it is the top of the hour and we are tracking the rush to get aid into gaza and to get people out. i'm brianna keilar here in washington alongside boris sanchez, anderson cooper is on the scene in israel ahead of an expected israeli ground invasion of northern gaza there are roughly half a million people who have fled south at the urging of israeli officials, but there is no power, there's also no way out. the border crossing into egypt is closed. >> among those who are stranded more than 250 american citizens and their families. u.s. officials are pushing egypt to open the rafah cross to go let aid and evacuations through. anderson? >> here in tel aviv secretary of state antony blinken is back holding high-level meetings. we may be hearing from him soon. i want to get our global cnn coverage with jeremy diamond

natasha ber grand and becky anderson is here with me in tel aviv. jeremy, the secretary of state took cover in a bunker alongside benjamin netanyahu for a few minutes as i understand as air raid sirens went off. what are you learning about what's come out between them today? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. secretary blinken has been meeting with the israeli prime minister over the last nearly three hours now at idf head quart nurse tel aviv. during that time we have heard not one but two air ride sirens going off in tel aviv and you are very well aware. we know during that first instance that the secretary of state and the israeli prime minister went to a bunker for about five minutes before emerging and continuing their discussions. i would assume that the same situation happened just minutes ago when those air raid sirens went off once again because as far as we know secretary of state and the israeli prime minister are still there having those meetings. during this day we've seen air

raid sirens going off in tel aviv at least three times, i believe, also silence here in jerusalem. both of those locations are typically less frequently the site of rocket attacks from hamas. we see those typically much close tore the gaza strip. it's always quite notable when they do go off in tel aviv as well as jerusalem, effectively the central israel area. the secretary of state is in israel after a week of shuttle diplomacy between israel and several arab countries in the middle east. he has gone to saudi arabia, qatar, bahrain, the united arab emi emirates, jordan, egypt, all to prevent this conflict from escalating into a id woulder regional war. what he's also tried to do is to try to allow the flow of humanitarian aid into gaza and also to try and get american citizens who are trapped in gaza to be able to exit the rafah crossing into egypt. there's been some conflicting

information over the last several days about when that rafah crossing into open. u.s. officials believed that it would be open perhaps even saturday, telling american citizens in gaza to head down o citizens it seems have been able to get out. there were some conflicting reports about whether fuel was able to get into gaza earlier today, but clearly all of the secretary of state's meetings today focused around that humanitarian issue as well of course we have to note the fate of those hostages. 199 hostages believed to be held by hamas, 20 of whom at least are believed to be american citizens as well. >> and, natasha, some americans have already arrived in the u.s. from israel. i understand others left on a cruise ship today. talk about the evacuation efforts and the pentagon's role. >> reporter: yeah, anderson. so the u.s. government they have been assisting american citizens who want to leave israel to do so. just this morning there was a cruise ship that the u.s. government actually chartered to

get u.s. citizens who want to leave from haifa to cypress and i don't know jarred by chartering flights for those unable to make their own accommodations. that is one way in which the u.s. government is helping citizens flee, but at this point there is no active u.s. military role here in terms of a noncombatant evacuation operation as such, the kind that we saw of course in afghanistan just a few years ago when there was a massive military effort to kind of airlift people out. that has not happened yet because according to the u.s. government and the white house they simply have not seen the kind of demand signal from u.s. citizens currently in israel who are trying to leave in large numbers. but, look, that does not mean that the pent gone is not planning for such a scenario. we are told that the 26th marine expeditionary unit is preparing for the possibility that they might have to deploy closer to israel to help support this kind of large-scale evacuation if such an order is made.

