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Rebels Claim Control Of Damascus, Assad's Whereabout Uknown; Rebels Escort Syrian Prime Minister To Hand Over Authority; Rebels Take Damascus As Assad Regime Falls; U.S. Designated Syrian Rebel Group HTS As Terrorist Organization. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired December 08, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:32]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be with you. I'm Amara Walker. There's major breaking news in Syria as we are coming to air this morning. A lightning-fast rebel offensive ending 50 years of authoritarian rule in Syria. Just overnight, rebel forces say Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad fled Damascus as they took control of the capital and he has not been seen since this morning.

BLACKWELL: You hear it there. The news was met with celebration across Syria and beyond. The gunfire there in celebration as rebel supporters cheered in the streets and they tore down monuments to the Assad family.

We have new video in this morning. It shows rebels escorting Syria's prime minister, reportedly to a hotel, to officially hand over government authority. Shortly before that, the prime minister released this message. He said he was ready to work with new leadership.'

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD GHAZI AL-JALALI, SYRIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We are ready to cooperate with any leadership the people choose, offering all possible support to ensure smooth and systematic transition of government functions, preserving state facilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The prime minister said this happened very quickly with rebels sweeping through the country since launching the offensive last week and they claim to have captured four cities in a single day before reaching Damascus. And now the rebels are questioning Syrian military officers and others trying to find Bashar al-Assad even they made it here, you can see, inside his palace.

We begin our team coverage with CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour, who is live in Doha. Christiane, to you with this rapid advance and overthrow, as we welcome in a new audience at the top of the hour, just set the context for us what this means for the Syrian people, for the larger region and, you know, some of those questions that we'll have to wait to get answers to?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Indeed, Victor. So, the Turkish foreign minister has just finished a press conference in which he said, we woke up this morning to a totally new Syria. The Assad regime has fallen. It's over.

This wasn't just 50 years of dictatorial rule. It was one family rule that had a lock on Syria for the last five decades. And this all spiraled and started back in 2011, about 13 years ago, along with the Arab Spring, when the Syrians, young Syrians in the town of Daraa tried to, you know, protest the Assad government.

They weren't even calling him to be overthrown by that. They just wanted democracy, freedom. You know, the kind of things young people want. The Assad regime reacted very strongly and brutally, and that's what launched this 13-year civil war. Now, I asked the foreign minister where is Assad? Is he in the country? And this is what he said.

OK. Apparently, you don't have that. Apparently, you don't have the sound bite. But what he actually said was, I can't comment, I can't comment. And then under pressing for me, he said, I think he's probably now out of the country. So, that is what they think.

Now Turkey is a big backer of the anti-Assad forces. Since the beginning, Turkey has been essentially with the anti-Assad forces. Now, while they're not officially taking a massive, you know, victory lap, they are clearly not unhappy about the resolution of this crisis.

The question is, who are these new leaders? Who is al-Jolani? Is he a democrat? He used to be aligned with al-Qaeda. He then said, they're -- you know, they've branched off. He's trying to portray himself as somebody who can do what the Turks are calling for now, which is a national unity government, a government that respects the minorities. For instance, the Alawite minority, which supported the Assad regime that keeps the territorial integrity of Syria. So, that's for that.

Now, the big picture in the region is that Iran and Russia were the main Assad backers. The minute they saw Aleppo and the others falling over the last week, they pulled back their support. Iran has been moving its troops and its, you know, foot soldiers on the ground out of Syria. And the Russians are saying, we no longer support Assad. But the Russians are still there because they have a warm water port on the Mediterranean.

[06:05:03]

So, now all these regional governments, the regional nations, and including the United States are trying to figure out what is the best way forward for Syria. It's clearly a changed situation with Iran weakened after the Israeli attacks with Iran weakened, after the degradation of Hezbollah, with Russia weakened because of the war in Ukraine. And none of these big backers who for 13 years had invested in Assad against the people of Syria, none of these backers are willing to go out on a limb for him. AMANPOUR: So, it's a -- it's a new day in Syria. And we're not sure how it's going to turn out, but were certainly going to keep watching, Victor.

