hello everyone, i'm alicia menendez. and we start with breaking news out of maine. a short time ago, we learned the suspected gunman who killed 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar is dead. officials say his body was found in a wooded area late friday. and he died of an apparent gunshot wound. it ends an exhaustive today multi state man hunt for the

40-year-old army reservist who, out of respect for victims families, we are not showing tonight. in a news conference tonight, officials made clear to the public they believe there is no longer a direct threat to the community. and have lifted shelter in place orders. take a listen to what maine's governor, janet mills, said just a short time ago. >> like many people, i'm breathing a sigh of relief tonight knowing that robert card is no longer a threat to anyone. i know there are some people, many people, who share that sentiment. but i also know that his death may not bring solace too many. but now is the time to heal, and with this search concluded, i know that law enforcement continues to fully investigate all the facts so we can bring what closure we can to the victims and their families.

and i ask that all main people continue to keep those families and all of the people impacted by this tragedy in their thoughts and prayers. >> all 18 victims are now identified. among them, a father andis 14-year-old son was participating in a youth bowling league. we'll have more on all the victims later on tonight's show. joining us now from lisbon, maine, is nbc news correspondent george soliz. george, tell us more about the details surrounding the shooter's death. what more do we know? >> authorities holding a briefing at 10:00 this evening to give us the very latest. robert card, apparently killing himself, self inflicted gunshot wound is what the authorities were saying. his body found near a cycling plant, where authorities say he may have worked out for sometime. all of this unfolding today as authorities centered here in lisbon. this is where that white subaru was found early on in the hours

after the shooting. they also found a weapon in that vehicle, it was still unclear if that gun was the one used during the mass shooting here today in the early hours while the sun was out. authorities were searching by air, they were searching by water here in the -- river they had divers here searching for any trace of robert card. at that point, authorities were saying the trails had pretty much gone cold. they had no idea if he was still out of state, whether he was dead or alive. and now, we're learning at about 7:45, authorities did find his body in lisbon falls, not far from where i'm standing here right now. of course, there's still many more questions, and that's why authorities say tomorrow morning at ten a.m. they will brief the public with some of those additional details that the public wants to know about where his body was exactly, any other details as far as self inflicted gunshot wound. one thing that was interesting to know during that press conference, the gap between the 7:45 time they found the body and this ban conference. they want to alert all of the

families of those 18 of the deceased that they had found rebecca's body. they wanted tolsnotify his family as well that they had found him. they said the family at that point had been very cooperative, and they felt they owed him at least that much during this part of the investigation. and as you heard the governor there saying, this is still not frankly over. both of those scenes, the bowling alley, the bar, are still held as authorities still come over every trace of that do hopefully get some insight, glean any information that canister why this shooting took place in the first place. but i can tell, you just being here on the ground over the last couple of days, this communities been paralyzed, they haven't been able to hold any vigils, memorials have been on hold as day breaks tomorrow into this morning, i should say, it'll be very interesting to see how this community begins to come together now that all 18 of those victims have been identified. family members coming into town to begin that healing process, which the governor noted, this community, communities, we'll

hear, but it's going to take a long time, frankly, as all of this is still very fresh in the minds of so many. alyssa? >> i keep coming back to what we heard, that sound from the governor, when she's at his death may not bring solace too many. right? that there are still so many unresolved questions from this community, for law enforcement, for the families and survivors. what our chief among those questions at this point, george? >> i think certainly one of the questions a lot of people have where the early warning signs missed? there were 70 a lot of reporting that and nbc has done, other outlets has done, as far as the mental health of robert card. if he should've ever been able to obtain the weapons that he had. there were reports that he was hearing voices. so these were some of the main questions that a lot of people in this community have. why did this individual, in army reservist, someone who is known to have experience with

