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CNN's Breaking News Coverage on Israel's Ground Incursion into Lebanon. CNN's Breaking News Coverage on Israel's Ground Incursion into Lebanon. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 01, 2024 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN Breaking News.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is now 10:00 am here in Israel and in Lebanon.

I'm Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv and this is a live look at Beirut as we speak. You can see a thick haze is hanging over the city there after overnight Israeli airstrikes and some 200 kilometers up the coast from where we are here in southern Lebanon.

Israel has started what it calls a limited ground operation, sending in paratroopers, commandos and members of the armored corps. The Israeli military says it is conducting, quote, "targeted raids at the Israeli-Lebanese border." Israel says there will be no long-term occupation of southern Lebanon.

Lebanese state media says strikes are underway at this hour in southern Lebanon and those attacks are causing severe damage. Meantime Hezbollah says it has targeted parts of northern Israel during the early morning hours. The U.S. says Israel informed it of a number of operations including the ground incursion. The U.S. National Security Council spokesperson told CNN that the mission can be a risk, a risk of mission creep as you will. The White House will keep discussing that with the Israelis.

Alright, CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Abu Dhabi and she has been monitoring what is going on both over Beirut and in southern Lebanon and obviously this is a fast moving story. Paula, the announcement at least of the ground invasion coming around 2:00 am local time. We are now some hours into that operation. What further detail do we have?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we have a team on the border saying that they had been seeing in those early hours flashes of light they had heard, the artillery fire in southern Lebanon. We've heard from state-run media, NNA, that there has been severe damage, as they describe it, in some of the villages at this point, saying that there's been damage to shops, to private houses and also to crops. So as it is now light in those areas, we should get more information about what the impact on the ground has been. But we've heard from the Israeli side that the military is saying that

they had been training for this for months, saying also that they had gained skill and operational experience from what they have been doing over recent months in Gaza. They have described it as a limited and a targeted operation in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military is saying that they will be focusing on a number of villages just across the border in southern Lebanon. Areas where they say Hezbollah operatives are based have been operating out of and where they believe that there is Hezbollah infrastructure.

Now they have called it limited. There are of course concerns in Lebanon that it may become more than what Israel says it is. The Israeli military, understandably, would not be drawn on how long this might last, how deep into Lebanon they may go, but certainly in the past. In 1982, for example, Israel described a limited invasion and that ended as a bloody 18-year occupation.

And just recently when Israel said it would carry out a limited offensive in Rafah in the south of Gaza, amid international condemnation and opposition that ended up as a significant operation where much of the city is now unrecognizable as described by foreign media including CNN, which was taken there by the IDF. So there are concerns about how significant this operation could be.

We heard from the U.S. side, the U.S. President Joe Biden, just hours before it started calling again for a ceasefire. But we have since heard that Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Defense Secretary, has spoken to Yoav Gallant, the Israeli Defense Minister and he has posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. I'll read you his comments, quote, "we agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hezbollah cannot conduct October 7th- style attacks on Israel's northern communities."

[03:05:03]

"I reaffirm that a diplomatic resolution is required to ensure that civilians can return safely to their homes on both sides of the border" there. So saying they do say Israel has a right to self- defense, but they would prefer a diplomatic response. Becky.

ANDERSON: Paula Hancocks on the story for you with the very latest. Thank you, Paula.

Well, Malcolm Davis is a senior analyst for defense strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and he joins us live now. Firstly, your assessment of what you have heard and seen reported to date. We are some seven or so hours after the announcement of the ground offensive, incursion, invasion, call it what you will by Israeli troops albeit they suggest limited in scope. How do you assess what you are seeing to date?

MALCOLM DAVIS, MILITARY ANALYST AND SR. ANALYST FOR DEFENSE STRATEGY AND CAPABILITY, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, certainly, I think that the goal of the Israeli defense forces on the ground in this grounding incursion is to push Hezbollah forces back to the Litani River on the other side of that river to create a buffer zone, which is free of Hezbollah forces, particularly in terms of their ability to use short-range artillery, such as mortars and rockets, that sort of thing, so that Israeli citizens can return to northern Israel, to their towns and villages there, and in doing so, basically create a safe sector from which Israel can then prevent Hezbollah from infiltrating close to the border at the same time.

