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According to Al-Arabiya Body of Israeli Soldier Has Been Found in Southern Lebanon; Israel Preparing For Possible Large-Scale Ground Envision; Lebanon Considering How to Defend Itself Against Israeli Onslaught; Rockets Hit Haifa; Condoleezza Rice to Leave for Mideast This Weekend; American's Being Evacuated from Lebanon; Is World War III Beginning?
Aired July 21, 2006 - 16:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time.
Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you today's top stories.
Happening now, breaking news we're following. The Israeli army has found the body of an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon. That according to the Arabic language television network Al-Arabiya and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
We're getting more information on this story.
Also, there are concerns about an all-out ground war. Israel is calling up more troops and massing tanks along the Lebanese border. But Lebanon says that should Israel invade, it's ready to defend itself.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is urgently doing some crisis management. She'll soon travel to the region, but she says she will not work for an immediate cease-fire, saying that would only benefit Hezbollah. And many want an international peacekeeping force in the region. But would that really make a difference now and in the future?
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
More now on that breaking news we're following. The Israeli army has found the body of an Israeli soldier in southern Lebanon. And once again, according to the Arabic language news network Al-Arabiya and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
Meanwhile, it's been 10 days of chaos and carnage. Now there are fears it could get worse. Israel is massing more troops and tanks along the Lebanese border, and there are fresh concerns of an all-out ground war.
Those sirens raising more alarm bells in Safed and elsewhere in northern Israel, where Hezbollah rockets continue to fall.
Lebanese president Emile Lahoud says that if Israel wants a ground war, Lebanon's army is ready to defend its land.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the region in the days ahead, yet Rice warns against an immediate cease-fire and says she's looking for a lasting peace.
CNN is uniquely positioned inside the Middle East to report what's happening from every perspective. Our reporters are keeping track of the latest developments.
Our senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth, is in New York.
Standing by, Ben Wedeman is in Beirut.
Let's go to northern Israel right now for more on that breaking news. Christiane Amanpour is standing by from there.
Christiane, what do we know about this body of an Israeli soldier that apparently has been recovered?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we only know because of reports on the Arabic language Al- Arabiya and Lebanese Broadcasting Station. The television stations have reported that the Israeli army has recovered the body of one Israeli soldier inside southern Lebanon.
Now, we do not know that in terms of the facts and confirmed by the IDF, the Israeli army, because they're not confirming that at all for us. But what we do know is that over the last three days of battling inside southern Lebanon, at least in one battle, we're told, six Israeli soldiers were killed, several more were injured.
Again, we don't know whether this has been -- we know that this recovery of this body has not yet been confirmed by the Israeli army, but it is being told to the world by Al-Arabiya and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
Now, we also know from the Israeli army that the Israelis have found, we're told, 13 Hezbollah bodies. And those have been recovered in this fighting that I've been describing.
Now, there has been a limited ground operation for the last several days. Military sources tell us that several battalions -- that could be about a thousand or more troops -- have been operating inside southern Lebanon for the past several days. And we were shown today and we interviewed the commander, the deputy commander of all the forces up here, and we saw a lot of tanks, a lot of armor and troops massing.
Anybody suggests that there may be a ground invasion, and some are saying it may be imminent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Israeli warplanes are dropping bombs and messages. The latest flurry of leaflets tells residents of southern Lebanon to move back, 40 kilometers back from the border with Israel. The Israeli generals want the battlefield "free of civilian restrictions."
After days of artillery fire, war from the air, and a limited number of troops on the ground, Israel is preparing now for a possible large-scale ground envision. Mobilizing all of its forces, even reserves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of the forces are active forces coming from different sectors of the country, reinforcing the active forces in Lebanon. The reserve units, some of them are going to the northern border with Lebanon. All of the reinforcements are going to the direction of Lebanon.
AMANPOUR: A senior military source says Israel already has several battalions on the ground in southern Lebanon. That's more than a thousand troops. But General Shuki Shahur (ph) would only confirm he does have forces there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We entered with armored forces and engineer forces, and we started systematically to destroy the Hezbollah positions along the border.
AMANPOUR: Israeli infantry, he says, have crossed anywhere between a mile and a few miles into Lebanon, and some special forces are even deeper in because they can't get some of the targets from the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We identified bunkers in the open area that, without entering to the place itself and looking on the ground for these camouflaged bunkers, we would never have found them.
AMANPOUR: General Shahur won't say whether these tanks and troops moving towards the border means that a ground invasion has been authorized, just that the army is ready and evaluating the need minute by minute.
(on camera): With troops and armor being redeployed from all over the country to the northern battlefront, Israelis are watching to see what happens next with concern. As one former tank commander told me, "Israel going back into Lebanon is like the United States going back into Vietnam."
