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IDF Confirms Death of Israeli Soldier in Lebanon; Some Israeli Military Bases Sustain Hits from Iranian Missiles but Remain Functional; White House Believes Israel Has Not Decided on Iran Response; Growing Fears of Wider War in the Middle East; Lebanese American Activist's Family Still in Lebanon; Call to Earth: Palawan; Eight Israeli Soldiers Killed in Southern Lebanon. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 02, 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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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson for you in Tel Aviv.

It is a day of fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with the first reported death over an Israeli soldier happening as this region braces for

Israel's promised response to the second Iranian missile attack on Israel this year.

Israel's military says it has been clashing with Hezbollah fighters at close range today in several areas in southern Lebanon. The IDF releasing

this video that it says shows troops in a town not far from the Lebanese- Israeli border.

And Israeli airstrikes continue to hit what the IDF says are Hezbollah targets in and around Beirut. Jeremy Diamond is back with me this hour.

Lebanon is the battlefield. It is intense and it is bloody.

What do we know at this point?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Israeli military going deeper into Lebanon, now ordering the evacuation of more than 2 dozen

Lebanese villages as far as 18 miles or about 30 kilometers deep into Lebanese territory.

That certainly suggests much more than what the Israeli military announced a couple of nights ago, when it first sent troops into Lebanon, saying that

these were limited targeted raids just along the border.

Now we are seeing that they are calling up an additional division that could be some 10,000 troops being brought to the northern front to

potentially go into Lebanon. We are now watching as this operation is certainly deepening.

And the question is, how deep will they go and what exactly will their objectives be?

One of the things they focused on is the immediate threat of infiltration from Hezbollah, trying to neuter (sic) these Hezbollah positions along the

border that could be used to potentially go into Israel.

But another threat is also more significant and that's the one that I've talked to a lot of residents in northern Israel about. That is the fear of

anti-tank missile attacks. And those have a range of about 10 kilometers, 5-10 kilometers, depending on the type used.

And so will Israeli troops push that deep?

Some former Israeli generals I've spoken to pushing for Israel to establish some kind of a buffer zone to put those residents of northern Israel

outside of the range of those anti-tank weapons.

ANDERSON: They're talking about 65,000 people displaced at this point on that northern border. That's very latest that we know coming from southern

Lebanon. As I reported, we continue to see airstrikes targeted, according to the IDF, on Hezbollah targets in Beirut.

And its messy there.

Overnight there were what we saw and we will describe as pretty ferocious missile attacks here from Iran, of course, near 200 ballistic missiles.

Iran suggesting that 90 percent of those missiles hit their targets, military and security targets here.

That is being contradicted by competing narratives. That has certainly been rejected by the IDF. But we are learning more detail about what some of

those missiles hit very specifically.

DIAMOND: Yes. And the Israeli military insists that the majority of these ballistic missiles, 180 according to the Israelis, 200 according to the

Iranians, were intercepted and did not hit their targets.

However, we have certainly seen that the Iranians were able to hit more targets this time than they did with that April attack, which involved

drones as well as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

This time it was ballistic, just ballistic missiles, which are the most dangerous of those three categories. And we have seen videos of hits at the

Nevatim air base that our team has been able to geolocate.

[10:05:02]

And now an Israeli military source is indeed telling me that there were multiple hits to multiple Israeli air bases in Israel, central and southern

Israel. We don't know the extent of the damage.

But this Israeli military source was seeking to downplay the impact of this, insisting that they didn't hit any central infrastructure on these

bases, that these bases are fully functioning, as is the Israeli air force.

But what we have also seen, of course, is that many of these missiles, they did not hit these military targets as Iran is insisting. We were at a

school yesterday that, just hours before a missile struck this very schoolyard, damaging the side of a building with classrooms in it, hours

before that, there were children in those classrooms.

And we have also seen hits to civilian areas just north of Tel Aviv as well. And so it was very clear, the potential for destruction, the

potential for casualties, even though there was only one man who was killed in the West Bank by falling shrapnel; two people, who were lightly injured

in Tel Aviv.

There was certainly the potential for more casualties without Israel's air defenses, without the bomb shelters that millions of people rushed into

last night.