WALKER: Yes, a lot of uncertainty, Christiane, and if you can talk to us a little bit more about the opposition rebels led by this group, HTS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. And in terms of, you know, again, a lot of uncertainty, but how much of this is it being seen as a positive development given that this rebel group has ties to ISIS and al-Qaeda? I mean, it seems like there is a bit of unease because its relatively an unknown group.

AMANPOUR: Well, I think that is the million-dollar question. You're absolutely right, Amara. Nobody quite knows how this is going to, you know, proceed. Al-Jolani, who is the head of this group, gave an interview to our own Jomana Karadsheh when they were still in Aleppo. So that was days ago, before they stormed all the way up and to Damascus. Taking countries -- taking cities, rather, that as the Turkish foreign minister without barely a bullet being fired. Like a hot knife through butter, all the way to the capital. And then it was over because the backers did not stand behind Assad in the end.

The sort of slogan of the day by everybody, whether it's the United States, whether Qatar, whether Turkey is that it's Assad's fault. They're all saying he had a chance while this civil war was sort of on a calm boil relatively speaking, since 2016, to create an answer, the needs of the people, and the demands of the people to create national unity, to make sure that there was an actual functioning government.

And the Turks said, he never did it. The Qatari prime minister also said to me, he never did it. He lost the opportunity to still be in charge of Syria. And that's been coming for several years.

In terms of who this group is, I think, the Turks probably know the groups the best. They're also saying that this is going to open up the possibility of all the Syrian refugees who've gone to Turkey, and there are millions who've gone to Jordan, who've gone to all sorts of places and being held in camps for the last many, many years, 13 years. These Syrians have been held in these, you know, camps. I mean, you know, for their own sort of safety.

But nonetheless, they can't move out. They can't work necessarily or properly. And now they'll be allowed to go back, he hopes. Again, I'm sorry. We're going to have to wait and see.

You're right Jolani was aligned with al-Qaeda and ISIS. He then said -- as he was preparing, you could see now, in retrospect preparing to take the reins kept saying, well, we've broken with al-Qaeda. We're a different group. We've changed the name of our group.

They denounce ISIS as well. The United States -- even President-elect Trump said, we don't want to -- we don't have a dog in this fight. We're not getting involved in their civil war. But we will, you know -- and certainly the current administration in the U.S. saying if ISIS tries to take advantage, they will do what they've done in the past, which is presumably use airstrikes or the rest against ISIS. We'll wait and see.

One thing very interestingly, the Turkish foreign minister put the U.S. on notice that their Kurdish and other anti-Assad groups, who they have relied on for the last 13 or so years will not be tolerated. Any Kurdish group that has any links to the PKK, which is the Kurdish group that the Turks call terrorists, will not be tolerated. And the Turkish government, of course, will not work with them.

So, you know, one of the big questions I have to say, and the United States has not successfully or convincingly answered this, nor has anybody in this region, how did this happen with apparently nobody, you know, being prepared for it?

As surprised as we are, so are all these other countries which begs the question of leadership from all, you know, from all quarters as this region is in turmoil ever since -- and especially since October 7th of a year ago.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And we, of course, are getting the first glimpse of the U.S. philosophy at least from the president-elect, Donald Trump, who says that the U.S. should not get involved. This is not the US's fight. We're going to go to our correspondent in Washington in a moment to hear what President Biden's administration believes about what is changing there in Syria. But for now, Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much for setting the table.

With us now from Abu Dhabi CNN's Paula Hancocks. And, Paula, there are a lot of people waking up to this news who probably have been watching over the last week of the progress throughout several cities across Syria who've never heard of this group HTS.

[06:10:11]

So, what do we know about them and specifically about the leader of this this group?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, it is the group that has really led the charge throughout Syria. But I have to point out, it's not the only group. There are a myriad of different rebel groups that have been part of this effort that are part of the anti-Assad coalition loosely termed.

