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IDF Agrees to Take American Pool Camera Into Lebanon; New al Qaeda Videotape Airs on Al-Jazeera; Reaction in Beirut to Ayman al- Zawahiri's Tape; After Tough Days, More Questions than Answers About Where Israeli Campaign Is

Aired July 27, 2006 - 17:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And 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, Israel and Hezbollah's raging war is being fought with weapons and words. The Israeli defense minister calls Hezbollah a "cancerous growth."

Now Osama bin Laden's right-hand man says al Qaeda stands with Hezbollah and that Israel and its allies must pay.

The war now 16 days old. Some once populous areas on both sides now abandoned. I'll have a bird's eye view of hard-hit northern Israel and a one-on-one interview with a top Israeli general.

Meanwhile, it's 1:00 a.m. in Iraq, where some American troops who thought they would soon be coming home are now finding out they're not leaving Iraq any time soon.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

Rockets and shells flying across the Lebanese-Israeli border once again today as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah rages.

Among the latest developments in the Middle East crisis, Israeli warplanes pounded new targets in Beirut and southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah rockets rained on northern Israel. More than 1,500 rockets since the start of the conflict, according to Israel Defense Forces.

Also, al Qaeda now stepping into the crisis in a new videotape from the number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. We're going to have a full report on what exactly he said.

And within just the past few hours, the United Nations Security Council approved a statement on the killing of those four U.N. military observers in an Israeli airstrike. It expressed shock and distress, stops short of directly condemning Israel.

We're covering all the angles in the Middle East crisis with CNN reporters in every key location. Among those joining us this our, our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson in Beirut, our Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena in Washington.

But let's begin this our with our senior national correspondent, John Roberts. He's near the front lines in northern Israel -- John.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, after repeatedly asking for days on end, the Israeli Defense Forces finally agreed to take an American pool camera into Lebanon. So we are getting our first pictures from there now, our first pictures from the northern side of the Israel-Lebanon border.

It was a combat engineering battalion that took a pool camera along with it for a very small operation. We're not allowed to say what the operation was. But they went into Maroun al-Ras, which is that town that the Israeli army took about five, six days ago now, the one that sits on top of the hilltop overlooking the Israeli towns of Avivim and Yarun.

The pool correspondent who was with the camera and with the combat engineering unit described it has having the streets all broken up. The pool correspondent said the smell of death was everywhere and that there was no sign of life around.

But there did not appear to be any kind of threats against this combat engineering unit. Certainly, there was no fighting. Certainly not the kind of fighting that we have seen in Bint Jbeil over the last few days.

In Bint Jbeil yesterday, you'll remember, there was an engagement between Hezbollah forces, who counterattacked against the Israeli army as they were moving into the city in a sweeping operation. Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in that operation. Among them, three officers.

Now, just south of the border, a combat engineering unit, another combat engineering unit is standing at the ready. These are part of the reinforcements that are being brought in to help out in both the campaign for Bint Jbeil, and as well to expand the ground campaign on them.

We've seen artillery firing again today on the Lebanese town of Yarun, which is to the west of where the main operation was, as the Israeli army tries to spread out, tries to gain more control of the territory. But despite what the Israeli army calls success against Hezbollah in terms of trying to degrade its infrastructure, capture its arms and learn intelligence about what Hezbollah is up to, it hasn't stopped those Katyusha rockets from coming into northern Israel.

More fell again today, five of them on the city of Kiryat Shmona. We were driving into Kiryat Shmona. We were about two minutes away from where the first rocket hit.

We got there, we saw that it hit right beside a rode that we travel on every day to and from our base of operations. It ignited a brushfire. Not much more damage than that.

And as you travel through northern Israel, you see all over the evidence of these brushfires. It almost looks like fire season in the desert Southwest. The hills are just scorched.

Another rocket came into a residential neighborhood about a quarter of a mile away, burned two cars. And we also saw evidence of those BBs that are wrapped around the warhead, that shrapnel, so that when these Katyusha rockets go off, they increase the killing zone beyond just the blast radius. It looked like somebody had taken an automatic weapon and just raked the side of those two cars.

A third missile hit that we saw was in between a children's playground and a shopping mall. It landed right in between them. There were no children in the playground at the time, of course.

