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Crisis in the Middle East: Exodus From Lebanon

Aired July 19, 2006 - 13:35   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures now from Haifa, Israel. Beautiful night scene. It's surprising to even think that this city suffered a number of rocket attacks throughout the past week. Still at risk. A lot of people there staying very close to the shelters in their homes, not far from their homes. But a peaceful night in Haifa at this point, as they continue to keep their fingers crossed they won't see any more Katyusha rockets coming in to their area.
Well, we're all over the crisis in the Middle East. Here's what we know right now: Relentless rocket fire southward from Lebanon. A Hezbollah rocket struck the northern Israeli town of Nazareth today. Two children were killed. Nazareth is the farthest south Israel has reported casualties, rather.

And on the subject of casualties, the Lebanese prime minister says 300 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israeli attacks began a week ago. Israel reports 29 people killed.

And the exodus from Lebanon. A cruise ship loaded with Americans and Brits, about a thousand, is en route to Cyprus from Beirut right now. Triple that number are expected to leave tomorrow.

Back to Israeli-Lebanese fighting in a minute. But the fighting in Gaza and the West Bank is more face to face and street to street.

Our Matthew Chance is in Gaza City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Gaza, guns are blazing. The world may be watching Lebanon, but Israel's other battle is not forgotten, not by those living in its shadow. "They destroyed everything," she screams. "But we'll stay here. We'll hit them with rockets, even stones if we have to."

These are the makeshift rockets Palestinian militants are firing into Israel. They lack the power and accuracy of those used by Hezbollah from Lebanon, but still needle the Jewish state.

Hamas militants still hold Gilad Shalit, a corporal in the Israeli army captured last month. Israel says military pressure like this will continue until the rockets stop and their soldier is released.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my new house.

CHANCE: But Palestinians like Akram Abu Ouda, an English teacher, are being caught in the middle. What the world doesn't seem to understand, he told me, is what happens in Gaza has an impact elsewhere.

(on camera): Do you think if there were peace between the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the Israelis there would be peace with Hezbollah, as well?

AKRAM ABU OUDA: If they make peace with Palestinians (INAUDIBLE) in Gaza, this will spread, and more and more with our other people, even with Hezbollah.

CHANCE (voice-over): But what if the reverse is true? What if violence begets violence as it so often has in this region?

(on camera): Since the soldier's capture, Israeli forces have been pounding the Gaza Strip with ferocity, with airstrikes, with tank barrages and with ground incursions. They've been hitting the infrastructure. Much of the water supply has been taken out. There are very few power lines left. There's no sanitation. And according to the United Nations, more than 100 people have been killed.

(voice-over): The U.N. has stepped up emergency-relief efforts across Gaza.

KAREN KONING ABUZAYD, COMMISSIONER GENERAL UNRWA: But there seems to be a great debate out there in the big wide world on whether this is a crisis, or a catastrophe or a disaster. All I can say is that people are suffering. They're suffering more than I've seen them suffer throughout the intifada.

CHANCE: And there seems little hope of that easing now, not as long as Israel, the Palestinians and now Hezbollah are locked in this terrible conflict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Over the course of the day, Israeli forces have been pounding the Gaza Strip, moving their tanks into a short distance from here, in the center of the Gaza Strip, to Mekazie (ph) refugee camp. We understand from Palestinian medical sources, at least nine people, nine Palestinians, have been killed, including a number of civilians, in this latest round of violence in Israel's other front in its war.

PHILLIPS: Matthew Chance, live from Gaza. Thanks, Matthew.

It was a rough trip to say the least, Americans pouring into the Mediterranean island of Cyprus after fleeing Lebanon.

Many weren't sure that they'd make it.

Our Soledad O'Brien talked to some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN BERRY, AMERICAN EVACUEE: I'd say extremely chaotic. Very disorganized. We got on the boat around 4:30 in the afternoon. So we just got off now. So it's good to be on ground, but, yes, very -- and no food, too. So it could have gone better, I'd say.

TONY LABAKI, SWEDISH EVACUEE: Since 1:00 yesterday, up to now we had nowhere to sleep or to sit. It was very bad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): How many children are you traveling with?

LABAKI: Three.

O'BRIEN: How old?

LABAKI: Thirteen, 11 and two.

O'BRIEN: How are they holding up?

LABAKI: Well, it's very hard for them, you know, but we are grateful to be here.

