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CNN Sunday Morning

Crisis in the Middle East Escalates

Aired July 23, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: OK now we'll go to Fionnuala Sweeney right now who is watching the story for us out of Haifa. Fionnuala?
FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, yes, we've just heard an air raid siren which just ended in the last couple of minutes. I don't know whether or not you can hear me correctly, there's a lot of wind here in Haifa. But this is the third air raid warning siren we've had. And we're now waiting for what is the usual sequence of explosions. We're not hearing anything as yet, but it's just an indication of just how intense things are. I'm going to move back to the live shot position here to the microphone and hopefully you can hear me a little better. You're looking at a view of Haifa right now, the bay of Haifa. Earlier today we had several rockets rain down on this Israeli port city, just 20 kilometers from the Lebanese border and then shortly after that six rockets hit Israel, killing two people and injuring 10 others. Three fell directly on the university here known as the Technion, where the 12 people were injured and also two people dead. One person when he was traveling in his car was hit by shrapnel as he was driving and the other person was killed elsewhere in the city.

So it is really quite tense here and usually there are about several air raid siren warnings that happen during the day, but yesterday there were no direct impacts with the nine air raid sirens we had, but now it would appear that Hezbollah is still capable of hitting Haifa. And I should just say, I think I heard you refer to pictures earlier on that you had from Tyre in Lebanon and how the Israeli military are bombarding that particular area. The reason they're targeting Tyre is because they believe it is from there just across the border here that those Hezbollah rockets are being fired directly on Haifa. And the Israeli military have taken a conscious decision that they are going to target these positions in Tyre in order to try to weaken the Hezbollah capability. Back to you.

LUI: OK, Fionnuala Sweeney there in Haifa, thank you very much.

NGUYEN: Well Israel unleashed a wave of bomb attacks on targets in Lebanon today from Beirut to Sidon to Tyre as we've all been speaking of. CNN's Alessio Vinci is in Beirut with details on this. Alessio?

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Betty. The southern outskirts of Beirut have come under attack overnight. We've counted as many as 11 different strikes in the southern outskirts of the capital. There, of course, the Muslim Shiite, heavy populated by Muslim Shiite and they consider the Hezbollah headquarters there. We understand that a Hezbollah media center has been attacked and destroyed as well. Hezbollah telling us on the ground there that a medical facility was also destroyed although the producer who went along this tour told me that he could not independently verify that indeed it was a medical facility.

Meanwhile, the U.N. top humanitarian official took a tour of the bombed out area of southern Beirut. He said the damage was far more extensive than he had originally imagined, it's horrific, he said. He called again on both sides to stop the fighting. This is a crisis he said that does not end in a military way, but there must be a political solution and that is why he is calling again on a cease- fire. He said he's organizing a major relief supply of as many as 50 trucks, but he said the problem of course is the security conditions of taking and carrying those humanitarian supplies down towards the south. He said the security conditions do not exist. He said he would travel to Israel in the coming days in order to secure some kind of a humanitarian convoy for these supplies. But for the time being, he said, people in southern Lebanon as well as his own people who are supposed to deliver these supplies are not safe. Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: Both Kofi Annan and Jan Egeland have both talked about the possibility of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. Talk to me about what you've seen on the ground. I know you're in Beirut. But an influx of people are coming to the north, where are they going? Where are they staying? What kind of a situation is it on the ground?

VINCI: Look, the crisis is definitely taking place in the southern part of the country, not here in Beirut. The World Health Organization has estimated as many as 600,000 people are on the move I think here in Beirut perhaps between 40 and 60,000 have arrived. Most of them have been hosted in schools and facilities that are now shut for the summer breaks and so these people are beginning to get some kind of a relief supplies that were already here in the country. But, of course, the biggest problem is getting the medical supplies and the water and the food down toward the south. That is what the secretary- general and Egeland are referring to. The fact that in the south there is absolutely no freedom of movement and it is extremely difficult, not just because of the air strikes but just because of the security situation, but also because the roads and the bridges have been bombed out and it is very difficult to move from the north to the south and therefore these large trucks that carry tons and tons of supplies cannot travel on those dirt roads that have now been opened in order to travel from each side of the country.

