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CNN International: CNN In Syria Following Fall Of Assad Regime; Israel Says It Destroyed Syrian Naval Fleet; Syria's Rebels Appoint Caretaker PM To Oversee Transition. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired December 10, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
AMARA WALKER, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi everyone, and welcome to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta.
Ahead on CNN Newsroom, uncertainty in Syria, a new caretaker Prime Minister is in place. We're going to look at who he is, and what the fallout means for the future of the Middle East. Plus, captured, the alleged CEO killer taken into custody at a Pennsylvania McDonald's and charged with murder. And a fire emergency playing out right now in Malibu, California. The fire has now burned nearly 2,000 acres. It is zero percent contained.
Following the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, Syrian rebels now face the major challenge of governing the country. Earlier, they appointed a caretaker Prime Minister. Mohammad al-Bashir, seen here on the far right, has announced that he will oversee the transition for the next three months. He also says Assad-era civil servants will continue to serve as ministers until March 1st. This comes as the Assad regime's outgoing Prime Minister agrees to hand over power to the Syrian rebels.
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing to strike military targets across Syria, destroying its entire naval fleet. That is according to the Israeli Defense Minister. That's happening in Latakia. They've also deployed ground troops beyond the demilitarized zone for the first time in 50 years.
Now, on the streets of Damascus, many Syrians are celebrating Assad's fall from power. Earlier, I spoke with CNN's Clarissa Ward, who was on the ground in the capital of Damascus.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Hi, Clarissa. Describe the scene for us. What's going on?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Amara. It's so interesting to see, because for the last few days, there has been a lot of tension on the ground. People have been staying at home. They've been very cautious about coming out. They have been nervous about what will happen. Today, it is a different feeling. They are certainly starting to feel some of that elation, some of that jubilation that comes from knowing that Bashar al-Assad and his brutal regime are now gone forever. And I wanted to bring in my new friend here, Judy (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
WARD: How are you, Judy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I'm good. This is --
WARD: So, tell me what this feels like.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is absolutely amazing. After all of these years, we are live on the international TV. This is amazing. This is unspeakable. This is us after 50 years of darkness. This is us after 50 years of death. This is absolutely amazing.
WARD: Did you --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Imagine.
WARD: We've had 14 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
WARD: Did you ever imagine this --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no. This is not -- you can't even cross this idea over your mind. Never. This is actually -- it's every day you woke up and you go out of the door and think that I'm going to die now. I'm going to die now. Tomorrow, I'm going to die. This is all of what we have been raised on for the past 13 years. I have no idea how to tell you how I am feeling right now. This is absolutely amazing. I have no words. I have no words.
WARD: Some people are concerned that a lot of the rebels are Islamists.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
WARD: They are from organizations that have extremist ties. Do you worry about that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For me, after what I have witnessed yesterday and what happened inside Sednaya prison, this is absolutely fine. Let's have the rebellions. Let's have this Islamic whatever shit (inaudible). This is more peaceful than what the regime and the Assad regime was doing to our mother, to our daughters, to our people here in Syria. This -- anything that would come after the Assad regime would be more humane. You can say this is unspeakable. This is unbelievable.
WARD: Judy, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no words. Thank you --
WARD: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- for being here with us. Thank you for sharing
our freedom. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. Thank you so much.
WARD: Thank you. And Amara, I mean, this is what you're hearing again and again. It's not that people don't have anxieties about what comes next. It's not that people don't have questions about the nature of some of the rebel forces. But, what you hear over and over is this idea that just let us have this moment. Let us have this moment. For the first time in 14 years, the bombs have stopped.
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For the first time in 14 years, we can take to the streets, we can demonstrate, and we don't have to worry about being shot or imprisoned or tortured or killed. And I think there is just a desire to be allowed to celebrate, despite the ambiguity about what this next chapter may bring. People here want to feel optimistic. They want to celebrate, and they want the world to see their victory.
WALKER: Yeah. You can absolutely feel and hear the joy in that woman's voice, as you spoke with her. Clarissa, just quickly, where are the rebels? As you've been driving around Damascus and elsewhere, have you been seeing them on the streets? Are they also joining in on the celebrations, or are they doing more, I guess, administrative stuff?
WARD: The rebels are all over the streets. There is a few of them. There is one right here, in fact, just there. They're all over the streets. They're guarding the various ministries. They are guarding the presidential palace, for example, where we were earlier. They are trying to get all of the various administrations back to work, get traffic police back to work, to make sure that the fabric of society, that the wheels of society keep on moving.
