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Syrians Celebrate the Fall of Assad; CNN Crosses into Syria after Rebel Takeover; Syrian Caretaker PM to Oversee Transition; Israel Says It Destroyed Syrian Naval Fleet; Suspect Arrested, Charged with Brian Thompson's Murder; White Helmets Search for Syrian Detainees, Bring Humanitarian Relief; "Call to Earth: Under the Pole"; Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Nihon Hidankyo. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 10, 2024 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi.

As Syrians start to rebuild what they've lost over the last decade, the rebels who led this offensive are now beginning the first steps of a

transition of power.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has taken the stand in his own corruption trial, charged with fraud, bribery and breach of trust. It is

the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister is facing criminal charges.

And after a manhunt, an arrest in Pennsylvania. A suspect is in custody for the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. What we know about him, that's

coming up next.

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GIOKOS: Syria's rebel coalition isn't wasting any time as it moves to get a new government up and running. The rebels have named a caretaker prime

minister. Mohammed al-Bashir has announced he will oversee the transition for the next three months.

He also says the Assad-era civil servants will continue to serve as ministers in the caretaker government until March 1st.

The deposed Assad regime meant brutally -- brutality and poverty to the people of Syria. Now there's a sense they can believe in a new future.

CNN's Clarissa Ward shows us how that's translating on the streets of Damascus.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The first couple of days we were here, the streets were pretty subdued. There was a lot of

anxiety. And today we're really seeing people are out and they are celebrating. Take a look behind me, all these young people, they are

celebrating.

They are posing for photographs, holding up their babies to show with rebel fighters. And I actually wanted to bring in, I've just been talking here

with this young Syrian woman, Judith (ph).

Tell me how this -- feels.

JUDITH (PH), SYRIAN CITIZEN: As you can -- is this working?

WARD: Yes. It's working. Look at me.

JUDITH (PH): As you can see, this is 50 years of silence. This is the reaction. 50 years he kept us in the dark. He kept us in the death.

This is the reaction of the Syrian people after 50 years of this regime, of this death, of this darkness. This is the new generation that will come out

to the light now. This is the reaction.

WARD: How does it feel for you?

JUDITH (PH): For me as a 25 years old daughter, this is my father and this is my mother. This is unspeakable reaction. This is me coming to

delight again. It's the rebirth of the Syrian people again.

WARD: Did you ever imagine?

JUDITH (PH): No.

WARD: After 14 years?

JUDITH (PH): No, no, no. For me, it's been 13 years. For my dad, it's been 50 years.

WARD: -- see. Look behind you. You see, rebel fighters with their technical, with their big weapons.

JUDITH (PH): This is victory. This is the happiness I have never witnessed before. I've been living 13 years in war, in death and darkness,

and this is amazing. This is unspeakable, actually. This is -- here you can see the breath of freedom. This is absolutely amazing.

This is -- I hope we can do more. This is only the beginning. This it has to be a mess in the beginning but I'm sure we can do something more and

more in the future.

WARD: Thank you so much, Judith (ph).

JUDITH (PH): Thank you so much.

WARD: And it really is sort of wonderful, honestly, to hear that kind of optimism. Because as I mentioned, those first couple of days, those first

few days, a lot of tension, a lot of anxiety, some chaos and looting in the beginning. Now that there is a degree of calm and control in the city, who

are seeing people come out.

And finally, just this outpouring of jubilation after more than 50 years under the totalian (sic) regime, totalitarian regime, Bashar Al Assad and

Hafez Al Assad, his father before him, after 14 years of the most brutal and ugly Civil War. These people want the world to know that Syria is --

and it's beginning a new challenge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well, as Clarissa said, it is a new era for the country's people. It's also a new Syria for outsiders, trying to get in -- like journalists.

My colleague, Jomana Karadsheh, tells us what it felt like to cross the border into Syria's new era.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So it's really remarkable coming through the Syrian side of the crossing and finding members of the Free

Syrian Army, one of the rebel groups on this side here who have taken control of the border crossing.

[10:05:07]

So welcoming, so excited to see foreign journalists coming in. And as someone who spent time in Damascus in Syria covering this country under the

Assad regime and knowing what it was like where you would be closely monitored all the time and you needed all sorts of permissions.

