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Israel Retaliates After Deadly Golan Heights; Harris Counters Trump Attacks, Call Them "Wild Lies"; Simone Biles Prepares to Further Her Legacy; Paradise, California Under Threat of Fire. Aired 5-6 am ET

Aired July 28, 2024 - 05:00   ET

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

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[05:00:37]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

A deadly strike in the Golan Heights is stoking fears of a widening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. What this could mean for the latest ceasefire talks set to start today.

Donald Trump slamming his potential presidential opponent during a fiery stump speech, why he says Kamala Harris is worse than President Joe Biden.

Plus, Simone Biles is back in action today as Olympic gymnasts take the floor for their first competition. What we can expect to see in the coming hours.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Iran is now reacting to Israel's overnight strikes on Hezbollah, saying the country should refrain from, quote, "any new adventures." Israel says its warplanes hit Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon, including weapons caches and what it calls terrorist infrastructure. That came on the heels of a deadly rocket strike on a village in the occupied Golan Heights on Saturday.

Israel says at least 12 people were killed and 29 others wounded, including children struck at a soccer field. Now, this video shows their heartbroken relatives mourning them today.

Israeli officials blame Hezbollah for the strike, but the group claims it had nothing to do with it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected back home from the U.S. in the coming hours, said this before his departure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Citizens of Israel, like you, I was shocked to see the horrific photos in the wake of Hezbollah's murderous attack in Majdal Shams. Among those who were murdered are young children who are playing soccer and others. All of our hearts are broken over these sites. As soon as I arrive, I will immediately convene the security cabinet. I can say that the state of Israel will not let this pass in silence. We will not overlook this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now, this comes after a deadly Israeli airstrike on a school in central Gaza on Saturday. Palestinian officials say at least 30 people, including a number of children, were killed. More than 100 were reported wounded.

One official at a nearby hospital says most of the victims treated there were women and children. Israel's military says it was targeting a Hamas command and control center inside the compound. But a Palestinian civil defense spokesperson says the school was sheltering more than 4000 displaced civilians.

Despite the latest attacks, two sources tell CNN that high level hostage and ceasefire negotiations are expected to resume today in Rome.

All right, we're covering this story from all angles. Barbie Nadeau is keeping an eye on the ceasefire talks in Rome and Nada Bashir is monitoring developments in the region.

So let's start with you, Nada. What more are we learning about these strikes in the Golan Heights?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can imagine, Kim, the Druze community are still in mourning today. Many funerals will be taking place following Saturday evening's deadly attack.

The attack took place at around 6 p.m., targeting an area where children were playing near a soccer field. And our colleague Jeremy Diamond is at the scene. He spoke to eyewitnesses there. One eyewitness saying there were only a matter of seconds between warning sirens going off and the actual impact of the rocket attack.

Of course, this has drawn real concern amongst many in the region and internationally for the potential to this lead to a further escalation. As we know, of course, we have seen for months now the continued exchange of fire between the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and, of course, the Israeli military along that border line separating the two.

What is a real point of concern here is that the Israeli military is now pointing the finger of blame at Hezbollah. They believe that the rocket came from southern Lebanon. They say that they believe this was a rocket in Hezbollah's arsenal.

But important to know that Hezbollah has denied any responsibility for this attack. They say they were not behind this incident. But again, this comes during a time where we have seen tensions escalating. We've heard, of course, warnings from the Israeli military and even from U.S. officials that the Israeli military may well be preparing for a ground incursion into southern Lebanon if this exchange of fire continues.

And what we've been hearing from Israeli officials at this stage certainly feeds into those warning signs. The Israeli Prime Minister, as you mentioned, returning to Israel slightly earlier than planned from Washington, D.C. He has said that Israel will not be silent on this matter.

[05:05:12]

The Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, meanwhile, he visited the site in the occupied Golan Heights. He also said that Hezbollah will pay a heavy price. Israeli officials saying that Hezbollah, that they will respond fiercely to Hezbollah's actions.

Again, Hezbollah has denied responsibility. We've heard from the Lebanese government, according to state media in Lebanon, condemning any attacks on civilians, but also calling for a cessation of hostilities.