(voice-over): For now, though, the Israeli people overwhelmingly back the strong military response, according to the first poll taken since the war began 10 days ago. Will that change if Hezbollah guerillas mount stiff resistance? At the ground battle still going on near Avivim, Hezbollah has already killed several Israeli soldiers, injured others, and taken out a tank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: So everyone up here is watching and waiting to see whether this northern front becomes really the launching pad for a big ground invasion. We're here, we're watching and we're monitoring, and we will be reporting -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Christiane, I want to get back to that breaking news at the top, the recovery of an Israeli soldier, the body of an Israeli soldier. We have no way of knowing whether that was someone who was killed in the past few days or if that's one of those two Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped that provoked this entire operation.
AMANPOUR: That's correct. We don't know.
BLITZER: OK, Christiane. I just wanted to make sure that we were clear on that.
Christiane, as soon as we get some more information on this story, we'll come immediately back to you.
Christiane Amanpour in northern Israel for us.
As the exodus out of Lebanon continues, that country is considering how it might defend itself against an Israeli onslaught.
Let's bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman. He's joining us from Beirut.
Any answers to that question today from Lebanese officials in Beirut, Ben?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, well, the Lebanese officials are bracing for the possibility of a ground assault on the south. And certainly, we've heard that the Israeli forces may go as far as the Litani River, which is about 20 miles to the north of the Israeli border, just north of the Lebanese town of Tyre, which is the largest Lebanese town near the Israeli border.
Now, today we heard in an interview with CNN Emile Lahoud, the president of Lebanon, saying that if Israel does launch a ground offensive, the Lebanese army will fight back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMILE LAHOUD, LEBANESE PRESIDENT: Of course, the army is going to defend its plan, and inside Lebanon they can do a lot. They cannot be strong enough to be against Israel on the frontier, because they have much more stronger material and weaponry. But inside Lebanon, they know the land, and of course they will fight the invading force of Israel if it tries to come inside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEDEMAN: And Wolf, of course as many people are bracing for this ground offensive, this potential ground offensive, in the meantime all over Lebanon, both Lebanese and international are scrambling to try to meet the humanitarian needs of more than 500,000 people who have been displaced by the fighting in the south and the bombardment here in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
I was in a town in the hills above Beirut today where normally the population is 5,000. It's now ballooned to almost 50,000 there.
Municipal officials tell me they're running out of water because the local reservoir just doesn't have enough there to provide the needs of this suddenly much bigger population. We were with a group, Mercy Corps, that was handing out food supplies to people who have come from the south, from southern Beirut. They're living in schools, government buildings and hotels.
Now, one hotel we went to where there were a lot of people, it was really crowded. I got in a fairly heated exchange with some of the young men there who didn't want us to film. And they're very angry. They're obviously very angry about the fact that they've been driven from their homes, their homes have been bombed. Many of them have lost relatives. Many of them angry at us as American journalists.
And at one point, while I thought I calmed the crowd -- crowd down a bit, a very large man came running out, starting trying to beat me and my cameraman. So, it gives you an idea that people are resentful against the United States.
They say the United States has given Israel the diplomatic green light to carry out its offensive. They will always remind you that the United States has provided many of the weapons to Israel that are now being used in this offensive -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Ben Wedeman, who is fluent in Arabic, on the scene for us. One of our veteran Middle East correspondents.
Ben, thank you very much.
Meanwhile, a fresh barrage of Hezbollah rockets hit the northern part of Israel once again today, injuring at least 19 people, maybe more, in the city of Haifa.
CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is on the scene for us there.
What's the latest number of injuries in Haifa, Fionnuala?
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're being told that there were, of course, a barrage of rockets all across northern Israel.
Now, the first rocket barrage that hit Haifa at about 1:00 this afternoon injured 19 people, as you said. But in total, 39 people injured, three of them critical.
Now, several rocket barrages fell on this city after a relative lull of two days. Haifa has been the target of many attacks from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
We are just 20 kilometers from the Lebanese border. And eight people were killed in a rocket barrage on Sunday here. But it would appear that whatever the Israeli military -- the pounding the Israeli military are giving the Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas up in southern Lebanon, it is not having that much of an impact.
The difficult, the Israeli military says, is that the 1,500 or so targets that they have been pounding, once they destroy one another one is created. In the word of one of the Israeli military officers here in Haifa today, "There is a new frontier in this war. This is a different kind of war."
So, Haifa quiet at the moment, because apparently, Wolf, it is difficult for Hezbollah to launch rockets at night because they can be more easily traced than during the day. But residents here of Haifa bracing themselves for more rocket attacks on Saturday.
BLITZER: And very briefly, Fionnuala, have the people of Haifa stayed put? Are they sleeping in underground shelters, or this city of 300,000 or so, have most of them sort of left, gone further south to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
SWEENEY: Some of them, indeed, have left to go further south to Jerusalem, but this morning it was a city pretty much as business as usual when we were out and about. But then as the rocket attacks became more and more sustained throughout the afternoon, people disappeared indoors, which is normal on the Jewish Sabbath, at the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, but not so much in Haifa. Perhaps more so in a very religious city like Jerusalem.
