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CNN Live Today

Crisis In The Middle East; Trapped In Beirut

Aired July 19, 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: To Larnaca, to Cyprus. CNN has reporters all over the region to bring you the very latest on the fighting and the evacuations that are taking place.
The southern suburbs of Beirut is where we head. A Hezbollah stronghold. They have been the target of Israeli raids. Hezbollah has sealed off the worst hit areas and made it nearly impossible to discover exactly what has been hit. The Israelis say they're targeting Hezbollah military and leadership. A Hezbollah media representative and a Hezbollah security team took Nic Robertson on a very brief tour of the damage. Here now is Nic's exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where are we going now?

HUSSEIN NABULSI, HEZBOLLAH PRESS OFFICER: Now we are moving to where Israeli jet fighters bombed what it called Hezbollah headquarters. I'm going to show you on the ground that this is -- these are buildings inhabited by civilian. Innocent civilians. There is now jet fighters in the sky.

ROBERTSON: There's jets in the sky right now?

NABULSI: Exactly. So you never know when they'll hit this area.

ROBERTSON: And what happened here?

NABULSI: This is one of the bombs that fell. And look what happened to this building, which is all like inhabited by innocent civilians living there. People just working like everybody else. No military bases. Nothing. Not aircraft fires (ph). Just buildings. People living there.

ROBERTSON: How many people were killed and injured in this particular attack here?

NABULSI: Thank God, people evacuated these buildings early. And, luckily, no one was killed in this -- in such attacks. But I want to tell you something. Where is the international community? Where is the security council? Where's the United Nations? Where's the whole world? We are under fire.

ROBERTSON: You're really worried about another strike here right now, yes?

NABULSI: Of course. Of course. ROBERTSON: How dangerous is it in this area at the moment?

NABULSI: It is very, very dangerous. We are now the most dangerous place. This is the most dangerous moment.

ROBERTSON: In civilian housing? What was here?

NABULSI: Just -- look. Shoot. It is civilians. Buildings. Look at this building. Is it a military base? Is it a military base or just civilians living in this building?

ROBERTSON: Are you going to go for this cease-fire? Are you going to hand back the soldiers that they ask for?

NABULSI: We always teach Israel a lesson. We always teach it a lesson. Now we will teach Israel a lesson again. I tell you, Ehud Olmert, we will not surrender. We will not surrender. We will not surrender.

OK, hurry up. Hurry up. Then we have no (INAUDIBLE) every moment. Hurry up.

This -- I'll show you something.

ROBERTSON: Yes.

NABULSI: Shoot me. Shoot.

ROBERTSON: Yes.

NABULSI: This is here where they said (INAUDIBLE) secretary general of Hezbollah is living. This is wrong. Here are civilians living in those buildings.

ROBERTSON: This looks like a bunker-busting bomb has been used here to go down below ground level?

NABULSI: This was destroyed by Israeli. The Israeli like coward. They don't come to fight us face to face. They come with jet fighters from high above in the sky.

ROBERTSON: Is that what you want them to do, fight you face by face?

NABULSI: If they have -- they are brave enough face us, you know, we want you -- we want to fight you face to face. We don't get to do it.

ROBERTSON: How long is this going to go on for?

NABULSI: It's up to Israel. Israel is the one that attacks, beginning attack, initiated attack against civilians.

ROBERTSON: But they say you're killing civilians.

NABULSI: Now there's jet fighters. We have to move. ROBERTSON: OK.

Now we've been told we have to get out of the area. They believe that more Israeli planes are coming and that we need to get out of this area right now for our safety.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That report from Nic Robertson. In the interest of balance, we, of course, will also be showing you damage on the Israeli side of the border.

While we were listening to Nic's report, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, came to the microphones there and had a few comments. Let's go ahead and listen in to what the ambassador had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: There's a lot of Arab diplomats in the hallways here accuse you of blocking any movement towards a cease-fire immediately in Lebanon. What would you answer to that?

AMB. JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I think I've said consistently and it's the position of my government that we want to look for what we do after we have the briefing by the secretary- general's team and we find we'll have a briefing by the secretary- general as well. But the notion that you just declare a cease-fire and act as if that's going to solve the problem I think is simplistic.