That's if you were able to get in and to see this sort of change and to see and hear people speaking to us freely in a country where people used to

come up and take a risk whispering things to you when you were in the streets or in places in Damascus.

It's just unbelievable. I spent years covering the war in Syria, day in and day out and we had to do this from outside the country because the Assad

regime for the most part, wouldn't allow us into Syria to see for ourselves the atrocities that were being committed.

And at this moment, all I can think about is all the people, all the Syrians that we've met over the years and the stories that we've told. All

that they went through, all that they sacrificed, all that they lost to make this moment possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well, Syrian refugees in Turkiye are queuing up at the border to return home. One man describes the fall of the Assad regime as the

beginning of a new era. According to president Recep Erdogan, nearly 3 million Syrians are currently living in Turkiye.

Mr. Erdogan said Monday Turkiye would open a border gate with Syria to allow for the safe and voluntary return of those migrants.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Our next guest is the former Turkish ambassador to Syria and author of "Syria through the Eyes of the Ambassador."

And he writes this on social media about what's next in Syria.

Quote, "The coming period is pregnant with more developments. It is urgent to establish a transitional administration before the country falls into a

management vacuum and is dragged into civil war again."

And Omer Onhon joins us now from Ankara, Turkiye.

Ambassador, great to see you. Thank you so much for your time. A lot of moving parts today and we know that the leader of the Syrian rebel group

has met with the Assad regime's outgoing prime minister to discuss transition.

A caretaker prime minister has now been announced, Mohammed al-Bashir.

What do you know of him and what do you make of this effort to create a transition very quickly?

OMER ONHON, FORMER TURKISH AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA: Thank you. Well, thank you for having me.

The period of transition is, of course, now very important in this era. And who will manage this transition was the main question. Now they have named

Mr. Bashir as the caretaker, as the head of the caretaker government. He was the head of the prime minister of the salvation (ph) government, which

ruled it for a number of years now.

So in that sense, it can be said that he has some experience. I don't know who he is going to name as ministers. But then everybody is wondering if

the ministers that he will name will be only from the HTS, from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or from other groups also.

Because as everybody is saying now, it's very important to have an inclusive government, an inclusive system opposed to the one-man rule of

Bashar Assad.

GIOKOS: So Ambassador, I want you to give me a sense about HTS, what your thoughts are, given its historical background. It's got a more moderate

messaging. We know that it was a coalition of rebel groups that embarked on this offensive.

What is your understanding of whether they see eye to eye?

ONHON: Well, HTS was -- it was a Salafist organization, Al Qaeda and Al- Nusra. But recently, what we are told, that the HTS has become quite moderate and it has changed its ways and so on. Now these are -- this is

good to hear. But, of course, actions speak louder than words. So we have to see the implementation of what they are saying.

Mr. Jolani was quite moderate when he talked about embracing everybody in Syria, not discriminating against anyone. I mean, these are words that we

want to hear in Syria really. And it's very encouraging. But as I said, we have to see what happens in implementation.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. I mean, I want to talk about Turkiye's role and whether it greenlit this offensive.

[10:10:00]

But importantly, whether Turkiye has now positioned itself as the most powerful foreign force in Syria and whether Turkiye is in discussions with

the rebel factions right now and whether you can give us insight into this.

ONHON: Well, Turkiye is definitely one of the major actors in Syria by the virtue of geography and other historical and social relations. We have a

911 kilometers of common border with Syria.

So Turkiye is definitely a major actor. It has been so. And I think it will be one of the actors which will shape -- help shape Syria in the future. We

have a stake in it, I mean, security wise. And then Turkiye is hosting about 3.5 million Syrians and we want to have them back in their country,

in a safe environment.

And then there will be the rebuilding of the country. So Turkiye will be very central in all that. And there are definitely relations with the

opposition forces of various shades. So I think these contacts that Turkiye has with various opposition groups will be instrumental.

I mean, it will help to shape Syria. Of course, it's up to the Syrians to decide on the future of their country. But they will need some help and

some encouragement. And I think Turkiye can play a positive role in that if it chooses to do so.