weapons, come to have these guns? they've been removed? should he had been anywhere near weapon at this point? of course want to know how quickly authorities were able to identify him, what methods today used to verify that this was in fact the person that they had been looking for here during this expensive man hunt. and frankly, just any motive as to why he targeted these places. there's been some reporting that nbc's done that he made specifically chose in these locations based on a person that he knew. he was also a person who enjoyed plane cornhole, a game that was being played at one of these establishments during the shootings. so obviously, they're still a lot of pieces of a big puzzle here to put together, and the motive, the who, the what, the when, the why of it all, but, frankly for a lot of these people, the victims families they don't really want to know more, they just really want people to heal at this point. because even though this part of the investigation may be

concluding for them, the grieving is still very much happening, and they still -- it'll take a long time for them to process all of this as we talk to some of the family members who say this doesn't bring that solace. there are still missing their loved ones, and they of course, would do anything to have them back. the only comfort that they have is that this man hunt is ending in the state. and now they can start to really begin that long and arduous healing process. >> long and arduous is exactly how i would put. it nbc's george soliz for us in lisbon, maine. george, as always, thank you. another breaking, major breaking news story we're following tonight. an escalation in the war between israel and hamas. israel intensifying air strikes over the past 24 hours. and the israeli military saying it is expanding its ground operations. the internet and cell service in gaza is out after heavy bombing in the enclave. international aid groups say they have lost contact with staff on the ground. also tonight, israel has

condemned a u.n. resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce. a senior official telling msnbc, quote, hamas will feel or ras. lisbon almost three weeks since hamas gunman killed almost 2000 israel civilians in the worst terror attack in the nation's history. since, then palestinian health officials report over 7000 people have been killed in gaza. joining me now with the latest, nbc's ellison barber. nelson, the sun just coming up there at the border where you are. tell us what you're seen. >> yeah, so we heard just a massive amount of sustained bombardments into the gaza strip until about four a.m. local time this morning. it's just after seven now. the last couple of hours, we have heard artillery fired in the direction of gaza, but nothing as consistent or a significant as what we heard up until four a.m.. what we heard in the overnight

hours, that was again, by far, the heaviest and most sustain bone barn we have heard in the nearly three weeks we have been reporting along this section of the israel gaza border. according to a telegram post from hamas's military wing, they say that they engaged with israeli forces on the ground inside of gaza a little after 11 pm local time into different areas. they describe those classes as violent. but we don't have a lot of information, since israel acknowledged that they were expanding their airstrikes in gaza, and also their ground operation in gaza. and part of that is because there's been a complete communications blackout from the gaza strip. it's been over ten hours now since the main tele-communications authority in the gaza strip announced that all of their communications had stopped. we've got a bit of a message from our nbc teams inside of

gaza. they were able to contact at one point, some of our colleagues in london, saying that they had a very difficult time getting their message out, that there is no power, phones are not working, cell service, also the internet, all of it down. but they said what they were experiencing inside of gaza was the most significant bombardment so far in this war. in one of those notes, the message that did make it to london, one of our team members in gaza, they said that people were carrying dead and injured in trolleys and top talks trying to get them some sort of help. the palestinian red cross society said they lost all contact with their operation center and all of their team members on the ground. and early in the night, not long after 8:30-ish local time. they were saying that they were very concerned that because there seem to be this massive communications blackout, that people who needed help we are not going to be able to get

through when they called 101 to try and get help from an ambulance. we have still not gotten information from our team inside of gaza, and again, we're pushing ten hours now since all of the telecommunications inside this trip seemed to just go to a black. but what we have seen throughout the night is this constant bombardment into the gaza strip. the last three hours, sustain chilly last. we are having it again those start back again. is that boom, it sounds like thunder from afar, but it is artillery headed towards the northern part of gaza. remember, israeli forces have been telling people far weeks now to evacuate south of the gaza river, where that is where they would be safest. and an estimated that close to 1 million civilians have evacuated south. but at the same time, we have seen the israeli military, the israeli air force, carry out air strikes in southern gaza and people who are inside, when we have been able to speak to them, they have said that they really feel like nowhere in