Certainly, though, the Israeli government feeling compelled to answer. We expect that prime minister Netanyahu and President Biden will perhaps have

a conversation later today. Certainly the Israeli government is having consultations right now about how deeply, how significant of targets do

they want to strike inside of Iran.

But there's no question that there will be a military response. That's being telegraphed.

ANDERSON: The U.S. president and the prime minister expected to speak. They haven't spoken, let's be quite clear, because this was something that

the U.S. President conceded last night, since August.

Of course, the intelligence assets, the Defense Department, will have been talking but It's actually quite interesting to hear Biden and Netanyahu

themselves haven't spoken since August.

Well, outrage coming from the White House over Iran's missile attack on Israel.

Thank you, Jeremy.

U.S. President Joe Biden says his administration remains, quote, "fully supportive" of Israel and he also says the U.S. is in active discussions

with the Netanyahu government about an appropriate response to Tuesday's attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: An attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective.

And this is testament to Israeli military capability and U.S. military. I'm also -- it's also a testament to intensive planning between the United

States and Israel to anticipate and defend against the brazen attack we expected.

Make no mistake. The United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: CNN's Kylie Atwood is live for us from the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.

What are you hearing at present about what sort of appropriate response -- what might be?

And we certainly heard Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor for the White House, suggesting last night that there will be serious consequences.

And I quote him there.

After the attacks that we experienced here in Israel.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. U.S. officials publicly are not putting any specific restraints or limits on what they think Israel's response should be here.

And, frankly, they are standing by them in a very powerful way, as you said, with Sullivan yesterday saying that there will be severe consequences

for Iran.

And what we're hearing from U.S. officials is that their private conversations with Israeli officials very much mirror what they're saying

publicly in such that they aren't putting on limitations, that they should exercise restraint and not go after specific targets.

That said, this is still very an active discussion as you well know. This just happened yesterday, less than 24 hours ago. The White House does not

believe that Israel has definitively decided how they're going to respond to this attack from Iran.

And so these are still active discussions.

But U.S. officials, the tone that they're going into those discussions with is different than we have seen in the past, where they have very blatantly

said that Israel must exercise restraint.

And of course, as you well know, Israel hasn't always heeded that advice from U.S. officials. But for right now it seems like Israel and the U.S.

are on the same page in such that they're drawing up some sort of severe consequences for Iran.

The specifics of that yet to be determined as far as we know.

ANDERSON: And that is certainly the outlet -- out loud rhetoric. Good for you. Thank you, Kylie.

Well, before Iran struck Israel, my next guest said the consensus was moving in that direction in order to, quote, "kill the momentum" that

Israel has been able to gain for the past few days.

[10:10:00]

But that could backfire, he said, adding, quote, "If Iranians strike Israel, it indicates that they calculated the cost of inaction outweighs

the risks of taking action against Israel."

Ali Vaez is the Iran project director at the International Crisis Group and he joins us now from Washington.

Iran did choose to respond, of course. So let's talk about what those risks are.

What is at stake here for Iran as a result of that attack last night?

ALI VAEZ, IRAN PROJECT DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: It's good to be with you, Becky.

The reality is that the Iranians, I think, calculated that, if they didn't respond, it would really undermine their credibility in the eyes of their

allies in the region.

It will basically make their system of alliance look as if it is all for one and one for none. And also there was a lot of criticism internally.

Even Revolutionary Guards' affiliated media were criticizing the supreme leader for being too passive in the past two months, especially after

Haniyeh's killing.

And I think the Iranians in general had to come to the conclusion that the restraint that they have demonstrated by not responding to Haniyeh's

killing and other attacks in the region had basically pushed Israel to press its advantage.

And at some point, that had to stop, even if there is now a risk of substantive Israeli retaliation against Iran.

ANDERSON: Did the attack last night restore that deterrence?

Did it make Iran look strong?

VAEZ: So it's too soon to judge but Iran went, I would say, one rung up the escalation ladder. This was not a major jump. What it did in April was

to break the taboo of directly targeting Israel from its own territory. The point was not death and destruction. The point was to say that they have

the courage, the willingness to do this.

This second attack, I think had a different concept. The concept was that we can, if we want to, get through the multilayered Israeli defense system.

But you know, Israel often responds not just in kind but it escalates by multiple, multiple folds.

And if it does so, then we might be in a ballistic pinpoint that could easily spiral out of control.