You're seeing Israeli airstrikes continue both in support of that ground incursion, but also more directly against longer range, more distant targets such as continuing attacks on Hezbollah rockets and battlefield missiles.

ANDERSON: The White House has said that it supports Israel's right to defend itself from terror organizations, very specifically, it said, Iran-backed terror organizations. It also, at the same time, says it worries about mission creeps.

So I guess that begs the question here. For how long does this go on? How -- how, what's the scope of this operation? Let's talk about what the threat is. There have been some 9,300 launches by Hezbollah on Israel since October the 8th, the day after the terrible massacre of people in Israel by Hamas. October the 8th was the first time that Hezbollah in this conflict launched strikes on Israel.

What's the capacity of the terror group? And let's remind ourselves, they are, as far as at least their communications and their infrastructure, much depleted over the past couple of weeks. But when I talk about infrastructure, I'm talking about physical commanders and a chief, but the actual physical weaponry they have is vast at this point. Malcolm, could you just give us a sense of what the Israelis are up against it?

DAVIS: Certainly estimates coming out of U.S. think tanks and elsewhere suggest that Hezbollah have between 150,000 and 200,000 battlefield rockets, missiles, short range missiles, mortars, drones. The Israelis have destroyed some of those in the initial air strikes that have occurred since this operation against Hezbollah began. Certainly the attacks against Hezbollah's command and control, its leadership, including the attack on Nasrallah that killed Nasrallah have been quite effective.

But, you know, the Hezbollah forces still do have substantial numbers of these weapons, many of which are hidden in civilian areas inside homes. And the challenge for the Israelis is to detect these weapons. And if Hezbollah start to prepare them for launch, to be able to respond and strike quickly against those threats. Now, there is obviously a risk if they're in civilian areas of Lebanese civilians being injured or killed.

But I think that the Israelis have little choice but to continue to prosecute this war, to continue -- to degrade Hezbollah's military capability, including these (inaudible) missiles and rockets, and for that reason the air campaign has to continue. The ground campaign I think is limited to creating, as I said, this demilitarized zone that extends up to the Litani River. ANDERSON: Israel does not have a good history in successful invasions

and Paula was alluding to that in her reporting just earlier on. I wonder what you believe is different this time.

[03:10:09]

In 82 ground forces went in, they were promising a limited incursion as they are now promising the same this time. It was three years before most of those Israeli troops withdrew. Malcolm, what's different to your mind this time? As many people say, there is no military option for success ultimately against Hezbollah.

DAVIS: Look, I think that's right in the sense that, you know, supposedly you learn from operational experience, so the Israelis would have learned from that earlier campaign, but so would Hezbollah. And so I think that there is the risk that history will repeat itself. Israelis will go in for yet another limited incursion on the ground, but they'll get bogged down because they'll have to defend that demilitarized zone that exists along the Litani River.

Obviously, the technology is different these days in terms of the ability for networked sensor systems to be able to monitor Hezbollah movements across the other side of that river. But there is the risk of Israeli forces getting bogged down, ending up in a similar situation to what happened then and essentially ending up in another quagmire where casualties are incurred on the Israeli side. That then has a political consequence for Benjamin Netanyahu's government and it also encourages other forces, Hamas, the Houthis, even Iran to take advantage of Israeli's predicament.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Malcolm. Thank you very much indeed for joining us on what is our breaking news this hour.

More coming up here on CNN, as you would expect. I do, though, want to pause just for a moment from what is going on in this region and send it over to my colleague Max Foster for some other news headlines. He is out of London this morning. Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hi, Becky. In the U.S., the death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen now to 130. As the recovery begins and search and rescue efforts continue, U.S. President Joe Biden set to visit North Carolina on Wednesday.

The state has reported the most deaths from Helene with 56 as well as entire towns cut off from access to aid. Official say supplies are starting to trickle into some areas, though nearly 300,000 customers in the state are still without electricity, according to poweroutage.us. North Carolina's attorney general says it'll take weeks, months and years to recover from this storm.

CNN's Rafael Romo is in North Carolina with more on how residents are coping.

