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CNN Live Today

Crisis In The Middle East; Evacuating Americans; United Nations Discussions

Aired July 17, 2006 - 10:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In the northern Israeli city of Haifa, several suspected Hezbollah rockets have hit over the last few hours. Our correspondent on the scene reports that a rocket struck a residential building. Israel is continuing its attacks against Hezbollah. Israeli bombs targeted a port in Beirut. An army barracks and areas in Beirut southern suburbs were also hit as the conflict intensifies. Several countries, including the U.S., are evacuating their citizens from Lebanon.
CNN's world wide resources are fanned out across the region and on both sides of the conflict. Our correspondents are in Beirut, Lebanon, and Haifa, Israel. And they are watching tensions boil and violence escalate in Gaza.

And getting out of Lebanon, we're looking at that as well. Americans heading to Cyprus. You see that there in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands of others are crossing the border into Syria. We will go live to both those places later this hour.

Meanwhile, let's begin with our Paula Hancocks. She is within the Israeli port city of Haifa.

Paula, if you could put this in perspective for us. What the rocket action looks like today verses yesterday.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the amount of rockets that have been coming into Haifa over the past few hours, it's been fairly substantial. We know well over 30 rockets have hit over northern Israel as a whole. Many other towns close to the border have been hit as well.

Now this town of Haifa is the third largest in Israel. And it's about 25 miles south from the Lebanese border. We can see almost the Lebanese border. It's a bit misty today. But up in that direction is where these rockets have been coming from.

Now many of them have been landing in the sea. In this bay here. But some have hit residential areas. And we know that one destroyed half of a building. Much of that building set fire at the beginning as soon as the rocket hit, as well. We understand at least 11 people have been injured in that particular attack, one seriously.

But for the majority of the other rockets, there has been very few casualties. Many people are not even coming out onto the streets. They're staying inside. The police are patrolling every now and then with loud speakers telling people to go into bomb shelters after these sirens, which are supposed to give you a one minute warnings, actually sound. So I think the fact is that the casualties on this side of the border are nothing like we are seeing on the Lebanese side.

But yesterday, on Sunday, we did see the bloodiest Hezbollah attack on Israeli soil for more than a decade. Just behind me there's a train depot just down the hill. And we were there on Sunday where we saw a rocket went through the ceiling and into a train depot. About 30 workers were working on trains at that time. Eight were killed. More than 20 were injured. So that particular attack was the bloodiest yet that Hezbollah has carried out here in more than a decade.

Daryn.

KAGAN: And, Paula, so we can watch with the clock up on the screen. It's late afternoon, early evening there in Haifa. Have the rocket attacks been worse during the day or at night?

HANCOCKS: Well, we woke up at 6:00 this morning to the siren when the first rocket actually happened. And then we know there were some late last night, as well. There was a period of about two or three hours where there was every five minutes at one point and then every 10 minutes. There's probably about 10 or 15 rockets. It's difficult to actually count them for exactly when they land in the sea.

But in the middle of the day, early afternoon, there was a real barrage, as well in Safed, which is very close to the boarder, and Tiberius as well, which was hit a couple of days ago. And we also know that earlier this morning there was one village just further south then Haifa that was hit. This is the furthest these rockets have landed so far. The Israeli military is worried that these rockets, actually Hezbollah has longer-range rockets that have been supplied by Iran.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Paula Hancocks live from Haifa, Israel, thank you.

Let's go live now to the United Nations. U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, at the microphone.

QUESTION: And secondly, when do you expect the team, the U.N. team, to return here?

AMB. JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Well, I think, in the past two weeks, on behalf of the United States, I've given three statements in the Security Council to talk about the relationship between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah and Hamas. So I think in any resolution or other council action, we would be looking to implement those kinds of approaches in the text.

We have been informed that the -- in response to your second question -- that the team should be back by the middle of this week. So our hopes has been that perhaps by Thursday we could get a direct briefing in the Security Council from the staff delegation and decide where we go from there. That's also, I think, an appropriate time to begin to consider a step the council itself might take.

Let me just take one more here, because I have to . . .

QUESTION: Ambassador, why does the U.S. appear to be not interested blocking reference or call for a cease-fire?

