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Quest Means Business

Israeli Official: Nasrallah Was Target Of Beirut Strikes. Aired 5- 5:23p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): Building collapsed, and therefore we know about Iranian transfers of

weapons into Lebanon. And Air Force is attacking right now in the -- in the area of the Beirut airport. So far we -- so far, the -- the civilian

airport was not used for weaponry transfer from Iran. We are informing that this is an airport in the road for civilian use, and we're not going to

allow any transfer of weaponries through this airport.

We are in constant touch with the United States. And I'm IDF spokesman. You have to talk to the -- to the political national. We are ready attack wise

and defense wise, and we are in control of our systems. Soon, we have plans for whatever is needed when it's needed, attacking and in defense, in order

to defense -- in order to defend the citizens of Israel.

Right now I'm in -- I'm talking about the attack. I'm going to -- I'm going to include the public whenever the -- whenever the attack is over, and

we're going to summarize it. IDF's plans regarding -- regarding assignment in -- in the north regarding the reserves that are being run on mobilized.

I'll come back, and I'm going to update you shortly during tonight. Good night.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Well, good night, sir.

And there we are. Well, yes, he didn't he ride around did he? We have Nic Robertson, we learned quite a lot, in a sort of way. Still awaiting more

information on Nasrallah's whereabouts and whether he's still alive, promising to keep us informed. Interesting, obviously and obvious, perhaps

in constant contact with the United States. This reference that you talked about earlier, that -- that Israel is ready for attack and defense, but

that attack at the moment, is what it's all about, reserves being mobilized, and is going to keep us informed all night.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, we know the reserves have been mobilized there for about the last 36 hours or so. And

the IDF released video of them going through training exercises quite, quite some number of hours ago and getting their equipment handed out so

they've been very visible on that front.

I -- I was taken by a couple of things that I think I understood from the translation we had of the IDF spokesman there talk about Beirut airport and

only making sure that can only be used for civilian use, not to bring in weapons from Iran that clearly seemed to be a warning about the airport,

that Israel is clearly watching developments there, and what sort of planes fly in and what sort of planes fly out.

And I think again, we heard from him the warning there to the civilians that you may be sleeping close to Hezbollah leaders, and that they will

continue with this information. Look part of what the IDF is trying to do, probably at this stage, not particularly successfully, is -- is inform the

Lebanese people that -- that Israel is not targeting them, the Lebanese people. Israel is targeting Hezbollah, trying to make that distinction.

The success rate on that messaging is probably not very high, but that is part of what they're trying to do here it seems.

QUEST: Nick say you've got more work to do later, but stay with you for the moment. Fareed is with me. Fareed Zakaria, host of Fareed Zakaria GPS. As

you look Fareed at what is happening tonight, give us a -- give us an overview and assessment.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: I think what you're wit -- witnessing here is a very carefully thought through Israeli strategy.

Israel was surprised on October 7th. They were not expecting the terrorist attack from Hamas. They were not expecting to be dragged into the -- the --

in the complicated ground operation that they have in Gaza.

[17:05:03]

And all of that, I think, has caused a lot of consternation within the Israeli establishment and military. This was one they have been planning

for, for a long time. Israel has been thinking to itself, how do we defang Hezbollah? And unlike Gaza, what Israel likes to do is, you know, short

wars, lightning strikes and on somebody else's territory.

And so what they have planned here is a series of strikes devastating, remember, they began with that wave of cell phone and then -- and then

pager explosions that cut off communications, then the attack on the commanders, now the attack on the full scale leadership. So I think this is

actually exactly what Israel has been planning for a long time.

Why it happened now is not entirely clear. Some of it appears to be that they had the opportunity when they decided to use the cell phones and ex --

and explode them. But what you're seeing is -- is a full blown Israeli strategy to once and for all take care from their point of view of the

problem of Hezbollah, which has been raining rockets down so that part of Northern Israel is uninhabitable for the Israeli people, about 60 to 70,000

people.

QUEST: All right.

ZAKARIA: This is Israel's solution as it were.

QUEST: How -- how much restraint do you think Iran is going to show? You know, they -- they'll make this. I mean, look, they -- they've said tonight

it's changed the rules, basically. Well, that's all they have said. They've said they've changed the rules. But they've said that before. They've said

before that they will punish Israel. And we've not seen, if you will, commensurate punishment to the losses that have been inflicted. Is this the

one where they really go for it?

ZAKARIA: I don't think so. I -- I -- I talked to the president of Iran. We have the interview on my -- my show on Sunday. It's the first interview

he's given to a Western media outlet. And he sounded, now this was before the -- the attack, but he sounded restrained. And he made the point that,

look, Hezbollah does not have the kind of weaponry to counter Israel's strikes. It is a, you know, Israel is much more powerful. I was surprised

that the president of Iran would admit that. And in by implication, he -- he was even sort of saying it about Iran itself. The Iranian strategy, I

think, is different.