GIOKOS: So Ambassador, as we -- as we reported, there are many Syrians that are queuing up, to try and get back into Syria, that are currently in

Turkiye. And President Erdogan says that he'll open up the border.

What's your stance on that?

And then importantly, for Turkiye as well, is to deal with the U.S.-backed Kurdish militias.

And what conversations are being had about these two main issues that Turkiye has to contend with?

ONHON: Well, these are the two main issues for Turkiye regarding the Syrian crisis. Yes, now that Assad is gone, the Syrians are expected to go

back. But I don't think that that will happen overnight. I mean, there is uncertainty over there and even some concern as to what will happen in the

future.

So Syrians may choose to wait a little bit more, to feel safe to go back. So it's up to what happens in Syria, which will accelerate the Syrians in

Turkiye and in other countries, go back to their home towns.

But this will take some time, I think, even though we have seen some people going back already. But they are not in their tens of thousands or hundreds

of thousands. That will take some time.

As to the other issue, YPG is a terror organization. I mean, in Turkiye's, eyes, YPG is a terror organization. It is the extension of PKK in Syria and

it is after its own agenda, to set up a statelike structure, an autonomous structure or whatever it is -- terror corridor, as we call it here.

And Turkiye said very clearly that we will not allow that. We will not allow YPG to set up a corridor just beyond our borders. So there has been

some fighting. And this is -- this also goes for the Syrian national army, the Syrian opposition, because the area, the territory is that the YPG is

trying to set itself on, is Syrian territory.

So not only Turkiye but the Syrian people are also very much against that, as I understand. And then there is a second --

(CROSSTALK)

GIOKOS: So Ambassador, the final question I have for you -- yes.

ONHON: A second --

GIOKOS: Ambassador, I've got one important question and hopefully you can add in your last message.

ONHON: Please. OK, please go ahead.

GIOKOS: So yes. Just because we're running out of time. But hopefully you can get in your message as well. I want to talk about the IDF strikes into

Syria right now. I mean, our latest reporting is about the naval fleet that has been destroyed.

The Syrian naval fleet has been destroyed by Israel. We're also hearing that they're targeting military targets as well as chemical weapons. We

know the IDF has moved into the buffer zone.

What is your stance?

What is Turkiye's stance about the IDF's moves right now?

ONHON: Well, Israel says, IDF says that they are targeting chemical weapons depots.

[10:15:00]

I don't know, we don't know really. But they are trying to take advantage out of the situation in Syria. They have, as you know, declared null and

void the 1974 disengagement agreement because the regime has changed.

I mean, you do not make agreements with regimes but you make agreements with states. So -- and they went into Syria, occupying some villages and

some strategic points. I mean, that is a blatant violation of international law, I think.

And it's complicating the situation even more. Civilians are dying. And I think that will cause chaos in Syria. And I don't know if it is true but

there are news that, among the targets that the IDF is hitting are land registration offices and also identity offices.

I mean, this is something which is very dramatic in terms of having a country back to normal. And what the IDF is doing is not really helping the

situation but complicating it much more.

GIOKOS: So Ambassador, clearly a moving story, evolving very fast. And we thank you for your insights on this. A really important moment to discuss

all of this. Thank you, sir.

So Israel's prime minister is facing major issues at home, too. Benjamin Netanyahu left a Tel Aviv court a short time ago after taking the stand

earlier, charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. He told the court he was astonished by the injustice of being put on trial and that he was

being hounded because of his security policies.

Mr. Netanyahu is Israel's first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime. If he is convicted and it's upheld on appeal, he will have to

resign. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more from the court in Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time that a sitting Israeli prime minister has taken the stand in his own

defense in a criminal trial.

It is an extraordinary moment, not only for the history that is being made as the Israeli prime minister walked into this courthouse and then began

testifying in his own defense but also because of the moment at which it comes, with Israel facing a multi-front war.

That was part of the reason why the Israeli prime minister sought to delay this very moment of testifying in this case, unsuccessfully though, as the

judges ultimately ruled that he would have to show up to testify in his own defense, a process that could take several weeks.