that is part of these marines' mission essential task, it's a rapid reaction force and they are preparing for that order if it comes down for them to support and provide humanitarian assistance to a very large group of people. now, of course, none of this really explains how the u.s. government is going to help get those 250 americans who are in gaza, who are trying to leave, out of gaza. that really remains to be seen because of course you can't just place a cruise ship there on the side there. so that is something that they are still struggling with, but the u.s. military pretty much on stand by and ready to deploy assets if that order comes down, anderson. >> and, becky, as we've been covering for civilians in gaza, the situation increasingly dire. >> reporter: and i spoke a couple of hours ago to a palestinian-american, he is 55 years old, has two kids, he's married, has lived in gaza for years. he grew up in gaza and he is a translator. about 3:00 in the morning a day

into the israeli demands that people evacuate from northern gaza he did because there was bombing all around his apartment block in gaza. he went with friends. he has a cabin in the gaza valley which is not actually that far a drive from gaza city, but that's where they've been told to go, get down into the south. there are 50 -- 50 people including 20 children now in this small cabin, all together. they can hear the fighter jets going across, they are -- he said to me -- he explained it saying we are literally down to fumes as far as fuel is concerned. that means they're going to struggle with water because the generators to run the water, they are low on food supplies. i said what are you doing with the kids? he said we're distracting them. they actually had a birthday party for one of his daughters who is 9 years old. he said all we can do is distract them but he is very desperate. >> 500,000, perhaps more people have heeded the warnings and moved south. hamas was telling people not to

leave but a lot of people have. the question is what sort of setup is there for them. i talked to a u.n. official who said that there is equipment for shelters and the like, they want to get in, hasn't been able to get in. >> all sitting on the egypt side of the border. i was told today by the u.n. the egyptians are working really, really hard to ensure that they can accommodate the sort of scale of operation on the egyptian side of the border, the w.h.o., the u.n., the uae have flown in aid and jordan have flown in aid. we're talking fuel, medical supplies from the w.h.o., food aid but it's getting it in. you've been reporting on this conflicting news that we're getting about whether that border will open for incoming supplies which is massively important, the next thing is will it open for outgoing people. >> it is stunning just given the american citizens in gaza thatter we are now nine days in i think and that they have still not been able to get out.

>> absolutely. and, look, the egyptians are -- they've talked about a red line as have the jordanians about the slippage of palestinians from gaza into egypt and possibly into jordan. the sinai desert is a very big security spot for the egyptians and they are very nervous about what would happen in an enormous amount of people -- they can't accommodate them is what they're saying. it gives the impression that they are not being sort of accommodative at a really tough time. that isn't the point. >> they don't want hundreds of thousands of residents of gaza -- >> but can they open for the u.s. and can keen nationals who we know are trying to get out. that's obviously something worked on behind the scenes and massive priority for antony blinken. joining me now is retired big deer general steve anderson. appreciate you being with us. do you expect israel to announce when its ground forces have begun to enter into gaza. in the past they generally have

once it's already begun. what do you think that that will look like? >> thank you, anderson, for having me. i would certainly expect them to announce it. i don't think it will be a big secret. i mean, we have so much media on the border right now, but, you know, i would urge them to exercise restraint here. there's a lot of saber-rattling, a lot of people -- i understand the motivation of revenge, a horrendous attack against the israeli people by hamas, but they need to exercise restraint. i do not believe that they need to go rushing into the urban environment. i quite frankly think that iran would like nothing better than to see israel bogged down in an urban fight in a place like gaza city. anderson, you no doubt remember fallujah and ramadi in iraq and how difficult it was in that kind of environment. i submit to you that gaza city is going to be like fallujah on steroids with perhaps hundreds of kilometers of tunnels at

least according to hamas, all these underground tunnels and then of course maybe perhaps a half a million human shields that are still in the gaza city area. so the blockade is working, we're seeing evidence of that, people are complaining that they're not getting the food and the water and the fuel and the electricity they need. they're putting some hurt on the palestinian people and hopefully that will yield more human intelligence, more information about what's going on on the ground and more help to the israelis in terms of intelligence in order to locate those hostages and to locate the hamas leadership that they need to take down. >> how difficult is -- i mean, fighting in tunnels with booby traps, i mean, i've read accounts of tunnel warfare during the vietnam war, but those seem pretty primitive tunnels by comparison to what hamas has. >> yes, anderson, my first sergeant when i was a young