Among other things, I want somebody to address the problem how you get a cease-fire with a terrorist organization. I'd like to know when there's been an effective cease-fire between a terrorist organization and a state in the past. This is a different kind of situation and I'm not sure that sort of old thinking, conventional thinking, works in a case like this. But we'll see and I'm sure we'll have this conversation tomorrow.

Now I have to deal with East Temor (ph), please, but I'll come back a little bit later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And John Bolton, a busy man, off to deal with East Temor he said.

The story and the idea and the thinking right now in Beirut, in the Lebanese capital, for a lot of Americans is get out and get out today. The evacuations expected to step up quite a bit today. Our Alessio Vinci is live in Beirut and joins us with more.

Alessio, hello.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

I'm standing right here at the Port of Beirut where over the last hour The Orient Queen, the cruise ship organized by the U.S. government, left with about 1,000 Americans onboard, on its way to Cyprus where they will be take to safety. That ship carrying families with small children, babies, elderly. All the people, or at least the first 1,000 people, who wanted to leave from Beirut. We understand that more ships are coming this way and so they will be able to evacuate the estimated 5,000 to 8,000 Americans that are wanting to leave -- that want to leave this country.

Onboard that ship, an incredible atmosphere. It was just as if a piece of America had just docked here in Beirut. There was a large buffet ready with cokes and burgers. Obviously the people very happy to get a piece of it onboard. We saw small children playing on computer games, people checking their e-mails. There was really an atmosphere of being already back home for the families there.

One American family that was stuck here since the very beginning, they were at the international airport when it was bombed last week and they were stuck here for the whole week and obviously now they were quite happy to be able to board that ship. Interesting enough, the wife of the American was a Lebanese who was to leave this country during the civil war on a container ship and this time around she said at least I'm going out in luxury. Indeed it is a beautiful boat. There was a pool. A lot of kids playing in that pool, determined to enjoy the vacation that for most of them was so abruptly interrupted.

The U.S. ambassador here to Beirut told me indeed that there will be more ship coming. That everybody, every American who wants to leave from this country will be able to leave at approximately by the end of this week.

And, Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Alessio, also the mood lightened a bit yesterday when we talked to you. You were on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy there in Lebanon. And there was much controversy about the fee or the promissary note that Americans were being asked to sign. Tell us an update on that situation.

VINCI: I understand now that thanks to the intervention of the U.S. state secretary, Condoleezza Rice, now the people who actually are leaving from Beirut will not have to pay the U.S. Government back. I think there was a lot pressure here, especially because the vast majority of people who are leaving Beirut, of other nationalities, the French, the Italians, the German, they do not have to pay back their government. And I think given such a stark contrast, also with the fact that they have already left several days ago. So I think that the U.S. government felt that they had to do something more for their own people. So, therefore, they decided to lift, at least this time around, the need to bill back the people who want to leave from here.

KAGAN: Alessio Vinci live from Beirut, Lebanon, thank you.

So that ship, The Orient Queen, goes from Beirut, heads west to Cyprus. Let's take a closer look now at the island nation of Cyprus where those evacuees are finding a safe haven. It's in the Mediterranean Sea, about 150 miles from Beirut. By air, it's less than a half hour from the war zone and it's a few hours away by boat. The island has often been a haven during Middle East conflicts. Cyprus took in many Lebanese who fled their homeland during years of civil war in Lebanon. But Cyprus, too, is a land divided. More than a third of the island is occupied by Turkey.

Now to our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour. He is on the phone now from northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon.

Christiane, the latest?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we spent a couple of hours, quite a lot of time, up by the Israel/Lebanon border where the fiercest clashes have been taking place since this operation began. There has been a fierce clash between the Israeli forces pitting their heavy armor and tanks against the Hezbollah rockets and mortars. And there have been some Israeli casualties. We did see some wounded being loaded on to stretchers and taken away by ambulance.

And we have also seen that far from silencing the Hezbollah military capability, it still continues. In fact, this was one of the heaviest barrages of Hezbollah rockets to have fallen in northern Israel and elsewhere. For instance, Haifa as well today.

As we were in that area, as we were driving up and back, we saw the hillside around this town of Avivim (ph), on the border, which is the scene of the current clashes. But around there, the hillside's peppered with the result of the impact of these Katyusha rockets. Flame, smoke really all around and the air raid sirens wailing.

So it's still quite intense. There's a huge amount of activity. And this is continuing with no letup in sight here.