We expect that the prime minister will testify as many as three times a week for as long as six hours per day, initially beginning with questions

from his own defense attorneys, who have been giving him a lot of running room here to make comments about foreign policy, accusations against the

media, as he really tries to make his own case.

But then, the more serious cross-examination will come from the prosecution. And there are three cases that are involved in the trial that

the prime minister has been facing for four years now.

They are Case 1,000, Case 2,000 and Case 4,000; all of them effectively boiling down to allegations of corruption that the Israeli prime minister

offered favors to wealthy businessmen in exchange for more favorable media coverage or in exchange for lavish gifts.

Some several hundred thousand in champagne bottles, in jewelry and other gifts that these businessmen allegedly provided.

Now the prime minister and his attorneys, of course, maintain that he is innocent and we have heard the prime minister already on the stand, making

his case, defending himself against these allegations, insisting that he is innocent -- Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well, as we reported earlier, the collapse of Syria's Assad regime has prompted a punishing military response from Israel. The IDF has

launched airstrikes across Syria and deployed ground troops into and beyond a demilitarized buffer zone following the fall of the regime.

And Israel's defense minister says Israeli forces have destroyed Syria's naval fleet. Israel's prime minister says the action is meant to keep

weapons from falling into the hands of extremists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): We are taking all the actions necessary to try to ensure our security with regard

to the new situation created in Syria. Israel and the State of Israel is establishing its position as a center of power in our region, as it has not

been for decades.

Those who cooperate with us will benefit greatly. Those who attack us will lose big. We want to see a different Syria, both for our benefit and for

the benefit of the people of Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:20:00]

GIOKOS: The U.N. special envoy for Syria is calling on Israel to stop its attacks in Syria and now. And Middle Eastern countries are also accusing

Israel of exploiting Syria's instability to execute a new land grab.

I want to discuss these Israeli strikes in further detail. We've got retired Air Force colonel and CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton,

joining us now.

Cedric, always good to speak to you. News coming in and just the latest from the Israeli Defense Forces, saying that they have destroyed Syria's

naval fleet in an attempt to avert anyone, of any weapons getting into the wrong hands.

What is your initial response to this?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it's quite an extraordinary situation, Eleni, and it's great to be with you.

When you look at the Syrian naval fleet, it was a relatively small fleet. And we're not talking a major player in the eastern Mediterranean in terms

of naval forces.

However, this is significant because the Syrian navy was often used by Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah, to transfer weapons from -- that originally came

from Iran and then went through Syria and then were transshipped to places like Lebanon and then, of course, down to Gaza as well.

Hamas also, I think, benefited from what they what they were able to transship that way. So in essence, the Syrian navy was a bit of a support

force for these efforts. They also supported the Russian naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, which still exists at Tartus. And that is, of

course, significant.

But the way in which the Israelis did this, it's very clear that they are trying to, in essence, zeroize, if you will, the Syrian military capability

and make it a much different, more different place when it comes to the military balance of power in the northern Middle East.

GIOKOS: Yes, Cedric. I mean, we're looking at pictures right now of the sheer destruction, the scale of the destruction of this naval fleet. Really

incredible to see at a time when we're hearing about a lot of airstrikes into Syria.

And, of course, Israel says they're targeting military targets. They're targeting chemical weapons and so forth. I wonder, from a military

perspective, what the rebel groups in Syria right now would be making of this, these attacks and whether this is a concern for you.

LEIGHTON: Yes. So this is, it's certainly a significant issue for the rebel forces because now they are unable to take over what the Assad regime

had built up in terms of their military capability.

The Assad regime was a client state of not only Iran but also of Russia. So a lot of the equipment that we see in these videos is actually originally

Russian equipment that was either sold or donated to Syria over the over the last 50 years, really, of the Assad regime's rule.

So from a rebel perspective, this does weaken their possible power in -- from a military sense. Now they would have some issues by taking over these

installations. They would have some issues taking over the naval fleet from the previous Syrian navy because of training issues, personnel issues,

loyalty issues, all of those factors.

But now, basically what the Israelis have done is they've, in essence, redrawn the baseline and made it very clear that they don't want the

Syrians, in whatever form their government takes, to have this capability, this power projection capability, even though it's a small one.

