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Israeli Airstrikes Against Hezbollah Stronghold Continue; Blogs of War; U.S. Supplies Arriving in Beirut; Is the Apocalypse Near?

Aired July 25, 2006 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli troops on the move again, two weeks into the crisis in the Middle East. Here's what we know right now at the top of the hour.
Taking control. Israeli forces have seized a village in Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon. They say that they've also killed up to 30 Hezbollah fighters in the area over the first day. Bint Jbeil is the second Lebanese village to fall under Israeli control.

That's Beirut under attack. Israeli airstrikes brought thunderous explosions to the southern suburbs where Hezbollah is centered. Meantime, more Hezbollah rockets have fallen on northern Israel.

And Condoleezza Rice armed with a plan on her continuing Mideast trip. Lebanese sources say she's pushing a proposal to stabilize the region. It would involve two large peacekeeping forces coming in at separate times under NATO or U.N. control.

An explosion shakes the ground, smoke fills the air. You're seeing Beirut's southern suburbs under attack, once again.

CNN's Beirut bureau chief, Brent Sadler, joins us now from the Lebanese capital with an update -- Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Thanks, Kyra.

Continuation of Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Now, those thunderous explosions were heard in downtown Beirut, where I'm reporting to you from. The southern suburbs several miles away from the heart of the city, certainly enough to send jitters throughout the capital once again.

We had seen an increase in the number of people driving around the cities. There hadn't been any major airstrikes against the southern suburbs for more than 24 hours. But once again, those areas that we have been seeing hit in the past two weeks again under intense bombardment today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Brent Sadler, we'll keep checking with you as things develop there in Beirut.

Meanwhile, you can call them the blogs of war, real stories from the Middle East told in real time on the Internet.

Our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg, has been keeping a close eye on the Web. He joins me now.

You know, we've been calling it basically "The Anne Frank Diaries," you know, diaries gone digital, is basically what we said, but it's really interesting to watch, and in real time versus finding these diaries years later.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly. And a lot of this is being done with video to help illustrate some of these stories. And we have to preface everything we're going to show you with our digital disclaimer. We've said it before, and we have to say it again, CNN cannot verify the authenticity or the origin of some of the video and the blogs we're going to be talking about in just a second.

That said, a lot of people are turning to sites like YouTube to post their video. It's so easy to take this video these days and so easy to post it on sites like YouTube.

The first one we want to show you is a particularly intimate look into family life. Here you see "Having Fun at the Shelter" is the name of this video.

It's a young mother and her 22-month-old baby, according to the posting on the site. The baby goes by the name of Amit (ph). You can see there, they're having a little playtime between mother and daughter, like any mother and daughter might do, except in this case they're in a bomb shelter in Haifa.

You can see the sparse conditions there inside the bomb shelter. So, a pretty amazing perspective, a look into what this family is going through in Haifa.

The next video we want to show you is something we're seeing quite often, a montage of photos put together, in this case from the Lebanese perspective. Some of these photos very powerful. In fact, some so horrific we had to edit them out.

The music you're hearing in the background is apparently a song that speaks of Beirut's struggle, its enduring challenges over the centuries. And this actually -- this site is getting quite a bit of traffic, this particular posting here with these photos.

The next one we want to show you takes us back to Haifa. In this case, something we're seeing a lot of, a person frantically looking for the source of where these bombs might land. You can hear the air raid sirens in the background. And I'll pause for just a second, because you can actually hear a couple of explosions that may or may not be related to what we're hearing here.

Let me just pause for a second.

Just some pretty powerful stuff.

You can see the quality of this is not great, Kyra, the video quality. But that really speaks to how easy it is to get this material with a cell phone camera or a video camera that's a digital camera. Very easy to record and very easy to post and share with other people.

PHILLIPS: So any new elements on the blogs?

SIEBERG: Yes. What's interesting about the blogs is that people are sort of going back and forth. And very passionate, no less powerful than what we're seeing with the video.

The first one we want to show you is a Lebanese blog. In this case, from one called Cold Desert. The gentleman who writes here describes himself as a 27-year-old analytical and sarcastic engineer from Lebanon that goes by the name of Ahmed (ph), and this is what he writes..

He says, "By day 10" -- obviously this is a few days ago -- "the person, at least me, starts to review all his ideas and beliefs and ideologies. This war is leaving scars that I am afraid I have to live with them the rest of my life. Not even my blog will be the same."

