually wants a full-out war with Israel, if there is appetite for this?

WEDEMAN: No, I don't think Hezbollah has the appetite. I don't think Lebanon has the appetite for a full-out war against Israel.

Now every time Hezbollah puts out a statement about an attack on an Israeli target, it has a preamble in which it says, this is in support the people

of Gaza and in their struggle against Israel. This is, as Nasrallah calls it, this is a support front for that war.

Hezbollah cannot afford, does not want to become engaged in something along the lines of what we saw in 2006, where, for 34 days, there was an intense

war focused largely in the south. But here in Beirut and in the southern suburbs known as Dahiyeh in Arabic.

That entire neighborhood was pounded to smithereens. They don't want to see that. There is no support in the wider Lebanese public for war. And unlike

2006, Hezbollah cannot depend on friendly countries in the region to help rebuild those areas that have been destroyed.

So there is no appetite. And I think they will probably, given a choice, would simply like to continue this daily exchange of fire between Israel

and Hezbollah but limited to the border area. Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yes, yes.

Jeremy, I want to bring you in here as well. I want to bring you in here -- I'm sorry; I'm hearing lots of things in my ear at the moment.

But Jeremy, I just want to bring you in here and I want to talk about the potential of a ceasefire deal with this prospect of escalation with

everything that's transpired in the last few days.

In the meantime, we know that a senior adviser to Netanyahu has presented the Biden administration with the proposed ceasefire deal that would

include a safe passage for Yahya Sinwar.

[10:15:00]

I want you to give me a little bit of detail about this and whether that could be a breakthrough.

DIAMOND: The answer is very likely a hard no on that one, Eleni. And that's because this is a senior adviser to the Israeli prime minister, who

was going to Washington, who is presenting what sounds like a ground -- grand bargain proposal.

But it is also a grand bargain proposal that is very likely dead on arrival, should it even arrive in Hamas' hands. And I actually spoke with

an Israeli source familiar with the negotiations, who told me that there is no indication at this stage that this proposal will be the basis for new

negotiations with Hamas.

And that's because what he is proposing does sound like a grand bargain. It would entail an end to the war altogether, the release of hostages and that

exchange of Palestinian prisoners in one fell swoop, in just one phase of an agreement, rather than the kind of three-phase process that has been the

subject of negotiations for months and months.

And it would also include the exile of Yahya Sinwar outside of Gaza. The problem is there's no indication that Hamas and that Sinwar himself is

interested in an exile deal. It has been discussed at various other phases of the negotiations as something that would happen perhaps in the later

stage of a ceasefire agreement.

But officials have said that, every time it has come up, there was no sense that Hamas, that that was something that they would go for. So for now,

what it seems to be is really a messaging play by the Israeli prime minister's office to put together this kind of grand bargain proposal and

then point out that Hamas is the one refusing to agree to it.

And we should note though that the hostages' families forum, which --

(CROSSTALK)

GIOKOS: Jeremy, we need to go to Hassan Nasrallah. We are taking this live. Let's listen in to the leader of Hezbollah.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

HASSAN NASRALLAH, SECRETARY GENERAL, HEZBOLLAH (through translator): -- by that enemy. Since they achieved their occupational estate in our area, it's

a massive aggression on Lebanon, its sovereignty and its security.

it's war crimes or announcement of war. We can call it anything. And we can and the situation takes various names. Of course, this was the intention of

the enemy.

But God almighty with His mercy and His kindness have saved many people and have reduced the potential of harm.

Why?

Because on one side many of these injuries were simple injuries while they might have been in among those who are killed. Also, some of these pager

devices were out of use and some of it was away from the members. And some of it hasn't been distributed even.

And that's against to the intention of the enemy as I mentioned earlier. God almighty with His mercy and kindness in addition to the human efforts

that we have seen and the care that we saw from the people, no wounded person was left laying on the ground.

The ambulances that are the Cross, that are the Crescent, everyone, the people, they care. The coordination between the army and security

establishment, all of this has stopped the achievement of the enemy's goal to a large extent.

So if we say one of the main goals was to kill around 5,000 people with God blessing and His mercy and with a human effort that was honest and sincere

and was very strong efforts of various groups and organizations and our social groups, whether official or popular, it was stopped, that goal but -

- great part of it.