And we've previously heard from the Lebanese government saying they do not want to see a war, an all-out war between Lebanon and Israel. Important to underscore, of course, that much of these attacks that we've been seeing, the exchange of fire is between Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in southern Lebanon and Israel, not the Lebanese military.

But again, the Lebanese government has been clear. They do not want to see an all-out war, but also won't be able to stand idly by, according to officials, if indeed Israel tends to attack Lebanon.

So certainly mounting concern around the potential for this latest incident to trigger a broader escalation of tensions and violence in the region. Of course, what we've been hearing from Hezbollah for some time now is that the attacks that we've been seeing, the exchange of fire, will not come to an end until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Well, speaking of potential ceasefire, Barbie, this comes as Gaza ceasefire negotiations are set to start there again in Rome. So what can you tell us about this round?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Well, you know, these meetings were planned far before the incident that's going on right now. So it's very difficult to understand exactly what the playing field is going to be like. Italian media is reporting that the principals have arrived in the city, but we aren't getting much of a confirmation from the Italian side, certainly, about where this is going to be held or what it's going to look like.

But there is a sense of urgency, maybe not so much optimism, but there is urgency that these meetings will have some impact on the situation in Gaza in terms of the ceasefire and the return of hostages, dead or alive. Kim? BRUNHUBER: Well, you say urgency, but not optimism. I mean, there had been some sense of renewed optimism over a ceasefire and hostage deal following Netanyahu's visit to the U.S., but we've been here before, a deal seemingly close only to stall. So any indications that things might be different this time around?

NADEAU: Well, you know, after that visit to the United States, both pressure from Biden himself and Vice President Harris was thought to have maybe made some sort of a difference, some sort of pressure going in. But again, the playing field has changed quite significantly in the last 24 hours.

So you know, as you said, we've been here before. All of -- every time that these ceasefire talks get close to some sort of resolution, it seems like everything sort of just goes up in smoke again.

But there is optimism or there was optimism. Now there's urgency. We'll see if they can bring it back around to optimism again.

Kim.

BRUNHUBER: We will see. And then, Nada, to you, underlying all of this, of course, Israel's ongoing military campaign in Gaza, where there was another deadly strike there yesterday. What more can you tell us?

BASHIR: That's right. A deadly strike on a school in the central city of Deir al Balah. At least 30 people, according to authorities in Gaza, are said to have been killed, more than 100 others injured.

And the Israeli military says that it was targeting Hamas infrastructure, that it believes that there was a Hamas, in their words, command and control center in this school. But this has been denied by officials on the ground. Gaza's civil defense and local authorities saying that some 4,000 civilians had been sheltering in this school.

Of course, many of those schools still standing across the Gaza Strip have become temporary shelters for those displaced. The vast majority of Gaza's civilian population is now, of course, displaced. And, again, we are seeing these deadly strikes on a daily basis in areas where civilians feel that they may be safe, like schools like this one.

We have heard from an official, a doctor at the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, who has said that the majority of casualties coming into the hospital following that strike were women and children.

And, of course, we have been seeing strikes across other areas as well. And, of course, continued evacuation orders. It's important to focus as well on the situation in southern Gaza, where so many of Gaza's displaced civilian population have been taking refuge.

Many in the city of Khan Yunis have once again been ordered to evacuate to humanitarian zones. We have heard from the U.N.'s humanitarian organization describing these evacuation orders as both confusing and also complicating the humanitarian aid operation on the ground.

And what we have been seeing is the continued restrictions, really, on these safe zones that have been established by the Israeli military, on these areas that civilians are told to evacuate to, particularly in the Al-Mawasi coastal area, an area where we have seen airstrikes before, despite it being designated as a humanitarian zone.

[05:10:08]

But we're seeing that humanitarian zone shrink in size. And so, of course, this is an area crammed with civilians taking shelter. They've been ordered to flee to this area by the Israeli military.

But, again, there is a sense that they were simply nowhere safe left in the Gaza Strip. That is certainly the message that we've been hearing from multiple aid organizations, including the U.N.'s humanitarian agency.