And most of them have been very friendly. Have been very polite. They have been given strict, strict edict from their leadership that they need to respect Syrian minorities, that they need to respect that this is a pluralistic society, that they should not be imposing their religious views on anyone they come across. I will say, when I was at the presidential palace, as you heard before in my report, they asked me to put on a head scarf. That was an isolated incident. And here we are on the streets, and you can see, there are women who are covered. There are women who are not covered. There are Muslims. There are Christians. These are ordinary Syrian people celebrating this moment, Amara.
WALKER: It's just incredible to see these scenes, considering the fact that Bashar al-Assad's toppling was just so lightning fast and so stunning to the world. So many people did not see this coming. Regarding society and everyday stuff, is that just going on as normal, when it comes to -- we mentioned the bank, the central bank is open. People going to work, school.
WARD: So, the central bank was looted on the first day. Now it is under guard. There hasn't been, or there haven't been more reports. There have been continuous Israeli airstrikes through the night, although not so much during the day. We have seen long lines outside bakeries. People also waiting in line for gas, some indications of shortages of cash, petrol, things like this. There is also a curfew in place, and actually, that curfew is supposed to start any minute now. It's not clear that people -- if you could see, everyone is a little excited. They want to get in on the act here. But, that curfew begins at 04:00 p.m. local. Every day, it goes until about 05:00 a.m., and that is for the purposes of making sure that there is calm on the streets.
But, as I said, today is the first day, and I should note that we arrived in the evening, the night after Bashar fell. So, I can't speak to exactly what happened that first day. But, certainly since yesterday, this is the first time we're really seeing big crowds of people celebrating on the streets, feeling bold enough, brave enough to get out there and just celebrate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: It is just stunning to see those images, especially after 13 years of a civil war that has devastated the country and killed hundreds of thousands of people. As we mentioned, the collapse of Syria's Assad regime has prompted a punishing military response from Israel. The IDF has launched airstrikes across Syria. They have also deployed ground troops into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone following the fall of the regime, that buffer zone between the Golan Heights that Israel seized in the six-day war in Syria.
Now, Israel's Defense Minister says Israeli forces have destroyed Syria's naval fleet. Strong eye witness video captures the moment Israeli airstrikes hit Latakia port. That is an Assad stronghold, or was at least. Here you can see the remnants of Syrian navy vessels in Latakia. You can see the smoke in the air as a result. The UN special envoy for Syria is calling on Israel to stop its attacks in Syria.
For more now, let's talk with Alon Pinkas. He is the former Israeli Consul General in New York. He is joining me now from Tel Aviv. Thank you so much for joining me. I first want to get your take on Israel's military response inside Syria. We have been reporting on the -- these many strikes on Syria's military targets.
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Israel also said that it is targeting chemical -- its chemical weapons capabilities. You saw the port there in Latakia. Many of Syria's naval fleet having been destroyed overnight. What is Israel's objective at this point?
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL, NEW YORK: Good to be with you, Amara. It's precautionary and preventive. There is no political objective here. It is intended to prevent any militant group or Jihadist group from taking over that military hardware, those munitions, those war machines, those weapon systems, and most importantly, the chemical weapon.
Now, we all know that what HTS is, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is the main opposition group that took over Aleppo and then Damascus. But, what we do not know is who will control Syria? Will it have a stable central government, or will it balkanize, meaning splinter into three, four, five, perhaps, regions, each controlled or governed by a different militia, one through the Turks. One is an Alawi enclave in Latakia, where the Assad family is from. One by HTS. One by other militias. So, in order to prevent any hostilities in the near future, Israel took preventive steps in order for those weapons not to --
WALKER: Yeah.
PINKAS: -- fall into the wrong hands, and we don't even know which hands are good and which hands are bad.
WALKER: Right. Let me ask you, Alon, about your conversations then with sources inside Netanyahu' government in terms of how they feel about Syria's future. There has been so much made about al-Jolani, the head of HTS. We know that he is a designated terrorist, at least by the U.S. There is a $10 million bounty on his head issued by the U.S. State Department, although he has sat down with CNN exclusively, our Jomana Karadsheh, and he has insisted that he has modernized, he has reformed. And in the early hours of Assad's toppling, there have been some strong edicts about respecting the minority communities in Syria. Are members of the government, the Israeli government, are they cautiously optimistic, or is there more anxiety about the future of Syria?