The air raid sirens had gone off and everybody had gone down into the shelters. People in Kiryat Shmona know well that when the air raid sirens go off, it means business. And so they quickly get to their shelters.

We also do not believe that there was anyone inside the shopping mall. But as far as we could see, there was no damage to the building.

There is a real argument going on here in Israel right now as well. The generals want to increase the ground campaign. They say, look, if we're going to go into Lebanon, if we're going to try to clear out Hezbollah, let's go in there and do it.

But the politicians are taking a different tactic, saying, no, we want to keep the operation as it is now. They have even reduced the size of that so-called security zone that they want to establish. They were talking about a number of miles at first. Now they're talking about a security zone that may be just a little more than a while wide, something they believe that they might even be able to defend, they might even be able to keep clear from the Israeli side of the border.

Now, with the way that Hezbollah has been dug in for these past six years, there aren't many people who believe that they can do that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John, thank you.

And in a major new development, al Qaeda is now trying -- tying itself directly to Israel's fight with Hamas and Hezbollah. In a new video just out today, Osama bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, says al Qaeda will not stay silent on the crisis in the Middle East.

Our Justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, is joining us now live from Washington with details -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, you know, it's been less than a month since al Qaeda's last message. The terrorist group has been particularly vocal since its leader in Iraq was killed. As one analyst put it, the message shows that the old adage, "The enemy of the enemy is my friend," is still very relevant.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA (voice-over): Ayman al Zawahiri appears in front of pictures symbolizing the September 11th hijacking and calls for retaliation against the Israelis and the West for the attacks on Lebanon.

AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, AL QAEDA (through translator): The whole world is an open field for us. As they attack us everywhere, we will attack them everywhere. They gang up to wage war on us. Our Islamic nation will fight them and wage war on them.

ARENA: While the technology used to produce the tape appears more sophisticated than usual, intelligence analysts are more impressed with the turnaround time. Fighting in Lebanon began just two weeks ago.

Many say this is an attempt by al Qaeda to remain relevant as attention turns to other groups like Hezbollah. And, of course, to recruit and provoke others to act.

TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: One of the weapons is to use the media and to use the Internet and to mass communications as a way of fomenting hatred and encouraging violence. And this certainly fits into that pattern.

ARENA: Zawahiri calls for support of "our brothers in Lebanon," but he never addresses Hezbollah by name.

Though they share a common enemy, Israel, a formal alliance between al Qaeda and Hezbollah is very unlikely. They're formed from different Islamic factions. Al Qaeda is Sunni, Hezbollah Shiite.

Instead, Zawahiri is making more of a global pitch.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: He looks at the situation in the Middle East now, and it is primarily Hezbollah's spotlight. And there have never been particularly close relations between Hezbollah and al Qaeda. And so he's trying to come into that, I think, and say, remember me?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ARENA: Now, as for any threat of an attack against the United States, officials say that there isn't any intelligence suggesting that a plan is under way, but still there is heightened concern. With all that's going on in the Middle East, officials say that the fallout from an al Qaeda attack could be devastating -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kelli, thank you.

Let's go to Beirut right now. Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is joining us from the Lebanese capital.

What's been the reaction to this Ayman al-Zawahiri tape, Nic, in Beirut, this apparent statement of support from Hezbollah coming from the number two al Qaeda leader?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, what seems to be happening is Zawahiri seems to be trying to exploit growing anti-American sentiment here. That sentiment is growing because people here think the United States is on Israel's side in this conflict and is, if not directly supporting Israel, certainly not telling them to stop in this fight.

The people that we've talk to here today say absolutely Hezbollah is not of the same ilk as al Qaeda, that they don't believe that Hezbollah -- that al Qaeda really supports them, that they're happy -- particularly the Hezbollah supporters say they are happy with what Hezbollah is doing for their country, but they don't want al Qaeda's support. They don't believe this is genuine support from al Qaeda. Indeed, a lot of people told us that this development worries at this time.

I spoke over the weekend with a radical Islamist here, and he told me, "Look, look at the differences between Hezbollah and al Qaeda." And he really is -- this Islamist I spoke to really is in al Qaeda's camp. And he has scant respect for Hezbollah at the moment.

And he said, "Where is Hezbollah's call for a jihad? Where is their call for a fight in the name of god?" which is where al Qaeda is coming from. Al Qaeda wants a global caliphate.