BOLTON: I think that the question of the legitimate exercise of self-defense, which the government of Israel is engaged in, is something that has to be considered very clearly. And I think before you get to cease-fire, you have to look at what the causes of the conflict are. I think you would have a cease-fire in a matter of nanoseconds if Hezbollah and Hamas would release their kidnapped victims and stop engaging in rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism against Israel.

I'll be back after . . .

KAGAN: U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, answering a few questions in advance of the U.N. Security Council having their meeting on what's happening in the Mideast. We'll have more on what's happening from the U.N. in just a little bit.

But first let's go back to the Mideast where that escalating conflict is taking a heavy human toll. Lebanese security forces say at least 165 people have been killed in six days across border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. And 415 others were wounded. Israeli military sources say 12 civilians and 12 soldiers have been killed and about 300 have been wounded.

The damage and the tensions are mounting in Beirut as well. That's where we find our Alessio Vinci who has spent the last several days in the Lebanese capital. He has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): It's never easy to leave home, but Lara, mother of three, knows her journey to the Syrian boarder is going to be a difficult one. The Israeli jets have bombarded the road she's about to travel.

LARA, EVACUEE: And we're going to pass through many obstacles. It won't be easy.

VINCI: Are you afraid for your children?

LARA: Yes, sure. It's a big responsibility.

VINCI: Did you expect that this was going to happen?

LARA: It was really a shock.

VINCI: Lara is among those Lebanese with relatives abroad. Able to pay $125 for a bus ride to the Syrian border. Thousands like her are fleeing under heavy shelling. There is fear, of course, but also disbelief at the thought that war has come again 15 years after a bloody civil war reduced the city to rubble. FERDAW IDRISS, EVACUEE: It's the same movie occurring again like 20 years ago. That's what I feel.

VINCI: It's like a bad nightmare coming back?

IDRISS: Bad, terrible nightmare.

VINCI: You really believed it was over?

IDRISS: We believed the war was over. No one was expecting that this will happen. No one.

VINCI: Not everyone can or wants to leave. It's too extensive for many, too dangerous for people who have nowhere else to go. That rings especially true in the areas of southern Beirut which have taken the brunt of the Israeli assault.

This is the area of Beirut that people are fleeing from. We are in the southern suburbs of the capital. A place that used to be populated heavily by Shiite Muslims. And as you can see behind me, constant shelling by Israeli forces. This is the aftermath. We can still smell the burning rubble. This town is beginning to look like Beirut during the civil war.

It's a virtual ghost town. Israel says Hezbollah's leadership operates from here making this a legitimate target. Civilians, though, are caught in the middle. Forced to leave home in a hurry. Many find shelter in nearby schools closed for the summer break. Among those who just arrived, Hassan, a biology teacher.

HASSAN SVIEDAN, SCHOOL TEACHER, (through translator): It's a strange irony to go from being a teacher, to being forced to sleep on a classroom floor, he says.

School reopens in September. There is hope, of course, the classrooms will be available then.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And let's talk with our Alessio Vinci live now from Beirut.

Alessio, what's the latest on Americans and others from other countries trying to get out and evacuate Lebanon?

VINCI: Well, Daryn, the latest, as far as the Americans are concerned, we understand that the evacuation, per say, has not started yet. Two more U.S. helicopters have arrived here at the U.S. embassy to bring in more personnel in order to facilitate that evacuation plan that has been worked out. As we speak, those two helicopters have left already. Beirut and we understand that there were some people on board, people with special medical needs that needed to be taken out of this country within an emergency situation. But no evacuations of U.S. citizens as of yet.

What we do know, however, is that a French ferry has arrived here at Beirut's port. And we understand that some French nationals are beginning to board this ferry. And that within the next 12 to 24 hours that ferry will be leaving this country en route to Cyprus. We have a producer there on the ground at the port. There is no scenes of chaos. No great amount of people trying to rush towards the ferry. Everything is very orderly or coordinated. There is a little bit of security. so it is a very orderly and controlled evacuation at this time.

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Alessio, thank you. Let's get more on what the U.S. military is doing to organize those evacuations of Americans from Lebanon and go to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Barbara, good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.

The U.S. military is working towards the very same thing. They say a controlled and orderly departure of Americans from Lebanon -- 25,000 Americans there. Not clear how many want to leave. But sources are saying that several hundred Americans now have registered with the embassy, made their intentions known, their locations known, that when the evacuation begins, they want to go.

