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Syrians Across Globe Celebrate End of Assad's Regime; Biden: Fall of Assad Regime a 'Moment of Risk & Opportunity'; Russia Grants Asylum to Assad and His Family; Leader of Rebel Group Speaks Out; U.S. Says It Struck 75+ ISIS Targets in Syria Sunday; Notre Dame Reopens in Paris. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 09, 2024 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington tonight. Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a victory for the entire Islamic nation.
[00:00:38]
Rebel groups in Syria promise a new future after 50 years of iron rule by the Assad family.
And as Syrians discover troves of treasures in Assad's presidential palace, we're going to take a close look at who is funding Syria's new political masters.
Plus, Donald Trump gives his first television interview since the election. More on how he plans to deal with, in fact punish, his political opponents and forgive the January 6th insurrectionists. That's ahead.
The leader of rebel forces in Syria says that defeating the Assad regime is, quote, "a victory for the entire Islamic nation."
Abu Mohammad al-Jolani gave his first public remarks since the takeover, ending in just a few days, decades of the Assad family's brutal rule in Syria.
Syrian state TV celebrated the fall of President Bashar al-Assad on the evening news, just hours after he was overthrown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Welcome. After 50 years of injustice under Ba'ath Party rule and 13 years of crime, tyranny and displacement, and after a prolonged struggle in the face of all facets of the occupier's forces, the operations unit of the military leadership announced today, December 8, 2024, the end of this dark era and the beginning of a new era for Syria.
Hello to our viewers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: What a remarkable newscast to hear there.
Well, a source tells CNN that Assad, a key ally to Vladimir Putin, fled to Moscow with his family. The Kremlin says they were granted asylum.
After the rebels took the capital, they said they were actively searching for Assad. Some of the fighters, along with civilians, entered his lavish home, ransacked his official residences. New video appears to show Assad's luxury car collection in a garage near his main palace in Damascus. Look at all that wealth: Lamborghinis, a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari F-50. That routinely sells for more than $3 million.
Syrians around the world are celebrating the end of Assad's regime in parts of Lebanon, Turkey, Libya, and Greece, where many refugees have fled through the years. They held up the rebel flag, marking the beginning of a new era.
Of course, the question now is what happens next in Syria? CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, has more on Assad's fall from power.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After decades of savage, horrific rule over in a matter of days. Thousands of Syrians celebrated in the streets of Damascus after rebel forces advanced on the capital early Sunday morning, declaring it free of President Bashar al-Assad.
YOUSSEF AL-YOUSSEF, SYRIAN REBEL ANCHOR: We announce to you from the Syrian news channel the victory of the great Syrian revolution. After 13 years of patience and sacrifice, we won the bet and toppled the criminal Assad regime.
WALSH (voice-over): Facing crumbling resistance from regime forces, rebels launched a stunning lightning offensive. Russia undermining its long-term ally by announcing he had fled the country and was granted asylum in Moscow.
Hours of jubilation followed as civilians and rebels entered the presidential palace, looting furniture with children running about. A sign of how every day the suffering he inflicted had been. Some even touring the presidential kitchen in a land where starvation was once a weapon.
"What would you like?" one woman says while filming. "Our people are hungry. Take whatever you want."
Traces of Assad were being dismantled across the country. This statue of the man who had children gassed in a Ghouta basement 11 years ago, toppled in the Eastern city of Tartus. His image torn down from buildings in Damascus and on top of the gates of Homs city center. Symbolically, where protesters tore apart his image more than a decade ago in a scene that defined the civil war's early days. Inspired by the seismic shifts of the Arab Spring, Syrians rose up in
2011, demanding democracy, but were met with live rounds and eventually jet planes, chemical weapons, and mass executions and torture.
[00:05:11]
Hundreds of thousands were killed, millions displaced.
As rebels swept through the capital on Sunday, images surfaced of prisoners being released from the notorious Saydnaya prison from which so few emerged, dubbed the human slaughterhouse by Amnesty International.