ANDERSON: Yes, the U.S. and Israel very quick to suggest that this attack was defeated.

Although the assessment here becoming slightly clear that some of these targets were actually reached by these ballistic missiles.

I want to put this to you.

Is Iran's calculations in weighing the risk versus reward a sound policy to your mind?

VAEZ: I don't think it's a sound policy. I think as a policy that they felt compelled to pursue because the Iranian officials were in New York

last week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, were telling their interlocutors that the only party that has demonstrated restraint over the

past few months has been the Iranians.

Why can't the rest of the world ask Israel to demonstrate restraint?

And again, I think they thought that, if they don't reverse this dynamic, Israel might even eventually come after them. So they would rather take the

initiative into their own hands.

But the reality is that, Becky, at this point, if Israel targets anything of real importance today to the Iranians, whether it's Revolutionary Guard

sites or nuclear facilities or energy or critical infrastructure in the country, that same logic would coax the Iranians to retaliate again.

And from that point on, the U.S. might have to get in between or join the battle. And we will be exactly in the kind of scenario that the Biden

administration from the beginning of this conflict in Gaza wanted to avoid. But now it's really on the verge of absolute failure.

ANDERSON: Hezbollah is certainly weakened, knocked down and out by any stretch of the imagination, it seems. And that is -- that's been reflected

on the battlefield just in the past couple of hours, where Israel has been taking casualties.

Where does Hezbollah and its position today, though, leave Iran and its proxies' influence and power in this region?

VAEZ: Well, certainly Hezbollah, as the tip of the spear of Iran's right regional network of influence, has been racked. But it's -- but as you

said, it's down was from being not out yet. We don't know how much of Hezbollah's strategic capacities have been deteriorated or completely

depleted.

[10:15:05]

I think Iran's preference is to try to help the group get back on its feet and push back against Israel with whatever it has, because it's kind of a

moment of huge or capabilities or risks completely losing them.

But we still don't know if that's really possible. Communication is probably extremely difficult. Iranian military advisors have difficulty

accessing Lebanon without being hit when they're on the ground. So the risks are serious for them and the options don't look very attractive.

And that's one of the reasons that I think Iran took matters into its own hands because it feels more exposed now that Hezbollah is on its knees.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, we will continue to speak. I appreciate your thoughts and your analysis. Thank you.

VAEZ: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Talking about Lebanon, we've also of course been talking about the attack here on Tuesday night and mulling what Israel is likely to do

next.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, fresh horror for everyday citizens on the ground following a relentless night of Israeli strikes. At least 90 people,

including many children, were killed in multiple locations.

This video, which I have to warn you is graphic, shows a young girl badly injured and covered in dust following an Israeli incursion in Khan Yunis.

The ministry of health in Gaza, says at least 51 people were killed there.

And Gaza's civil defense says the Israeli military hit an area where hundreds of displaced people were sheltering.

Meantime in Gaza City, Israel says it hit two schools. The Gaza civil defense says at least 21 were killed there at sites where Palestinians,

including kids, were sheltering. Israel says the attacks were precise, targeting Hamas command and control centers at buildings that were

previously schools.

Well, separately at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school in central Gaza, one displaced Palestinian said an Israeli strike killed

children while they slept. And you are looking at the aftermath of that now.

Al-Aqsa Hospital says six were killed there.

I'm Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv. Still to come, politicians and citizens alike ask, what is next for the Middle East after Tuesday's missile attack

from Iran?

We break that down -- or at least attempt to -- up next.

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ANDERSON: While fighting rages between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon -- and that fighting some 200 kilometers up the coast from where I am here in

Tel Aviv in Israel.

[10:20:02]

Iran's latest missile attack on this country is further raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON (voice-over): Iran launched a salvo of about 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli military and security targets on Tuesday, an attack far

larger in scope than the one in April that combined missiles and drones. No deaths reported in Israel.

In the occupied West Bank, one Palestinian man lost his life. An Israeli source tells CNN several Iranian missiles struck military bases but those

bases remain functional. Israel's prime minister vowing the attack will not go unanswered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does

not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Earlier today, an Iranian government spokesperson said, Iran has, and I quote here, "absolutely no interest" in a broader war and has

been acting in self-defense, they said.

