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American Morning

Crisis in the Middle East

Aired July 24, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A step toward diplomacy. Right now, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is making her way to the Middle East. And another round of fierce fighting as the Israeli military moves deeper into southern Lebanon.
Good morning. Welcome back, everybody, and welcome to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Soledad O'Brien back in New York today.

Good morning, -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Soledad, live from Haifa, Israel, much quieter day here today after a very busy day of rockets raining down in the city. More on that in just a little bit.

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks. We'll get to you in just a moment.

First, the latest in the Middle East crisis, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive in the region this morning. Arab media is reporting that the secretary is expected to stop in Beirut. No confirmation, though, of that from the prime minister or the embassy. She is expected to visit Israel and the West Bank to speak with leaders on both sides of the conflict.

Israeli ground troops are making another push into southern Lebanon. They have surrounded what's believed to be a Hezbollah stronghold. Israeli military officials say they have captured two Hezbollah guerrillas.

Two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah are safe and in good health. That is according to Lebanon's foreign minister. Unclear, though, whether he has seen the soldiers or just repeating what he's been told. They were captured, you'll recall, nearly two weeks ago.

In Gaza overnight, Israel launched an air strike on the house of a Hamas activist. Israel says it was a warehouse for rockets and weapons. Meanwhile, Palestinian militants fired five rockets at Israel, despite reports of a cease-fire.

And doctors say that former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is taking a turn for the worse. Former aides say, though, his life is not in immediate danger. Sharon has been in a coma since he suffered that massive stroke back in January. Let's get right back to Miles. As we said, he's in Haifa this morning.

Good morning to you, -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning to you, Soledad.

The war being waged on two fronts today, heavy fighting reported in southern Lebanon and a diplomatic mission, a high-stakes diplomatic mission.

Before we get to that, let's set the scene for you, tell me -- tell you where we are. We're in Haifa, Israel. This is the third largest city in Israel, a port city of 300,000, a beautiful place. We're high on the bluffs overlooking it, the Dam Panorama Hotel (ph).

Yesterday, Israeli defense forces, the air force, took out some rocket launching tubes in Tyre, Lebanon, which, as you can see as the crow flies, is a short rocket firing from Tyre to Haifa. And it has apparently worked, because today we haven't had a single air raid siren.

There were no less than 9 sirens that wailed yesterday and no less than 14 missiles, many of them Katyusha, that rained down in this city. Two people were killed, dozens of others injured. It was Sunday, the beginning of the work week here in Israel, people were trying to get back to normal. And instead, what they saw was bloodshed and a very, very difficult day for this city indeed.

This morning, we took a walk down in the city in an Arab section of this city. This is a city that prides itself of -- with Arabs and Muslims and Christians and Jews living side by side. And in that Arab neighborhood, there is a lot of anger about what is going on right now, also not many people on the streets. This city clearly in fear right now, even though today, thus far, it has been a very quiet day. Perhaps once that sets in, the city will get back to normal.

And perhaps the Israeli invasion/incursion into southern Lebanon has a lot to do with what we're seeing. We're told there's heavy fighting right now in the town of Bint Jubail, which is a Hezbollah stronghold. This comes in the wake of the Israelis capturing Maroun al-Ras, a hilltop city just across the border into Lebanon, said to be a Hezbollah stronghold. We're told as many as nine Israeli soldiers might be injured in some fierce fighting today as they continue that incursion.

As they push back, it reduces the possibility of those rockets firing into northern Israel. Perhaps that is why, along with the strike in Tyre, we are seeing a quiet day so far here in Haifa.

CNN's Anthony Mills joining us now from Beirut. There are reports in the Arab media today that Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, might possibly be making a surprise visit to the capital city of Lebanon.

Anthony, what do we know about that? ANTHONY MILLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well we don't know much. That's right, Arab media outlets are reporting that she may make a surprise visit to Lebanon, but there's been no official confirmation of that, and certainly no indication of when exactly she's going to arrive, if she does.

It should be noted as well that many Lebanese are skeptical as to what exactly her visit is going to achieve in terms of putting this conflict, and certainly the bombardment of Lebanon, to an immediate end -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, Anthony, if she were to go there, who would she meet with?

MILLS: Well she certainly wouldn't be meeting with Hezbollah, one would imagine. She'd no doubt meet with the Prime Minister of this country, Fouad Siniora, whom the Americans are trying not to weaken. So she would meet with him, no doubt, probably others of his close associates, and in that way seek to, nonetheless, bolster the government in the face of its incapacity in dealing with Hezbollah -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: At this juncture, though, the government in Beirut has shown little capability of reining in Hezbollah. So I guess the question many observers might ask is what good would come out of talks with the president of Lebanon right now?