lieutenant had been a tunnel rat in vietnam and in those days they send you down a hole with a flashlight and a 45 and say have a nice day, but, no, these are very complex, very, very -- much, much different situation. it's more like an underground metro system when you think about it. we've seen some evidence of that, they have shafts that go into buildings, they can pop out in any number of places. it's going to make this fight which was already a really, really tough fight, fighting in an urban environment, it's going to make this really, really difficult. so they've got to take that into consideration. there's things they can use to -- you know, there's lots of innovation and technology perhaps that they can use to help them down there, but, again, the israelis understand they're motivated to seek revenge but they need to show restraint. they need to continue to apply the noose that they have applied, tighten their grip on gaza, put the pressure internally, continue with the blockade and set conditions for

an appropriate attack into gaza city when the time is right. >> from a military standpoint let alone a humanitarian standpoint, but from a military standpoint, isn't it in israel's best interest to have as many residents of gaza in the south and to enable supplies and shelter for those residents in the south to keep people staying in the south? >> absolutely, anderson. could not agree more. i would recommend that in terms of a tactic, in terms of an operational approach to this, cut the country in half. when they do attack into gaza, go straight for the gaza power plant which is about ten miles away, cut the country in half and allow all the civilians heading north to come down through the south, check they can out, make sure they don't have weapons and aren't bad guys and aid as much as they possibly

can in the evacuation of civilians from the gaza city area. set up camps, use the world health organization -- i mean, when i was in iraq we set up camps all over the place 15, 16 years ago in iraq. they need to set up camps obviously to take care of these refugees coming down, but, yes, they have to get many of them out of there. they have to tell them, look, you guys are hungry, children don't have medicine, come south, cross through the border, cross through our essentially our check points and move south to get your family taken care of. motivate the people to come south and then they can take on the leadership of hamas and actually execute the kind of attacks into the city and the location of the hostages like they want to. >> obviously given the complex political and the history in this region there's a lot of palestinians who doubt they would be able to return to their homes in the north, that this is

part of an effort to move them out once and for all so that is obviously in play in people's minds here. general anderson, i appreciate your time. cnn's special live coverage continues from the region in a moment.

a federal judge today imposing a limited gag order on former president donald trump after he unleashed a series of attacks on prosecutors. in her ruling judge tanya chutkan said trump, quote, does not have the right to say and do exactly what he pleases. cnn's katelyn polantz is joining us from outside of the u.s. district court in washington. what more can you tell us about what was decided here? >> reporter: well, brianna, what happened today in court was judge tanya chutkan was react to go things that donald trump has already said since he has been a criminal defendant in this case related to january 6, this federal indictment. as a criminal defendant the judge found that she can place

restrictions on him, including on his first amendment abilities to speak freely, even if he's campaigning for president. the first amendment is not absolute was something that she said. what she did was she put some narrow procedures in place or narrow orders in place that restrict what trump is allowed to stay as this criminal defendant so that the judge can maintain some integrity for the trial, protect the jury pool and protect witnesses and others in this case. the specific things that she responded to was that trump had posted about the judge's clerk in new york in a civil trial, she reacted pretty strongly to that even though that wasn't this case, also that he had called the special counsel office's prosecutors thugs and that he suggested that general mark milley who could be a witness here called to testify that he suggested that he should be executed and also had been posting about mike pence, bill barr, some other witnesses. so what the judge did here is she said he can say whatever he

wants about joe biden who he's running against, the biden administration generally, even the justice department generally and people in d.c. who are very possibly called as jurors. what he can't do is say specific things about the prosecutor's office, the prosecutors working on this case, others working on this case, the court mike pence running for president against donald trump. donald trump can't talk about mike pence and what he did on january 6 that is potentially part of this case. that is covered. it's very, very likely that trump's team will appeal and will want that appeal to move fast, but this is something that the judge has done today and that donald trump could face severe sanctions if he doesn't follow these court orders as he awaits trial in march. >> he could talk about other things related to mike pence politically if he wanted to, though, right, katelyn? >> reporter: that's right. and the prosecutor in this, molly gaston was the prosecutor, they were the ones making the