The militant figure leading this rebel offensive is Abu Mohammad al- Jolani, seen here prostrating in prayer upon entering Damascus.
Once affiliated with al Qaeda, Jolani has been suggesting he has matured from his extremist roots, though there are deep concerns about what kind of new Syria may now emerge.
At one of the oldest mosques in the world, in Damascus, he was received with applause and jeers as he hailed total victory.
ABU MOHAMMAD AL-JOLANI, LEADER OF SYRIAN REBEL FORCES (through translator): This victory, my brothers, is a victory for the entire Islamic nation.
This new triumph, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the history of the region.
WALSH (voice-over): Without doubt, a new chapter, but with the joy of change comes anxiety at the future.
And surely a reckoning of sorts for the decades of horror past that could mire the hope of the days ahead.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: And real questions about that rebel group, past connections to al Qaeda. I'm joined now by Kim Ghattas, a contributing writer for "The Atlantic" magazine, contributing editor with "The Financial Times," also author of "Black Wave." She joins us live from Los Angeles.
Kim, it's great to have you. You have reported from this region for years. And I just have to ask: your surprise, astonishment. Do you have any to see how swiftly Assad, the Assad family, after decades of brutal rule, just fell to pieces, disappeared in a moment, it seemed?
KIM GHATTAS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": Great to be with you, Jim.
I think, yes, we're all transfixed by what happened over the last week or so in Syria and how quickly, in the end, the Syrian regime and the Ba'ath Party and Bashar al-Assad vanished after five decades of brutal, murderous rule over Lebanon [SIC] and for three decades, also until 2005, occupation. Sorry, murderous rule over Syria and also until 2005, brutal occupation of neighboring Lebanon.
I think there was a confluence of events that made this possible so quickly. First of all, we must remember that Syrians fought Assad for 13 years trying to bring him down. And in the end, he ruled over a pile of rubble and a divided country, and his own army was exhausted.
He could only survive the push against him. The efforts to topple him that started in 2011 with a civilian peaceful uprising. He could only survive that with the help of Iran, of Hezbollah, the Shiah militant group in Lebanon that is an ally and a proxy of Iran. And eventually, they also needed to bring in the Russians in 2015.
Now, over the last few months we've seen Russia is busy with Ukraine. Iran has been shown to be very vulnerable to Israeli attacks. And Hezbollah in Lebanon has been decimated by the recent Israeli military campaign against Lebanon and Hezbollah.
And so, I think it was clear for groups on the ground that, if they were to strike and try this again, this was the moment. And indeed, their bet paid off.
But I think --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GHATTAS: -- it's not so much the disbelief, Jim, that it could happen so quickly. It's that, even if somebody had analyzed that he could fall, they wouldn't have dared utter this until maybe Thursday or Friday of last week, because the Assad regime had incredible capacity to survive, despite everything, and in spite of everyone.
SCIUTTO: Until -- until now.
I want to get to a question here which relates to what follows. But also, a basic piece of that is, is what follows better. Because you make a good point about how these regimes are fundamentally brittle, and there's so much historical precedent for it.
The shah in Iran was untouchable until he fell, seemingly in a day, or weeks. Saddam Hussein was untouchable until he fell. Right?
But in both those instances -- and there are other examples -- what followed was -- was not necessarily better. Right? And HTS has roots in violent jihadism; continuing ties, according to the U.S. intelligence, to ISIS.
Is it better for HTS to be running Syria than Assad? Assad is gone. That is good, given all the mayhem and violence he has brought about on his own people. Will HTS be a fundamental --fundamentally positive move?
[00:10:05] GHATTAS: I think it's hard to outdo Bashar al-Assad in terms of being bad for Syria and bad for the world. Half a million people, if not more, died over the last 13 years because of how he unleashed violence against his own people.
And 90 percent of the people who died in Syria in that war were killed by the regime and its allies, Iran, Hezbollah and Russia.