PINKAS: Anxiety, uncertainty, cluelessness, surprise, what have you. If you recall, Amara, it's not only that. Historically, Israel had four times, on four separate occasions, negotiated with the -- with Syria, with the Assad family. Mostly it was with Bashar Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, negotiated the Golan Heights, and most recently, just before the civil war in Syria erupted in 2011, there was some indirect negotiations via the U.S. to see whether or not we can resuscitate or relaunch a peace process.
Then fast forward to our time. Look, Israel was just as surprised as everyone else with the spectacular suddenness. It reminded everyone of the old adage, Amara, of how do you go bankrupt? Well, first, I do it gradually, then I do it suddenly. That's exactly what happened to the regime. And if you recall, in the last several years, Israel has been quietly, tacitly supportive of the Assad regime, despite his connections to Iran, despite him being -- despite Syria, I'm sorry, being a conduit of arms to Hezbollah. So, this took everyone by surprise. So, if you're looking for any kind of a coherent policy vis- a-vis Iran, there is not one.
WALKER: Alon, stay with us, because we have other news to get to regarding Netanyahu. Obviously, he has his hands full, because the backdrop, as you see, with strikes in Syria, a multi-front war when it comes to Hamas and Lebanon and Iran, or I should say, Hezbollah, rather than Lebanon. Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, is charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, and today, Prime Minister Netanyahu took the stand in his defense in a Tel Aviv courtroom. He was testifying for hours, and Benjamin Netanyahu said he was astonished by the injustice of being put on trial and that he was being hounded because of his security policies. The corruption trial is the culmination of three separate investigations, and if Mr. Netanyahu is convicted and it's upheld on appeal, he will have to resign and he also may face some jail time.
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It really is, Alon, as I bring you back, a really remarkable moment for Israel, because it's the first time that the nation is seeing a sitting leader take the stand as a criminal defendant. Could you, first off, remind us of the corruption allegations against Netanyahu, which are charges that he has denied for years?
PINKAS: Sure. But, before that, if I may, it's true. You're absolutely right that he is the first sitting Prime Minister to testify in -- as a defendant following a criminal indictment. But, there was a Prime Minister, Mr. Erdogan, who actually was convicted and went to jail. The thing is that that Mr. Olmert had the moral compass and the integrity to resign once he was indicted, which Mr. Netanyahu did not, and instead, turned this into some kind of a crusade against the deep state and a vast conspiracy against him and a cabal seated in the judiciary and the media.
Anyway, eight years ago, an investigation began, and four years ago, it matured into indictments. This is what we saw today in his testimony. He is being -- he was indicted in three separate dossiers with three separate cases. One is about -- is a personal thing. It's a hedonistic thing. It's about taking -- it's about grip and taking presents and cigars and jewelry and expensive champagne worth in excess of $150,000 from close friends, which he then helped. That's probably easy to prove, but that's the lighter of the three cases.
The second is that he tried to sway media coverage of him by colluding with the editor -- well, not the editor, the publisher of Israel's largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. That's called Dossier 2000, and the heavy one is called Dossier 4000. That's how the state prosecution called them. None of our viewers need to remember these numbers. They mean nothing. Dossier 4000 is the heaviest because there he is accused of clear cut corruption on top, I'm sorry, clear cut bribery on top of corruption and a breach of public press and a whole host of other lesser charges.
WALKER: Yeah. It's quite a long list, and our viewers can read more into it.
I do want to talk about next week, because Netanyahu, as I understand it, will be required to testify for, what, up to six hours per day for three days a week. I wonder, practically speaking, what that's going to look like, especially as he is trying to run these wars and of course these strikes in Syria, if they continue? Do you expect many interruptions in the courtroom as he is going to have to make decisions from the stand? And what does the Israeli public feel about all this?
PINKAS: Well, this is all his fault and his responsibility, because he could have testified over a year ago, before the war in Gaza began, before it escalated into Lebanon, before it escalated into Iran, and before the Assad regime falls. Now he is using those as excuses. Well, look at me. I'm reshaping the Middle East. I'm so busy protecting Israel. This is a war of independence. This is, in fact, a war of existence. How do you expect me to sit down for hours, three times a week?