ask and they said this is a small fraction of the restrictions that we want to be able to put on what he says on the campaign trail. there is so much that donald trump is able to speak about on the campaign trail, but related to mike pence it's just what pence would have been privy to on january 6 that he could be testifying about that's already in the indictment. that's where the restriction is. it's not on him attacking pence more generally. >> all right. katelyn polantz, thank you so much for the very latest there. boris? u.s. leaders are mounting an urgent effort to prevent israel's war against hamas from escalating into a broader conflict. today iran's foreign minister called on israel to stop the bombardment of gaza, warning the likelihood of this war spreading to other fronts could become, quote, unavoidable. secretary of state antony blinken is back in israel again today for another round of meetings with top israeli leaders. here in the united states president president biden postponed a trip to colorado to focus on national

security meetings. let's get perspective from susan glasser, a staff writer from "the new yorker." president biden warned israel against a military occupation of gaza in a "60 minutes" interview. do you anticipate that israel can eliminate hamas all together without having an extended presence in gaza? >> well, i think we might be at some point in the future once again, arguing over the question of what is exactly an occupation and how long would that institute. actually israeli officials have said they don't have any plans to reoccupy gaza. remember of course that up until 2006-2007 when there was an election in gaza which hamas won and then it took over, israel left. it had occupied gaza for many years. so i don't think there's much appetite on the part of israel to reoccupy gaza and yet it's very hard to understand frankly what comes after the military part of this operation in

response to that horrific hamas attack. >> yeah, in that "60 minutes" interview biden also reiterated a lack of clear evidence according to u.s. intelligence that iran was aware and involved in the initial attack by hamas. that does not align with what cnn is hearing from sources inside israeli intelligence who say that iran essentially gave the green light and helped proxies not just in gaza but also in lebanon. how do you read that? >> well, first of all, i do anticipate that over time we will learn much more about the planning and financing of this attack, who knew what and when. israel has a history of launching major investigations when there are intelligence failures and this is one of the biggest intelligence failures we have ever seen on the part of israel. so i imagine there will be full investigations, more information will be coming out, but in a big picture sense of course it's important to remember that iran has been a long-time funding of

hamas, supporter of it in many ways the group would not exist along with other terror groups in the region were it not for the sponsorship of iran. so, again, there's so much to learn about the specifics of this, but the bigger picture right now is this urgent effort on the part of u.s. diplomats and others to try to prevent a broader regional war from breaking out right now, and that's not at all certain what will happen. >> yeah, and in that effort the united states has sent two carrier strike groups to the region. there's obviously a presence in the mediterranean, there is an expanded u.s. presence in the strait of hormuz, close to iran. what do you make of the way the administration has handled the potential for an expanded conflict so far? >> i do think that a lot of what their efforts are directed at right now are sort of signaling to iran and other actors in the region to, you know, not escalate wherever possible. remember that israel has said it will go into gaza, it appears to be preparing a ground invasion

there to eliminate hamas as a threat to israel but that is not the only threat and there is the prospect that hezbollah in the north based in lebanon could start to join in in the fighting. and i think that's the scenario one of the main reasons you have not one but two carriers of the u.s. in the region right now. and there's the diplomacy in terms of the large number of hostages that are still being held by hamas. i saw earlier today israeli officials put that number at 199 hostages. we haven't heard very much for understandable reasons perhaps about their fate, but it's been nine days already that they've been in captivity and that complicates any military or diplomatic solution right now. >> further complicating the situation, susan, the dysfunction in washington. we can't ignore what's happening in the house of representatives right now. what do you think it says to the world that the house of representatives remains in disarray, that they can't come to a consensus on something so