GIOKOS: Yes. We're also hearing about airstrikes in Damascus. And there's a few things that are on the go right now, Cedric. We also know that some

Arab nations have condemned what we're seeing right now in Syria, of course, the strikes by Israel.

And then importantly, from a military objective perspective, what are you reading into this and particularly that we're seeing strikes in Damascus?

LEIGHTON: Yes. Damascus is, of course, the nerve center of all things government in Syria. When the Assad regime was in existence, they basically

ruled out of Damascus. And that was, in essence, their centralized node, the largest city, you know.

From an economic standpoint, second to Aleppo generally but still a major, major place for everything to be run from.

And so what has also happened during the Assad regime was they concentrated a lot of their military power, their research facilities, their storage

facilities, some of their storage facilities for chemical weapons, for example, in the Damascus region.

[10:25:00]

So what the Israelis are doing is they are, in essence, cleaning everything up from their perspective. And what they're -- what they're trying to do is

they're trying to make sure that, whatever regime follows in Syria, that it cannot use the military assets that were part of Assad's arsenal.

Those assets include not only the naval piece that we saw earlier but specifically to Damascus air force assets, which were concentrated in large

measure around that city.

And the other thing that they're trying to, of course, do is make sure that any type of unconventional weapon, whether it be a biological weapon or

chemical weapons, which are believed to still have been held by the Assad regime, those they want to make sure that they cannot be employed in any

way.

We know that Assad, of course, employed these weapons against his people at several -- during several occasions during the Syrian civil war. And the

rebel groups have, interestingly, given assurances that they do not want to use these chemical weapons against their own people or in a in a foreign

adversarial role.

So they are -- they don't seem to be as perturbed by this. But, of course, they are. They will clearly be perturbed by violations of Syrian

sovereignty and issues like that, which, you know, clearly the Arab nations have complained about and are going to probably bring the United Nations in

on that front as well.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. We have heard from the U.N. special envoy to Syria. So Cedric Leighton, Colonel, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.

The suspected killer of a health care executive is now behind bars. Police combing through evidence, trying to piece together a motive. New details on

the investigation just ahead.

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GIOKOS: Right now Luigi Mangione is behind bars in a Pennsylvania prison. The 26 year old Ivy League graduate has been charged with murder for the

killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.

Police had been searching for the killer since last Wednesday. They arrested Mangione while he was eating at a McDonalds restaurant, hundreds

of kilometers from the scene of the crime. Police say Mangione was carrying a backpack at the time of his arrest. In it, they say they found a weapon

consistent with the one the killer is thought to have used.

The Mangione family speaking out about the arrest, saying, our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi's arrest. We offer our prayers to the

family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.

I want to now bring in CNN's senior law enforcement analyst, Charles Ramsey.

Charles, of course, a lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Luigi Mangione now behind bars. I want to talk about the evidence and what was in the

backpack. That weapon, as we said, consistent with the crime.

[10:30:00]

But also this manifesto. And I wonder how all of this could work toward the prosecutor's case as that is being built.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, all of it is going to work toward the prosecutor's case. I mean, they recovered a weapon, a

firearm and a silencer. They certainly will run, if they haven't already, a ballistics match to see whether or not they can actually place that

particular weapon at the crime scene.

But remember, they also recovered some DNA. They recovered a fingerprint. I'm sure they've gotten a search warrant already to take a DNA sample as

well as fingerprints. Of course, he's under arrest on a gun charge now in Pennsylvania, which automatically would call for fingerprints.

And they'll match all that up to the evidence that they found in the crime scene. In addition to the gun, they also found the phony ID, the fake ID

that he used to rent a room at a hostel in New York City. So they've got a very strong case against this particular individual.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. And in terms of the motive and understanding his frame of mind at the time, of course, authorities are looking at his online

presence, speaking to family members also.

And frankly a lot of people are relaying their shock at this, that Luigi Mangione wasn't sort of that profile that you would connect to some kind of

-- take out a CEO. It's really fascinating to look at all these elements. But the motive is what's going to be interesting here.

