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CNN Saturday Morning News

Rice Back to Israel to Meet with Prime Minister

Aired July 29, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now in the news, Israel rejects a U.N. request for a three day cease-fire for human relief. The Israelis say Hezbollah is blocking safe routes that are already set up.
We have a live report from Jerusalem coming straight up.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has just arrived back in Israel to try to broker an end to the hostilities. She is meeting today with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Rice says she is not carrying a comprehensive peace plan.

Well, it has been called a hate crime. A Muslim man opened fire at a Jewish center in Seattle, killing one woman and wounding five others. A 31-year-old suspect is behind bars.

We have a live report from Seattle straight ahead.

And Nebraska on fire. Check it out -- crews are fighting to control as many as six wildfires in several counties. Authorities say at least 900 residents were evacuated from the town of Chadron as homes just went up in flames. No injuries are reported.

And three more Marines have been killed in Iraq. The military issued a statement today saying the troops died in combat Thursday in the volatile Anbar Province. A fourth Marine also died fighting there that day. That's 2,572 U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the start of the war.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, she was there just four days ago and now she's back, arriving just moments ago. Condoleezza Rice holds crisis talks in the Mideast today, and tense and emotional talks, she predicts.

And a crisis atmosphere in Seattle this morning. Witnesses say a man was randomly shooting at everyone inside a Jewish Center. Both stories in sharp focus this hour on CNN.

It is Saturday, July 29.

And good morning, everyone.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris.

NGUYEN: You're looking good and great today.

HARRIS: Well, you, as well.

Thank you.

NGUYEN: Unplanned, folks. Unplanned.

Good morning, everybody.

I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: More cross border attacks in the Middle East crisis.

Here is what we know right now.

Lebanon says an Israeli air strike on a house today killed a woman and six children. And air raid sirens have been sounding in Haifa, Israel just within the past couple of hours.

Hezbollah is agreeing to a Lebanese government peace plan, but with reservations. The group objects to plans for a robust force of international peacekeepers while it approves an increased international presence.

And Israel is rejecting U.N. calls for a 72-hour cease-fire. The U.N. wants to deliver aid to Lebanese civilians and evacuate those desperate to leave the war zone. But Israel says Hezbollah is blocking safe corridors that already exist.

Let's right to the region live for more on the Israeli decision.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is standing by in Jerusalem -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Tony.

Well, as you say, Condoleezza Rice is back in this country. And in just a few hours time, she'll be meeting with the Israeli promise, Ehud Olmert.

Now, what they'll be discussing is this possible international peacekeeping force, which could be put in place into Southern Lebanon.

Now, she has said that she's not going to come with a concrete peace plan. It's not going to be a case of trying to get both sides to tick the boxes and to make sure they agree. She said there's going to be a lot of give and take, and it will be a very tense and emotional time in discussions between the two.

Now, we also know that Israel has rejected this 72-hour cease- fire that had been called for by the United Nations, saying that there is desperate need for humanitarian aid to get into the places where it hasn't got to so far. We are on the 18th day now of fighting, most notably in Southern Lebanon.

But Israel says it is just not needed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVI PAZNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: There is no need for a 72-hour temporary cease-fire because Israel has opened humanitarian corridors to and from Lebanon. The problem is completely different. It is the Hezbollah who is deliberately preventing the transfer of medical aid and of food to the population of Southern Lebanon in order to create a humanitarian crisis which they want to blame Israel for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, France has said that it is very disappointed with Israel's decision not to allow this temporary cease-fire, saying this humanitarian aid is needed and it is difficult to get it down to Southern Lebanon.

So in just a few hours time, we will be seeing Rice and Olmert meeting once again. At some point, we know she will be talking to the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora. We don't know whether she will be going over the next couple of days or not, but, of course, the last time when she was here, just a few days ago, earlier this week, that particular meeting was only announced at the very last minute for security reasons -- Tony.

HARRIS: Paula, are we under any illusions that what Condoleezza Rice is coming back to the region for is she's asking both sides for a cease-fire?