Well, OK, you could have -- I'm talking to Mr. Nathaniel, not to you. He could have declared himself incapacitated temporarily, what the Americans have in their 25th Amendment of the Constitution. He refused to do so. He could have excused himself in the prime ministership on a temporary basis just for the purpose of testifying about two years ago, but he stole and he procrastinated and he delayed proceedings, and he interrupted, and now he is saying, oh, well, look at the world. The world is on fire. Well, this has been going on for too long. The public --
WALKER: Yeah.
PINKAS: -- look, he is very unpopular. So, that should tell you everything.
WALKER: Well, you raised some fair points there. We're going to leave it there. But, obviously, this is a high-stakes trial for Netanyahu, for his future, and really the future of Israel.
Alon Pinkas, thank you very much.
PINKAS: Thank you, Amara.
WALKER: To some other big news we've been following. On the run for five days, we now know what the suspect in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is being charged with. More details are ahead.
Also, evacuations in Malibu, California, as a fast-moving wildfire threatens buildings.
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We're going to have the latest on the situation on the ground when we come back.
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WALKER: 26-year-old Luigi Mangione has been formally charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson. At this hour, the Ivy League graduate is locked up in a Pennsylvania prison, held alone in a single cell at the maximum custody level, while police examined the evidence and tried to piece together a motive. Mangione was on the run for five days before he was finally found at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania after an employee saw him and tipped off authorities. Police say he was carrying a backpack at the time of his arrest, with a loaded gun. They described the weapon as consistent with the murder weapon.
The Mangione family says they were shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest, and asked for prayers for all involved.
Now, a former roommate of Mangione spoke with CNN earlier, saying he can make zero sense of this unimaginable situation. R.J. Martin says Mangione helped lead a book club, but could not recall him ever talking about guns or violence. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R.J. MARTIN, FORMER ROOMMATE OF LUIGI MANGIONE: We talked about social issues and we talked about how to improve the world, and we talked about issues that are say with capitalism or with the healthcare system or with housing or the food systems. It wasn't anything specific. It wasn't like he had an axe to grind or he was even upset or angry about a particular issue. They were just natural intellectual conversations that you have when you are inquisitive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Let's bring in CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Charles Ramsay. So good to see you, Charles. First off, let's start with this NYPD intelligence report that CNN has obtained because it seems to go to potential motives by Mangione, and it said that, it appeared that he was driven by anger against the health industry as a whole, not specifically targeting Brian Thompson, the CEO, but the corporate greed as a whole. What are your thoughts on that?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, & PARTNER, 21CP SOLUTIONS: Well, they did find a two-page document in that backpack, and it certainly revealed that he had a lot of anger toward the healthcare industry. Now, that individual that you just interviewed, the roommate in Hawaii, also mentioned that he suffered from some pretty serious back pain. So, whether or not he tried filing an insurance claim, insurance didn't handle it or whatever, I mean, I don't know what really drove the original anger toward the healthcare industry. In any event, certainly they're going to look into every single aspect. Hopefully, he talks, because that's the only way you actually get a real motive for the shooting.
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But, right now, they have a pretty strong case. They've got a firearm they believe was a murder weapon. They've got an ID, a fake ID that was used in New York, and of course, DNA and a fingerprint that was left at the scene.
WALKER: We were initially talking, you and I, over the weekend about a potential veterinary gun. But, it looks like police are saying that this killing was likely carried out with a ghost gun, which is really a do-it-yourself (DIY) gun that's untraceable. Can you tell us more about what a ghost gun is? And they are actually legal, but are they regulated?
RAMSEY: Well, they're unfinished guns, is the best way of describing it. They don't have a serial number. You can create a gun or make a gun through 3D printing. You can buy individual parts and put them together and avoid having a serial number put on it. That's why it's called a ghost gun. It's not traceable. Now, they can't trace it to a serial number, but it is traceable in a sense of the ballistic evidence that would be left behind from a shell casing or from the bullet itself, the pellet itself, if it's recovered. And so, from that perspective, you can't trace it. You just can't trace it through a serial number to be able to find out who bought it, be able to trace the history of that particular firearm.
Now, when you look at the video of the actual shooting, that gun that was used there appeared to be slightly different from the one that was recovered, but only ballistic evidence will really match the two, and I don't know if they've gotten that ballistic match or not.
WALKER: I'm just curious about your thoughts of any of the threat of potential copycats, because the NYPD did cite the positive online reaction that we have been seeing, and this being a signal that there might be an elevated threat to executives in the near future. What are your thoughts on that?