But normally, in Haifa on a Friday evening, it would be busy, it would be people going out enjoying themselves. There's very little moving here on the streets tonight -- Wolf.
Fionnuala, be careful over there.
Fionnuala Sweeney on the scene for us in Haifa.
If Lebanon does find itself confronting an Israeli full-scale ground assault, could the Lebanese military play any kind of significant role at all?
Let's turn to our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
What are they saying where you are, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the idea that the Lebanese army would be able to counter the Israeli army if it goes into southern Lebanon is one that military experts say is somewhat problematic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE (voice-over): Most experts agree Israel has the best- trained, best-equipped and most capable military in the Middle East. By comparison, Lebanon's ragtag army lacks not only high-tech weaponry, but also the training and tactics to go toe to toe with Israel on a conventional battlefield.
BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: A conventional fight with the Israeli army would be like someone fighting a conventional fight with the United States Army. They don't want to do that.
MCINTYRE: On paper, what the military calls the order of battle shows a lopsided match-up. Israel has three times the troops and ships, 12 times the tanks and helicopters. And Lebanon has no combat aircraft that can match up with the U.S.-made F-15s and F-16s flown by the crack Israeli air force.
Despite Lebanon's public vow to defend its territory, Israel hopes its military stays on the sidelines when Israeli ground forces go after Hezbollah strongholds in the south.
MARK REGEV, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY: The Lebanese army is not our enemy. The Lebanese people is not our enemy. Our enemy is the Hezbollah.
MCINTYRE: In fact, some would Israel would like to enlist the Lebanese military to keep the peace once Hezbollah is weakened.
BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: If Israel can achieve the objectives on the ground that it needs to achieve, I can see where they could possibly have the Lebanese army come in and do a relief in place and reclaim their sovereign territory.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: The real danger for the Israeli military is falling into an insurgency where the enemy, whether it is the Lebanese army or Hezbollah, only has to inflict casualties not actually win a victory over Israeli military forces -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jamie. Thanks very much.
Jamie monitoring all of this over at the Pentagon for us. They're watching this extremely closely and carefully at the Pentagon, with good reason.
Let's go to Jack Cafferty with "The Cafferty File" in New York -- Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: While the media remains mesmerized by the fighting in Israel and Lebanon, more than 100 people a day are being killed in Iraq. Six thousand have died in the last two months, and conditions are getting worse all the time.
One family whose 12-year-old son was kidnapped paid a $30,000 ransom for the boy's return. His body was later found in a plastic bag. He had been sexually assaulted and hung with his own clothing.
That's not warfare. That's barbarism.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid thinks it's time to take another look at Iraq. He wants to have a new debate on the war before Congress recesses in August.
Democrats say Iraq's the top issue on voters' minds in this election year. They want to continue talking about it in the Congress.
Majority Leader Bill Frist says the Republicans are willing to go along, but it doesn't sound like they're thrilled about the idea. Frist's chief of staff called another debate on Iraq a "bad summer rerun." A recent CNN poll shows 54 percent of Americans don't like how the war is being managed, 53 percent want a timetable for getting our troops out of there.
Here's the question, then. Is debating the war in Iraq a bad summer rerun for the U.S. Senate?
E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.
BLITZER: If you've read those dispatches coming out of Baghdad in the past few days, Jack, it is simply horrendous, the slaughter, the bloodshed that's continuing, even as we monitor, by and large, what's happening elsewhere in the Middle East.
CAFFERTY: Yes, and I just -- I can't help but wondering, what's our plan? Do we have one for dealing with this? I mean, it's degenerating into some sort of subhuman nightmare.
BLITZER: It's getting -- going from bad to worse.
Thanks very much, Jack, for that.
Up ahead, major new diplomatic developments in the Middle East crisis. The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, announcing she'll head to the region. We'll get the latest live from the United Nations.
Also, experts predicting a vicious fight if Israel does invade southern Lebanon. We'll show you how it could play out.
And we'll take you to the Lebanese-Syrian border, where tens of thousands of people are fleeing the fighting and a refugee crisis is brewing.
Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're monitoring the new developments in the Middle East crisis. Among the latest, Al-Arabiya and Lebanese television now reporting Israel has recovered the body of a soldier in southern Lebanon. No word who that soldier is.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops and tanks are gathering along the Lebanese boarder, and there are fresh concerns of an all-out ground war.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave for the Middle East on Sunday. But she says she will not be pursuing an immediate cease-fire.
Israeli military officials say 100 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in the last 10 days, although Lebanese officials dispute that.
Lebanon now reports 261 people killed in the fighting in Lebanon, 582 wounded. Israel officially reports 34 people killed in Israel, more than 300 wounded.
Condoleezza Rice says, we've been reporting, will leave for the region. And while she will meet with key parties involved, she will not meet with Syria or with Hezbollah, which she says is trying to strangle Lebanon's infant new government.
