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Israel Launches New Strikes On Beirut's Southern Suburbs; Harris Thanks First Responders For Helene Recovery Efforts; Soon: Trump Takes Stage At Rally In Butler, Pennsylvania; Polls Continue To Show Voters Trust Trump More With Economy; Tropical Storm Milton Expected To Quickly Intensify; Fresh Airstrikes Seen In Southern Beirut. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired October 05, 2024 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:01:54]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

We want to get you to some breaking news out of the Middle East as Israel's military tonight issuing a warning to residents in two areas of southern Beirut to evacuate immediately.

That video from just moments ago. You see flames and smoke and explosions on the horizon in Beirut. Hezbollah also launching rockets into northern Israel, where Israeli officials say some homes were damaged.

CNN international correspondent Jomana Karadsheh is in Beirut. She joins us now live.

And Jomana, I know you've been monitoring this I see you looking behind you. What -- what is happening right now?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well Jessica, just in the last few minutes, we've heard another blast. What appears to have been another strike not far from the one we were just showing you a few minutes ago.

You know, we've been speaking over the past hour. We have been describing the scene that we are seeing in the southern suburbs of Beirut where we have seen Israeli military airstrikes focused for the past ten days or so. And this night appears to be another intense night of bombardment.

It is unclear what the target of these strikes was but we do know that the IDF put out these warnings in posts on X by its Arabic language spokesperson asking residents of a number of neighborhoods in the southern suburbs to evacuate immediately to move away from a number of buildings that they've pinpointed on a map saying that they are near Hezbollah facilities installations and that they need to move 500 meters -- at least 500 meters away from these buildings. Now, this is something that we have seen the Israeli military doing in

recent days. They put out these warnings in the middle of the night and then these airstrikes begin. But this appears to be an intense night of bombardment.

The southern suburbs, it's an area that is -- has got heavy presence of Hezbollah. That is where the chief of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah was killed a week ago in an Israeli strike. And you've had other top commanders also killed in the southern suburbs. But since then, we've also seen many strikes continuing there.

The Israeli military says that it is targeting Hezbollah facilities. That is not what you hear from Lebanese authorities. But what we have seen tonight, at least in one instance, in one of those blasts that we showed you earlier, is what appears to be secondary explosions after that strike. We have seen this ball of fire and continuing sounds of explosions in the distance.

[17:04:49]

KARADSHEH: It's very difficult to show you this right now, but we can still see the flames burning. You can still see a thick black plume of smoke rising in the distance.

Of course, we are a few miles away from this, so you can imagine for us to see and to hear what appeared to be such a massive strike that, you know, for people close by and some of the images that we're starting to see emerge on social media, it does appear to have been a large strike that hit the southern suburbs.

Now, you know, these evacuation orders come in late at night. It's unclear if people have gotten them. We have seen so many people, this mass exodus from the southern suburbs, people leaving in the past week or so.

But there are some civilians who remain there. There are people who have returned there because they have nowhere else to go. They've returned to their homes.

And they tell you that it's very difficult for them to be up all night, waiting for these evacuation orders. And this is one of those instances where there was a warning.

But we have seen strikes throughout the day today where there was no prior warning and within 30 minutes, about almost of the first posts by the IDF spokesperson, those strikes began. And it is unclear as well, Jessica if those were the exact locations that were pinpointed on that map by the IDF.

But what we do know is that it was a large -- it was a massive strike, really, and it was in the southern suburbs of Beirut. And we'll try and get you more information on that in the coming hours.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Jomana, I do want to ask you, before you go, I know you all have been there. You've been monitoring this night after night. Give us some context how this -- this strike would compare to the previous nights.

It sounds like this is a more intense, bigger strike, but I want to hear what you say.

KARADSHEH: Well, you know, Jessica, we've seen a number of, you know there are nights where you see this sort of intense bombardment, but not necessarily all sort of large-scale blasts like this.