NGUYEN: Such a difficult situation. Alessio Vinci joining us from Beirut with some really good insight. Thank you Alessio.

I want to get straight to CNN's Randi Kaye at the international desk. As I understand there are some new developments, some breaking news to tell us about. Randi what do you have?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're still working that story Betty on the reports of the freelance female journalist that we were getting that was killed along the Israeli-Lebanese border on the Lebanese side in Lebanon. We are getting more reports from the Arab networks and from witnesses in that area. Al Jazeera is reporting, also the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, is also reporting this freelance female journalist, a photojournalist, who we're told according to colleagues, supplied photographs to several international organizations was killed as a result of military action on the Lebanese side this morning. We'll tell you more about that in a moment. We want to get right to Karl Penhaul who is in the city of Tyre, the port city of Tyre, which is under Israeli air strikes as we speak. Karl, what can you tell us?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As we speak Randi Israeli warplanes are carrying out bombing runs in the skies over Tyre in the course of the last ten minutes we've heard six or seven bombs. We assume they're 500-pound bombs falling to the south of the city's coastal area, that is and also off to the east which is a hilly area, it's difficult to tell exactly what the intended targets there are. These positions are possibly about a mile and a half or two miles from where we are now. But what we have seen in the course of this morning is that civilians are continuing to fall victim to these air strikes. In the (INAUDIBLE) just on the outskirts of Tyre, we saw a family of six, they had been trying to flee the fighting in a family car trying to make it into the city of Tyre and their vehicle was hit by some kind of Israeli air strike. Not sure whether that was a bomb or a missile. The father of the family died and two young children are severely burned and one of the doctors in that hospital says he believes that there may have been phosphorous in some of those bombs, Randi?

KAYE: I want to let Betty step in here. Betty, you have a question?

NGUYEN: Yeah I have a question for you. Karl we were just speaking with Fionnuala Sweeney in Haifa and she says the shelling that is hitting Tyre is because Israelis believe a lot of the shelling from Hezbollah is originating in Tyre and hitting the city of Haifa. So that being the case, not only are you seeing shelling come into Tyre, but are you also hearing shelling originate in Tyre, headed to the Israeli side of the border?

PENHAUL: We have heard Betty short bursts of fire leaving the surrounding areas of Tyre. We're just going to pan across, Betty, because just as you've asked that question there, we have a white plume of smoke about three -- let's say two miles from our position, a plume of white smoke heading into the sky and that is outgoing fire. Outgoing fire. That comes from some kind of rocket or missile being fired by Hezbollah militia fighters in that position. We've counted three rockets or missiles going up from that barrage and those are headed towards Israel. The position where we are here in Tyre about 10 miles from the border. Those missiles and rockets on their way now. Obviously unclear whether from that position they're headed toward Haifa, but certainly to the other side of the Israeli border.

We're also told in this part of the country, in this part of south Lebanon that Hezbollah militia fighters, stay on that (INAUDIBLE), we'll stay on that plume there because what has been happening, Betty is as soon as the Israeli warplanes have a fix on any of the sites where Hezbollah militia fighters are firing from, then the warplanes come in and pound those areas with those 500-pound bombs. There are also these unmanned Israeli aerial drones in the sky at all times and they're on reconnaissance missions looking exactly for what we've just seen, those Hezbollah firing positions. And as I was saying, unclear what types of missiles or rockets those may have been. It looks like they may actually have been bigger than the Katyusha rockets. And so we'll see now where those warplanes did in fact come in Betty.

NGUYEN: We're getting some news out of Iraq that we have to report right now. But of course we're going to come right back to you as well throughout this show. Thank you so much for that update and we'll be checking in with you very shortly. In the meantime, Richard what do you have?

