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Cyprus Crowded with Evacuees; Aid Organizations Struggle to Help Lebanese; Junior Lebanese Kickboxing Team Cannot Return Home; Rice Discusses Mideast Conflict

Aired July 21, 2006 - 15:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Fast moving developments in the Middle East crisis. Here's what we know right now. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she'll be traveling to the Middle East Sunday, but not to seek an immediate cease-fire. Instead, she says she wants to create the conditions for a lasting peace.
Israeli troops are amassing on the Israeli-Lebanese border. An Israeli general confirms a full-scale invasion could happen, and Lebanon's president says his troops will fight back if it does. Israel says its troops have killed about 100 Hezbollah guerrillas in the past 10 days. Lebanese authorities say only half a dozen Hezbollah fighters have died.

Ships keep arriving in Cyprus, and evacuees from Lebanon are coming in faster than they can be flown out to their home countries.

CNN's Chris Burns joins me now from an increasingly crowded island. Hey, Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. And tonight we're expecting a flotilla of 13 -- count them, 13 -- ships from different countries arriving here from Lebanon. Seven here in the port of Larnaca and also in Limassol, about an hour and a half away from here, another six.

Over there, there will be four U.S. warships arriving with perhaps 4,000 or more Americans. So a very, very intense night. Now, we managed to follow along with one family that arrived on the USS Nashville last night, and here's the process they went through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS (voice-over): A U.S. warship arrives in Cyprus before dawn, packed to the decks with more than a thousand weary but relieved American evacuees. The USS Nashville is part of the massive round- the-clock international sealift, bringing thousands to safety here daily.

Among them, Najat Salhedding. She was visiting family in Lebanon with three of her sons when the conflict began. Her husband is back home in California.

NAJAT SALHEDDING, EVACUEE: They were scared. My little one he was terrified. It's like a nightmare.

BURNS: It's been a struggle to get this far, and it's not over yet.

The day began on Beirut's beach, where U.S. marines picked up Salhedding and her sons, putting them on landing craft that transferred them to the Nashville.

SALHEDDING: I've been through a lot of terrible things. Like I was supposed to leave yesterday in the other ship. My name was on the list. And we waited in line forever, you know, under the sun and the humid, you know, weather. And we didn't have the chance to leave. So we had -- we sign our name again, we waited in line and sign our name, so they gave us a paper to tell us that we can go today. And all we had today was even worse than yesterday. But thank God now we're here and we're safe.

BURNS: From the ship, a fleet of buses transfers evacuees to the Customs building for processing. At Customs, in a thick sweltering heat, passports are checked and countries have set up their own desks to organize their citizens' next step home.

But with the massive influx, the chances of getting on a plane quickly become less certain and some settle in for a long wait. It's tiring for parents and children alike. A few lucky ones can actually lie down.

SALHEDDING: And that's my big question now. I'm really afraid. I don't know what to do, to tell you the truth. If they take us on charter would be fine. If not, I have to wait I guess, like other people, you know. But I'm just hoping for the best because we cannot take any more. You know, I didn't sleep the whole night yesterday. I've been worried about my kids.

BURNS: Some of those stranded here stay in hotels, others in temporary quarters. The U.S. government set up folding beds at a fairgrounds, though CNN was refused access to take pictures there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the way to the back of the building.

BURNS: But what worries Salhedding most of all are her relatives still in Lebanon.

SALHEDDING: I just hope for the best for my family back. I don't know what to expect, if they are going to be OK or not. And this is the most terrible thing that I'm leaving behind. I've been worried sick about my family and all the people in Lebanon.

BURNS: For many here, the relief of reaching safe ground is the only consolation for a deep sense of helplessness.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNS: And that fear and helplessness is growing in Lebanon as we speak, with the fears of that deepening violence. More people are heading for the exits. In fact, there was talk, estimates, of among the 25,000 Americans living in Lebanon, at first it was believed maybe 4,000 would leave, then 5,000. Now we're talking about as many as 8,000 Americans having arrived here by the end of the evening. And there could be more ahead.

Back to you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Chris Burns, talk to you soon.

Relief is a rare commodity in Lebanon this week. Cassandra Nelson is in Beirut for the international relief organization Mercy Corps. I've got her on the phone now.

And Cassandra, I know that you spent time with our Nic Robertson and also Ben Wedeman, spending a lot of time with Mercy Corps. We've been trying to stay on top of all your efforts. Why don't you bring us up to date on the current situation?

CASSANDRA NELSON, MERCY CORPS: Well, right now, Mercy Corps is really responding to the people who have been displaced by the bombardment. There's well over half a million people that have had to move out of their homes for security or because their homes were destroyed. These people have all, you know, basically rushed mostly north of the border, and are now flooding into small towns that have really tried to host them, sort of opened their arms. But now these towns are absolutely stretched thin.