RAMSEY: Well, they found, in addition to the firearm and the fake ID, they found a two page -- it's being described as a manifesto -- but some

writings that actually showed his dislike, his displeasure toward the health care industry.

Now according to his former roommate in Hawaii, he had suffered a serious back injury and was under constant pain as a result of that. And I guess

his insurance was through UnitedHealthcare and not everything was covered apparently.

Anyway, it led to a lot of anger toward the health care industry and as a result of that. So we're kind of looking into that. We don't know for

certain whether or not that's the motive unless he actually talks to police and actually provides them with the motive. Everything is still

speculation.

But I think it's very strong speculation that he did have a gripe with the health care industry.

GIOKOS: So great to have you with us. Much appreciated.

Charles Ramsey there for us.

And still ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, we take a closer look at a notorious Syrian prison, where inmates were tortured and worse.

Plus, from searching for prisons to delivering aid, Syria's White Helmets volunteers have been playing a crucial role. We'll talk with one of the

leaders about the challenges ahead.

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[10:35:00]

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GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos.

Our top story this hour, the Syrian rebel coalition has named a caretaker prime minister, Mohammad al-Bashir, to lead the country through a new

phase, a transitional phase. Smoke rose over the capital, Damascus, earlier this morning. A CNN crew heard loud explosions. It is unclear what caused

them.

Now for several frantic hours on Monday, rescue teams were scouring through Syria's notorious Saydnaya Prison, dubbed the "human slaughterhouse" by

Amnesty International. It was suspected that some prisoners were trapped in secret cells inside. Clarissa Ward was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): The stream of families never stops climbing toward Syria's most notorious Saydnaya Prison, pushed on by reports that thousands

of people imprisoned by the regime of Bashar Al Assad are still trapped alive in a section underground. The red section of the prison they've been

trying for days to reach it Massoud Labut (ph) tells us.

"There's no oxygen because the ventilation went out and so they all may die. For the sake of Allah, help them."

WARD: Is someone from your family in the prison?

WARD (voice-over): "My three brothers and my son in law," she says.

The roads are choked with cars full of people looking for loved ones. As soon as they see our camera, they approach, holding lists of names of those

who vanished inside Assad's dungeons never to be seen again.

"You have to get them out before tomorrow," this man says. "They don't have food. They don't have water."

WARD: Everybody has just started running. It's not clear if they have managed to get into this part of the prison.

WARD (voice-over): "My God, my God," the woman prays, "my God," as the crowd surges toward the prison.

WARD: So it looks like they think that they have managed to get access a lot of celebratory gun fire. people have us flooding in.

WARD (voice-over): After the initial jubilation, an agonizing wait for confirmation from the rescue workers. Many here have been waiting for

decades. Hope was something they didn't let themselves feel until now. Rescue workers with Syria's White Helmets break through the concrete

looking for a way in.

No one is certain where this red section is or if it even exists. Inside the prison, family members are searching too.

WARD: You can see people everywhere just combing through all the papers and records they can find, looking for names, seeing if maybe their loved

ones are there.

WARD (voice-over): Tens of thousands of Syrians were forcibly disappeared in Saydnaya, lost in the abyss of a prison that was known as a

slaughterhouse industrial scale arbitrary detention and torture all to keep one man in power.

WARD: They call this the white area of the prison because they say the conditions here are much better than in other areas but you can see. It's

still miserable.

WARD (voice-over): In the center of the prison, another frantic rush. Someone thinks they have found a tunnel. They desperately try to get a look

inside. Others look on helpless, not knowing is agony. Assad may be gone but the legacy of his cruelty remains.

WARD: After we return from our trip to Saydnaya, a group called the association of detainees and the missing in Saydnaya said that they do not

believe that the red section exists, that they are confident that all of those who were detained in Saydnaya were released on December 8, before

11:00 am.

And the White Helmets, those rescue workers that you saw there have now confirmed that they have concluded their search -- Clarissa Ward, CNN,

Damascus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Farouq Habib is with me. He's with the White Helmets, the group Clarissa just talked about. And joining us now from Idlib, Syria.

Sir, thank you so much for joining us. We're seeing these images just emotive and frantic search for more prisoners in Saydnaya prison.

