Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

No Break in Border Fighting Between Israel and Hezbollah; Chief of U.N. Humanitarian Affairs Witnesses Damage in Lebanon

Aired July 23, 2006 - 16:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The crisis in the Middle East continues. Here's what we know right now.

No break in the border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Military officials and police say two civilians were killed after more than 60 rockets fell on northern Israel today. Some of those rockets hit in/around Haifa.

Israeli bombs pounded Lebanon's coast. A civilian was killed in Lebanon's coast of Tyre. That's after at least six Israeli bombs hit the city in 20 minutes. As many as 20 others were wounded.

And there's a risk of expansion as Syria's official news agency issues words of warning. It quotes Syria's information minister as saying that Syria, quote, "Will not sit tight if Israeli troops get too close to the Syrian capital of Damascus."

And now, more on those deadly Hezbollah attacks in northern Israel. The city of Haifa was especially hard hit. CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney is there and joins us live --Fionnuala?

FIONNUALA SWEENEY, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, Fredricka, the air-raid sirens sounded at least a dozen times throughout the day here in Haifa, and then followed by a sustained barrage of rocket attacks. Two people were killed, at least 15 injured, and the city remaining very, very quiet and tense this evening, as day 13 of this conflict -- day 12, rather, of this conflict comes to an end.

There was, indeed, one rocket attack, though, which came without any prior air-raid siren, which perhaps marks a new development and a rather scary development for the people of Haifa. A rocket hit a house, which, then, had a gas canister, which exploded, and three people were injured on that.

It should also be said that what is taking place here in Israel today has been a lot of diplomatic maneuvering. We've seen the German foreign minister, the French foreign minister, and Britain foreign minister here over the last 24 hours or so and we expect diplomatic sources say, Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State, to arrive in Israel sometime late Monday.

So, there does seem to be some sort consensus building; but, in the meantime, as much as Israel keeps targeting Tyre in southern Lebanon where they believe those rockets being fired towards Israel are emanating, there is still no let up here in the air raid attacks around Haifa --Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Fionnuala Sweeney, thanks so much from Haifa. .

The chief of the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs is on the ground in Lebanon. Jan Egeland is finding out firsthand the extent the damage. CNN's Alessio Vinci has the latest from Beirut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The extent of the damage in the suburb of southern Beirut caught the top U.N. humanitarian official by surprise. It's a violation of humanitarian law, he said, far more extensive than he thought.

He asked locals how many people died as a result of the latest strikes, but there is no firm answer.

JAN EGELAND, U.N. CHIEF HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR: People are still under the rubble and they don't know who -- how many were really killed.

VINCI: This area of southern Beirut continues to be a target of the Israeli military. We don't know what may have been hidden behind these builds or in between these houses. But what we do see is, or was, an extensive civilian presence, and they're gone now.

A few dare to briefly come back in between air strikes to collect their belongings. Ali Rommel (ph) tells me how just a few weeks ago, he was watching the World Cup in his apartment.

ALI ROMMEL, LEBANESE CITIZEN: All I took is this, he says. I just came back because in the mountains, we don't have anything.

VINCI: Lebanon faces a humanitarian crisis, especially in the southern part the country, that has seen the worst fighting.

The world health organization says 600,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

EGELAND: Everything's needed here. Medical supplies, very urgently needed. Water, and sanitation for those who haven't fled. We need to -- we need to get big operation going. We have 50 trucks being purchased as we speak. Those trucks will be the main convoys. We have 15 vessels now being contracted to go from Cyprus to Beirut and to Tyre in the south.

VINCI: But Egeland said the ongoing conflict is making it difficult, if not impossible for critical supplies it reach those in need, and called, once again, for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

EGELAND: If it continues like this, there will be more and more civilian casualties, more and more dead children., more and more wounded children struggling to save the lives.

We are setting up a major relief operation, but, of course, the violence have to stop. The rockets going into Israel have to stop.

And the enormous bombardments that we're seeing here with one block after the other being leveled has to stop because it's costing too many lives.

VINCI: However, there appears to be no let-up from either side, and a growing number of civilians is caught in the middle.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In the middle of all the sadness, this.