Mercy Corps has been working in one village in particular, an area called Kaephoon (ph). This is a town that had originally about 5,000 people population, just about ten days ago. Now that population has increased over to over 40,000 people today. Some estimates are even as high as 60,000.

But, you know, we're looking at a town that has almost ten times as many people in it today as it did last week. And because of that, the entire infrastructure of the city has really fallen apart. The reservoir, the city reservoir, has run dry, so there's no water for these people to bathe in or to flush their toilets with. The food is pretty much gone in the town. Most of the businesses are closed, but the few markets that are open have almost nothing on the shelves.

So what Mercy Corps has been doing is trying to respond with food first, that being one of the most critical things and the people are, you know, very eager to get. And what we're seeing over the last few days that we've been responding doing distributions, is that people now are actually starting to almost panic.

We see it in the distributions. People are getting more and more tense. They're concerned that they're not going to get their share. They have been, you know, excellent to work with, but we are starting to see that sense of panic set in amongst the people as the days go by and they don't see any new supplies coming into their town and they see that there's just more people arriving and even less to share.

PHILLIPS: And Cassandra, does this not even include the South, where a lot of people have been holed up in these Hezbollah strongholds? Does -- are you just talking about the northern parts?

NELSON: Exactly. And that's actually one of the bigger concerns. We are right now not able to get into the deep south, the border area, because it's simply not secure. There is no, you know, clear safe passage down there, and to get supplies and a team down there would just be too risky at this point in time. We're looking at negotiating and identifying ways that we can move a convoy into the south. But at this point in time, they are receiving next to no aid. Very little has gotten down to them, and they are completely cut off from the rest of the country.

PHILLIPS: How are you getting...

NELSON: So that's even a bigger concern.

PHILLIPS: Well, how are you getting the food? We're seeing lots of the video now of the delivery of the food. How is it getting to you and where is it coming from?

NELSON: Well, that is another worry and concern, although hopefully one that's going to be changing. Everything that we have been distributing to date we have procured within Lebanon. And that is because, A, it's the fastest way to do things. And certainly if you can buy it in country, it's a much better solution than going out and spending money to bring it in from outside.

But we have found in the last couple days that the supplies are running very short here, and it's not that necessarily the country is out of food, but that the access to the food in some of these local areas is impossible.

PHILLIPS: Is the Lebanese government helping you in any way? Of course, they have been saying they have been taking care of their people.

NELSON: They certainly have been doing distributions to their people. I think the issue now is that the need is so tremendous that the government itself can -- simply can't satisfy the need. And they've actually -- we are working with them to coordinate our assistance with them.

We are working very closely with the local municipalities. They get some aid, and they have been distributing it and we've been identifying where the gaps are so we can fill those gaps and together we can have the best coverage. But there just isn't enough to go around right now.

PHILLIPS: Cassandra Nelson with Mercy Corps, we know that you and your organization is really trying to move forward and help in an intense way. Cassandra, we'll stay in touch with you, and thank you so much for your time and the update on what is happening there.

Well, it wasn't a matter of whether, just when. And today we learned the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be going to the Middle East on Sunday. Let's bring in CNN's senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.

And, Richard, she didn't talk about a cease-fire. She just talked about going over there and having discussions and trying to reinstate, I guess -- is that the best way to say -- this Resolution 1559 to get the government to disarm Hezbollah?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Well, she did stress the urgency of obtaining some type of cessation of hostilities. But Rice explained to journalists in Washington why she thinks there really shouldn't be any type of rush to establish some sort of cease- fire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: Any cease-fire cannot allow that condition to remain, because I can guarantee you, if you simply look for a cease-fire that acknowledges and freezes the status quo ante, we will be back here in six months again or in five months or in nine months or in a year trying to get another cease-fire because Hezbollah will have decided, yes again, yet again, to try to use southern Lebanon as a sanctuary to fire against Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Condoleezza Rice said that she would be going to Israel. She would be talking to Ehud Olmert and the Palestinians. She talked earlier in the day with a special U.N. mediation team that was sent to the region by Kofi Annan that returned recently.

She got a briefing from them and then went down to Washington. Vijay Nambiar, one of the members of that U.N. team, told journalists what he sees as, at the moment, sort of a gloomy prospect for some type of immediate diplomatic framework.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIJAY NAMBIAR, HEAD OF THE U.N. DELEGATION: A political package is needed that gives the governments of Israel and Lebanon confidence that the horrors each country is now enduring will not be repeated, the end of the Hezbollah threat against Israel and the full respect by all Lebanese parties and all Lebanon's neighbors of the government of Lebanon's sovereignty and control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Secretary-General Kofi Annan is speaking right now with Terje Roed-Larsen, one of the members of that team. It's very possible that over the next few days they may get new marching orders to go back to the region.

Kyra, Secretary Rice said there is the possibility of the International Peacekeeping Intervention Force that was floated at the G-8 Summit, but she stressed there would be no American soldiers as part of that unit.