KAGAN: And what about the people that live in that area, Christiane?

AMANPOUR: Well, from what we can tell, obviously we didn't see any. I mean the places that we drove through are deserted. The shops and everything are really closed up. And what we've been told is that many, many have left already. Have just left and headed south over the last several days. There may be a few people still left and they will be in their bunkers. But for the most part, it's almost a ghost area. The whole hillside is pretty much moving only with military and journalists.

KAGAN: And, Christiane, we just ran a Nic Robertson report where he went with members of Hezbollah around areas that have been bombed by Israelis and showed a number of civilian targets. Do the Israelis believe -- are they targeting those areas because they believe that Hezbollah has infiltrated and has hidden among civilian areas?

AMANPOUR: Well, you know, hard to know precisely because I'm not on the Lebanese side, but clearly that is the position from the Israeli side. In all their statements, in all the time they're asked about these heavy casualties. And, you know, according to the figures from both sides, the casualties are about ten to one on the Lebanese side. There's something about more than 280 casualties on the Lebanese side and about 28 on this side.

The Israelis say that Hezbollah is, obvious, as we know, not a conventional military force. That it does enjoy the security of the population in which it lives. Most of that is in southern Beirut and also in southern Lebanon. And from what we are told, and certainly I can't see from here what the full impact is, but what we're told is that that is what they're doing and they're going after them wherever they might be. They insist on this side that they're trying to minimize civilian casualties, but the numbers speak for themselves and they are quite heavy.

We've spoken to a commander up here on the northern Israeli side, the actual battle commander for the operations up here, who we asked about this very point and said that, look, he feels very sorry for the Lebanese people, but he always brings it back to the fact that they have to secure the safety of the Israeli people on this side of the border. So it's that sort of situation, Daryn.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour on the phone with us from northern Israel. Christiane, thank you. A couple's dream for a family on hold for now because of this Mideast crisis. What's keeping an American woman and her newly adopted son from coming home? Their story is coming up. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very disorganized. We got on the boat around 4:30 in Beirut and an extremely long time we were sleeping on the deck all night in wet conditions and no food. So could have gone better.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We are at the quarter hour. Let's take a look at what we know right now.

A mass exodus in Lebanon as more evacuees flee the fighting. Hundreds of American have been moved to safety, while thousands more who plan to get out watch and wait. A

long both sides of the Israeli/Lebanese border and in Gaza, more attacks and counterattacks today. And Israel says some of it's troops are on the ground in southern Lebanon in a limited operation against Hezbollah.

An American couple dreamed of starting a family by adopting a Lebanese child. Well, that's all on hold now because of this escalating Mideast crisis. For now the child does not have permission to leave the country. It's an agonizing story as told by Kevin Flynn from our affiliate WMUR.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN FLYNN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Scot Gabriel of Salem checks the latest evacuation advisories for U.S. citizens in Lebanon. His wife, Lora (ph), has spent the past few weeks overseas completing the adoption of their first son, Logan.

SCOT GABRIEL, WIFE, ADOPTED SON IN BEIRUT: It's got great black eyes. Big, black eyes. Lots of black curly hair. He's got a smile that will melt your heart.

FLYNN: His wife's father and mother-in-law were waiting on a Lebanese passport for Logan when fighting broke out. And while American citizens are being urged to leave, the Gabriel's child cannot. So the family leads a perilous existence, watching buildings explode around them, all in a futile search for paperwork from a government forced underground by war.

GABRIEL: We need just a few more signatures from them for Logan to be able to come to the United States and we can't get them. My wife and my father have been braving the streets of Beirut, dodging bombs in an attempt to get to the Lebanese government.

FLYNN: Family and friends have been working around the clock, appealing to government and humanitarian agencies. The offices of Senator Sunu (ph) and Greg (ph) say they're working to help the family find safe passage. They are encouraged, but so far there are no guarantees the mother and child will be allowed to leave together.

GABRIEL: Either my baby would need to be left alone in Lebanon without someone to protect him and the choice that my wife would have to make at that boat or on that plane when it's time to evacuate of whether or not to leave him there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: It's a heart-wrenching situation. We'll continue to follow that story from our affiliate WMUR. Thank you.