RAMSEY: Well, there is always a threat of copycats. I mean, you always have to be concerned about that. And I think from the standpoint of the insurance industry, at least from what I understand, most, if not all of them have increased security. For how long they'll maintain that, I don't know. But, certainly, it is wise at this point in time to increase your security and be very vigilant, very aware.
The one thing that really kind of puzzles me about this case is why he would hold on to the murder weapon. I mean, he was clearly shedding evidence along the way. He got rid of the backpack. The bicycle is gone. But yet, he maintained both the fake ID and the -- and a firearm. Again, that's assuming that's the same firearm that was used in the murder. And the question is, why would you do that unless you plan to have other targets and you wanted police to know that the two were connected? I mean, who knows what would that -- or is that a different firearm that looks similar but not exactly the same, another ghost gun. So, those are unanswered questions.
I'm sure NYPD knows a whole lot more than we know publicly right now, and perhaps they have been able to match that particular gun, but they also have the DNA, and I'm sure they got a search warrant for his DNA. He would have been fingerprint in Pennsylvania, because he is arrested on gun charges, which automatically would require fingerprint. So, they'd be able to get a match that way as well.
WALKER: Yeah. That's a really good question. Why did he have that loaded gun on him still? Was he not done?
Charles Ramsey, good to have you, as always. Thank you.
Well, the Justice Department's watchdog says Donald Trump's DoJ improperly subpoenaed phone records and emails of two members of Congress and 43 staff members in 2017, Republicans and Democrats, as well as several reporters. Now, one of those staffers is Trump's own pick to run the FBI, Kash Patel, when he was a staffer on the House Intelligence Committee. The subpoena -- or subpoenas, I should say, are related to alleged leaks of classified information to the media, including CNN, during Congressional investigations into what was called Crossfire Hurricane, the code name for the FBI probe into connections between Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez joining us now. Wow. All right. Tell us more. EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, this was a -- this is an extraordinary report, because what it tells us is that the seizure of phone records was a lot broader, was a lot bigger than we first knew. We knew, for instance, that two members of Congress, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, had disclosed that they had received notification from their service providers, Google and so on, that their records had been seized earlier during the Trump administration.
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What we didn't know was that this was much bigger than that. This was 43 members of congressional staff, bipartisan, some of them were Republicans, half of them were Democrats, and a couple of them were non-partisan, as well as the seizure of records from reporters, including CNN's own Barbara Starr.
Now, what we know is that the -- this was a leak hunt by the Justice Department at the time to try to find what they thought were people improperly disclosing classified information, but in so doing, they did improper things themselves. They did not base this on any real evidence, according to the inspector general's report that we just obtained today. What they based it on is simply on the proximity to those records, to the classified information. For instance, if they knew that you had access to that information, then you were put on this list to have your record seized.
And in addition to that, Amara, the service providers were not allowed to tell you that your records had been turned over until five, six years after it already happened. So, you had no chance to actually fight the Justice Department on these subpoenas.
Now, according to the Justice Department, they've now changed the rules so that in order to do these kinds of seizures of records for members of Congress and for staff and for reporters, you have to go through additional hurdles. You have to get permission from higher level leaders. Again, all of this happening during the Trump administration, 2017 through 2021. And so, the question is, Amara, there is a new Trump administration coming in. Will they revert to those rules that they had in place back then, or will they keep the rules that have now been put into place to protect members of Congress and protect the news media from prosecutors at the Justice Department? That's the big question.
WALKER: Really interesting and for many disturbing report there. Thank you so much, Evan Perez.
PEREZ: Thanks.
WALKER: Still to come, we're going to walk through the moments that led up to President Bashar al-Assad's fall from power and the leadership challenges that rebels must now face. Plus, as one brutal regime falls, could another rise? My next guest will give his thoughts on what paths lie ahead for Syria.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WALKER: Welcome back. You are seeing plumes of smoke out of Malibu,
California, as firefighters are fighting a rapidly growing fire there, the Franklin Fire is what it's called, and it's threatening the coastal city of Malibu, with high winds and low humidity helping to fuel these flames. Classes at Pepperdine University have been canceled for today, and students are being told to shelter in place.
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The Los Angeles County Fire Department has issued evacuation orders for about 6,000 people and 2,000 structures.