HANCOCKS: We're not expecting her to ask for an immediate cease- fire. This is what the United States has refrained from doing and also the United Kingdom, with Tony Blair, the prime minister, meeting with Bush in Washington on Friday.

Now, most other countries are asking for an immediate cease-fire. The Lebanese president and prime minister are asking for an immediate cease-fire.

But the United States is saying that this is premature. They're not going to ask for that. They don't want a quick fix. They want to make sure that they're looking at the bigger picture. They can have a longer lasting peace deal and make sure that they're not back in this situation, with Hezbollah launching rockets at northern Israel in five, six or nine months time. That's exactly what Condoleezza Rice said.

So we don't expect an immediate call for a cease-fire.

HARRIS: Yes.

I can't wait to hear what comes out of this latest round of meetings.

Paula Hancocks for us in Jerusalem.

Paula, thank you.

NGUYEN: Well, lots of action in the war zone this morning.

Our John Roberts is with Israeli troops just back from the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil and he joins us live now from northern Israel -- John, tell us about this latest development there. (AUDIO GAP)

JOHN ROBERTS, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

The big news of the day is that the Israeli Army has pulled its forces out of Bint Jbeil. It says there are no more forces inside the city (AUDIO GAP). That city has been the scene of intense fighting over the last four or five days now.

But today, on this Sabbath, this Saturday, there are no troops inside that city.

Now, a lot of these troops have been pulled back. They're in a position (AUDIO GAP)...

NGUYEN: All right, we apologize for that.

We're obviously having a big delay with the satellite feed there, getting John Roberts.

I believe, actually, he was coming to us via broadband.

We'll try to get him back up. Obviously, there has been developments there, as Israeli troops are pulling out of the Bint Jbeil area. And he's going to give us an update on the developments with that, if we can get him back, just very shortly, for you.

In the meantime, later this hour, I'm going to talk with the former Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about his views on this escalating conflict. So you want to stick around for that.

And Khaybar -- the name is well known in the Islamic world.

But what does it mean when it's given to a rocket Hezbollah claims that it's now using?

We're going to find out more from CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd.

That is straight ahead.

HARRIS: And back here in the United States, an American citizen of Pakistani descent is in jail, suspected of shooting six women at a Jewish Center in Seattle. One of them died and police are calling it a hate crime.

CNN's Katherine Barrett is standing by with the latest -- Katherine, good morning.

KATHARINE BARRETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.

This Sabbath morning will be a day of mourning for Seattle's Jewish community, shocked at that shooting which took the life of one woman and has left five others in hospital. At last report, three of those women, ranging in age from 23 to 43, three of them, as I said, were in critical condition. That last report late last night.

All this after a lone gunman -- and police say they're confident he was acting alone -- allegedly forced his way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle office behind me here, a pretty secure office building. But, again, forced his way in, reportedly saying he was a Muslim-American angry at the situation in Israel and started shooting.

Leaders of both Jewish and Muslim communities here, like all Seattleites, are struggling to come to terms with what has been called a hate crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shocking, terrible that somebody would do something like that to hurt innocents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was an act of terrorism. It's something done by one angry group to another because of religious reasons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly, with everything going on in the world right now, that's the first thought that comes to everyone's minds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Muslim community wanted to express its deep sorrow and its condolences to the family and let the public know that we have a wonderful relationship with this interfaith dialogue that we have going on. And we are deeply concerned and hope the authorities will bring these perpetrators of this horrible crime to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARRETT: Now, police say they are stepping up security at both Islamic and Jewish religious sites in the area today and going forward, just in case there is any backlash either way to this event. They do have in custody a 31-year-old man from Eastern Washington, from the Pasco-Tri-Cities Area, named Naveed Afzal Haq. He is booked under charges, one count of murder, five counts of attempted murder. He could be arraigned as early as today. But we will just have to wait for the prosecutors to speak out on that and we will bring you more news as soon as we have it -- Tony.

HARRIS: Katherine Barrett for us in Seattle.

Katherine, thank you.

NGUYEN: Well, you can ride with Anderson Cooper into the world of Hezbollah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have arranged with a Hezbollah representative to get permission to come here. We've been told to pull over to the side of the road and just wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: A fascinating look at the group's media savvy tactics.