MARTA KAYAT, AMERICAN EVACUEE: But I expected different from the embassy. It was like five days. And imagine waiting five days with two children in the middle of the war. It's terrible.

O'BRIEN: Did you feel that the embassy and everybody was helpful, organized, to the best degree possible, or did you feel like it was just a crapshoot for you?

MICHAEL BAY, AMERICAN EVACUEE: It was -- the Norwegian government has been very helpful to us. This is a Norwegian vessel. Obviously -- well, there was only 200 Americans on it. So we were pretty lucky to get here today.

GEORGE HALE, AMERICAN EVACUEE: Disorganized, the evacuation coming out of the country. I appreciate the help of the embassy, but, I mean, this -- we could have had better circumstances.

Like, my parents heard it was a cruise ship. And it was definitely not a cruise ship. There were no seats. We got wet on the way here. But, I mean, we're here, and that's what counts. It seemed like my parents and people in the U.S. knew more than I knew.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, CNN's Carol Lin has an eye on the CNN International desk and various Middle East television stations, as well, checking your e-mails too.

Carol, what are you hearing?

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boy, Kyra, just hearing from those Americans who have arrived safely in Cyprus, they are not the only ones who are frustrated with their embassy.

We got an e-mail here out of Beirut from a Jake Konduras. He says that, "My wife and I are currently in Beirut trying to get back home. Our embassy in Ottawa has told us that 'you are trapped, there is nothing we can do, you are at war.' The day before, the local Canadian embassy in Beirut told us that if we wanted to leave, we could drive to Damascus, Syria. Fortunately, we are staying with local residents who said, don't do that, it is too dangerous. Two hours later on the roads, that road was bombed. Our hosts may have saved our lives. There are over 50,000 Canadians currently abandoned here in Lebanon, according to our embassy. I could suggest chartering 10 of the many cruise ships in the Mediterranean, sending some of our ships in Halifax to make sure everyone stays safe, and asking the one country that matters here, Lebanon, if we can move the ships in and get our people out."

Fear and frustration, Kyra. We're hearing from viewers, CNN viewers, around the world. Those in Beirut are saying they feel trapped, they are frustrated that they see on the news that the embassies are saying, oh, people with medical emergencies are our top priority.

Got an e-mail from a viewer whose father has -- has had heart problems and they said they have no way to get him out. So hopefully they will be among the hundreds of people who will be able to get out of that country and out safely over the next few days.

PHILLIPS: Carol Lin, thanks so much.

Well, whether people are fighting or fleeing, the Internet is capturing the Middle East conflict in real time, all the time. Coming up, we're going to log on with our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. More LIVE FROM straight ahead. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Relief in the East, but the heat's hanging on across the western half of the country. Temperatures 100 and above are expected to last through the week. The heat is blamed for almost a dozen deaths and countless blackouts. Utility companies are pleading with consumers to conserve.

Temperatures aren't fit for man nor beast in western Europe, either. In Britain, it's so hot the pavement is melting on the roads. London hit 97 today, an all-time high for any date in July. And saying it in Celsius, 36, well, doesn't make it feel any cooler. The heat is blamed for 9 deaths in France, two in Spain and two more in Netherlands. Temperatures are expected to cool slightly over the next few days.

Well, a travel nightmare at the world's fifth busiest airport. When the power went out at a major air traffic control center just north of Los Angeles, well, planes quickly backed up at LAX. A back- up generator kicked in, but went down about an hour after that, and by the time power was fully backed up, about 25,000 passengers had been delayed, diverted or grounded outright. And what's to blame for all that? Seems a vehicle crashed into a utility pole. Churning off the East Coast, Tropical Storm Beryl moving to the north, not expected to hit land and not expected to become a hurricane. Beryl is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, Uncensored, unfiltered, online all the time. Back to the crisis in the Middle East now. The Internet is buzzing with the Mideast conflict and fallout.

Our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg has been watching the Web.

And it's pretty amazing. I mean, we're covering a battle in ways that we've never been able to -- we started talking about it in Iraq, with the cell phones and the small videos and what we've been able to go online and see. But you've really captured some -- I mean, it's pretty striking video that these people are being able to send to us via the Internet.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. I mean, and these cyber storytellers or citizen journalists, if you prefer that term, are increasingly using video to help illustrate what's happening in their situation, in their region, in this conflict.

And a lot of them are posting on a site called youtube.com. If you haven't heard of it, you probably will. This is a site where anybody can post video and share it with others around the world. A lot of times the content ranges from humorous to horrific.