The military is putting the final pieces into place. Everyone should expect to see over the next 24 to 48 hours more of that emerge. More U.S. military assets arrive in the region. The plan now, of course, is to take people out either by air or possibly by sea over to Cyprus where they can get commercial aircraft flights to their home countries or to their destinations.

But all of this, Daryn, moving very cautiously. A lot of people who are stranded, of course, are saying it's moving too slow. That they really want to go. But the military making the effort because they know it's a very serious situation.

They want to go in. You know, it's an extraordinary thing to say U.S. troops going into Beirut. But they want to go in, pick up Americans and get out very quickly. They don't want any trouble. They don't want to have to fire a shot. But our sources saying, when the troops do go in to get the Americans, they will go with the complete ability to defend themselves.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Why is it taking so long to organize this?

STARR: It's clearly shaping up as a very complex operation that somewhat, of course, caught the military and State Department planners by surprise. They need to put things into place, they tell us. They need to get some ships into that section of the Mediterranean. That is still going to take a couple of days.

Cyprus, a lot of diplomatic things to work through there. They're using the British air base there. And there isn't that much commercial air traffic in and out of Cyprus. So what they may have to do is begin to rapidly charter commercial airliners. Charter them so the people that arrive can be picked up very quickly and taken on to their destinations.

A lot of military planning going into this. When yesterday we saw the U.S. military team go into the embassy, that was really a key signal for everyone to watch. That team is just about the last thing that goes in, in the planning phase. They will establish all the secure communications at the embassy. And they are a real sign that things may start unfolding relatively soon.

KAGAN: All right, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, thank you.

Frustrations and a four-letter word. President Bush shelves diplomacy in a candidate moment at the G-8. An open mike. We'll tell you what the president said. This is CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Things are changing by the moment in the Middle East crisis. Let's get up to speed with what we know right now.

In the northern Israeli city of Haifa, several suspected Hezbollah rockets have hit over the last few hours. Our correspondent on the scene reports that a rocket struck a residential building. Israeli is continuing its attacks against Hezbollah. Israeli bombs targeted the port in Beirut, an army barracks and areas in Beirut's southern suburbs were also hit. As the conflict intensifies, several countries, including the U.S., are evacuating their citizens from Lebanon.

President Bush heads back home as the talks wrap up at the G-8 summit in Russia. Diplomacy was the watch word, but a four-letter word is grabbing the headlines. Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, has details on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Mideast crisis dominated the agenda here at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg right up until the final moments. An open microphone capturing a rather dramatic and colorful exchange between President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair that really highlights the tensions among world leaders about the way forward in the Mideast that really stands in sharp contrast to the united front that was publicly presented by the G-8 leaders in their joint statement on the Mideast Sunday.

What happened first this morning is Mr. Blair met with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and then afterward met with reporters and they jointly called for an international stabilization force to head to Israel to end the violence. But such a force might require a cease-fire, which is controversial because President Bush has not supported one on the grounds that the administration does not believe Hezbollah would follow it. So after the meeting with Mr. Annan, Mr. Blair then went to a lunch with President Bush and the other G-8 leaders. And the president expressed real frustration that the U.N. should be doing more to pressure Syrian President Assad to get control of Hezbollah.

I want to be clear, the leaders knew this was a photo opportunity. There was a microphone on the table. Tony Blair eventually turned the microphone off, but not before it recorded this.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What about Kofi Annan? I don't like the sequence of it. His attitude is basically cease-fire and everything else happens. You know what I'm saying?

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Yes, no, I think the thing that is really difficult is you can't stop this unless you get this international presence agreed.

(INAUDIBLE)

BUSH: She's going. I think Condi's going to go pretty soon.

BLAIR: All right. Well, that's all that matters. If you see, it will take some time to get out of there. But at least it gives people . . .

BUSH: It's a process I agreed. I told her your offer too.

BLAIR: Well, it's only -- or if she's going to or if she needs the ground prepared as it were. Obviously if she goes out, she's got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk.

BUSH: See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over.

BLAIR: Cause I think this is all part of the same thing. What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if he gets a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way, he's done it. That's what this whole thing's about. It's the same with Iran.

BUSH: I fell like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen. We're not blaming Israel and we're not blaming the Lebanese government.