But its military chief pointedly warned that, if Israel strikes back, Iran could attack again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GENERAL MOHAMMAD BAGHERI, CHIEF OF STAFF, IRANIAN ARMED FORCES (through translator): If the Zionist regime that has gone crazy is not

controlled by America and Europe and wants to continue these crimes or wants to do anything against our sovereignty and territorial integrity,

tonight's operation will be repeated.

Several times stronger and all their infrastructure will be targeted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: The coming days and weeks are going to be really telling for this region.

My next guest writes, and I quote, "Iran was at a crossroads, either do nothing and get more hits or attack Israel and risk escalating the war. Now

Israel plus U.S. are at a crossroads, either take an off-ramp to de- escalate or escalate with Iran and take this war to the next level."

And be very clear here, when you talk to people around this region, this is now a region with a full-scale war. We're not talking any longer about

escalating toward that. People very much feel as if this is a full-scale war in this region.

Iranian American journalist and host of the Iran podcast, Negar Mortazavi, joins me now from D.C.

Let me ask you a very, very pointed question but it's not an easy one.

What do you believe will happen next at this point?

NEGAR MORTAZAVI, JOURNALIST AND PODCAST HOST: As you said, the ball is in Israel's court right now. What I see is sort of a repeat of that episode we

saw back in April, when Iran and Israel had that tit-for-tat; Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Syria, Iranians attacked Israeli soil and

then the Israelis attacked Iran.

What's the key -- the party that's the key decision maker here, I think, is the United States. So essentially, how hard Israel kicks the ball back to

Iran depends on the messaging they get from Washington.

Is Washington going to join them and support them in offense?

Or really just in it in defense as they were back in April?

I think that red line was very clear back in April and that's why we didn't see that turn into a major escalation of the war. This time we're at a

crossroads again and whatever Washington signals is going to be the ultimate decision on how far this can go.

Will it turn into an off-ramp as you suggested or potentially be an escalation that can take this war to (INAUDIBLE)?

ANDERSON: You know, there is an argument that suggests that Israel and the -- some of the Arab countries around this region want to see a coherent

American strategy toward Iran.

And the absence of that clear strategy, some would argue, has pushed Israel down this path to a point at which it sees an opportunity to protect --

sorry -- to project its strength and secure its own defenses. There is some merit, I guess, in that argument but it is a worrying one.

And this could take this region in a really, really worrying direction.

MORTAZAVI: I agree, Becky, although I think maybe the rhetoric from Washington can be a little confusing. But I think the actions so far have

been clear from the Biden administration, that they are not interested in an all-out war with Iran.

[10:25:00]

They're not interested in Israel engaging in a direct war with Iran, in which U.S. has to come to Israel's support. And so I think that's maybe the

only time in the past 10 months that the Biden administration drew a very clear line in the sand to the Israeli side.

You know, if you start this war, essentially, we're not going to be participating. There's no appetite in the United States among the public

for another endless Middle East war and a war with Iran is going to be devastating, as you said, to the whole region.

And especially because we're in an election season. It was just the V.P. debate last night and it's a very short time before the election. So I

think there's no appetite in the U.S., across America, and also in Washington, in the administration. And they understand that a war with Iran

would be something devastating.

So I think that's the only time they've drawn a clear line, back in April. I don't know if they would do it again. But I think that would be the

decision essentially to define what this episode is going to.

ANDERSON: And it is for that reason, the fact that we are just weeks away from a U.S. election, 3.5 months away from the inauguration of a new

president and this sort of impotency when it comes to, you know, a position with regard Iran.

And indeed, many will say no more influence over Benjamin Netanyahu's government here that puts this region in such a worrying position, given

the escalation that we've seen.

Now many will say that the reason that this region is in the situation that it finds it itself in is the failure of that American diplomacy, not just

in the past year but, of course, over many, many years.

But very specifically no cease-fire in Gaza, despite weeks, months and months of debate as to whether we were just days or hours away. And no

clear, viable path toward a Palestinian state has further exacerbated what you could argue was already a region that was on the brink.

MORTAZAVI: One hundred percent, Becky. This is an administration that promised diplomacy with Iran, that promised a nuclear agreement, that

promised essentially to prioritize diplomacy and do a U-turn from many of Trump's policies in the region across the world to prioritize human rights,

et cetera.