Home again after being caught in Lebanon during the fighting with his children -- their story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Ten-thousand Americans have been evacuated from Lebanon, and the U.S. embassy says there is still plenty of room on departing ships if anyone else wants to leave. It's urging all U.S. citizens to get out.

Our Barbara Starr is on board the USS Nashville where the U.S. military is overseeing this mass exodus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIG. GENERAL CARL JENSEN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: You ready?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The General running the effort to get thousands of trapped Americans out of Lebanon, came onboard the USS Nashville to see it all firsthand.

JENSEN: Does this not make you feel like a million bucks taking care of Americans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does sir. I tell you there's nothing I've done more rewarding in my career

STARR: But even as brigadier Karl Jensen smiles, he is looking ahead to the possible next, much tougher phase of the operation.

JENSEN: One of the problems in southern Lebanon, particularly the further south you go is what, we're being told is, that it may be unsafe for anyone to really to get on the roads and to move about.

It has captured the ambassador's full attention. In fact, it's focused his attention. The flight of those Americans who still may be in south Lebanon.

STARR: The latest intelligence shows that many of the Americans in southern Lebanon were the violence has been heaviest, are Lebanese Americans with dual citizenship. Many have made it out to Syria, but... JENSEN: We're sure there's still hundreds left.

STARR: And that means the U.S. military may have to go get them.

And what if U.S. troops find themselves caught in the middle of that war?

JENSEN: There are contingency operations to do a plethora of missions. We, of course, have considerable capability here in the eastern Mediterranean.

STARR: Jensen is sending Hezbollah, Israel, and the Lebanese a clear message. If he is ordered into southern Lebanon, and if his troops are challenged, no option is off the table. There is plenty of U.S. military capability to respond.

JENSEN: I have at my disposal seven capital warships of the United States Navy. Aboard few of those ships is the 24th marine expeditionary unit; it's a special operation's capable unit. And it has its own reinforced helicopter squadron, tanks, armored vehicles.

STARR: If you get orders to go extract Americans from southern Lebanon, can the United States military do the job?

JENSEN: I think you know the answer to that. We will do what we need to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Barbara Starr reporting on board the USS Nashville.

Well, it's been an emotional ordeal for families caught in the middle and trying to find ways home. But what sweet reunions once back on U.S. soil.

Rana (ph) Shaarani was waiting at yesterday at San Francisco International Airport. Her husband and two children returned home after a harrowing ordeal in Lebanon. They join me now from Mountain view California.

Good to see all of you together.

FAYSAL SHAARANI, FLED FROM LEBANON: Thank you. Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: So, well, Philo, what does it feel like to be home after knowing it took so long to get to this point?

SHAARANI: It feels great to be home, to be safe, back with the family together. But, you know, my thoughts and my heart and my prayers are really back home with other part of my family, who's still there, and the Lebanese people who are really suffering quite a bit.

WHITFIELD: And that really underscores how torn so many feelings are when trying to leave Lebanon. How did you make the decision that it was time for you and the children to try to get back to the U.S.? SHAARANI: About the second day, maybe after the war started, I contacted the U.S. embassy. And I was in daily contact with them for few days. And all I kept hearing is that there were plans being formed, and there were no details so far as the execution on the ground yet.

And things were kind of getting worse day by day even though we were in the northern part of Lebanon, in Tripoli, to be exact. There were some incidents of bombings to the port of the city, to a couple of other areas close to the city.

And that kind of raised the anxiety level for me, and we decided to just kind of work on a plan on our own rather than just wait, because things were getting worse, you know, every day.

WHITFIELD: And how are the kids handling this, through all of this? They're ages 3 and 10. I can only imagine how much they could really understand about what was going on around them.

SHAARANI: It is, yes, it was really concerning for me too, as well, because I grew up in Lebanon, I grew up in various different wars back there as you know. And, you know, the three-year-old obviously doesn't have concept of anything, but 10-year-old, kind of, you know, there was a lot of questions, and there was some anxiety on his part as well.

WHITFIELD: And then once you were able to get out of Tripoli and make your way to Beirut, where you then were able to begin your journey home, what was that like?