But in regard to what happened and how it happened, we have formed investigation committee, internal investigation committee. They can call

and security and everything.

[10:20:00]

And we are studying all the possibilities. In regard to the explosions, we've received to the conclusion, almost decisive conclusion but we still

need some time to confirm our findings.

But in general, this case is still under investigation, whether from the company that --

GIOKOS: All right. So that is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaking there. I want to bring in Ben Wedeman, who's in Beirut for us.

Ben -- and Jeremy Diamond as well. We also have Jeremy standing by.

Ben, you're listening into some of those.

What do you make of his messaging?

WEDEMAN: OK. Eleni, there's an Israeli fighter jet flying, they're dropping flares just now as Hassan Nasrallah is speaking. Didn't break the

sound barrier, dropping more flares again, flying right north of Beirut, flew right over the city.

OK. So obviously, the timing of that overflight was no mistake or coincidence. Clearly, the Israelis wanted to detract -- distract the many

viewers here in Beirut and in Lebanon as he makes that speech.

But what we heard Hassan Nasrallah say was that Israel has crossed all red lines with the attacks, the pager blasts and the walkie-talkie blasts

yesterday in Lebanon. He said that, in a sense, Hezbollah and Lebanon got off lucky because he said that the intention was to kill as many as 4,000

people with these blasts.

Clearly, the death toll, according to the ministry of health was 37. That was 12 -- yes, on Monday -- rather, Tuesday, with the pager explosions and

20 yesterday with the walkie-talkie blasts.

But certainly it comes at a time when tensions are very high. And when an Israeli fighter jet flies over Beirut like that, that only increases the

fears that an escalation is coming for Hezbollah.

What we saw is that Tuesday and Wednesday, saw in a 48 hour period, the highest death toll for the group since the 8th of October when hostilities

broke out between the two. So it -- definitely we are not hearing a secretary general of Hezbollah who is extending an olive branch, suggesting

that perhaps it's time to step back from the brink.

Certainly, in this instance, it was Israel that made the first move, with these two days of wireless communications devices blasts. But certainly I

think, when you talk about Hezbollah's audience, its support base, it cannot back down at the moment. I haven't seen yet any specifics on vows of

revenge.

But we will be hearing such vows during this speech, when I can get back to listening to it -- Eleni.

GIOKOS: Yes, as you say, jets dropping flares over Beirut there, Ben. We've also got Jeremy standing by.

And I just want to read to you what some of Nasrallah has said in the last few minutes.

There is no doubt that we were subjected to huge security, hit security wise and humanitarian wise. It is unprecedented in Lebanon's history and in

the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict."

And then Nasrallah also goes on to say, Jeremy, "It is the nature of war. One day the enemy will hit us and the next we will hit the enemy."

This is a prelude to what we could be hearing in terms of what could happen next, as we wait to what clearly is a very tense environment precipitated

by what we've seen in the past two days.

DIAMOND: No doubt about it. And listen, these speeches by Hassan Nasrallah tend to be long. So I don't want to overemphasize any one section of the

speech.

However, that being said, I do think it's interesting that we are hearing Hassan Nasrallah here talk about how bad this attack could have been. And

arguing that it wasn't as bad as the Israelis tried to do.

Effectively, trying to diminish how significant this Israeli attack was by pointing out that, in his view, Israel didn't accomplish its goals in terms

of the numbers of people that they were aiming to kill. And in turn, that could affect the type of response that he feels required to deliver.

[10:25:00]

Mostly through the lens of what we have heard from Hassan Nasrallah in the past, the actions that we have seen from Hezbollah in the past, which have

been to ultimately make quite clear that he does not view all-out war as being in Hezbollah's interests, in Lebanon's interests and in his own

personal political interests.

It's too early to say, again, based off of just a section of the speech, whether that is the case this time. Certainly he is making clear that there

will be a response. But he is also saying things like it is the nature of war. One day they hit us; the next day, we will hit them.

And so is he trying to frame this as just yet another phase in the tit-for- tat?

Or is he going to frame this more broadly in this speech as a very severe escalation that could take things much, much further?

