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U.S. Military Helps Evacuate Americans; Syrians Protest Israeli Attacks; More Casualties in Second Day of Ground War; Evacuees Relieved to Be Home

Aired July 20, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
U.S. Marines on the front lines to get Americans out. But what about the people still stranded in Hezbollah's stronghold? The admiral in charge tells us the plan.

Cut off by the conflict, food, water, medicine, all in short supply. A half million Lebanese refugees now homeless. What about them?

Sex crimes bill poised to pass. How it will protect your children from sexual predators? America's host -- "America's Most Wanted" host, rather, John Walsh joins me live.

LIVE FROM starts right now.

We begin with the crisis in the Middle East. The arms struggle, the humanitarian effort, the politics. Here's what we know up to right now.

Israeli Special Forces are clashing with Hezbollah fighters in Southern Lebanon. Israel says several of its troops have been wounded. No word on casualties from the other side.

U.S. Marines are helping Americans leave Beirut. The USS Nashville in en route to Cyprus with about 1,000 evacuees. More will set sail tomorrow. Thousands of Europeans got out overnight.

And the official American position -- no to a cease-fire. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says that's too simplistic of a solution, despite the U.N. secretary-general's insistence to the contrary.

CNN has reporters all across the region. LIVE FROM will have live reporters throughout the show. Stay with us for all that insight.

And it's a sight not seen in more than 20 years: U.S. Marines on the ground in Beirut. CNN's Alessio Vinci is there, too -- Alessio.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra.

Those Marines arrived early this morning. Obviously, not an invading force, but as a force to help American tourists to get out of this country. We've been trying to do so for quite some time now. We saw a large ferry leaving today -- yesterday. And more Marines left today. And they will continue to do so, the U.S. officials here on the ground say, as long as there will be the need to do so. So those Marines here, back, as you said, after almost 22 years.

All this while, of course, the fighting continues not just in the south part of Lebanon, under control of the Hezbollah militia, but also around the north and other areas in this country.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Alessio, we've been talking so much about Americans getting out of Beirut. What do you know about the efforts to get Lebanese, those in other parts of Lebanon, the locals there, out of Hezbollah's stronghold areas? What kind of efforts are going forward to protect those people as well?

VINCI: Well, the Lebanese who are just Lebanese nationals, who do not have a dual citizenship. That is most of the people, actually, who are leaving this country, the foreigners, the so-called foreigners, are people who have dual citizenship. The ones who are trying to leave are people who actually have a foreign passport.

The Lebanese who are, quote/unquote, stuck here what they try to do is, first of all, they try to get help from the local authorities if they're in the south, the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, as well as other humanitarian organizations.

We do know that NGOs here have been already operating in the last few days, trying to distribute food and medicine and blankets and means of, first, assistance. Because obviously, there is a looming humanitarian crisis.

We understand from the United Nations, that 500,000 people have been displaced. And these are, most of them, Lebanese, you just referred to, people who cannot leave this country. And therefore, the government here is trying to -- is struggling, if you want, with this looming humanitarian crisis. Simply, they were not expecting a war, if you want, so quickly.

PHILLIPS: All right, Alessio Vinci, in Beirut, appreciate it.

And a second day of ground combat. Israeli tanks and troops and Hezbollah fighters clashing inside Lebanon's southern border. CNN's Paula Newton is in northern Israel. She's reporting rocket fire. We're going to check in with her as soon as we can.

Let's get straight to Aneesh Raman. He's in Damascus, Syria. We've got some developing news coming out of there. He's on the phone with us.

Aneesh, what do you know?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, good afternoon.

I'm standing at a rally of about a couple of thousand people, a Hezbollah rally, the Hezbollah flag, as well as the Syrian flag, flying high. I've seen them burn an American flag, as well as an Israeli flag.

It is a speech being given now in support of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah. It is quite organized. Small, perhaps, in terms of numbers.

But Syrian television is here. They have a number of camera angles. The demonstration actually taking place just outside of the Syrian television's main building. A sense, if you will, of the tacit and almost explicit support at this point between this country and Hezbollah.

There are flags flying all around me. People are chanting "Down with Israel, down with the USA." They are praising Hassan Nasrallah, whose picture is everywhere around us, both in what people are holding and on billboards that are lining the streets.

So again, about 1,000 or 2,000 people here, burning flags, chanting in support of Hezbollah, right outside the head television office of Syrian TV -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Aneesh, you bring up an interesting point about Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. At the beginning of this battle, we've heard from him a couple of times. He came on Hezbollah television.

Have you heard from him since then? And do you think he's gone into hiding? There's been a lot of talk about the fact that he has disappeared and we have not heard from him publicly.

RAMAN: Yes, exactly. We have not really, since that initial air strike, where he was essentially being targeted. Here, though, there are a number of people speaking essentially on his behalf.