"I was thinking today about major changes in my blog and in my life after this war is over. I'm sure that peace cannot be imposed through the destruction of a peaceful country."

And the next one we want to show you offers an Israeli perspective. And it really speaks to how people on both sides are communicating with each other in real time.

This is from a site called On The Face. It's an Israeli woman who goes by the name of Lisa -- Lisa Goldman (ph), in fact. And she and I have been e-mailing back and forth.

She's of Canadian-Israeli descent. She's a freelance journalist, and this is what she has to say. It's pretty amazing stuff.

She says, "The Internet has also been offering some surreal experiences, like the ability to have a Beirut-Tel Aviv online instant message chat in real time while the missiles are falling. That's what happened to me and this blogger a few nights ago."

"We chatted while he was sitting on the roof of his apartment building in Beirut watching missiles from Israeli planes fall on his city and describing it to me. And he was able to describe his feelings and the atmosphere in a human, personal way that no newspaper article or television news segment could achieve."

So, if that doesn't encapsulate what the Internet is offering -- and there is a picture of Lisa Goldman (ph). She was actually on CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES" over the weekend. But if that doesn't encapsulate what the Internet is offering to people in terms of an everyday view and these people who are able to communicate across borders in real time, just an amazing story. And she said she was very moved by this experience herself.

PHILLIPS: Well, keep us plugged in.

Thanks, Daniel.

SIEBERG: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Well, a burst of activity on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Israeli ground troops seeing the action once again as they target Hezbollah strongholds.

Our John Roberts once again on the phone near the border.

John, bring us up to date.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, good to be with you again.

I spoke with General Dal Hirsch (ph), who is the commander of the Galilee division, in the last hour and a half or so, and he told me that after an intense 48 hours of fighting, that they have now got the town of Bint Jbeil under Israeli control. Now, having it under Israeli control doesn't necessarily mean that they have wiped out all of the resistance, it just means that they are the overwhelming force. And they still, from time to time, do meet pockets of resistance. Even along the border, while they had the town of Maroun al-Ras fairly well secured, they still take incoming fire from some hard-liners, some holdouts who aren't willing to completely give it over to the Israelis.

Holding the town now of Bint Jbeil means that they believe that they have control of Hezbollah's southern stronghold, and they're hopeful that that they may degrade their command and control capabilities to fire these Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. But Hezbollah is so well entrenched in the south of Lebanon, they have so many different areas from which they could fire those rockets, that no one in the IDF believes that they'll be able to wipe out that threat.

Amir Peretz, the defense minister of Israel, said earlier today that it is his intent to hold territory along the Israeli-Lebanese border until such time as an international peacekeeping force or international stabilization force can get into southern Lebanon and create a buffer zone between Hezbollah and Israel. No one knows at this point yet what that means.

I put the question to General Hirsch (ph). I said, "Are you planning to at least temporarily reoccupy southern Lebanon?" And he said, "Look, it is not Israel's intent to reoccupy southern Lebanon. We did that from 1982 through the year 2000. We don't want to go back there again."

But no one is quite clear yet, Kyra, on what exactly it means to hold on to that territory until the international peacekeeping or stabilization force gets there. And there's no telling even if that international force will come in because no one has yet agreed to it.

PHILLIPS: Well, and John, haven't you seen that by just being out there and being with the troops? A lot of this at question. A lot of talk about what should happen, what shouldn't happen, but it seems like this rocket war is like no other. So, some decisions might be made, and then they'd have to completely change those -- those strategies within a matter of hours. ROBERTS: Yes. And no one knows where the battle is going next. Now that they have Bint Jbeil, does it mean that they stop, or does it mean that they go after the next pocket of resistance? The Israeli Defense Force not tipping its hand about what it's next move will be at this point.

PHILLIPS: All right. Our John Roberts.

Appreciate the call, John.

The first U.S. relief supplies have arrived in the battered city of Beirut. CNN was allowed to go along on that flight.

Our Barbara Starr filed this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: CNN was the only news crew to join a U.S. Air Force Special Operations team as it flew its first helicopter mission into Beirut carrying humanitarian relief supplies. The helicopter landed at the embassy grounds amidst extraordinary security which, of course, we cannot show you. But the helicopter was on the ground only for a short period of time as part of the security measures.