My initial read, just off of a few of those comments, suggests that perhaps he is, he is trying to downplay things here rather than escalate them. But

again, we will have to see. And it is also important to note that it is not always the intentions of these leaders that are the most important.

It is also sometimes simply the actions on the ground and the risk of miscalculation anytime a strike occurs, whether it is intended to be a

limited response or an overwhelming one.

What actually happens on the ground, including miscalculations, is ultimately what tends to steer the course of these things.

GIOKOS: All right, well, we continue to monitor Hassan Nasrallah speaking there, Jeremy Diamond. Good to see you. Thank you so much.

Ben Wedeman in Beirut as well.

We'll be right back after a short break, stay with CNN.

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GIOKOS: We've been watching our coverage of the Middle East on edge and the threats of all-out war erupting in Lebanon. There will be no de-

escalation in the region without a ceasefire in Gaza.

And U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken is expected in Paris to talk about the situation with European allies. He's spent the last couple of

days in Cairo, his 10th trip to the Middle East since October 7th.

And the first way he did not visit Israel following those twin attacks in Lebanon. Washington seems to be scrambling behind the scenes. U.S. Defense

Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Israeli counterpart for the third time in 48 hours Wednesday.

And as the world looked to Lebanon, just yesterday, five children and two women were among eight killed in an Israeli strike on a school turned

shelter in Gaza City. CNN's Jennifer Hansler is at the U.S. State Department for us.

And Antony Blinken has just landed in Paris.

What do we expect him to be on the agenda as sort of hopes for a ceasefire are diminishing?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT PRODUCER: Well, Eleni, as you said, Blinken just landed in Paris, where he will be meeting with his French

counterpart, his British counterpart.

[10:30:00]

And his Italian counterpart jointly as well as French president Macron as the escalation opportunity here is very high. He is coming from the region

where he stressed yesterday, the need for no parties to take advantage to escalate the conflict, to spread it further.

We expect his agenda to be talking about Gaza and Ukraine. And the Iran component of all of this as well. The U.S. through a back channel, reached

out to the Iranians to stress they were not involved with those attacks and Lebanon and that Iran should not take advantage of this opportunity to

escalate.

We know the British, the French and the Italians also have inroads to the Iranians. They have in the past used those to communicate also the need for

no escalation here. And all of this is coming as the prospects of a ceasefire are very low right now. we have seen virtually no movement there.

The talks have stalled.

U.S. officials had in the past said they expected to present a new proposal in the coming days. That timeframe, we now are not hearing about it

anymore. It's not anything that is imminent on the front burner here as these talks are stalled out.

And they are trying to find a way to bridge these gaps between Israel and Hamas. And what we saw in Lebanon there, those counter-strikes we're

seeing right now, are only going to complicate matters here.

GIOKOS: All right, Jennifer Hansler. Thank you so much for that update.

Well, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. We will focus on what's happening in Lebanon, specifically Hezbollah's leader speaking with the twin attacks

on electronic devices in Lebanon. And what he's saying amid the growing threat of a wider conflict in the region. That's coming up next.

Plus from tech hub to ghost town, CNN visits a city in northern Israel, where residents have fled Hezbollah attacks.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been speaking this hour following the twin attacks on electronic devices in Lebanon that killed dozens and

injured thousands.

Nasrallah called the attacks "massacres" and said Israel crossed a red line while praising the emergency responders who says -- who he says saved many

lives. Now last hour, Lebanon's health minister told CNN the attacks killed 37 people and injured thousands, with some people losing their eyesight or

use of their hands.

In the wake of the attacks, both Hezbollah and Israel launched cross-border strikes. Just within the past few minutes, Israel announcing that its top

commander has completed approval of plans for its, quote, "northern arena."

[10:35:00]

As fears of a wider regional conflict grow, joining us now is Cedric Leighton, CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force colonel.

And Fawaz Gerges, professor, will be joining us in just a moment.

But we've got Cedric standing by for us.

Cedric, there's just so many things happening today. Importantly, we're hearing from Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, to figure out where

this is going. And importantly, whether we're going to see a significant escalation. We're waiting for those lines to come through.