MILLS: Well that is indeed the question. The government is effectively unable to take on Hezbollah. And if the message that Secretary of State Rice is going to be bringing here is take on Hezbollah, if she's going to be saying to the government, look, you absolutely have to send your army in against Hezbollah, then it's difficult to see how that is going to happen.

Because Hezbollah is, as we know, a very well armed group. It has wide populous support. And the Lebanese army itself contains many Shiite Muslims. Hezbollah of course a radical Shiite Muslim party. And it's perfectly conceivable that if the Lebanese army were sent in to take on Hezbollah that we could see civil war here.

M. O'BRIEN: On that ominous note, we'll leave Anthony Mills in Beirut. We'll be back with you in just a little bit.

And back now to that diplomatic mission and Condoleezza Rice and her efforts here in the region. Whether she goes to Beirut or not, we do know for sure she will be in Jerusalem pretty shortly. She will meet with the Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, and she will also meet with the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in an effort to ratchet up U.S. diplomacy in this region, trying to leverage U.S. influence to try to come up with a way to seek a solution to this war now in its 13th day.

Joining us live now from Jerusalem with more on this high-stakes diplomatic mission, CNN's Paula Hancocks -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles. Well Condoleezza Rice has consistently said over the past few days that a cease-fire is urgent. But she's also said that if the conditions aren't right, then you cannot force one. She doesn't want a quick fix. She doesn't want to paper over the cracks of the problem at the moment and then be back in the same situation in five, six, nine month's time.

This is what she's been saying. She wants to make sure that the conditions are right and that Hezbollah is not going to be on that southern Lebanon-northern Israeli border continuing to launch rockets into Israel.

Now there has been some speculation in the Israeli media as to whether or not she will push for a cease-fire this week or when she returns possibly in a week's time. Certainly many of the Israeli military sources assume they have another week to keep pounding Lebanon and to keep pounding those Hezbollah targets.

So there's some people that are critical, saying this point, this time around maybe she won't be able to do too much, this is just laying the groundwork.

And certainly one Syrian minister that we spoke to said that they had held out little hope that she would be able to push the diplomatic process forward at all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOUTHANA SHAABAN, SYRIAN EXP. MIN.: Not very much at all. And I will give you a simple reason, because poor Arab people, poor Muslim people, the key players in the region now are Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. For Condoleezza Rice, the key players are different people, and I think she is not going to get anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: And two more things she is likely to be talking to Olmert about, humanitarian aid, getting aid into the Lebanese -- to the Lebanese people that need it, and also this international security force that has been bandied about. Israeli officials now suggesting they would welcome an international force on the southern Lebanon border to make sure that Hezbollah cannot get close enough to launch rockets into Israel -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: She's also going to meet with Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinians. What is the thinking on that? Does he hold enough sway over Hamas in order to affect anything in that -- on that front of the war?

HANCOCKS: Well it has been proven over the past couple of months that he has little hold, if any, over Hamas itself. He's actually part of the rival party, Fatah.

Now of course Condoleezza Rice would not talk to the Palestinian Authority itself, which is Hamas run, which has been boycotted politically, economically by the United States and by the West. But President Mahmoud Abbas is still onside. He is still one. He is one that the U.S. and the West still talk to. He is more moderate.

But the fact is he does have little sway on the ground in Gaza. That's where the problems are at the moment and that's where the Israeli military forces are still in and still carrying out operations.

Of course they are still carrying out operations on two fronts, Gaza, one that has been overlooked somewhat recently since the escalation in violence. But she will be talking to Abbas. They have a good relationship. But whether or not he can make any difference on the ground in Gaza is doubtful -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. And just a quick word, Paula, on Ariel Sharon's condition, stricken by a stroke in January. We're told his condition has worsened. How is he today?

HANCOCKS: That's right. Doctors still saying he has deteriorated. He had deteriorated over the past few days. He has problems with his kidney function. Also his brain tissue has changed somewhat. So he is under observation at the moment.

But of course he had many brain operations when he had that first major stroke on January the 4th and slipped into the coma. None of those did any good. So the prognosis at this point is not that he will recover in any way, but doctors are worried that he has got dramatically worse -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Hancocks in Jerusalem, thank you very much.

As we said, the action right now, the military focus for the Israeli defense forces is in a little town by the name of Bint Jubail. That is just to the west of the town we've been telling you a little bit about in that region, Maroun al-Ras, which is a hilltop town which Israeli defense forces have already captured, saying it is a Hezbollah stronghold. This additional town, they say, also is a focus of Hezbollah activity.

We're told there is fierce fighting under way, even as we speak. Reports of as many as nine Israeli soldiers wounded, no indications of casualties on the other side. And we have reports also that some Hezbollah fighters might in fact have been captured.

Let's get more from a little closer to the border with Lebanon. Paula Newton is there -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And hello, Miles.