U.S. Marines at the embassy compound moved very carefully to the helicopter, unloading the supplies, a total of one ton in all, including medicines and other medical equipment. All to be distributed amongst the most neediest in Beirut now, where there is, of course, an emerging humanitarian crisis, as there is across much of Lebanon.

The U.S. military does not expect to run a great number of missions into Beirut, they want to get the military footprint out of this relief effort. They don't want to see U.S. troops there. And, of course, any international relief organizations are extraordinarily reluctant to be tied to any military contacts.

Here in Larnaca, Cyprus, the international relief is really now the focus of the effort. There are a number of ships here loading up with supplies, ships moving on behalf of the United Nations, on behalf of Doctors without Borders, and on behalf of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Larnaca, Cyprus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, taking cover. Jews and Arabs huddle together as the rockets hit.

That's straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Crowded, hot and tense. It's shelter from rocket attacks, but even here the Arab-Israeli conflict can boil over.

CNN's John Vause has that story from Nahariya, Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can hear the panic in her voice. There are more Katyushas this woman yells as she calls everyone inside the bomb shelter. Safe below ground, they wait, wait for the explosions above, wait for the all-clear which never seems to come because the Hezbollah rockets never seem to stop.

Once inside, Dalia (ph), a mother of three, tells me she's terrified. So, too, is everyone else.

This is the debris from an earlier missile strike, she says, which landed just outside the bunker. We're stuck underground and this is not healthy, she says. We support the prime minister and the Israeli military, but we want to be evacuated. The Lebanese were evacuated. We want to be as well.

The days are long and tense, the nights are worse, they say. The electricity cuts in and out. This is the biggest bomb shelter in Nahariya, a northern Israeli town which has been hit by dozens of Katyusha rockets. Here Israeli Jews and Arabs seek cover together. Tempers are frayed. Heated arguments follow.

The Israeli-Arab woman on the right accuses the Jewish woman of celebrating when Arabs are killed. The Jewish woman yells back how can you say that when we give you shelter? Here the Jews support the Israeli offensive, the Arabs want a cease-fire.

We don't want Israel striking Lebanon or Lebanon hitting Israel, says Fika Suad (ph) an Israeli-Arab. I'm scared she tells me. It's not easy in this bunker.

(on camera): This bunker is about 20 feet underground. It's incredibly hot and the air is thick and stale. It seems difficult to breathe. And the people here have been living like this for almost two weeks now.

(voice-over): It's hardest on the children. They're bored. Some are too young to understand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't go to the schools. They don't go to play. Of course the children are not used to it and sometimes they cry when they heard the bomb.

VAUSE: Here they cook meals, watch television for the latest news and wait, wait for either a cease-fire or more rockets.

John Vause, CNN, Nahariya, northern Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Families split apart fleeing for their lives, abandoning all their possessions. A heavy price of safe haven. We'll go live to Tyre, Lebanon, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we've heard the stories about insurance companies refusing to pay for hurricane damage in Louisiana, and now many homeowners there may be in danger of losing their coverage entirely.

Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange with that story.

Boy, Susan. It's never ending.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Never ending. I think we have just gotten the tip of the iceberg on this one, Kyra.

Allstate is considering dropping coverage for hail and wind damage for coastal homeowners in Louisiana. The company said the move, which would affect about 30,000 policies, would reduce Allstate's exposure to catastrophic loss. But Louisiana's commissioner of insurance says that such an action would violate the state's consumer protection statute.

He said Allstate threatened to totally withdraw from the homeowners' market if the state tried to prevent it from excluding wind and hail coverage. That would leave 20 percent of all homeowners in Louisiana without coverage.

Allstate denies making the threat and said it has taken similar steps to reduce losses in Texas, Florida and New York. Allstate is the second biggest home insurer in Louisiana, with about 220,000 policies.

Kyra, and, of course, we're in the beginning of hurricane season.

PHILLIPS: I know. Here we go again. And so many cases unsolved.

All right. What else is happening on Wall Street?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LISOVICZ: That's the latest from Wall Street.

Coming up next hour, teens love social networking sites like MySpace, but could they become popular with grandparent, too?

Stay tuned. LIVE FROM will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A Hezbollah stronghold now under Israeli control. New developments keep coming in the Middle East crisis. Here's what we know right now.

Israel reports that it's taken over a second Hezbollah outpost in southern Lebanon. And while the military says it doesn't plan to occupy southern Lebanon, it says it will maintain a security zone there until an international force arrives.