LUI: Betty, well what we're hearing right now is there have been developments in Iraq, specifically, Saddam Hussein. Arwa Damon has the latest on that. He is hospitalized, is that correct, Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Richard. Yes, that is correct. According to chief prosecutor Jaafar Al-Moussawi, who we just spoke to, we did confirm that Saddam Hussein has been hospitalized because of this hunger strike that he and three other co- defendants have been on. They have been on a hunger strike since the 7th of July, according to the U.S. military, drinking only coffee with sugar and water with minerals. Now the U.S. military has said that doctors are constantly available for the defendants. When we contacted them asking about Saddam Hussein's situation, whether or not he had been hospitalized he said that they had not heard anything at that point but that they would be looking into that, Richard.

LUI: Another twist in that trial there in Iraq. Also violence today both in Kirkuk and Baghdad. What are the latest numbers you have on that?

DAMON: That's right. In Kirkuk, according to the Iraqi police, 18 Iraqi civilians have died, at least a hundred were wounded. Now this happened when a car bomb went off just outside of the Kirkuk courthouse. This is on a main road that also has many shops on it. According to the Iraqi police, they said that at that point in time when the bomb detonated just after 12:00 here local time, it would have been very crowded. This comes on the heels of another deadly attack that took place in the morning at 9:00 in the morning in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. That Shia suburb, home to some 2 million Iraqis. A suicide car bomber detonating his explosives in the market there, killing at least 32, wounding another 65. And Richard, both of these attacks underscore just how difficult normal day to day life here has become in Iraq. Right now average Iraqis will pause and ask themselves if even a trip to the market to buy fruits and vegetables is worth the risk, Richard.

LUI: Arwa Damon, thank you very much for that in Iraq.

NGUYEN: Well as the fighting continues in the Middle East, we will take a closer look at the Israeli endgame in Lebanon. What is that endgame and this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're standing in a hospital. This is actually a hospital glass obviously all around and this is a patient care room right here. You can see what's happened ere. The glass actually went through, some of that struck the patient, the patients were injured. About 30 patients were injured during this particular air strike.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Patients being treated for their wounds again, caught in a cross fire. Dr. Sanjay Gupta hosts a special live weekend "HOUSE CALL" from Beirut. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in just a moment.

LUI: And what we're seeing as you see on the screen right now, live shots out of Haifa, we're getting more reports of rocket attacks. We'll have more right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Hello, once again I'm Randi Kaye on CNN's international desk. We want to show you the very latest happening in Haifa, Israel right now. Two people were killed earlier this morning. We're looking at some more air strikes happening at this moment in the city of Haifa. We also understand that the French foreign minister had to take cover under a stairway in that city when sirens were warning of Hezbollah rocket attacks. We're talking about the Katyusha rockets that have been fired into Haifa. We understand also that some of the activity that we've been seeing in the port city of Tyre today is a result of what may be happening in Haifa. What we understand is that the Israeli air strikes may be targeting Tyre because they believe that the Hezbollah forces have been firing rockets using Tyre as a base and firing their Katyusha rockets across the border into Haifa from Tyre. So once again, we are getting some live pictures in from the city of Haifa with some new air strikes. That is all from the international desk as we speak. Betty?

NGUYEN: All right thank you, Randi.

Well events unfolding this hour in the Middle East crisis. Here is what we know. We've seen live pictures of bombing in Tyre, Lebanon within just the past few minutes. One person was killed there in bombings earlier today.

Now sirens sounded in the Israeli city of Haifa. Within just the last few minutes, two people were killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks in Haifa earlier. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the region today. The Bush administration says its focus is on a strategy for confronting Hezbollah.

LUI: Well Betty meanwhile, Hezbollah fires, Israeli forces fire right back. It's a destructive and deadly tit for tat, but as CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports for us, Israeli forces are armed and ready.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten days of fierce Israeli air and tank bombardment and the Katyusha rockets are still falling on northern Israel. A small Israeli armored unit waiting by the border watches a fire fighting plane trying to douse flames spreading along the hillside. At a briefing near the front, the Israeli army shows reporters some of the ammunition, anti-tank rockets and other weapons it said its soldiers have captured after battling Hezbollah militants on the ground in southern Lebanon. They call those in and out missions.