Also, I'll talk live with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has strong opinions about the Israeli operation against Hezbollah.

HARRIS: And this story...

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She tells me she remembers nothing of the explosion. Shrapnel went through her leg. Doctors tried to save it, but could not.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: Jewish patients, Arab doctors -- leave your hostility at the hospital door.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us a medical truce.

That's coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Crisis in the Middle East.

Here's what we know.

Air raid sirens sound in the northern Israeli city of Haifa within the last half hour. Israel says 27 Hezbollah rockets hit its soil today, across the border. Reuters reports an Israeli air strike killed a woman and six children in one house in Lebanon.

Hezbollah says yes to a Lebanese government peace plan. There are reservations. The group is OK with international peacekeepers, but it objects to what's been called a robust force.

And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just arrived back in the Middle East. She was there only four days ago. Rice predicts difficult and emotional talks in the coming hours in Israel.

NGUYEN: Well, their territory is in tatters, but Hezbollah keeps fighting and spinning.

CNN's Anderson Cooper takes us inside the world of Hezbollah in this report from "A.C. 360."

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): Drive into Southern Beirut and you quickly discover another city entirely -- a heavily bombed state within a state, beyond the control of the Lebanese government. This is Hezbollah territory. Along the road, posted like billboards, pictures of so-called martyrs, Hezbollah fighters who died battling Israel. (on camera): You can drive around. It doesn't seem like there's anyone around, And all of a sudden your eyes -- it's almost like adjusting to the darkness. Suddenly, you realize there are people who are watching you, guys on motorcycles talking on cell phones who pass you by, watching very closely what you're doing.

(voice-over): Tension in this neighborhood is high. Many here are convinced Israel is sending in agents to help guide their aerial attacks.

(on camera): We're not allowed to enter Hezbollah territory, really, without their permission. They control this whole area, even after the sustained Israeli bombing campaign. We've arranged with a Hezbollah representative to get permission to come here. We've been told to pull over to the side of the road and just wait.

(voice-over): We'd come to get a look at the damage and had hoped to talk with a Hezbollah representative. Instead, we found ourselves with other foreign reporters taken on a guided tour by Hezbollah. Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings. Once, when they thought we'd videotaped them, they asked us to erase the tape.

These men are called al-Shabab -- Hezbollah volunteers who are the organization's eyes and ears.

(on camera): Look over there. You can still see their CDs on the wall still.

Hezbollah representatives are with us now, but don't want to be photographed. We'll say -- they'll point to something like that and they'll say, well, look, this is a store. The civilians lived in this building. This is a residential complex. And while that may be true, what the Israelis will say is that Hezbollah has their offices -- their leadership has offices and bunkers even in residential neighborhoods. And if you're trying to knock out the Hezbollah leadership with air strikes, it's very difficult to do that without killing civilians.

As bad as this damage is, it certainly could have been much worse in terms of civilian casualties. Before they started heavily bombing this area, Israeli warplanes did drop leaflets in this area, telling people to get out.

The civilian death toll, though, has angered many Lebanese. Even those who do not support Hezbollah are outraged by the pictures they've seen on television of civilian casualties.

(voice-over): Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them and questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed.

After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting. (on camera): This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story -- that's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about.

(voice-over): These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect.

When a man in a nearby building is prompted to play Hezbollah resistance songs on his stereo, we decide it's time to go.

Hezbollah may not be terribly subtle about spinning a story, but it is telling, perhaps, that they try. Even after all this bombing, Hezbollah is still organized enough to have a public relations strategy, still in control enough to try and get its message out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" follows all the breaking news in the Middle East.

You can join "A.C. 360" weeknights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Well, a recent poll shows more than 80 percent of Israelis support the offensive in Lebanon. And the head of Israel's opposition party says it won't be enough to just push Hezbollah away from the border.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joins us from Jerusalem.

We thank you for your time.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, FORMER ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Thank you.

Good to be with you.