Meanwhile, the first shipment of U.S. aid to Lebanon has arrived in Beirut. The U.S. Embassy says it includes enough medicine and health supplies to last 20,000 people for three months. Israel is promising to open safe passages so the supplies can be distributed.

And President Bush says he's concerned about Lebanese civilians killed and hurt in this conflict, but he says an immediate cease-fire would only lead to more violence in the future.

On a quest for urgent and enduring peace in the Middle East, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders today as she continued her diplomatic mission in the region.

CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour is in Jerusalem.

Is it proving effective, Christiane?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hard to tell, really. It's just the first round of diplomacy, and it's hard to say how effective it is going to be.

I mean, basically, it's going to be, you know, the sequencing of it, but it's to have a cease-fire, plus a political solution. And it's a question of, you know, what comes first, the donkey or the cart, and also about the international force, which is considered vital at this point to keep the Hezbollah positions away from southern Lebanon and to prepare the way for the Lebanese army to eventually go in there.

But, of course, as yet, there's no word formally on who the troop contributors might be and what exactly their terms of engagement would be. And that is going to be discussed in Rome, when the secretary gets down to talking with all the other participants in the attempt to get a solution.

A lot is being made, Kyra, and you just mentioned it, about the defense minister and his call for a security zone. You know, it's hard, because we're trying to -- we're trying to parse every one of these words, because up until now the Israeli have been very clear, they do not want to go back into Lebanon in any -- in any sort of full formation or lengthy period of time, anything that resembles holding ground or an occupation for any length of time.

And it looks like what he's talking about potentially could be a sort of virtual security zone, as one of the Israeli spokesman told me, which is maintained not by necessarily a force occupying it, but by the ability to go in and out, to go back and forth to these various towns and strongholds, and/or to potentially keep firing into that security zone area until -- until another force can come. It's a little bit unclear by what they mean by security zone or buffer zone right now. PHILLIPS: Interesting. Brent Sadler saying the same thing, how do you define buffer zone and security zone? Does that mean occupied territory?

Are you seeing sort of, I don't know, visions or a little deja vu, a replay of 1982?

AMANPOUR: Well, I think the immense pains to have exactly -- to not do that at all, because that's what their big pain and their big trauma was, going in, in 1982. And remember, back then it was the Reagan administration, and a lot of Israeli analysts and observers are pointing this out, saying that back in 1982, Ronald Reagan and his then secretary of state, who I think was Alexander Haig, sort of gave Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, if not a green light, well, then, they certainly didn't restrain them.

And we saw, you know, what happened when Israel went too far in stayed too long, and then it was a trauma for 18 years, a bloody occupation that ended with Hezbollah, which was created because of that occupation -- ended with Israel basically unilaterally withdrawing in accordance to the U.N. resolution and Hezbollah claiming a lot of victory for that.

Now, some of those politicians who remember 24 years ago are really worried, and they say, listen, you know, Israel should have responded, we support this strong response to the killing of our soldiers, but we must know when to stop. And we cannot afford to go too far. And that, of course, brings up the whole issue of the civilian casualties, as well.

It's causing a lot of concern amongst quite a lot of Israelis here, this huge disproportionate ratio of casualties on the Lebanese side, compared to on this side.

PHILLIPS: Christiane Amanpour, live from Jerusalem.

Thanks so much.

Well, a mission of mercy. Emergency supplies are arriving by the tons in battle-scarred Beirut. Food, medicine, clothing for civilians caught in the crossfire. There are thousands in the city and to the south, where the most intense fighting is taking place.

David Holdridge, a director with Mercy Corps, has just been to southern Lebanon.

We have you on camera now, David. When we were first talking you were getting into certain areas. We were talking to you by phone. You had a feeling it was going to be pretty bad. Now you've been to Southern Lebanon. Give me your impressions.

DAVID HOLDRIDGE, MERCY CORPS LEBANESE DIR.: Yes, what a contrast, Kyra. I mean, our normal work up here is with the hundreds of thousands of displaced that are in the hills east of here and holed up in schools and other public buildings, but we have another mission, too, and that's to get down to the folks in the far south who are isolated, who haven't been able to get north, and it was in that context that I went down to Nabatiya today.

I got about halfway down. It is a very circuitous route. It's really tough for trucks carrying major relief supplies down there, because a lot of the major roads there down have been bombed out. And, for those of you who know Lebanon, you can get up into the Chouf area and just south of it to Jazeen (ph), but it's that last 50 kilometers, 40 kilometers heading south to Nabatiya and crossing the Litani after that with those really needy folks that are desperate, I would say, and it's really tough.

