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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Israel Targeted Iran's Top Security Official; Death Tolls Rise Amid Strikes In Iran And Lebanon; Massive Storm System Weakens, Exits Off The East Coast; Chicago River Dyed Green To Mark St. Patrick's Day 2026. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired March 17, 2026 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Eleni Giokos live in Dubai. It's just gone 12:30 p.m. and I want to bring you up to speed on breaking news that just came into CNN. Israeli sources are saying that the IDF has targeted Iran's top security official. That's Ali Larijani. That was in a strike in Tehran overnight.
The result -- they're still waiting for the results of that strike to learn if Larijani was in fact, killed. He is the secretary of Iran's supreme National Security Council. That news just coming into CNN.
Also want to bring you up to speed on other stories in the region and the attacks that we've been seeing across the board, specifically in Baghdad in neighboring Iraq today. Iraqi officials say Iranian drones targeted the U.S. Embassy in the heavily fortified Green Zone.
Videos that we've got geolocated by CNN showing a bright orange express explosion and thick black smoke rising from the area.
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Iraq's Interior Ministry confirming another drone fell near the Al- Rasheed Hotel in the Iraqi capital Authority say there are no casualties or significant material damage. Now Iran hasn't updated its official death toll from U.S. and Israeli strikes in over a week, but a U.S. based human rights group reporting more than 1,300 civilians and 1,100 military personnel have been killed.
Lebanon's Health ministry saying close to 900 people have been killed since Israeli attacks began on March 2. However, CNN cannot independently verify these figures. More now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Certainly Israel and the United States have been pummeling Iran with airstrikes in recent days. In fact, they're expanding their strikes because of the fact that they've destroyed so much of Iran's air defenses. And here in Israel, we're continuing to watch one wave after the next of ballistic missiles being fired at Israel.
Just moments ago, air raid sirens sounding in northern Israel warning of yet another incoming Iranian ballistic missile. We saw earlier today not only barrages of Iranian ballistic missiles, some of which were outfitted with cluster munitions that made impact and caused damage across the country, but also Hezbollah rocket in northern Israel that struck near the town of Nahariya in that part of the country, injuring several individuals.
But meanwhile today what we've seen is an expansion of Israel's ground operation in southern Lebanon sending troops into several more of those villages along the border where the Israeli military is aiming to, they say destroy Hezbollah infrastructure to try and make the situation more stable for northern Israeli residents living along that border.
It is another step by Israel to go deeper into southern Lebanon, but certainly not the kind of all out ground operation that we know the Israeli military is preparing for in which the Israeli prime currently considering in which tonight we're hearing multiple European countries urging Israel not to take that step. Instead, we know that there are discussions about the potential for the direct diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon. So far none of that is really gaining traction.
But in the meantime, we are seeing the continuation of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, including in the Lebanese capital. All of that now resulting in a huge toll in Lebanon. More than 800 people killed, of which at least 100 are believed to be children, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry and the Israeli defense Minister today saying that hundreds of thousands of people in southern Lebanon who have been displaced, they won't be allowed to return to their homes. He says until the residents of northern Israel can be safe from the threat of Hezbollah.
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GIOKOS: I want to bring in Maha Yahya, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. She joins me now live from Beirut. Maha, great to have you with us. And we've seen increased strikes in Beirut. We've got a number of over 700,000 people displaced across Lebanon. But I want you to -- I want to start off quick. Just give me an indication of what it's like in Beirut right now.
MAHA YAHYA, DIRECTOR, CARNEGIE MIDDLE EAST CENTER: Good morning, Eleni. Thank you for having me. It's very anxious. People are very worried. The city is overrun. It's literally an open air pollution parking lot. Many people who've been displaced, or I would say the majority of those who've been displaced from the south.
There are more than a million people that have been displaced as a result of the ongoing conflict and Israeli evacuation notices. Many of them have moved to Beirut or said the main cities.
GIOKOS: You know, thank you for that update. I'm sure it must be very difficult. We're seeing some of these images, specifically the targets in Beirut and also southern Lebanon. But I want to shift focus. And you've called Hezbollah a suicide mission. What is the political price, would you say for Shia leaders who backed its war and how does that shift power specifically in Beirut?
YAHYA: It's Shia leaders mean it's mainly Hezbollah that has backed this decision. Frankly, the decision was taken by the military arm of Hezbollah under immediate direction of the IRGC. Everyone know this. And then the political leadership of Hezbollah tried to play catch up and adopt the narrative that was done in retaliation for the assassination of their spiritual leader Ali Khamenei, but also as a kind of coordinated front with Iran.
Internally, the war is extremely unpopular, both within the Shia community, but I would say across the country. And it's generating a lot of tensions. The Shia community in particular feels that they now have there's a target on their backs because people are being hunted in very different parts of the country.