And so, of course, rising concern around those orders, as well as we continue to see those airstrikes, and as we continue to see the Israeli military's offensive deepen in the south, which is not only an area where so many are displaced, but also an area which has proven crucial in the past few months to get aid across into the Gaza Strip.

And, again, warnings continue that there is simply not enough aid getting in right now.

BRUNHUBER: All right. I'd like to thank both of you. Nada Bashir in London, Barbie Nadeau in Rome. Appreciate that.

CNN Global Affairs Analyst Barak Ravid says all of the conflict Israel is facing right now, from the Houthis in Yemen to Hezbollah in Lebanon, centers on Gaza. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Everything is connected at the end of the day to the war in Gaza, and we have to start from there, because what U.S. officials for a long time told both Israel and Lebanon and through Lebanese officials to Hezbollah is that this will not stop, and it was clear to the Biden administration that this will not stop without a ceasefire in Gaza.

And I think that also in the meeting between Biden and Netanyahu just last Thursday, this was one of the points that the U.S. was making to the Israelis. We have to get a ceasefire and a hostage in Gaza in order to calm down the north.

And U.S. officials were concerned that if you don't get a ceasefire in Gaza, then you'll get exactly to where we are today, that there will be some sort of a rocket launch that will hit civilians and will lead to a very serious escalation. And what senior U.S. officials told me today, that what happened in Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights is exactly what they've been worried about and tried to avoid for 10 months.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The White House has condemned the deadly attacks on the Golan Heights. The U.S. National Security Council told CNN, quote, "Our hearts go out to the families of those who lost loved ones today."

Our support for Israel's security is ironclad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah.

And other world leaders are responding as well. Estonia's president says he's deeply saddened by the brutal attack on civilians, including many children. E.U. Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell says he strongly condemns the bloodbath. He's calling for an independent international investigation and is urging all parties to avoid escalation.

Norway's Foreign Minister says attacking civilians is unacceptable and is also calling on all parties to de-escalate a situation that can lead to a major war on Israel's northern front.

U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump condemned the attack during a campaign rally while also blaming the White House. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Before we begin, I want to condemn the evil attack on Israel that took place earlier today. A missile launched by Hezbollah killed at least a dozen children, young children. The savage Hezbollah terrorists struck these children with an Iranian precision missile. Dozens more were wounded in the attack, and sadly, the death toll is probably going to go very substantially higher.

Our hearts go out to the families of these innocent children. No parent should have to suffer the terrible loss of a child at the hands of terrorists.

It will go down as another moment in history created by a weak and ineffective United States president and vice president. They wouldn't have done this if I were the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: So that was just a sample of Trump's rhetoric about the Middle East Saturday. That same Minnesota rally, he made an outlandish claim that Vice President Kamala Harris wants jihadist sympathizers in the state, and that if she's elected, she will flood the country with refugees from Gaza.

Trump also attacked Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. He told the crowd she wants to, quote, "turn the Midwest into the Middle East." CNN's Alayna Treene has more from Minnesota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Former President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally in Minnesota on Saturday. He argued that she is more radically liberal and worse than President Joe Biden as Trump tried to keep workshopping some new lines of attack in his effort to define her.

Now, he focused a lot on critiquing her policies on immigration, crime, inflation, all areas where the Trump campaign believes Republicans and Donald Trump himself polls better than Democrats.

Now, one moment I found very interesting was Donald Trump actually said that people have argued to him. They thought perhaps he would be a bit nicer after the assassination attempt on his life earlier this month. He then joked that he actually thought maybe he's worse now before continuing to go after Harris. Take a listen.

[05:15:08]

TRUMP: If a crazy liberal like Kamala Harris gets in, the American dream is dead. She made Bernie Sanders look like a moderate.

TREENE: Now I also want you to watch this moment where he was about to attack Joe Biden and mock him. And then he abruptly stopped himself, arguing that perhaps it was a waste of time. Look.

TRUMP: You know when I imitated him because Biden and I don't want to waste a lot of time. But because it's over now, right? He's gone. I told you he would be. I told you he wasn't going to make it.

TREENE: Now I found that moment to be really interesting because it really exemplifies what I have been hearing in my conversations with Donald Trump's senior advisers, which is they are still trying to figure out the best way to define Harris.