rudimentary as a speaker of the house? >> it is a remarkable turn of affairs, isn't t boris? i mean, look, it was the republican chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, mike mccaul of texas who said the other day we know what the message is that they're sending to the rest of world about our own dysfunction. this is something that allies and adversaries see very loudly and clearly. for those who aren't aware, not only is this unprecedented in american history that republicans would oust a speaker of the house in the middle of a term like this, this is just, you know, without a script, but they actually cannot even do any business in congress until they can get themselves a leader. so it's almost two weeks and counting since they threw out kevin mccarthy, just a small number, eight republican representatives were able to do that. we will see if they can come up with a speaker this week. >> we're supposed to see a vote tomorrow. we will wait and see if it happens. susan glasser, thanks so much for the time.

>> thank you. >> of course. hundreds of thousands of israeli troops are gearing up for the next stage of this conflict. cnn is getting an inside look at how they're training. we will show you when we come back. you bring a lot back

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about what is to come here as idf soldiers are preparing for what could be a prolonged and intense ground fight in gaza. more than 300,000 israeli reservists have been called up. cnn's nic robertson was able to speak to some of those soldiers as they get ready for what's ahead. he's live in sderot, israel, about a mile east of gaza. nic, what did you hear from them? >> reporter: yeah, this is really interesting, anderson. i talked not only to some of the troops that potentially could be going into gaza this time, whenever the order comes through, but also some that were involved in the last incursion back in 2014. you know, there's a recognition here that perhaps israeli is in something of a catch-22 position because hamas can behind out behind civilians who don't evacuate the areas as the idf asked them to, and, therefore, the harder you go after hamas the more civilians potentially get injured, the bigger the

international outcry, you're forced from backing off from attacking hamas and you don't entirely defeat them. the training nevertheless to try to to achieve beyond in a and crush hamas is really under way and this is what we saw. close to gaza preparations under way for a much anticipated ground offensive. troops from different units training together. there is an urgency here. they have to be ready fast. right now this is a rehearsal if and when there is an incursion these troops could be at the front of it. thanks or for this practice model ones right now, followed by infantry and combat engineers. a combined force spear heading an incursion. if they do this major will be near the front. >> translator: we expect to go to war. we expect to destroy the terrorist organization hamas,

kill its governments and kill every last terrorist. that's what we plan to do and that's how it will be. >> reporter: the last time the idf went into gaza targeting hamas's leaders was 2014. aerial bernstein was 21 in the special forces, one of the first to cross the border. >> you're just afraid that there is something waiting for you at every corner. >> reporter: but his experiences then have left him questioning the tactics today. back then, like now, the idf warned civilians to leave and hamas told them to stay. bernstein says when he went in there were civilians, but says he was told only hamas remained. >> whoever you see is basically engaged in fighting or is involved in fighting and, therefore, you don't need to make a difference anymore between civilians and hamas operators. >> reporter: in many basis

real's actions are playing out just as they have in the past. 2021 gun positions, freshly dug, back in use. and in gaza the civilian death toll according to palestinian health officials already higher than in 2014. and like then, israel is already facing huge international pressure to avoid more civilian casualties. >> what we are doing is saying privately what we've said publicly, which is that all military operations should be conducted consistent with the law of war, that civilians should be protected. >> reporter: the problem the idf says it faces just like 2014, hamas will be hiding among civilians. >> the whole situation we are talking about with gazans civilians forcibly embedded is another element of hamas. hamas has to be fully defeated. >> reporter: so the responsibility is on them, not

you. >> the responsibility is on hamas for their own civilians, our responsibility is to eliminate hamas's capabilities completely. >> reporter: the major pausing during training in a mocked up palestinian town says they don't hurt innocents, only terrorists, but admits if he is sent into gaza, avoiding civilian deaths won't be easy. >> do you think it's possible that to fight hamas without civilians getting injured? >> translator: we're concerned with overthrowing the hamas regime and killing the terrorists currently in gaza. if it will be difficult, it will be difficult, not easy. >> reporter: bernstein worries past mistakes are being repeated and hamas will survive. >> as we get used to these rounds of violence in gaza and the doctrine that says the more force we use, the less they will mess with us, which i want to say has not been proven in any way so far because it just makes