Bashar al-Assad encouraged jihadists to travel to Iraq after 2003 to thwart America's efforts there and to make life difficult and bloody and violent for American troops.
His brutal clampdown on the uprising in Syria is what caused the refugee crisis. Millions of Syrians fleeing that country, going to Europe and beyond, which brought populism and the rise of the right wing in -- in -- in Europe.
So, it's hard to see how much worse things can get. And one can only hope that things can only get better.
Yes. You know, al-Jolani and HTS have a checkered history. They have moderated, but I think there are two things to keep in mind here.
They're -- they're not the only players on the ground. There are other rebel groups that participated in this offensive, including Kurdish and Druze. Or the Druze also participated in -- in the push against Bashar al-Assad. So, that's one thing to keep in mind.
Second, the Syrians are -- you know, have been dreaming about this moment for 13 years. They've gone through the intra Syrian fighting that a country like Libya went through immediately after deposing, removing Libya -- Libya's Gadhafi. So, they've been through the pain. And I think they have the ability now to come together.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GHATTAS: But it is going to require one thing, Jim. It is going to require international support: moral support, financial support. And it is going to require the regional players -- Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Iran -- to support this transition, as well and not bring their power games back to Syria.
SCIUTTO: Yes. You know, as we see those statues come down, so evocative -- evocative of Saddam's statues coming down a little over 20 years ago in Iraq.
Well, Kim Ghattas, I'm sure it's not the last time we talk about what follows in Syria. Thanks so much for joining tonight.
GHATTAS: Thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden called the collapse of the Assad regime a, quote, "fundamental act of justice" in remarks from the White House on Sunday.
He also offered a blueprint for how the U.S. plans to support the region in this moment of clear instability.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Joe Biden on Sunday calling the fall of the Assad regime, quote, "a moment of historic opportunity," but also quote, "a moment of risk and uncertainty."
The president saying that U.S. policy had contributed to the weakening of Iran and Russia that facilitated, in part, the situation in Syria.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I want to say it again. Sovereign Syria with a new constitution, a new government that serves all Syrians. And this process will be determined by the Syrian people themselves.
And the United States will do whatever we can to support them, including through humanitarian relief, to help restore Syria after more than a decade of war and generations of brutality by the Assad family.
ALVAREZ: And he also went on to outline a roadmap forward for Syria, saying, for example that the U.S. would support Syria's neighbors: Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel.
Also, preventing -- the U.S. would prevent the resurgence of ISIS. That the president himself would speak to his counterparts in the coming days and also send senior administration officials to the region. Though when and who still unclear.
But he also called on the engagement of Syria -- Syrian groups in this transition, essentially encouraging them to speak out. Now, the president and his senior administration officials making clear over the course of the day on Sunday that, while the U.S. would play a helping hand, it is ultimately up to Syria to decide its next steps.
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: And of course, there will be a new U.S. president soon with his own decisions to make.
Iran's foreign ministry weighed in on the unfolding events in Syria on Sunday. Iran, long a key backer of Assad, says it will respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, though not without some caveats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Our interaction with the group that took over Syria will depend on their behavior; on what policy will they adopt against the Islamic Republic of Iran. What policy will they have against the Syrian Shiites? What will be
the distance between them and the Zionist regime? What will be the distance between them and the terrorist groups, and how will they behave?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:15:00]
SCIUTTO: It's not clear, though, that Iran has much influence over what follows here, given the loss of the Assad regime.
The Iranian ambassador to Syria has warned the fallout from that collapse could spark a conflict involving other countries in the region, and that Turkey, as well, will find it's beyond American control.
Still to come, sources say Syria's president is now in Russia after receiving asylum from the Kremlin. We're going to have the latest on that and efforts to protect Russia's military assets inside Syria, if it can.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Russia has now requested an urgent private meeting of the U.N. Security Council in the coming hours in response to the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, a regime Russia has supported brutally over the last several years.