But I wanted to take a step back here to talk about the significance of what we saw in the last two days, which "The New York Times" is calling the

new -- the modern era Trojan horse, where it was completely unexpected and it's completely unprecedented.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's right, Eleni. And it's one of those aspects of warfare where surprise is a key component

to success.

And in this particular case, the Israelis ingeniously figured out that what they needed to do in order to disrupt the Hezbollah command and control

structure is to, in essence, sever their communications links.

And one way to do that, absent bombing radio towers or cell towers or things like that is to go after a network like the pager system.

And in this particular case, they decided to do it in this dramatic fashion. And the reason they did this, I think, is because they -- what

they wanted to do is not only disrupt the communications links but they also wanted to render as many Hezbollah operatives as useless as possible.

So what they were trying to do is not only sever the communications links but also have a military operational success without really sending troops

into Lebanon. And that's one way that they figured they could do it.

And they knew that Nasrallah had directed that the communications of Hezbollah move from smartphones and other cell phones to pagers, to an old-

school method of communication.

That old-school method of communication was designed to be basically invulnerable to modern technology and to modern attacks. But the fact of

the matter is the Israelis found a way around that, using somewhat old- school techniques of actually planting explosives, minute explosives in the pagers themselves.

And that made a difference.

GIOKOS: Intercepting the supply chain, which is really phenomenal to think about how this whole thing transpired, as we said, Hassan Nasrallah

currently speaking. We're waiting to hear whether there are plans for retaliation, what that could look like.

In the meantime, Israel says that they're heading into a new era of this war. They've sent the 98th Division to the north, which is significant. We

don't know what that would look like. There is major fear in this region as a whole about potential escalation.

And many have said, what we've seen in the last two days could be a prelude to something far bigger.

What is your take from the military perspective?

LEIGHTON: Yes, Eleni, it is probably a prelude to something bigger. We saw, as Ben Wedeman was reporting, we saw the Israeli jets circling over

Beirut and dropping flares. That in and of itself is not going to damage anything on the ground.

But it is a signal that they can rule the skies of Lebanon with impunity; in other words, they have air superiority on the ground with the 98th

Division moving from Gaza to the northern border.

And with the Israeli chief of the general staff saying that they are ready to implement, basically implement war operations, what I think were going

to see is movement forward of Israeli forces at least getting ready to move into southern Lebanon, probably up to the Litani River.

If they do that, then the idea would be to take that territory, rid it of Hezbollah fighters as much as Israel can and then give a safe zone

basically to the northern Israeli towns so that the residents can return there, which is a war aim of prime minister Netanyahu's.

So that's one possible scenario for the IDF to prosecute this war. It does meet with -- it does, in essence, serve to fulfill Netanyahu's political

goals and his war aims. So that would be one way that this could move forward.

GIOKOS: I just want to bring in Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.

Fawaz, great to have you with us. I know you've been watching closely what Hassan Nasrallah has been saying, the messaging importantly, and what this

could basically mean in terms of next steps.

What is standing out for you right now?

FAWAZ GERGES, DIR. MIDDLE EAST CENTER, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, I mean, he acknowledged that what Israel did.

[10:40:00]

And he basically accused Israel of basically planting explosives in the pagers and the walkie-talkies.

He said it was a very powerful blow. It was a very heavy blow psychologically and also in terms of casualties. He accused Israel of

trying to kill 5,000 people in one particular minute.

Yes. He acknowledged the tag that they will try to find out how Israel was able to infiltrate and penetrate these supply chains. He said, look, this

is war. And in war you win once and you lose once. It's part of a complicated war with Israel.

The big message is the following: Hezbollah has promised its followers, its social base that the organization is consolidated. The decision making

is solid. The group is ready to go at any moment. No fracturing in the organization.

He also promised that Israel's overarching aim to saturate the front in Lebanon from (INAUDIBLE) happen. He said, we will continue to show

solidarity with Gaza. In the name of all the martyrs and the names of all casualties.

So really it was a message of defiance, a message that Israel will not be able to break the backbone of Hezbollah. He made it very clear that

Hezbollah will never surrender, that Hezbollah will continue to resist unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza. So basically he really made it very

clear.

(CROSSTALK)

GIOKOS: So Fawaz -- yes. And it's -- so the ceasefire in Gaza is going to be very important in terms of putting this to bed, right, de-escalation. I

just want to quickly refer to something that Hassan Nasrallah just said.