He said Hezbollah has never called for that sort of thing here. So even he saw huge differences between al Qaeda and Hezbollah.

Certainly, from the reception that it seems to have had with people we talked to here, Wolf, it's not resonating. Al Qaeda's message is not resonating.

It is cause for concern. And it's cause for concern for officials, too, because in an official but unpublished report that CNN has had access to here, in the past couple of years this report came to the conclusion that there is grounds for believing that al Qaeda has tried to create groups here in Lebanon, but more in the south where it's lawless, and in particular in the Palestinian refugee camps there -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, thank you very much.

Nic Robertson, who's covered all of these stories for us for many years.

Let's go to Jack Cafferty in New York.

Jack, it gets complicated trying to understand all the nuances here in the Middle East.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I'm not sure anybody is even capable. The tapes that come out of those -- those al Qaeda leaders, we're going to look at those at 7:00. I have some questions about what they really mean. And my answers probably aren't probably any better than anybody else's, but we'll talk about them. Right now we're going to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah as it continues to rage in southern Lebanon.

There's an indication that most Americans would rather just stay out of it all. There's a new poll that shows a very strong isolationist feeling developing in this country. The poll was done by "The New York Times" and CBS News.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans say the conflict in the Middle East is none of our business. Only 33 percent of those surveyed say the U.S. has a responsibility to try to resolve that problem.

When it comes to what role the U.S. should play in international conflicts in general, 31 percent say we should take the lead, but a whopping 59 percent say the United States ought to let other countries and the United Nations take charge. And compare that to four years ago, when the public was almost evenly split on that very same topic.

So here's the question: Should the U.S. take the lead when it comes to international conflicts, or should we stay out?

E-mail us, CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jack, thank you.

Up ahead, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expected to return to this part of the world this weekend. The latest on the diplomatic efforts to try to end this Middle East crisis.

Also coming up, my tour of northern Israel in a Black Hawk helicopter. We're going to give you some new perspective on the fighting, one that you can only appreciate from the air.

Plus, it's been overshadowed by fighting here, but the violence in Iraq is reaching a deadly new level. We're going to take you to Baghdad for the latest.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're following all of the latest developments in the crisis in the Middle East, including the possible return of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice here to Jerusalem this weekend.

Our chief national correspondent, John King, is covering the diplomatic fallout.

Not much progress in Rome where you were, John. You're here, standing by, getting ready for her potentially to come back.

What are you hearing now? Is there any hope that there's going to be progress in the coming days?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is no cease- fire deal in sight, to put it flatly. You do see on public display today the very differences that prevented a deal on a cease-fire yesterday at the emergency summit in Rome.

European Union delegations here today meeting with the Israeli defense minister. Also meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert.

The European message was, don't interpret the fact that we didn't cut a cease-fire deal yesterday, that we couldn't get an agreement on a cease-fire deal as a green light for Israeli military operations. They say they want the violence to stop, the killing to stop as soon as possible. Immediately, in their few.

But listen to President Bush at the White House earlier today. The White House has a very different take. The president says a piece of paper that says "stop the fighting" serves no purpose if Hezbollah still has rockets, if you haven't dealt with the other longer-term security issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not a fake piece, not a fake -- circumstances that make us all feel better, then sure enough the problem arises again. And that's the goal of the United States. And we're working toward that end, and working hard diplomatically.

Look, as soon as we can get this resolved, the better, obviously. But it must be real and it can't be fake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Real, in the president's view, Wolf, means some sort of a deal to either disarm Hezbollah or get Hezbollah significantly degraded.

U.S. officials say while the public line from the White House is Hezbollah needs to disarm in any cease-fire deal, they under that's not going to happen immediately. So, number one, they support the Israeli military effort to degrade Hezbollah as much as possible. And number two, they're trying to put the security force together with a very robust mandate because they realize if and when there is a cease- fire deal and this force goes into southern Lebanon, it may end up even having to fight some Hezbollah militias.

BLITZER: And so, it's not going to be NATO.

KING: Right.

BLITZER: That, I take it, is out of the question because there has to be consensus, and some of the NATO countries don't want to be involved. But a lot of European countries, presumably, are ready to go in there and maybe even fight.