NGUYEN: The first question I want to pose to you as the latest information that we've rcvd in, the fact that the U.N. had requested a three day cease-fire so that humanitarian aid can get to the people who need it the most.

Israel has rejected that.

Why?

NETANYAHU: I think it's rejected a cease-fire, but it's not rejected allowing humanitarian help. It's actually facilitated the evacuation of the citizens of many countries and I'm sure it will assist in any provision of humanitarian aid.

But the three day cease-fire is merely a way for Hezbollah to arm itself for the further round of bloodletting that they have in mind for us, which they openly declare they have in mind for us.

NGUYEN: Do you think that patience is running out?

How long will the world stand by and watch all of this play out, including Arab countries which may not necessarily support Hezbollah?

Does Israel feel like the window of opportunity to root out Hezbollah is closing?

NETANYAHU: Look, no war lasts forever. But wars should achieve their objective, especially if they're forced on you from the other side. And in this case, this was a totally unprovoked attack by two Iranian proxies, Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north. Israel had left both Gaza in the south and Lebanon in the north and we were attacked. Our soldiers were kidnapped and murdered. And then our cities were rocketed by Hezbollah -- by Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north.

So obviously you can't just declare a cease-fire and just say OK, keep doing it, because we're only the first target. Iran, that uses these proxies, will target other countries, including Arab countries. Everybody knows it. And the question is how long can the world sit by and allow these criminal organizations to -- to continue their deadly deeds?

In fact, you quoted me as saying that removing -- pushing Hezbollah to the north is not enough. It's not me who said that. It's the U.N. resolution, a U.N. Security Council resolution, 1559, that said that. And rightly so, because, look, Hezbollah, if pushed to the north, will have rockets that easily outdistance the 30 kilometers or so that a security zone, at best, will provide.

Not that I reject a security zone, but without disarming Hezbollah, without dismantling its -- disarming it, as the U.N. resolution specifically called for, then we will not have achieved anything. They will declare a victory and will live to fight another day and murder many more civilians on our side and...

NGUYEN: OK.

But at the same time...

NETANYAHU: ... and cause civilian casualties on the other side.

NGUYEN: At this time, there has been criticism of the Israeli plan. Right now, the plan is to create this buffer zone and not go in with an all out ground assault. But, even a member of the Israeli Army had some criticism with Ehud Olmert's plan.

Let me ask you to take a listen to what this soldier had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICAH AVNI, IDF SOLDIER: I think that Ehud Olmert hasn't yet reached the decision that he needs to make, which is that we have to have a full scale invasion. And I think his inexperience in military matters has probably slowed us down over the past few weeks and cost a lot of lives. And I would hope that over the next few weeks, he'll change that and do what he needs to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: So, do you agree? If you were still prime minister, what would your strategy be?

NETANYAHU: Because I didn't hear him, you'd have to tell me what he said.

NGUYEN: Basically he was saying that he didn't think that Olmert had reached a decision yet, a decision that he needs to make involving a full scale invasion, that he felt that a full scale invasion was what it was going to take to get the job done.

NETANYAHU: You know, I'm not going to second-guess or make public comments in the middle of the war. I think I, as opposition leader, and giving expression to the fact that the entire people are, in fact, standing behind the stated objective of the government to disarm Hezbollah and to not merely put some distance between those missiles and our cities, but remove the missile threat altogether.

I think there's enormous unity in the country for that. This is the government's decision. This was the Knesset, the parliament's decision to support the government, and this is why two million Israeli citizens hunkered down in bunkers in the north, their lives completely paralyzed.

Hundreds of thousands of them, by the way, are refugees now in the south of the country. You just don't hear about it that much, because we have opened our hearts and our homes to them.

But all that suffering on our side, and the suffering on the Lebanese side forced by Hezbollah, has to mean something. And the only thing that it could mean is the achievement of the stated objective of Israel, which is to disarm Hezbollah.

I think we should not compromise with that objective.

NGUYEN: Yes, but in disarming Hezbollah, Israel has said that it has caused pinpointing air strikes, that its method -- that is its method of operation. Yet the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, had this to say, and I'm quoting him.