Or you know, this was -- there was something distinct about these as well. We hear this rumbling sound in the distance, and then you would see those flames, hear the blasts, and it just it -- just felt a bit different.

I mean, I was here along with other colleagues on that Friday when the Israeli military killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. And that was -- those were number of consecutive strikes, like none that I've seen in my near 20 years of covering conflicts and wars.

So we have seen massive explosions in the southern suburbs, and this appears to be another night of intense bombardment.

DIAMOND: And all of this is happening, of course, as Israel is weighing how it will counter strike Iran. Obviously you're in Beirut, Jomana, but that is where Hezbollah is. That is why Israel is attacking Lebanon.

How is that -- how does that affect the people there? How are they thinking about it how does this kind of outstanding counterattack, if it does affect what's going on around you and how the Lebanese people are thinking about it as well.

KARADSHEH: Well, you know, simply, Jessica, people here fear that they will be the ones who bear the brunt of whatever comes next in this escalation between Iran and Israel.

Of course, Hezbollah was and continues to be one of Iran's top proxies in the region. It was described as the crown jewel of Iranian proxies in the region.

And you know, so far you have seen the Israelis seem to have decimated their command structure. They have taken out their top leadership but at the same time, there have been questions about their capabilities and what their fighting force is like.

And if you look at what is going on on the southern border and on Israel's northern border, you see that every single day we are still continuing to get these claims from Hezbollah, that it is continuing to carry out attacks, they say, on Israeli forces, whether inside Israeli territory or forces who have crossed into Lebanon as part of that ground operation that was announced by the Israelis earlier this week.

And it does seem that these ground forces, who have not really carried out a full-scale incursion or invasion, really, that these seem to be limited raids, as we understand it sporadic raids, according to our sources, where they come into Lebanese territory and then they cross back into Israel.

[17:09:46]

KARADSHEH: And if you look at some of the casualty figures we have seen on the Israeli side in recent days, it does appear that these Hezbollah fighters are putting up a stiff resistance.

DEAN: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, please stand by for us and keep you and your team very safe.

I want to go to CNN White House correspondent Arlette Saenz, who is joining us now from South Bend, Indiana. And when asked about his stance on Israel targeting Iranian nuclear facilities and oil fields, Arlette, President Biden cautioned that that would be a bad idea.

But we do know that Israel is talking with the United States as they weigh what their options might be and how they might go forward. What do you know about the communication the president and his team are having with Israeli government officials right now as we continue to see things escalate.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, there's no question that the administration is dealing with this conflict on multiple fronts right now.

You had seen President Biden say that he had been hopeful that there would be some type of diplomatic resolution to the conflict that's been brewing between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

But instead, you have seen this increase in fighting occur there. And these images that you've seen play out could certainly be part of that as well.

But President Biden, over the past few days, has really been focused on what the Israeli response to Iran's barrage of missile attacks that they had fired off against the country a bit earlier this week. While the president himself has not spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since August, senior administration officials have been in constant contact with their Israeli counterparts as they are gaming out the next steps of how they will respond.

The U.S. has said that they believe that Iran should face consequences for its actions but behind the scenes, they are also trying to advise and counsel Israel with exactly how they should proceed. The ultimate hope here is that there could be a more measured response from Israel.

But administration officials don't deny the fact that they do believe Israel will respond at some point in time.

Now, President Biden himself when you're specifically talking about Israel and Iran, has said that he does not believe that Israel should target Iran's nuclear facilities.

He also a bit earlier in the week, had left the door open to the possibility that Israel could target Iran's oil reserves. But then just yesterday, as he spoke at the White House press briefing room, he said that he does believe they should consider alternative options and not go after any oil fields.

It really presents some of the complicated dynamics that the administration is grappling with in this moment. Now even as the president has said that he doesn't believe that Israel should target Iran's nuclear facilities, a senior State Department official said that they haven't received any assurances yet from Israel that they won't go down that route.