Joining us now with the latest is CNN's Bill Weir. Bill, I mean, you went to Pepperdine University, and you even reported on a fire there back in 2018. What can you tell us about how fire crews there are handling this right now?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're doing their level best. Amara. Yes, fighting gusty winds there as well. But, this is -- this particular Franklin Fire is just so symptomatic what we've seen this summer, which is rapid intensification. About one in the morning, it was a couple of hundred acres. Now it's over a couple of thousand acres. It was expanding at about the size of a football field every 15 seconds. That's how fast it was moving there. And we saw this earlier in the summer. The Park Fire became the fourth largest in state history just in a blink, the bridge and line fires.
And one reason for this is that these really wet winters create a lot of vegetation, which then dries out the atmosphere on a warming planet. During climate change, it soaks up a lot more water. It can dump it, but it can also soak it up a lot faster. And so, it dries out all that fresh vegetation, turning into fuel in the late summer, early fall months, and here is what we're seeing right now. About 800 Pepperdine students are sheltering in place there. It may sound scary. The pictures where it seems like there is fire surrounding them on the hill sides, it's one of the safest places in Southern California because of their history with so many fires.
During a Woolsey Fire in 2018, I talked to Andy Benton, now the President Emeritus of Pepperdine, and he says they were -- that campus is literally forged by fire. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW BENTON, PEPPERDINE PRESIDENT EMERITUS: In 1985, when I was here, we noticed that everybody just dropped everything, got in their cars and left, and we had no idea where they were. We had no idea if they were being cared for. So, we decided thereafter that we could do better, and the do better was that we have equipped this campus to withstand fire to the best of our ability. We have 4.6 million gallons of water. We have 15 days of food. We have counselors, medical doctors and a caring community to take care of those students and calm them. We relocate them into one of two facilities.
And even now, we've got a fire. We've got a helicopter landing and withdrawing -- WEIR: As you're speaking, look at this.
BENTON: -- withdrawing water from our lakes, 2,500 gallons in about 60 seconds, and they're probably fighting the fire up in Malibu Canyon right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WEIR: That particular full fire cost three lives, about 1,600 structures burned, and California Edison had to pay $2.2 billion in damages because it was their power line that started it. So, this one, who knows how it could be. It looks like it's past the campus now, Amara, and now it's those hillside residences in Malibu there, people who love living in paradise, but the costs that come with it are really acute in times like this.
WALKER: Yeah. That was a beautiful backdrop you had there, as we saw that helicopter land to get some water from the lake, which I understand it, firefighters are using that same lake in this fire now. Let's hope they get a handle on this soon.
Bill Weir, thank you very much.
WEIR: You bet.
WALKER: Let's get back to one of our top stories. Syrian rebels have appointed a caretaker Prime Minister for the next three months to oversee the country's transition to a new government. Mohammad al- Bashir, he is seen there on the far right, was the head of the rebel- led Syrian salvation government in Idlib.
Meanwhile, Middle Eastern nations are accusing Israel of using the political instability in Syria as an opportunity to execute a new land grab. The IDF has launched airstrikes across Syria and deployed ground troops into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone at the border there with Syria following the fall of the Assad regime. Israel claims the strikes are meant to keep weapons from falling into the hands of extremists.
The world was caught by surprise, really caught off guard at the stunning, rapid fall of the Assad regime. But, the Syrian rebels who toppled Bashar al-Assad are a complex patchwork of fighters, and it remains to be seen how they will work together, if they will, during this transition.
CNN's Katie Polglase takes a look at how the rebels captured Damascus.
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KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (voice-over): The shouts of freedom. This weekend, the Assad regime's decades-long rule over Syria ended with the fall of the capital Damascus.
POLGLASE: This takeover was led by multiple groups with differing ideologies. Now, we don't know yet if this was actively coordinated, but our analysis of more than 100 videos indicates this was a multi- pronged approach, with groups swarming the capital from different directions. Here is how it unfolded.
POLGLASE (voice-over): Rebels under the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had been capturing key towns in the north of Syria as the week progressed. They started heading south towards the capital Damascus.
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On Thursday, they captured the city of Hama. By Friday, they are still inching their way further south, reaching nearby the town of Talbise, just north of Homs. An airstrike hits nearby, but the fighters are undeterred, cheering after the strike hits, and now they're not alone.
To the south of Damascus, other rebel groups are also mobilizing. This is on the road outside Daraa on Friday night where the revolution started back in 2011. The group filming called themselves the southern operations room. The next day, fighters from the Druze's religious sect are also part of the rebels' progress, tearing down a statue of President Assad's father in a town just outside of Damascus. As the different groups of rebel forces continue to close in on Damascus, regime forces begin withdrawing. Here they're fleeing on foot.