The access issue is critical down there. I mean, for us to get drivers and trucks that feel safe enough to be able to get down there -- I only spent a couple hours down there and Nabatiya had been bombed earlier this morning -- and was looking for distribution channels and cars that would take us to outside villages. It's dead down there.

There's some police down there, there's probably some supporters of Hezbollah down there, but there's also a lot of old folks, fragile folks, and poor folks that are just basically in their shelters and waiting for this whole thing to stop.

PHILLIPS: So, David, how do you ...

HOLDRIDGE: And I'm really worried about how we're -- go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Well, how do you know the difference between who's acting within Hezbollah or sympathizing with Hezbollah and who's a civilian that needs your help and doesn't want to be a part of the fighting?

HOLDRIDGE: Well, basically, when I see families with young children down there and I see old folks, I see people that have chronic illnesses, disabled folks, it's that percentage of the population. I mean, I was in Nabatiya five weeks ago. It was a bustling market town in that region, 25,000, 30,000.

There's 1,500 left. These are only the folks here basically. There's some among them that are just stubborn to dig in there and not leave. Awful lot of those folks, they just do not have the money to get out and they don't know where to go, so they just stay inside all day long and the police are managing to get some bread to them and some other essential foods.

But it's very tough access down there and any comprehensive solution for those 100,000 down there that haven't left is going to have to involve safe access for humanitarian supplies, medicine, foodstuff, and it's going to have to happen very quickly.

PHILLIPS: Mercy Corps Lebanese emergency response director David Holdridge, sure appreciate your time. We'll keep in touch with you, David, and do what we can to help from this end. That's for sure.

CNN's Betty Nguyen has an eye on two developing stories for us right now. Let's go to her in the newsroom for more -- Betty.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra. For Americans still wanting to get out of Lebanon, we have learned from the U.S. embassy that the last scheduled departure from Lebanon will be tomorrow. Now, the embassy says most Americans who want to get out of Lebanon have already done so.

Again, tomorrow is the last scheduled departure date. Future departures will be on a case-by-case basis and may not be immediate. That's very important. Take a listen to what State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM CASEY, STATE DEPT. DEPUTY SPOKESMAN: What we are doing is saying that the formal schedule of daily departures of scheduled ships will end on Wednesday. But, again, there will be capacity available to move those individual American citizens who, after that point, may be able to be in a position to be able to be taken from Southern Lebanon or other places where they have not yet been able to depart from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Now, the U.S. embassy is in contact with Americans in Southern Lebanon who have had a very difficult time getting to Beirut and getting on those ships and, so, what they've said is for those stuck in Southern Lebanon to stay in contact with the U.S. embassy and just wait for their guidance.

But, again, for most Americans, especially the ones in the Beirut area, thinking about getting out of Lebanon, tomorrow is the last scheduled departure. Anything after that will be on a case-by-case basis and it may not happen immediately.

Now, back here in the states, here's something we want to tell you about out of St. Louis. They are dealing with some high temperatures there, in the 90s, but here's the problem. Many folks are without power. Some 150,000 people are without power.

They've been without power for the past six days. A storm rolled through the area last Wednesday and knocked out power to some 600,000 people. Now, 150,000 people still without power and five deaths are blamed on these storms. Now, a regional electric supply spokesperson says most everybody should have power back by Wednesday. That's tomorrow.

So, that is the good news, but in the meantime, it's in the 90s in St. Louis, five deaths reported because of these storms and the knocked out power and it looks like that power will be restored by tomorrow, but in the meantime, Kyra, folks in that area, if you don't have it, try to seek some kind of shelter indoors.

PHILLIPS: OK, Betty Nguyen, thanks so much.

Well, Hezbollah rockets, Israeli airstrikes -- the fighting has left many civilians caught in the middle. Case in point, Tyre, Lebanon, a city that has been the focal point for a lot of the attacks.

CNN's Karl Penhaul is there -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, certainly Hezbollah militia fighters are Israeli troops have been trading fire across the border, about 10 miles from where we are, throughout the day. There was a Hezbollah barrage of rockets that went up this morning and after that, there was a constant bombardment by Israeli artillery and then Israeli warplanes, as well.