We know from traveling around the city in the past few days that his speeches, past speeches are being distributed, his audio CDs and his message is certainly carrying forward.

Of course, this is a country that has long-standing ties with Hezbollah, with Hassan Nasrallah. And the whole organization of this rally, it is right outside Syrian television. So they are getting the message out. And so Hassan Nasrallah if he's incapable of speaking to the world, is getting his message out here in Syria, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Aneesh Raman, we'll keep checking in with you in Syria.

Eight thousand Europeans arrived in Cyprus overnight, as -- as did about 1,000 Americans, with triple that number due today. CNN's Chris Burns is in Larnaca.

Chris, tell us how it's holding up, the area itself, as it gets more crowded. Are there enough hotels, enough places, to deal with all the people coming in there? CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, it's pretty hectic. And some people are saying, why do you come through here, why don't you go through Syria? Well, there's that example right there. U.S. officials have been for the last few days, warning that there was going to be an anti-American, anti-Israeli demonstration over there, and that Americans could be possibly in danger. That is the reason why they said stay put, and sit tight, and wait for us to evacuate you. And that's what most Americans seem to be doing right now.

Though it is getting busy, it's getting hectic. Over my shoulder is one of these Greek navy ships. Seven ships are supposed to arrive through the night, bringing thousands more, including the USS Nashville is supposed to be coming from Beirut, bringing those 1,200 or so Americans that were evacuated earlier today by the U.S. Marines.

Perhaps we can pan, give you a little bit of an idea of this port. It is not a big port. As you can see off to the left, that is the French chartered Greek ferry boat that has brought over a couple thousand people. It's going back over tomorrow again. This is very much an assembly line process.

A couple of ships will come in here. The people will disembark, go through a processing center, and they'll bring in more ships after those are gone. So that is how it works here.

Where are they taken? Well, they're either put on planes, on charter planes, or they're put in hotels. Hotels are filling up. So what the Americans have done is they've actually organized the fairgrounds some space, where these large halls where people can sleep until the planes will take them away. Getting very, very busy, very crowded. We're expecting another extremely busy night tonight -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Chris Burns in Cyprus, thanks so much. And a second day of ground combat. Israeli tanks and troops and Hezbollah fighters clashing inside Lebanon's southern border.

CNN's Paula Newton is in northern Israel. She joins us now with an update. Paula, set the scene for us.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We went to the border today within the northeast. We were just a few meters from the fighting. What happens here is that this morning, a special forces Israeli unit went in. They were saying they were trying to cleanse that area, still, of Hezbollah and all their missiles, rockets and launchers.

At that point, Hezbollah took them on, and what they did was they launched an anti-tank missile at one of their tanks. They had two soldiers injured there. From there, Kyra, the firefight went on. And we were watching it from hillside to hillside. The mortars were flying. The shells were flying. Heavy machine-gun fire.

There's still in that valley right now, Kyra, we understand that while they say they have at least -- the Israelis say they have at least one Hezbollah militant is dead and that they've dispersed at least six militant cells, as they call them. The Israelis have, also, suffered severe injuries. They will not tell us the number. Israeli media reports say as many as eight. That is on top of the two soldiers yesterday killed in that same area -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Paula Newton in Northern Israel, where it's heating up there on the ground. We'll keep talking to you throughout the afternoon here, Paula. Thank you.

And from Beirut to Baltimore in two or three or a dozen not so easy steps, American evacuees are beginning to arrive back home.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken has been waiting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The first 145 came back to an airport, the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Thurgood Marshall International, where they are used to doing this kind of thing. They have an elaborate setup. So people who are in situations like this one are able to get the emergency needs taken care of that are really important.

But of course, the most important part of it is the human story of families so relieved to see their loved ones back from a very dangerous situation, to the safety of their homes or at least getting close to their homes.

That would include the Sumi family. Sixteen-year-old Ryan Sumi was one of those who got off this plane, was greeted by his mother and his girlfriend.

RYAN SUMI, EVACUEE: I was in a pretty safe area in Beirut. So we weren't really worried about it. We were in the Christian area. So...

FRANKEN: So it was just an adventure?

SUMI: It was. You could hear everything going off, and you could see bombs and hear the planes. It's pretty intense. But -- and the helicopter ride over, it was quite an experience.

FRANKEN: The people, as they arrive, were given the chance to make public statements. Some of them decided to take that opportunity. Several of them had very strong feelings about what they had witnessed in Lebanon.

AMAL KAZZAZ, BORN IN LEBANON: Lebanon, beautiful. And I say they survived before, and they're going to survive now. They're going to survive more every time. But that's not fair. Lebanon -- they call it the Middle East, the pride (ph) of the Middle East, but if they keep going this way, it's going to be the grave of the Middle East.