KING: Yes, most of the troops will be from NATO countries, but it will not be a NATO command. It will be a U.N.-mandated force, a U.N.-endorsed force. But it will not be a U.N.-commanded force. The Security Council will endorse it.

We know of four countries so far that say they're inclined to participate. They are Norway, Italy, France and the Turks. That was escaping me for a minute.

BLITZER: Turkey is a very important NATO ally.

KING: Right. Yes, it is.

BLITZER: It's a Muslim country as well.

John, thank you very much.

Blasted buildings, battered bodies, shattered lives that continue to be the situation along the lines between Israel and Hezbollah. But today, that was also the grim scene in Iraq. Rockets rained down on an upscale Baghdad neighborhood, simply flattening an apartment complex.

CNN's Arwa Damon has more -- Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Iraqi police were pulling bodies well into the night here in Baghdad as the death toll from that complex attack continues to rise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): Through the thick smoke, the luckiest escape. As the dust settles, those unharmed help the walking wounded. Some carry the limp bodies of the dead.

Rescue workers rush to help others trapped beneath the rubble. Dozens killed, over 100 wounded after a car bomb, mortars and Katyusha rockets devastated a central Baghdad neighborhood.

A complex attack. Its specific target is unknown.

Attacks like this in commercial areas take not only a civilian toll, they also deal severe blows to Iraq's already failing economy. State-owned TV was the first to broadcast the devastating images, and angry reaction from the scene.

"We are asking," this man says, "where is the security plan that the government promised us?"

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: Whether or not an increase in U.S. and Iraqi troops in the capital will actually decrease the violence remains to be scene. But until that plan is put into action, the death toll here will likely continue to rise -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Arwa, thank you.

And as Baghdad remains a city under siege, there are new developments in the recently announced plan to put more American boots on the ground in Iraq. Some U.S. troops who thought they were coming home will have to remain in Iraq longer.

Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, broke this story for us yesterday. He's standing by now with more details -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said just a few minutes ago that, while he has granted permission for those troops to stay up to four months beyond their tour in Iraq, it remains to be seen exactly how long they'll have to stay in that deadly part of Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice-over): The need for battle-tested troops with top-of-the-line vehicles has prompted General George Casey to order an Army brigade equipped with Stryker armored vehicles to stay in Iraq as much as four months beyond its scheduled 12-month deployment. Breaking the Pentagon's promise to U.S. troops that they will only serve one year in Iraq is something that had to be personally approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: If you extend somebody is there some disappointment that they won't be home when they thought they might be home? Sure. And -- but, as I say, these are -- this is professional military, and they're doing a superb job.

MCINTYRE : While about 200 of the soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team based in Alaska have already left Iraq after a year-long tour, 3,500 of the remaining soldiers now in Mosul have been told they will go to Baghdad instead of going home.

REP. IKE SKELTON (D), MISSOURI: What this does with that particular brigade is it's going to cause morale problems with the troops and also with their families who are expecting them to come home at the end of the year.

MCINTYRE: The Army has prepared messages to the families of the affected troops who will likely to be eligible for pay bonuses but will get no firm promises of how much longer they will have to stay in the war zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE: And Wolf, you can just imagine how the families feel about this. I was just appearing on a radio talk show in which a family member calmed in and said she was simply disgusted. She said she can't imagine, after being there a year and getting up every morning to listen to see about the latest casualty figures, to then find out that her nephew in this case wasn't going to be home when they thought. She said it's just extremely disappointing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It underscores how stretched this U.S. military happens to be right now.

Jamie, thanks very much. Coming up, they've been bitterly divided for centuries. But is the fighting between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah now bringing Sunni and Shiite Muslims together?

Plus, we're going to show you what I saw in an exclusive aerial tour over the war zone in northern Israel. I went up in a Black Hawk helicopter with a top Israeli general.

That's coming up.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're reporting from Jerusalem on the crisis in the Middle East. Let's get an update now.

Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant vowing al Qaeda will stand with Muslims in Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, and that Israel and its allies might pay.

Might that be the beginning of a terrorist alliance?

Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is in Washington and has more -- Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Wolf, the videotaped message from Ayman al-Zawahiri signals that al Qaeda is trying to get in on the Middle East conflict.