hamas stronger in my opinion. >> reporter: for israelis it's a catch-22. the harder you hit hamas, the more innocent civilians die and the greater the international pressure to stop the attacks, leaving hamas to fight another day. and of course that's the primary concern of the tens in not many potentially hundreds or so, thousands of troops who are waiting for that order, anderson. they are out here in this militarized zone close to the border of gaza waiting for their politicians to make that call. >> nic robertson, thanks very much. cnn's special live coverage continues after a break.

congressman jim jordan says he has made his case and is converting key holdouts in his bid to be the next speaker of the house. so far he has flipped five reluctant republicans in his conference and he says that he's confident he will get the 217 he needs before tomorrow's vote on the house floor. >> we will go to the floor tomorrow. it's not about pressuring anybody, just about we have to have a speaker. you can't open the house and do the work of the american people and help our dearest and closest friend israel if you don't have a speaker. the only way to do this is the way the founders intended is you have the vote tomorrow. we've set it for 12:00.

i feel real good about it. >> reporter: will you have more than one ballot if you don't get to 217 on the first -- >> we are going to elect a speaker tomorrow. that's what i think is going to happen. >> he has made it clear that he's going to the floor even without the 217 in the hope that he will get there. joining us we have the republican congressman from indiana. all right, shir, what if -- and we are expecting multiple rounds tomorrow -- what if he doesn't get there tomorrow in what if he doesn't get the votes? then who steps in to try? >> first of all, i think he will get the votes. you outlined some of the key converts today. you know, i mean, it's up to jim to make his case to people who are still retluk tant to vote for him for speaker, but i'm pretty confident that jim jordan will be our speaker tomorrow, but, you know, worst-case scenario if he doesn't get the votes of course we will have to start from scratch but i don't think that's going to happen. >> okay. you previously supported steve scalise. >> yes. >> you moved your support then to jordan an steve scalise's bid

failed. what is it going to take for your colleagues who have not made that move to change their minds? >> well, i mean, i don't want to speak for them. >> but have you talked to them? i mean, are they telling you what their concerns are and what needs to be he is waged? >> congressman jordan has been in the house of representatives for a long time and some are talking about things that happened during speaker boehner and ryan's reign as house speaker and they have animosity towards things that occurred with the freedom caucus. congressman jordan helped found the fee dock calm can you say. he has done things for house republicans, he was a big supporter of speaker mccarthy. i think it's a different day but they have to have individual conversations but mostly it's about i think historical things that happened with the freedom caucus back when speaker boehner were in office and speaker ryan.

>> long-time in a way for what has happened in the past? >> i think that's the gist of it, most of it, yes. >> possible shutdown next month if congress doesn't act. i imagine in some way that could be something that could weigh on the minds of people in your party. he just had two republicans on who have been jim jordan the whole way here, one of them congressman russ fulcher said a shutdown will definitely be on the table in a jordan-led house, the other congressman self said a jordan-led house would pass a cr quickly. which do you think is right? >> i think it's the latter. i don't think we will have a shutdown, everybody knows that that's destructive. look, i've been in congress since 2011 it's never worked either for the country and never worked politically. so you don't make political goals based on shutting down the government. i take jim jordan at his word, he thinks we should pass a cr through april and then have a further discussion about our appropriations bills and get the house and senate together and pass government funding the way

we should have done already. >> how much do you worry about how -- what's been very chaotic this protracted gop infighting, how much do you worry about how this inability to put up a leader in the house is making america look weak on the world stage? >> i don't think it makes america look weak but let me say this, i travel all over the world and it makes people nervous, no doubt about it. in europe, in asia, places that i've been, they follow american politics very closely and i do think it is very important that we get a house speaker asap. i've said that for the last couple of weeks. i supported speaker mccarthy, i thought it was a bad idea. i think historically it will go down as a bipartisan failure. we had eight people on our side of course that led this but we also had every democrat in the house vote to remove the speaker of the house. >> you think this is -- wait, you think this is going to go down as a bipartisan failure? >> i really do. yes.