Let's get some more now from CNN's senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth -- Richard.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Secretary of State Rice was in New York earlier in the day meeting with U.N. negotiators just back from the Middle East. Now it's her turn.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: See you on the plane. Thank you.
ROTH (voice-over): Condoleezza Rice is Mideast-bound more than 10 days after fighting erupted.
Why the delay?
RICE: I have no interest in diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo ante. I think it would be a mistake. What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing diversities (ph) of a new Middle East.
ROTH: Rice wants the attacks on both sides to stop but is leery of a cease-fire.
RICE: A cease-fire would be a false promise if it simply returns us to the status quo, allowing terrorists to launch attacks at the times and terms of their choosing and to threaten innocent people.
ROTH: At the same time, the U.S. secretary of state is beginning to map out the framework of an eventual settlement. One element could be an international peacekeeping force.
RICE: We are looking at what kind of international assistance force makes sense. But I do not think that it is anticipated that U.S. ground forces would -- are expected for that force.
ROTH: Rice says she will work with allies to create conditions for stability and lasting peace. At the weekend, she will leave for Israel and the Palestinian territories, and also attend a Lebanon conference in Rome. No plans to visit Damascus or talk to the Iranians. And in the view of the Syrians, that's a mistake.
BASHAR JA'AFARI, SYRIAN AMB. TO THE U.N.: Going to the area would be good, but it seems that she is going to two or three capitals. She's not going to visit all of capitals.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROTH: Secretary Rice says Syria knows what it needs to do and Hezbollah is the source of the problem. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with his negotiating team, and don't be surprised if they don't go back to the region -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Richard Roth at the U.N., where the diplomacy is intense.
This just coming in to CNN, a call this hour from two top Democrats in the Senate for a special enjoy to be appointed to the Middle East. The Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and Senator Joe Biden -- he's the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- sent a letter to President Bush urging him to send a high-level envoy to the region. They say that Condoleezza Rice is clearly preoccupied with other major issues, including Iran and North Korea.
The U.S., they say, needs a full-time diplomat working to ease this crisis in the Middle East.
We'll have more on this letter from Harry Reid and Joe Biden coming up.
Israel has invaded Lebanon in the past. What would happen if Israel were to invade once again?
Let's get the latest from CNN's Brian Todd -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a short time ago I got off the phone with a former chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Force who says the Israelis are ready for the go order but know they're going up against a formidable enemy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Leaflets in Arabic warning civilians, get out of Lebanon's southernmost frontier. An Israeli armored column poised for a possible ground assault that experts say would be a vicious fight.
MARKS: The nature of that fight is very up close, it's very personal, it's very complex terrain.
TODD: Former American and Israeli officers, some who've served in the region, say if forces launch across the border in bulk, their goal will likely be to establish a buffer zone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Israelis are likely to advance along one of three axis. Those are the main lines of communications into southern Lebanon. And they'll likely advance to the Litani River, which seems to be the maximum range, of...
TODD (on camera): Where are we talking about here? There it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... of -- along this line. That seems to be the maximum range of most of the missiles that are being fired into Israel now. TODD (voice-over): Retired Marine Colonel Gary Anderson and other experts say Hezbollah has got a mobile, well organized force, numbering anywhere from a thousand to more than 10,000, with rockets, other heavy weaponry, and a web of underground tunnels and bunkers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They probably use them to hide the equipment, pop off a round, fire it, and try to get it back underground before an Israeli unmanned aircraft or manned aircraft can get overhead to spot them.
TODD: Hezbollah can also draw the Israelis into close combat, possibly negating the use of airstrikes that might hit friendly forces. All tactics the Israelis can counter with their experience fighting Hezbollah. But once they've taken it, how do they keep the buffer zone secure?
COL. PATRICK LANG (RET.), MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: I know the IDF does not want to occupy part of Lebanon again. But they've somehow gotten themselves into a position in which there may be no other choice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: No other choice except to leave that occupation up to some other entity, possibly a U.N. stabilization force. But analysts say the Israelis are not likely to trust that outside force more than their own army to keep that buffer zone secure -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Thanks very much.
Brian Todd with that scenario unfolding.
Coming up, Secretary of State Rice won't talk with Syria, at least not now, about the Middle East crisis. What does Syria's ambassador to the United States think about that? He's standing by to speak with us live, Imad Moustapha, here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
And more ships keep arriving in Cyprus, unloading thousands of Americans escaping the fighting in Lebanon. We're going to take you there live.
Stay with us. Much more of our special coverage on the crisis in the Middle East right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The United Nations estimates that 130,000 people have fled Lebanon to Syria in a desperate effort continues to escape the violence.
CNN's Hala Gorani is reporting from a crossing point on the Syrian-Lebanese border -- Hala.