PHILLIPS: Richard Roth at the U.N. Thanks, Richard.

They went overseas for a sports competition and their whole world changed. Straight ahead, Lebanese kickboxers watch the war from afar, and wonder when they can get back home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're following all those Americans and others trying to get out of Lebanon, and we're keeping track of Lebanese flooding into Syria. But some Lebanese who were away when the conflict started are doing all they can to get back. CNN's Sasha Herriman has their story now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASHA HERRIMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hurried conversations on the telephone desperately trying to keep in touch. This is the Lebanese junior kickboxing team. And while so many are trying to get out of Lebanon, all they want to do is get home to their families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't know where to go, and we are here. We can't go because the airport, as you know, is all destroyed.

HERRIMAN: This group of nine children and two adults came to England to take part in a Kickboxing International World Cup. Not only did they take part, they won, while their country descended into chaos. Now with Beirut airport put out of commission by Israeli airstrikes, they can't get back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The war started after they arrived. They are very devastated. On top of that, they have been to the championships and they were fighting in it but, you know, the whole situation in Lebanon has been or their minds the whole time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were very depressed as we were doing the competition, but we played and we were strong and we won.

HERRIMAN: After being stranded for hours at Heathrow Airport, they have been put in hotels by the Lebanese embassy. They don't know how long they will be here or when or if they will be able to see their families again soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel sad because my cousins and all of my family is down and my dad also. I want to see them and I can't now.

HERRIMAN (on camera): What are you hoping then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To go back to my mother.

HERRIMAN: How does it feel?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel sad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am the only -- me with my children and always their mother. There is another two boys very small, five years, Firat (ph) Ijad (ph), very small. They cry too much, also. I feel I am the mother for all the group.

HERRIMAN (voice-over): There is one other hitch that is slowing the repatriation effort. The families of some of the children have managed to leave Lebanon themselves, making the reunification process just that much harder.

Sasha Herriman, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Extreme heat and severe weather in parts of the United States. We're going to get an update. The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, relief at last for some people. Temperatures have dipped a good 20 degrees across much of the northeast and northern plains. It's still scorching though in the southeast and the mercury is rising out west. In California's Central Valley it feels a lot hotter than 100. Monsoon winds bringing in more humidity. So far the heat has been blamed for 22 deaths.

One victim, a 93-year-old St. Louis woman, who had air conditioning, but no power. National Guard troops are going door to door looking for other people who might need help. About 400,000 St. Louis homes and businesses are still without electricity. After violent storms that slammed the city Wednesday, utility companies say it could be next week before everyone has power again. For some in St. Louis getting electricity back is the least of their worries. This is what is left of Truman's Place after the roof of the apartment next door fell on it. About 40 people were in the bar at the time. Several were hurt, including a waitress who is seven months pregnant. Friends tell CNN she needs surgery, which may trigger early labor.

Time to check in now with CNN's Wolf Blitzer standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Hey Wolf

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much Kyra. Long lines of Israeli tanks and troops massing on the edge of Lebanon right now. We're going to take you live to the border where tanks are within range of homes on the Lebanese side. Is a full scale Israeli military invasion of Lebanon coming up next?

Lebanon vows to defend itself if the Israeli troops should invade. What it could mean for the world if ground warfare should break out. And remember Iraq? In the shadow of the Mideast crisis, a devastatingly bloody week in Baghdad.

All that, Kyra, coming up right at the top of the hour here in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf.

Well, it's Friday. The "Closing Bell" is about to ring. We're going to check in with Ali Velshi straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, he met the president. He signed a movie deal. Now J-Mac is getting the ultimate in sports honor, his very own bobble head. You remember Jason, right? The New York teen with mild autism, who scored 20 appoints in the final four minutes of the only high school basketball game he had ever played in.

Remember this? His teammates went crazy. The minor league baseball team in Rochester plans to give J-Mac bobble heads to the first 3,000 fans in next Wednesday's game. And now that I remember we had a chance to interview him and was just so calm, cool, and collected, like yes, it was like no big whoop. Remember that.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I remember the interview. He was great. I thought he was fantastic. What a great, inspirational, you know, terrific guy.

PHILLIPS: He went on Air Force one with the president.

VELSHI: And fundamentally, getting a bobble head is a good thing in life. That's just fun. They don't make bobbles about people, they often don't make bobbles about people that don't have a good sense of themselves and, like you said, he has a really good balanced look at himself and who he is. I think he's a fun guy.

PHILLIPS: He is. He's very confident.

VELSHI: Better looking in real life than his bobble, but aren't we all.

PHILLIPS: You have a bobble head, don't you?

VELSHI: I have a bobble head, I didn't bring it.

PHILLIPS: Only studs get bobble heads. All right, pretty good week. Well, I guess one day.

(MARKET REPORT)

VELSHI: Here's Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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