And it didn't take them very long to essentially sort of get back into or get comfortable into the direction that the previous administration was

going, get comfortable with the Abraham Accords, which they were criticizing before coming into the White House.

And just last year, I think that the embodiment of that is that piece that national security adviser Jake Sullivan published in "Foreign Affairs" just

a little time before the October 7th, essentially saying that the Middle East is quiet and peaceful and they had everything under control.

And then October 7th happened and essentially the opposite of everything promised happen.

So I think I would call it timid diplomacy, a shyness toward actually taking a, you know, the political -- using the political capital needed and

the cost also of diplomacy, of making the hard decisions is just something this administration has been, has been dealing with.

And not really prioritizing or delivering on that promise of U.S. diplomacy. And this is where the region is, I would say, in probably the

worst shape that it's been in many years.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, Negar. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. I've said this before, your podcast is terrific. Those who

haven't listened to it should.

Still to come on CNN, my conversation with a Lebanese American political activist. We'll get his very personal take on the U.S. presidential

election and how it will impact the escalating crisis in the Middle East. Stay with us.

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ANDERSON: You are looking at Beirut in Lebanon. Israel's military says it has been clashing with Hezbollah fighters at close range today in several

areas.

In that part of southern Lebanon, it is happening as the region braces for Israel's promised response to the second Iranian missile attack on Israel

this year. Israel's military also issuing more evacuation orders for civilians, this time for about 2 dozen villages in southwestern Lebanon.

Our next guest has a very personal and moving story regarding what is happening in Lebanon. He is a Lebanese American, living in the United

States, but his family is still in Lebanon.

He accuses the U.S. of being an enabler in the Israeli assaults, writing this, quote, "My family is calling me from south Lebanon, saying, have you

convinced your country to stop bombing us?"

Abbas Alawi joins us now from Detroit in Michigan.

Firstly, let me just ask you, is your family safe and OK? What are they telling you?

ABBAS ALAWIEH, CO-FOUNDER, UNCOMMITTED MOVEMENT: Thank you so much for having me.

My family is physically safe to the extent that they can be; psychologically, emotionally, we're getting messages from my family

members, asking that we choose nice photos of them under death notices should they become among the over 1,000 civilians that the Israeli military

has killed using U.S. bombs.

And I'm working with everything that I've got, as a Democrat, as someone who worked on Capitol Hill for a long time, worked closely with President

Biden's team, with Vice President Harris' team, to urge them to choose a different approach that saves my family's lives.

That approach would require it to stop sending the weapons that are harming and killing civilians. It's really, really urgent.

ANDERSON: And you are the co-founder of the Uncommitted Movement. And we're going to get to that because that's really significant with just a

month to go until this election. You are in a key swing state and I want to talk to you about where you stand and your movement stands with regard the

candidates on the ballot.

Before we do that, we read out earlier about your family asking you if you told, quote, "your country to stop bombing them."

That must be so hard to hear.

How has that made you feel?

What have you been doing throughout all of this, as you know the family is at risk back home in Lebanon?

ALAWIEH: You know, the experience of having our own family members live under the horrors of Netanyahu's war crimes is the experience of, for me,

as a political activist here in America, oscillating between trying to do good political strategy and having difficult conversations with my own

cousins.

Much younger than me, 10-15 years younger than me, trying to convince them that moving from one area that is markedly more dangerous than the other

and trying to get to safety isn't a betrayal of the other civilians that they are around, whose humanity they recognize as no different than their

own.

There's a guilt associated, there are complex emotions associated with surviving the kind of terror that Netanyahu is inflicting upon the people

of Lebanon, the people of Gaza right now.

[10:35:04]

I know that feeling myself because, when I was 15, I was stuck in the war in Lebanon in 2006 and I had to make sense the question of why is it that

the United States government is sending weapons that are being used in civilian areas to harm and kill, at that time, kids like me.

And so it's the really difficult conversations, the existential conversations with my own family members about what safety means to any of

us. And Netanyahu and Joe Biden right now are violating the most foundational aspects of our safety.

ANDERSON: And this is an important and important conversation, not just with your family. And I hear the pain in your voice. It is palpable when

you talk about your family in south Lebanon.

You are also in an incredibly influential position in a swing state in the U.S. As a Democrat, I would have to assume that you would naturally vote

for Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president.