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, night has fallen on the Lebanon-Syria border. And although the number of refugees has gone down, today, this Friday, still, upward of 20,000 people made the crossing, fleeing the violence in Lebanon.
I'm at a Red Crescent distribution center, and volunteers are handing out food and water to those who need it. Now, some of these people have to spend the night here because they haven't been able to get their documents stamped. Those who do make it across, try to find host families. And some schools, as well, have opened in the Syrian capital, Damascus, to provide shelter, food and water for those refugees.
The question going forward is, if the violence continues, will the number of people we've seen cross over go up once again?
I'm Hala Gorani, reporting at the Yabusk (ph) crossing in Syria.
Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: Thank you, Hala, for that.
And before heading off to the region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is defending her decision not to talk to Damascus as this Middle East crisis drags into a 10th day. She say, "Syria knows what it needs to do."
Imad Moustapha is the Syrian ambassador to the United States.
Mr. Ambassador, thanks for coming.
IMAD MOUSTAPHA, SYRIAN AMB. TO U.S.: Hi, Wolf.
BLITZER: "You know what you need to do," she says.
Why aren't you doing it?
MOUSTAPHA: Well, this has become very typical of this administration. They never talk to the actual parties. They talk past them.
I don't think this is about diplomacy. This is not about international relations. If there are issues, they should be discussed.
But by telling us that we know what is needed to do, we tell the whole world that the United States has the decision of life and death for the Lebanese today. The moment the United States will ask Israel to implement a cease-fire, the ongoing killing of the Lebanese will cease. So -- and destruction of Lebanon, as well.
BLITZER: Will Syria ask Hezbollah to release those two Israeli soldiers?
MOUSTAPHA: Syria is supporting the position that was proposed by Hezbollah that an immediate cease-fire should take place so that the Lebanese civilians will be -- will survive this ordeal and immediately negotiate an exchange of prisoners. This is fair.
BLITZER: And so you're not asking for simply for the Hezbollah to return those two Israeli soldiers?
MOUSTAPHA: Let's say diplomacy cannot be conducted through TV channels or through press conferences. TV can be -- diplomacy can be conducted when all parties sit together and discuss the situation in depth.
BLITZER: So you would like Condoleezza Rice to visit Damascus and meet with Bashir al-Assad?
MOUSTAPHA: Well, it's not about a visit. Of course she's always welcome, but if she wants to visit, is she really, really looking for a comprehensive solution to the whole Middle East conflict, based on ending the occupation and having peaceful relations between all the Arabs and Israelis? She just wants to visit and to dictate to a sense.
BLITZER: What will Syria do if Israel moves ground forces in significant numbers into south Lebanon which they clearly are poised to do right now?
MOUSTAPHA: In the past two events that Israel invaded, actually the south of Lebanon and then went even further into Beirut itself, Israel ended up defeated. I hope Israel will not repeat the same mistake, because probably they should have learned some histories from the past.
BLITZER: So specifically would Syria get involved militarily? It did not get involved necessarily directly against the Israelis the last times.
MOUSTAPHA: You know what, Syria has its own contingency plans. They will not be discussed on TV. But of course all options are open. However, we believe that Lebanese national resistance can do what they have done before and they can defeat Israeli army.
BLITZER: You're ...
MOUSTAPHA: They will continue to do this.
BLITZER: You're referring to Hezbollah?
MOUSTAPHA: Not only Hezbollah. Hezbollah is one element of the national resistance in Lebanon. Even the Lebanese army has said that they will fight against Israel.
BLITZER: The U.N. resolution, Security Council Resolution 1559 which was passed in 2004 calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias. Do you support U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 which in effect -- which does directly call for disbanding this one militia called Hezbollah?
MOUSTAPHA: As a representative of Syria, Syria does not stand in violation of any United Nation's Security Council resolution. However, there is a stockpile of United Nation's Security Council resolutions, at least 20 of them demanding that Israel should withdraw from our occupied territories and Israel has never complied with these resolutions.
So what I would say, our position is the following. Syria supports all United Nation's Security Council resolutions, starting with 242. Because if we start -- if we start with 242, this situation would not have happened.
BLITZER: But specifically, on the disbanding of Hezbollah as a militia, should that go forward?
MOUSTAPHA: We do not follow a policy of pick and choose. It's a comprehensive settlement that we call for. Starting with this stockpile of Security Council resolutions that have not been implemented by Israel here. What I am trying to say is the Middle East really needs peace, a lasting peace and stability. A stability that can last for ages and ages. This can only happen if there is a comprehensive solution to the core issue.
BLITZER: Here is what Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary- general told the Security Council yesterday, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Whatever other agendas they may set, Hezbollah's actions, which it portrays as defending Palestinian and Lebanese interest, in fact do neither. On the contrary they hold an entire nation hostage. Set by prospects for negotiation of a comprehensive Middle East peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You say you want a comprehensive Middle East peace. He says he wants that but he says Hezbollah is holding the entire nation of Lebanon hostage.
