Israel & Hezbollah Keep Firing, Diplomats Debate in New York; Tyre Cut Off From Rest of Lebanon and Under Curfew; Arab League Delegation Accuses U.N. of Allowing Mideast Crisis to Worsen
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the Israeli military is preparing for a deeper push into Lebanon. Israel is warning residents of the besieged port city of Tyre to keep off all roads and remain indoors as Israel intensifies its attack against Hezbollah. Diplomats here in New York tonight are struggling to hammer out a peace deal as violence in Lebanon and Israel worsens. The Syrian ambassador to the United States will be our guest here tonight, as will Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations. Both sides in this conflict represented here tonight.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT, news, debate and opinion for Tuesday, August 8th. Live in New York, Lou Dobbs.</s>DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. Israeli tonight is again intensifying its offensive in southern Lebanon as the diplomatic efforts to win a cease-fire in the conflict falter. More than 140 Hezbollah rockets fell on northern Israel today. The Israeli security cabinet is set to decide whether to further widen the ground campaign in Lebanon. Meanwhile, desperation is growing within the Lebanese port city of Tyre as Israeli blasts all routes around that city. Jim Clancy tonight reports from Beirut on the worsening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Matthew Chance reports from northern Israel tonight, where the Israeli military is awaiting orders to widen its ground assault. And Ben Wedeman has the latest for us from Tyre, where tens of thousands of people tonight have no way out. We begin with Jim Clancy in Beirut -- Jim.</s>JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, as we look at the situation right now, a lot of debate this day about the number of civilian casualties, and not just on one side, on all sides in this conflict. Unusually high. Let's begin and look at Beirut. Once again, the southern suburbs coming under attack this day. At least three Israeli airstrikes pounding those areas of the capital and the southern suburbs where Israeli believes Hezbollah still has some command or control or offices still operating here in the Lebanese capital. Meantime, and in Shiyah, another southern suburb, the digging continued trying to recover the remains of some of those still believed trapped. According to officials, the death toll rising to 30 once again. Residents in that area saying there were no fighters, no Hezbollah. In fact, it was a</s>DOBBS: Jim, it's after 1:00 in the morning there in Beirut. Give us a sense as to the intensity of the Israeli airstrikes there tonight. Is it relatively quiet as compared to previous nights?</s>CLANCY: Compared to previous nights, this certainly lighter than it was on Monday. That is here in Beirut, Lou. But you've got to understand that down in southern Lebanon, where any ground action may be taking place, those operations have been stepped up. There's no aid. It's all cut off. There's no way to get any more aid to about a hundred thousand villagers still stranded down there in the south. But the Israeli military may be trying to expand its operations in the hours ahead. People there holding their breath, waiting and watching -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Jim, thank you. Absolutely, as you say. And we will be going to southern Lebanon for a report from Ben Wedeman in just a matter of moments. Turning now to northern Israel. Jim Clancy reporting to us live from Beirut. Israeli troops are fighting fierce ground battles with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, as Jim Clancy just reported. At least four Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting today. And now the Israeli cabinet is deciding whether to widen the ground offensive. Matthew Chance has that report from northern Israel.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, you may be able to hear the thunder of artillery shelling going on behind me as Israeli guns pound Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. The Israeli government and the Israeli military have made it clear that if the diplomatic effort that's currently under way in New York comes to nothing, Israel has a very strong military option which it is quite prepared to use to expand its offensive in southern Lebanon, to pour in more and more forces, thousands more tanks and personnel, in order to link up with the 10,000 or more soldiers that are currently there and to expand their operations across southern Lebanon to really try and get control of as many of the areas as possible from where these Hezbollah rockets are being launched into towns and cities across northern Israel. There is also concern in Israel at the moment about the use by Hezbollah of an unmanned aerial vehicle, a drone which was intercepted by the Israeli air force off the coast of Israel within the past 24 hours or so. It was believed at first to be carrying explosives. It has the potential to do that, according to Israeli intelligence officials that we've spoken to. This one was not believed to have been carrying explosives. It may have just been some kind of propaganda ploy by Hezbollah to show that they have the technology capability to do this. There has also been reaction from Israeli on the proposal by the Lebanese -- and you can hear the shelling coming closer here -- the Lebanese government to deploy 15,000 Lebanese army troops in southern Lebanon. Israel says it welcomes that proposal in principle, it's what it wanted all along, to see Lebanese army troops on the border instead of the Hezbollah militia. But it has big concerns about how robust that Lebanese contingent will be. Will they be prepared to disarm Hezbollah? If they are, then it's successful. If not, Israeli troops will be going in -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: Matthew Chance, thank you, reporting from northern Israel. The southern Lebanese port city of Tyre tonight is virtually cut off from the outside world. Israel warning residents of Tyre to stay off roads and streets. Israel preparing to step up its air and ground campaign against Hezbollah. Tens of thousands of civilians still live in and around Tyre. For them, there is no way out tonight. Ben Wedeman reports from Tyre.