You also run what is known as the Uncommitted Movement.

Can you just tell our viewers what that is, why -- what it is doing in Michigan and why it is at present that you are not pressing those in the

movement to vote for the Democrat candidate?

Why?

Just explain.

ALAWIEH: Thank you so much for the question. So I am part of a group of organizers that came out of the ceasefire organizing that we've been doing

since October of last year, Arab-led organizing, Black-led organizing, Jewish-led organizing, union-led organizing here in our country, trying to

push for a ceasefire.

Out of that movement grew a specific strategy to urge President Biden and Vice President Harris, through the Democratic presidential primary

campaign, urge voters to vote uncommitted as a pro-war -- or, sorry-- pro- peace, anti-war, pro-ceasefire vote, a pro-Palestinian human rights vote.

And here in Michigan, that delivered 101,000 votes, people who self- identify and said Gaza is a top policy issue for me. This in a state where, the last time Donald Trump won, he won by something around 10,700 votes.

So what we're saying is that this isn't just an Arab issue, this isn't just a Muslim issue. Voters here in Michigan, over 740,000 voters nationwide,

ended up voting uncommitted, specifically to send a message to this administration that there needs to be a different approach.

What this administration has done is talked a lot about a ceasefire but failed to deliver one because -- precisely because they're failing to stop

the weapons that Netanyahu is using to prevent a ceasefire.

To employ this nonsensical strategy of de-escalation through escalation, President Biden and his administration are misleading Democrats, are

misleading the American people when they, when they talk about that as any kind of coherent strategy. It's just leading to more bloodshed, more

targeting of civilians.

ANDERSON: Let me just ask you very briefly, what, 60 seconds, if by not encouraging those in the movement to vote Democrat, are you not leaving the

door open for Donald Trump to win in Michigan?

And as a swing state, that could open the door to the U.S. presidency for him.

ALAWIEH: I'm very concerned about Michigan specifically. And we have made the campaign offer after offer to come out with a statement, talking about

your commitment to international human rights.

They've refused. When asked that we specifically may not be iterated now for President Biden for Vice President Harris, the Uncommitted Movement has

asked of them repeatedly.

People all across our country are asking not only to stop sending weapons but we've repeatedly asked if they would meet with Americans who have

family members, who are experiencing the terror of American bombs right now.

Both Biden and Harris have repeatedly refused our requests for them to meet with family members of Palestinian Americans and Lebanese Americans, who

have family on the receiving end of Netanyahu's war crimes.

There are tangible steps that Harris can take right now to build with this community that the Democratic Party has abandoned, has betrayed. In order

for us to reengage these voters, it requires looking them in the face as they send weapons to kill their family members. It's a simple ask.

Vice President Harris, why won't you sit down with Lebanese American and Palestinian Americans, who have family in Gaza?

We've asked repeatedly.

Why are you saying no?

I would recommend that as a first step to coming into this community and asking them for their vote.

ANDERSON: I know this is very painful, too. I heard you speaking when I listened to you on a podcast recently and I think it was your uncle who had

said, how can you be doing this?

You could be opening the door to Donald Trump.

How is he a better alternative than Kamala Harris and the Democrats for his family in southern Lebanon?

[10:40:00]

Look, I know how painful this is and we hear your concerns and we hear your appeal.

ALAWIEH: I just want to direct my uncle --

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: Thank you for joining us.

ALAWIEH: -- my uncle knows that our push for a ceasefire to save lives and he knows that the current policy is aiming to kill him and other civilians.

And that's why Democrats need to do a better job because we know that the policy that they're employing is so -- it's no good. And Donald Trump may

be worse. But what's happening right now has to come to an end.

ANDERSON: Abbas, it's, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for giving us your time and your heart today. Thank you.

Well, this is not the first time in recent decades that we have seen Israeli troops go into Lebanon. Let's take a closer look.

In 1978, Israel first sent troops across the border into Lebanon. They were looking for members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization or PLO,

after they attacked a civilian bus in Israel, killing dozens.

Israel occupied most of the southern part of the country, although Lebanon's government, then embroiled in a civil war, had nothing to do with

the bus attack.

After protests from the United Nations, the IDF withdrew but created a narrow security zone, backed a local Christian militia. This eventually led

to the creation of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which, of course, exists there today, UNIFIL.