By Saturday night, rebel fighters are in central Damascus and taking control of key sites. This is the Umayyad square. By Sunday, civilians are entering the presidential palace, bringing out whatever they can.
POLGLASE: Now, several different rebel groups are present in Damascus, and President Bashar al-Assad has fled to Moscow. The question is, will these groups work together? Can they work together? And fundamentally, who will be in charge of Syria next?
Katie Polglase, CNN, London.
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WALKER: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is sending out a warning that ISIS will try to use this moment of uncertainty in Syria to, quote, "re-establish its capabilities to create safe havens."
My next guest is the author of Red Line, about the hunt for Syria's chemical weapons. He is joining me now live from Washington, Joby Warrick. He is also a national security reporter for The Washington Post.
Joby, appreciate your time. I do want to start with a potential stockpile of chemical weapons in Syria, especially amid the strikes by Israel at targets in Syria, and Israel is saying that they have also struck Syria's chemical weapons capabilities. But, about 10 years ago, Assad agreed to give up some of his, or I thought most of his chemical weapons. So, tell me about what we know regarding any more chemical weapons in that country, and of course, these concerns that if there are -- if there is a stockpile, that it could fall into the wrong hands.
JOBY WARRICK, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, Amara, that's a really big question right now, and you're right. About 10 years ago, 2013-2014, a UN-backed mission succeeded in getting rid of most of serious chemical weapons. That's the assessment, not just of the inspectors on the ground, but of the intelligence communities. Its estimate maybe 90 percent, 95 percent of the really bad stuff, Sarin nerve agents, the really horrific chemical weapons, were removed from the country and destroyed.
Now, there were things that were left behind and things that were hidden. And we know this because, in 2017, Assad used them again. So, he did keep some stuff back. And so, the big question now is, what's still there, and how dangerous is that? Because you -- the last thing you want, frankly, is to have loose materials sitting around, loose chemical weapons. It could be stolen by anyone, by ISIS, by any bad actor.
But, I think what you see with the Israelis now, since there is some unknown about this, Israelis -- the Israelis are hedging their bets a little bit and going after things that might be research facilities or might be storage facilities, not knowing, with 100 percent certainly, what's there. But, let's get rid of those, just in case.
WALKER: We were on the air Sunday morning when this was happening, and we received word that Assad's regime had indeed fallen. And the first thing that came to my mind was, Oh, my goodness, could we see a power vacuum like we saw in Libya once Gaddafi was removed? And now you're hearing these concerns from Antony Blinken saying that ISIS may try to use this moment to resurge there. I mean, how does Syria avoid a situation like what we have seen in Libya?
WARRICK: Well, Amara, you're right to be thinking about the Libyan example. And I was there on the ground at that time too, and people were euphoric about Gaddafi, this terrible dictator finally falling, and you saw all these rebel groups, different ones from different parts of the country, celebrating. And very quickly, that turned to clashes, because these groups don't necessarily get along.
So, back in the Civil War, when things were really looking grim for Assad in 2014, there were this patchwork, again, groups in the north, groups in the south, groups that don't get along very well, some that are secular and some that are religious, and some zealots like ISIS, and they fought each other, and they fought over territory. So, I think it'd be totally unrealistic to think these guys are all going to join hands in seeing kumbaya now and get along. So, the real challenge is going be keeping bad elements from seizing parts of the country.
[11:45:00]
We know that there are many ISIS cells that still exist in the eastern deserts of Syria. United States went after some of those fairly dramatically in the last couple of days, but certainly didn't get them all, and that is a major concern for intelligence agencies right now, is making sure that those really dangerous groups, we don't know much about HTS's intent, but we do know they're bad groups there sort of to keep them controlled, or at least keep them from seizing territory.
WALKER: It's also going to be interesting to see how things play out, because rebel leaders are saying that they will soon be announcing a list of regime officials' names who are going to be wanted for torture and for war crimes, and if there is -- I don't know about whether or not there is a functioning judicial system, but right now, there is no government. And on top of that, a lot of uncertainty about al-Jolani. This is a name that was not familiar to a lot of us, but to you, this is someone that you had covered. I mean, how do you see things potentially progressing with him in charge?