MOUSTAPHA: I do not want to dispute what Secretary Annan has said. What I want to say to Secretary Annan, for the past 40 years, the Arabs have time and again called for the United Nations to do what it can to implement its resolutions. Nothing happened. It's only when these resolutions are directed for the benefit of Israel, that the full power and force and influence of the United States is used as leverage to try to enforce this implementation.
The Palestinians, the Lebanese, the Syrians today, a part of Syria is occupied by Israel, the Goran. What about the resolutions that were taken by the Security Council demanding that Israel withdraws from the Goran. They are never, ever discussed, not even mentioned. This is a very unfair world we live in.
BLITZER: Imad Moustapha is the Syrian ambassador to the United States. When you're here, just curiously, do you talk to U.S. officials are they allowed to talk to you?
MOUSTAPHA: No, they are not allowed to talk to me, no, they do not.
BLITZER: So that's it, but they will presumably at some point down the road.
MOUSTAPHA: Hopefully, this is what diplomacy is about.
BLITZER: Thanks for coming in.
MOUSTAPHA: You are welcome.
BLITZER: Coming up, latest developments in the Middle East crisis. Will there be a full scale ground war also? What will peace- keeping missions of the future look like? The current Middle East crisis could offer us some clues. We're going to show you what we've come up with. Plus thousands of Americans and others pouring into Cyprus as they flee the fighting in Lebanon with more expected to arrive soon. We're going to go there live for the latest on the exodus. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: We're monitoring new developments in the Middle East crisis. Among the latest, El Arabia and Lebanese television are reporting Israel has recovered the body of a soldier in southern Lebanon. There is no word yet on an I.D. and no official word yet from the Israeli military. Meanwhile an Israeli ground invasion to southern Lebanon appearing more likely with Israel calling up thousands of reserve troops and massing troops and tanks along the Lebanese border.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave for the Middle East Sunday to meet with Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese officials. She says she won't pursue a cease-fire saying, "That will be a false promise if it returns us to the status quo."
Ahead, more of our complete coverage of the Middle East crisis, but first let's check some other important news happening right now, Fredricka Whitfield joining us from the CNN Center -- Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again Wolf. President Bush is in Colorado after arriving at Buckley Air Force Base, Mr. Bush gave a volunteer service award to a sergeant who organizes care packages and thank you letters for troops deployed overseas. Mr. Bush is also attending a fundraiser for republican congressional candidate Rick O'Donnell who is in a hotly contested race.
National Guard troops are on the ground in St. Louis, powerful storms have knocked out electricity to thousands of people and injured more than 30, this as a fierce heat wave is just beginning to lift. The troops are taking people to air conditioned public buildings, they're also clearing debris. The storms have toppled trees and torn off roofs. More than a half million people are without power.
And a five day blackout is also causing misery in New York where the weather has been sweltering as well. Nearly 25,000 people in Queens are without electricity. Con Edison says the blackout is ten times higher than first estimated. One state lawmaker is calling for a criminal investigation on the basis of reckless endangerment. Con Ed says it's trying to get the lights back on as soon as possible -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Fred thank you very much for that. Still to come, the evacuation of U.S. civilians from Lebanon, now in full swing. We're going to go live to Cyprus for the latest. And in our 7:00 p.m. eastern hour, when there's war there are casualties. Our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the scene in Beirut. He'll be joining us. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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BLITZER: More now on the deepening crisis in the Middle East as the Israeli military weighs what would be a massive move into southern Lebanon. More fearful foreigners are getting out of Lebanon right now and many of them are seeking safety in Cyprus.
Let's go to Cyprus, Chris Burns is on the scene. You've changed your location Chris to the largest port in Cyprus?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right Wolf because we're expecting two U.S. warships, the USS Trenton just any minute now -- 1700, almost 1800 people evacuated from Lebanon today that are aboard that ship. And a little bit later through the night, there's also going to be the USS Nashville with some 1,000 people.
There's a small army of U.S. military and consulate personnel here to receive them to take them on to the fairgrounds near Nicosia where they will be processed, and then most of them taken on to the airport in the hours after that, Wolf?
BLITZER: Is it moving along smoothly. How is it coming along, the entire evacuation process, the transfer of Americans through Larnaca or Limassol where you are right now, to planes, onward to Europe and the United States?
BURNS: Well, Wolf, what I'm told by some U.S. consulate personnel just a few minutes ago, is they're saying its very, very smooth. There's a fairground near Nicosia where they put out some folding beds and they have showers over there. But the idea is that they're running them through fairly quickly, just a matter of hours, maybe four hours, maybe 12 hours max.
It doesn't sound like people are spending days there. They're just turned around basically to be processed and then later on sent on to Larnaca airport for -- about a half dozen different transport planes -- chartered planes that is, they're being put there on those planes to take back to the states. So they are saying its very, very smooth. But we're not there, so we don't know for sure.