Actually, we're just getting some good news. We're getting word that the family has received the adoption papers. So -- and actually we're hearing that from Senator Kennedy's (ph) office. So that would be a very happy -- not to say ending, but an update on that family as it tries to make its way back here to the U.S. with their new son.

Let's go to our Carol Lin who's standing by.

Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, just within the last hour, our CNN international desk has a confirmation that there has been a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Nazareth. The holy city of Nazareth. This is the farthest south that an attack rocket has been able to reach. Confirmed two civilians killed. This makes 27 Israelis total who have died in this conflict. Fifteen of those civilians.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Carol, thank you for that. Well, on a different note, we're finding one of the effects of this international story is what it's doing to oil prices and then gas prices, what you're paying to fill up your car at home. What are some of the myths about saving gas and saving gas mileage? Gerri Willis has been taking a look at that.

Gerri.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Daryn, good to see you.

Now when it comes to gas prices, there's information and there's misinformation. "Five Tips" goes myth busting. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's go ahead and check the market. The Fed chairman, Ben Bernanke, speaking today before the Senate Banking Committee and apparently investors like what they hear. The Dow up significantly, although not as high as it was just a few minutes ago. It is up 91 points. The Nasdaq is up as well. It is up 23 points.

Let's get back to the Mideast region and a recent attacks. Go live to Jerusalem and Fionnuala Sweeney with the latest from there.

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, within the last few minutes the Israeli military has confirmed that two people have been killed in a rocket attack on Nazareth. It's not as far south as rockets have gone -- that have been fired from southern Lebanon. There were some rockets fired at Nazareth and another town south of it, Afula, on Sunday night. But it is an indication that despite the hammering the Israeli military is giving Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, that they are still capable of firing rockets well into Israel. So two people dead as a result of a direct hit, we are being told, in Nazareth within the last few minutes.

Daryn.

KAGAN: Fionnuala Sweeney live from Jerusalem, thank you.

Let's go to Syria now. Our Aneesh Raman is in the capital there of Damascus and he's with us by phone.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

I've just talked with the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. It is a scene of utter chaos. Log jams of cars trying to come through. There are thousands of people pouring in.

I am just now on a bus with a family of 11 who have escaped from Lebanon making what they say was a treacherous journey out of the capital. And they have just described scenes of horror. Bodies that were in half. Children that were killed. Food trucks that they say were bombed. Nothing with missiles. People that are trapped under the rubble. Simply no infrastructure on the ground in certain areas to help those that are trapped in these situations.

The family of 11 has with them the equivalent of 50 cents in the U.S. That is all they have and probably three bags of belongings. They have come to Syria. They have no idea where they will be sleeping tonight, but they are as well praising the Syrian president, praising Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah as the only people that are aware of what is happening.

I asked them if they see him as an essential part of the problem. His rockets. But they said that this is a longer struggle and that the world now is turning a blind eye to the humanitarian situation that is happening in Lebanon. It is just a recurrent story that we are hearing along the border as people flee the violence. The destruction and the devastation within Lebanon is just beginning to be understood by the world, Daryn.

KAGAN: Aneesh, do you have a way to tell. Are most of the people who are trying to go from Lebanon into Syria, are they Lebanese?

RAMAN: Well, about 109,000, roughly about that, of the people that have crossed, we're told, are Lebanese. That's of hundreds of thousands. Perhaps 400,000 to 500,000 people that have come across. The majority are poor Syrian workers who are in Lebanon trying to make money. They have little money with them. A lot of them walked hours- long journeys from inside Lebanon to the Syrian border.

Also ex-patriot Arabs, Kuwaitis, Saudis, people that were trapped in there. For many, this border crossing is the only way out because of the naval blockade, because of the airport being hit. So you found diplomats, tourists, and everything in between that have been coming across. But the Lebanese you speak to are just detailing graphic scenes of horror that they say the world is just not aware of yet.

Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Aneesh Raman live along the Lebanese/Syrian border. Thank you.

And we'll have much more ahead, both from Syria, from Lebanon and Israel. That's just ahead. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at what we know right now.

A chartered cruise ship is now ferrying about 800 U.S. and British civilians out of Beirut in the heart of the conflict. Several more ships and at least one helicopter are due to ratchet up the evacuation of Americans.

A plume of smoke rises from the area surrounding Beirut's International Airport. Israeli war planes have also pounded targets in nearby suburbs.

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