There's still also a lot of questions about when Israel would make its decision to respond to Iran, and when they might decide to actually enact that and move forward with it.

One senior State Department official saying it's hard to tell whether they might try to use this October 7th anniversary that's approaching on Monday, when Hamas had attacked Israel to try to use that as a potential time to retaliate. But the president has said he does not believe any action is happening in the future.

But really at this moment, you're seeing the administration grapple with this conflict on multiple fronts. Biden has spent the last year trying to find a diplomatic solution to try to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, trying to get to some type of ceasefire.

Then you have them now dealing with this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. And then potentially another broader conflict between Israel and Iran, really speaking to the very complicated challenges Biden is facing in this moment, as they are trying to prevent that wider regional war that he spent the past year trying to prevent, trying to prevent that from going even further.

DEAN: Right. All right. Arlette Saenz, for us. Thank you so much for that reporting as we are watching video from just moments ago of these fresh new strikes from the IDF on Beirut's southern suburbs.

We are going to continue to monitor this breaking news there in the Middle East. We're going to take a quick break.

We'll be right back.

[17:14:05]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: We just heard an update from Vice President Kamala Harris in North Carolina on the federal, state and local agencies responding to Hurricane Helene. And CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House. She's been monitoring this. What did the vice president say, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, the vice president spent some time with the North Carolina National Guard, people who were not only directly impacted, their families and in their neighborhoods, but those who responded to the storms that ravaged their state and parts of the southeast last week as the results of Hurricane Helene.

And the vice president spent some time with them, and thanked them. She says you're doing -- continue to do God's work. Talked about the nobility of their job as they work to pull back the neighborhoods who have been devastated by the storm.

Here's more of what she told them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Work that is happening here and that continues really is the best of what we can do to bring federal, state and local resources together in a way that is coordinated with one purpose and one purpose only.

[17:19:52]

HARRIS: Which is bringing relief, support and help to the people who are most in need, and desperate for help, and desperate to be seen and heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFAATY: Now Vice President Harris has been on the ground in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the last two hours or so. She touched down and she immediately received a briefing. You heard her receive a briefing from the governor of the state, Roy Cooper, as well as the FEMA administrator.

They had maps and statistics of North Carolina, certainly focusing on those most damaged areas. And we heard her afterwards call on congress to help get involved. That they continue to assess what needs to be done, what help needs to be given on the federal level to North Carolina.

And Jessica, as we've been talking about today, this is notably her second visit to the storm-damaged areas this week. She traveled to Georgia earlier in the week. Today, of course, in North Carolina, notably two battleground states.

This is importantly a visit that she takes in her role as the vice president, in her capacity as vice president. But certainly these pictures of her, you know, commanding the response of projecting what the federal government can do to help more is a significant picture that while it's under the umbrage of the White House, that the campaign certainly would like to show today.

DEAN: All right. Sunlen Serfaty at the White House, thank you very much for that reporting.

And still to come, in just minutes former President Donald Trump is set to take the stage in the same city, the same place where someone made an attempt on his life earlier this summer.

What we expect for his return to Butler, Pennsylvania. That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM. [17:21:33]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Very soon former President Donald Trump will take the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. Of course that's the site of the July rally, where a gunman on a rooftop tried to assassinate the former president.

Tonight, the Secret Service and local authorities say they are confident in the stronger security measures that have been put in place.

And joining me now, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "the Atlantic", Ron Brownstein.

Ron, good to see you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Jessica.

DEAN: It is wild to think about July 13th, months ago now, just watching that unfold. You and I were on the air together as we watched that assassination attempt.

Now we see the former president returning to Butler when so much has happened in that race. And also we've had a second assassination attempt since then. What are your thoughts on this moment?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know it is remarkable to think how many inches we came away from a very different outcome on that day. And probably a very dark period for America.