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DAVE TIMKO, STORM VICTIM'S FATHER: Put some coffee in here. RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surrounded by destruction

without electricity, this freshly brewed cup of coffee is a small luxury for Sarah Timko.

D. TIMKO: I asked my daughter, are you okay? I just texted her and she sent me back these horrifying pictures. I mean, it looked like Armageddon.

ROMO (voice-over): That's when Dave Timko decided to travel hundreds of miles to come to the rescue of his daughter and her family, bringing food, water, gas and supplies.

D. TIMKO: Buildings down, houses washed away. I'm like, oh my god, my daughter's in the middle of this and she's seven and a half months pregnant.

SARAH TIMKO, ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: The baby's going to be here in about eight weeks. And it's my first. So it's exciting. I also don't want him to come early because we are not prepared.

ROMO (voice-over): The Asheville, North Carolina resident and her family were among the hundreds of thousands of people left without power here in devastated western North Carolina.

With major disaster declarations in 25 counties, emergency crews say they are overwhelmed not only by the amount of people in need of help, but also because they are unable to reach many of them.

ROMO: Caught-off communities, destroyed roads, and broken bridges like this one here in Swannanoa are making the job of first responders and search and rescue teams very difficult here in western North Carolina.

JULIAN TORRES HARWOOD, ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: I didn't really know my neighbors that well actually until like two days ago.

ROMO (voice-over): In this Asheville neighborhood, people decided they couldn't wait for help to arrive.

TORRES HARWOOD: They've given us water, fuel, food.

ROMO (voice-over): They organized themselves to clear their street that was covered in mud and debris.

TORRES HARWOOD: And we've all chipped in, we've all worked together. It's been really special.

ROMO (voice-over): Most people in the areas devastated by the storm have no power, water or cell service. As residents line up for necessities, FEMA is using helicopters to deliver supplies. Sarah Timko says she was not prepared for this kind of unexpected disaster.

ROMO: What was your reaction when he said, honey, I'm going your way and I'm bringing supplies?

S. TIMKO: I was like, that's my dad. That's him. He's always there for me. [03:15:02]

D. TIMKO: This is my first grandchild, her first child. You know, that's a very delicate time, right?

ROMO (voice-over): In the worst of times, the best in people is making a big difference.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Asheville, North Carolina.

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FOSTER: The U.S. presidential contenders addressed the damage from the storm on Monday as residents attempt to pick up the pieces. Vice President Kamala Harris cut short her campaigning on the West Coast to fly back to Washington for a briefing on the federal response to Helene. Speaking with relief workers, she shared a message of support for Americans dealing with the disaster.

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VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS (D), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Over the past few days, our nation has endured some of the worst destruction and devastation that we have seen in quite some time. And we have responded with our best, with the best folks who are on the ground and here, doing the kind of work that is about rising to a moment of crisis to do everything we can to lift up folks who deserve to be seen and heard.

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FOSTER: Meanwhile, Donald Trump was in South Georgia, where he helped distribute aid in some of the hard-hit areas. His visit, though, turned political, as he falsely claimed the Biden administration isn't answering calls from state leaders asking for help. Trump specifically mentioned Georgia's governor and failed attempts to get in touch with President Biden, but Governor Brian Kemp dismissed those rumors, confirming he indeed spoke with the president.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The governor is doing a very good job. He's having a hard time getting the president on the phone. I guess they're not being responsive. The federal government is not being responsive.

GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): The president just called me yesterday afternoon. I missed him and called him right back. And he just said, hey, what do you need? And I told him, you know, we got what we need. We'll work through the federal process. He offered that if there's other things we need, just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.

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FOSTER: The U.S. vice presidential nominees will hold their first and so far only scheduled debate on Tuesday night. Their face off comes just five weeks before the election and it could be the final debate of the campaign season. Democratic nominee Tim Walz has told people he's nervous about doing debates but says he hopes voters will know that he and his running mate Kamala Harris are, quote, "just doing our best for folks."

Republican nominee J.D. Vance and his wife arrived in New York on Monday where the debate will be held. As for his strategy, the senator from Ohio has said he'll use the debate to, quote, "prosecute the case against Kamala Harris."