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the country's military to take control of a buffer zone separating Israeli-occupied areas from the rest of Syria.
A source tells CNN that Russia has granted Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his family asylum, citing humanitarian reasons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BONDAREVA, ANCHOR, RUSSIA-24 (through translator): And now for the breaking news from agencies. The former president of Syria already the former president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, is in Moscow and has received asylum in Russia.
This was reported by TASS with reference to the sources in the Kremlin, Assad and his family members arrived in Moscow, and Russia granted them asylum for humanitarian reasons, the sources said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SCIUTTO: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow with more from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia has granted former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and members of his family asylum, a Russian source tells CNN.
And the Russians are saying that they are doing this on humanitarian grounds.
The Russians, of course, for a very long time, were one of the main backers of the Assad regime. And it seems as though right now, as Assad has fallen, they have now allowed for him to come here to Moscow and stay here.
This really came after a day on Sunday --
PLEITGEN (voice-over): -- where the whereabouts of the former Syrian leader were very much unknown, very much in question.
The rebels who entered Damascus said that he had fled, but it was unclear where he was. And it was actually the Russians who first confirmed that Assad had left power and that he had left the country, as well.
PLEITGEN: We are in front of what used to be the embassy of the Syrian Arab republic here in Moscow.
And as you can see, the flag up there that used to fly of the Syrian Arab Republic already has been taken down. If we pan to the door of the building, we can also see that there is no longer a plaque of the Syrian Arab Republic there either.
The one thing that does remain, if we pan over to the other side is a bust of Hafez al-Assad, who of course is the father of Bashar al- Assad. The Assad family ruling Syria, of course, for decades.
The Russians, for their part, have said that they are talking to all of the armed groups who are on the ground in Syria. The Russians, of course, very concerned about their substantial military assets that they have inside Syria.
A massive air base in Khmeimim very close to Latakia, but then also a port in the Mediterranean in the city of Tartus. The Russians, of course, recently conducting a naval exercise there.
The Russians themselves also now very much in question. What is going to happen to their military assets on the ground and whether those will need to be pulled back to Russia?
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: I'm joined by Jill Dougherty, a CNN contributor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Jill, thanks so much for taking the time tonight.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Sure.
SCIUTTO: So first, I want to begin with what this means for Russian influence in Syria and the region. It invested enormous resources in money and troops on the ground there. And participation, frankly, bloody participation in a bloody campaign by Assad against his -- his own people.
And now, Assad is gone. What does it mean for Russia?
DOUGHERTY: Yes. I mean, there's -- you know, kind of the property part of it, the bases, the air base and the naval base.
But I think, when you get into prestige and influence in the Middle East, I think that's where it really hurts because, you know, let's go back to 2015, when Russia came in and launched a major air campaign to basically rescue Assad's regime.
And they did it for a number of years. But now Russia, because one of the main reasons it's distracted with the war -- by the war in Ukraine. And it was not able to stop these rebels from coming in and just taking over. And that -- that's really significant.
And then you have to look at the allies of Russia, as well. Certainly Iran. Iran is looking much weaker, too.
So, it's -- you know, does Russia still have the influence that it had in the Middle East? And can it do two things at once? You know, could it -- could it have contained this uprising or not? It certainly didn't. And it looks bad for Russia.
SCIUTTO: Yes, its notable that some of the veterans of that 2015 campaign, Russian veterans, commanders responsible for those attacks on civilians, went on to carry out quite similar tactics against civilians in Ukraine.
What about the real estate, as you say, Jill, there? Very key naval base for Russia, its only one on the Mediterranean, but also an airbase there.
Is there any chance that it could negotiate its way to keep those bases under whatever form the new leadership of Syria takes?
DOUGHERTY: Absolutely. I mean, that's the one thing that they're trying to do. And you can bet that they are negotiating furiously.
There have been some reports from Moscow that the leaders of the rebels have guaranteed some type of access to the base, or the safety of the bases.