But certainly, HTS is the -- is the most significant one. And Abu Mohammad al-Jolani is the leader of that group, as you've just been hearing from Christiane there. The group does have ties or did have ties to al-Qaeda, to ISIS. Al-Jolani himself does have a $10 million bounty on his head and his group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. So, it's certainly not an easy transition at this point.

But what we've been seeing from al-Jolani really over recent months and years is him trying to soften the stance, to soften the reputation that his group has. And in fact, we've heard on state television, which has been taken over by the rebels, of course, just in the past couple of hours, there was a commander on television who has said that Syria is for everyone, without exception. And was trying to hammer home the point that everybody was going to be welcome and treated the same whether it comes to the minorities, the Alawites the Sunnis, the Shias, the Christians, because there are concerns within Syria that that this group may not be as tolerant of some of those minorities -- minorities most of which, of course, have been penalized and treated extremely badly by the Assad regime. But there are concerns from them as well about how they will be treated.

So, there are other groups that are part of this, some of them Turkish backed, some of them backed by the United States. And as we just heard there as well, some of them that turkey said they will not work with because there are Kurdish fighters within their ranks, which Turkey considers to be a terrorist organization, the PKK.

So, it is a very complex situation. It is not simply the anti-Assad rebels, the -- a coalition of these rebels. These are very different groups that all had one goal in mind and in common, getting rid of Bashar al-Assad. What's important, of course, is what comes next, whether there can be a smooth transition and whether there can be a -- working together between these different groups.

What we're seeing on the ground in Damascus at this point appears fairly promising. We're seeing no violence. We are seeing, for example, people going into the presidential palace. We're seeing families going in with children.

You also see gunmen within these presidential palaces that -- there has been some looting as well. Seeing people walking out with palace chairs, for example. But at this point it appears as though the -- it's fairly peaceful. The prime minister, for example, of the regime saying that he wants this peaceful transition, that he is willing to work with any government that the people choose.

He has been seen to be escorted by the rebels away from where he was staying, to a hotel where it was said that he was going to be handing over government authority. So, this is what's going to be looked at very closely at this point. What does this transition look like? Because there isn't just one anti-Assad group with one leader. It is a very complex situation.

WALKER: And, Paula, for those, you know, who are tuning into -- tuning into CNN completely caught off guard over what has just happened and now were wondering where the leader of Syria is right now. Let's talk about the timing of all this.

Yes, this was a lightning-fast offensive. And now you have the rebel groups in Syria saying that they have toppled Assad. But there were two wars that really impacted the fate of Assad and really put him in a vulnerable position because you had his biggest backers, Iran and Russia, basically hamstrung with their respective wars.

HANCOCKS: Exactly, Amara. The timing is absolutely key and there are two very good reasons why the main backers of Assad were not there when he needed them. As you say Russia was tied up elsewhere with the war in Ukraine.

[06:15:02]

You look at Iran and -- for example, Hezbollah had played a significant role in previous years when it came to shoring up the Assad regime. Well, of course, Hezbollah has been decimated by the Israeli military at this point. And Iran itself is very much on the back foot when it comes to this as well. So, they have pressing engagements elsewhere, which is why no one was there when it came to the backers for Assad.

BLACKWELL: All right. Paula Hancocks reporting for us from Abu Dhabi. As we continue to cover this breaking news out of Syria rebels say that they have liberated Syria. The question is now, where is now former leader Bashar al-Assad?

WALKER: We are going to continue to monitor the events coming out of Syria and the region. We're going to take a short break back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:20:35]

BLACKWELL: We got more now in the breaking news in Syria, the collapse of the Assad regime after five plus decades of rule in that country. Let's go now to CNN military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, good morning to you.

