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Length: 5:54
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR:
Let's go to Michael Ware. He's in Beirut. He's in
Lebanon, actually, on the phone. He's joining us with
an updated report on the scene of this alleged convoy
attack.
For our viewers just tuning in, Michael, tell us what
you know firsthand, what you've seen and what you've
heard, based on your reporting.
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf.
I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that question. I'm on
the scene as we speak. It is a scene of unbelievable
carnage.
There's at least five, perhaps more, cars that have
been absolutely destroyed. We're told that there's at
least three, as many as four dead, up to 17 or 18
have been wounded. Seven of whom are military
officers who were escorting this convoy. They were
trying to leave the Bekaa Valley, up a road that
leads into the Cedar Mountains, back to Beirut, when
they were hit.
It's clear that the front of the convoy was hit
first, and then other cars in panic turned to try to
escape when they were hit. It is an unbelievable
scene here, Wolf. It is appalling.
BLITZER: And where exactly -- I assume you can tell
us, where are you now? Where are all of these people
who were in the convoy?
WARE: They've been evacuated. The dead and the
wounded have been rushed to hospital.
As we approached the scene here in Capria (ph), which
is just west of the main Bekaa Valley center of Jab
Janin (ph), we were passed only by racing ambulances.
When we arrived upon the scene, there were still some
rescue workers here retrieving bodies and taking
people out of the destroyed vehicles. However, an
Israeli drone has now appeared overhead, and you can
hear it buzzing. So the military ordered an
evacuation of all of those who can get
out--Yeah?!--ordered an evacuation of all those here
for fear of another attack. We're now running away
from the scene just in case there's another strike.
The Lebanese security officials report that there was
as many as eight missiles; however, that's not yet
confirmed. What is confirmed is that there is a
significant amount of destruction that has been done
to a vehicle convoy.
After they left the battlefield of Marjayoun, they
proceeded north, 1,500 vehicles full of civilians,
according to Red Cross workers I spoke to at the
scene. We've been tracking this convoy since its
initiation this morning.
We were there as it was leaving the free-fire zone.
It was full of civilians -- men, women, children --
crammed into any vehicle that would move.
They were in a desperate state. Many of them looked
wretched after weeks of being besieged and bombed.
Once they passed a certain point north, these 1,500
vehicles started breaking up and heading in different
directions, all bound for Beirut. This road is one of
the roads that leads from the Bekaa Valley, over the
mountains, into Beirut. However, we're told that it
had been bombed some weeks ago and is impassable. It
appears that the civilians in this convoy and the
military who were with them may not have known that.
At any rate, there has been a strike of some kind on
one of the civilian convoys exiting the field of
Marjayoun under a U.N. - brokered deal that provided
them a safe corridor -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Michael, I'm going to let you catch your
breath. I want to stay with you, and we're going to
come back to you, because this is a very, very
important story.
Michael Ware on the scene for us, describing what is
a potentially very significant development in this
war between Israel and Hezbollah, this huge convoy
trying to escape some of the fighting.
Michael, stand by. We're going to be coming back to
you for that.
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Now, just to
update you for a brief moment, Wolf, on that
developing story in the Bekaa Valley that Michael
Ware was reporting a short time ago, Lebanese
security sources now telling CNN that four people
have been killed and as many as 40 people injured.
One of the four dead confirmed to be a Lebanese army
soldier, part of that convoy that was trying to get
out of the fighting area, was evacuating more than a
thousand vehicles out of the danger zone that came
under Israeli attack -- Wolf.
BLITZER: And there's no indication -- we're not
getting any word yet on if there were any Hezbollah
military personnel or equipment anywhere near this
convoy. Is that the sense you're getting?
SADLER: Well, it started out, this convoy -- and we
have pictures of it fed out earlier today -- as a
convoy that was being moved out of Marjayoun, which
is where Israeli and Hezbollah forces have been
engaged in fierce combat over the past few days. It
was a brokered movement between the IDF, the Israeli
Defense Forces, and the United Nations peacekeepers
in the south.
So, initially, when it left Marjayoun, it did have
cover under the U.N. flag. But part of the way out,
several kilometers outside of the Marjayoun district,
the convoy split.
The United Nations peacekeepers left the Lebanese
army to head to Zakle (ph), which is a town in the
Bekaa Valley. However, before it got there, the
vehicle convoy had been added to by several hundred
vehicles.
Michael Ware saying 1,500 vehicles, according to Red
Cross officials on the ground. And there is a
possibility, of course, that Israel could have
expected or acted on intelligence that perhaps
Hezbollah fighters, operatives or others were being
smuggled out of the danger zone at that time.
It's too early to confirm that, Wolf. But that must
be a suspicion that the Israelis may well use to
justify what's going on right now in the Bekaa --
Wolf.
BLITZER: Thank you very much for that, Brent Sadler,
in Beirut.