I think it's a little too early to really figure that out, because even, you know, you look at the Russian military bloggers, who often take a much more realistic approach to things than the Kremlin. And they're saying, not so fast. It doesn't appear that stable; situation is tense, et cetera.
[00:25:10]
So, I think we have to wait. But those bases, as you pointed out, are very, very important. And I would say especially the naval base. It's kind of a repair and supply base and is very important for the Russian navy.
It also is very important for Russia's activities in -- in many places, including Africa. So, they definitely want to hold onto it.
SCIUTTO: And what of Assad himself now? Russian officials say, according to state news, there that he's been granted asylum. I must say, asylum is not something I would personally find valuable in a country such as Russia, given the way it treats many of its own people. But is Assad of any use to Vladimir Putin now?
DOUGHERTY: You know, that's a great way of putting it, because I don't think he's of any use to Putin right now.
I mean, the relationship really went back to the old Soviet days with Assad's father, a long-standing, you know, relationship that continued.
But what can Assad do for Putin? I mean, basically nothing. It's kind of a you know, pathetic thing now he's in Moscow. But there's nothing, really, I think, of interest for -- for Putin.
So, Putin has to find some way of dealing with the new rulers or, you know, the people who control Syria at this point. And I do think that they are concerned about what comes next.
You know, just the fact that this happened so quickly.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
DOUGHERTY: I believe underscores the instability of these dictatorial regimes. And Putin, as we know, has been really paranoid about --
SCIUTTO: Yes, yes.
DOUGHERTY: -- color revolutions and quick changes, et cetera. So, I think there's -- there's probably a lot of, you know, serious thinking in -- in Moscow. What -- how did this happen? What does it mean?
SCIUTTO: No question. And I'm sure in Tehran, as well. I mean, the brittleness of these regimes: evocative, certainly, the fall of Saddam Hussein some 20 years ago, as we see those statues come down there across Syria.
Jill Dougherty, thanks so much, as always.
DOUGHERTY: Sure.
SCIUTTO: There are hard and concerning questions about the Syrian rebel group, classified as a terrorist group by the United States, that spearheaded this uprising and the leader of that group. Still ahead, HTS's, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's rise to prominence and its ties to ISIS. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:31:23] SCIUTTO: Welcome back. Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The Lebanese army has deployed reinforcements along part of its border with Syria. The army says soldiers are set up along its Eastern and Northern borders to, quote, "maintain security and protect civil peace."
There are already some 2 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon alone. Many others around the region and Europe, as well. The prime minister says Lebanon wants to distance itself from the repercussions of the Syrian rebel offensive.
I'm sure a lot of the leaders in the region want to.
Israel's prime minister has ordered Israeli troops to seize the buffer zone that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria. They've begun using heavy equipment to reinforce an engineering barrier inside that buffer zone.
Also today, the IDF's Arabic spokesperson warned residents in Southern Syria to remain inside their homes because of fighting in the area.
Netanyahu went to the Golan Heights and said Israel's presence in that buffer zone will be temporary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This is an historic day for the Middle East. The collapse of the Assad regime, the tyranny in Damascus, offers great opportunity, but also is fraught with significant dangers.
One of them is the collapse of the separation of forces agreement from 1974 between Israel and Syria. This agreement held for 50 years. Last night, it collapsed. The Syrian army abandoned its positions.
We gave the Israeli army the order to take over these positions to ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of Israel. This is a temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Here's what we know so far about the main rebel group, classified as a terror group by the U.S., that spearheaded Assad's ouster in just a number of days.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, is a former affiliate of al Qaeda that has been designated, as I noted, a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., also by the U.N. and several other nations.
The group is led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. The U.S. has placed a $10 million bounty on him.
Al-Jolani addressed the terrorist charges against him and HTS in an exclusive interview recently with CNN -- CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: People listening to this are going to wonder why they should believe you. You are still a specially designated global terrorist by the United States with a $10 million bounty on your head.