BLITZER: Good to hear that. Chris, thanks very much. Chris Burns in Cyprus. These massive evacuations out of Lebanon are also leading to major efforts to aid refugees. Let's bring in our internet reporter Jacki Schechner once again -- Jacki.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf some incredible photos continuing to show up online, 41-year-old father and journalist who goes by the name Masser online, documenting the refugees, here are some small children in a school that now doubles as a shelter.
Also some refugees collecting water in smaller towns. At the same time the need increases, so does the humanitarian aid. The United Nations' Refugee Agency says its mobilizing emergency teams in Syria to asses the need in Lebanon.
Now an urgent call for mattresses, blankets, tents, supplies like that. There's also Mercy Corps, which is an international relief organization focusing on one specific town, Kafun (ph). It says there's normally 5,000 people, now swelled to 40,000. It is focusing on emergency need for supplies and food there as well.
ReliefWeb.int, a Web site run by a U.N. agency has a really good collection of international organizations, all offering aid. Or go to CNN.com/SITUATIONREPORT. We're continuing to update the links, so all of this information there -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you, Jacki for that. Up ahead there's a United Nations peace-keeping force in the Middle East right now, but you probably never heard of it. Coming up Mary Snow takes a look at the future of Middle East peacekeeping. Also, there's a lot of talk that we're seeing the first days of World War III. Jeanne Moos offers her take on that. All that coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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BLITZER: Calls are growing for a beefed up international security force to help keep the peace in the Middle East. There already is a largely ineffective peace keeping unit along the Israeli Lebanese border, but the mandate for the U.N. interim force in Lebanon called UNIFIL expires July 31st. The U.N. must decide quickly what the future holds for this peace-keeping mission.
CNN's Mary Snow is joining us live from New York with our "Welcome to the Future" segment -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, many want that international force to be much bigger and better armed than the U.N. peacekeeping force now in place. The question is how will it be run?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Can an international force really stop the fighting in the Middle East, or will it turn out to be like the 2,000 member U.N. peacekeeping force currently stationed along the Israel Lebanon border that can only observe the fighting.
UNIFIL, the U.N. interim force along the Israel Lebanon border, can't even help with humanitarian escorts. And its own headquarters came under fire today. A former UNIFIL official spoke to us by phone from Beirut saying their hands are tied.
TIMUR GOKSEL, FORMER UNIFIL OFFICIAL: They're trying to first of all sustain themselves, they're running out of supplies, because they cannot move around. SNOW: The unit is viewed as completely ineffective. And U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan says a new future must be decided upon for UNIFIL.
KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Should it be withdrawn, should it be strengthened, should it be replaced with something else all together?
SNOW: Many say that something else of the future needs to be very different from the peace keeping unit originally put in place in 1978.
WILLIAM DURCH, HENRY L. STIMSON CENTER: Any kind of force that goes in there I think it should be a -- it would be a coalition force if anything, to begin with, should be prepared for residual combat, should be tough enough to defend itself and the mandate.
SNOW: Should it be a NATO-run force?
HAIM MALKA, CTR. FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: There's a NATO led force in Afghanistan which that has mandate to take broad action against the Taliban, against other militant groups. If the international community, if the United States and Israel are willing to empower an international force that can confront Hezbollah and other militant groups, then there's a possibility that this could work but I'm very skeptical.
SNOW: Looking towards the future that skepticism is shared by many who don't hold out much hope there will be a peace to keep in the region any time soon.
DURCH: Ten years from now, I think either the political questions have been resolved or we'll probably be lapsing into more combat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: Now, in addition to getting a peace treaty, a former UNIFIL official says unless a clear mandate is set, there will be another, in his words, toothless U.N. peace keeping force that will only wind up in disaster -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Mary Snow with our "Welcome to the Future" report. Thank you, Mary for that. Let's go ahead go to Lou Dobbs in New York, he's standing by with a preview of what's coming up at the top of the hour. Lou?
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you Wolf. Coming up at 6:00 p.m. eastern, we'll be live at the Israeli Lebanese border where Israeli tanks and troops are now preparing for a full scale assault on southern Lebanon. Lebanon's president tonight is warning his army would become involved in this conflict to defend his nation.
We'll have that exclusive interview and report. We'll be live at the White House tonight where Bush administration officials are arguing against an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. And I'll be joined by three of the nation's best political analysts to discuss the Bush administration strategy in the Middle East conflict.
And Congress is at it again, warring on the middle class just five months after our law makers said they had learned their lesson from the Dubai ports deal. Congress has approved a deal that would hand over control of our port facilities to firms in the Middle East. We hope you'll be with us for all of that and a great deal more tonight. Wolf, back to you.
BLITZER: All right Lou, thank you very much. Let's check in with Jack Cafferty another time this hour. Jack?