HENRY: We played this tape for a White House spokesman who said the president's words speak for themselves. The White House not offering any further comment. The key exchange, of course, being the president, in rather explicit terms, saying that basically he believes the U.N. needs to do more to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop the violence and then this will be over.

Also what should not be lost in this exchange is the fact that the president confirms what we've been hearing for days here at the summit, that he's planning to send U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Mideast to try and help defuse the situation and end the violence.

Ed Henry, CNN, with the president at the summit in St. Petersburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, you heard the president make reference to the United Nations. Let's find out what is or not going on there and check in with our senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.

Richard, hello.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

They don't like open microphones here at the United Nations and they haven't really had a comment yet about President Bush and those words he said about Kofi Annan and the sequencing. Kofi Annan saying at the G-8 meeting that there should be an immediate cessation of hostilities. The United States ambassador here to the U.N., John Bolton, is aware that there has been a call for that. But he also has been backing Israel here.

John Bolton was also asked by journalist about Tony Blair and Kofi Annan's thoughts that a stabilization force was needed for the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMB. JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Considering the possibility of such a force. And I think as we consider that possibility, we'd have to think of several questions. Three broad areas come to mind. First, would such a force be empowered to deal with the real problem? The real problem is Hezbollah. Would such a force be empowered to disarm and demobilize Hezbollah armed components? Would it be empowered to deal with the country's like Syria and Iran that support Hezbollah? What exactly would be the extent of the mandate to deal with the military threat posed by Hezbollah?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Kofi Annan has also said you need to give time and space and work (ph) for diplomacy to work. The United Nations Security Council is now going to be hearing a briefing from senior United Nations political and peace keeping officials. Earlier, Ambassador Bolton met with his British and French counterparts. The ambassadors met briefly over the weekend, Saturday, for an update on the briefing but took no action at that point.

Daryn.

So, Richard, it sounds, when we heard the U.S. ambassador, John Bolton's, comments earlier, right before the Security Council meeting, like they're kind of standing by waiting for this team to get back from the region before they do anything.

ROTH: That's correct. The 15 countries always like to get an in-person briefing, even if it's a developing situation on the ground. And the three-person-led mission on the Middle East may be back later this week. Vijay Nambiar, the secretary general's lead representative there, thought that he would be going back to Israel with some messages, but he also said this may take some time.

KAGAN: Richard Roth live at the U.N. Richard, thank you.

Troubling developments on another front this morning. North Korea snubbing the U.N. and calling sanctions of its missile program a prelude to a renewed war. World leaders of the G-8 Summit this morning joined the Security Council's call for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. An angry North Korea says it's not bound by a Security Council resolution passed this weekend and instead vows to bolster it's arsenal.

Still ahead on CNN LIVE TODAY, we are watching developments as they are created throughout the Mideast.

Also, what is happening with the markets? The oil market and the stock market and the influence of the Mideast on those. You'll see more of that. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: The markets have been open getting close to an hour. And it looks like they're doing a little effort to try to recover from last week's big sell-off. You can see the Dow is up a bit, although it just lost half of its gains there. It's up five points there. And the Nasdaq is up just a little bit as well. It is up a single point.

Well, the markets might not be hot, but there is plenty of hot stuff out there. Temperatures across the nation expected to sore today. The northeast will be down right broiling. According to the National Weather Service, Philadelphia and much of New Jersey will see temperatures near 100 degrees. And the increased humidity will make it feel more like 103 or hotter. That's what Chad Myers is focusing on.

Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Well, the forecast calls for rain in southern California. But despite the vast hungry wildfire there, the storms could actually be a mixed blessing. Fire crews are hoping for enough rain to dampen the blazes that have scorched more than 82,000 acres. But too much rain could cause flash flooding in the barren area. And lightning could spark more fires. The Sawtooth and Millard fires have destroyed at least 58 homes and caused damage estimated at more than $8 million.

As we get close to the half hour, let's tell you what we know right now about what's happening in the Middle East. The nearly week- long fighting taking some ominous new turns. More blistering attacks today in both Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah is believed to have fired a barrage of rockets at northern Israel, hitting targets in Haifa and several other cities.

In Lebanon, Israeli war planes are still on attack. A short time ago they unleashed more blistering missile strikes. Among the targets, Beirut's port. And amid the fighting, new calls for the deployment of international forces to the region. That plan, put forth by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

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