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There is no real safe area as such, if you like. So it's creating a lot of tensions on the ground. And the concern is that as time passes, the more brutal the bombing campaign is, the more people that are being, you know, forcibly -- forced to leave their homes. And then threats of never being able to go back home, threats to vaporize their areas in all of this is going to turn, I think, people to -- allow people to rally against -- to rally with Hezbollah. Frankly, it's a flip side. Those that were upset that this war was launched may turn against them in the long run.
GIOKOS: So you've also called this Gaza 2.0. We've seen entire neighborhoods impacted. So I want you to explain. But also the significance now of Israel expanding its ground offensive in southern Lebanon.
YAHYA: What we're seeing is a repeat -- replay of some of the things we've seen in Gaza, mass evacuations. I mean, you issue an evacuation notice for an area that's 10 percent of Lebanese territory in the south, and today they've just added to it another area.
These areas are home to at least 400, half a million. 400,000. Half a million people. More than that. And then the southern suburbs, it's the same story. So mass evacuation notices. The targeting of the Israeli policymakers have threatened that they will target ambulances. They're accusing ambulances of carrying Hezbollah members.
We're seeing the destruction, the utter destruction of entire neighborhoods. In the previous war, it was more targeted pinpoint. Now we're seeing just entire neighborhoods in the southern suburbs. It's no more just about where Hezbollah may have military assets. It's basically a collective punishment of the entire population.
And again, the threats of not allowing people to go back. So there's a lot of concern around all of this. And this is again adding to pressures internally. I had previously called this a suicide mission on behalf of Hezbollah. Were they to, you know, undertake such an action.
A suicide mission because, you know, Israeli air power and missile power is much stronger than anything Hezbollah can deploy from Lebanon. And Lebanese today are paying the price. At the same time, from their perspective, they saw this as an existential war from their perspective, again, not something that many Lebanese buy into.
GIOKOS: Well, Maha, good to speak to you. Thank you so much. Stay safe. Maha Yahya in Beirut for us and importantly, France and Germany both calling for deescalation in Lebanon. So we've got to take you back to Rahel Solomon in New York.
I think you're going to be covering the freezing temperatures there and goodbye for me from the sweltering heat here in Dubai. And I'll be back, of course, a little later.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Eleni, we appreciate you. Thank you. We'll see you soon. A massive storm system is dying down over the east coast, but freezing temperatures are going away just yet. We'll have the latest weather report after this break.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. A massive storm system is finally showing signs of wrapping up over the East Coast. CNN meteorologist Chris Warren has the forecast.
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CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It was an extremely active couple of days. When you count Sunday and Monday, around 600 storm reports in blue, wind reports or wind damage in red, tornado reports and also hail. The black circles there seeing severe thunderstorms, even seeing some snow at the same time as far south as the Deep South with snow lingering at times around the Great Lakes and even throughout parts of the Tennessee Valley into Wednesday.
But it's going to be the cold that really people are going to be talking about Tuesday morning with freeze alerts posted from San Angelo all the way over to Wilmington, North Carolina. So an unusual March freeze here.
Temperatures, though, start to warm back up here across even the Great Lakes and the Southeast, getting above average in St. Louis and Atlanta. Even Little Rock, well above average because of what's going on.
This pattern change. Cold air is moving out. Warm air is building in big area of high pressure, bringing some unusual warmth to almost the entire country here from coast to coast with the intensity of the heat mainly in the West. Very unusual here. About 300 potential highs for record highs either tied or broken here from Montana to New Mexico and all across California with temperatures that are going to run here in the lower 90s for Los Angeles. Now, the deserts you think of Phoenix, it's supposed to be hot. Well,
not this hot. Not this time of year. 78 is your average high in Phoenix and temperatures will be into the triple digits, not just barely getting to 100, but in Phoenix, 105, 106 again on Saturday.
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And really, this warmer taking us right into next week.
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SOLOMON: Look forward to that. We'll be right back.
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. And a live look right now at Temple Bar in Dublin, Ireland, on this St. Patrick's Day. It is almost nine in the morning, and in about three hours, the city will host its annual St. Patrick's Day parade. Although the Irish prime minister will actually be in Washington, meeting with President Trump at the White House.
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And not to be outdone, Chicago got a head start on the St. Patrick's Day festivities, turning the city's river green over the weekend.
The annual tradition dates back to 1962, where pollution control workers use chemical dyes to trace illegal sewage. This weekend, thousands breathed near freezing temperatures Saturday to watch a local plumber's union transform the water to its iconic green. The vibrant color can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, depending on the weather.
It's always fun to see every year. All right, that'll do it for this hour of Early Start. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. We'll have another hour of news in just a short break.
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