Remember, they have spent an entire election cycle thus far workshopping a playbook designed to go after an unpopular 81-year-old male. Now it did seem like Donald Trump is struggling to adapt.

Now, he did go after Biden throughout his speech, but it was very clear on Saturday that he wanted to spend more time going after Harris as he recognizes that she is the real opponent.

Alayna Treene, CNN, St. Cloud, Minnesota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Earlier in the day, the Republican presidential candidate was making crypto friendly policy pledges at a Bitcoin summit in Tennessee. While laying out a plan to create a national stockpile using USC's Bitcoin, Trump seemed to refer to the Biden administration's Department of Justice as a fascist regime.

The DOJ has seized significant Bitcoin assets during both the Biden and Trump administrations and the former president has derided the cryptocurrency in the past. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared at a fundraiser in Massachusetts on Saturday. She focused on reproductive health and gun violence in her pitch to voters. Harris also said her campaign was the underdog in the race and she pushed back against Trump's attacks.

Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: You may have noticed Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record and some of what he and his running mate are saying. Well, it's just plain weird. I mean, that's the box you put that in, right?

There's been this, I think, quite perverse thing that has been happening over the last several years, which is that some folks would suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down, that somehow you're strong if you're a bully. Instead of what we all know, the true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. We are clear, it is we who are intent on lifting up the people of our nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Earlier, Harris virtually addressed the voters of tomorrow's summit. She praised the power of young people and pledged to earn their vote.

All right, another full day of Olympic competition is underway in Paris. Still to come, a live report on what to expect today.

Plus, a gold medal could be out of reach for the Canadian women's soccer team after the reigning champs were penalized for allegedly cheating. Well, all that and more coming up, please stay with us.

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[05:22:09]

BRUNHUBER: 13 gold medals are up for grabs today on the second full day of Olympic competition in Paris. All eyes are on the women in gymnastics with qualifiers kicking off earlier. Olympic superstar Simone Biles is competing in her third games, leading the defending world champions Team USA.

The first medals were handed out on Saturday. Australia leads the pack with three golds. China also has three in the U.S. is in third with one gold win. France and South Korea round out the top five.

I want to bring in CNN's Amanda Davies in Paris. So, Amanda, a thrilling opening day of gold medal action Saturday. Mixed fortunes, fair to say for Team USA in the pool, right?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, Kim, it was a brilliant opening day of action, I have to tell you. The two hottest tickets in town last night, the swimming finals and the rugby sevens will start in the pool. The area converted from a music venue used to hosting the likes of Taylor Swift.

Well, it was the rock stars of women's swimming taking center stage. Firstly, the race of champions as it was built, the 400-meter freestyle pitting three world record holders up against each other.

Legends from the U.S. and 2016 winner in this event, Katie Ledeck, finishing in bronze for her 11th Olympic medal in all behind 17-year- old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh of Canada with Australia's Ariarne Titmus ultimately successfully defending her crown from Tokyo in style.

It's really been quite an incredible 12 months for her. Just a year ago, she underwent surgery to remove tumors from one of her ovaries. And there was a great moment for her coach, Dean Boxall.

You might remember you went viral in Tokyo with his celebrations. Well, he did more of the same last night, but a reaction of a very different kind for Caeleb Dressel. The emotions in full flow after he helped Team USA to their first gold in the pool of this games in the men's four by 100 freestyle.

The 27-year-old walked out. You might remember of the world championships in 2022, saying he felt he had a monster inside him. He's been dealing with his now well-documented mental health issues, but there wasn't a dry eye in the house as he returned to the podium to claim his eighth Olympic gold.

And afterwards, as he celebrated with his wife, Meghan and son, August, he said it felt very different this time around.

Later on Sunday, though, it's all eyes on the French swimming star, Leon Marchand, nicknamed La Baguette by his ASU college teammates. He'll be hoping to emulate the success of the rugby sevens team who took the host's first gold of the games in serious style last night, becoming the first team to ever beat Fiji at an Olympic Games.

A massive moment for the country and their star player, Antoine Dupont. And one celebrated in style. It was quite the dance from the sevens team following their win.