And a reminder to watch CNN's special coverage of the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News. Our coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday in New York. That's 7:00 a.m. Wednesday in Hong Kong.

Now Georgia can no longer enforce its ban on abortion. Coming up what a judge had to say about the law that caused demonstrations across the state and debate across the country.

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FOSTER: An update on our breaking news. Hezbollah says it has successfully fired on a group of IDF soldiers in the northern Israeli town of Metula with artillery and rockets. That's after the Israeli military launched a ground operation inside Lebanon, which Lebanese state media say has caused severe damage.

The IDF says paratroopers and commandos are involved in the incursion and that they've been training in northern Israel over the past few weeks for this mission. The White House says it supports what Israel calls a limited and targeted operation against Hezbollah. Israel says it has no plans for a long term occupation.

Dock workers at American ports from Maine to Texas have gone on strike. Members of the International Longshoremen's Association are walking the picket line at 14 major ports on the East and Gulf coasts. Ports in the Western U.S. aren't affected. Last minute efforts to come to an agreement with the U.S. Maritime Alliance failed.

The alliance represents major shipping lines. They asked for an extension of the current contract so talks could continue, but the union rejected their offer of a 50 percent wage increase over the life of the contract. New York governor says the effect on the economy could be devastating.

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GOV. KATHY HOCUL (D-NY): The stakes are very high. The potential for disruption is significant. We're deeply concerned about the impact that a strike could have on our supply chains, especially when it comes to critical goods like medical supplies and others.

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FOSTER: Well, this is the first strike of these ports since 1977.

And a judge in Georgia has struck down the state's abortion ban. The law effectively prohibited abortions beyond the first six weeks of pregnancy. The judge declared the law unconstitutional, making clear his stance on women's reproductive rights. CNN's Nick Valencia has the details.

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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Georgia judge has thrown out the state's abortion ban, now opening the door for access to the procedure up to about 22 weeks of pregnancy. Judge Robert McBurney said in his ruling today that abortions must be regulated as they were prior to the passage of the controversial heartbeat bill back in 2019.

It was in 2019 that Georgia lawmakers passed what was then thought to be one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, outlying the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy or prior to when most women realized that they're pregnant.

And it was Judge McBurney, incidentally, back in 2019, that blocked that rule or that law that was signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp from going into effect. But then in 2022, the Supreme Court threw out the national right to an abortion, which opened the door for states to issue their own abortion bans.

[03:25:04]

That brought the ruling of the constitutionality of the Heartbeat bill back into the courtroom of Judge McBurney, and this is what he said in his ruling today, saying quote, "Liberty in Georgia includes, in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights, the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her health care choices."

The ruling comes as Vice President Kamala Harris has made access to abortions a key campaign issue. And recently, "ProPublica" reported that at least two black women have died as a result of not having access to legal abortions in this state. Meanwhile, the attorney general here in the state, he says he plans to appeal the ruling with a Georgia state Supreme Court.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Atlanta.

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FOSTER: -- out of the Middle East, the latest on Israel's limited ground operation in Lebanon, as they call it, and its airstrikes on Beirut. Just ahead.

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[03:30:00]

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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv for you, where the time here is 10:30 in the morning.

Let me get you up to date on where we stand with things. We know that paratroopers, commandos and armored corps troops are now taking part in a ground operation in southern Lebanon. The IDF says it's taking aim at Hezbollah targets that threaten residents of northern Israel.

Lebanese state media say the attacks on southern Lebanon caused severe damage, and Hezbollah says it has targeted parts of northern Israel during the early morning hours following the Israeli military incursion. Lebanon's capital Beirut also saw overnight Israeli airstrikes. The White House warning that mission creep can be a risk and discussions it says with the Israelis will go on.

Lebanese officials report at least 95 people were killed within a 24- hour period on Monday. The government says about one million people, one million people have been forced from their homes.

Well, H.A. Hellyer is a Middle East Studies scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. He joins me today from Athens in Greece.

This is, H.A., thank you for joining us, described as an incursion, limited in scope, clearly taking advantage of the momentum the Israelis have got since the successful targeting of key Hezbollah leaders, including the former chief Hassan Nasrallah. This is an invasion, call it what you will, this is an invasion, but it is a stated goal of the Israeli government here that they will restore security on their northern border for the some 60,000 odd more or more Israeli citizens who have been displaced since October the 8th.