(on camera): From the army chief on down, the Israeli military is now not talking about an invasion. All these tanks and troops, it says, are designed to reinforce the current, quote, "limited ground incursion underway." Separately, diplomatic sources tell CNN that this activity could last another several weeks with potentially a cease-fire in place in about three weeks' time. But one that's backed by a political solution that envisages the Lebanese army and a robust new international force taking over in southern Lebanon.

(voice-over): In the meantime, the Israeli army says it's trying to make a Hezbollah-free zone by hitting them hard on the ground. So with leaflets, loud speakers and flares, the Israelis are trying to get the Lebanese civilians to move out.

LT. COL. YISHAI EFRONI, WESTERN BRIGADE, ISRAELI ARMY: I urge them to leave as soon as possible, why? Because Hezbollah is still shooting, and because they're shooting, we want to stop the shooting, we shoot back.

AMANPOUR: As this commanding general says, Israeli forces want to open fire freely. Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Zari, northern Israel.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Let's get right to CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney in Haifa, Israel. And Fionnuala when we were speaking with Karl Penhaul just moments ago, we saw one of the outgoing rockets on that side of the border. What are you seeing on your side?

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's quite extraordinary because that was only a couple of minutes ago and the air raid sirens going off for the second time in 15 minutes and this time we did hear impacts of rockets landing on the ground. Now it's too early to say, to know where the rockets have landed and whether or not anyone has been injured. But coming from Tyre, that is where the Israeli military are trying to bombard those positions, they believe Hezbollah is firing all their rockets towards Haifa from that Tyre area. And it's also an indication that even though clearly Tyre is being bombarded quite strongly, that it's not having very much of an impact on Hezbollah attacks on Haifa. Two people were killed earlier today when the first of bombardments happened around a quarter to 11:00, that was about four hours ago. Two people killed, 10 injured and this, as I say, the fourth strike towards Haifa this day. So it remains a very tense city. Betty?

NGUYEN: Fionnuala Sweeney joining us from Haifa as the shelling just goes back and forth today. Thank you for that Fionnuala. Richard, what do you have?

LUI: Well Betty talking about that shelling and those rockets, Katyushas coming out of Tyre, we're now going to stop by and visit with retired army brigadier general David Grange from Oakbrook, Illinois this morning to give us some perspective on what is actually happening today. A very good morning to you, General Grange?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Good morning.

LUI: So we have just watched shots, live shots coming out of Tyre of these Katyusha rockets being launched then landing in Haifa and other parts in northern Israel. Why is -- in terms of Hezbollah in Lebanon, why is Hezbollah still able to make these rocket attacks despite making a retreat as we've been reporting?

GRANGE: Well you know as you can see, look where they're firing the rockets from. They're firing from built up areas in the city of Tyre. And so they're hiding their rockets in civilian homes, buildings throughout the area. Very hard to counter fire. How do you strike back, keep down the civilian casualties? And that's the difference in the exchange of fire if you noticed. The firing from the Hezbollah targets civilian-populated areas to induce terror and fear. The response is against a military target and that's what you deal with when you fight guerrilla-type warfare.

LUI: Well General Grange talking about a guerrilla-type warfare, let's bring in what has happened in Iraq with insurgency responses. Also Hezbollah known for using insurgency-type responses just back in 1982 with the idea. Then might we see another element added here where Katyusha rockets are also part of this undeterminable force in the south of Lebanon?

GRANGE: Yes. Keep in mind, there's four capabilities that the Hezbollah will use extensively to negate the promise of the Israeli military. One is the firing of rockets. The other is terrorist attacks. Whether they be like in Iraq where you have IEDs and suicide bombers, most of the suicide bombers here, but the use of terrorism. Number three, the use of information, information warfare, propaganda. Showing civilian casualties even though they hid a military weapon in a home where the civilian casualties occurred to exploit that with the media. And fourth, if they had the power enough for what North Korea and Iran uses, the threat of nuclear warfare. Those are the four things that a guerrilla or terrorist-type organization or a rogue nation state can use against a super power and you see that here.