And you know, it is -- it is important to keep in mind that we are in a highly polarized era where these kinds of threats are very real. The expectation or hope that it would lead to, quote, "a different Trump", you know, someone who was more focused on national unity and less on fanning division in society, you know, that pretty much evaporated almost immediately.

And certainly when he was talking, you know, the lies about immigrants stealing and eating pets at the debate showed that. So we are still in a very dangerous period where you know, there's the threat of violence has become a very real part of our politics. And who knows what election day is going to look like.

But we were inches away from what I think would have been even greater social division and strain if that bullet had had reached its target.

DEAN: Yes, there is no doubt about it. And I -- when you're saying there was that moment where it was like will this be a different sort of Trump and talking about national unity he said he wanted to bring people together.

But you mentioned on the debate stage attacking Haitian immigrants falsely. Now we have this hurricane response and he's saying all of these lies about the federal response, the disaster response. It prompted the "Charlotte Observer", which is actually one of the

most read papers there in the state, to even say "please stop saying these lies", essentially.

Why is he being divisive like this? And is it just yet another example of how he approaches these moments that typically bring Americans together?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes the frequency of the lies are increasing and also the direction of the lies is becoming more consistent on a, you know, on a whole series of fronts. He is basically blaming immigrants for all sorts of, you know, almost every major problem in America.

They are behind the housing crunch. They are -- immigrants are winning all the new jobs in the society. Last weekend at this time, he was in Wisconsin and he said immigrants will come into your kitchen and cut your throat.

And now, of course, he is saying that federal disaster money that should be going to these affected communities is being spent on migrants.

None of those things are true. But they are all now unfolding at a moment where I clearly, you know, rather than running primarily on inflation and the idea that life was more affordable when he was president, his chips are overwhelmingly on convincing voters that immigrants are undermining our society. And in particular, threatening their safety, and that Harris will not keep them safe.

And so, you know there really is no pushback from the Republican Party, as there was at earlier points in his career as he as he presses these falsehoods and they correct him on the specific falsehood.

[17:29:45]

BROWNSTEIN: Mike DeWine, for example, on the Haitian immigrants or some of the senators from North Carolina and governors about his allegations now. But they never raised that -- they never raised that to a broader questioning of whether someone who is -- who is propagating these falsehoods and making these kind of racist claims is fit for their support.

So he feels no pressure not to and it is just full speed ahead on both lies and nativism.

[17:30:03]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Yes, and he's going to have Elon Musk there with him today. Again, just kind of signaling the type of people in this one month before the election who he's surrounding himself with.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, and Musk is amplifying -- you know, Musk is amplifying all of this kind of racist drivel, you know, to an incredible extent on X or Twitter, as it used to be.

And basically making it a forum, you know, for that, trying to mainstream that kind of far-right white nationalist set of arguments.

It is interesting. I am struck that Democrats are using Musk as well.

The ad that you see the most -- if you're watching the baseball playoffs, you know, which include teams from or at least a couple of days ago, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, is a Democrat talking -- a voter talking about Trump's plans to cut taxes for the rich.

And there's an image of Musk that is very conspicuously included in that, so it's a very much of a two-edged sword for Trump in terms of like, so many things, he does.

And like everything we've been talking about, mobilizing his base, but elevating the concerns among other voters, even those dissatisfied with the economy, even those who think that he might be better on the economy, about whether they still want him to be president for another four years.

That's what we saw in 2022, an unprecedented number of people who were dissatisfied with the economy still resisting Trump-style candidates because they viewed them as a threat to their rights, their values and to democracy itself.

And that dynamic is still allowing Harris to stay ahead slightly in most polls, despite Trump's lead on the economy.

DEAN: So you hit on something that I also wanted to ask you about, because it is this really interesting push and pull there and that dynamic. Because we have this very strong news, this jobs report, the Dow hit a new record after that strong jobs number that came out yesterday.

Just continual data points that the economy is performing well, and yet so many people, so many Americans feel so dissatisfied with their economic situation, with the way the economy could go and give the edge to Trump.