i think it's going to be mostly on the eight people in the house republicans but i do think institutional-wise history will say that removing a house speaker with 208 minority votes was a bad idea, yes. i do believe that. but, again, let me just say, you know, this is on republicans, we had republicans that brought up the vote, but i do think -- >> but you are in the majority -- sir, you are in the majority and the majority elects the speaker. >> that's correct. >> so, i mean, just historically it's up to the majority. that's just the way it goes. it is the responsibility of the majority party. why put that -- why put that on the minority party? >> well, it is the responsibility to elect a speaker that's true but that's not what we did. what we did was for the first time in u.s. history is we removed the speaker. yes, if we didn't -- >> but why not just own that? why not just own that? if that's what your party did. >> i think we have, but i think -- i'm talking about

history of the house of representatives going forward i don't think history will write that it was a good idea to remove the house speaker regardless of who started it. >> congressman larry bucshon, we appreciate your time today. >> thanks for having me. still to come, why canada is now advising its citizens in lebanon to flee the country. we will have our special live coverage returns after a quick break.

tense moments on israel's norther border today.

th the israeli government learned that swiss airline is suspending flights to beirut and canada is urging citizens to leave lebanon while commercial flights are still available. ben wedeman is in southern lebanon right now. ben, we're seeing exchanges fire between hezbollah and israeli military on pretty regular basis. what is the situation now? >> well, at the moment it is relatively calm. but, yes, what we've seen is certainly over the last three or four days is that hezbollah has been launching on average about five strikes aday on israeli military positions. and others. now, today they put out a video showing their fighters using rifles to take out surveillance cameras and various spots around the wall and the border that separates lebanon and israel. in addition to that, they're

also putting out videos showing very precise strikes by guided missiles heading tanks and other positions also with surveillance and communications equipment as well. at this point, it seems neither side seems eager to actually engage in a full scale shooting war. but it certainly does seem that hezbollah at least wants to show that as the fighting, the war continues in gaza, that they're doing more than just simply issuing condemnations and fiery rhetoric. they're also shooting. anderson. >> and iran's foreign minister warned today that this war moving to other fronts could soon be in their words unavoidable. is that the sense you're hearing there? >> i think the sense here is that iran will make the ultimate decision, iran being the main backer and supplier of weaponry to hezbollah and iran will make

the final decision to do so. and certainly the iranian foreign minister who has been making a tour of capitals here in the middle east has been in beirut, damascus and kwaqatar, his rhetoric, when he was in lebanon, when he met with the leb anese prime minister, that the priority of the visit is to maintain calm in lebanon. but certainly increasingly he's sending the message that if israel intensifies and continues what they call their aggression on gaza, that there is a definite possibility that other fronts may open and certainly in terms of those other fronts, no front is riper than this one for opening, anderson. >> and just in terms of weaponry, from the 2006 fight between israel and hezbollah, hezbollah has the amount of

weapons, the accuracy and the strength of those weapons have increased dramatically, hasn't it? >> and not only that. the israelis has as many as 150,000 rockets and missiles. hezbollah is not going to say that. the leader of hezbollah head he has 100,000 men ready to fight israel. but, yes, in terms of accuracy, training and let's not forget hezbollah fighters got a lot of training in urban warfare in syria. to the hezbollah of 2023 is far better prepared for war than it was in 2006. and even then it was pretty well prepared. anderson. >> yeah, ben, thank you very much. appreciate it. thank you for joining me. i'll be back tonight at 8:00 with more from the region. thank you for joining us. "the lead" with jake tapper starts right after a short break.

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