gaza is safe. you hear that room again, alicia, and that was before what we saw happen overnight. alicia? >> when you say that, give us a sense, alison, where are civilians and gaza taking refuge? >> so they've been told to head south of the gaza river, that's how, it's the body river. israeli officials, they called the gaza river that sort of runs through the middle of the gaza strip. there is this area, on the aussie, that is by its further south, and it's near the sea. it's a coastal town. and that is an area that the idf has designated as a space to go for humanitarian aid. but there have been, ever since the identified, that there have been a lot of questions about how are people supposed to safely get there when they're up in pockets of time where the idf has said the main highway that goes from the north to the south would not be struck. but there still have been airstrikes going on throughout the entire gaza strip. so there's been this constant pressure of how are people supposed to release safely get

there. and then it is a small area, so it's not like it could really hold the entire population of northern gaza, even if everyone were to leave. the thing to remember, as we're talking about this, is that the gaza strip is still entirely blockaded. we've seen less than 100 humanitarian aid trucks get into gaza. no one is able to leave, even if they want to. for nationals are trapped, but civilians who live in gaza, palestinians, if they wanted to leave, to get out of gaza, that's not an option for them right now. so that's why everyone keeps saying, you keep telling us to go to these places, you keep telling us it's gonna be a bit of a law, but how do we get there if there's only a lot on this main highway? also people don't trust that there's gonna be that law will, because there had been some bombings on the designated safe route. and there's been some back and forth over whether or not that something by hamas or whether those were israeli airstrikes. there's been disagreement on the sides on that. but a lot of people really feel like that pocket that is been identified as a space to get

humanitarian aid is not really accessible. and it's also really not safe to get their, and even if they, code it could really hold all the people who need to get some sort of refuge. we saw, in the last 24 hours, the area of -- struck and residential buildings collapsing. that is in south gaza. in aerial that israel has had people should go to be safe. they said they're going to focus most of their military activity on northern gaza and gaza city in particular, but they have also said that if they believe hamas militants are operating in other areas or in other homes or residential buildings, that they no longer considered those residential buildings, and they consider those dippy legitimate targets. we have been in touch for days now, and you hear that boom again, alicia, we've been touching days now for doctors working in different hospitals in northern gaza, and the civilian toll of this, and i know there were some questioning from u.s. officials about the numbers, because they were coming from gaza's ministry of health, which is a

hamas-run agency. but the civilian toll that i have seen in photos and videos from speaking this doctors, many of them who work with doctors beyond borders. nonprofit organizations like net global. it is so difficult to describe how fast this is, and how some of the youngest victims you can imagine are being hurt by all of this. i have seen videos and photos from doctors thatme yesterday showing toddlers, their faces bruised and bloodied after airstrikes. and somewhere they are covered in dust, blood, bruised, and they are dead. and then somewhere, they're working on infants who have been hit by this. so the u.n. humanitarian coordinator for the gaza strip, she has said what good is advanced notice to evacuate if people cannot safely get to other areas if they're not sure those other areas that have been designated are actually going to be safe, and also, if they haven't been told anything about if or when they can return home. she said civilians inside of gaza have been faced with an

impossible choice, and she and others ultimately say no matter what people pick, nowhere inside of gaza is safe. alicia? >> alison barber for us, thank you. we're gonna check back with you a little later in this hour. next, colonel jack jacobs, a combat veteran on how this expanded assault in gaza could expand even further as israel has long promised. and later, where the investigation in maine goes next after tonight's breaking news that the suspected mass shooter is dead. you're watching msnbc. the first time you connected your godaddy website

