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IDF: Limited Ground Operation Begins in Southern Lebanon; At Least 130 Dead as States Attempt to Recover from Helene; President Biden: Trump is Lying; Prepping for VP Debate; Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo Dead at 58. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The governor told me he was lying. I don't know why he does this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Scout. How old is he?

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Scout's five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So old enough, old enough to vote in dog years.

WALTZ: He is old enough to vote. He's experienced. Get yourself a dog if you don't already have one and get out there and vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was fortunate enough to play this wonderful game that I do love until today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My whole life has been baseball. I played the game the way you're supposed to play the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It is Tuesday, October the 1st, 9 a.m. here in London.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: And it's 11 a.m. here in Tel Aviv in Israel. I'm Becky Anderson. Well, it's 11 a.m. both in Tel Aviv, where I am, and in Lebanon. And this is a live look at Beirut, where there is a haze over the city after overnight Israeli strikes. Israel has also started what it calls a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon. And we have new video of the scene from earlier. Take a look.

Well, flashes of light in the sky and explosions, as the Israeli military says it is conducting, quote, targeted raids. Lebanese state media says strikes in southern Lebanon are causing severe damage.

And Lebanon's army is denying reports that it has withdrawn from the area following Israel's ground incursion. Meantime, Hezbollah says it has fired rockets targeting parts of northern Israel during the early morning hours. CNN's Jeremy Diamond was at the border when the operation began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Israeli officials tell me that this operation is going to be focused on the villages and the Hezbollah posts along the Israel-Lebanon border. But at the same time, we know that we don't know exactly how far those troops are going to go and for how long they will be staying there.

One senior Israeli official telling me that they have no intention of a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon. They say that is not going to happen. But they also won't tell me exactly how long they expect this ground operation to last.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Israel says it's sending in paratroopers, commandos and members of the armored corps. Despite these moves, as Jeremy reports, Israel says it will not conduct a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon.

Well, the U.S. says Israel informed it of a number of operations, including the ground incursion. A U.S. National Security Council spokesperson tells CNN that mission creep can be a risk and that the White House will keep discussing that with the Israelis.

Well, Jonathan Conricus is a retired lieutenant colonel with the Israel Defense Forces, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. As we are some seven hours into what is being described as a limited ground incursion, can I just get an assessment from you as to where you understand things to stand on the ground?

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS (RET.), SENIOR FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Yes, good morning, Becky. Thank you for having me. I think that as the IDF made official, Israeli troops have indeed crossed the blue line and are operating in rather significant numbers in southern Lebanon.

One elite paratrooper division combat team is operating, and I think that there are additional troops that are in the periphery. What they're focusing on is establishing the logistics and establishing a hold so that they can develop operations more. And I think that what we will be looking to achieve is -- I'm sorry, there's noise in the background. There's alarms here, but I'll continue the interview.

What the IDF will seek to establish is to control the immediate perimeter and eventually build on that in order to eventually allow Israelis to be able to go back to their homes safely. That's a matter of, I think, at least weeks, if not longer than that.

ANDERSON: Yes, I'm hearing the same alarms here in Tel Aviv. Thank you for continuing this conversation as we await further information. How far and for how long will those troops get into Lebanon and stay? How far and for how long?

[04:05:00] CONRICUS: Yes, I think that, you know, the purpose being to enable the safe return of Israeli civilians to their homes, 70,000 people to communities all along the blue line, the border between Israel and Lebanon, who haven't been home for a year.

I think that will take at least weeks, to be honest, and probably more than that. And I think that we're talking about a distance, which would be a tactical distance of dozens -- or sorry -- of a few kilometers inside -- there's noise around me here, explosions. I hope that isn't interrupting. But kilometers inside Lebanon.

The issue here being that Hezbollah over the years has established a lot of underground networks, tunnels, both for offensive and defensive purposes. And Hezbollah has anti-tank missile firing positions from within the Lebanese villages.

So what the IDF will be trying to do is to move in and clear those so that it will be possible for Israeli civilians to go back to their homes.

ANDERSON: There are unconfirmed reports of a communications blackout in southern Lebanon. So it is very hard to get a picture of exactly what is happening there as we speak. We are some seven hours into this ground incursion, as announced by the IDF, around two o'clock in the morning local time.