What do you make of what you have seen to date in the last few hours?

H.A. HELLYER, MIDDLE EAST STUDIES SCHOLAR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, AND SR. ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY STUDIES: Well, thank you, Becky, for having me on your program. Always a pleasure to be here. It is an invasion. I think it's very unhelpful to describe it as an incursion, as we've seen many people do over the last few hours. This is a ground invasion across the border from the north of Israel.

The stated aim, of course, as you mentioned, to restore deterrence and restore security for residents of northern Israel so they can go back to their homes. I'm not sure what the long-term strategy is, however. Tactically, of course, on a tactical level, the Israelis have been successful.

They have managed to inflict a great deal of damage on Hezbollah, although I don't think Hezbollah has been destroyed by any means. I think it's been degraded. But they took out Hassan Nasrallah, the top military leadership. So certainly they've scored quite a lot of tactical wins in that regard. But in terms of long-term strategy, I'm not sure what actually exists

here. I think this is a major problem for the Israelis. The north of Israel can only be secure if the south of Lebanon is also secure and if there's a recognized relationship and full normalization of relations with the Lebanese government and hitherto the Israelis have rejected the basic prerequisite of doing so when it comes to not only Lebanon, but to the majority of -- well, not just the majority, but really the overwhelming majority of the Arab world.

And that's resolving the issue of Gaza and more widely the Palestinian question. So I think what we've seen is just use of force --

ANDERSON: Let's talk about the wider -- Yeah, let's talk about the wider Arab world, which has been consistent in its calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, and many around the Arab world signed up for, or at least supported, the U.S.-French proposed ceasefire deal that was tabled and announced last week in New York. This is what the Qataris have said in response to this latest incursion and airstrikes over Beirut.

[03:35:09]

Quote, "I affirmed during my call with the Lebanese prime minister and General Joseph Aoun, commander of the army, Qatar's solidarity with our brothers in Lebanon and its readiness to provide support to the people to confront the consequences of the Israeli aggression."

There is an important story to be told here, just as there is a risk, a real risk here of a further destabilized Lebanon, which is a nightmare scenario for many around this region. There is also a key opportunity for some Gulf States who will see the degradation of Hezbollah on one side, and indeed, Hamas as a key to a future peaceful or more peaceful Middle East. These are groups here on bat that have had a real malign influence around the region have they not. Do you concede that Benjamin Netanyahu's critics at least will be supportive of that position?

HELLYER: So I think it's undeniable that when it comes to Hezbollah's record in the region, if you look at how it's engaged within Lebanon with its opponents, if you look at how it engaged in Syria in support of the Assad regime, its record is awful and looks quite odious.

Having said that, if the supposition is that the degradation of Hezbollah can come at any cost, then we're in for a really wild and very destructive ride. When the Israelis took out Hassan Nasrallah, they leveled six residential buildings in the south of Beirut in order to get him.

And right now the quote-unquote "degrading of Hezbollah" is happening with huge numbers of airstrikes all over Lebanon, resulting in more than a million people displaced in Lebanon. So I think that we have to be very careful here about what we think are acceptable losses or acceptable repercussions in order to gain what is defined as a tactical victory by the Israelis.

And I don't think that anybody is really centering the lives of the people of Lebanon in this particular context. When we talk about the region and the region's leaders, I'm sure that there are many who are not unhappy to see the power of Hezbollah decrease.

I happen to be one of those who are sympathetic in that regard, but the cost of that is really quite extreme at present, which is why you see not only leaders in the region but also many around the world, including in the West, calling for a ceasefire, of course, not only in Lebanon, but also in Gaza.

And as much as the Israelis and D.C. want to decouple what's happening in Lebanon from what is happening in Gaza, I think it's very difficult to do, because the overarching issue here is all about that. And when we saw even a ceasefire, a temporary one, take place in November, you saw diminished tensions across the region from the Houthis to Hezbollah and elsewhere.

When you see an increase in that regard, then you see more tensions. And I think we have to look at this in a very holistic manner in order to bring security for all.