And in its own way, it's effective, which is to keep the pressure on Israel from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from the Houthis increasingly, a little bit

from Iraqi militias. By -- and what -- and what that does is, it diverts shipping from the Persian Gulf. It makes it so that very few airlines are

flying into Jerusalem anymore. You know, it used to be something like 62. And I saw a report that, you know, that said, you're down to one, El Al.

So, in other words, you make it difficult for Israel to have business as usual.

The businesses can't work. The travel and tourism industry doesn't work. Israel's reservists normally take two months, are -- are now out, you know,

for a year in the army. So it's a kind of slow grinding, you know, keep the temperature high. But they don't have the capacity either to really strike

back. And that's why you correctly point out they've said it many times, Richard, but they have actually rarely delivered, because they know that

the Israelis would be able to punch, counterpunch much harder.

QUEST: So, I think we're beyond the days, we're on -- we're beyond the times now, Fareed, of -- of sort of nicey-nicey language here. If we put it

in terms of the United States, first of all, the administration is looking increasingly impotent to actually get Netanyahu to do more than listen to

him, or certainly not do anything about what they would like. And secondly, five and a half weeks before an election, neither candidate wants to, what

can we say, you know, drop something that's going to electorally backfire on them.

ZAKARIA: Entirely correct. The -- the Biden administration is looking impotent because it is sort of, you know, the Israelis have decided they're

going to do this. This is their moment. This is -- they -- this is their opportunity. And they're pushing forward. This is a case where I don't

think this is just Bibi Netanyahu. I think there are many people in the -- at senior levels in the IDF, in the intelligence apparatus, who believe

that this is the -- the way you deal with Hezbollah. I think it has wide public support.

So, Bibi can do it with full knowledge. He has a lot of backing for it. And the Biden people can't do much, because the -- the Israelis are going to do

it no matter what. And, as you say, the only weapon they have is they could withhold military aid, which they're not going to do, because Israel has

strong support in -- in -- in the United States, particularly among Republicans.

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Now Trump, I think, looks at this with -- with glee, because it makes the Biden administration look impotent. It makes them squirm. It makes the --

the Democrats are caught between two camps within their party, and as the outsider, you know, he can always criticize. So I think net-net, this is

good for Trump.

QUEST: Fareed, I need to let you go. I'm grateful for your time tonight. We'll -- we'll talk more about it in the days and weeks ahead. Thank you,

sir. Thank you very much.

Let's take a short break while we pause, regroup, and when I come back, I'll bring you up to date with what we know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: The breaking news. An Israeli official now says the leader of Hezbollah was the target of a massive airstrike in Beirut. And other

intelligence says that the Israelis have high confidence that Nasrallah was in the buildings that were then destroyed by the Israeli forces attacking

the Lebanese capital. According to the IDF, it was a precision strike on Hezbollah's headquarters.

Now, the whereabouts and how -- what -- what happened to Nasrallah, we simply don't know. The spokesman for Israel's IDF has said, told us a

moment or two ago, that they're awaiting further information and they hope to have more precise details in a while. U.S. and Israeli officials say

Washington was largely kept in the dark until the operation was underway.

The Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been speaking. He hit on familiar talking points and frankly didn't say much else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: What I will say is that you've heard me say a number of times that an all-out war should be avoided. Diplomacy

continues to be the best way forward and it's the fastest way to let displaced Israeli and Lebanese citizens return to their homes on both sides

of the border.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Oren Liebermann is with me. Well, give -- give me your assessment as -- at this hour. We have a massive attack. We have the -- the United States

not being informed until it's un -- it's underway. And we have no knowledge on the -- what -- what happened to Nasrallah.

[17:15:07]

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Clearly some frustration and I think you can hear it there a bit from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. He

certainly doesn't reveal much. That's very much his nature. But again, a level of frustration that the U.S. was told moments before that -- that

Israel was carrying out a -- a strike or a major operation in Lebanon while the planes were effectively already in the air.

So no -- no real point in trying to consult there or talk through things. Israel's strike was already well underway. And it's worth pointing out this

is the second time in -- in days this has happened. It was exactly 10 days ago that Austin was on the phone with his Israeli counterpart and got a

heads up that an Israeli operation would take place in Lebanon.

Well, it's not a very useful piece of information because of the range of Israeli operations we've seen in Lebanon. And then U.S. officials only

learned that it was exploding pagers when they saw those reports emerging from Lebanon. So this is now at least twice over the course of -- of a week

and a half and you can sense the frustration on the U.S. side.