What is, or what will the Israeli troops involved do, or what will they be doing to avoid civilian casualties? We already know that some 20 percent of the Lebanese population, a million people, have been displaced. And many of those are from the south.

What, to your understanding, will be being done to avoid civilian casualties and displacement?

CONRICUS: Yes, that's a super important topic. And I think Israel has made a lot of preparations, together with the U.S., together with U.N. forces in Lebanon, and indirectly communicating to the Lebanese via media and diplomatic channels. And the first step is to clear and evacuate the area as much as possible of Lebanese civilians.

And that has happened, and it's actually happened months ago. So contrary to the situation in Gaza, where the people had really very few places to go, and it was a very confined space, here for over a month, for months, Lebanese have had the opportunity to evacuate. And the area in southern Lebanon, especially the area close to the border where Israeli troops will be operating, is less civilians there, which is super important.

Hezbollah will not have the ability to use human shields. And the IDF will be going in and will be able to do so with more force and more speed, which is very important.

ANDERSON: The problem is, Jonathan, of course, is that despite the warnings to evacuate, we know that many of those civilians simply have nowhere to go. They're also being warned to stay away from Hezbollah infrastructure, from launchers. Many of them may not know where those are.

Be that as it may, let's get back to where we started this conversation. We were talking about just how many Israeli troops are deployed, paratroopers, those in the armored corps, commandos. Can you give me some more specific detail?

How many troops are we speaking about here? And just how far? I know you said some kilometers. How far inside Lebanon would you expect them to go?

CONRICUS: Yes, we're talking about at least a division combat team. So that could be around 10,000 soldiers, give or take. Not a specific number, but around that amount. And I think that, of course, Israel will be adding more.

You know, just for reference, if we compare to 2006, there were four and five and six division combat teams operating in southern Lebanon at the peak of it. That is not where we are currently. And I don't think that Israel will intend to do a similar thing.

And I think that Israel has learned a lot from 2006 and from analyzing Hezbollah infrastructure. So I think that we will see, hopefully, creative and surprise IDF operations.

But amount-wise, we're talking about at least 10,000. And in terms of size and where they're going to maneuver, we're talking about tactical distances. So a few kilometers from the border to begin with.

And then, of course, at the end of the day, the enemy has a vote, as American generals have taught us. We'll see how Hezbollah responds, how Iran instructs Hezbollah to operate, and what the fighting spirit and the fighting capabilities of Hezbollah will be. And that will, of course, also determine how far the IDF will have to operate, how bloody the battles will be, how significant the collateral damage will be.

[04:10:00]

All of those things are yet to be seen because they depend very much on the kind of resistance that the IDF will meet.

ANDERSON: Jonathan Conricus, thank you very much indeed for joining us.

CONRICUS: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Max.

FOSTER: To the U.S., Becky. And the death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to at least 130 as the recovery begins and search and rescue efforts continue. U.S. President Joe Biden is set to visit North Carolina on Wednesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump also made appearances on Monday to address the devastation caused by the storm. Harris cut short her campaigning on the West Coast to fly back to Washington for a briefing on the federal response to Helene. She shared a message of support for Americans dealing with the disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, Donald Trump was in South Georgia where he helped to 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. Georgia's governor dismissed those rumors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The governor's 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, President Biden also responded to Trump's remarks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's lying. And the governor told him he was lying. The governor told me he was lying.

I've spoken to the governor, I've spent time with him, and he told me he's lying. I don't know why he does this. And the reason I get so angry about it, I don't care about what he says about me.

I care what he communicates to the people that are in need. He implies that we're not doing everything possible. We are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, CNN's Gary Tuchman visited some of the smaller towns affected by the hurricane in North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This area is known as Green River Cove. It's right near Hendersonville, North Carolina, southeast of Asheville. This road is treacherous, even in the best of times. When it rains, it's even more treacherous. But now it has been devastated from the remnants of the storm.

You can see the guardrail is gone. The drop here off the side of the road, which has been so heavily damaged, is about 100 feet down. Cars are not supposed to be on here anymore.

There are also houses below. We've talked to some people who live in the area. They say they were trying to get down to the houses to see if people they know are still there because they haven't been able to find out what happened to those people, but they weren't able to hike down. And neither are we.

