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CNN International: W.H.O. waiting to Enter Rebel-Held areas of Syria; Russian Forces Claim Gains along Ukraine's Eastern Front Line; Earthquake Survivors Feel Lost and Desperate; Who's behind the Mystery Objects Shot Down over North America; Syrians Struggle to Survive, Pleas for Aid Grow. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 13, 2023 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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MAX FOSTER, CNNI HOST: Hello and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, rescue workers in Turkey and Syria are begging for humanitarian aid as the death toll from the devastating earthquake grows by the hour.

Then, planned (ph) judicial reforms in Israel draw thousands of people to protest outside the parliament. We're live in Jerusalem for you.

And concerns are growing at the U.S. Pentagon as the military brings down another unidentified object that was flying across North America - what we know and what we don't know about the instance.

It's been exactly a week since the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria leaving more than 36,000 people dead. Despite the rising death toll, crews are refusing to give up hope. And against the odds, there are still some people being pulled alive from the rubble, including this woman who was rescued earlier today. In all Turkish media report 41 people were rescued over the weekend.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and are living in makeshift shelters. Many are struggling to stay warm as frigid winter temperatures set in. Others are overcome with despair.

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UNKNOWN (through translator): It was not like any other earthquake. The roads were destroyed. Our houses were demolished. There was no building left. Whole cities were flattened. Everything disappeared. We can feed outsells here, but no one knows how we're going to live.

UNKNOWN (through translator): It's freezing, and we will be frozen to death here. If we sit inside the tent we will freeze.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Turkish police are also dealing with online threats in the wake of the tragedy. They've arrested 14 people for posting fake information aimed at spreading panic. Police have also shut down sites demanding money from citizens or posing as charities.

In Syria, the world head - health organization is waiting for final approval to send aid deliveries into northwestern Syria. Top W.H.O. officials are in (inaudible) with humanitarian aid, but they can't bring it to rebel-held areas just yet.

The U.N. has been able to get trucks for the supplies in Northwest Syria. However, they're asking for more border crossing reopen. So more aid can be send to rebel-held areas much faster. Let's bringing on Nada Bashir with a look at the aid operations in place after the quake it was disorganized to begin with, but it appears to be coming together, Nada.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: It has really come together, Max and there has been this huge outpouring of support when it comes to providing that humanitarian assistance here in Turkey. We're at a huge aid center in Istanbul where volunteers have been working around the clock for the last week.

They are collecting donations, clothes, blankets, toiletries, essential items that people need and they are transporting that aid onwards to Southeast, Turkey. They also provide that to those who have been evacuated to Istanbul. Now we spoke to one of the coordinators who has been overseeing this aid distribution process in Istanbul.

She told me that they've already sent at least two ships carrying aid to Southeast Turkey as well as trains, trucks and they have actually been driving these trucks from this - to just in the last half hour. We saw two trucks finally filled up, ready to leave beeping their horns, the entire center, cheering and clapping.

This is a huge team effort. But when we spoke to that coordinator, little early on your show, as she did tell us that they simply need a lot more in order to provide that crucial support. Take a listen.

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ENIF YAVUZ DIPSAR, HEAD OF SOCIAL SERVICES AT ISTANBUL MUNICIPALITY: So it will never be enough people are starving over there people are they need heaters, they need blankets, and still they need pens. So it's really not enough. We sent more than 200 trucks three planes in two shifts. But --.

BASHIR: Do you need more?

DIPSAR: We need more.

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BASHIR: And look Max that really is the message we've been hearing from all of these volunteers more needs to be done. And of course, we have seen an outpouring of support from the international community just in the last hour or so we've learned from the Qatari authorities according to a source, close contact with officials that they will be sending 10,000 mobile homes that we use for the World Cup to be provided here for those in need in both Turkey and Northwest Syria, because of course so many people now have been displaced thousands are homeless.