LUI: We have been debating this on air for some time and no doubt this is happening down in Lebanon as well as Israel. What is the difference here between an incursion and a full-scale ground assault at this moment? How would you make that definition.

GRANGE: Well, both sides are playing with words in order again, because of the massive 24/7 media covering this conflict, but an invasion is where you really go in at least most of the military talk, you go in and occupy with very large forces. An incursion, you usually go in and you come back out. You do what they call spoiling attacks, raids, and it's not for the long term. LUI: OK, General Grange, thank you very much for that for stopping by today on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

GRANGE: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Looking at a live picture, at least we were just then, of Tyre, Lebanon where the shelling continues between Tyre and Haifa, Israel. We will continue to follow the bombings back and forth between the two. We have much more on this Mideast crisis right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: And welcome back to SUNDAY MORNING. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is still in Beirut.

NGUYEN: Yes, he's going to join us at the half hour for a live special edition of "HOUSE CALL." Today he's talking with Lebanese health officials on the challenges of trying to help injured people inside a war zone. And he joins us live now. Boy, that's got to be a difficult job, Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is an incredibly difficult job. We are live in Beirut Betty and Richard, as you mentioned. There are anywhere between six and eight air strikes here last night. There have also been questions of whether some of those air strikes have actually targeted ambulances and hospitals. We've been trying to get to the bottom of that issue. I'm going to take you inside one of these hospitals that was in fact hit. We will have the Lebanese health minister as well as a representative from the Israeli Ministry of Health as well to try and get to the bottom of that issue. We're live in Beirut in just a few minutes.

NGUYEN: Good information Sanjay, we look forward to it, thank you.

Well how much would you pay to escape a country at war. Next hour, we will meet a family that literally bought their way out of Lebanon. They bought it for much -- it's a very extreme. In fact, $17,000 is the exact number is what they paid. Yeah, it's a lot of money, but was it worth it? I'm sure they would say it was. Stay with us for that.

LUI: We'll find out, but first, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the front lines hosting a special live edition as we just mentioned, of weekend "HOUSE CALL." Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Events unfolding this hour in the Middle East crisis. Here is what we know for you. We've been seeing live images of bombing in Tyre, Lebanon, and the boom of an outgoing Hezbollah rocket. At least one person was killed there in a bombing earlier today. Also sirens again sounded in the Israeli city of Haifa within the past 30 minutes or so. A Hezbollah rocket attack earlier in the day killed two people in Haifa. Then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice heads to the region later today. The Bush administration says its focus is on a strategy for confronting Hezbollah.

We're also going to go now to Randi Kaye who is watching all the latest for us at the international desk. More news out of Syria.

KAYE: We are watching the wires, we're watching the feeds that are coming in here to the international desk. Right now we're getting a report from Reuters, Syria apparently calling for a cease-fire followed by diplomacy to solve the Hezbollah issues. Syria apparently ready to engage the United States in dialogue to solve this crisis on the Israeli-Lebanese border. This would be the first that we've heard from Syria on this issue. Right now we want to get right to Paula Newton who is in the middle of a firefight in northern Israel and see what she can tell us from the ground there. Paula?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are just west of Maroun Al Ras, watching the scuds -- just west of Maroun Al Ras and there has been a firefight continually between IDF forces, Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah. We continue to hear exchanges of fire and helicopters periodically are coming in to fire missiles. It really is evident here Randi that Hezbollah is not surrendering the town of Maroun Al quietly but they apparently (INAUDIBLE) away for as much as 24 to 46 hours now, but then continued to come back out to fight the Israeli forces.

Also, where I am right now quite a staging area. We see troops on the move, we see tanks on the move all going towards the border in this area. It is more of the build up that we've been seeing now for a couple of days, but certainly we do see a lot of forward momentum from this army, Randi?

KAYE: All right, Paula Newton reporting for us live from the border there in northern Israel in the middle of a firefight. Paula thank you very much. We want to take you live now to Beirut for a special edition of HOUSE CALL with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It starts right now.

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