Hello Everyone And Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im Amara Walker in atlanta, Jim Sciutto is live in Tel Aviv as we continue to follow Breaking News out of The Middle East, fears are growing that the exchange of fire across the border between Israel And Lebanon could turn into a Ground Incursion and potentially a regional war thats right. Us officials say israeli troops have mobilized at israels northern border in preparation for a possible ground offensive, israel says that crossing the border is only one option. It is now considering we need to understand theres a huge amount of different tools that we have in our toolbox. Ground operations is one of them. We are preparing for that if it is required, if were we receive the instructions the idf has not let up in its air offensive. Lebanese officials say four people were killed in an israeli airstrike in Southern Lebanon, In Beirut. Smoke visible above the skyline. This morning, several israeli airstrikes have hit the capital in recent days, including of course, The One theyve killed Hilda Hezbollah LeaderHassan Nasrallah, Saturday Strikes in lebanon reportedly killed more than 30 people and wounded close to 200 others, caught in the middle of it. All of the residents of beirut, more than 1 Million have been displaced by those strikes since monday. Hundreds of families have now resorted to sleeping on beaches and in public squares, Health Care workers say they are now stretched to their limits are dead the number, extent, and severity of the injuries that weve seen, which i believe the whole world has seen, are terrifying. The medical Kuilan Nursing Staff are overwhelmed and we appeal to international organizations for help. Our survival depends on it. Not get that up. We loved her familys own children, everyone, so that we could provide humanitarian and nursing services and standby are people who are sacrificing, who lost their homes and were forced to leave. Its very tiring. We worked 36 hours chris, without Sleep Jeremy Diamond is standing by in Northern Israel. Begin though this morning In Beirut with Jomana Karadsheh jomana, the airstrikes continuing today, i wonder if you could describe the situation In Beirut, including civilians and casualties jim, we are right on the edge of the Southern Suburbs of beirut. That has been the focus of these intense israeli airstrikes especially in the past 48 hours, almost these airstrikes continuing and as a result of that, we have seen this Mass Exodus of civilians, of the people of the area known as dahiyeh of beirut. And i think you can see behind me right now, were starting were still seeing people who are either now getting the chance to leave with the little they can carry or who have tried to go back and pick up some belongings and get out of there were right outside a school that has been turned into a shelter. This is one of several of those shelters around beirut, but the authorities are struggling to keep up with the number of people who have been displaced in a matter of days. Jim according to authorities about 1 Million people have been displaced across lebanon are mostly in the southern part of the country the Southern Suburbs of beirut, as well as the eastern part of the country. And if you look at beiruts Southern Suburbs this is one of the most densely populated areas, or was of beirut. It had hezbollah presence. We saw this is where these israelis killed the leader of hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders of the group. But it is also home to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who have now been forced out of their homes. As i mentioned, some are in these schools. But then you also have so many others who dont know where they are going to go for, for days now, they have been on the street. I mean, just a short time ago, we were in Central Beirut in the heart of the capital, and we found people still camped outside on pavements in parks, families with little children we spoke to lebanese families are syrian refugees who have been in this country for ten years who fled the Civil War and their country and now theyre here displaced again with nowhere to go. We met Migrant Workers from bangladesh from ethiopia, an absolutely desperate situation, and were talking about people on the streets with no toilets, no facilities. I mean, we heard from some people saying theyve had to go down to the sea to wash because they have nowhere else to go. And i met an elderly woman from syria and she said that she fled the airstrikes she didnt even have shoes on. All she grabbed was a little Plastic Bag with her medications and a little pack of tissues because thats what she does to survive. She sells those tissues, jim, and she lives off of that. And now she broke down crying, saying she just doesnt know what is going to happen to them now, she doesnt have a home in syria. It was destroyed in the Civil War. And she has no money, no place to go to here. And its story after story, like this. An absolutely desperate situation here. Jim of course, sadly familiar stories so often civilians caught in the middle of this conflict paying a high price, Jomana KaradshehIn Beirut. Thanks so much. I do want to go now to Jeremy Diamond in haifa, in Northern Israel. Jeremy, i understand the u. S perspective here is that they are watching, at least for the possibility of an israeli Ground Incursion into Southern Lebanon, israeli Officials Today have said thats just one option on the table for them what is the latest and has israel put in the preparations to allow for a forest across the border . Well, the preparations are certainly underway, whether they have sufficient troops or not, depending on the scale of this Ground Incursion is another question altogether. And beyond that, of course, what is clear, jim . Is that the israeli government has yet to actually make a final decision about whether or not a Ground Incursion is indeed the next step. Us officials telling us that they are indeed seeing the preparations being made for a limited Ground Incursion and theyre seeing that based off of the mobilization of troops along israels northern border, as well as clearing certain areas that could be used to send troops into lebanon. My team and i actually filmed video of israeli tanks at near the border with lebanon On Friday, we saw them amassed in a field off the side of a highway. We were told that they had just arrived there in the hours before we passed by. And so clearly the israeli military has activated to additional reserve brigades. A sent them to the north in recent weeks, they had also sent the 98th division, which was fighting in gaza, redirected it to the northern border. So its clear that the preparations are being made and the messaging is quite clear from israeli generals as well, who said as recently as, or as late as last wednesday, that were in indeed preparing for that eventuality. In the meantime, though, what these really military is doing right now is that they are continuing to carry out dozens of strikes in lebanon. Most of those strikes happening in Southern Lebanon as