And as you heard that in those accounts are from those impacted by the earthquake. These are freezing frigid cold temperatures in the Southeast. A real dire sense of vulnerability that the government of course has also been facing a bit of a backlash some pressure many now questioning whether enough was done to prepare for a disaster of this scale.

The government itself also now carries out an investigation into construction negligence in the Southeast of the country. A number of people already identified as potential suspects according to the justice ministry and a number of arrests already carried out, Max.

FOSTER: Nada in Istanbul thank you. Let's talk to Sarah Sidner she joins us from Adiyaman, Turkey with a look at the situation on the ground there and some remarkable stories still being told but it's very gloomy.

OK, we're going to come back to Sarah when she can hear us properly. Obviously some technical difficulties there we're going across to Ukraine. In the meantime, some of the fiercest fighting yet is raging along the Eastern front lines. The Ukrainian Military says Russian attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were intensified with unprecedented artillery fire.

Moscow claims its troops are advancing and the Wagner mercenary group says it's captured a small village North of Bakhmut, the Southern Kherson region also under attack. Ukraine says since Sunday, Russian shelling there has killed four civilians. CNN's David McKenzie joins me live from Kyiv a lot of people talking about the anniversary coming up and Russia really needing to show some success before then.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Max, but it's whether they can show success is an entirely different question altogether. Just a short time ago, the NATO Secretary General finished the press conference when he was discussing the urgent needs of Ukraine in particular; he said that the Ukrainians are using larger ammunition much faster than NATO countries can produce.

And that is something we've been hearing from frontline force commanders here in Ukraine that they're under a squeeze in terms of actually fighting these waves of Russian assaults that we've seen in the past two weeks or so. Very intense fighting in the Eastern part of the front you know, the Secretary General was asked whether this much anticipated Russian advance or spring offensive had begun. Here's his answer.

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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: We are seeing the start already because we seeing what Russia does now? President Putin does now? Is to send in thousands of thousands or more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty taking a big loss, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians.

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MCKENZIE: Now, the U.K. Defense Intelligence saying that the Russian forces are taking their highest casualty rates since the beginning of this conflict, Max. Though, they also say Ukrainians are getting hit hard, as well and if you look at this dramatic video from the east from the town or the region around the town of Vuhledar.

In the past few days, you've had emerging this storyline of the Russians trying to send waves through very heavily fortified Ukrainian positions and coming up very short. You see these armored personnel carriers, and other mechanized units taking severe fire as well as riding straight through what appears to be minefields.

It even according to Russian sources seems to be a very disastrous campaign at the moment. The Russians, as you mentioned, and private military contractors have had more success to the north of that town around Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces appear to be under severe strain.

So whether this advance or this major offensive has started are not as kind of academic questions. What you are seeing, though, is significant fighting and a high rate of clashes on that Eastern Front. The key to the Ukrainians now will be whether they can withstand those waves of Russian attack, Max.

FOSTER: OK, David in Kyiv, thank you very much. Let's try going back to Turkey now speak to Sarah Sidner, who's at the scene of what is still in a rescue operation, isn't it but a recovery operation as well?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. It's both and you know, as the hours goes on, we're talking about now into the eighth day after the initial earthquakes, two of them, one is major as a 7.8. You know, as the hours go on, there is less and less hope that people will be recovered alive.

However, there have been some things that the Minister of Health we talked to yesterday call a miracle including a child that we saw pulled out on video from the rubble after seven days buried in the rubble without her family just buried there. They were unable to find her parents, but she survived and was talking and had the nurses laughing.

It was really a sight to see. We caught up with her in a hospital; it was an outdoor hospital, basically a makeshift hospital because the hospital had been closed due to the dangers of the earthquake. But we are seeing still huge efforts now here in Adiyaman; you will see people gathered here many of these folks are rescuers.

We've just seen the Czech Republic show up with a dog that will go and try to sniff out if anyone is alive. But these buildings here there's more than one you just can't tell. And in so much of this country that is affected by the earthquake, you simply cannot tell where one building begins and the next one ends, because many of them have pancaked, they are dust.