He says: "Something is wrong with the war when there are more dead children than armed men."

Now, that cannot be an acceptable battle plan.

NETANYAHU: Well, in that case, World War II was a -- was ill- conceived and the Allies were wrong, because there were many more German civilians killed than German soldiers. So that's ridiculous.

I mean the reason you have these civilian casualties in Lebanon is because, as your own reporters have shown, Hezbollah emplaces itself in residential housing, breaking every code in the book, every -- every law of war, they break. They commit war crimes left and right, targeting civilians, hiding among civilians with the view of raising the civilian casualty tolls on both sides.

So any criticism on that score should be put squarely where it belongs, on Hezbollah's shoulders.

But I think there is a larger question here. Look, here is a militant Islamic sect, I would say a mad Islamic militancy, that is part of this fanatic Shiite regime in Iran that believes that 1,000 years ago their leader, the Mahdi, the 15th imam, disappeared. He is supposed to return now, 1,000 years later, in some grand apocalyptic battle in which millions will die -- millions of Muslims and non- Muslims.

And they're proceeding to test fire the first salvo in this mad apocalyptic vision.

You ask how long can the world sit by when this continues? I say how long can the world allow this thing to continue?

I don't mean the exchange that we have now with Israel, but this -- this criminal activity of a criminal gang supported by criminal regimes out with a mad, mad mind set.

I think history has shown us -- and not too long ago -- that these mad ideologies, if not stopped in time, they may start attacking the Jews -- another mad militancy did that 60 years ago -- but they never end with the Jews. The whole world catches fire eventually.

The time to nip them is now, just as the time to nip that other mad ideology was in the 1930s. You don't wait until they arm themselves and carry out their mad plans. You don't wait now. Get Hezbollah now. Put pressure on Iran and their way station, Syria now. Don't wait.

NGUYEN: Well, President Bush and Tony Blair are pushing for a U.N. resolution some time next week to try to stop the fighting.

We'll see if anything plays out in that.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the former Israeli prime minister.

We thank you for your time today.

HARRIS: And let's get the view from the ground now.

Our John Roberts is in northern Israel -- John, set the scene where you are for us, please.

ROBERTS: Tony, hey, we're back.

Sorry about the problems.

With new technology, you've got to work some of the bugs out of it. We're just a short distance away from the Israeli-Lebanon border. It can be counted in maybe a couple of hundred yards or so.

Behind me, you can see some of the forces that have been brought back from the front because the big news today is that the Israeli Army has pulled its forces out of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil.

It has been the scene of intense fighting for about the past five days now. The Israelis taking heavy casualties in there, but also saying that Hezbollah has taken casualties in numbers much greater than Israel has.

The reason for the pullout is not quite clear. The Israeli Defense Forces are telling us that they are launching pinpoint attacks, still, inside the city, and they are also bombing Bint Jbeil. We can hear heavy artillery fire. Volleys come over our heads every 10, 15 seconds or so, and hit the hillside just behind me.

So it could be that they have pulled back to give their forces a little bit of a rest because there has been very heavy close contact fighting and also to give them a chance to, perhaps, soften up some of those Hezbollah positions.

A big debate raging in Israel right now, Tony, about how the ground campaign should be waged. There are some people who are very critical, saying they ramped it up too slowly, that they should have gone in with a much larger force and are still encouraging them to do that. But it doesn't appear, at this point, that there is the political will to expand the ground campaign in a way that would push Hezbollah all the way back to the Litani River, which is about 14 miles north of here.

We're also learning this morning a little bit more about that rocket that went into Afula yesterday. It's the second time that a Hezbollah rocket has made it that deep into Israel, south of Haifa, but not quite as far south as Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah yesterday claimed that it was a new missile, what they call a Khaybar-1.

As far as we've been able to ascertain, it may be a modification of an Iranian weapon called a Fajr rocket, which is about 10 inches around, carries a 220-pound warhead. And in a world where symbolism is very important, the name Khaybar is very important. It was the scene of a Jewish settlement back in the early 600s, in an oasis north of Medina. And apparently it's also the connection to an old Muslim saying that says, "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, Mohammed's army is coming back."

