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Millions of Syrians Displaced Inside and Outside Country; Netanyahu Orders Israeli Military to Seize Syria Buffer Zone; Syrians Across the Globe Celebrate Fall of Assad Regime; Taylor Swift Wraps Up Her Eras Tour. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 09, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster. If you're just joining us, here are today's top stories.

Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his family have fled to Russia after rebel forces toppled his regime. Sources say they've been granted asylum on humanitarian grounds.

South Korean prosecutors have banned President Yoon Suk Yeol from traveling overseas amid an investigation into his attempt to impose martial law last week and potential insurrection charges, too.

President Yoon publicly apologized on Saturday, but it was too little too late, as his party is set to seek his resignation and are pushing for his suspension.

And a Major League Baseball player now has the biggest contract in the history of sport. According to reports, superstar outfielder Juan Soto has agreed to a 15-year deal with the New York Mets worth at least $765 million. ESPN says Soto could earn more than $800 million if certain conditions are met.

The Lebanese army has deployed new troops along its border with Syria. Lebanese officials say the soldiers are there to maintain security and protect civil peace.

Lebanon says it wants to distance itself from possible repercussions of the Syrian rebel offensive. We're joined live now from Damascus, Syria by UNHCR representative Gonzalo Vargas Llosa. Thank you so much for joining us.

Just take us through your concern about that border area, first of all, because obviously other borders around Syria as well are a concern for the countries in the region.

GONZALO VARGAS LLOSA, UNHCR REPRESENTATIVE FOR SYRIA: Sure. Thank you very much. I mean, maybe we'll take a very, very quick step back.

The context in which all this is happening, this is a country, of course, that has been at war for 13 years. There are at least 16 million Syrians who are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. Seven million Syrians have been internally displaced over the years and more than five million Syrians have fled Syria to neighboring countries and beyond.

Now, in the past few days while the fighting has been going on, almost 400,000 Syrians have been internally displaced within the country. So the humanitarian needs and the phenomenon of forced displacement is huge.

Now, on the return of the forcibly displaced, and that links, of course, to the issue of the borders, I mean, you know, we have all seen over the past particularly 24 hours an enormous amount of excitement from Syrians inside Syria who've been displaced over the years, but also from many, many Syrians who are outside Syrian refugees.

People who have been waiting, you know, for years for a change to take place in Syria that would allow them to come back. Now, well, we have certainly seen a change happening in the past few days. And so there is really here now an opportunity for that dream to be realized.

And so that enthusiasm, you know, is valid and is understandable. However, for that voluntary return to happen and to be successful, there are at least two or three things that are absolutely required. One, of course, is a peaceful transition, peaceful transition to power. That is on the political side. And, of course, that part is led in the U.N. by the special envoy.

But at the community level, while we need to see that peaceful transition at the political level, we need to see at the community level tolerance, reconciliation between those who stayed here during the war and those who were uprooted and want to return.

[04:35:00]

But also equally important, we really need to see an injection of humanitarian support and financial support by the international communities. As I was saying at the beginning, this is a country that is on its knees on the economic side. Its infrastructure is destroyed. Its economy is destroyed. And so if we want that dream of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of Syrians to come back home, they cannot do it. They cannot come back to a place that has nothing.

Now, going specifically to the issue of the borders. Yes, we have seen over the past day or two days some Syrians crossing the border not far away from here, less than an hour's drive.

So these are, again, indications that, yes, people have been waiting to come back and now they see an opportunity. But as I said, for that opportunity to materialize, there are a number of things that need to happen from the side of those actors who are in charge here.

FOSTER: Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, really appreciate your time today in such a fast-moving environment. And we wish you well with your work, with so much moving around. Thank you.

We're going to cross now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us from the occupied Golan Heights, live for us. Jeremy, a lot of movements in that area, too. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Israeli troops have been going into the Syrian buffer zone on the other side of this border fence right here. This is the line that separates the Israeli occupied Golan Heights and Syrian territory.

There is a buffer zone of about two kilometers where Israeli troops have not been positioned for more than 50 years. But now Israeli troops are inside that buffer zone. And we're also told, according to the Israeli defense ministry, that Israeli troops have also captured positions beyond that buffer zone as well in Syrian-held territory.