We are, right now, hearing a lot of outgoing artillery, most of it is landing just to the north of Maroun al-Ras. On the other side of that hilltop town behind me, and I'm sure you can see the smoke, is Bint Jubail, just as you were saying.

That is a Lebanese town where the Israeli army believes Hezbollah is hunkered down right now. They have always called it Hezbollah's terror capital and that's why it is just such a high-value target for the Israeli army right now. And the problem, Miles, is there is fierce fighting going on behind me, and you can tell just from all the outgoing artillery, the helicopters in the air.

Earlier this morning, we were at a hospital receiving casualties. We were told at least one soldier is critically wounded. But when I was on the phone with the army, they did tell me that they continue to get reports of injuries from that battle going on behind me.

As the entire diplomatic effort, Miles, seems to gain momentum, you do get the sense that the forward forces here on the ground have a job to do and they want to complete it before any cease-fire. That job, Miles, would be going into Bint Jubail, which Hezbollah is not going to give up easily, and getting to those cache of weapons that the Israeli army is sure they have there -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Paula Newton along the border of Lebanon and Israel with word of fierce fighting in Bint Jubail.

Whether it is in fact that push into southern Lebanon or those air strikes in Tyre and Sidon, the fact is today, Soledad, here in Haifa, they have so far had a quiet day after a day where the air raid sirens just kept on blaring.

Back to you in New York.

S. O'BRIEN: A little bit of good news there.

All right, Miles, thanks.

Time to take a check of the weather here in this country.

Hey, Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. We'll try to do this real quickly because I know you have a lot of news out there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it means it's hot.

MYERS: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, rockets raining down on Israel. A last-minute decision gets one woman out of the wrong place right at the right time. We'll tell you her story.

And here in America, people in more than one big city kind of living in the dark ages. Eight days in the sweltering city, no power. We'll update you on what's happening in Queens all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Yesterday was the beginning of the work week here in Israel, and a lot of people came back to their homes here in Haifa with the expectation that the rockets would have ceased. But that's not at all what happened.

As a matter of fact, the air raid sirens here blasted no less than nine times. In many cases, we had to stop and run for cover as we were going about our business. No less than 14 missiles, many of them presumed to be Katyusha rockets, landed on this city, killing two people, injuring dozens of others. Taken together, there were upwards of 95 rocket firings into northern Israel yesterday.

But today it is a different story. The Israelis report they went after a rocket -- a suspected rocket launching site by Hezbollah in the city of Tyre in Lebanon, also an air strike in Sidon. Meanwhile, that push into southern Lebanon continues, we just told you about. For whatever reasons, the rockets are nearly silent today.

We have reports of two rockets landing harmlessly in Kireachmona (ph), the northeastern section of Israel. Yesterday, after one of those bombings, after one of those missiles flew, we went to one of the scenes and had a sense of what it is like to be a target.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): The siren call comes all too frequently here in Haifa before and after the missiles fall from the sky packed with thousands of ball bearings, shrapnel that pots the walls and fires through wood like shotgun pellets. In an instant, a quiet hillside perch with a sweeping view of a lovely seaside city becomes the very picture of terror.

(on camera): This is what happens when one of these missiles hit. This is somebody's deck, reinforced concrete floors, it's got some rebar in it, didn't make much of a difference. Look at the size of that hole. And look at the damage it caused right around us here. Fortunately, no one was home here.

And next door, even though somebody was on the deck, when they heard the sirens blaring, they quickly took cover. It's a good thing they did.

RIVKA LANGZALMANOV, HAIFA RESIDENT: My husband was up when the alarm started. He come and told me come to the safety room. I said never mind, it's OK. He say, no, you come now to the safety room, come. And after 10 seconds, boom.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Rivka Langzalmanov admits she was getting complacent given the constant calls to seek shelter.

LANGZALMANOV: You hear the alarm, you rush around, you have to wait one minute and then you can go out. After a few days, you just skip. OK, I don't go to the safety room. Never mind, I stay and look at my TV.

M. O'BRIEN: She is doubly lucky to be alive. And yet sitting amid the wreckage of her home, she showed us no signs she is rattled.

LANGZALMANOV: I feel now really strong. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel inside that I have power to go through this.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): Now we're one floor below and you can see the hole I just showed you a moment ago. And you can also tell from here which way the missile came in. It kind of flew in like this and made yet another hole here and then caused a tremendous amount of damage on the floor below. This house pretty well totaled as well. Fortunately, no one was home here either.

SHAUL FELDMAN, MAIL CARRIER: It's not lucky to.

M. O'BRIEN: Are you angry or sad?

FELDMAN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Shaul Feldman's family is in Tel Aviv and he was at work delivering the mail when Hezbollah sent him this deadly message. He is a pacifist, marched in an anti-war rally in Tel Aviv the other day, and even this did not convert him to a hawk (ph).

(on camera): What should Israel do about this?