In this case, we're going to show you some videos that are posted up there. The first one, this is from apparently -- and we need to preface all of this by saying we can't independently confirm this stuff. But this one apparently is from a 14-year-old living in Israel who shows you what it's like when he hears the air-raid sirens and runs outside. I'm just going to let it play for just a couple seconds so you can hear the air-raid sirens. So he runs down into his shelter. That's the first one we want to show you.

The second one we want to show you is a rooftop position. In this case, you're going to see the video quality is not that great. And, Kyra, that speaks to what you were talking about, with people using cell phone cameras. And this person, who says they're 25 years old, they do say that they used a cell phone camera to post this video. That really speaks to the ubiquity that it's so easy to record it and so easy to put it up online. And in this case, apparently it's in Haifa during -- again, you can hear the air-raid sirens in the background.

The last one we want to talk about is a night sky. You can just see the flash in the corner of an explosion. This apparently from a rooftop in Beirut. And I'm going to pause for a second so you can hear the resulting shockwave from the explosion. So some pretty amazing stuff. And again, we have to point out we can't independently verify or authenticate any of this material that's up there on YouTube, but a very popular place for people to express their views and to put up their videos.

PHILLIPS: And are you seeing new stuff constantly throughout the day as you log on to these sites?

SIEBERG: Yes, it does slowly get updated throughout the day. I know that the folks at YouTube say that they get 30,000 videos uploaded every day. Now that includes everything. That is not just videos that are related to the conflict in the Middle East, but it's certainly popular site, because it's so easy to put it up there.

PHILLIPS: A lot of blogs, too.

SIEBERG: A lot of blogs, and the bloggers are facing a lot of real-world troubles, and we can show you that in just a second.

The first one we want to show you is called "live from an Israeli bunker." This apparently is being put up by a 17-year-old named Eugene. I've been e-mailing with him. He says he's use a laptop and a Wifi connection to stay up online. But he has to deal with a lot of things that are happening that kind of bump him offline every so often. And this what he wrote at one point. He said, "Three hours after I last updated, a couple of rockets hit Haifa with no casualties. The sirens didn't work, supposedly as a result of a power out that we had. My Internet connection was also damaged by the power out, and I've only just regained access." Again, this is from the "live from an Israeli bunker" site that is being updated constantly.

The next one we wanted to show you is from Beirut. This is bloggingbeirut.com. And in this case, the person is talking about another real-life situation, garbage pickup, and he's posting some photos of the garbage in his area that's not getting picked up, and he's frustrated with this, of course, among other things. But this is something that he wanted to post on his site with his photos.

And on the left there, just near the top, you can see that there's actually -- he keeps a tally of the people who were there, based on where they are in the world. So when we were up there, we saw people from Germany, from Canada, from Italy, from Spain. All over the world, people are visiting these sites. So of course, you know, that's the double-edged sword, if you will, of blogging. You get a chance to invite all of this international community to see you. It's, in a sense, unfiltered, but it's a little bit of surfer beware. You have to be careful with this stuff; take it all with a grain of salt.

PHILLIPS: We always do, don't we?

SIEBERG: Yes.

PHILLIPS: All right, Daniel, thanks.

SIEBERG: You bet. PHILLIPS: Well, straight to the newsroom now. Carol Lin working a developing story out of Chicago -- Carol.

LIN: Boy, take look at these pictures out of Chicago right now, Kyra. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people, have taken to the streets. They are calling for a moratorium on deportations of illegal immigrants and a moratorium on sanctions on businesses that employ them, while Congress is debating the immigration -- new immigration legislation. So temperatures out there in excess of 90 degrees.

More LIVE FROM continues after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a presidential first at the White House, for this president anyway. In just a few minutes, President Bush will explain why he's defying Congress, a former first lady and many in his own party by vetoing stem-cell legislation. We're going to bring you his comments live.

Supporters say that embryonic stem-cell research could one day help end the suffering of millions of people. But a White House spokesman says the president doesn't want the government to fund a practice that he considers murder. The measure he's killing lifts restrictions on the use of federal money in stem-cell research. It expands the number of embryonic stem-cell lines that are eligible for federal research dollars, and it abolishes restrictions Mr. Bush imposed back in 2001. Those rules allowed federal money to be used for only a limited number of pre-existing stem-cell lines.

Don't forget, we expect to hear the president talk about his first ever veto at 2:15 Eastern. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens.

The next hour of LIVE FROM starts in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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