We have been told that there have been helicopter rescues of people who live in the homes below, but there's absolutely no way to know for sure if there are still people who are in those homes that have been damaged below us.

We decided to go down the hill farther. And what we saw is the literal and figurative end of the road. The devastation of the storm, look what it led to. This is the street right here. And you can see that the street just comes to an end before plunging down here.

These boulders that are right here, the locals here say these boulders actually moved from the force of the storm.

BRAD MCMILLIAN, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: All the houses in front of mine on the riverside of the road are gone.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Brad McMillan and Nick Wolfe both live in this area. Their homes are OK, but the experience has been traumatic.

NICK WOLFE, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: We moved here because the Green River Narrows is an iconic piece of class five whitewater and we're whitewater kayakers. So we moved our whole lives down here for this area and these riverbeds and they've all been completely destroyed and rearranged. So it's extremely emotional on a lot of different levels.

TUCHMAN: Near Greenwater Cove is the small town of Saluda, North Carolina, population of only about 800 people. We don't know if anyone was killed or injured in this town, but there's lots of damages to the businesses and the homes.

Right over here, this is the Green River Barbecue, local restaurant known for its ribs. This business is more than 40 years old, but the people who own it right now only bought it eight months ago. You can see all over the floor, this mud, it keeps getting deeper and deeper as you walk in because there was a mud slide in this part of the building. You can see how deep the mud has gotten right here.

The mud came in through a crevice inside this wall.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Bree and Tom Haas are the restaurant owners.

TOM HAAS, SALUDA, NORTH CAROLINA RESIDENT: It's overwhelming and it's really taunting trying to think of what our next steps are.

Insurance doesn't cover mud slides, so that's no help. We've talked to people about getting the tree off the building and it's going to be weeks before anyone can get to us.

TUCHMAN: How is this going to be financially for you?

TOM AND BREE HASS: Devastating.

TUCHMAN: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The U.S. vice presidential nominees will hold their first and so far only scheduled debate tonight. The face-off comes just five weeks before the election and it could be the final debate of the campaign season.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had some rather insulting remarks towards the Democratic VP candidate, Tim Walz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think J.D. is going to do great. He's a very smart guy. He's done a great job. People like him a lot. And he's against Tampon, Tim, I think, who I don't think should have ever been chosen. He's not qualified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Tim Walz, meanwhile, took a much different tone in a conversation with the creator of the popular social media site, WeRateDogs. The Minnesota governor explained how his family pet, Scout, helps him become a better person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think having Scout has made you a better leader in some ways?

WALZ: Well, I think it starts, I think having a dog or pets makes you a better human. He counts on me. He's loyal. He has unconditional love. And I think because of that, that just sense of empathy that you'd like to see in all leaders, you hope you have it already, but it certainly gets magnified. He's counting on you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: And in an interview with a podcast called All the Smoke, Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, explained why she was drawn to Walz as her running mate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HARRIS: What it came down to was Tim Walz, when you'd think we have nothing in common, but his, you know, he comes from and grew up in the same kind of, you know, different part of the country. You know, folks were a different color from a different culture, but same people, hardworking people, straight talking people, people who have values. And I just found that so familiar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, CNN, we'll have special coverage of the vice presidential debate. It all starts tonight at 7 p.m. in New York. That's midnight here in London.

Dock workers in American ports from Maine to Texas are 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 and it offered a 50 percent wage increase over the life of the contract. But the union called the offer unacceptable and this is the first strike at these ports since 1977.

Ahead, how the U.S. president and the Pentagon are responding to Israel's ground operation in southern Lebanon.

A major milestone for the People's Republic of China. We're live in Beijing with details on that and the Chinese president's plans for Taiwan.

And remembering an NBA Hall of Famer, Dikembe Mutombo, dead at 58 from brain cancer.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: With Israeli forces rolling into southern Lebanon for what it calls a limited ground operation, hopes for a ceasefire anytime soon are quickly fading. The U.S. president was asked about the incursion on Monday. Joe Biden indicated that he knew something was planned and that he is not happy about it.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel may be now launching a limited operation into Lebanon. Are you aware of that? Are you comfortable with their plan?