On top of that, the U.S. has been pushing for a ceasefire, thought they had the Israelis on board and then Benjamin Netanyahu lands and -- and makes it

clear that he has no interest in a ceasefire. It's worth trying to learn more about how related are those two, Richard. Did Netanyahu find out he

had a chance to go after Hassan Nasrallah and therefore decided to abandon the U.S. plan or -- or was it something different there? Still, U.S.

pushing diplomacy when it seems so unlikely right now.

QUEST: Oren, at the Pentagon. It's going to be a late night for you as well. When there's more to report, come back to me, please, immediately.

Thank you.

Gary Grappo is the -- was the U.S. ambassador to Oman. The former ambassador is with me now. Sir, the situation and the ability to get out of

this without it getting much worse is just about impossible now.

GARY GRAPPO, FMR. DEPUTY CHIEF MISSION, U.S. EMBASSY IN SAUDI ARABIA: Well, thank you for having me, first of all. Indeed, the situation does look

grim. Clearly, what Is -- Israel has done today is a marked increase in the escalation of the conflict that has been going on for years, if not

decades, between Hezbollah and the state of Israel.

I think what is clear here is that Israel has every intention of decapitating this organization, which it views after Iran as its most

significant enemy. And over the course of the last 10 days, we have seen Israel systematically eliminate something like seven of the nine top

leaders within Hezbollah. So it's not unusual they would go after Mr. Nasrallah himself.

QUEST: Right. But -- so -- so there's an element of opportunism in it, in a sense, you know, that -- that -- that the opportunity has presented itself

to decapitate the leadership of Hezbollah, but they're not going to disappear. And at the end of the day, some form of buffer, larger buffer,

and a -- and a reformat is going to have to take place.

GRAPPO: That's right. And I don't think the intention here is to actually eliminate Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a very different type of adversary than

Hamas and Gaza is. And in this case, they are indeed seeking to create a real buffer between the northern Israeli border and the presence of

Hezbollah forces and weapons in southern Lebanon, hopefully to the maximum extent, which would be to the Litani River, which is about 25 kilometers

north of that border.

QUEST: What does the rest of the region do besides watch and hope and prayer doesn't get much worse? I mean, you know, there's no love for

Hezbollah by many of the other countries, let alone Iran. So what do they all do? Watch and wait?

GRAPPO: Well, there is that, but also there is an opportunity for the United States and like-minded countries to begin to work together, to begin

to apply pressure on Iran to rein in Hezbollah and particularly its nonstop rocket attacks on Israel, which is ultimately what Israel wants to see in

the very near term.

I'd also call your attention to a very important meeting that apparently has taken place in Tehran itself, the Supreme National Security Council.

And I'm -- I'm fairly certain that the discussion in that meeting was, what do we, Iran, do now as our most important strategic asset is under attack?

QUEST: Who elsewhere is a power broker? And I'm thinking of Saudi, the UAE, Qatar, of course, has played a large role in relation to the hostages in

Gaza. Who -- Jordan -- the King of Jordan is said to be beside himself with -- with the press -- the -- the -- the way in which this is deteriorating.

But who has the ability to play a role?

[17:20:24]

GRAPPO: Well, the countries that you mentioned certainly have a -- a -- a communication channel with the leadership of Iran and can speak to the need

to try and rein in Hezbollah to the Iranians. I would also say that probably the Chinese do.

And -- and I would not be surprised if some attempts to reach out to the Chinese, to use their offices, to speak with Iranian leadership as well.

And that's about the limit of it in terms of those with the most, I'd say, significant interest and a -- a role or presence in Tehran.

QUEST: So what about the election here in the United States? How does either candidate manage to get through the next five weeks without making a

political faux -- faux pas?

GRAPPO: Well, what makes that question so challenging is that we know a significant number of Americans. I would not say a majority, but a

significant number have considerable sympathies for the people in Gaza who have suffered over the last one year to the -- to the tragic tune of over

40,000. But also with the people of Lebanon, whom we are now hearing from, also suffering as a result of these attacks. And so there will be some

popular pressure --

QUEST: Right.

GRAPPO: -- I would say, mostly on the Democratic candidate, but maybe perhaps a little bit also on the Republican. But also a lot of pressure to

stand behind our longtime ally, Israel.

QUEST: Sir, I'm grateful to you. I wish you well. Thank you for joining us tonight.

And that's our reporting, let me tell you. So we have the -- what we are waiting for now, of course, is some form of confirmation on whether or not

Hassan Nasrallah has been killed tonight in that massive Israel attack in Lebanon -- in Lebanon -- in Beirut. And now we're hearing, of course, that

other people in southern Beirut are being told to evacuate, which might suggest that there is more activity to come. Israel says it's in an attack

mode, and it is ready for all aspects of that.

[17:22:50]

The news continues here on CNN. The Lead is next. And because the news never stops, neither do we. This is it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END