You can see my cameraman, John, is now zooming in on a building here where moments ago we just saw some Israeli troops who were positioned inside that buffer zone. And then if he whips back around over here, this gate that is over here is where we have seen Israeli military vehicles have gone back and forth throughout the day. Yesterday was the first day that Israeli troops began going into this buffer zone after the Israeli prime minister said Syrian troops left their position on the other side of that buffer zone.

According to the prime minister, that meant the collapse of the 1974 agreement between Israel and Syria that has held for more than 50 years. And he then sent Israeli troops to go and take over those positions, effectively positioning Israeli troops between the communities here in the Golan Heights and those newly victorious Syrian rebels. So as you can see, this gate is open at the moment, and we expect that Israeli troops will continue to go inside and outside of that area.

Now, in addition to what we're seeing here in this buffer zone, we also know that the Israeli military has been conducting airstrikes inside of Syria. We have been hearing and seeing those jets overhead throughout the morning. And we know that the Israeli military said they are going after strategic weapons of the Israeli -- of the Syrian armed forces, going after ballistic missiles, air defense systems that the Syrian -- that were previously held by the Syrian regime.

So a lot of military action is taking place here as a result of the fall of the Assad regime yesterday, which stunned the region at large, of course. And of course, in this community as well of Majdal Shams, where we are now, we also know that there are people who have family on both sides of the border. The people in this area consider themselves to be Syrians of the Syrian Druze community. And many families here are separated by this 1974 demarcation line with families on both sides of that border.

FOSTER: A truly historic moment, isn't it? Jeremy, thank you so much for joining us from the Golan Heights.

Well, reaction to the historic weekend events in Syria pouring in from around the globe as everyone tries to make sense of it.

We'll be right back.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Syrians around the world celebrating the end of the Assad regime. In parts of Lebanon, Turkey, Libya and Greece, they held up the rebel flag marking the beginning of this new era. People braved the rain in London to show their support, gathering in the iconic Trafalgar Square.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't speak for all Syrian people, but I can confidently say the majority of Syrian people probably didn't think this was going to happen, not even in their dream. So it's very surreal. And I think the happiness is shared amongst all Syrians all around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: In Sydney, Australia, Syrians were dancing and singing. On the streets, as you can see, they started setting off fireworks. When the sun went down as well.

Iran's foreign ministry weighing in on the unfolding events in Syria. On Sunday, Iran, a key backer of Assad, says it'll respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, but 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)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, the Iranian ambassador to Syria warns that the fallout from the collapse of Assad's regime could spark a conflict involving regional countries and Turkey that will go beyond American control. I'm joined now by Steven Erlanger, a chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for The New York Times. Stephen comes to us live today from Berlin. Thank you so much for joining us.

I mean, it is a day of hope, isn't it, for all of those Syrians who felt so suppressed by the often barbaric regime that's just been ousted. But at the same time, we don't know what's going to replace it.

And we have a main rebel leader who, you know, used to identify as a jihadi. But his rhetoric in the last few days has been very positive. So how are you reading it?

STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, I think you're right. We know what's gone and what's gone has been horrible and barbaric. Half of Syria is either displaced or in exile.

[04:45:00]

More than 12 million people. So there is enormous reason for hope. At the same time, what's coming, we really don't know. You have a fragmented Syria. It's been fragmented for a long time with different armed groups.

And Mr. Jolani leads one of them and probably the most efficient of them. He's saying all the right things about bringing together a coalition of all the fighters. But there are hours at play.

Iran, you've just heard. Turkey has serious interests. Russia is very concerned.

And the meddling of big powers, I think, will hurt. And also there's a lot of worry given Jolani's past. I mean, he is an Islamist. Now, is he less radical now than he was before? He still has a big bounty on his head for terrorism. But again, he's saying all the right things.

But let's say if you're Israel, one would have to worry about a fragmented Syria where radical Islamist groups who have no love for the Israeli Jewish state will feel freer to operate. At the same time, it'll be much more difficult, presumably, for Iran to keep supporting Hezbollah. It could almost starve it because it has been through Syria that Iran has been funneling weapons and money to Hezbollah.