But it is the civilians who are caught in this crossfire, and we have seen how cruiseliners periodically have been pulling into the port here in Tyre to take off Lebanese citizens who also have residence visa permits for some of the European countries.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL (voice-over): The Lebanese army into the fray, not to fight, but to evacuate civilians. City hall estimates 30,000 people remain here in Tyre and the surrounding villages, trapped by nearly two weeks of intense fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

These are the lucky ones. In a few hours, they should be sailing for Cyprus. High school student Rihab Chaouchar, her mother and brothers are bound for France where they have residency permits.

"We have to leave because our lives in Tyre have been destroyed by the bombardments," she says. But leaving is bittersweet. Her father won't leave. "It was very difficult, but I have to understand, he wanted to stay because he's loyal to his country. We had to leave because we were really afraid," she says.

The French, German and Swiss consulates organized this evacuation for around 300 of their nationals and Lebanese citizens with proof of valid European resident visas. Amid an apparent lull in the fighting, the first groups are ferried out to the Princess Marissa cruiseship.

(on camera): Hundreds may be leaving, but many thousands more have no choice except to stay. And in some cases, that means splitting families.

(voice-over): That's what is happening to Ali Zabad. I find him clutching the metal gates as his wife, Rose, departs headed, heading for island with their two grandchildren.

ALI ZABAD, TYRE, LEBANON RESIDENT: I stay because I have -- my mother is very old and she's sick, also.

PENHAUL: There's a last-minute hitch. Rose has a British passport, but 8-year-old Ali and 6-year-old Gadiya (ph) have no travel documents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say my grandson will not go with me because he has no passport.

PENHAUL: Rose says there's no question of leaving alone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I can't go anywhere. I can't leave them with this war.

PENHAUL: Later, I learn a compassionate bureaucrat allowed Ali and Gadiya to join Rose on the cruiseship. At the back of the line, I find Rihab Chaouchar and her family waiting with almost no luggage. Told to bring no more than 10 kilos or 20 pounds each, they say they're taking way below their limit as a symbolic gesture. "We left many of our belongings behind as a kind of a sign we would return," she says. They wave good-bye, but vow they will be back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: For those who have had no choice except to stay, the humanitarian crisis in this part of Southern Lebanon appears to be worsening. In the city of Tyre, the city mayors told me today that basic food supplies are running short, there's very little medicine here and bottled water is also running out.

On that cruiseship that we just saw there in that report, it did bring in seven tons of humanitarian aid and the mayor says he needs urgently 120 tons. Also, with the fighting continuing, those that have stayed simply have no choice but to hunker down in the basements of apartment buildings and wait for the fighting to subside -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Karl Penhaul in Tyre, Lebanon. Thanks, Karl.

Still got your back. President Bush reassuring Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today in Washington. Despite al-Maliki's six-week old plan to improve Iraqi security, the situation is only getting worse. It's especially bad in Baghdad. That's where there's been a dramatic spike in bombings and sectarian death squads roam the streets.

Now, the U.S. military will move more troops into Baghdad from outlying areas to bolster Iraqi security forces that are already there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The prime minister advised me that to support this plan, he and General Casey have agreed to deploy additional American troops and Iraqi security personnel in Baghdad in the coming weeks. These will come from other areas of the country. Our military commanders tell me that this deployment will better reflect the current conditions on the ground in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well the president is all smiles, at least publicly, as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visits Washington. But no happy faces on some House and Senate Democrats. They say they're troubled by his failure to condemn Hezbollah and affirm Israel's right to defend itself. They're pushing for the Iraqi leader to clarify his position before he addresses a joint meeting of congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We cannot let a man who purports to be our ally turn his back on the war on terror and on the American soldiers who have fought so bravely there. No matter how politically expedient he thinks it may be to stand with America, you have to stand against terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Some Democrats say that their considering boycotting al-Maliki's speech tomorrow.

As he welcomed Iraq's prime minister to Washington, President Bush told him, I appreciate your vision for a free Iraq, but freedom is an increasingly foreign concept for Iraqi women. Many of the rights they did have under the regime of Saddam Hussein have evacuated as Islamic extremists impose their strict views. CNN's Arwa Damon joins me again from Baghdad. Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra. That's right. Life has changed dramatically for women here in Iraq. In fact, many of them are not even able to drive their cars, go out to the market alone, are being forced to wear head scarves. And for many of them, the fight is pretty much over while others are still trying to fight back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): I wish I could show you these women's faces. They are beautiful, vibrant and behind closed doors, full of life. Out in the streets of Baghdad, their appearance could be a death sentence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't wear what I want. You know, it's very dangerous to walk on the street like this.