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news out of israel. and idf spokesperson saying tonight israel is, quote, increasing the ground operation in gaza and that balmain has already increased after reports of widespread sirens and explosions. in gaza, supplies of food, medicine, and fuel for power in emergency generators are running low. according to a u.n. agency that provides basic services to hundreds of thousands of people. there's also a near total blackout of internet and cell phone service in gaza. that according to witnesses there and companies that monitor global connectivity. so, what does this all mean? retired army colonel jack type of, sees a medal of honor recipient and an msnbc military analyst. thank you so much for being with us. you know, we have been watching intense bombardment of gaza over the past 24 hours. that internet blackout there, the israeli military saying they're expanding the ground

operation. taken in some total, what do you make of those developments? >> it appears that the kind of strategy that the idf is developing looks like this. they don't want to roll into gaza with tanks. it's very difficult terrain. it's all rubble. the hamas fighters are in bunkers, in tunnels that have been developed over 17 years. they're firmly entrenched, and it's not the kind of terrain where you can blast in there. the strategy instead appears to be this. they're gonna make forays, short forays of short duration, and not very much distance. little by little, through the northern part of gaza, trying to establish a security zone and isolate hamas fighters who are in those encampments in the

bunkers. >> when you say -- >> i'm sorry, go ahead. >> no no, go ahead. >> you were talking about short durations, short distances, and i wonder if you could give us a sense of what that actually looks like. >> well, they've already done several of these in which they've gone in for relatively short distances, several hundred meters. maybe two or 300 meters, and then pulled back again to keep an eye on what takes place after they have left. overtime, they expect to take over a larger swath of it, but little by little. now, i can tell you that it's extremely difficult to fight in this kind of terrain. it's labor intensive. there are lots and lots of casualties. and it takes a long, long time. and it means that once you go in there, unless you leave, it means you're gonna have to leave a group of people, and

sometimes a large group of people in there to continue to secure. instead, the idf appears to be making these short thrusts into northern gaza, and then withdrawing. ultimately, they may wind up, once they clear an area in the northern part, and in the eastern part of gaza, move in with these heavy vehicles in order to establish themselves. but to do so now would probably result in a very large number of casualties. and particularly at a time when there may still be quite a few non-combatants in the area, and trying to sort out non-combatants from fighters is extremely difficult to do, even in the best of circumstances. so what we have seen up until now, even with the increased bombardment and increased ground presence of the idf in gaza, is probably more of the same, alicia. >> hamas, to complicate all of,

this is holding upwards of 200 hostages and gaza, we believe. talk to us about how that will have played into the israeli military's plan leading up this moment. how does that affect and complicate their strategy? >> well, it's a great deal of political pressure on netanyahu and the idea have to do whatever they can to get the hostages back. and to make that the first priority. that's an unrealistic goal. indeed, there's not a lot of information about how many of hostages are still alive, or how many of the hostages who are alive ultimately will be killed either by the mob hartman or via ground action, or by hamas itself. hamas has had a history of killing hostages. the -- instead, the objective is going to be, just as netanyahu has said, militarily, to do what it can to destroy hamas.

this makes it extremely difficult for netanyahu himself and for the israeli political leadership because there is a great deal of pressure to do whatever they can to get the hostages back. but that's an unrealistic goal, especially in the circumstances in which the hostages were taken in the first place. and the military action that will be necessary in order to neutralize hamas in the area north of the whatì, alicia. >> i just want to make sure i get you on this, the state department now urging u.s. citizens in lebanon to leave lebanon while international flights are still available. i wonder, as someone who has watched these conflicts before, what that tells you about the nature of this specific conflict. >> well, israel has spent a lot of time in southern lebanon, and didn't like it very much. they fought with hezbollah over a period of a long, long time. what we seem to forget is hezbollah itself is much stronger militarily than hamas

is. hamas is a terrorist group, hezbollah as a terrorist group to, but it's got somewhere between 150 and 300,000 missiles. plus, indirect fire capability in the form of both rockets and artillery. they have tanks, they are trained by and supplied by and an arm of iran. and the concern now with iran being behind the attacks that have taken place on american units in syria, that there may be an expansion of the fight into lebanon. >> colonel jack jacobs, as always, i appreciate you and your time. thank you for being with us. next, the main shooter is found dead, but the investigation far from over. stay with us. i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... being me. keep being you... and ask your healthcare provider about the number one

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killing 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in lewiston, maine, has been found dead. officials say his body was found in a wooded area friday after a two day, multi state man hunt. let's bring in carmen bass, former chief of police at the the seattle police department. your reaction to the efforts that went into this today man hunt to find the suspect. >> good evening, alicia. like everyone else, a great deal of relief that the community is no longer gripped by fear.