In some cases, literally the concrete has turned to dust because it was smashed down upon. Here, they noticed one building standing, the other building standing and then the building that they think was not built properly, crashed into a second building and they both collapsed. There has been a lot of criticism of the building practices here in Turkey, a place that does get earthquakes.

Although this is the worst one that they've seen in about 100 years but still there are buildings that we are seeing that are standing. And then right next to them, you'll see a building that has completely collapsed. There has been a lot of criticism of the building practices here.

And the government has gone after more than 100 people now are investigated right now for these building practices and whether or not they actually followed the codes that were changed after the last major earthquake in the 90s. But here you're also seeing a great deal of both grief and hope.

Families simply sit out on the sidewalks outside of the buildings where their loved ones are, and wait and watch every day, day after day waiting for their families to be recovered. Some think that their family members could still be alive and they're holding out for that.

Others are sure their family members are dead, but they simply want to see them for the last time and be able to bury them properly. So as much damage as there is there's definitely more sorrow here than anything else, Max.

FOSTER: Yes, as awful as the situation is where you are.

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FOSTER: One can only imagine what's going on over in the border in Syria where they just haven't had the aid getting into some areas right?

SIDNER: That's absolutely correct and its slow going and there are some areas that didn't have for days and days and days and are getting it very sparsely. And to be perfectly honest here in Adiyaman, there was a lack of aid in the very beginning and people in the last couple of days have just shown up.

And there's a lot of people that are upset because they feel like if they had have gotten more help earlier, people could have been saved, at least more people could have been saved. So that is an underlying frustration, but mostly people here are just filled with grief. They're filled with worry they don't know exactly where they're going to go because a lot of people have lost their homes who did survive.

It really is a tragedy beyond something that this country has seen in 100 years. And so you you're sitting here watching people's lives play out on the streets, as they watch these volunteers, many of them from all over the world and of course, the government here sending their troops in Turkey to try and find people and try to make the cities a bit safer by dealing with some of this rubble, Max.

FOSTER: OK Sara Sidner in Turkey, thank you so much for bringing us that. Tens of thousands of Israelis protesting outside parliament against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial plan to overhaul the judiciary the proposed changes would allow lawmakers to overturn Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority.

Critics say it could give the government unlimited power. The country's President is urging parliament to pause the process warning that Israel is on the brink of legal and social collapse. CNN's Hadas Gold joins us live from Jerusalem. So what sort of people are in the crowds their head as?

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well Max, for weeks now tens of thousands have been gathering in Tel Aviv to protest against these judicial reforms. But today, these protests are decided to come here to Jerusalem to the backyard of the Israeli parliament to be in front of the Israeli Supreme Court hoping that their voices will be heard in the halls of Parliament.

And in fact, Opposition Leader, Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, telling the protesters that they could hear them within the halls of Parliament, the people here protesting against these judicial reforms. They're here today because today was the day that these reforms were first introduced in committee and they passed the committee quite easily.

There were some dramatic scenes even within the Israeli parliament. Opposition lawmakers chanting shame jumping over tables, shouting at the coalition members because for many of the protesters here, they feel as though these are forms will destroy the independence of the judiciary.

Some of the protesters here telling me that they think this are just a way for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get out of his corruption trial. That's something that he denies others believe that this is truly the beginning of the end of Israeli democracy. Now, the proponents of these reforms say that they are long needed reforms that they will bring more balanced to the system here.

But as we're hearing from the Israeli President, that yesterday, he made a rare primetime address calling for consensus warning, these divisions that they are seeing in Israeli society could set them on a violent collision course and really interestingly over the weekend, in a rare statement getting involved in sort of internal Israeli politics.

U.S. President Joe Biden weighed in a statement to the New York Times calling for consensus, saying that one of the best parts of Israeli and American democracy is its vibrant, independent judiciary and calling for consensus building saying that is the best way forward.