How scary is that?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Two theaters of conflict in the Middle East. Iraq, intensifying sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites. The latest clash in an ancient religious feud.

JUAN COLE, UNIV. OF MICHIGAN: If you started getting into theology with the street in Cairo or Jordan and asked them what they thought about Shiite Muslims, they'd say that they were heretics.

SCHNEIDER: Lebanon, Hezbollah goes to battle with Israel and scores a big propaganda victory.

BERNARD HAYKEL, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Virtually every Sunni Muslim brotherhood organization has expressed support for Hezbollah, a Shiite organization. That immediately means that al Qaeda is losing support in the Sunni world. So it's definitely a setback for al Qaeda.

SCHNEIDER: Now, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's number two man, has issued a message calling on all Muslims to join the war with Israel. Al Qaeda is Sunni, Hezbollah is Shiite. Are terrorists uniting across the sectarian divide? Not exactly says this expert. HAYKEL: One should not assume that al Qaeda would just join ranks with Hezbollah and then start fighting Israel. First of all, Hezbollah won't permit al Qaeda to do this. And secondly, Hezbollah is as much an enemy to al Qaeda as Israel is.

SCHNEIDER: Shiites are a minority in the Arab world. So Hezbollah may be willing to put aside sectarian differences, even in Iraq.

HAYKEL: The model of politics and of resistance that Hezbollah is presenting is one that can potentially transcend sectarian differences and has implications for Iraq.

SCHNEIDER: Peace in Iraq? Al Qaeda will never agree to that.

HAYKEL: Al Qaeda will make sure that sectarianism rears its head and continues to rear its head in Iraq.

SCHNEIDER: In Professor Haykel's view, al Qaeda and Hezbollah are not uniting, they're competing for leadership of the anti-Israel cause. And that could make them more dangerous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHNEIDER (on camera): Professor Haykel says al Qaeda expects this war to weaken both Hezbollah and Israel and then al Qaeda can attack both of its enemies -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bill Schneider, thank you. We've seen some amazing images from this region over the past two weeks. But earlier today, we've got an entirely different perspective as we took to the skies over Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The U.S. made Blackhawk helicopter waits to take Israeli air force Brigadier General Ido Nehushtan and us to the war. We fly north to the relatively low level along Israel's Mediterranean coastline toward Haifa and beyond.

BRIG. GEN. IDO NEHUSHTAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: We're approaching the Karmiel region and will eventually end up in Haifa.

BLITZER: The further north we go, the less traffic we see along the coastal highway. And that's with good reason, since Hezbollah rockets have been reigning down over Northern Israel by the hundreds for more than two weeks. Many Israeli citizens living in those areas have relocated for their own safety.

Haifa, the city of some 200,000 under normal circumstances is drained. We fly over warehouses, factories and garages, including one struck by a rocket the other day, killing eight people working inside. The huge port area, usually full of cargo ships from around the world is largely empty, so are the beautiful Mediterranean beaches nearby.

The beaches are empty. There's no traffic. NEHUSHTAN: The port is empty, beach is empty. All the traffic -- very little traffic in the streets. No people out. It's as if there is no life, and this is the third largest city in Israel.

BLITZER: We continue north from Haifa, about 20 miles.

NEHUSHTAN: We're now approaching the border with Lebanon.

BLITZER: Flying overhead underscores how tiny these areas are.

NEHUSHTAN: To the right is the (INAUDIBLE). This area makes a living from tourism and hotel industries, nothing there now.

BLITZER: We can easily see Lebanon, but we don't fly there. We stay completely on the Israeli side. As destructive as this side of the border is, I know it's a lot more destructive on the other, the result of heavy Israeli shelling and air strikes. General Nehushtan knows that as well.

NEHUSHTAN: They are risking their lives here and on the other side.

BLITZER: Some 90 minutes after we took off back near Tel Aviv, we touched down at a military base near Haifa. The sights were spectacular, the story so heart-breaking.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Still to come, my one on one interview with that Israeli General who was aboard the Blackhawk with us. Israel says it wants to remove Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. I'll ask General Nehushtan how realistic that really is. And they are people most affected by what's happening here in the Middle East. Innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. We'll share their agonies as they're posted online. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's check out some of the hot shots coming in from our friends over at the "Associated Press", pictures likely to be in your hometown newspapers tomorrow. In Tyre, in southern Lebanon, a hole ripped right through the roof of a Red Cross ambulance. It was hit by an Israeli missile on Sunday. Amazingly, all of the passengers survived the attack. In northern Israel, an Israeli soldier waves a capture Hezbollah flag after fighting in southern Lebanon.