DAMON: Religious extremist groups have forcibly imposed their conservative restrictions on all women's lives. Women are even threatened if seen driving a car or venturing out to the market alone. A very different situation than under Saddam Hussein.

(on camera): What are you able to do in your capacity as state adviser for woman's affairs to try to fight back?

SALAM SMESIM, STATE ADVISER FOR WOMEN'S AFFAIRS: The first step, I begin my own self. I'm driving my own car by my own self.

DAMON (voice-over): But other than Dr. Smesim's own acts of defiance, no one will listen.

SMESMIN: Nothing, even from the minister to the prime minister.

DAMON: She says she'll continue to fight, clinging to the belief that life, at least for her children, will be better. But for others, the fight is over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will say good-bye to democracy, to the freedom of Iraq. I have to save myself and my family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: And, you know, we went back and we spoke with Jomana again on a second occasion and she repeated those same words to us, that she would be leaving the country with her children in an effort to save them, hoping that outside of Iraq she can provide for a better future.

But she does also cling to the hope that one day she and her entire family will be able to come back to the life that they once had in Baghdad. Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll follow her progress, that's for sure. Arwa Damon, thanks so much.

Current Mideast events may make you wonder what could possibly happen next. Well some people say they already know.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are at the very end and we know to prepare our selves for that, according to the word of God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Coming up, is Armageddon around the corner? Have faith, LIVE FROM will be back to check it all out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: I'm Betty Nguyen at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Take a look at these pictures coming to us live from KCAL in Los Angeles. This is a brush fire, you can see the smoke right there burning in the Benedict Canyon area, which is near Beverly Hills. Some 21 fire companies are on the scene right now. Their focus is on protecting structures, not sure exactly how many homes are threatened in this area.

But maybe if we can get a live shot in a minute -- or a wide shot, I should say, and you can see that this brush fire is coming close to residential area. Again, this is in the Benedict Canyon area of Beverly Hills where a brush fire is burning at this hour.

You see the huge plumes of smoke just billowing into the air. And as this widens out a little bit, there you go at the bottom portion of your screen, you can see the homes that are in the fire's path. Obviously, firefighters are working to keep the fire away from those homes. We're going to stay on top of this and bring you more information. LIVE FROM will be after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Wars, famine, disasters, disease. No one's going to argue that the world is pretty much a mess. But while some say it's always been that way, others figure at least a couple of those four horsemen are saddling up as we speak.

CNN's faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They say the end of the world is coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as I can tell, we are at the very end and we need to prepare ourselves for that according to the world of God.

GALLAGHER: The Israeli Hezbollah conflict they say is a sign that the Bible's final chapter, the Book of Revelation is unfolding before our eyes.

One of the Bible's most widely debated books, Revelation is filled with vivid and frightening imagery: Satan, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the mark of the beast. It all depicts a great world apocalyptic battle for Israel, Armageddon, that ushers in the return of Jesus Christ and the beginning of a thousand-year period of peace.

REV. CRAIG TREADWELL, ENDTIME MINISTRIES: The sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four...

GALLAGHER: At this Pentecostal church in Dallas, Pastor Craig Treadwell tells his congregation that their salvation is tied to events happening 6,000 miles away.

TREADWELL: Are we in World War III right now? It certainly looks like we are.

GALLAGHER: Events, he says, that were predicted 2,000 years ago.

TREADWELL: The Bible prophetized that two billion people will die. There is a massive nuclear holocaust just ahead.

GALLAGHER: Scary stuff coming from a popular local posture, but he's not alone. Well-known Reverend Jerry Falwell updated his Fallwell Confidential column last week to say, "It is apparent, in light of the rebirth of the state of Israel, that the present day events in the Holy Land may very well serve as a prelude or forerunner to the future battle of Armageddon and the glorious return of Jesus Christ."

In recent times, some Christians have looked for signs that the Apocalypse is near. Some have even tried to carry out its prophecies. And over 62 million have bought these fictional books, the "Left Behind" series, describing the inevitability of the end.

TREADWELL: Today we will read straight from the Bible.

GALLAGHER: And at Pastor Treadwell's radio show that he co-hosts with Pastor Ervin Baxter (ph), the talk is of end time.