CAFFERTY: Well the hits just keep on coming don't they? A bad summer rerun is how a top aid to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist describes another proposed debate on the war in Iraq. The Minority Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid wants to have a debate on this war before Congress recesses in August. Our question is, is debating the war in Iraq a bad summer rerun for the U.S. Senate?
Bob writes in Texas, "A serious debate about finally getting out of there they call a "bad summer rerun." This crowd forced this war on America. It's time they worked it out. They're not going to - they can't - so yes, it's time we brought our part of it to an end. Enough about insurgency and sectarian strive. This is now a plain old civil war, time to get the U.S. troops out now."
Jonathan in North Carolina, "Being someone who spent 16 months on the ground in Iraq I feel like we do need to debate this subject. At some point we have to evaluate how much more we owe the Iraqi people for overthrowing their past government. If the Shiites and Sunnis refuse to get along and keep butchering each other, there isn't much more we can do for them to help establish a working government."
Ken in St. Angelo, Texas, "What's to debate, we're not leaving Iraq any time soon so why should the Senate waste more time debating something it can't change? As for the 54 percent of Americans who disagree with how the war is being managed, 100 percent of them have no idea how a war should be managed."
Rob in Easton, Pennsylvania, "Of course the Iraq war is so last session Jack, get with the program. Why bother debating the war in Iraq when our government can occupy itself with far more trendy wars like supporting Israel's support on Lebanon, or our seemingly inevitable approaching conflicts with Syria and Iran."
Mike in California, "Network television seems to have chosen not to rerun many of its shows this summer, especially the weaker ones and instead are now airing reality shows. Perhaps the Senate could take their cue and give us some refreshing reality as opposed to rehashing bumper sticker slogans and political posturing."
And John writes, "A bad summer rerun! Tell them what, if you republican morons in the Senate don't start to engage in getting us the hell out of there, come the next election your rerun is not going to be so good either." If you didn't see your e-mail here, you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile. We post some more of these online for your viewing pleasure -- Wolf. BLITZER: Jack, thank you. Jack Cafferty reporting. Up next, it might be funny if it weren't so serious but leave it to Jeanne Moos to find some humor in what's going on. We'll give you a hint, World War III. Stay with us, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
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BLITZER: We're hearing them more and more from pundits, politicians, comics and radio talk show hosts. Three little words, World War III, that's how they're describing the current state of global conflicts. CNN's Jeanne Moos takes this first look at the third world war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Is all of the breaking news breaking you down? Just when it seems like it can't get worse ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll our new graphic.
MOOS: Sounds like a joke, right?
(on camera): It sure doesn't feel like World War III right here, right this second, ah?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, but it feels like its brewing.
MOOS: Do you feel like its World War III?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. You can feel it.
MOOS (voice-over): Newt Gingrich feels it.
NEWT GINGRICH: We're in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world war.
MOOS: It's easy to poke fun at the mostly right-wingers who warn of ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: World War III. World War III, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The start of World War III.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More like World War IV.
MOOS: Four because some consider the Cold War to have been World War III. Funny as it sounds ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have World War III to fight.
MOOS: This is serious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a religious war.
MOOS: Even President Bush has used the term. BUSH: I believe that it was the first counter attack of World War III.
MOOS: Referring to the passengers who foiled the hijackers of United Flight 93. Take Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Israel and terrorism from Britain to India to the U.S. ...
GINGRICH: I believe if you take all of the countries I've just listed that you have been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you'd have to say to yourself this is in fact World War III.
MOOS: "The Daily Show" says if you took all those countries you'd get crisis in ...
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": Hisrath Hyanonack (ph).
MOOS: World War III seems to be the stuff of video games or comic books or a Bob Dylan song from the '60s.
(MUSIC)
MOOS (on camera): Does it feel like World War to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't watch the news? And I like to walk around thinking I'm in Disneyland, I'd rather not know than know because it does feel like World War III when you do watch.
MOOS: Does it feel like a war to you? World War III.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes it sure does. It's crazy what this world is coming to.
MOOS (voice-over): The liberal editor of "The Nation" thinks World War III talk is a ploy.
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, EDITOR, "THE NATION": Bang the drums of war so we can deflect attention from a war we failed in.
MOOS: Remember when World War III was just a TV movie, the U.S. versus the Soviet Union and the president was ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rock Hudson. World War III.
MOOS: But, before you ...
(MUSIC)
MOOS: ...for World War III, take comfort in this Internet posting: "It ain't a world war until France surrenders."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: It would be funny if it weren't all that serious. But it's very, very serious. Remember, we're here in THE SITUATION ROOM weekday afternoons from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. eastern, we're back for another hour at 7:00 p.m. eastern, that's one hour from now. Much more of our coverage coming up.
Among other things, we're going to go live to Beirut, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, our medical correspondent is on the scene, he's seeing how people are being treated for injuries there. That special report coming up one hour from now when we come back.
Until then, thanks very much for joining us, I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now, Lou is in New York.
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