So it's a very interesting time. It's a dangerous time. The rhetoric is good. But we really want to see what's going to happen. Will there be a real transitional government? Will there be an effort to pull in all minorities? Or will Syria continue to fragment? Will armed groups who control large, different parts of Syria agree to come together? We really have no idea.

FOSTER: The Iranian ambassador's got a point, hasn't he, when he talks about this being, you know, beyond American control. They don't have a foothold there. Turkey now has a pretty strong foothold there, presumably. So how does this change the geopolitics in that region?

ERLANGER: Well, the Americans have about a thousand troops there basically fighting ISIS, what remains of ISIS. And but this has been a big victory for Turkey. But Turkey's main interest is, is -- are the Kurds in the north and the Americans back the Syrian Kurds, which annoys the Turks.

And the Turks are very, very eager to maintain control over their border. The Turks also want to be able to send back all these refugees. They had three to four million Syrian refugees back to Syria. It's become a big political issue inside Turkey.

So different countries with different interests hopefully can come together and stay together. But it was very notable that Donald Trump, for instance, said, you know, the U.S. should stay out of this. This is not our problem.

FOSTER: Yes, which is his view often, isn't it, of these foreign conflicts. But certainly with this one is probably, you know, because they haven't had the presence there for a long time, it's going to certainly have less of a role.

Steven, thank you so much for joining us.

Now, after Assad fled Damascus, some of the rebel fighters and civilians were seen ransacking his official residences. They also discovered his luxury car collection near his main palace. Video showing more than 40 cars parked in this huge warehouse. The collection includes a Lamborghini, a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari F50, which routinely sells for about three million dollars, I think. And remember, this is in a country where the United Nations estimates that around 85 percent of families struggle even to make ends meet. At least one of the cars has a Damascus license plate.

Taylor Swift has just wrapped up the concert tour that made her a billionaire. Up next, a look at the historic Era's tour that lasted maybe two years, would you believe?

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Taylor Swift held her final performance of the Eras tour on Sunday night at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver. Swift told her audience more than 10 million people have seen her perform throughout the nearly two-year run. CNN's Camila Bernal has more on Swift's Eras, which became the highest-grossing tour of all time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is the end of the Eras. Thousands and thousands of people who went to these shows or who even listened to the show outside of the stadium or even watched the live streams from other fans on social media. This was a more than three-hour-long concert with 44 songs in that set list.

So many people coming together. These concerts created earthquakes at times, boosted local economies. But if you ask a lot of the Swifties, they will tell you that it was about coming together to listen to the music, to share these moments and to sort of forget about some of the problems that they were facing in the world.

I met one of the super fans. Her name is Julie Barfuss. She gave me the friendship bracelets. I followed her along and I asked her what this concert and what this tour really coming to an end meant for her. Here's a little bit of our conversation.

JULIE BARFUSS, TAYLOR SWIFT FAN: There's so much community and connection with this group of people, the Swifties, that are out there. And it has kind of restored my hope and faith in humanity a little bit. I definitely am going to miss it in some ways, but also it is going to just sit on the shelf in my mind as this just really bright, happy memory of time.

And like I said, I will eternally be grateful to Taylor for giving this to us because really, what a gift it has been.

[04:55:00]

BERNAL: And Taylor Swift's team has not released official numbers in terms of how much this tour has grossed, but it's estimated that it's grossed more than two billion dollars. That is a record-setting number right now. The record belongs to Elton John.

And the U.S. Travel Association said that between the travel, the hotel, the food, the merchandise, Swifties spent about $1,300. Also, according to another estimate, the Swifties spent in the U.S. about $5 billion. But that is direct spending, so it is estimated that even more money was spent here in the U.S. So it's not just the money that Taylor Swift is making. It is also the impact on so many local economies, both here and overseas.

We're talking about the hotels, the restaurants near the venues where she played and performed. And so it's just so many people impacted by what Taylor Swift was able to accomplish over the last couple of years. So it's not just the Swifties that are going to be missing the Eras tour.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: She'll be back soon enough, I'm sure.

Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next after a quick break.

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