and the officers no longer in harm's way as they try to locate the suspect. >> there are so many questions outstanding, certainly, a lot of painful questions for survivors, for those who lost families. and for law enforcement. what are the questions for you that are top of mind, and can you give us a sense of where an investigation like this goes next, given that the suspect is now dead? >> well, now, it's time that they can slow down the investigation. a sense of urgency is certainly -- now that we have the suspect identified. and deceased. so they'll continue to calm the scene that various crime scenes, reach out to the victims families, try to ascertain what we may never know, the motive as to why this heinous an arbitrary act of violence and homicide happened. but they'll certainly try to

track down as much information as they can as to what the motive was. they'll be looking out if there was any possibility with the yellow flag laws, or any other, knowing that this person had mental health concerns, mental health issues. anyway that this could've been prevented in some way, shape, or form. so all those things will be achieved and investigated at this time. >> as you said, we may never know the motive, and i cannot imagine how frustrating and how heartbreaking that is for the community impacted here. what though is the benefit when you zoom out of understanding what the motive was in this case? >> well hopefully, we hope that you learn something to prevent another horrific incident of this nature. you have way too many already, but you can glean information about, what actions or activities led up to this breakdown, what this person

ultimately felt, or should go out, and randomly murder people. clearly, they're talking about him hearing voices, and at some point, being committed. so there's an opportunity there to figure out how to maybe preclude another person from doing these things. >> leroy walker, whose son, joseph joy walker, died in the shooting, he spoke with msnbc a short time ago and i was really struck by something that he said. i want you to take a listen. >> i have mixed feelings about the whole thing, because at this point, will have no answers from this gentleman, killer, i guess, we want to call him. so that will leave me empty forever, because i wanted them to find him so badly alive. i think we could've gotten answers from him, and i think it would've helped all of us that lost our loved ones.

18 people will never have closure no matter how hard we try. i look at it like this, i actually won because u can't ask no questions. they'll never be a court date. >> i was so struck by what he says there, this news brings him, quote, no real closure. and that's something you hear over and over again when we talk about these mass shootings, even some people bristle at the idea of healing or moving forward, that that is simply impossible in these cases. as someone who has worked with victims, who has worked with survivors before, give us a sense, what does closure look like for victims specifically when a shooter commits an act like this? and then, they can't pose those questions directly to them. >> yeah, well, as you know, everybody is deeply saddened. the grief is so advanced. and people do want to have closure, but often, even when

we have the suspects in custody and they do survive, none of it makes sense. you know, it may make sense that this in the suspect's mind, but often, we can't fathom why the person did what they did. i think even if you hear them tell it, to be honest with you. i think it will be something that the grief is so heavy, people will grapple with having closure for many years in many cases. but even if he had survived, they may not know. >> former chief of police of the seattle police department, carmen bass, as always, thank. you >> next, an update from israel, an explosion was just heard behind our teams on the ground. we're gonna get a live update from ellison barber and from general barry mccaffrey after this. didn't know it then, but it can progress to ga, an advanced form of the disease. his struggle with vision loss from amd

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out of gaza. israel escalated bombing of the gaza strip overnight, and the idf says it is increasing ground attacks against hamas. a senior israeli official hinting to msnbc that this is the start of a full scale invasion of gaza. >> i can say this, that everyone was sane that israel wasn't going to do it in israel is waiting, well we waited, we planned, and we're hitting them where it hurts them. >> cell phone and internet service, it is out in the wake of intense balmain and the world health organization reports over 1.4 million people