FELDMAN: To start to speak with the enemy.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

FELDMAN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Not shoot at the enemies, speak?

FELDMAN: No, no, no.

M. O'BRIEN: Really?

FELDMAN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: Why not?

FELDMAN: Because it's not -- it's our process that they -- we cannot find the final of the process. This a permanent war. Also we -- if we speak, really speak, we can finish this.

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): His brother-in-law, Shmuel Gur, begs to differ. He sees all the damage here in the context of a global war. He looks beyond the hills and Hezbollah to Syria and Iran.

SHMUEL GUR, SUPPORTS ISRAELI DEFENSIVE: And another 5 or 10 years, remember me, we will get much more than this from Iran.

M. O'BRIEN (on camera): You think?

GUR: I am sure, not think, I am sure.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. GUR: Five or 10 years.

M. O'BRIEN: So what should be done now?

GUR: All the world must done. We cannot do alone everything. All the world. All the world must do, because first Israel and then they will go more. I don't know where. Maybe Europe and then USA and I don't know. But Iran, they must stop them. And what will happen if they have atomic weapon, only God, if there is God.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Putting it all in that global perspective.

And now the U.S. entering into the diplomacy in this region in a big way. We have just learned, CNN has confirmed, that Condoleezza Rice is in fact headed to Beirut on this afternoon in the Middle East, this morning in the United States, and will meet with the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and begin negotiations there, as opposed to coming to Jerusalem first. So the shuttle diplomacy begins on this the day 13 of this conflict in the Middle East -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles, thanks. We'll be back to you in just a little bit.

Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, a look inside a bomb shelter. Northern Israelis learn to live underground while day after day those rockets are falling from above. We'll take a look at what it's like to be underground. That's just ahead. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Breaking news to get to you. Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, has arrived in Beirut 13 days into the crisis in the Middle East. She has arrived to begin her shuttle diplomacy.

It begins in Beirut with the meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. No comment, though, this morning from the U.S. Embassy or Siniora's office. And of course she's going to continue with discussions with the Israelis. And then off to Rome for an international conference as well. So the shuttle diplomacy begins today as the secretary of state arrives in Beirut.

Other stories making news in America this morning, an Amber Alert to tell you about, it's been issued in Utah for a missing 5-year-old girl. Volunteers have been out searching for little Destiny Norton. Police say a witness saw a girl matching her description riding in a black pickup truck with a man. The little girl has been missing for a week now.

Police are investigating a series of sniper shootings along two major highways in Indiana. One person was killed, another injured when a sniper shot at two pickup trucks in the southern part of the state. Two other shootings took place northeast of Indianapolis. Nobody hurt. Police don't know if the shootings are related. A man suspected of carjacking an 18-wheeler and then leading police on a three-hour chase through the Dallas area due in court this morning. Samuel Scott Jones (ph) surrendered to police yesterday after they were able to disable the truck with gunfire. Jones is also suspected of hijacking two cars at gunpoint.

Heat and power problems plaguing several major cities today. The lights will be coming back on in St. Louis after last week's violent storms, about a quarter of a million homes and businesses still without power though. Temperatures are expected to be back in the 90s this week. Meanwhile, President Bush has approved Missouri's request for federal help.

At least 6,000 customers in New York City are entering their second week without any electricity and there is no word on when that's going to change. Twenty-six thousand ConEdison customers lost power during last week's heat wave. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is holding a 10:00 a.m. news conference. He's going to discuss the situation.

And a blistering heat wave in California now being blamed for at least four deaths, including one nursing home patient. Another patient is now in critical condition. More than 100 residents were evacuated from the Stockton facility yesterday. The air conditioning failed. Police say they're looking into possible criminal charges in that death.

Let's get right to Chad Myers at the CNN Center. He's got the forecast for us.

Chad, that is brutal those temperatures across the country.

MYERS: It is. It has been.

Palm Springs was 115 yesterday, tying a record. I mean all the way through L.A., a place where usually you think they've got a marine layer, they've got a nice wind coming in, downtown L.A. was 98. But you get up toward Burbank, over the weekend it was up to 112 on some of the banks there in Burbank. So, yes, it has been very hot in the west.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad, thanks for the update. Appreciate it.

Got some breaking news we need to get to this morning. An Israeli helicopter has crashed near the border with Lebanon on the Israeli side of the border. Three soldiers apparently injured. That word coming from Al-Arabiya television. Al Jazeera television is saying that the helicopter was carrying some soldiers who were wounded in fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in the southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras.

Paula Newton, who -- our correspondent who has been covering this situation from that location right on the border for weeks now is heading there to update us on the very latest from that scene. But we're getting word an Israeli helicopter has crashed right near the border with Lebanon on the Israeli side.

We've got to take a short break. We're going to continue to update you on what's happening in the Middle East this morning as we continue on this special split edition of AMERICAN MORNING. Short break, we're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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