So Hezbollah tried to send a very strong signal to Israel, and deep into Israel, as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: And, John, very quickly, what are we hearing behind you?

ROBERTS: What you're hearing behind me is the sound of artillery fire. We're just below the hill at Maroun-Al-Ras, which was the first town that was taken. And we hear the artillery fire coming over our heads. It lands maybe about 10 or 15 seconds after the shot, sometimes not even that long, which means that they're firing at very close range. Obviously, they still have some pockets of resistance that they're trying to clear out over there -- Tony.

HARRIS: That's -- John, thank you. That's tremendous, that history lesson, I had no idea of the history of that name. What is in a name? John Roberts for us in northern Israel. John, thank you.

NGUYEN: And coming up next hour, we're going to talk with (INAUDIBLE) a Lebanese minister about his country's proposals to end this Middle East crisis. Lots of action in the war zone this morning.

HARRIS: As we mentioned just a moment ago, our John Roberts is with Israeli troops just back from the Hezbollah stronghold. You heard his report just moments ago. Expect more reporting from John Roberts throughout the day. Stay with us here on CNN, the most trusted name in news. A break and we're right back with more CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Day 18 of the Middle East crisis. Here is what we know right now. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived back in Israel less than an hour ago. She says she expects talks aimed at ending the hostilities to be intense and emotional. Meanwhile, the fighting rages on. Lebanon says an Israeli air strike on a house today killed a woman and six children. And air raid sirens have been sounding in Haifa, Israel, just within the past few hours.

Israel is rejecting U.N. calls for a 72-hour cease fire. The U.N. wants to deliver aid to Lebanese civilians and evacuate those desperate to leave the war zone. But Israel says Hezbollah is blocking safe corridors that already exist. Hezbollah says it has a new weapon, a rocket with a range that it claims will go far beyond Haifa. We saw an attack yesterday that marked Hezbollah's furthest strike into Israel so far.

Joining us from Washington to talk about that and the Israeli military strategy, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force General Major Don Shepperd.

Don, good to see you again.

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Tony.

HARRIS: Khaybar-1 talk to us about the rocket and its capabilities.

SHEPPERD: Yeah, the Khaybar-1 was announced by Hezbollah as a new rocket. It's turning out more likely to be, as we've said earlier, a modified Fajr-5. The Fajr-5 had a range of about 45 miles. This one appears to be fired from as far away as 60 miles, has a 100 kilogram, 220-pound war head, very, very destructive war head about half the size of a 500-pound bomb. It's really a step-up in the violence there, Tony.

HARRIS: Don, what's the delivery system of choice here?

SHEPPERD: Usually they'll fire these from trucks or tubes. They are bigger, of course, than the Katyushas that we've been used to with a 12-mile range and a smaller war head. So the truck should be easier to find. But there's still so many places to hide up there that it's still going to be difficult.

HARRIS: Who makes this kind of a rocket?

SHEPPERD: Well, the Fajr-5 was an Iranian-style rocket, Iranian- made rocket. But there are so many rockets and artillery pieces in this area that you can take these, give them different names in different countries. You can modify them. All you have to do to add range to this is elongate the tube and put in more solid propellant and you can get it further. So it's a difficult thing to really nail this down and say, this is what it is and this is where it came from.

HARRIS: Don, share with us your knowledge of the significance of the name of this rocket.

SHEPPERD: That's kind of interesting. I'm not a historian, but in reading about this, Khaybar was an oasis in, about 100 miles north of Medina in western Saudi Arabia opposite Egypt. And according to Islamic lore, in I believe it was, I believe it was 629, Mohammed gained a great victory over the Jews who inhabited Khaybar. Now according to Jewish lore, it was, they were tricked. In other words, they had a treaty with Mohammed and the Islamists violated. I don't know the truth of that. But that's probably where this came from.

HARRIS: A lot of symbolism to this. And Afula, that's the area where we saw this rocket yesterday, correct?