[10:40:06]

Your team eventually concluded that there was no one else trapped underground. There was hope, perhaps fear as well, that people were in some

other section of the prison underground. Take me through what you and your team experienced.

FAROUQ HABIB, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER, WHITE HELMETS: Well, thank you.

Well, yesterday was a glorious day for all the Syrian people. But today it was a sad day for thousands of families of missing persons. People had

hopes and they continued to live in a denial phase, hoping that they would find their beloved ones under the ground in Saydnaya prison.

But in fact, also reports confirms that tens of thousands of detainees were sent to this prison but in fact, they are were only a few thousand, 3,000

or 4000 people who were there at the time when the regime collapsed.

Most of the other detainees, they were either executed or buried in mass graves or transferred to other detention centers. It took us almost two

days because we had to respond to every report, to follow up on every piece of information.

And honestly, that was at the expense of searching in other prisons and detention centers. Five of our teams who were already overstretched, under

very difficult logistical challenges on the ground, they were fully occupied at Saydnaya prison, digging the ground, searching for everything.

And there were no detainees left, no hidden cells there. And yes, we could use this time to search in other areas.

Now currently, our teams are already deployed to other areas because we know that there are tens of secret prisons across Syria in Al Ba'ath party

centers and military bases, in private prisons held by the Kifah Moulhem (ph) groups and Hezbollah and people are still -- they still have hope.

And we have to keep fighting and struggling until the last minute, because every minute counts.

GIOKOS: Absolutely.

I mean, frankly, we saw some of the images and the -- and the disappointment on so many people's faces as they were going through

documents and still hoping to see a face of their loved ones.

You said something really important, that there's a lot of secret hiding places or secret prisons right now.

Have you discovered any locations that you're looking at, potential sites, to release more people?

HABIB: Yesterday, we announced a financial reward for any legitimate information on secret prisons. And we have received thousands of reports,

actually. And you can imagine, it takes a lot of time to process, investigate and identify these locations.

We have reached many of these locations but we found no detainees yet. But we continue to investigate and search. And we hope we could get people

alive.

GIOKOS: Farouq, it's really difficult to put a number to this but through all the, you know, all the people that are contacting the White Helmets

right now, what's your estimation of the people that are missing?

HABIB: Well, there have been many human rights organizations already working with the U.N. for years to document the cases of missing persons.

And we estimate the number of at least 200,000 people missing. Most of them were kidnapped or detained by the regime or its affiliated militias. It's

an unbelievable number --

(CROSSTALK)

GIOKOS: Yes.

HABIB: Yes. I feel that pain because I was a detainee myself and I know how much it's hard for families not to know their whereabouts or if their

beloved ones, sons or daughters, are alive or not. And even when you arrive to this prison and you see the torture machines -- yes.

GIOKOS: Yes. I mean -- and this is this is my question, Farouq. You were saying you're a former detainee. I want to talk about some of the images

that we saw.

We saw a child walking out. That was a famous video that came through, that went viral. We've seen women, we've seen people in a horrible condition and

state.

Could you describe some of the stories that you've encountered?

Because you've lived through this yourself.

HABIB: At Saydnaya prison, we encountered a lady, a young woman with three children.

[10:45:03]

And she said that, when she was detained, she was 19 years old. And now she is 33 years old and has three children. She was raped and they were born in

the prison. And they don't know anything about the external world.

And this is the first time they see the light. And there are so many similar stories. We found people who lost their mind. They hysterically

started laughing and they didn't believe what was happening.

Other people, they lost their names. They don't remember who they are or where -- from which city they came. A lot of sad stories. And definitely we

need a lot of psychosocial support to all those people who are traumatized, the detainees and their families, especially those who are still looking

for their missing loved ones.

GIOKOS: Farouq, thank you so much for taking the time and sharing these stories with us. It's an important time, as you say, in Syria. We

appreciate it and we wish you all the best.

Farouq Habib there for us.

I'll be back with more news in just a moment. Stay with CNN.