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The city of Tyre is effectively cut off from the rest of Lebanon and under a curfew. That, after Israel dropped leaflets on this southern Lebanese city banning vehicle traffic. People are still allowed to walk around by foot. The leaflet said that any vehicle on the roads of southern Lebanon will be considered a legitimate target for Israeli airstrikes. Now, this, of course, is causing extreme problems for international relief organizations. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Jacob Kellenberger, came to Tyre today, but he didn't come all the way by car. He had to stop at the Litani River, where Israel has blown out the bridge and other temporary crossings several times. He had to cross on a log, which is now the only way over the river. When he came to Tyre, he gave a press conference and he expressed extreme concern about the humanitarian situation in southern Lebanon. He said that the Red Cross now has its second largest operation in the world here in Lebanon. That, the second one after Sudan. He said that they're very concerned about the approximately 100,000 civilians left in southern Lebanon here in Tyre, and in towns and villages throughout the south. That, of course -- the population before was 400,000. He said the population that's still here is suffering from a lack of food, a lack of clean water, a lack of medicine. He also referred to the Israeli leaflets banning vehicle traffic, saying just because those leaflets have been dropped, it does not absolve Israel of its responsibility to respect international humanitarian law. Meanwhile, the bombardment of southern Lebanon, from the air, from the sea, from land, from artillery continues. There's no end in sight for this conflict here on the ground. I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Tyre, south Lebanon.</s>DOBBS: And in New York here tonight, Arab League delegates are before the United Nations, and today they blasted the permanent five of the Security Council for standing by and doing absolutely nothing to end this conflict as it worsens. But the Arab League continues to insist that Israeli withdraw from southern Lebanon before any cease- fire can take effect. Richard Roth is live at the United Nations with the latest for us -- Richard.</s>RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lou. The United Nations Security Council was the scene of intense passionate argument, anger with Israel, Lebanon, Qatar, everyone going at it regarding this resolution and the ongoing war. The representative -- the foreign minister of Qatar told the Security Council that Lebanon's proposal of sending in 15,000 government soldiers is good enough to adjust the wording of this resolution so that Israeli should leave much faster than the proposed wording and allow Lebanon to police southern Lebanon and police Hezbollah. Otherwise, he says there is a risk of a civil war.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If we adopt resolutions without fully considering the reality of Lebanon, we will face a civil war. Instead of helping Lebanon, as the representative of Israel has said, we will destroy Lebanon.</s>ROTH: The Israeli ambassador fired back, saying he was shocked that Hezbollah was not mentioned once by the visiting Arab delegation who came from Beirut with a united position. He said that sending the Lebanese army down south to work with the U.N. peacekeeping mission is ridiculous because the U.N. operation since 1978 has been a failure.</s>DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMB. TO U.N.: The terrorists are watching, Mr. President. If this council adopts the path of half measures, concessions and mere declarations, they will be emboldened and we will find ourselves back at this table a week, a month, or a year from now, facing a tragedy of similar or even greater proportion.</s>ROTH: One of the visiting Arab dignitaries, Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, just told journalists that they're going to be talking again tomorrow morning and they're going to learn then whether the Security Council has accepted some of their proposed language changes. So, we're not going to have a vote tonight. No way we're going to have a vote early tomorrow -- Lou.</s>DOBBS: And in that language, the ambassador from the Arab League to the United Nations, Ambassador Malassani (ph) said here last night that the introduction of 15,000 Lebanese troops, Richard, critically important, but the withdrawal as a condition precedent to a cease-fire on the part of the Israelis was also their goal, as you just reported. But no mention of the disarmament of Hezbollah, period.</s>ROTH: That's right. And under this resolution, currently Hezbollah would be disarmed by the Lebanese government, but first they would be a robust international peacekeeping force in there. But what Lebanon and the others are saying, we can do it before that force gets there.</s>DOBBS: Thank you very much, Richard. Richard Roth reporting from the United Nations. A great deal more coming up on the widening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Also ahead, what we cannot do when it comes to border security and illegal immigration enforcement. It is a very long list. We'll have a special report. And then, middle class families bracing for more record gasoline prices while the Bush administration today decided to celebrate its one-year-old energy policy. And the war between Israeli and Hezbollah. The Syrian ambassador to the United States says U.S. policy is fundamentally wrong. I'll be talking with the ambassador here next. Stay with us.