In Nahariya, also in northern Israel, two plumbers pump sewage from a bomb shelter. Most of the town has been hunkered down in shelters, while Hezbollah rockets have pummeled the city above. Downtown Beirut, pigeons enjoy bread crumbs in an abandoned outdoor cafe. The continuing warfare has brought Lebanon's tourism to a standstill. Some of today's hot shots, pictures often worth a thousand words.

Let's move on now to the fierce fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. It's now in its 16th day here in the Middle East. Israel as you know is a highly advanced fighting force. Hezbollah is a gorilla group with far less military capabilities. But did Israel underestimate Hezbollah's ability to fight. Our Brian Todd joining us from Washington with more. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, coming off a tough couple of days for Israeli forces, there seems to be more questions than answers right now about where Israel is in this campaign and where it's going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Heavy casualties in the field, a mixed message at headquarters. Israel's defense minister says his forces are prepared to fight an extended campaign against Hezbollah. But the security cabinet turns down a request for military commanders to launch an expanded offensive, staying with the strategy of trying to take small pockets at a time. Some military experts believe those conflicting messages are designed as misinformation to throw off the enemy. Others say it's a signal of confusion, one thing they agree on, Israel misjudged Hezbollah.

COL. PATRICK LANG (RET.), MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: They grossly under estimated their enemy and their enemy's willingness to fight, and ability to fight, not as gorillas, but as guys who would hang around and defend these little rocky villages and ledges and caves and things like that.

TODD: Experts say Hezbollah's military capability was not a mystery, that Israel knew their manpower and missile ranges. They say Israel's immediate goal of establishing a two kilometer buffer zone along the border is likely a stop gap.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Brian, if the Israelis can push the Hezbollah north of the Litani River, it gives them protection from a 12 mile range of the Katyusha rockets. Hezbollah has other rockets that go all the way out to 120 miles. It takes a lot of territory to protect Israel.

TODD: One analyst says, another potential problem for Israel is that a reserve based army is only conditioned to fight shorter wars. But a top Israeli general indicates the IDF is ready for the long haul with Hezbollah.

GEN. MICHAEL HERZOG, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: In this type of asymmetric warfare, when you have a military confronting a terror group, that blends in civilian population, acts from within civilian population, these things take time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on-camera): So for now, its pocket fighting, one bunker, ridge line or village at a time. Analysts say that might have to be the strategy for at least the next few weeks because air power does not seem to be working militarily or politically. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian, thank you. So what is Israel's strategy? Just a little while earlier today, I spoke with Israeli Brigadier General Ido Nehushtan, he's a top member of Israel's general staff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: General, we just spent an hour and a half flying over the northern part of Israel taking a look at the situation. I was struck by how empty it is. You see beautiful pictures, you see beautiful scenery, you don't see a whole lot of people, and you only see a few cars.

NEHUSHTAN: This has been going on for 15 days now, this is like a postcard. Beautiful place, no life. And you're talking about 10 to 12 percent of Israel's population. You're talking about close to 150 cities, villages and towns. Industries, people working their farms, agriculture (INAUDIBLE), no life. This is the situation.

BLITZER: How long could Israel go on with this kind of situation? Because I saw the port of Haifa pretty much empty, no boats, no ships coming in. It looks like the economy is grinding to a halt at least in the northern part of the country.

NEHUSHTAN: This is pretty much the case, but I believe and we see (INAUDIBLE) that the people of the country are determined to, once and for all, remove this sword that was held on their neck for so long.

BLITZER: But can you do that? Can you remove that Hezbollah threat? They seem to be well integrated into that fiber of southern Lebanon?

NEHUSHTAN: Yes, southern Lebanon, this administration here is very close by, you've seen the proximities. Haifa is 20 miles from the border with Lebanon. And the south of Lebanon is the stronghold of the Hezbollah, but, we have to do our best to provide security for all these people there, and our waiting, living in shelters, or fleeing south. It's a very complicated mission.