SHAARANI: Well, actually we didn't go to Beirut. We ended up leaving Tripoli via by car, via Syria on the northern border with Syria. And then we kind of had to take, really, three cars, one at each border.

We kind of started from Tripoli with one vehicle, and then, at the border, Lebanese-Syrian border, we stopped, we had a car meet us at the border on the other side, where we took the luggage and kind of put them in the other car.

And then we went from that point, to Damascus where another car, we took another car to Jordan, Iman Jordan.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

SHAARANI: And the trip took -- we left Tripoli on the morning of 18th of July around 8:00 and we didn't get to Iman Jordan until around 5:00 or so in the evening.

WHITFIELD: Wow, what an incredible journey. Well, we're glad that you're all together again now back in San Francisco. And best of luck to your other family members that are back at home in your home country of Lebanon.

SHAARANI: Thank you. I just want to say a great word of thanks for everybody who helped us and who worked with my wife over here on getting us home safe. Primarily, my employers Cisco Systems who was a great help in that process, their cries management team was phenomenal.

And also to the AAI, the Arab-American Institute, who was staying in close contact with my wife and supported her and us throughout the process of getting back home.

WHITFIELD: All right, Faysal Sharani, and the rest of the family, great appreciations, I'm sure, extended and received all the way around. Thanks so much.

SHAARANI: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, more of our continuing coverage the Middle East crisis coming up. Carol Lin is up next in the next hour.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got a couple of really interesting angles.

Coming up at 5:00, we're going to explore this whole notion of an "international peacekeeping force" and what it would take to even get one in. Lebanon's government has to invite one in. And, even so, would it be more effective than the U.N. force that's already there? Most people don't know that there are forces there.

At 7:00, a really terrific story. Delta air lines chartered a flight to Cyprus, all right, to bring this family of ten back. They were trying to get to a wedding in Lebanon the same wedding that was canceled last year because of conflict in the region.

And it gets even better. Part of the family? Hurricane Rita survivors. So I think they're due for a big break. Terrific story coming up that Daniel Sieberg is putting together for us.

WHITFIELD: All right, we look forward to that, Carol, thanks so much.

And when we come back, another Middle East hot spot, Iraq. There were more bombings today. Our report straight ahead.

And that country's former leader hospitalized today. Saddam Hussein's condition when we come right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Carnage from two car bombings in Iraq today. The first went off this morning at an open air market Baghdad. Police say a suicide bomber in a minibus picked up some passengers, then detonated the blast. Thirty-two people were killed and 65 wounded.

The second attack came four hours later, outside a courthouse in the northern city of Kirkuk. This time, 18 people dead and 100 wounded.

Iraq's former leader is in a hospital attached to a feeding tube. Saddam Hussein was admitted earlier today. A U.S. military spokesman says Hussein is suffering the effects of a hunger strike. He and three co-defendants in his trial have been refusing meals for more than two weeks now. The chief prosecutor says Hussein won't attend court tomorrow, but should be back for Tuesday's session.

And in the news in this country, sniper's bullets kill one person and injure another along an Indiana highway. State police say the shootings occurred earlier this morning along i-65 in southern Indiana. The person killed was in a truck. The injured victim was in another. A 14-mile stretch of the interstate was closed for hours while police investigated.

Crews are still trying to get the lights back on in Queens. Much of that New York City borough, that is, has experience a week-long blackout. Power is finally back on to about half the estimated 100,000 people affected. Area politicians want governor Pataki to declare Queens a disaster area so it would be eligible for federal aid.

Add Floyd Landis to the list of, against all odds, sports heroes. The cyclist won the tour de France today, the eighth straight year it's been won by an American. Landis made up an eight-minute deficit over the last few days, and did it with a painful arthritic hip. He'll undergo hip replacement surgery later on this year.

And Tiger Woods has reminded everyone why he's considered the best golfer in the world. Woods won the British open today with a 5 under par 67. It was emotional, and memorable. Woods is the tournament's first repeat winner in more than 20 years. It's also his first win since his father's death last May.

Sometimes photos can say more than video. Some our favorites when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We are entering the third week of fighting in the Middle East. Already the images are indelible. Here are some of our favorites.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Carol Lin is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com