There's a U.S. official who told CNN that the end of the Assad regime is the collapse of Iran's artifice. As we kind of broaden the conversation and look at the implications across the region we've seen what Israel has done to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah as well in Lebanon. Put this piece of the puzzle into context. What this means more broadly for that region, specifically Iran?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Good morning, Victor. So, for Iran what they -- what has basically happened is all of their proxies and their one really major ally in the Arab world, perhaps with the exception of Iraq, has disappeared. In other words, the Syrian government, which for a very long time has been an ally of the Iranians all the way back since -- almost since the Iranian revolution that has -- that whole edifice has actually gone away because the minority government that in terms of the religious composition of it -- of the Assad regime only captures about six or so percent of the Syrian population.

And that fact was basically the minority control of a largely Sunni dominated population. And the Iranians used that as a stepping off point for their support of Hezbollah in Lebanon and also Hamas in Gaza. Now, that stepping off point has gone away.

You know, from a geopolitical perspective, this really limits Iran's options. They can turn to some areas of the Persian Gulf. They can turn a little bit to Iraq. But they no longer have this area in Syria where they could not only test out their weapons systems, join forces with the Syrians and with Hezbollah. But all of that has disappeared because of the HTS, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham victory. And that, of course, has made a huge difference from an Iranian perspective. And it also impacts what Russia is able to do in this area. And Iran and Russia are, of course allied with each other. But the Russians, with two bases in northwestern Syria, one an air base, the other a naval base, their control of those bases is now in question based on what has happened over the last 24 hours.

WALKER: And, Colonel, speaking of those bases, the U.S. does have a presence in Syria. Tell us about that. We do have a full screen to show you where we have bases and troops. And it's also interesting to hear, you know, that you have President Biden and President-elect Trump on the same page when it comes to Syria because, you know, President Biden has stated in recent days that he has no intentions of intervening in this.

And, of course, President-elect Trump also posting on Truth Social overnight that the U.S. should not get involved. But tell us the implications for the U.S. and what this means for the U.S. presence there?

LEIGHTON: Right. So basically, Amara, there are -- the 900 or so American troops in Syria. They're based primarily at a place called al-Tanf, which is confluence of not only where Syria is, but also where Iraq and Jordan meet, where those borders come together.

So, the primary mission of those U.S. forces is to go after ISIS. And there is also, of course, there's some small forward operating bases that are associated with the fight in Kurdistan, in the Kurdish portion of Syria. Those bases are very, very localized, very small. But all those 900 people are there for the anti-ISIS mission.

That is one thing that neither the United States nor any new government that comes from comes out of Syria would want to see resurface. They don't want ISIS to resurface. And that's the primary mission of the U.S. forces there.

WALKER: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you very much. We'll leave it there. Let's turn it over now to CNN's Betsy Klein at the White House.

[06:25:03]

And, Betsy, tell us more about the tone you are hearing in reaction to these events. Is it one of cautious optimism, more unease? What are you hearing?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Amara, this has been a very fluid and fast-moving situation. And President Biden has been briefed just every step of the way in recent days as these rebel groups have advanced on Damascus.

Now, officials are taking great care to emphasize that the U.S. is not planning to be involved in this conflict. And that is in part because the U.S. has designated one of those groups driving the offensive as a terrorist organization. Now, we have reached out to the National Security Council this morning for their latest reaction to these overnight developments. But overnight, we did hear from a spokesperson who said President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners.

Now, I want to underscore that word extraordinary. This is a very significant development in this 14-year war. And the Biden administration is keenly aware that what happens next has the potential to reshape the balance of power in the Middle East.

I also want to draw your attention to comments last night from national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the U.S. priorities going forward. That really take on new significance in light of what happened overnight. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: First, critically is, do not let this allow for the resurgence of ISIS, and we are going to take steps to make sure that that happens. That's not about the move down the highway from Hama to Homs to Damascus. That's about what's happening out in the East. And we will remain critically focused on it.