The structure of Hezbollah has been unshaken. But here's the question.

What messaging does Hezbollah want to hear right now?

And I guess everyone is looking to see if there's going to be retaliation. Frankly, we know Lebanon and Hezbollah don't have appetite to escalate this

even further. But technically, as we've seen before, there's going to be something that will happen. And this is going to be a vicious cycle that

continues.

GERGES: Well, look, I mean, I think Nasrallah had a two-pronged message. I think the first, most important audience was the social base, the

followers, the supporters, the people basically who have suffered, who have been injured, who have been killed, lost their eyes, lost their limbs.

And remember Hezbollah used to really pride themselves on having trust with its followers, defies (ph) capability. So this really was a speech so far

of reassurance, trying to reassure his followers that the party continues to basically acknowledge challenges, mistakes.

And he also acknowledged the fact that the followers are paying deeply and dearly for being part of Hezbollah. At the same time, I didn't hear any

message that Hezbollah is willing to escalate more than the rules of the engagement with Israel.

He really went out of his way to say, well, look, basically what we will do, we will continue to support Gaza. And to answer your question directly,

I think Hezbollah faces a major predicament.

And the predicament is, it wants to retaliate. My understanding is that Hezbollah really wants to retaliate without triggering all-out war with

Israel. Nasrallah has made it very clear that Israel is trying to drag Hezbollah into war with Israel and with the United States.

So nothing changes. (INAUDIBLE) threatens to escalate the type of confrontation with Israel so far.

GIOKOS: Right. Fawaz Gerges, thank you so much for weighing in on this story.

We've got Cedric Leighton there as well.

Thank you to both of you for your time today.

Right. As those on the Lebanese-Israeli border await what comes next, thousands remain displaced from their homes. And Israel is making it a

priority to get its residents back. CNN's Nic Robertson went to a city that was once thriving but has emptied out amid the ongoing crossfire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): A ghost town close to the Lebanese border, Kiryat Shmona, a shadow of its former

self, most of its 25,000 residents evacuated last October. Silence and weeds where once there were people.

ROBERTSON: Almost all of the stores here are shut and frozen in time now for close to a year and it feels as full-on as some of the few people who

stay behind sound.

NISAN ZEEVI, JVP IMPACT DIRECTOR INVESTMENT: So now everything is empty after --

[10:45:00]

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTSON: Empty offices.

ZEEVI: -- empty offices, empty labs. Before October 7th, we have had here in the upper -- 72 startups.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): From fungal plastics, the fake eggs, the EV sourced hundreds of millions of investment for Israel's up and coming high

tech hub in the north.

ZEEVI: It's a very sad feeling, because in each one of these offices, there were people, entrepreneurs from all over Israel that came here to

build the next big thing in agrotech, in foodtech, in climatetech. Welcome to my humble house, humble place.

ROBERTSON: So on this side, a beautiful view of Mount Hermon and on this side, Hezbollah.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): When we last met Zeevi nine months ago, he was hopeful his evacuated family and his old life would be back soon. Fast

forward to now it's a distant memory.

ZEEVI: We thought that we living the dream, building startups, not in Tel Aviv and living in a small shoe box but living here in the Galilee -- at

the Galilee.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): A new reality is setting in getting his family back the dream and the startups --

ZEEVI: It is going to be a challenge, challenging time. I think we went back like 30 years.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): So too David Azuli, mayor of nearby front line town, Metula, much more optimistic when we met him in January. Now ground

down by Hezbollah's incessant attacks and the government's failure to stop them.

DAVID AZULI, MAYOR OF METULA: Things got a lot worse. Almost half the houses in Metula are damaged. The government has forgotten about us. The

prime minister only cares about his own political survival.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Not helping the mood Hezbollah's attacks have been spiking lately and despite the minister of defense promise to get families

home by the beginning of September, the IDF's response falling short of everyone's expectations here.

ROBERTSON: Was it burning when you arrived?

RON MOISESKO, ARMY RESERVIST: Yes, it was always burning the trees. There's a school over there, right over there, that's got some -- as well.

ROBERTSON: The school was hit as well?