Because, you see, these people live under the threat because they're being targeted as civilians. People that target them are terrorists (INAUDIBLE). Discriminating civilians from terrorists is very difficult for us. It's an army of ethics. We have to give our best shot and I believe that we are going there. It's a slow process.

BLITZER: What's happening today?

NEHUSHTAN: Well yesterday we have a rough day, some casualties as you well know in Bint Jbeil, which is the capital of Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon. We killed quite a few terrorists over there. Today, we still continue the operation without going into details, in the vicinity of Bint Jbeil, and alongside the border line, in order to change the reality to what's existing over there two weeks ago. Air strikes are still going and Katyushas still coming.

BLITZER: How many Katyushas so far today as we speak, do you know?

NEHUSHTAN: We find out before we took off, roughly 25. But we averaged 100 or more a day. Yesterday was a rough day, particularly (INAUDIBLE). Also including here in the vicinity of Haifa. Yes, this situation is intolerable. But I think you got a sense from the helicopter that -- you see how quiet it is here now?

We're on the ground with Haifa. This is a ghost town. This is the third largest city in Israel. Huge industry, lot of life. It's Thursday, noon time, no one outside. This situation is intolerable. And last but not least, the question that we discussed. Why is all that? Why?

Because we left Lebanon six years ago. No dispute with Lebanon, no business with Lebanese government or people. We (INAUDIBLE), we love to make peace with them. But it's an agenda that is well projected from Iran. They are lead by extreme organization of terrorism, the Hezbollah that has to literally emanated unprovoked attack from Lebanon. This is cause of this (INAUDIBLE).

BLITZER: The strategy, you're confident in your military strategy that you have a plan that will work in terms of securing the northern part of Israel?

NEHUSHTAN: The Jewish state is all about providing state for the Jewish people and the Israeli citizens. And the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces is all about protecting the people of Israel. This is what we aim to do, this is our mission, we will do it all the way.

BLITZER: Thanks very much general.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And citizen journalists on the front lines continuing to post their intimate photos online. Let's bring back our internet reporter Jacki Schechner with more. Jacki?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Wolf some very talented photographers taking some very intimate photos and posting them online. These from the group photo log flickr.com. This was taken by a man name Masser, he's a 41 year old journalist and father. He's on the Lebanese side of this conflict, taking a photograph of a home in the center of Tyre.

He says was hit by Israeli missiles, laser-guided bombs. Here an image of the same house he says destroyed in the center of Tyre. Also this photograph of a refugee, a woman in southern Lebanon. He posted when he put this photo up that he wanted to interview her to get some more information for the photograph, but he judged that she was too distressed and he couldn't speak to her at the time.

Over on the Israeli side of the conflict, we have a 26-year-old photojournalist named Nieve Calderon and he's right on the frontlines with the Israeli soldiers. In a town here called Avivim. I want to show you just how close this town is to the Lebanese border. Here you have Lebanon, here's the border and here's Avivim, so we're right on the border there again.

Let me show you just how close this is. You can see the soldiers there. Another photograph here of a mortar shell attack he says on Avivim, its south. And then there's this photograph that he took of a rocket in a town called Moura. It went right through the ceiling of a home and it killed a 15-year-old girl. Now Nieve tells us this is in fact the same 15-year-old girl that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was killed in the rocket attack on that town. We made it very easy for you to find these photos. Go to CNN.com/situationreport. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right Jacki thanks. Let's get up to New York, Lou Dobbs standing by to tell us what's coming up right at the top of the hour. Lou?

LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf thank you very much. Coming up at 6:00 eastern here on CNN we'll have much more for you on the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The Arab League Ambassador to the United Nations is among our guests here tonight. Also, defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered thousands of our troops to stay in Iraq longer than planned as violence in Baghdad is escalating. We'll be going live to Baghdad and the pentagon.

We'll examine the pentagon's efforts to manipulate the language it uses to describe this war and its conduct. Also, alarming testimony today on Capitol Hill about the Senate's amnesty bill. Witnesses said the legislation would make it easier for terrorists and criminals to enter this country. The chairman of the committee that held the hearing today, Congressman John Hostetler joins us.