Now, that's something the Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for yesterday calling for people to come together saying that there are people on both sides who have strong feelings about this that need to be heard and that there can be reforms brought through that everyone needs to sit down together and have them heard.

But when it comes to the judicial reforms, it seems as though they're on track to be pushed through. They pass through the committee today and on Wednesday; possibly they will get their first reading - bills needs three readings before they come into law. So there is still some time and the tens of thousands of protesters here.

They truly feel as though coming out onto the street is one of their only ways that they can have their voices heard and somehow have a say in these reforms before they come through, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Hadas Gold in Jerusalem thank you. On Sunday, China said it spotted an unidentified flying object over its Shandong Province and was planning to shoot it down. This column was as many Americans are on edge after U.S. fighter jets shot down three objects over North America.

It has many days over the weekend. All of this just one week after the U.S. Military shut down the suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina. Now Chinese Officials are accusing the U.S. of flying spy balloons over other nations.

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WANG WENBIN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: It is also common for U.S. balloons to illegally enter the airspace of other countries. Since last year alone, U.S. high altitude balloons have illegally flown over Chinese airspace more than 10 times without any approval from relevant Chinese Authorities.

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WENBIN: The first thing for the U.S. to do is to introspect itself and change its course instead of slandering China and inciting confrontation.

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FOSTER: Earlier the White House took to Twitter to rebut China's allegations saying any claim that the U.S. government operates surveillance balloons over China is false. We'll take an in depth look at the balloons issue in just a few moments. Coming up, the Biden Administration is under mounting pressure to explain who or what is behind those mystery objects shot down over North America. What do they know? We'll discuss.

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FOSTER: Welcome back. So who's behind those unidentified objects shot down over North America or U.S. Military planes brought down and other high altitude objects flying over North America? On Sunday, all yes, that started with this last weekend when a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.

The U.S. has also brought down all of these others. So you can see on the map there, UFOs in Northern Alaska, Canada's Yukon Territory also at about 100 miles from the U.S. border, also Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday. So there's four there in total, you can actually see five there in total.

Military leaders saying is still unclear what the three most recent objects were or where they came from? But during the press briefing, they declined to rule out that they might even be extra-terrestrial.

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GEN. GLEN VANHERCK, COMMANDER OF U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND AND NORAD: I'll let the Intel community and the counterintelligence community figured that out. I haven't ruled out anything. At this point, we continue to assess every threat or potential threat unknown approaches North America with an attempt to identify it.

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FOSTER: So then, what is going on here? They literally don't seem to know where they're coming from, or if they're linked in any way. Let's bring in CNN National Security Reporter Natasha Bertrand. I mean, it's fascinating for you guys, isn't it trying to get any detail here? Do you think first of all that they're telling us everything that they do know?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Well, Max, that's really unclear at this point, they have been reticent with details because they say that they want to be able to analyze all of the debris before they can say definitively for example, where these objects are coming from or what they actually are? But there have been some signs in recent days about what these things actually are including details like their balloon like in structure.

They have cylinder metal payloads underneath them, things that make it seem as though these are balloons, but it's still unclear. I mean, the administration is trying after shooting these down to recover the wreckage. And that has also been pretty difficult the object that was shot down over Alaska for example on Friday.

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BERTRAND: They've not been able to recover that debris. So it remains to be seen how much they're actually going to be able to learn about these things.

FOSTER: It's not necessarily true that there are more UFOs, right? They are looking harder for them off the back of that. Well, they think was a Chinese spy balloon.

BERTRAND: Exactly right. So about a week ago, when that Chinese spy balloon transited the U.S. there was a political uproar about why the administration had allowed this to happen. And from there NORAD, which is the entity responsible for monitoring U.S. airspace.

They decided to change their detection filters to make it easier for them to see objects that are traveling at a particular altitude and at a certain speed because originally slow moving objects at a very high altitude those were not things that NORAD was actually looking for, now they are.