well as the ballbek region. But weve also seen, of course, an increased pace of attacks in the Southern Suburbs of beirut as well. And thats because israeli officials tell me that they believe hezbollah right now is in disarray that their operational capabilities have been extremely debilitated by the rounds of israeli airstrikes over the course of the last week. And of course, the killing of many of its senior leaders, including of course, On Friday the leader Hassan Nasrallah and so they believe that this is the moment to do as much damage to hezbollah as possible. But they are also quite clear eyed about the fact that hezbollah can reconstitute and likely will at some point. And so thats also why they are watching to see what iran does. What remains of hezbollah does, and what the decisionmaking is event usually about how much of a widescale retaliation will be planned for israel and when that might come, jim thats a legitimate question. How could hezbollah even communicate plans for retaliatory strike given the decapitation strikes, weve seen in the series of them, but also those pager attacks, which took out, it seems what Water Backup Communication network Jeremy Diamond in haifa. Thanks so much for joining me now is Jasmine Elgamal a former pentagon middle East Advisor also joining us retired Air Force Colonel and cnn military analyst, cedric leighton. If i could begin with you, jasmine, and its good to have you both on this morning. This phrase we here, which, which is another familiar when limited Ground Incursion at the end of the day, that would be sending israeli forces across the border into lebanon banana step. We have not seen in numbers for 18 years going back to the 2006 Israellebanon War when one, the outcome of that incursion invasion, whatever you want to call, it was uncertain, but the cost for israeli forces was high easier. Is it possible to have a limited incursion or once youre in it is It Something quite big, especially concerning an expansion of this conflict . Good to see you again, jim, thanks for having me. I think its exactly as you said. I mean, its very difficult to control these things once they actually happen. This happened in 2006 where israel thought it was going to be a really quick war. It ended up lasting for over a month and doing much more damage to them than they expected. Now theyve obviously trained better. Theyve learned a lot of things from that. 2006 war with hezbollah that you imagined they would be applying today. But again The Middle East to the best of intentions are the best laid plans i should say, not the best of intentions. Never seem to go quite as plans because you dont actually know what the reaction will be. We dont know the status of hezbollahs Fighting Force right now, how organized they are. Obviously, as we spoke about yesterday, there communications with Each Other has been severely degraded. So you dont know how they would be communicating in such an invasion . In such a conflict on the ground with israeli forces. There are a lot of unknowns that wouldnt actually be revealed until israel goes in and by that time, you have to you have to understand that it would be too late to dramatically shift their plans. They would just be in it weve seen an enormous number of israeli airstrikes, not, not just on Hezbollah Leaders, but also hezbollah Weapons Storage facilities both In Beirut, but also across Southern Lebanon. Dozens of them going after positions and the weapons themselves. What could Ground Forces do . That those airstrikes have not yet done. What would be and i know youre not in the room. There is in the Situation Room as they planned this on the israeli side. But but what would be the likely . Additional mission of Ground Forces on top of the airstrikes but one of the big gay aspects of a Ground Incursion, jim would be the idea of actually taking territory and holding it. So what could happen in a case like this is the Air Campaign has soften up targets theyve destroyed some things. The Ground Forces would then move in, they would then see how badly it would be as hezbollah weapons that have been destroyed and destroy them even further if they, if they could, if there right there with them where they would make sure that they could not be used in to attack the northern part of israel and its Ground Forces become really important to hold territory as well as to ensure that any damage caused by an Air Campaign is basically a permanent form of damage yeah, there you go with the incursion then becomes an occupation, right. For an uncertain period of time. Jazmine, there has been talk and of course, a concerted us effort to come to it, not just a Ceasefire Agreement between israel and hezbollah, but some plan going forward to provide security along the southern border, the southern portion of lebanon, to give israel a sense of security and allow those more than 60,000 israelis to go back to their homes in Northern Israel but also to prevent this from expanding into a broader war is there an a substantive conversation on . Sinner way to come to some sort of agreement that perhaps the liberties military coming into secure the southern part of lebanon short of an expansion of the war, is there any path to that or has that largely gone away . Thats a great question, and i think it all depends on what the response is. I think people yes, those conversations are happening. The short answer, but of course, there are so many unknowns in terms of what hezbollah is planning as a response in terms of what the iranians are planning in the region bonds, we touched a little bit on the iranians yesterday. I mean, theyre right now in between a rock and a hard place and the sense of needing to do something to respond. But not wanting to do some things. So massive that it actually causes the expansion of the war, as you said. And so people are really, you have to imagine all the different actors are really just kind of waiting to see what the other one will do before they start to realize what the parameters of something like a ceasefire would look like. And the iranians havent done anything yet, and you have to imagine that they have something planned. So a lot of unknowns at this moment, jim yeah, Unknown Signaling from iran that they might let hezbollah do the retaliation will see if it sticks to that. Jasmine elgamal colonel cedric leighton, thanks so much to both you to watch here in terms of what are the next steps does israel expand the war on the ground . This hezbollah retaliate . Does iran retaliate so many hard questions . A lot to watch for it. Jim. Thank you. Meantime, Hurricane Helene has left a trail of Death And Devastation across several states. This morning. Straight ahead, were going to take you to asheville, North Carolina, one of the hardest Hit Places facing months, maybe even years of recovery and were just two days away from the first and only Vice President ial debate between governor tim Walz And Senator j. D. Vance were expecting were breaking down what to expect in the face off a little later. 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