Second, we do have a profound interest in shoring up the security of our partners in the region, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, others. We'll do that. And third, we will attend to the humanitarian situation because we believe that we have an obligation to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Meanwhile, President-elect Trump has urged a hands-off approach, saying yesterday morning that the U.S. should let this all play out and not get involved. But breaking new reaction from the president-elect overnight, who said in a social media post that Assad is gone. He has fled his country. His protector Russia, Russia, Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer.

Now, Trump goes on to say that Russia lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine and says that he knows Putin well, and this is his time to act. Now, of course, Russia has been a key ally to the Assad regime, and this comes just hours after Trump met with Ukraine President Zelenskyy while in Paris. And he takes office in just 43 days so world leaders watching his reaction to all of these developments quite closely, Victor and Amara.

WALKER: All right. Betsy Klein, thank you so much.

Let's bring in Jasmine El-Gamal now. Middle East analyst and former Middle East adviser for the U.S. Defense Department. Jasmine, thanks so much for your time.

First of all, I just want to get your reaction to what really has been a spectacularly rapid fall from power for Assad. What is going through your mind as you see these images play out of people? The rebels inside the presidential palace. But also, as we are hearing that there is an active search underway for Bashar al-Assad?

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: Thank you, first of all, so much for having me. I'm here in Doha, where I've been attending the Doha forum this weekend.

So, I've been in touch with Syrians who are here at the forum, friends, colleagues, people I've known for years, people I know who've been fighting for this moment, who had never given up hope since that first time that Syrians went out into the streets back in 2011, protesting against the Assad regime.

They've never lost hope or energy in their fight for a free and democratic Syria. And so, just on a personal level, on a human level, to be able to be with these Syrians today and hearing them talk to their families back at home, talk to their families who are in exile.

One of my Syrian acquaintances today posted on social media and a lot of people actually have been posting today, I am no longer a Syrian refugee. I am a Syrian. I am just Syrian.

So, it's just an incredible moment of pride, of joy, of energy, tears. Of course, people, you know, understand that they have to think about the future, that there will be questions. That the road ahead will be long and may be complicated, but they're all -- sorry, but they're all saying, for now, we are celebrating. We start work tomorrow. Today we celebrate our hard work and we celebrate a free Syria.

BLACKWELL: Jasmine, the leader of this coalition, the leader of HTS, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, is projecting or at least attempting project -- to project moderation.

[06:30:05]

And there's a long list of extremist groups, Islamist groups that have overthrown or overtaken governments that have said they would be moderate and then ruled or led in a very different way. Of course, we saw that most recently with the Taliban when they overtook the Afghan government Afghan military.

What will you be looking for first? And maybe you're already seeing it today to determine if that claim of moderation is coming to fruition.

EL-GAMAL: That's right. And of course, that's a very valid question and it's a very valid fear as you said correctly as you stated there have been instances in the past where we've seen people come into power or at least attempt to come into power after the fall of a government or regime claiming to be moderate and then slowly moving away from that path of moderation.

It is something that we're going to have to keep a close eye on. That said Jolani has been moderating not in the last 24 hours or 48 hours, but really for the past several years. Now, I'm not making any judgments on whether or not he is a force for good or a force for positive change. That is something for Syrians to decide. But just as an outside observer, this is something that path to moderation is something that Jolani has been on for quite some time. And he has been making all the right statements over the last 48 hours.

He released I believe just today guidance for his -- for opposition forces basically saying enter the cities that you're entering enter humbly, do not loot talking to Assad forces telling them if you stay inside your homes, you're going to be safe. We're not interested in a war. So, he's saying all the right things for now. But yes, it is something to keep a close eye on.

WALKER: Jasmine El-Gamal, thank you very much.

If you're continuing to follow us here on CNN, it is a new day in Syria. Assad regime has collapsed. We continue to follow this breaking news out of Syria.

We'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:47]

WALKER: We are continuing to follow breaking news out of Syria this morning. Rebel forces claim to have control over Syria's capital City of Damascus.