And it appears e-voting machines are an even greater threat to our democracy than first thought. We'll have a special report tonight on what was nothing less than an absolute electoral disaster for e- voting and voters in a primary election in Ohio. We hope you'll be with us for all of that and a great deal more, coming up at the top of the hour here on CNN. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Lou, sounds good, thank you very much. And up ahead, Jack Cafferty is asking this question. How and when should the sole remaining super power flex its muscles? Should the U.S. take the lead in international conflicts or just stay out of them? Jack with your e-mail, that's coming up. And in our 7:00 p.m. eastern hour, more on al Qaeda's vow to stand with Hezbollah. We'll have the latest on that front as well. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem. More on the crisis in the Middle East coming up. First let's go back to Zain, she's in Washington with a closer look at some other important stories making news right now. Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, the Senate could be headed to another showdown over President Bush's pick for U.S. ambassador to the U.N. The Foreign Relations Committee today began a new round of confirmation hearings for John Bolton. Mr. Bush sent into the U.N. with a recess appointment after Democrats blocked his nomination last year. Bolton told the panel he's helped reform the U.N. bureaucracy and has pushed the U.N. Security Council for a stronger response to North Korea's missile test.

The landmark voting rights act has officially gotten a new lease on life. From the White House south lawn today, President Bush signed a 25 year extension to the 1965 law. He promised to vigorously enforce it. Civil rights leaders attended today's signing. The historic measure outlined racist voting practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests that were aimed at keeping minorities from the ballot box.

The man responsible for the so-called Big Dig tunnel project in Boston's resigned. Matthew Amorello's last day will be August the 15th. He's been under intense pressure to resign for the past two weeks, after a huge slab of concrete broke free from the tunnel ceiling and crushed a woman to death.

Near record profits for Exxon Mobil, thanks to soaring oil prices. Its second quarter profits surged to nearly $10.5 billion. That comes to $1,318 a second. It's the second largest profit ever reported by a U.S. company. It ranks only behind the $10.7 billion in profits Exxon earned for the fourth quarter of 2005. Back to Wolf in Jerusalem.

BLITZER: Thank you, Zain. Up next, Jack Cafferty asks should the U.S. take the lead when it comes to international conflicts, or stay out. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Let's check in with Jack once again in New York. Jack?

CAFFERTY: Wolf, a new poll out suggests a lot of Americans feel like the United States ought to take a more isolationist approach to world affairs and tend to our knitting here at home. So the question we ask this hour, is should the U.S. take the lead when it comes to international conflicts or should the U.S. stay out? Got a lot of mail.

Shirley wrote, "It began with the crusades, East is East, West is West and never the twain shall meet. We should also offer help in a disaster, but not help to create disaster. When people are held down by government, they will rebel when they're ready."

Ed writes from Atlanta, Georgia, the United States has a long history of a preference for isolationism. And at every step of our history, the isolationist tendency has served us poorly. It's only when the U.S. is involved in world events that civilization and Western democracy have progressed."

Ed writes from Long Beach, California, "This administration can't secure our borders. How could they possibly understand how to address a world conflict?"

Curtis from Portland, Maine, "Jack I don't think we have a choice but to take the lead. Our interests are everywhere. However, over the last six years our moral authority in the world has been erased. Our moral footing has eroded. How can we lead, when we no longer know what we stand for?"

Z writes in Washington, "The answer simply is yes. We are the super power in the world and we have the influence it takes to solve problems. Whether the problem is ours right now or not, it will eventually become our problem."

Joe writes from Atlanta, Georgia, "We should stay the hell out of these things unless we're willing to use overwhelming force to get the job done swiftly. We have never learned this lesson since Vietnam.

"The U.S. should take the lead," writes Jay, "any time we have the wisdom, leadership and resources to be able to influence participants toward a positive outcome. That being the case and under the present circumstances, we should out."

And Leo writes from Olympia, Washington, "Where does it say we're the only country that's capability of solving world problems. I'm getting tired of wearing a white hat and super dude cape. Let's wear our underwear on the inside for a while and let the rest of the world deal with their own problems."

If you didn't see your email here, tough. All right no, you can go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile and read more of them, we post some of them online each and ever hour. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: I actually read some of those emails. Jack, thanks very much. We'll see you back here in one hour, we're in THE SITUATION ROOM, weekday afternoons, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern, back at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Let's go to Lou Dobbs, he's standing by in New York. Lou?

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