SHEPPERD: Yeah, it is. It's about 45 miles into Israel. It's south of Haifa. So again the significance of Afula is the range. These rockets are very inaccurate. The way they're really used in combat is you have a whole bunch of launchers and you launch 200, 300, 400 rockets all at once. In this case it's one or two launched at a time, but the fact that it's south of Haifa means extended range and a step toward Tel-Aviv.

HARRIS: Very quickly, we've got to run, what's your thought on the decision not to press further the offensive with ground forces into Lebanon?

SHEPPERD: Well, somebody has to clear Hezbollah from the border area to keep these rockets from coming in. And of course, the goal of Israel is to disarm Hezbollah. The goal of Hezbollah is to exist and make sure that doesn't happen. So somebody is going to have to gain territory for Israel for protection for their security in northern Lebanon. Who it's going to be, maybe international force and it may be Israel themselves. To be seen.

HARRIS: Retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. Don as always, thanks. SHEPPERD: A pleasure.

NGUYEN: As she came to Israel to start a new life, a dream shattered in an instant. Her story ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Arabs and Jews working together to save lives. No matter who they are or where they're from, CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) is 43, Russian and divorced. She immigrated to Israel to start a new life just two weeks ago. Her timing couldn't have been worse. After only 10 days, she became a casualty of one of those randomly fired Katyusha rockets. She tells me she remembers nothing of the explosion. Shrapnel ripped through her leg. Doctors tried to save it but could not.

DR. HANY BAHOUTH, RAMBAM HOSPITAL: But it wasn't a salvageable injury that we can take care and do a (INAUDIBLE)

GUPTA: I made rounds with her doctor Hany Bahouth. He's an Arab working at northern Israel's largest hospital.

BAHOUTH: I am an Arab, yes. I am an Arab.

GUPTA: There's a war going on.

BAHOUTH: It's a war going on. I'm a surgeon, I'm a doctor. I'm above all these things that I'm an Arab or a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim or (INAUDIBLE). We have here a lot of (INAUDIBLE) and as a doctor, I am above all these things especially when I'm taking care of patients.

GUPTA: At Rambam Hospital, Arabs and Jews work together to take care of all patients no matter where they're from. Galina (ph) belongs to Haifa's growing community of Russian immigrants.

(on-camera): And it is Russians that are probably the hardest hit. They're one of the most impoverished communities in Haifa and they are also scared. This is a bomb shelter. And several Russian families have actually decided to move down here, actually live down here for the last two weeks. Let's take a look. You can actually see this shelter down here. This is to try and protect people. The most remarkable thing is that children have been living down here for two weeks. Their parents will actually make these quick runs out of the shelter to a store to buy some food and water, bring it back down. They have no idea how long they're going to be down here. They have no resources. They're very frightened and for now, this is their home.

Galina never made it to a shelter. Now if there is a positive side to her story at all, it is this. Because she lost her leg in a terrorist military act, she qualifies, even as a brand new immigrant, for the highest category of the (INAUDIBLE) which is a sort of national Social Security. As with victims of suicide bombings, the government of Israel will cover all of her medical costs, including prosthesis, give her a lifelong stipend, even pay for her burial. In some ways financially certainly, she's better off than she was when she came here two weeks ago. But her knew life in Israel will be different in ways she could never have imagined. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Haifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Secretary Rice is back in the Middle East today. Will there finally be some progress on the diplomatic front? We have an update on this crisis. That is ahead.

HARRIS: Plus, an explosion overnight, what caused this three- alarm fire? That's still ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And we are showing you now a brand new pictures of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Let's listen in for a moment.

TRANSLATOR: The most urgent dangers such as nuclear terrorism. That means a new strategy for success in Iraq that allows us to redeploy our troops. Four, don't outsource our diplomacy. We need direct face to face talks with North Korea. We should also talk directly with Iran. Five, we need to pay attention to Latin America, our own backyard. The key is passing a comprehensive immigration plan now that includes enhanced border security, a path to legalization for the 11 million immigrants already here and sanctions.

HARRIS: Our apologies for that. I was trying to figure out what we were hearing, because that clearly is not...

NGUYEN: That was not what Nasrallah was saying.