have been displaced. joining me with the latest, alison barbara. since we last spoke, you've heard more artillery. what are you seen? what are you hearing now? >> compared to what we heard in the overnight hours up until four i am, what we have heard since the sun has come up has been far more sporadic and not nearly as heavy as what we hurting overnight hours, but we are still hearing every 20, 30 minutes, give or take, the sounds of artillery heading in the direction of northern gaza. we also just got a new statement from israel's defense forces talking about the strikes overnight. not a ton of information in this, but they are saying that based on the strikes that were carried out overnight that they killed a senior hamas official who they claim was involved in planning the massacre and could be thrown in the gaza strip on october 7th. they say he was responsible for directing the hamas militants

who infiltrated israel on paragliders, as well as someone who was responsible for drone attacks on idf posts. there was saying he was the head of hamas's aerial a raise. so that is really the only update we had, significant update, if you will, as to what was happening inside of gaza from israel since that announcement a little after eight pm local time. where an idf spokesperson says they were expanding their aerial assaults on gaza as well as their ground forces were carrying out a more expensive operation inside of gaza. at about 11 pm, local time, hamas's military wing said that their forces were engaging with israeli forces into different cities in northern gaza. and they described those as violent clashes. we don't have a ton of information, or really any information at all coming out of gaza this morning, because there has been almost a total blackout of communication for

more than ten hours now we have not heard from our nbc teams inside of gaza for hours, but at one point, and this was hours ago, when they were able to get a message out, they describe what was happening inside of gaza as the most significant balmain, the most significant bombardment coming from the air and the ground since this war has begun. they were saying that it was impacting every single street. gazis ministry of health, they have said that 7000 civilians, roughly, have died since this war began. when u.s. officials were questioning those numbers, they released ages and names of 7000 plus people that they say have died since this began. unicef has said at least 2300 children have died inside of gaza since this war began. the majority of those, according to unicef, from israeli airstrikes. israel has said they will focus their efforts on the northern part of gaza, specifically gaza city, but the areas where they have told civilians to evacuate

to, where they said would be safer, south of the gaza river or the water river, those areas have been pounded by israeli bombardments almost every single day as well, including in the last 24 hours in in an area called -- where residential buildings collapsed and there were civilian casualties and injuries associated with that. his release said their goal here is to make sure hamas can never operate inside of gaza or outside of gaza again, and that they never have the potential to carry out the terror attacks that took place on october 7th. they also say that they want to return the 200 plus hostages being held inside of gaza to their families, but just last, week i spoke to someone who has three relatives who were abducted from near her a kibbutz near the gaza border. she said that she wanted israel to wait on a full scale ground invasion because she was hoping that possibly more hostages would be released. there's been larger israeli public support for an

escalation of this war, but alicia, there's been some disagreement on when a full scale ground invasion should happen, especially since hamas started to release some hostages because there are so many families desperate for their loved ones to get out. israel has said they believe a lot of those hostages are being held underground in hamas's tunnels. those are the same tunnels that israel said last night, their air force was striking. alicia? >> ellison barber for us. a listen ellison -- barry mccaffrey is with us. -- unfolded overnight, what is it that you are looking for? >> -- case of a normal consequence -- both the political and military leadership have determined that at the end of this campaign,

the retaliation, with the slaughter, deliberately planned slaughter of 1400 some odd israeli civilians, that they want hamas to no longer be the governing institution in the area. so, that is what they are trying to do. what we are now seeing is shaping the battlefield. in the -- of october they conducted five raids. tank mick ground incursions. navy commando raids from the sea. they have gotten in by air. they are conducting intelligence operations. they are trying to push hamas back from the border so they don't face a sudden 2000 terrorist attack back in israel again. but at some point, my conclusion is, they will go in on the ground, sit on this gaza city area, and try and use rewards and intelligence collection to get back as many of their hostages as they can. alicia, when you look at it,

hamas is using these hostages as bargaining chips. and using their own people to shield their operations. they have 30 children and infants their hostages, and elderly people -- assaulted women. so, we should be clear-eyed about what is going on and -- the idf is going to try and take hamas out of governing gaza and -- international community organization that comes in to try and govern the strip. >> and then what, of course, would be one of the biggest questions we can be asking. now >> general mccaffrey, i don't know if you heard my colleague ellison barbara, showing a statement from the idf, claiming strikes overnight killed another hamas leader. your sense of where we are in this. are we still in the preparation stages? or are we beginning to see, perhaps, not the invasion that was teed up, but the beginning