[05:25:00]

Will Smith's Miami proving to be the soundtrack to their gold medal success. I'm not saying they were confident, but there is a whiff of a bit of rehearsal for that dance, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I think a bronze medal for the dance, maybe. So listen, looking ahead now to today, Amanda, massive day for Team USA, the men's basketball team tipping off for the first time in France as they chase gold.

DAVIES: Yeah, after the likes of Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert for France, Giannis Antetokounmpo making his Olympic debut with Greece, albeit not the winning start he was hoping for yesterday. On Sunday, it is over to arguably one of the hottest favorites of any sport here at the games. And that is Team USA making their men's basketball debut.

The defending champions jam-packed with superstars, as you know. Incredibly, it's Steph Curry's first Olympic Games, but they've got the likes of Kevin Durant, three-time gold medal winner and the USA's all-time leading Olympic scorer. NBA champion Jayson Tatum, and LeBron James back in action for his country for the first time since London 2012. And up against Serbia and Nikola Jokic in their opening game later. LeBron is well aware the experience is going to be crucial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, TEAM USA: Life is experience, you know, and to be able to have that experience, obviously I'm an 18, 19-year-old, you know, 14, but I'm very aware and very equipped to the team when it comes to playing international basketball. It's because every game has its own challenges and details and things of that nature, so we know it's going to be a lot different. We have to be on our P's and Q's, especially with Jokic. You know, obviously a goal guy and the rest of those guys, so, you know, really close to the matchup.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: It's expectation of a different kind on the shoulders of the U.S. women's football team. It's the start of a new era for them under their new coach, Emma Hayes, after what you might remember was that disappointment at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But they got off to a winning start this time around, victory over Zambia, and they know another success against Germany, who will be a much tougher prospect.

They were the gold medal winners a couple of years ago. They will see them secure a quarterfinal spot with a game to spare. But you have to say that feels quite a long way off for Canada as things stand. They were handed that six-point deduction yesterday as punishment for the drone spygate scandal. It doesn't mean they're eliminated. Their coach has been sent home, but it does mean the Tokyo gold medal winners have to win all three of their group stage matches to be in with a chance of making it through, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. All right. So, Amanda Davies in Paris, appreciate that.

Israel launches a counterstrike after a deadly rocket attack in the occupied Golan Heights, as Iran issues a warning saying it shouldn't go much further. That's ahead.

Plus, we ask a foreign policy expert whether the new finding could snowball into a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah. That's coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

Latest on the developing story in the Middle East, Iran is warning Israel against what it calls any new adventures. That's after Israel said its warplanes struck Hezbollah targets deep inside Lebanon overnight, hitting weapons caches and what it called terrorist infrastructure. That's coming on the heels of Saturday's rocket strike on this village in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel says at least 12 children were killed and 29 injured. The children were playing at a soccer field when it was hit by one of the rockets. A former Israeli Prime Minister made it clear the attack could lead to a major escalation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAFTALI BENNETT, FORMER ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: We are not going to tweezer our way through and look for Hezbollah amid Lebanon. Hezbollah is part of the government. Hezbollah is part of Lebanon. And what Lebanon needs to do tonight is move all of Hezbollah away from the border, all the way up to the river of Litani, and stop everything they're doing. That is the only way they can prevent an all-out war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected back home from the U.S. soon, and he plans to convene his security cabinet as soon as he arrives.

For more analysis, we're joined by H.A. Hellyer, a Middle East Studies Scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and he's speaking with us from Malaysia.

Thank you so much for being here with us. So, we've heard Israel's Defense Minister has promised Hezbollah will pay the price. Israel has retaliated with strikes already, but you expect further retaliation. In what form do you think that might take?

H.A. HELLYER, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Well, thank you for the invitation to come on your program. I do think that there will be further retaliation. Actually, I don't think that there's been retaliation for what took place already. I think that that's unfortunately with the strikes that you're mentioning are unfortunately part for the course that we've seen over the past nine months since post-October 7th.

I think the retaliation, or what will be termed as retaliation by the Israeli government, will only take place after Netanyahu returns from his trip, convenes the cabinet, and decides on a course of action.