So they have basically broadened out the aperture of what these filters are actually looking at, which is why according to U.S. defense officials. They are basically noticing more of these objects in U.S. airspace, but the question remains we're seeing a lot more of these objects does that mean that the U.S. is going to be shooting them down every time we see them? That is the big question here, Max.

FOSTER: Yes Natasha Bertrand, so many questions hopefully we'll get some answers soon thank you. Coming up bittersweet tales of survival, Syrian speak about surviving last week's devastating earthquake only to suffer in misery as much needed aid only trickles in.

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FOSTER: White Helmets volunteer organization says rescue operations are over in rebel held areas in Northwestern Syria. Tough news for many to swallow in a region already hammered by nearly 12 years of civil war Jomana Karadsheh shows how people they're trying to cope with this latest heartbreaking tragedy.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Baby Mohammed takes every little labored breath on his own. No Mom, no dad to hold his tiny hand. His parents didn't survive the earthquake. The three-month old was rescued by neighbors who brought him to this ICU. In the room next door, we find that Alia the 26-year-old will never walk again.

The earthquake brought down her family's home and crushed her back. Her stuck mom tells us Alia and her three children were under the rubble for 18 hours. The children survived but they don't know where they are in every room of the Syrian hospital at bittersweet tale of survival.

Many more should have been alive today to tell their stories. Doctors say they tried to save them, but didn't have enough supplies to save everyone. The few medical facilities in rebel held Syria are barely still standing after years of Russian and Syrian regime bombardment that left them ill-equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude.

DR. AHMAD ALAABD, SYRIAN AMERICA MEDICAL SOCIETY: We lost a lot of patients because of shortages and medical supplies. If we had them, we could have saved many more lives.

KARADSHEH (voice over): This was the scene here last Monday and in other facilities run by the Syrian American Medical Society.

ALAABD: This is the biggest disaster we ever had. We dealt with war injuries but never had to deal with this many casualties at once.

KARADSHEH (voice over): The people of this devastated land cried for help, but no help came. Aid to rebel held Northwest Syria is tied in politics and at the mercy of a regime so cruel even at a time like this. They dig and dig with their bare hands and whatever they can find desperately trying to reach their loved ones. [08:25:00]

KARADSHEH (voice over): It's too late for rescues now they just want to bury their dead. Muhammad is searching for relatives expressionless and numb. He tells us 21 of them, including children. Life here feels like one endless cycle of loss and grief. Most have been displaced time and time again by more than a decade of war. They're now homeless once again.

We were sleeping under the trees, but it was so cold. We came here on - tells us, she begs the international community to send them shelters. We just want a tent, she says. I wish we had died with everyone else. So we don't go through this, she tells us. We survived only to live this misery and agony. They have nowhere left to run. Millions are trapped in Idlib. It's the last rebel held territory in Syria.

KARADSHEH (on camera): Mohammed says that she and her family fled Aleppo province and came here she says they escaped the fighter jets and the airstrikes. And she says we came here and the earthquake followed us. She says death follows Syrians everywhere.

KARADSHEH (voice over): 700 people lived in this now flattened Residential Complex, only a handful survived. Young men from nearby villages came running to help get people out, she tells us but what can they do? They tried digging. We heard people screaming get us out, get us out, then they went quiet, they all died.

Two days later, they pulled a little boy and girl; their dead bodies were still warm. Others made it after hours of this painstaking rescue little - was pulled out alive. The White Helmets heroes of Syria's war did all they can to save as many as they can. They urgently appealed for international support.

ISMAIL ABDALLAH, WHITE HELMETS VOLUNTEER: That didn't send anything. They didn't respond. They let the people hear down and now that people here in Syria already know that now they are forgotten.

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FOSTER: CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reporting they're really from the frontlines of this crisis. Thank you for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. "World Sport" with Amanda Davis is up next.

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