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Length: 3:52
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR:
Let's get straight to Beirut, under air attack once
again tonight by Israel.
Correspondent Michael Ware is there.
Michael, we saw what happened when you heard those
explosions just about 45 minutes ago. Have you heard
anything since then?
WARE: Well, we had the resumption of the Israeli air
campaign against Hezbollah targets here in Beirut,
the capital of Lebanon, as you say, about 45 minutes
ago. Since that initial burst of four massive
detonations, nothing so far has followed.
However, we have seen that, on these occasions, these
attacks can roll on throughout the night. So, we will
just have to wait and see, Paula, what the Israeli
air force has in store this evening.
ZAHN: And do we have any idea, from the direction in
which you heard these explosions, what they might
have been targeting?
WARE: Yeah, we have already heard from the Israeli
Defense Forces. And it was fairly patently clear,
from the direction of the blast, that it was in the
traditional strongholds within the capital of
Hezbollah, in the city's southern suburbs.
I mean, clearly, we have no indication yet of what
the specific targets were. And, quite frankly, in all
eventualities, we will not learn from the Israeli
Defense Forces what it was they were seeking to hit.
However, most likely, they were targets of
opportunity, based on actionable intelligence, given
the level of destruction within this part of this
city. Given that entire blocks of high-rise
apartments have been brought to their knees, reduced
to rubble. There's very little infrastructure, per
se, within these areas to target.
So, most likely, they have identified some kind of
movement, or they have specific, actionable
intelligence leading them to either personnel they're
trying to eradicate or to materiel they're trying to
destroy -- Paula.
ZAHN: Right now, I want you to take us further north
of there, closer to the Syria border, to Baalbeck.
You have some late information on that raid that took
place, apparently at a hospital, the Israelis
claiming they killed five and captured -- excuse me
-- killed five and captured 10.
WARE: Yeah, Paula, what the Israeli Defense Force is
saying is that they captured five Hezbollah fighters
during this lightning strike, this deep strike, into
the Hezbollah heartland.
They also say that they can account for the deaths of
10 people, all of whom they say are Hezbollah
fighters. Now, as is so often the case in these
circumstances, in war, the stories conflict. We went
out to Baalbeck, within the Hezbollah stronghold of
the Bekaa Valley, today. We made the drive. We went
into the Hezbollah domain. There, we saw the
aftermath of this operation by Israeli commandos. And
we spoke to the people on the ground there.
Now, they, in fact, say that 16 people died. They
disagree with the Israeli Defense Force and claim
that these 16 people were all civilians. There's also
12 people who were wounded. I went and interviewed or
spoke to three of these people in the hospitals in
Baalbeck, two of whom were fairly seriously wounded,
one of whom was critically wounded.
Sadly, the local authorities are reporting that many
of the deaths were children. It seems that, within
the fight, as it unfolded, Israeli close-air support
was called in, and it may appear that there was some
civilian deaths as a result -- Paula.
ZAHN: Michael Ware, thank you for clearing up some of
the confusion over those numbers.
Once again, I want to reconfirm what Michael just
said, the Israelis saying they captured five, killed
10.