ANDERSON: Yeah. H.A. Hellyer, always good to have you on. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.

Well, Israel says, Hezbollah rocket attacks have forced about 60,000 people from their homes in northern Israel. While in Lebanon, the government reports about 20 percent of the population, or a million people, have been displaced.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The war has arrived to Beirut and this is what it's done to so many of its children. Exhausted and homeless, they now sleep on the streets and parks like this one. Most here fled the densely populated southern suburbs where Israel's rained down bombs on Hezbollah targets. But like every war, it is the innocent who pay the heaviest price.

Iberia's home was hit in one of the strikes. She grabbed her little girl and ran and they've been out here since.

I've never fled my home before, not even in the 2006 war, the single mother says. But now I have a child. The children are terrified.

[03:40:07]

Far from the airstrikes, eight-year-old Batool tells us she's very scared.

The roof was falling on us, she says. Every time my mom would tell me they're not going to strike, they would. I wish the war would stop.

But to a place with new friends she's made. Children trying to escape a new reality. They're too young to understand. But beneath, there are playful giggles, trauma, and fear so deep. 10-year-old Fatemeh can't hold back her tears.

The whole country is being destroyed, she says. Born in Syria, she fled war a baby. Beirut's the only home she's ever known.

My dad was killed in Syria, she says. I only have my mom. I'm scared my mother and siblings will also get killed.

Syrians, Lebanese and migrant workers all found themselves with nowhere to turn but this park. Schools now house the displaced, but there are too many in search of shelter, and this all happened so fast. A million people, the government estimates, have been displaced in a matter of days.

They found many Lebanese families like this one camped out on the side of the road. For five days, they say, there was no room for them at government shelters. Their disabled young girl sleeps in the car. The rest have mattresses outside. No toilets or showers here. They've heard their home is still standing, the women tell us, but their neighborhood is devastated.

Our area's been emptied out, Um Ahmed says. There's no one left.

In the heart of the capital in Martyrs Square, the remnants of crises passed with a poster that reads, Beirut never dies. And here, many more with no roofs over their heads. For how long, no one really knows. But they fear this may only just be the start of a long war.

Umfosi fled barefoot. It was real horror, she says. Airstrikes were all around us. People were collapsing and fainting. She only grabbed her medication and these tissue packs, her livelihood. She sells them for about 50 cents. Umfosi escaped Syria. Her home there is gone.

Wherever we go, she says, death follows us. It's all just too much.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: My colleague Max Foster in London has a look for you at the other news making headlines this morning. Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Thanks, Becky. Let's take everyone to Beijing now where China is celebrating 75 years of communist rule.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

A week-long national holiday is underway despite lingering concerns about the economy. Newly announced stimulus measures have given the Chinese stock market a boost, but the country is still dealing with a downturn. Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping is once again laying out his plans for Taiwan.

CNN's Marc Stewart is live in the Chinese capital. What have you learned, Marc? MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, let's look at the context

of all of this. This is a moment for China to look at its past, its future, essentially for the Chinese Communist Party to give itself a pat on the back. And right now, we are seeing so much symbolism. It was just earlier today, not far from here, at Tiananmen Square, where we saw a flag raised in a very big ceremony. There were balloons. So this idea of bringing Taiwan back to the motherland, from Xi Jinping really isn't a surprise when we put all of this in context. Let's take a listen to some of his remarks from last night.

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XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): Taiwan is China's sacred territory. People on both sides of the straits are related by blood, and blood is thicker than water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: Xi Jinping going on to say, no one can stop the march of history. There's no question this is a very tense part of the world. We have seen military drills in recent weeks. The United States has committed support to Taiwan to help finance its efforts to remain sovereign.

Now, as far as what Taiwan has to say about these most recent remarks by Xi Jinping, in many ways, is sticking to lines and a narrative that we have heard before, just recently saying a statement, Taiwan has never been part of the PRC, the People's Republic of China, and that neither side of the strait is subordinate to each other.

[03:45:02]

So Max, we are seeing differences in philosophy and political territory, this time in the Asia Pacific region, Max.

FOSTER: Okay. Marc Stewart in Beijing, thank you for that.

