[Kyra Phillips, Cnn Anchor::] Let's go straight to Carol Lin working a developing story in the news room, Carol.
[Carol Lin, Cnn Anchor:] Following the story of Fidel Castro and his health and Kyra this is the first time we're going to be hearing from Fidel Castro's estranged sister who left Cuba in 1964, lives in Miami. Our affiliate WSVN caught up with Juanita Castro. It was an impromptu interview at her door. This is what she had to say.
[Juanita Castro, Sister Of Fidel Castro:] The same blood and I feel respect in this moment for the person who are perhaps value or who knows. It's my brother.
[Unidentified Male:] Can I ask you one thing. Does it hurt you as a human being to see everyone celebrating?
[Castro:] Of course. I think it's not good for the world to celebrate a situation like this when it's, I don't think it's a good deal for us in the world, you know.
[Unidentified Male:] At the end of the day, he's still blood. You still love him.
[Castro:] I'm sorry?
[Unidentified Male:] At the end of the day, at the end of the day, he's still
[Castro:] Yes of course, at the end of the day he's my brother. He has been my brother all the time. It doesn't matter the difference between his ideology and what he is doing and has done in Cuba. And it's my brother.
[Unidentified Male:] Juanita, why can't we get past
[Lin:] All right. There you go, Kyra. I heard it as you heard it. Fidel Castro's sister. They've been separated, estranged since she left Cuba in 1964. But you can see such feeling in her eyes and her voice as she talked about her brother. And she has been watching the news coverage, as all of us have been here in the news room, of people celebrating in the streets with the prospect that Fidel Castro may be very ill or, you know, some of the reports are saying that he was dead, although his own people have released statements that after intestinal surgery that he's in good health. He's doing fine. Hopefully the truth will be told someday. But there, a family member, a blood relative of Fidel Castro speaking on behalf of her brother.
[Phillips:] Rarely do you get that sort of insight. I mean his entire life is shrouded in secrecy and those interviews are few and far between.
[Lin:] You bet. There she was, right at her doorstep.
[Phillips:] Thanks, Carol. Just a hospital or a Hezbollah base? Israel is providing new images of a daring raid. Here's what we know right now. This is Israeli military video of commandos storming a hospital in Lebanon over night. Israel says that Hezbollah used the building as headquarters and says five militants were captured and ten were killed in that raid. Hezbollah counters that the five people captured are civilians and it's retaliating for the operation. It fired more rockets than any other day since fighting began. Some 215 rained down on Israel today, killing at least one person. Israeli media reports 6,000 Israeli soldiers are in Southern Lebanon, fighting to disarm Hezbollah. Israeli war planes are once again part of that offensive. Witnesses report at least five new air strikes in that region. Well, it's not often a hospital becomes a target in a conflict but the Israeli army says this was no ordinary hospital. It sent in commandos for a dramatic raid. CNN's Michael Ware is there.
[Michael Ware, Cnn Correspondent:] This is the northeastern city of Baalbeck, close to the Syrian border, where less than 12 hours ago airborne Israeli troops assaulted this hospital
[Phillips:] While we've heard a lot about air strikes and ground fighting in the Middle East, Israel's military strategy also includes a naval blockade. CNN's John Vause is aboard an Israeli ship in the Mediterranean Sea to give us an exclusive look at Israel's naval power.
[John Vause, Cnn Correspondent:] This is the INS Lahav, the flag ship of the Israeli navy. It's a Corvette Class missile ship, slightly smaller than a Frigate, but still it is heavily armed. Right here there are torpedoes. Part of the armaments include Harpoon missiles and what they call the Barak anti-missile defense system. This is the flagship of the Israeli Navy and right now it is serving as the command post, essentially, for the Israeli naval blockade off the coast of Lebanon. A lot the technology aboard this ship we can't show you because of the Israeli censorship rules during wartime. But some of the technology is in a room down here, the CIC, command in control center, essentially the nerve center of Israel's blockade off the coast of Lebanon. A lot of the technology in this room we're not allowed to show you because of the Israeli censorship rules. It's high tech. But effectively what happens in here is that the Israeli Navy can see a radius of around 180 nautical miles, virtually up and down the coast of Lebanon, able to see every vessel which comes and goes. The purpose of the naval blockade, Israel says, is to stop weapons, in particular missiles from Iran and Syria, reaching Hezbollah and also to prevent the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers from being smuggled out of Lebanon. John Vause, CNN, on board the INS Lahav.
[Phillips:] Well, the war in Iraq hits home for a member of the U.S. Senate. The office of Montana Senator Max Baucus confirms the death of the senator's nephew Marine Corporal Philip Baucus. He was 28. The Pentagon says Corporal Baucus died in combat operations Saturday in Iraq's al-Anbar province. Senator Baucus, a Democrat, voted in 2002 to give the president the option to invade Iraq. In June he joined other Democrats and voted to begin withdrawing U.S. troops by the end of the year. The senator's nephew, Marine Corporal Philip Baucus, just one of 2,578 men and women who have sacrificed their lives in Iraq.