FRANKEN: This turns now from a nightmare to an adventure. Something people are going to be talking about for a long time and glad to have 145 of their loved ones back to talk about it. Several other planes are going to be coming in, in the next several days. There are thousands who have to be moved from Cyprus, and quite a few of them will be making their way here.

Bob Franken, CNN, Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: U.S. Marines on the front lines to get Americans out. But what about the people still stranded in Hezbollah stronghold? The admiral in charge tells us the plan, straight ahead. Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, many of the thousands who fled Lebanon feel lucky to have the clothes on their backs and to still be alive.

CNN's Sumi Das met one such family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, OK, let the people move.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go, go.

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A nerve-racking week for Isabel Karunza (ph) ends in joyful tears at Los Angeles International Airport.

Early last week, Isabel's eldest daughter, Sabrina Hijazi, a U.S. citizen, and son-in-law, Mohammed, a Lebanese national, traveled to Lebanon with their 9-month-old daughter Maya to visit Mohammed's family in Jieh, 14 miles south of Beirut. Within hours of their arrival, the couple says rockets started landing nearby.

SABRINA HIJAZI, FLED LEBANON: At night I could not sleep, because I hear an airplane going over my head and I know it's not a good sound. I know something's coming after that. And, I mean, the only thing I could do is grab my baby and just hold on, because you know the building's going to start rattling and you know you're going to start to see explosions.

DAS: Sabrina says calls made to the U.S. embassy once fighting began did little to reassure her.

HIJAZI: And they told my husband that he would not be able to travel with us because he was -- he was not a citizen. Even though he was a resident, they told him he had to stay behind.

DAS: But for Sabrina, that wasn't an option. Despite U.S. State Department warnings of air strikes on major roads, the Hijazis, with the help of Mohammed's father, decided to make the dangerous four-hour drive to Syria.

Once in Damascus, the family booked plane tickets to Moscow and on to Los Angeles.

(on camera) Sabrina and her family may be back on U.S. soil, but this ordeal hasn't ended. Mohammed wants to try to get members of his family who remain in Lebanon out of the country, as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like Mohammed's dad, he sacrificed his life to take my daughter, the baby and him to freedom and left his wife and his kids and his 12-year-old son, back in the home. I cannot thank that gentleman enough for what he's done for my daughter and my granddaughter and my son-in-law.

DAS: For Sabrina, it's a journey she'll never forget.

HIJAZI: I mean, I've seen so many families that are leaving everything behind them. And they're crossing the border with their stuff in wheelbarrows. I mean, little children on top of the wheelbarrow asleep. I mean, you can imagine -- and the roads are being bombed. No one knows when it's coming.

DAS: While the Hijazis are grateful to be reunited with their family in California, they still worry about the family they left behind.

Sumi Das, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: The U.S. military on the move in the eastern Mediterranean. As you've seen, they're helping thousands of Americans get out of Lebanon. Vice Admiral Patrick Walsh commands the U.S. naval force in Central Command. He joins me from Bahrain through a video teleconference.

Admiral, thanks for being with us. And we should start with the Marines and the landing craft used today for the very first time. What exactly were they able to do, and was it completely successful?

VICE ADMIRAL PATRICK WALSH, U.S. NAVAL FORCES CENTRAL COMMAND: It has been successful thus far. Kyra, we have approximately 2,200 to 2,300 American citizens that we moved today, which will boost our numbers for total evacuees at about 4,000. Those are rough order of magnitude. And we're still loading tonight.

What you see is exactly the response we need for the story that preceded mine, which is we are responding to the human tragedy. We are responding to the security environment, and we're sending as much as we can as fast as we can, and we're ready on arrival.

PHILLIPS: And that leads me to the next couple of questions. First, let me ask you about tomorrow. I know that the Marines' efforts are going to get more intense. We're going to see a lot -- many more helos getting involved to get people out. Will that start first thing in the morning?

WALSH: Tonight, we're moving more ships into the area. So that you'll see four amphibious ships tomorrow. You'll see the two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. You'll see a refueler, as well as a command and control ship at sea.

In addition to that, we've chartered two vessels, now, so we'll be able to -- we'll be able to move a very large number of people tomorrow.

PHILLIPS: So let me ask you about Americans that may still be stranded in Hezbollah strongholds. Can you confirm that all Americans are out of those areas? Or do you believe that some Americans are still in those remote parts of Lebanon? And will you be able to get to them? Will you use Marines and the helos to extract them from those areas?

WALSH: I cannot tell you exactly how many Americans are in the southern part of Lebanon. I'm operating with the assumption that there are.

And in terms of whether or not it's a permissive or non- permissive environment, I can't give you that evaluation now, but I can tell you that's the reason why we have the Marine Corps team here to give us that kind of flexibility and adaptability to respond to this situation, regardless of the risk involved.