Julian Assange breaking his silence after his release from prison. A few months ago, the WikiLeaks founder has been speaking at a special hearing in Europe. We're live here with the details.

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FOSTER: An update on our breaking news. We are getting new images of Israeli tanks moving north after the IDF launched what it calls a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon. Experts say this marks a dangerous new phase in the war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

[03:50:06]

And this footage shows some of the explosions taking place along that border region. The Israeli military has warned residents of Lebanon not to travel south. Lebanese state media reports severe damage since the start of the ground operation and Hezbollah says it's firing rockets at Israeli troops in northern Israel. Now though, we're going to go to Julian Assange and his first public

remarks since being freed from a British jail. He's been attending a hearing at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, examining his detention and conviction.

The WikiLeaks founder spent years hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid arrest before he was forcibly removed and put in prison. In June Assange pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to a single felony charge for his involvement in the massive breach of U.S. classified military and diplomatic documents. The deal allowed him to avoid prison in the U.S. and return to his native Australia.

Clare's been looking at what he's been saying and crucially, you know, he's got to address this fact is that he guilty to some of these charges.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So that, I think, is the most controversial element, right? That's where you get the sting in the tail of his freedom after what he describes as 14 years of incarceration. Obviously, seven of those were at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, self-imposed incarceration, then five at the high- security Belmarsh prison in London.

This is a controversial element because he was facing 18 charges, right? Seventeen of those were under the Espionage Act, and the one that he was forced to plead guilty to under this plea deal was under the Espionage Act, which he claims sets a dangerous precedent. Take a listen to what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: Justice for me is now precluded as the U.S. government insisted in writing into its plea agreement that I cannot file a case at the European Court of Human Rights or even a Freedom of Information Act request over what it did to me as a result of its extradition request. I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So he claims that his motive for appearing today, just three months after that, that release is because he's trying to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. And he's obviously got a very sympathetic audience here at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe. They've just put out a draft resolution claiming that his treatment was disproportionate, saying that he qualifies as a political prisoner.

He didn't detail exactly how he plans to continue to advocate for freedom of speech. That certainly is going to be something to watch. One other thing to note, Max, is that he was very critical as he outlined the various abuses that he's faced over the years, very critical of the Trump administration, the first Trump administration, in particular, claiming that they ran a campaign of retribution against him.

That was after WikiLeaks published documents purporting to show CIA hacking tools in 2017. He claims his family and he were targeted by the CIA. This timing of this may hint at another motive. Obviously, we're just over a month out from the U.S. election where we may see Trump re-elected.

So perhaps it's a warning, especially since there's been noises from Trump during this campaign that he may still be willing to pursue cases against journalists. But the other thing is that he claims his recovery from his ordeal is still incomplete, that the isolation he said is taking its toll and expressing himself in this setting is a challenge. But Wikileaks has said that he decided to do this to come all the way from Australia to Europe because this is an exceptional circumstance to try to get his message across.

FOSTER: Okay, Clare Sebastian, thank you.

One of the greatest defensive players in NBA history has died. The league says Dikembe Mutombo passed away from brain cancer on Monday at the age of 58. He led the league in blocked shots for five consecutive seasons. The eight-time All-Star was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame back in 2015. The seven-foot-two-inch center was known for his deep booming voice, his signature finger wag as well. Mutombo was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and devoted his time to humanitarian work in his home country.

And baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, has died as well at the age of 83. His gritty play and head-first slide earned him the nickname Charlie Hustle. Rose played for three World Series champions in his career, twice with the Cincinnati Reds.

He was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1963, a most valuable player in 1973. But Rose was banned for life from baseball in 1989 after an investigation found he gambled on games, including his own team that also kept him out of the Hall of Fame.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Max Foster. I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" next with my colleague, Becky Anson, who is live for you in Tel Aviv. Please stay with us.

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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time in nearly two decades that the Israeli military has announced that it has sent a ground force into Lebanon.

JOE BIDEN. U.S. PRESIDENT: He's lying. And the government told he was lying. I don't know what he does this.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), U.S. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Scott, how old is he? Scott's five? So old enough, old enough to vote and (inaudible).