Israel began its longest invasion into Lebanon in June 1982. They took almost half of Lebanon's territory, including West Beirut. The operation is

believed to have resulted in more than 17,000 deaths.

Much like this week's declarations, Israel said the incursion would be brief and limited. That is not what happened. Israeli troops occupied

southern Lebanon for 18 years, the last of their soldiers pulling out in the year 2000.

Well, this video filmed in March of that year shows the forces withdrawing, crossing the border at Fatima Gate back in Israel -- back into Israel. The

gate has been closed ever since.

The most recent incursion happened in 2006. Hezbollah militants infiltrated Israel in a surprise attack, killing eight Israeli soldiers. Israel

retaliated with a massive air operation and a sweeping ground offensive that lasted until mid-August. I was on the ground covering the devastation

back then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: it's gone, it's gone.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's gone, it's gone. My brother lives there. My relatives live here. It's -- their houses are all gone.

So where is everybody?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think no one can live in this horrible, miserable situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Earlier this week, I spoke to the "Ha'aretz" journalist Gideon Levy here in Tel Aviv about the fact that it feels like -- and we have --

been here before.

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GIDEON LEVY, "HA'ARETZ": I think that everything is so expected. This scenario repeats itself in every war that Israel is launching. First nobody

is interested in a full-scale war. Then comes the bombardments from the air and all kinds of operations.

Then it will be a very, very limited ground operation, limited in time, limited in territory. And few weeks later, we might be in the outskirts of

Lebanon, not Beirut. And then, and then comes the main question.

How do we get out of there?

Because entering Lebanon is the easy side, the easy step. Look what happens in Gaza. Israel is deeply stuck in Gaza without having any idea how to get

out from there and what to do with Gaza.

Same is expecting us now in Lebanon we will start a ground operation. It will get complicated. I'm sorry, I'm so pessimistic but experience told us

that that's the way things are going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Gideon Levy.

We will be right back.

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[10:45:00]

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ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi.

Now this week "Call to Earth" is turning the spotlight on the Philippines and an organization working to conserve the country's last remaining

pristine rainforest.

Today, we learn how conservationists KM Reyes made a grassroots effort on the island of Palawan to protect one of its iconic landmarks and the many

threatened and endemic species that call it home.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Conservationist KM Reyes leads a Palawan based organization with a very clear, if not

lofty, goal.

KM REYES, CONSERVATIONIST, CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABILITY (voice-over): The Centre for Sustainability is a women-led youth environmental non-profit.

Our mission is to conserve the Philippines' last remaining 3 percent of pristine rainforest through establishment of national parks.

WEIR (voice-over): Their first project launched in 2014, two years before they were officially incorporated as an NGO. The target was Cleopatra's

Needle, a large forested area outside of the capital city of Puerto Princesa, considered to be a safe haven for the island's threatened and

endemic species.

REYES (voice-over): Cleopatra's Needle is the ancestral domain of the Batak tribe. There's only 200 members left. And I would argue that, if we

didn't have Indigenous Bataks still here on land, we wouldn't continue to have the forests that we do.

WEIR (voice-over): Their goal was to legally establish Cleopatra's Needle as a critical habitat, a designation that KM uses interchangeably with

national park but one that she says can carry tougher penalties for illegal infringements.

But not everyone was immediately on board with the idea.

REYES (voice-over): There's a long history of conservation actually displacing communities, taking Indigenous peoples away from their ancestral

lands because of this idea of fortress protection. So at the very beginning, it was it was actually up and down and there was a lot of back-

and-forth.

WEIR (voice-over): To help gain their trust, CS launched a reforestation project they called Saving the Almaciga Tree, a collaboration with other

NGOs and the Potok community, who not only consider this specific tree sacred but also rely on it for income.

REYES (voice-over): We tap the resin that it produces, quite similar to how you would tap rubber trees for the rubber. And you sell that on the

international market and it fetches a really high price. And as a result of that, now we have a lot of encouragement from outsider communities that

come in because they're desperate for livelihood.

But what that means is that the species is overharvested and it destroys the species and they die.

WEIR (voice-over): In total, they planted more than 15,000 almaciga seedlings on Cleopatra's Needle.