HARRIS: That was not the case. Right now, do we have the pictures of Secretary Rice?

NGUYEN: Yeah we do have those pictures, Secretary Rice arriving in the region.

HARRIS: That's right, new pictures right now of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arriving now into Tel-Aviv. And that's the convoy of SUVs carrying the secretary of state for a new round of talks. The secretary of State in the region just four days ago, left the region, but is back now to be meeting with the prime minister, Ehud Olmert in just a couple of hours and then later to conduct a round of meetings with the Lebanese prime minister as well. She says that these negotiations will be difficult, that they will require give and take on both sides, that she expects them to be hard, difficult and emotional at times. Once again, new video right now of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arriving in the region again for a new round of talks and she says she is taking ideas, proposals with her to resolve this crisis in a comprehensive way.

NGUYEN: Now we want to get back to the video that we were showing you. Here it is. This is Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. Let's see if we can get a translation here and hear exactly what he's saying.

TRANSLATOR: Now in summary in this area, the most important military vessel, Israeli vessel and then sea level, their Navy was hit and their infantry, the ground forces, their Glani (ph) brigade was defeated. Even one of their highest officers that the force that was destroyed in a triangle of honor and heroics was (INAUDIBLE) was the spearhead of Glani brigade, which means was the elite of Glani units was destroyed completely between killed, injured and handicapped. And the pictures you saw why some of the soldiers were carried to the ambulances because the hits were at their backs because they were running away like mouses (sic) from the battlefield. On the level of the air force, the limiting of the helicopters up now, thousands of air raids.

NGUYEN: Once again, you've been listening to Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, in this televised statement talking about the developments in this crisis in the Mideast. We're going to continue to listen to this here at CNN and monitor it and bring you any developments, should they be something that we need to put out on the air. And of course, when that happens, we will take it to you live.

HARRIS: We're going to take a break and come back with more of CNN SATURDAY MORNING right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Take a look at this. The heat is on, the move, that is. The hot weather that wilted California is sliding east today. Heat alerts are posted for places like St. Louis, Philadelphia and south Jersey. 100s will stretch from Minneapolis all the way to Dallas. Power crews, well, they are scrambling to keep air conditioners humming. California is finally and I mean finally getting a break this week. A two-week scorcher is over. Temperatures hit 115 in some spots. The heat is blamed for more than 100 deaths. Many of the victims are elderly.

HARRIS: Can you imagine these bills, these power bills over the next couple of weeks as they start rolling in, reflecting all this heat?

NGUYEN: Rolling brown outs and lucky if you even got to keep your AC on. That was part of the problem. Reynolds, is the weather going to be something that's going to help the situation?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: As you mentioned, it's going to start getting a little better on the west coast, but then as you make your way into the central U.S. and out towards portions of the east coast, it's going to get increasingly warmer, just not good news, especially smack dab in the middle of the country.

Also take a look at what you can expect for the next three months, from the climate prediction center, a good part of the nation with the exception of surprisingly enough portions of the southeast, temperatures will be above normal again for the next three months. Let's talk specifically about two metropolitan spots, one of those being Philadelphia. From today all the way through the rest of the weekend and into next week, look at these high temperatures going up into the upper 90s as we get into Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. They are currently under a heat advisory there.

At the same time, we've got more of the same for St. Louis too. They've already had rough times with the heat over the last couple weeks. More of the same in store for St. Louis. Highs going up near 100 by Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Begin to cool down just a little bit on Wednesday. But still, when you factor in that humidity, it's going to be just brutal.

Other temperatures today across the nation, take a look at some of these highs, for San Francisco, 72 degrees, getting much better for you in Portland with 73, 70 in Seattle, 100 for Billings, 93 in Detroit and 93 in New York. Again, some scattered showers also possible up in the great lakes, possibly some thunderstorms in the desert southwest. But the heat, that is definitely the big story.

HARRIS: And it's been the big story.

WOLF: No question about it.

HARRIS: Reynolds, have a great Saturday.

NGUYEN: Stay inside in the air conditioning would you.

CNN SATURDAY is up next with Brianna Keilor filling in today, right after this short break.

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