[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Thanks very much, Kitty. And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you tonight's top stories. Happening now, there's breaking news, new explosions rocking Beirut. Also tonight, Israel takes its deadliest hits yet. A dozen civilians and soldier is killed by Hezbollah in a single day. It's 2:00 a.m. Friday in northern Israel, bombarded by rocket fire. Could the warfare now spread all the way to Tel Aviv? New threats from Hezbollah's leader and a vow to battle to the last bullet. Where is Hassan Nasrallah hiding and does the Israeli military have a plan to find him and kill him? And new red flags about the situation in Iraq. A top U.S. general now acknowledging civil war is a real possibility. And Donald Rumsfeld grilled by senators. Does the Pentagon have a plan to turn things around? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in "the situation room." Tonight, breaking news, Beirut once again under attack. More blood on the Middle East battlefield and ominous new threats. Just a short while ago, four explosions shook southern Beirut sending smoke billowing into the air. It is the second consecutive night of Israeli air strikes on the Lebanese capital. There are no immediate reports of casualties. Hezbollah's leader is threatening to strike Tel Aviv if Israel keeps bombarding Beirut. Hassan Nasrallah delivered a defiant video address vowing to inflict what he said would be maximum casualties on Israeli forces. Israel says Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets into northern Israel today, killing eight civilians. And four Israeli soldiers were killed in fierce ground battles in southern Lebanon. This becomes the deadliest day for Israel in this three-week war. Our correspondents are standing by around the region. CNN's John Roberts is in northern Israel, but let's go to Beirut, once again, Michael ware is standing by. Set the stage for us, Michael. What happened about an hour or so ago when these air strikes resumed?
[Michael Ware, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf it was around 1:00 a.m. local time here in Beirut when yet again the night erupted into the sound of explosion. The first two were coupled, one after the other. It appears yet again relentlessly. The target of a suburbs of southern Beirut, traditionally the Hezbollah stronghold. So far there has been nothing in the last 30 minutes. However the city is clearly braced for more. We've heard the Israelis say that they've been contemplating the expansion of their air campaign with specific reference to Beirut. We're now starting to see that eventuate Wolf.
[Blitzer:] I understand that the Israelis dropped leaflets in Beirut, in south Beirut earlier today warning residents to get out. Did you have a chance earlier today to make it down there and see what was going on in the aftermath of the air strikes last night?
[Ware:] Wolf, the area is tightly contained by the Hezbollah militants. I did venture down there, though to the site of the first explosion from last night, which you captured live on camera. I was not allowed into the bombing site itself, which is said to be a Hezbollah facility. However, it was clear that there was great damage yet again. How much of it was bouncing the rubble of previous explosions and how much of it was specifically the result of that strike is unknown. But as you point out, there was a leaflet dropped here in the capital this afternoon. That's an ominous sign. We have heard of these things and seen these things in the south as the Israelis prepared to push with ground troops and air strikes into certain areas. Well this is first time in this conflict that we have seen a drop of leaflets here in Beirut, warning residents of certain suburbs to evacuate Wolf.
[Blitzer:] We also heard today, Michael, from the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, once again delivering a video address. His message included this warning to the Israelis. Let me play it for our viewers.
[Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Leader:] If you hit our capital, we will hit the capital of your entity. If you hit Beirut, the Islamic resistance will hit Tel Aviv and is able to do that with God's help.
[Blitzer:] What has been the reaction to this latest videotape from Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Michael?
[Ware:] Well here in Beirut, the reaction has been muted so far to Nasrallah's statement. Clearly there was a reaction from Israel, which said that should rockets rain down or fall on Tel Aviv, the Israelis will respond. The target, they said, will be the infrastructure of Lebanon. Now that's caused great concern here in Beirut as you can imagine. The infrastructure here is already under massive strain from previous bombings and from being starved of the necessities it requires to function. Few desperately needed in this city to run generators and vehicles is sitting in Cyprus, tankers waiting to be allowed through the Israeli blockade, this is very much a desperate situation. Should this escalate, once more, it will be the Lebanese people who suffer Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Michael, stand by, we're going to be coming back to you and we're going to be paying attention if there are more air strikes in Beirut coming up. Also coming up, does Israel see the Hezbollah leader as an assassination target? Brian Todd is standing by with more on what might happen if Hassan Nasrallah is assassinated by the Israelis. Now to the Hezbollah assault on Israel today. Rocket attacks and ground combat inflicted the highest one-day death toll for Israel in this three-week war. CNN's John Roberts once again covering the war from northern Israel, very close to the Lebanese border John?
[John Roberts, Cnn Sr. Nat'l Correspondent:] Good evening to you Wolf. It was another day of intense fighting, street-to-street, house-to-house close quarters combat and it took another toll on Israeli forces. Three soldiers died as a result of combat in the western side of southern Lebanon. Two died in the town that they were fighting in. One later died of his wounds. And another soldier died when he was his armor personnel carrier was hit by an anti-tank rocket in the town of Tiber, which is about due west from where I am, part of that western push, a little bit further north by the Israeli military. And, of course, as the Israeli military took casualties today, those rockets continued to rain death across northern Israel.