BIDEN: I'm more aware than you might know and I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ANDERSON: CNN's Paula Hancocks joining me now. And as we have reported, there is no ceasefire anytime soon. What we do have is what is described by the Israelis as a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon and airstrikes over Beirut. At this point, what more do we know?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we've certainly been hearing that there have been more strikes in southern Lebanon. We're hearing from state media as well that there has been damage to shops, to private homes, to crops. We're hearing from the Israeli military as well that they are telling residents and civilians in Lebanon not to go close to the southern part.

Now, of course, that doesn't really help that are stuck in the southern part, but they are saying that that is an intensive military zone and that is not somewhere where civilians should be heading towards. Now, we also heard from the Lebanese army. There had been reports that they had moved away from the border itself.

They are denying those reports, saying that they are in contact with UNIFIL, which is the U.N. peacekeepers on the ground in that area. But a very complicated situation at this point.

The Israeli military saying that they are going to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, which they say is in these villages along the border and also operatives and weapons caches.

Now, we've heard the U.S. response there. You heard from the U.S. president saying that he wants a ceasefire. We've heard something slightly different from the defense minister, Lloyd Austin, who has spoken with the Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant.

He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, this is what he said.

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. ... dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hezbollah cannot conduct October 7th style attacks on Israel's northern communities. I reaffirmed that a diplomatic resolution is required to ensure that civilians can return safely to their homes on both sides of the border.

So what we hear there is a tacit approval, really from the defense secretary, at least saying Israel has a right to defend itself. We haven't had a specific response at this point from the U.S. president since the ground troops have gone into southern Lebanon.

We did hear though from one national security council spokesperson saying that they are concerned that mission creep could be a risk. So while Israel does talk about this being a limited operation, there are concerns within the Biden administration that things could change on the ground.

Of course, we don't know for sure what Hezbollah looks like in southern Lebanon at this point. It has taken severe blows from the Israeli military, certainly in its command and commander operations. But we don't know for sure what exactly the tens of thousands of Hezbollah operatives still believe to be in southern Lebanon with those short, medium and long range missiles, what kind of response they will give -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Paula Hancocks is in Abu Dhabi. Thank you.

FOSTER: Becky, the NBA says basketball hall of famer Dikembe Mutombo has passed away from brain cancer. He was a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is being remembered for his all-star play and his generosity as well as a philanthropist. And Andy Scholes, takes a look at his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR (voice-over): An iconic finger wag, an unforgettable laugh and a heart of gold.

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO, BASKETBALL HALL OF FAMER: If you have a heart and a love, you can have an impact on society.

SCHOLES (voice-over): Seven foot two Dikembe Mutombo was larger than life and one of the most memorable athletes of his lifetime. Mutombo grew up with nine siblings in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He went to high school in Africa before moving to the U.S. on scholarship to attend Georgetown University with the intentions of becoming a doctor.

But he was recruited to play basketball by Hall of Fame coach John Thompson and would quickly become one of the best defensive centers in the game. Over his legendary career, blocking a shot and Mutombo would become synonymous with one another. Mutombo ended up with the second most blocks in NBA history.

Many tried to climb Mount Mutombo and many failed. And often, they ended up receiving a finger wag, which became Mutombo's signature and a pop culture phenomenon.

MUTOMBO: Not in my house.

SCHOLES (voice-over): Mutombo would win Defensive Player of the Year four times in his career, was an eight-time all-star and a Hall of Famer. But he made an even bigger impact off the court. In 1997, Mutombo started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve living conditions in his native Democratic Republic of Congo.

In 2007, he opened a $29 million hospital named after his mother who died in 1997. It was the first hospital to be opened in the area in nearly 40 years.

MUTOMBO: When you make sure you're becoming successful, please don't forget all those people who've been able to work with you and my way of doing that, it was by going back home to see I cannot change the society where I came from. I lost my mother. I lost brothers and sisters. So I know what it's like losing a loved one. So I felt that maybe by building a multi-million dollar facility, I can change, also save lives.

SCHOLES (voice-over): In 2022, Mutombo was diagnosed with a brain tumor and began treatment. He will always be remembered for his finger wag but his humanitarian efforts are what will live forever.

MUTOMBO: I was fortunate enough to play this wonderful game that I do love until today and make good money. And I said, OK, as I made money, am I allowed me now to go help people the same way I was always want to do?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:30:00]