TREADWELL: You've got one-third of mankind killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got two billion dead. Israel will survive but will suffer a lot, and then finally relations between Israel and the international community will go south, the world community invades, Armageddon.

GALLAGHER: Treadwell and Baxter say we're in or near the final seven years leading up to Armageddon. They say just look to Revelation Chapter 9 if you have doubts.

TREADWELL: "This war will emanate from the River Euphrates." Did you know most of the Euphrates river is in the nation of Iraq?

GALLAGHER: The pastors say there is a correlation between almost every image in the Bible and current events.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Bible talks about tsunamis, it talks about the waves in the sea roaring. It talks about a dramatic increase in earthquakes.

REV. KEVIN BEAN, ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH: There's a fiction being created here, like a Steven King horror movie.

GALLAGHER: Reverend Kevin Bean of St. Bartholomew's Church of New York City says Revelation is not meant to be read so literally and he says it is irresponsible and dangerous to misinterpret the text.

BEAN: It's a part of our church, it's a part of our tradition, but we don't read it the way a lot of people do, which is to make that false correlation with present day events. That is a crock.

Apocalyptic is about encouraging and consoling a people that are facing calamitous and catastrophic times. To say that, in spite of all of this, there is a God at work in this terrible world and a God that will vindicate.

GALLAGHER: And back at North City's Church in Dallas, plans are being made...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look to the book of Revelations as indicators for what's going to happen.

GALLAGHER: ... for what they believe may be the end of the world as we know it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So, Delia, let's talk about the Book of Revelations, this recent survey. How many people are taking this seriously?

GALLAGHER: Well, there was a recent survey, Harris Interactive Poll, that polled 1,000 people. And of that 1,000, 59 percent said that they believe these events, Armageddon, would happen at some point in the future, and that 17 percent said that that would happen during their lifetime.

But one of the problems with polls, Kyra, is that the terms aren't defined so clearly. And I think a lot of people don't understand what Armageddon is, what the Book of Revelation really says, what the Rapture is, and what end times are. So, when you throw these terms around, sometimes it becomes difficult.

Most people have an understanding that there is an idea of the end of the world, but Christians, of course, believe that this is going to involve Jesus coming again. You know, the two fundamental beliefs that Jesus is going to come again and that there's going to some sort of salvation. But exactly how that's going to play out differs amongst the Christian denominations.

And what you've just seen in that piece and what some people read into the Book of Revelation, which at bottom is a sort of very cryptic and very difficult book to understand, is that it's going to play out in this great world war, i.e. Armageddon. But these are interpretations of one book of the Christian Bible. And it's a very difficult book. I've talked to a lot of academics who have vastly different interpretations on it.

PHILLIPS: Now, you mention Rapture. And we asked about, what's the talk on the Web? And you mention this one Web site, raptureready.com. So, we went to it and, very interesting. It's got everything from oil prices to drug abuse to earthquakes. It rates it and factors it into biblical prophecy. Why do you find this so interesting?

GALLAGHER: I think a lot of people find this interesting. I was interested to discover, doing this piece, that so many people were very interested in end times. Because I think one of the things that the Book of Revelation allows you to do is, since it is written in kind of symbolic language about angels and horsemen and places in the Middle East that are from the ancient times, you can kind of put a map over it and decide, OK, this means this and this means that. And that's fascinating for people. That's a puzzle. It's kind of "Da Vinci Code."

And so everybody can have a hand at it and say, oh, well, the tsunamis and earthquakes which are referred to very generally in Book of Revelation, must mean this tsunami and that earthquake. And this is the period of time -- that's the whole other thing that these people try to figure out. What is a period of time that we're talking about here? Because while most people will say the end of the world will happen at some stage, they don't know what sort of timeframe to put on it.

So that's another thing they do on Web sites such as that one about trying to decide exactly what do all of these events mean, and give some kind of greater purpose and even maybe a good purpose, to some of the very difficult, devastating things that we see. PHILLIPS: Well, Delia, as we leave you, we're going to leave you with the Rapture index. Currently right now, according to raptureready.com, 156 is the Rapture index. Record high, 182 back on September 24th, 2001. Delia, we'll be monitoring it.

GALLAGHER: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to get back to our correspondents reporting live around the Middle East, and we're going to check the heat wave sweeping across the U.S. Now it's called a killer.

More on LIVE FROM coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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