What you should take away from this conversation, as well as what you see on the beaches of Beirut now and Lebanon, is the amount of power that we are able to bring to a situation and the amount of risk that we're willing to take when American citizen's lives are on the line.

PHILLIPS: And you're absolutely right, sir. I think that's the concern. You've got a lot of scared families in certain remote parts of the region. Yet you and I both know Marines are capable of getting into those areas. They know how to take the proper security precautions.

And are you thinking about that? Is that on the forefront of your mind? Look, if my Marines got to go into these areas, it's going to be hostile territory. But will those Americans get out of there?

WALSH: Absolutely. Force protection for our units and our Marines, our Navy team, as well as the tactical situation as it changes and develops on the ground, as well as the humanitarian crisis that we're all faced with. So it's a combination of all those factors that are part of our calculations each day as we go into operations on the beaches of Beirut.

PHILLIPS: Which leads me to the water part of this mission. In addition to the airborne mission, will you bring in naval special warfare? Will we see combatant crewmen and navy SEALs getting involved, if necessary, or are they already involved?

WALSH: What I'd rather say to that question, Kyra, is that we have all the capability that we need here. If we need more, it's lined up back home in the United States. It's lined up in the Pacific to flow here if we need it. And so we'll just evaluate the situation on the ground real time, and we'll call on those capabilities if required. PHILLIPS: Got it. Americans obviously your number one priority to get out of there. But we have been addressing the humanitarian crisis that is starting to unfold. What about the Lebanese that are from this area that can't get out? Will the U.S. military help those people at all?

WALSH: I'm working closely with the U.S. State Department and the embassy in Beirut. And they're the ones that are making the call in terms of who's showing up on the beach for us to take over to Cyprus. And I'm not asking any questions and trying to screen people, so I couldn't tell you the nationality or the -- how many passports people are holding. I'm just taking them to safety.

And so the security and the safety of American citizens is my primary objective here, and whoever shows up for the ship, we're going to take care of.

PHILLIPS: Admiral Patrick Walsh, we'll be watching every move. Sure appreciate your time today, sir.

WALSH: You bet, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, murder or mercy? Three hospital workers accused of murdering patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are defended. Hear what a doctor's attorney has to say, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: CNN's Carol Lin has an eye on the CNN international desk and various Mideast television stations, as well as your e-mails to CNN.

Carol, what have you been tracking?

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, right now we've been tracking the U.S. State Department, Kyra. And we have a better time line as to when U.S. Secretary State Condoleezza Rice may actually go to the Middle East. This is what State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack said a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN MCCORMACK, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: She does intend to travel to the region. And she intends to travel to the region as early as next week. We will keep you up to date on itinerary, timing and all the stops. We're working on it -- we're working on those things now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: All right. That's a big development there, Kyra, as both sides are looking for a U.S. voice, a U.S. presence in this conflict now, as both sides escalate their attacks on one another.

We have been monitoring the networks out of the region. Both Hezbollah Television, which is never seen here in the United States, it's actually banned. But it gives us an insight into the mindset of these guerrilla fighters who are lobbing rockets into Israel.

Also, Israeli television, Al Arabiya, which is the -- actually, ironically, the No. 1 network in Iraq, widely seen in the Middle East and also a privately-owned Lebanese network. So far there, they've been focusing mostly on the evacuee situation, as well as the rising death toll on both sides.

And we're taking your e-mails. I mean, we're getting e-mails, Kyra, from around the world. YourViews@CNN.com. Amazing stories of survival and escape and people stuck still in Lebanon or in Northern Israel. Water, food, medicine in short supply.

And I want to show you right now -- if Robert can show you on my computer screen now, we're monitoring pictures from around the world. This one from "The Washington Post" web site of evacuees as they're trying to relax in the midst of a war zone.

Kyra, we found some really interesting pictures. So we're going to be showing you as much as we can through the rest of the hour.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it, Carol.

LIN: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Thanks.

And update now on what we know in the Middle East. New ground fighting today on the Lebanese side of the Israel/Lebanon border. Several Israeli soldiers are wounded. No word on Hezbollah casualties, but Israel says it's wiped out about half of Hezbollah's military strength.

New Israeli air strikes in Beirut and elsewhere. The Lebanese prime minister says more than 300 civilians have been killed in the past week.

American evacuees are starting to arrive back on U.S. soil. The first plane load arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Airport this morning. Many U.S. citizens are still in transit or still in Lebanon, awaiting their turns to leave.

Yesterday, we saw a huge rally on Wall Street. Susan Lisovicz is live from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us whether stocks are building on those gains today.

Boy, those numbers soared.

(STOCK REPORT)

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