And I think that the danger that we've all been warning about, frankly, for the past nine months, is that if you don't have a de- escalation paradigm put in place pretty quickly, then escalation becomes inevitable, and you can always have catastrophe emanate from the law of unintended consequences with strikes going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, that we've seen over the past nine months. There was always the danger that somebody was going to do something

that they thought might have been calculated but happened by mistake, or they miscalculated, and then suddenly escalation takes place.

And one thing that is possible about this particular attack is that Hezbollah may well be responsible in terms of the actual missile strike, but didn't mean to actually target that particular area. It doesn't really fit with the pattern that they've been engaged with so far. It also runs a different type of risk.

The community in the Golan Heights, of course the Golan Heights, as you mentioned, is occupied territory. It's Syrian. Israel occupied it in 1967. The Jewish community are linked to the Jewish community that are in Lebanon, which has a relationship, of course, given it's Lebanon, with Hezbollah.

[05:35:02]

So Hezbollah will probably be concerned -- would probably be concerned about causing tensions with that community, even within Lebanon itself. So it's -- I think it's open to debate whether or not this was an intended target.

And of course, as Josep Borrell of the European Union pointed out, an independent investigation needs to be conducted in order to understand quite what happened there. There's even speculation that this might have been the result of an Iron Dome malfunction. We frankly just don't know at this point.

BRUNHUBER: So you isolated the key question, will this lead to all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah? For Israel, what would that mean? I mean, yet another front and already the IDF short of manpower.

HELLYER: So there are a few things here. First, as you mentioned Hezbollah -- well, as your program mentioned, Hezbollah has denied responsibility. If they were looking for escalation of this type, I don't think they'd be denying responsibility.

The Iranian ambassador to Beirut also sent out a message earlier today on Twitter, and I think that indicates as well that the Iranians are not looking for escalation. So I think that the Israelis will be looking at this and thinking, OK, we're going to respond. How are we going to respond? And how can we respond without a full-scale war breaking out? Because I don't think the Israelis want a full-scale war at present. I think that there are forces within the Israeli establishment that are certainly looking for that sort of war.

But I think that at the moment, on balance, there are more voices within the establishment, particularly within the security establishment, that knows that if full-scale war were to break out, it would not be a repeat of what Israel is doing to Gaza and the repercussions there. Of course, Gaza has been a complete catastrophe for the people of Gaza, more than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, killed by the IDF and their strikes.

But the response upon Israeli towns and cities and civilians has been quite minimal in comparison, because Hamas simply doesn't have that capacity or capability. When we talk about a strike on Lebanon going beyond what's taken place so far, the risk of Hezbollah responding in kind or escalating on Israeli towns and cities, they have far more in terms of people, but also in terms of weaponry. And I think the Israelis know that. I think that it would be catastrophic for the Israelis, as well as, of course, for Lebanon and the Lebanese.

BRUNHUBER: Right. Listen, we'll have to leave it there, but appreciate your analysis, as always. H.A. Hellyer, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

HELLYER: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: The most decorated gymnast of all time, Simone Biles, is about to make her return to the Olympics. We'll have more on her comeback and her journey to this incredible moment. That's next. Stay with us.

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[05:41:14]

BRUNHUBER: Simone Biles is back. The qualifying rounds for the superstar are about to get underway at the Paris Olympic Games. Biles, of course, is part of a U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team that's the most racially diverse ever. The talent in the squad is fueling high hopes for success in Paris and inspiration for the future. CNN Sports' Coy Wire has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMONE BILES: I know what it's like being the only black girl on the team and not having a role model.

COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Sometimes you have to see it before you can truly believe it.

CORRINNE TARVER, GYMNASTICS COACH, FORMER NCAA GYMNASTICS CHAMPION: It is so gratifying to see such a diverse group of women who are going to represent this country. And it truly shows that as a sport, we have come a long way.

WIRE: Four-time Olympic medalist Dominique Dawes was the first black female gymnast to ever win an individual medal at the Olympics at the Atlanta Games in 1996. At the 2012 London Games, Gabby Douglas became the first black gymnast to win an Olympic all-around competition. Fast forward to today, and four of the five U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team competing in Paris are women of color. It's their most racially diverse team in history.

