IDF: 215 Hezbollah Rockets Fired From Lebanon; Hospital Targeted in Raid Used as Hezbollah Base; Relief & Red Tape; John McCain Interview; Israel Releases Video of IDF Raid in Baalbeck, Lebanon
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, it's midnight in the Middle East war zone. Hezbollah fires a record number of rockets into northern Israel and one reaches farther than ever before. New details on Israel's deepest strike yet. Also coming up, thousands of Israeli troops try to grind down Hezbollah on the ground in southern Lebanon. And a CNN exclusive. We're on board an Israeli warship blockading the coast of Lebanon. And we're on the scene as a relief ship reaches Lebanon with desperately-needed supplies. And it's 1:00 a.m. in Baghdad, where Iraq's president now says his country's own forces can take over security by the end of this year. Can American troops count on that? I'll ask Senator John McCain. He's coming up this hour live in THE SITUATION ROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. After three weeks of warfare, fresh signs today that the Middle East conflict is actually widening. Hezbollah launching 215 rockets into northern Israel. That's the most it's fired on a single day in this three-week war, and one actually fell in the West Bank, the deepest strike yet. The Israel military released new details and new pictures from its overnight raid deep into northeastern Lebanon. The IDF says the hospital it raided in Baalbeck was used as a Hezbollah base. It says it killed 10 militants and brought five more back to Israel. And as thousands of Israeli ground troops battle Hezbollah face to face in southern Lebanon, diplomats at the United Nations say the U.N. Security Council could take up a cease-fire resolution this week. They say the United States and France are working out differences over the terms. No resolution yet. CNN's Brent Sadler is standing by in Beirut. Let's go to northern Israel first. John Roberts is on the front lines for us once again tonight. What's the latest, John?</s>JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SR. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Wolf. Late tonight, the Israeli Defense Forces released video of that daring raid into Baalbeck in the northern part of the Bekaa Valley, very close to the Syrian border. It's night scope video, the commandos going in. Here's what is shows. According to Israeli Defense Forces, the people that you see on the ground are Hezbollah fighters scattering as those Black Hawk helicopters bristling with those special operations commandos are coming into that area. We also see video of Israeli troops on the ground as they prepare to go into a Hezbollah hospital which the Israeli army says is not a hospital so much as it is a base of operations for Hezbollah. They went in, they killed a number of Hezbollah fighters, according to the Israeli army, about 10. They also managed to arrest five Hezbollah fighters, though Hezbollah says they weren't guerillas, those were civilians. And they also say that they got a treasure trove of information. The Israeli military going through files, strategy, intelligence from Hezbollah. They say it was a very good operation. All of the Israeli forces returned, there were no injuries. And now they have what Israeli officials believe could be five bargaining chips for future negotiations between Israel and Hezbollah. Of course Hezbollah still has those two Israeli soldiers that were kidnapped back on July 12th, holding them hostage. Now Israel has what it believes are some high-value Hezbollah midlevel leaders, perhaps even some upper-level leaders that they can use in future negotiations with Hezbollah. We also got today some video exclusively from the Israeli Defense Forces of operations around the area of Maroun al-Ras. The video shows what the Israeli Defense Forces say is a missile launcher right next to a mosque, proof, the army says, that Hezbollah is using religious sites and other areas in the community to hide its missile launchers. And they also provided for us video of them using what are called fuel bombs to clear an Israeli -- at least a Hezbollah outpost of suspected booby traps. They're going in, they're clearing out these areas, they're trying to hold the ground in preparation for that international stabilization force to come in. Now, we should remind you, though, that stabilization force has not even been agreed to yet, but Israeli military and political leaders do believe that in the coming days the United Nations is going to say, time to wrap it up, we've got the framework for a cease-fire, we've got agreement on a stabilization force, now it's time to end the hostilities -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: John Roberts in northern Israel. Thanks very much. We continue to hear that shelling going on behind you. Let's head north to Beirut. Brent Sadler is on the scene for us to report on today's developments there -- Brent.</s>BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Wolf, that attack, that commando raid into Baalbeck really did stir up a hornets' nest. In response to what the Israelis have been saying, a Hezbollah M.P. here, Hash Hassan (ph), said that -- in firing back to what Ehud Olmert said, that Hezbollah was being destroyed, had almost been destroyed, "How come?" said this Hezbollah M.P. member of the Lebanese parliament. "How come Hezbollah can still fire a record number of those rockets, those Katyushas into northern Israel as we saw today?" So quite clearly, Wolf, Hezbollah is being able to use its historic tactics of guerrilla-style warfare to the maximum, still being able to use the natural terrain, the cover of south Lebanon, and the knowledge of the terrain in south Lebanon to carry on with these rocket launchings. There were more of those Katyushas fired from the southern port city of Tyre. Israeli jets picked up the trails of smoke and pretty quickly launched retaliatory strikes. And there is concern among the Lebanese now, because there's been a sudden run in petrol here, because two-thirds rationing now effectively in place at the gas stations. A real concern among Lebanese that, even though diplomatic efforts are under way at the United Nations over the components, a mandate of an international stabilization force, Lebanese are now getting downwind of real serious concerns that this is going to be a longer war, rather than one that might be finishing any time soon. One quick footnote, Wolf. I was down south near the border for a couple of days. I saw a tremendous amount of devastation. If I flash back, you'll remember to 1982, when the Israeli Defense Forces invaded Lebanon to sweep out the PLO. Compare that destruction to the destruction today, there simply is no comparison. Much of the south is being laid to waste by what the Israelis are doing to destroy Hezbollah, in terms of infrastructure, village setups, buildings, businesses, so on and so forth -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: I remember those days well. I was in Beirut, together with you, back in '82. Brent, thank you very much. And as the fighting rages on in southern Lebanon, civilians face an increasingly desperate plight. Relief supplies are slowly trickling into some of the hard-hit areas. CNN's Karl Penhaul is in the port city of Tyre -- Karl.