And you point out, rightly, that even still, Harris is hanging in there. How do you explain all of those competing factors?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, well, to me, it isn't -- I don't find this as complicated as -- as many people do. I think, for the vast majority of voters, their dissatisfaction is rooted in the big increase in prices in the period immediately after the pandemic.

And that -- the overhang of that, even though inflation is now under control by the Fed's own standards, interest rates are being cut, the stock market is high, the job market is good, most people feel, rightly or wrongly, that they had more money in their pocket when Trump was president at the end of the week than they than they do today.

And that explains why he has had this lead on the economy. But his lead over Harris on the economy is not nearly as big as his lead was over Biden, because she has successfully, I think, kind of pivoted the discussion more to who is on your side, who is fighting for you. And it's on those questions that she's really made up a lot of ground and essentially pulled even or ahead in some polls with Trump.

And that's what you see very much in that ad that I mentioned, a kind of who's on your side, Trump is out for the rich. It's the hard- working middle class that needs a tax cut.

That's the argument that Harris is trying to pursue, and it has brought her into a more competitive position.

But in the end, I think there are going to be more people on Election Day who think that Trump is better for their bottom line than Harris.

And that means, as in 2022, she's going to have to get a slice of people who think he's better on the economy to vote against them anyway because they find him unacceptable on other grounds to be president.

And that's what's so, you know, strange in a way about the way he's approaching these final weeks. Yes, he is energizing his base with these wild and openly nativist xenophobic, even racist claims.

But he is also elevating and activating those concerns that have prevented him from securing as many voters who favor him on the on the economy as you would typically see.

DEAN: All right, Ron, stay with us.

I do want to go to Alayna Treene, our reporter who's there in Butler at that Trump rally.

Alayna, what are you seeing?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, actually, Jessica, we just had Eric Trump as well as Lara Trump, Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, come out behind us. They are on stage speaking now.

But we also heard moments ago from J.D. Vance, of course, Trump's running mate. And he gave a pretty lengthy speech. He talked a lot about how it is courageous for everyone who is here at Butler today to return, and those who never came for them to be here today as well.

[17:35:05]

But he also sharply criticized Kamala Harris and tried to draw that contrast between both the current vice president and Donald Trump and who they think has the best vision for America as you look ahead to November.

And he brought up Butler specifically while trying to do that. Take a listen to what he said .

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH) & VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'd like to ask you, who would you rather have facing down Vladimir Putin and Xi? (CHEERING)

VANCE: Someone -- someone who is afraid of interviews with the friendly American media or someone who faces down two assassins and returns triumphantly to the very place that he got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, Jessica, I also want to just add that we're also soon to hear from of course, the former president himself. He's going to be taking the stage at any moment after Eric Trump and Lara Trump finish.

But we're also going to hear from Elon Musk, who I'm told flew and arrived with Donald Trump to Butler today. Of course, very notable, as that conversation before me was, as you guys were saying, because Donald Trump has really leaned into that relationship.

You've seen Musk as well really promote the former president and his campaign and become a top surrogate ahead of November.

Now, another thing I just want to bring up is some of the security we are seeing here on the ground. Because, of course, that was a major concern about Donald Trump doing a rally at the exact same venue where that previous assassination attempt occurred.

I'm told that Secret Service and local law enforcement have many more agents on the ground here than they did back in July.

They are also working under one combined command center, something again, another departure from what they had in July that should be able to boost their efficiency. They have a better drone command system.

But one thing that I was told actually from an agent, a Secret Service agent here on the ground, and we've confirmed this with our sources, Jessica, is that right now Donald Trump currently has the same protections from Secret Service that a sitting U.S. President does, the same type of protection that President Joe Biden has.

He did not have that level of protection when he was here on July 13th and had those bullets fired at him. So that is a big departure today.

And something that I think I know a lot of people are happy, at least with in regard to this specific venue and the specific place where it all happened just a couple of weeks ago -- Jessica?