MOISESKO: Yes, the school was hit as well.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Even soldiers like Moisesko, who is from Kiryat Shmona, there is frustration.

MOISESKO: It's tiring to wait that long. The war is endless. We need to do something, maybe in a more aggressive way or in a peaceful way just need to

do something.

ZEEVI: Eventually we are the one that paying the price. We'd like -- just like a player on a chess. Now we want to come back home.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Not down, not out but flagging -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Kiryat Shmona, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well coming up, Iranian hackers trying to tip the scales in the upcoming U.S. election. What the campaigns are saying. That's coming up

next.

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[10:50:00]

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GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. We have been listening into Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, as we wait to hear whether

there's going to be retaliation against what we've seen over the past two days, the blowing up of pagers as well as walkie-talkies in Lebanon.

Some of the messaging today, he was saying that this was an unprecedented blow to Hezbollah and they are looking at ways to retaliate. But also

importantly, he said that the structure of Hezbollah remains intact, almost underplaying the impact of what we have seen in the last two days, that it

could have been bigger.

He also said that a lot of Hezbollah leadership were not using those pagers and walkie-talkies and were spared. We're continuing to listen in on some

of the major messaging coming through from Hassan Nasrallah.

In the meantime, investigators believe Iranian hackers have attempted to tip the scales in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, saying there's

been documents stolen from the Trump campaign to people associated with his political rivals.

The Harris campaign says individuals connected to the Biden election campaign were contacted on their personal email accounts with what looked

like a spam or fizzing (sic) attempt. CNN's Katelyn Polantz is tracking the story for us.

Pretty remarkable to be honest, Katelyn, in terms of what we've been seeing. Tell us about what we know.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a series of statements from U.S. intelligence officials during this presidential

campaign includes one yesterday, where they say quite explicitly the Iranian government is attempting to stoke discord and undermine confidence

in the electoral process.

U.S. intelligence officials are able to say this because of a series of apparent attempted hacks or hacking and then dumping. Hack and dump is the

way the government talks about this sort of operation from people connected with Iran.

The example that is being acknowledged now by U.S. government officials and by the Kamala Harris presidential campaign is an effort over the summer.

After Trump campaign documents were stolen, to get private information about the Trump campaign or from the Trump campaign into the hands of Biden

campaign individuals, people working for that campaign.

It was an unsuccessful attempt. But specifically the way it worked was, in June or July in the summer, the Iranian connected cyber malicious actors.

They were able to get Trump campaign documents through a phishing scheme of people around the Trump campaign.

And then sent stolen, non-public information, apparently in the text of emails, unsolicited emails, where they were pinging people in the Biden

campaign at the time. It looked like phishing to some of those folks. The material was not used, a spokesperson from the Harris campaign said

yesterday.

So that material was not spread more widely because of this. But now Donald Trump is accusing of the Biden-Harris campaign to be bad actors in this

foreign interference effort.

But the Harris campaign is strongly condemning efforts by foreign governments or actors to try and interfere in U.S. elections, something

that is clearly taking place and we're learning more about by the week.

GIOKOS: Katelyn Polantz there for us. Thank you so much.

We're going to go to a very short break. We'll be back right after this and bring you the latest from our breaking news story from Lebanon as well as

Israel. Stay with CNN.

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[10:55:00]

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GIOKOS: Welcome back. And before we go, I want to bring you an update on our top story from the Middle East. Right now, the Israeli military says it

is striking targets in Lebanon.

This just after the head of the Iran backed militia, Hezbollah, says back- to-back attacks involving wireless devices were massacres. Hassan Nasrallah said the attacks, which killed more than three dozen people and wounded

thousands, crossed a red line.

As he hinted at revenge against, quote, "the Israeli enemy." And we're just watching some more lines out from Nasrallah.

He's saying, "Finally, without a doubt, the aggression was big and, as I said, unprecedented. It will be followed by a fair response and retribution

in ways they expect and don't expect."

So clearly pointing to the fact that will be some kind of reaction from Hezbollah. Very important to note that, when we do see these tit-for-tat

things, we also see very similar messaging from Hassan Nasrallah.

Well, thanks so much for watching. I'm Eleni Giokos. "NEWSROOM" is up next.

END