</s>KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that 48-hour lull in Israeli airstrikes does seem to have allowed many civilians to get out of those outlying villages and out to safety. But aid organizations say there is still a growing humanitarian crisis, and quite often the problem is getting aid to where it's most needed.</s>PENHAUL (voice-over): A welcome sight for a war-torn city: 200 tons of international aid sails into Tyre harbor. The ship's hull is emblazoned with freshly painted Red Cross, the guarantee of safe passage past the Israeli warships blockading Lebanon's coast. Today, it's bringing basic food supplies and cooking kits. (on camera): It's taking</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can take the decision upon the minister of energy.</s>PENHAUL: Before heading into the countryside with these supplies, aid officials must get a pledge from the warring parties not to attack their aid convoys.</s>ROLAND HUGUENIN, ICRC SPOKESMAN: We send maps with key positions of all of the villages we want to stop at. And we have this information passed on to the Lebanese side and to the Israeli side. And by the next morning we normally have either a green light or a red light.</s>PENHAUL: After a 24-hour lull, Israel resumed airstrikes Wednesday morning around Tyre in retaliation against Hezbollah launching more rockets from the city's outskirts. For now it's too dangerous for the Doctors Without Borders charity to venture outside Tyre, so they're distributing washing kits, along with diapers and powdered baby milk to around 400 refugees at this school in town. Relief worker Hakim Khaldi says the risks are keeping many other aid organizations away.</s>HAKIM KHALDI, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: It's quite difficult because there is not so many international organizations, but mainly we found local organizations, many Lebanese organizations who have been doing a very, very huge job.</s>PENHAUL: Many of the refugees are impatient after three weeks of Israeli air and artillery bombardment. This man tries to fight one aid worker as he grows frustrated with the long wait. Others drag him out of punching range. Back at the port, dockers work fast to unload the</s>PENHAUL: More aid ships are scheduled to be sailing into the port of Tyre in the coming days. But as the International Red Cross itself says, it will still be a question of getting safe passage from the warring parties to ensure the aid gets to those border villages -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Karl Penhaul reporting. Thank you. Let's go up to New York and Jack Cafferty -- Jack.</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Wolf. Well, somebody has finally worked up the nerve to say it out loud. We have a constitutional crisis in this country. So says Congressman John Conyers of Michigan. He's the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. And in an upcoming report, he describes what he calls an alarming pattern by the Bush administration of operating outside the law and with no meaningful oversight by Congress. Conyers says the Bush administration may have broken a total of 26 separate laws and regulations, including misleading Congress and the American people about the decision to go to war in Iraq; manipulating intelligence about the justification for the war; encouraging torture and degrading treatment of prisoners in Iraq; allowing inappropriate retaliation against critics; and approving unlawful domestic surveillance. Conyers says these things have happened because a Republican- controlled Congress has refused to do its job of providing oversight and conducting formal investigation into this stuff, thus allowing an unchecked abuse of power on the part of the White House. We called the White House for a response to all of this, but instead of addressing any of the questions that are raised by Congressman Conyers, we were told to call the Republican National Committee. Here is the question: A top House Democrat says the Constitution is in crisis. Do you agree? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Jack Cafferty in New York. Thank you very much. And there's a new development happening right now involving the actor-director Mel Gibson and his arrest in recent days for drunk driving. Let's bring in Zain. She's got details -- Zain.</s>ZAIN VERJEE, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, CNN's confirmed that prosecutors have charged actor Mel Gibson with a misdemeanor drunken driving charge, having an elevated blood alcohol level, as well as having an open container of liquor in his car. As you know, he was stopped around 2:00 in the morning on Friday on Pacific Coast Highway after a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy allegedly observed him driving his Lexus at something like more than 85 miles an hour. There was apparently an open bottle of tequila allegedly found in his car. As well, he was accused, as you know, of making anti-Semitic comments. Since then, he has apologized, has said that he never believes any of the things that he said. And there are also -- he has also issued a report that he will be in rehab soon. But Wolf, this is the latest development. Prosecutors now charging him with a misdemeanor.</s>BLITZER: Zain, thank you. We'll continue to watch this story. Up ahead, our exclusive look at Israel's naval blockade of Lebanon. We're going to take you on board an Israeli warship that's in charge of this operation and show you how it's monitoring the waters off the coast of Lebanon. Also, we'll talk about the Middle East crisis and the war of Iraq with Senator John McCain. He's standing by to join us live right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Plus, Iraq's president predicting when his forces might be able to take over security from American troops. Is he being too optimistic? We'll get reaction from the Pentagon. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.