Your group is a proscribed terrorist organization by the United States by the U.N., by the E.U. and others.
ABU MOHAMMAD AL-JOLANI, HEAD OF HTS (through translator): I say to people, don't judge by words but by actions. I believe the reality speaks for itself.
These classifications are primarily political and at the same time wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Natasha Hall is a senior fellow with the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She joins me now from Washington.
Natasha, thanks so much for joining tonight.
NATASHA HALL, SENIOR FELLOW WITH MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: The U.S. designates HTS a terrorist organization for a reason. It had a past affiliation with al Qaeda. It's carried out suicide bombings over the course of the war.
So I wonder, what's your view? Have they substantively changed or just changed for show, as it were, because as they've moved through territory, they've said were a different group right now. They've even said that they're going to protect religious minorities, et cetera.
[00:35:07]
Are those real substantive changes?
HALL: Well, I mean, HTS has a history of governing in Idlib for the past several years. And myself and others have long sort of advocated for more negotiations with them, sort of removing some sanctions or even a designation in return for a better behavior.
Because they have ruled with an iron fist, actually, in Idlib. And just a few months ago, there were actually protests against Jolani and his rule in Idlib.
For now, it seems like they're saying all the right things and not just saying them, but doing them. I've been contacting friends of mine in -- all over Syria in areas that have been captured by the rebels. And not only are religious minorities being reassured and, in most cases, but even those that had always lived in regime-controlled areas that were very, very fearful initially when HTS came in. And even government positions have -- have remained.
So, there was no de-Ba'athification process, if you will, here. It seems like HTS has learned a lot from -- from its own past mistakes, but even America's past mistakes.
SCIUTTO: Right. De-Ba'athification after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. For folks who don't remember, the U.S. basically disbanded the army, got rid of anybody tied to the Saddam regime, and then found, well, a good amount of chaos in the wake of that.
I mean, a question from my perspective would be, why would HTS be changing? Right? I mean, would they be changing just to get a little breathing room, or would they be changing because they're calculating that, well, now we can rule the country, but we have to make these accommodations in order to rule the country?
HALL: Well, that we can't possibly know. What we do know is how they've ruled in the past and what they're doing right now.
And I think the big mistake would be to sort of lift a designation without ensuring that good behavior, seeing, more, more steps towards that peaceful transition of power, potential elections, but really good governance, I think.
And not just, I would say, the protection of religious minorities, but allow -- also allowing them to sort of live their lives, as well. Because protection is one thing, and complete freedom and rights --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HALL: -- is a completely different thing.
So, we'll need to see all of that. But what I can say is, HTS is in a vulnerable position, so it might be willing to make more accommodations now than later.
Yes. Listen you don't have to look far back in history to -- to see moments like this, moments of temporary joy: the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, in Iraq; the fall of Mubarak in in Egypt, in Cairo; that moment in Tahrir Square in 2011; Gadhafi's departure.
And yet, what often follows, right, is something, if not equivalent, right, because I don't want to minimize the death and destruction and torture that Assad has carried out on his own people, and his father, for some 50 years. But what follows is far from perfect. And in many ways equally unstable.
What will make the difference here? Right? We can't know at this moment whether it will be much better, but what would we need to see for it to be different? A step forward for the Syrian people?
HALL: Yes. Well, I mean, I would first make a really crucial distinction between what happened in Iraq and Libya and what's happening in Syria.
These were foreign-imposed sort of invasions and coups on these countries. This was a homegrown effort. Did it happen because there was a breakdown in the regional balance of power? Yes, perhaps. But these are Syrians.
And -- and I think their unity has been forged in sort of a crucible of, like you said, death and destruction for the past 13 years.
So, I'm hoping for a better future, but it is a perhaps a dangerous hope. But I think that there are steps to -- to get in that direction. And the question for me is really spoilers all around, both internal and external.