DEAN: Alayna Treene, for us there in Butler, Pennsylvania, where we are awaiting the former president.

I want to thank Alayna and Ron Brownstein for being with us.

We're going to continue to monitor that rally. We're going to check back in when Trump takes the stage in Butler.

We're going to be back in just a moment. We're going to take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:25]

DEAN: We have breaking news. Tropical Storm Milton is now expected to quickly intensify, possibly becoming a major category three hurricane.

It is currently in the Gulf of Mexico. It is headed toward Florida. Even with many parts of the southeast still picking up pieces after Helene.

CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking this for us.

This is exactly what people there do not need, Elisa. What are you tracking?

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a lot of people in Florida had devastating storm surge from Helene. So we really don't need any more rain or any more storm surge for that matter.

It's still a tropical storm, Tropical Storm Milton. It's got 40-mile- per-hour winds. Still sitting in the western Gulf of Mexico. But it will continue to move itself into very favorable conditions for it to gain strength and gain strength rapidly as well.

Here's a look at that latest track. You can see it takes its track all day Monday and Tuesday across the Gulf of Mexico. Here's where we've got the numbers now up to a category three hurricane. It means that the winds at the center need to be at least 111 miles per hour.

And we think that it could gain this strength pretty quickly because these ocean temperatures are incredible -- incredibly warm, middle and upper 80s.

Landfall somewhere along the Florida peninsula along the west coast here. But again, impacts will spread up and down the west coast regardless. Heavy rain and storm surge are great concerns as we go into Tuesday night and then Wednesday.

I want to point out that rapid intensification is one of those climate factors that we always talk about, because the biggest feel for it is warming oceans.

And our oceans trap more than 90 percent of our heat from our carbon emissions. So we're just adding more fuel to the system, and it allows these hurricanes to gain strength faster.

And you can see that, at the most extreme ends, you know, gaining strength faster in the most recent decades.

Here's a look at how Milton, again, could work its way through the next couple of hours. And kind of slow at first, but then it works its way across the Gulf of Mexico. Again, all of this is food and fuel.

Then it heads to the west coast of Florida sometime maybe Tuesday into Wednesday. Maybe late on Wednesday it's slowing down a little bit. And this is where you'll have the lash of storm surge, heavy rain, damaging winds, all things to worry about.

And again, notice how it stretches from Miami to that Florida-Georgia line there. Heavy rain will be a concern regardless. We've got that heavy rain forecast, five to eight inches. Again, from top to bottom along the Florida peninsula. Some totals up to 10 to 12 inches are possible.

And again, like I mentioned, when it comes to the climate factors, this warmer water is more of that fuel for the rapid intensification that we've just seen, time and time again, this season.

It also leads to heavier rain. You just get more of that rain much farther inland. Look at what happened with Helene. We've been talking about that a lot, too.

[17:45:01]

And higher storm surge as our seas are higher. That let's that storm surge come up a little bit more and get farther inland. So a lot of things to track through the next couple of days -- Jessica?

DEAN: And, Elisa, I know we are in hurricane season and, of course, Helene is very fresh on everyone's mind. But how has this season so far stacked up? It seems like there has been a lot but, of course, that's what we've been paying attention to recently.

RAFFA: Yes, it has been pretty active. And this "M" storm, right, this 13th named, it's the 13th named "M" storm of the season. And we typically get that "M" storm later on in the season.

We usually get it at the end of October. I want to say it's around October 25th is when you get that "M" storm where -- at the beginning of October. So we are ahead of schedule for this "M" named storm by about two to three weeks.

We are picking up the pace after we had a little bit of a lull just a couple of weeks ago and a little bit of a down period. But it has been picking up its pace. And we've had a lot of landfalls along the gulf coast.

I mean, we had Beryl in Texas. We had Debby along the Florida panhandle as well. And then, of course, we've had Helene. So we've had multiple storms make landfall this season along that gulf coast, areas that are continuing to try to recover.