[Roberts:] It was a terrible day in Akko, a seaside Israeli town just north of Haifa. A katyusha rocket hit in the road here killing five people. The worst toll in the city since the conflict began. Among the dead, a father and his 14-year-old daughter. The wounded, some still lying in the street, are treated by emergency workers. This rocket was one of more than 200 that hit Israel today, killing a total of eight people. Increasing the urgency to strike Hezbollah positions while the military still has time. Israel's defense minister has ordered the Army to prepare for a major ground operation, a temporary land grab to take territory more than 10 miles up to Lebanon's Litani River. Tanks, troops and armor are streaming toward and across the border, a visible ramp up in just the past 24 hours. At the same time, the Israeli big guns shoot shell after shell into southern Lebanon, softening up Hezbollah positions in advance of the ground attack. [on camera]: We're seeing a lot more artillery batteries these days. And we're seeing them much closer to the front as well, all along the Israel-Lebanon border. It is not just regular Army units like this one behind me. There are far more reserves that have been brought up to join the fight as well, firing those massive 155- millimeter howitzers in support of Israeli ground forces just on the other side. The Israeli Army today released video of reserve units training up for battle. The call-up would dramatically increase the number of Israeli forces and boots on the ground, says General Benny Gants.
[Unidentified Male:] We can much more than double it and more.
[Roberts:] Double the size of the Army in just a few days?
[Unidentified Male:] Yes, it's we have the resources. It is just a matter of needs and decisions.
[Roberts:] Just a few yards from the border, an Israeli reconnaissance team scouts targets at a nearby Lebanese hilltop. There is a Hezbollah bunker up there, they say, and they are watching for targets on the ground to expose themselves to Israeli weapons. Israel's strategy is to take out as many of the Hezbollah positions as quickly as possible. Sweep deep into southern Lebanon and control a huge buffer zone until international troops can arrive. But the fighting is vicious, and Israel has taken many casualties.
[Unidentified Male:] We are taking risks where we have to, where it is absolutely vital. And you have seen some of this in really rescue operations using helicopters, hair- raising operations. Our attitude is that where we can save lives, we will do everything in order to do this.
[Roberts:] Behind the main advance in towns they control Israeli forces are clearing out Hezbollah's infrastructure. In this Israeli Army video obtained exclusively by CNN a combat engineering battalion brings in mines, powerful explosives to demolish a Hezbollah outpost. With the U.N. resolution to end the fighting now looking imminent, Israel is racing against the clock. Harbored personnel carriers speed toward border crossings with new urgency. After three weeks it's slow hard fighting and criticism of the ground campaign here in Israel a lightning strike drive. The military specialty appears about to unfold. And, Wolf, even now we can hear the sounds of heavy machine gunfire rolling up from the valley just behind me. A little while ago there was what looked like an intense fight on a ridgeline just over my left shoulder. We saw outgoing grenades from those M-16 mounted grenade launchers, probably Israeli forces going after Hezbollah bunkers on the ridgeline. It looks, Wolf, like this is going to continue 24 hours a day until such time as the U.N. says time to bring an end to those hostilities Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Are you hearing anything from military commanders on the front lines, John, about this latest threat from Hassan Nasrallah to go ahead and bomb to send rockets into Tel Aviv if Israel continues to strike in Beirut?
[Roberts:] The Israeli military keeps saying, Wolf that anything that happens in Lebanon is Nasrallah's fault. It was his fault from the kidnappings to begin with and any escalation by Hezbollah is going to rain down more trouble on Lebanon and that that is going to be Nasrallah's fault. If indeed he strikes Tel Aviv, the Israeli military has vowed to go after Lebanese infrastructure. That would mean turning off the lights, drying up the fuel supply to an even greater degree than it has been. We saw this happen during the Kosovo War where the U.S. military was making slow progress to try to get the Serbs to capitulate until they hit those power stations, until they turned out the lights and then everything turned around. Milosevic gave up, so perhaps that is part of the strategy here on the Israeli military's part, at least it's a threat that seems to be resonating in tonight in Lebanon Wolf.
[Blitzer:] John Roberts on the scene for us. Thank you, John, very much. What a story and much more coming up. Jack Cafferty is standing by right now with the "Cafferty File" Jack.
[Jack Cafferty, Cnn Anchor:] Wolf, there was some tense moments on Capitol Hill today. Two of the Pentagon's top generals are now admitting that Iraq might be headed for civil war. During a hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, General John Abizaid said he's rarely seen the Middle East so unsettled and so volatile. There were also questions about U.S. troop movements from one trouble spot in Iraq to another.
[Sen. John Mccain , Arizona:] We all know that Fallujah was allowed to become a base of operations in insurgency, so we had to go into Fallujah and fight one of the great battles in Marine Corps Army history. Then when I was back there not too long ago, they said we have got big problems in Ramadi. Everybody knows we have big problems in Ramadi. And I said where are you going to get troops? Well we're going to have to move them from Fallujah. Now we're going to have to move troops into Baghdad from some place else.
[Cafferty:] Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld repeated a common refrain. He warned about the troops being withdrawn prematurely and of the enemy's desire to see public opinion in the U.S. divided. So here is the question. What is wrong with the U.S. military strategy in Iraq? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.comCaffertyFile. I suppose, Wolf, that if they've been paying more attention to Colin Powell back when this whole thing began, they might have some more boots on the ground over there and not be stretched quite so thin. But then hindsight is always20.
[Blitzer:] Eric Shinseki was then the Army chief of staff who called for a lot more troops and obviously they weren't paying attention to him either. Thanks very much, Jack, for that. Coming up, we're getting word, just coming into CNN, Senator Hillary Clinton calling for a key member of the Bush administration to resign. We're going to get details coming in from Capitol Hill. Also, Iran's president weighing in on the fighting in the Middle East with some of his most inflammatory rhetoric yet, we'll have details of his meeting with Muslim leaders from around the world. And Israel's hunt for the head of Hezbollah; is it trying to assassinate Hassan Nasrallah? Plus, we'll check in with Anderson Cooper. He's been talking to Israeli military sources. He's standing by to tell us what he's learned. Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.