SCIUTTO: Yes. well, so many open questions. One very positive sign, right, is to see those prisons opened and those people who suffered so much freed.
Natasha Hall, thanks so much for your views. W
Well, U.S. bombers and fighter jets struck more than 75 ISIS positions inside Syria on Sunday. The story and the significance after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:43:19]
SCIUTTO: A CNN team inside Damascus said they heard strikes in the Syrian capital overnight.
Not clear who carried out those strikes, though. Reuters reports that Israel conducted three airstrikes earlier on Sunday.
Also on Sunday, U.S. forces conducted their own air strikes on ISIS targets inside Syria. A Pentagon official says F-15 fighter jets, A- 10s, B-52 bombers targeted ISIS leaders, operatives and camps.
The official said the strikes were part of an ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade and defeat ISIS and to make sure it does not attempt to reconstitute in Syria.
President Joe Biden reinforced that message in a statement from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: We're clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its capabilities and to create a safe haven. We will not let that happen.
In fact, just today, U.S. forces conducted a dozen of precision strikes, airstrikes within Syria, targeting ISIS camps and ISIS operatives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Joining me now from Brisbane is retired Australian Army General Mick Ryan. He is also a former commander at the Australian Defense College. Thanks so much for joining.
GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Great to be with you.
SCIUTTO: Now, it strikes me where the U.S. struck in the last 24 hours inside Syria used to be an area controlled by Russian forces. With the fall of the Assad regime, those Russian forces are now gone. And -- and I wonder if that's quite a pointed demonstration of the decline of Russian influence in Syria as the result of Assad's fall.
RYAN: Well, I think it's partially that. The U.S. Air Force, as well as others like the Israeli Air Force, will now have freer access to the airspace in Syria, because there's just no coherence in its air defense network anymore.
[00:45:11]
But there is an added bonus that it is targeting areas previously defended by Russia and sending a message that, you know, you can't rely on the Russians to help you out.
SCIUTTO: So, let's talk about ISIS here. The -- President, Biden says, does not want ISIS to return. The U.S. has had a small military presence in Syria going back years through the Biden administration and the previous Trump administration, as well.
This group now in charge of large parts of Syria, Hayat Tahrir al- Sham, has, according to U.S. intelligence, continuing ties with -- with ISIS, as well as past ties with al Qaeda.
What does HTS do about ISIS? Does it allow ISIS a path to reconstitute itself?
RYAN: Well, HTS, if it wants to remain in government and wants to rebuild its country, is going to be reliant on overseas support.
And I think that overseas support from countries in Europe, Saudi Arabia and the United States is going to be reliant on them severing ties with ISIS, as well as helping the Israelis or the Americans to target ISIS and other terrorist organizations that remain in their country.
SCIUTTO: You have covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine quite closely since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, going back in February 2022.
I wonder what this tells us about Russia's overall strengths and weaknesses here. It's a common view that Russia, effectively distracted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, doesn't have the forces or resources to -- to protect Assad, as it did in the past. Does this show -- does this expose Russia to be in a weaker position than we knew even a week ago?
RYAN: Well, I think these kind of dictatorships that we're seeing in Russia are always weaker than they want us to believe.
But superpowers can overextend themselves. We saw that with the United States in Afghanistan. We've seen it with Russia in Afghanistan before.
But at the end of the day, whilst there's a lot of people who think this you know, is bad for Russia, it's probably not going to be as bad for Russia as we believe now. I mean, in 2022, the reputation of Russia took a beating in Ukraine. It managed to come back from that. It'll come back from this, too, probably.
SCIUTTO: Before we go, President Trump before the complete fall of the Assad regime, but a few days ago, as things were not looking great, made a point of posting on his social media platform that this is not the U.S.'s war, that the U.S. should not be involved. Perhaps signaling that he might well want to not get involved as president but might even remove U.S. forces from -- from Syria. Would that be a mistake?