TARVER: I was trying not to cry, honestly, when I saw the makeup of the team. I just kind of felt, like, in my heart, I truly felt, wow, we've finally gotten somewhere, finally able to truly show the talent that we had. And it has nothing to do with the color of one's skin. It has to do with what they do on the mat. WIRE: This year's squad, seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles, reigning all-around Olympic champ Suni Lee, reigning Olympic floor champ Jade Carey, 2020 Olympic team silver medalist Jordan Chiles, and rookie Hezly Rivera, the youngest member of the entire Team USA delegation.

BETTY OKINO, FORMER U.S. OLYMPIC GYMNAST: The next generation of kids growing up, that's not a question anymore if they can do gymnastics because they don't see anybody else that looks like them. You look at our team, our national team, and you see diversity across the board. Not only black and brown girls, but you see all of the different colors.

JORDAN CHILES, U.S. OLYMPIC GYMNAST: When you see yourself in somebody else and somebody else can see themselves in you, like, I think it only makes you feel, wow, like, I've done something in this world. I've been able to change, like, the culture in something or the diversity in something. So I just hope I can continue to, you know, be that little light for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: CNN Sports Analyst Christine Brennan joins us now from Paris. She's also a Sports Columnist with "USA Today." I mean, quite an incredible story of this very diverse gymnastics team, of course, led by one of the most well-known athletes in the world, Simone Biles. She's set to have a pretty historic run this year and has even submitted a whole new move to add to her uneven bars routine. So what can you tell us about her competitions today?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Kim, it's great to see Simone finally up for starting. There's been so much buildup, right? I mean, people have been talking about her for months.

When I see friends or just chatting with people or, you know, someone runs into you on the street and wants to talk about the Olympics, you know, it's Simone Biles first and foremost. And so finally, here she is.

And, you know, she represents so much, as, of course, Coy's piece was talking about the incredible importance of diversity and for young people of, you know, of all colors.

And to be able to say, hey, I could do that, it's just a really wonderful message. And Simone is leading the way on that. She is the greatest of all-time in terms of on the field of play in the arena, but also the most famous, and tragically, the most well-known survivor of sexual abuse, the worst sexual abuse scandal in sports history, the Larry Nassar gymnastics horrors.

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And yet, from that terrible moment, she has found a voice there, too, speaking out for survivors, being a part of a congressional hearing talking about the mistakes and the terrible things that happened to so many dozens, hundreds of young women in the gymnastics world. So in every turn, Kim, every step of the way, she has become such an

important voice in our nation and our world as a leader, as a role model, and, of course, also as a tremendous athlete.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, you talked there about one of the challenges she's faced throughout her life. She's called this year her comeback year. So what other challenges has she faced sort of making her way back to the Olympic stage?

BRENNAN: You know, I think for many people who don't really follow the Olympics, like maybe I do or others, where it's every three years -- well, it's probably four years, although it's only three years since Tokyo. And, you know, the idea of remembering what Simone Biles went through and the twisties and the mental health concerns.

And you and I talked about this back when I was in Tokyo three years ago, you know, the tremendous outpouring of support for her, but also terrible comments on social media about her. Like, you know, why aren't you trying harder? Why did you withdraw from the competition? You know, kind of the old suck it up, you can do this.

And with Simone Biles, with her class, her grace, her dignity, her words, she was able to tell those people, whether she actually told them online or just by her actions and her words, that to be able to talk about mental health issues and to discuss these things, that is a good thing. That is normal. And you hear so many athletes now, whether they're swimmers like Michael Phelps or Regan Smith, Caitlin Clark in basketball has talked about, it's OK to say you're not OK. So many athletes have found a voice.

And really, Naomi Osaka at the French Open a few years ago, Simone Biles, Michael Phelps with his documentary, we hear it more and more, and that's so helpful, especially for those young people out there who don't have a voice, who are not, don't have a platform, who are not as well-known, but still in their homes or on the court, they're having some troubles.

Well, they can look to Simone Biles and say, hey, if she can do it, I can do it too. It's a very positive message.

BRUNHUBER: So inspiring. I noticed you called her the greatest of all- time a few minutes ago. Do you think that will be true regardless of what happens here in Paris?