And again when we see these, you know, rapidly intensifying weather, storms we find this cost us more money. When you look at the tropical cyclone costs over the last couple of decades, the costs is in the billions and it is increasing.

When you have the increasing storm surge, the heavier rain and just stronger storms in general -- Jessica?

DEAN: All right, Elisa Raffa, with the latest, thank you so much for that.

We're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:51:20]

DEAN: We're going back now to our breaking news from the Middle East. Take a look at that. We are seeing large blasts in Lebanon as Israeli forces launch a fresh wave of strikes in Beirut.

CNN international correspondent, Jomana Karadsheh, is there now.

And, Jomana, we are seeing a number of blasts tonight.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, as we have been speaking over the past couple of hours, we've seen strike after strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.

I'm going to try and step out of the shot for a minute and see if Clay can zoom in a bit. As you can see, this is a strike that's happened in the last 15 or 20 minutes or so and it seems to have triggered secondary explosions.

We are continuing to hear blasts from the site of that strike. And you can see the smoke in the distance. At least I can see the smoke. Not sure we're capturing that in the camera. A thick black plume of smoke rising in the distance.

And we have seen these constant flashes of red that, at times, have lit up the night sky. And we are continuing to hear these continuous blasts from the site of that strike.

It's unclear right now what was targeted, but this is very close to another strike that we we're speaking about a short time ago, Jessica.

And this is an area of Beirut, the southern suburbs, that has had a heavy presence of Hezbollah. But it is also one of the most densely populated parts of Beirut.

And this has been the focus of Israeli military strikes in the capital over the past 10 days or so. And we have seen nights of intense strikes, and we have seen nights where you have a few strikes.

But this certainly appears to be another night of those -- of intense bombardment of the southern suburbs.

We did hear from the IDF a couple of hours ago. They put out a post on X warning that these strikes are coming. It was a couple of posts from their Arabic language spokesperson addressing the residents of a couple of neighborhoods.

Oh, as you can see, we're seeing more flashes now and we are seeing this -- we are seeing the smoke still rising. We have seen those blasts. We have seen the red flashes. And again, this was a warning that came out from the IDF a couple of hours ago, saying that they are going to be striking Hezbollah locations, Hezbollah interests, as they describe it. And asking people to move away from those areas that they're going to be striking.

Now it's unclear if those strikes that we are seeing right now are, indeed, the same ones that they talk about in these evacuation orders. And it's -- its -- they put out these maps, Jessica, where they pinpoint certain buildings and tell people to move away from these buildings about 500 meters.

I'm going to try and see here if you can hear some of these, what appears to be, secondary explosions that we are hearing from the site of that latest strike.

(EXPLOSIONS)

KARADSHEH: It has been ongoing now for some time. And it's -- again, it's unclear what was struck here, but it certainly seems to have triggered secondary explosions.

We'll have to wait and see what the Israeli military and Lebanese authorities say about the strike.

[17:55:00]

And as I was mentioning, this is an area that is -- that is known to have a strong presence of Hezbollah, where they have operated, where it is seen as their seat of power, if you will.

And this is an area where their top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in that strike on Friday of last week. And it is an area where top commanders of Hezbollah, where other sites have been struck by the IDF.

But again, it's also a heavily populated area. And it's unclear right now how many civilians are in the area. We are seeing this from our location and we are a few miles away from it.

So you can imagine these sorts of large blasts when people are closer to them. Certainly, at this time of the night, a very dangerous situation that is unfolding right there -- Jessica?

DEAN: Yes, no doubt about it. They are really remarkable images coming from southern Beirut there.

Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much for being there. Please stay safe. We are going to check back in with you here in just a little bit.

We're going to have much more of our breaking news from Beirut throughout the night.

We're also just minutes away from former President Trump taking the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. We're going to check back in on that.

We'll take a break and come right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)