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GIOKOS: This week on "Call to Earth," we are going deep into the Mediterranean Sea with divers Ghislain Bardout and Emmanuelle Perie-Bardout

as part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. Their organization, Under the Pole, has spent 20 years exploring underwater habitats and building the

scientific case to ensure their future.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The ocean covers nearly three-quarters of our planet but it is home to some of the least

explored and least understood ecosystems on Earth.

Beneath the surface, ocean ecosystems are collapsing. As sea temperatures rise, shallow coral reefs are the canaries in the coal mine, succumbing to

mass bleaching events and blasted into ecological oblivion.

But deeper ecosystems are still clinging on. Husband and wife duo, Ghislain Bardout and Emmanuelle Perie-Bardout, have sailed their expedition schooner

to the furthest reaches of the planet, all with the aim of discovering and documenting these deep ecosystems before it's too late.

EMMANUELLE PERIE-BARDOUT, UNDER THE POLE: We're going places where nobody has been before. So everything you look at is kind of new. I remember, when

I was a small girl, I thought, like, underwater exploration was finished because I've been looking at Cousteau for years and it looked like

everything was done. Then I grew up.

[10:50:00]

And it was like a new area for exploration appeared. And each dive we do in the mesophotic is like a new sense of exploration.

WEIR (voice-over): The mesophotic zone, sometimes known as the ocean's Twilight Zone, lies between 30 and 150 meters below the surface, the

deepest waters the sunlight reaches.

GHISLAIN BARDOUT, UNDER THE POLE: We are talking about a huge ecosystem that covered the entire planet. All the shore, everywhere. It's just below

30m, 40m. And there are for sure many species, many different ecosystems that all have a huge importance.

So acquiring a better understanding of their ecology is essential for the conservation of those depths.

WEIR (voice-over): The mission is to locate these deep sea hot spots and then create comprehensive scientific records, demonstrating their vital

ecological function, and gain protection for their future.

PERIE-BARDOUT: It's very important to study now on the Mediterranean coast because of all these heat waves that we had underwater, that have killed a

lot of ecosystem in the surface zone. So we want to see now how it's going in the mesophotic one, to prove their importance and to protect it.

WEIR (voice-over): In the same way a terrestrial forest forms a canopy and creates its own microclimate. Underwater treelike corals, like red

gorgonian and black coral, also create a refuge for species, changing the microenvironment.

BARDOUT: It's an ecosystem which is highly rich. It's a source of abundance at sea. But as far as you cut it, the ecosystem collapse,

disappear and afterwards you just have a desert down there.

WEIR (voice-over): Across their dives in the Mediterranean, Ghislain and Emmanuelle's team have spotted signs of devastating industrial bottom

trawling, which threatens the very existence of these marine habitats.

BARDOUT: The problem with bottom trawling is that it destroys everything down there. When you have species like black coral or gorgonian coral, for

example, they can take years, dozens of years, hundreds of years to reach the size they are and which built the habitats for all the other species.

And that can destroy in just one trawl.

And if we want to be able to continue having benefit from what can oceans and sea offer to us, we really have to look at it in a different way, in a

sustainable one.

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GIOKOS: We'll have more from "Call to Earth: Under the Pole" tomorrow and you can watch the full documentary, "Forests of the Deep" on CNN this

weekend. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

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GIOKOS: A grassroots organization of atomic bomb survivors from Japan was recognized earlier today at the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in

Oslo, Norway.

Nihon Hidankyo received the prestigious award for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. The Nobel committee praised the group for

demonstrating, through witness testimony, that nuclear weapons must never be used again.

[10:55:00]

The group of survivors has dedicated their lives to trying to rid the world of nukes.

The 82nd Golden Globe awards are just around the corner and a new batch of films and TV shows are up for the first trophies of Hollywood's award

season.

Crime musical "Emilia Perez" leads in the film with 10 nominations, including nods for Best Motion Picture in both Musical or Comedy and the

non-English film categories.

Also notable, a first time nomination for Pamela Anderson for her role in "The Last Showgirl." And the first major Hollywood award nomination in over

a decade for Demi Moore for her role in "The Substance."

Meantime in television, fan favorite "The Bear" leads the pack with five nominations. It's up for Best Television Series in Musical or Comedy and

multiple acting categories.

Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Stay with CNN. "NEWSROOM" is up next.

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