BRENNAN: Oh, I do. I do. She was tremendous eight years ago in Rio. She's 27. She's still doing this. That's not young for gymnastics. Like Katie Ledecky, the GOAT, she got the bronze yesterday. She didn't get the gold or the silver. It was expected. She's still the GOAT, right? And by the way, I think we talked about this. They're both 27. They were born within three days of each other in March of 1997. What a week that was in sports. Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, three days apart.

And so the fact that they're still here and we see them, so for Simone, absolutely. That's Amanda. That's done, right? She is the greatest of all-time. She can add to that.

And even if she doesn't win everything, like we saw in Tokyo, where she had to withdraw and then won the bronze on the balance beam a week later, that was a victory, coming back and getting that medal, even though it wasn't the color of the medal we usually think of with her, which is gold.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. All right, listen, let's widen it out. This whole U.S. gymnastics team has pretty high expectations on them. How do you think they measure up to the competition?

BRENNAN: I think the U.S. women's gymnastics team, Kim, will win the Olympic gold medal. They did not, of course, three years ago because of Simone having to withdraw after having the problems with the twisties. And I think they're going to come back strong.

This is a packed team, as you heard in the piece. And, of course, Suni Lee won the individual all-around three years ago when Simone dropped out. That shows the depth of the U.S. team. I'm not saying there's no other great gymnasts around the world, Brazil and others, but I think the U.S., this is their time. And they have been pointing for this because it has been now eight years since Rio that the U.S. women have won that team all around. So they want it, and they really want to get that back.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we will be watching. I really appreciate it. Christine Brennan in Paris, thanks again so much.

BRENNAN: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right, well, Paradise, California, you'll remember, was devastated by fire back in 2018. Now it's under an evacuation warning as fire threatens again. We'll have that story when we come back. Please stay with us.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very impactful. Every once in a while when we smell smoke or see smoke like that, it does trigger us. It triggers the people here in Paradise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm getting evacuation alerts and, you know, be ready. And so I'm packed up, my dog, my cat. That's all I can do is wait.

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BRUNHUBER: Residents of Paradise, California, which was destroyed years ago in the state's deadliest wildfire, talk about the Park Fire that's currently threatening the town. Much of Paradise was incinerated in the Camp Fire back in 2018. Forty-two people were killed, and survivors told harrowing stories of close calls while escaping the inferno.

Well, now the encroaching Park Fire has put the town under an evacuation warning. It's already the seventh largest in California history and has burned about 550 square miles in an area about the size of Phoenix, Arizona. Nearly 2,500 firefighters are battling the blaze.

Canadian officials say nearly 40% of structures in the town of Jasper have been destroyed in a growing wildfire. Some 25,000 residents and tourists who evacuated last week haven't been able to return. The blaze now covers an area nearly the size of 125 square miles and is the largest in Jasper National Park in a century.

There are about 150 separate wildfires burning now across Alberta, with 43 out of control. Canadian firefighters will be joined Sunday by colleagues from Australia and South Africa in an effort to contain further spread of the fires.

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All right, in just a few minutes, millions of Venezuelans will head to the polls to cast their ballots in what could be the country's most consequential election in more than a decade.

Concerns are already growing over the fairness of the election, with the last-minute barring of some international observers. Authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro has agreed to allow election monitors in exchange for the U.S. easing sanctions. Maduro, who assumed the presidency after Hugo Chavez's death 11 years ago, faces off against Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a former diplomat who's built a strong following after the opposition's two preferred candidates were barred from running.

The White House is closely monitoring the election and says it is, quote, "prepared to work with the winner as long as there's a transparent and fair election process."

All right, well, as they say, all roads lead to Rome, and this one definitely does. Have a look. Italy's oldest and scenic highway, the Appian Way, has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It's the first and the most important road built by the ancient Romans, which served as a crucial lifeline.

Today, of course, it's a popular tourist destination, also known as the Queen of Roads. It's named after a Roman statesman who began and completed the first section of the road in 312 B.C. It's the 60th Italian site to be recognized by UNESCO.

All right, that wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN This Morning" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "Going Green."

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