RYAN: Well, the U.S. has a direct interest in a secure and stable Middle East, and if intervening, even in a limited way, in Syria assists that, it may have to do so, regardless of what the intention of the new administration is.
SCIUTTO: Mick Ryan, thanks so much for joining.
RYAN: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Well, on Sunday, Joe Biden stressed his commitment to bring home freelance journalist Austin Tice, who was captured in Syria back in 2012, 12 years ago.
When Biden was asked if he would support an operation to retrieve Tice now, he said, quote, "We want to get him out. We have to identify where he is."
Tice's parents have asked for help locating him, saying a government- vetted source had told them their son was well and being cared for.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to Tice's safe return. Let's hope that family, who suffered so much, gets some good news.
We'll be right back with more.
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[00:52:45]
SCIUTTO: Now, to some other stories we're following.
Donald Trump addresses policy and pardons in his first major television interview since his election. The president-elect says he will look at issuing pardons to the January sixth rioters on his very first day back in office. 4
He is leaving some room for his appointees to decide whether to go after those who led investigations into his conduct during the Capitol attack.
Trump was pressed on whether he'd direct his pick to send political opponents to jail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: For what they did --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone on the committee, you said?
TRUMP: I think everybody on the -- anybody that voted in favor --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to direct your FBI director and your attorney general --
TRUMP: No, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- to send them to jail?
TRUMP: No, not at all. I think that they'll have to look at that. But I'm not going to -- I'm going to focus on drill, baby, drill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: He's leaving open the possibility there of jailing elected members of Congress for taking part in a commission to investigate January 6th.
Well, Trump is still pledging to launch mass deportations, as well, of people who immigrated into the U.S. illegally. He suggests he's open to working with Democrats to protect DREAMers. Those are those who were brought to the U.S. as children.
Authorities in New York are combing through evidence as the man who shot and killed a health insurance CEO remains on the run. The NYPD has released more pictures of the alleged shooter, believed now to have left the city. Authorities still trying to confirm the suspect's identity and find the weapon used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Those are the pictures there they released today.
On Sunday, divers once again searched a lake in New York's Central Park, apparently looking for a gun used in the crime.
In another part of the park, police already found the gunman's backpack. What did it have inside? Monopoly money.
Another story we're following: the long-awaited reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral arrived this weekend with a great deal of fanfare, as world leaders and tourists alike flocked to Paris to witness the moment.
The first mass was celebrated Sunday, marking a new era for the gothic architectural masterpiece.
Melissa Bell will take us to the weekend's exciting opening.
[00:55:04]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris once again open for worship. The very first mass, held on Sunday after --
BELL (voice-over): -- a devastating fire ripped through the cathedral in April 2019.
The grand opening ceremony was on Saturday night. Fifty heads of state attended, including President-elect Donald Trump and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had a chance to meet for the first time since Donald Trump's reelection at the Elysee Palace before the ceremony.
Then that ceremony inside Notre Dame to celebrate its reopening.
But the consecration of the altar and the cathedral as a whole not until Sunday morning, allowing that first mass to take place. What we understand is the plan is now for three masses a day to be held each day for the next six months. Such do they believe the appetite of the faithful will be to return to Notre Dame, restored, one of the main architects of the restoration explained to me, not so much to its grandeur of five years ago, but beyond that, to the grandeur of what it was in the 19th century, when it was last fully restored at the time when that spire that collapsed so dramatically in 2019 was built.
BELL: Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: So great to see it back together.
Well, here in the U.S., a Major League Baseball player now has the biggest contract in the history of sports. According to reports, superstar outfielder Juan Soto has agreed to a 15-year deal with the New York Mets -- my team -- worth at least $765 million, approaching a billion dollars.
According to ESPN, the deal could wind up paying Soto more than $800 million if certain conditions are met.
That dwarfs what was a huge deal just a year ago, Shohei Ohtani's current contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, worth a mere $700 million.
You might say it's crazy.
Thanks so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto. I'll be back with more news right after a short break.
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