WARRICK: Well, he does have a very troubling background pedigree, because this was an individual who was sent to Syria in 2011 by the head of ISIS, by Abu Bakr Baghdadi with the idea of creating a militia for ISIS in Syria being part of the conflict. It turns out he broke with ISIS, decided to hit his wagon with al-Qaeda instead, which is not much better. And he claims to reform. He claims to be a different man now. We can see positive rhetoric. He is saying all the right things, and he is doing some of the right things.
But, we really don't know what's going to happen, and we don't know what's going to really happen to some of these former regime officials. Some are internationally wanted war criminals or have been accused of very serious war crimes like torture, like using chemical weapons, but we don't know how these rebels are going to sort of execute justice, maybe literally by executing people in the coming days and weeks, to be seen.
WALKER: So much uncertainty. Yes, it is to be seen, although right now we have seen many people in the streets of Damascus, next to our Clarissa Ward, rejoicing in this moment.
Joby Warrick, thank you very much.
We'll be right back.
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WALKER: These are live pictures of Capitol Hill, where a number of Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet picks will make their pitch to Republican senators today, and that includes Trump's choice for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, who will sit down for a critical meeting with Lisa Murkowski. The Alaska Senator says she absolutely plans to address the sexual assault allegations against Hegseth, which he has denied. She has obviously expressed some hesitancy there. The former Fox News host will also need the backing of Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, who said Monday that she would support Hegseth, quote, "through this process", but she stopped short of full backing him.
[11:50:00]
CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju has more now from Capitol Hill.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Pete Hegseth, who is Donald Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon, is back on Capitol Hill today with some critical meetings, including with one swing Republican vote. That's Senator Lisa Murkowski, someone who has broken ranks with her leadership, with Donald Trump time and time again. We'll meet this afternoon with her, as she has really kept an open mind about this nomination, has really not weighed in much on this, but she could be one who is someone to watch here.
As Hegseth's nomination appears, his prospects appear a little bit brighter than they were just a week ago. Why? Because of his efforts to try to consolidate Republican support, the pressure that's been coming on the outside, particularly on one Senator, in particular, Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa. She sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and has been seen as a pivotal vote herself. She has had -- she is someone who served in combat, someone who has endured sexual assault herself, and has -- of course, Hegseth has said that he opposes women serving in common. He said that in the past. He has now walked back those comments, and also has been accused of sexual assault. He has denied those allegations.
But, Hegseth, in his conversation with Ernst, appears to have least won her over for now. She says she is supporting him through this process, not quite a yes yet, but is moving very, very close. Now, the question is, ultimately, will all Republican senators fall in line, or will most of them? Remember, 50 Republican senators out of 53 need to vote to advance a nomination because the Vice President, soon-to-be Vice President, J.D. Vance, would break any tie.
I caught up with Senator John Cornyn, who is a senior Republican. He sits on some key committees, has met with several of these nominees, and I asked him if Republicans were willing to fall in line behind Donald Trump.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Well, we haven't had a signal hearing or a single FBI background check completed. So, I think as frustrating as it is for some people, there is a process, and I'm foreseeing the process through so we can make informed decisions. This isn't just about doing our job of advice consent into the Constitution. It's also about making sure that these nominees are properly vetted, so that there are no surprises later on that weren't identified before him.
RAJU: But, there are still some other controversial nominations, including Kash Patel, to lead the FBI. Donald Trump is, of course, essentially threatening to fire the existing FBI Director, Christopher Wray, even though Ray is serving for a 10-year term, has three years left on that term, and is starting to push him out with someone who has been very loyal to him and his agenda, Kash Patel. Despite that controversial move, Republicans, in a lot of ways, are falling in line behind what Donald Trump wants to do with the FBI.
Also with Tulsi Gabbard. She is someone who has been picked by Donald Trump to be the Director of National Intelligence, but even her views on Syria and on Russia have caused a lot of concerns within the ranks. The moment no Republicans are coming out and opposing her, which is why the Trump team and Republican supporters of Trump believe that ultimately he will get most, if not all, of these nominations ultimately confirmed.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE) WALKER: All right. Manu Raju, thank you.
We'll take a short break. Back after this.
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[11:55:00]
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WALKER: Before we go, one more thing. One of Dickens' most popular stories, a Christmas Carol, has had a lasting influence over the culture around the holiday, symbolizing it as a time for both celebration and charity. The museum is the last surviving home of the author, decorated in an authentic Victorian-style fashion, giving the visitors a Christmas present, a peek into Christmas past.
And thank you so much for being with me today. I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta. Stick with CNN. One World is next.
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