of action on the ground? >> i think they're shaping the battlefield. phase one was trying to kill the terrorists who are inside israel. and it actually took them a week to make sure they clean that up. hamas terrorists, who had brutally murdered these men, women, children taken hostages. these are shaping the battlefield and trying to, again, a little reconnaissance and force principally, potentially locate hostages to put enormous pressure on hamas's leadership, to voluntarily release some of these hostages. i would be and surprised if we did not see a sudden mass release of 20 or 30 of them in the coming week, because hamas is desperate to get a cease-fire. i think they would dohing to accomplish that. because i think they are being terribly hurt right now by the idf, targeted strikes. maybe a couple of thousand

targets. they are trying to kill hamas leadership down to the fighting unit level. >> general, talk to me a little bit about the responsibility of avoiding civilian casualties, and the role that you the united states can play in that? >> i think the principal role the united states is playing in this conflict is trying to avoid the escalation of this conflict. so, we are trying to checkmate iran. we have moved significant u.s. military, air and naval power into the region. we are moving in significant air defense assets now, patriot batteries, that air defense batteries, eventual short-range systems. we are trying to set up a system where it is less likely that the iranians will move against persian golf. it's less likely that hezbollah, with 100,000 fighters and 120,000 rockets and missiles would attack israel from the north.

that is the u.s. role. i think, when it comes to our standing on the ongoing operations, we are going to tell israel, you make the decisions, and we are obviously concerned about the massive reputational damage to israel from what is perceived correctly of being a tragedy unfolding for the palestinian people. >> we have the state department -- i'm not sure if you saw this -- warning u.s. it is in the dispatch, u.s. it is in lebanon, to leave the country. i wonder what that indicates to you. >> poor lebanon is an absolute basket case, politically, militarily, economically. hezbollah is a fighting army with tanks and artillery and rockets. there are shia element, fully supported, trained, funded and to some extent governed by

iranian revolutionary guard units. i think they are going to clearly up the ante the minute the israelis start into gaza in full force, we will see hezbollah enter the battle. probably not an all-out invasion to draw the israeli attention off them. these rallies have three of their divisions facing to the north, southern lebanon. if the hezbollah attack is significant, these rallies will have to go into lebanon and try to cause that threat. so, we are on the precipice of a disastrous regional war. the u.s. is trying to manage it. we -- are allies, the saudis, the jordanians, and to some extent the egyptians are intervening to try to keep a cap on this. >> retired general barry mccaffrey, as always, thank you. thank you for your time. next, honoring the lives stolen

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and we are just getting started. >> we have been tracking breaking news out of maine tonight, officials announcing a short time ago the suspected shooter, a former army reservist, who killed 18 people wednesday night in lewiston, maine, has been found dead. as we digest this news, we don't want to lose sight of the life he stole. at the press conference today, officials read each of the victims names, with pictures of them provided by their families, in the background. we want to make sure you know their names to. >> at top left, as you see it. and that is ronald morin, 55. and i won't read the venues. you can put that all together yourself.

peyton brewer-ross josha a. seal, bryan macfarlane, joseph lawrence walker, arthur strout, maxx hathaway, 35. steven vozzella, 45. thomas ryan conrad, 34. michael deslauriers ii, 51. jason adam walker, 51. tricia c. asselin, 53. william a. young --

william young, his son -- and violate, 73. william frank brackett. keith macneir, 64. >> remember them all. that is it for this hour. i am alicia menendez. i'm glad to see you back here later tonight, six pm eastern, four "american voices". "the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle" starts now. starts now. >> good evening. i am stephanie ruhle, live from msnbc headquarters, here in new york city, and we begin this evening's broadcast with breaking news. robert card, the man suspected of killing 18 people in mass shootings in lewiston, maine, has been found dead. officials held a press conference within the last hour. here are the highlights. >> like many people, i am breathing