REYES (voice-over): So the Almaciga Project is important on a conservation level but also on that kind of community level to build that bond.

WEIR (voice-over): They also needed to gather physical proof that the forest is indeed home to threatened and/or endemic species.

REYES (voice-over): So far we've identified 34 globally threatened species and 64 endemic species just in this area alone.

It's pristine rainforest.

WEIR (voice-over): They spent four years tirelessly putting in the work, day in, day out and, then in 2017, the payoff came in black and white.

[10:50:03]

REYES (voice-over): Oh, my gosh. It was incredible, the power that a piece of paper can have.

WEIR (voice-over): The Centre for Sustainability trains locals in ecotourism practices, ranger patrols, biodiversity surveys and management

planning, putting the ongoing preservation of Cleopatra's Needle into the hands of the people who live here.

REYES (voice-over): What I want people to really see is that you don't have to have anything special. You need to feel passionate and you need to

feel joy, I think, in the work. And that's really infectious. I think, if anything, we're ordinary community members that just wanted to make a

difference in our own backyard.

And that's also what makes it so special, that we were able to actually make an impact.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: For more on protecting the Philippines' rich biodiversity, tune in for "Call to Earth: Conservation Rises" this weekend on CNN. We'll be

right back after this short break.

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ANDERSON: More now on our top story. The Israeli military says one of its soldiers has been killed in Lebanon. The announcement says that the 22-

year-old squad commander died in combat.

Israel and Hezbollah both saying their forces are engaging each other in southern Lebanon. And the IDF says it's sending more troops to join its

ground incursion. The impact on civilians has been devastating.

Lebanon's disaster risk management unit there's at least 109,000 people have been displaced by the conflict with the actual figure likely to be

much higher.

Well, the U.S. says that Israel has the right to defend itself, although it has also said that Israel risks mission creep in Lebanon. Earlier, I spoke

to Ronnie Chatah, host of the "Beirut Banyan" podcast and asked him if Lebanon could or has turned into the epicenter of an all-out war in the

Middle East.

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RONNIE CHATAH, PODCAST HOST, "BEIRUT BANYAN": I think Lebanon has been the region's preferred battlefield for the better part of over five decades.

And unfortunately, in 2024, 34 years after the civil war ended and 24 years after the Israelis left Lebanon, once more in Beirut it's a terrifying

night.

The sounds of bombs and echoes thundering throughout the city. Of course, watching the news as everyone is around the world, seeing ballistic

missiles being flown from Iran to Israel.

But in Lebanon, the strikes continue. The southern suburbs --

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

ANDERSON: Right. And you can see Ronnie Chatah's interview with me on my social channels. But I have got to get to some breaking news because we had

heard earlier on and have been reporting on an incident at the Lebanese and Israeli border.

And Nic Robertson is with me now.

There were reports of a mass casualty event earlier on today. And we are now getting more details, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And these details for the IDF, the families involved are tragic. They had learned earlier in the day

that dozens of soldiers were injured, one was killed. They were transported to a nearby hospital but declared a mass casualty event.

Other hospitals also put on alert to bring in casualties. We are now learning from the IDF that, in fact, eight soldiers total now have been

killed.

[10:55:03]

This is, this is a significant blow to the IDF in what is barely, barely into their second day of ground operations inside of Lebanon. We don't know

the specifics. We don't know exactly what happened. We do have a very good idea of the location.

And I'm just looking here, the IDF is talking about troops from the EGOS unit, the Golani Brigade, which is one of the most battle hardened units.

And as well the Yahalom unit.

We've also seen that these, many of these were officers. These were experienced soldiers on the ground. Hezbollah, we know, has had time to

prepare for this. I think the IDF perhaps getting an indication how deadly those preparations can be.

ANDERSON: And Nic, you've been right up on the border very close to where we believe this incident was. You've got 30 seconds, Nic, very quickly.

ROBERTSON: The best information, we were right there yesterday. We were with a lady who's in a village. She flees the troops. It's her village. She

didn't want to be evacuated. She told us yesterday, overlooking the same area, she was worried about the troops going into Lebanon because of

exactly this type of scenario.

ANDERSON: Nic Robertson with me here in Tel Aviv.

That's it for CONNECT THE WORLD for the time being. But do stay with CNN. "NEWSROOM" is up next.

END