The rebels say Syrians -- Syria's leader Bashar al-Assad has fled Damascus after their group entered the city with little resistance from regime forces. Now while Assad's whereabouts are still unknown, Turkey's foreign minister tells CNN that he has most likely left Syria.

BLACKWELL: Video shows rebel forces escorting Syria's prime minister out of a building. The rebels say they took him to a hotel to hand over government authority.

Now, the prime minister said in a statement earlier, they were quote ready to cooperate with any leadership the people chose.

Let's bring in now CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He's in London.

Nick, we spent most of the last 35 minutes or so talking about the geopolitical implications of this. But I'd like you to focus in on what this means for the people of Syria. Because over the last 13 years or so the world's attention has gone to Gaza to Ukraine to Afghanistan, but this has continued. What does this mean for those people living there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on- camera): Yes, I mean is the end to decades of probably one of the most brutal horrific regimes on the planets. I mean, it's important as we look at this moment to not forget what Bashar al-Assad stood for, this was the man who used sarin gas to kill essentially ended up being children in a basement in the eastern areas of Damascus in 2013. This is a man whose security forces were responsible for horrific scenes when the river in Aleppo was suddenly awash with the bodies of bounded men who'd been shot at point-blank range. This is the man behind the phrase starve or surrender used against rebel areas where they were denied any kind of supply or food during the regime tactics.

And I remember to myself just on a very basic level the ferocity of regime, the brutality, the clumsiness of regime airstrikes in Aleppo at the beginning of the civil war, I remember seeing the bodies of nine children brought out under the collapsed ruins of one house.

You couldn't get more brutal or horrific than Bashar al-Assad. And while he clearly won that civil war through Russian support Iranian support, it was the Syria that came afterwards that was still so repressive, so reliant, it clearly seems now on Moscow and Tehran support. And I think a symbol in the region of how a dictatorship and ghastly brutality could actually win out. And I think also to a worrying reminder for many that if wars like that go on long enough essentially, it's the extremists in the case of the extremists as part of the opposition, that's sort of spun off to get al-Qaeda religions and even some of them become part of ISIS that can often become a risk, too.

So, a deeply powerful moment here certainly, Victor. And one -- two that I speak an awful lot about exactly where we're headed going forwards. We don't know what kind of governors HTS the group that are behind this rebel movement are actually going to end up being, we know they have Islamist roots. We know of their previous terror affiliations. They now fervently deny. We know Turkey has clearly a strong hand in all of this.

[06:40:09]

But we know Turkey too has in the past tried to have people of that kind of affiliation. I remember in 2013, watching significant numbers of individuals from around the world go across the border into Syria to fight the regime, and so many of them ended up becoming what we later saw as being ISIS.

So, Turkey have seen this kind of move go wrong before, not to say they haven't learned their particular lesson here in their involvement in this case, but also too, you're hearing a lot from forces of moderation here who see this as a great moment of freedom. I remember as well spending time with them at the beginning of the civil war and seeing how their bickering between each other often led them nowhere.

It's a different Syria this morning, a lot of hope, a lot of desperate belief that democracy can finally win out, but I think a lot of warning signs from the past as well here. We're in that kind of moment of great jubilation that Syria so deeply and richly deserves right now, and hope for the future, but you just have to remember how torturous the past has been. That will echo on in terms of people's desire to see vengeance, potentially people's desire to have their beliefs win out.

And so, I don't think we're into an easy journey ahead at all. WALKER: Yes, a lot of questions about what happens next, and as you were speaking, Nick, we were showing images from this morning out of Istanbul. Of course, Turkey is one of the countries that has, you know, borne the brunt of the Syrian civil war, bringing in nearly three million Syrian refugees along with many of the neighboring countries that house Syrian refugees, so a lot of questions about what happens to the refugees, what their fate will be as well as the next step will be to --

WALSH (on-camera): Yes, (INAUDIBLE).

WALKER: -- you know, have a new government for Syria. But we're going to have to leave it there.

Nick Paton Walsh, great to have you this morning. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: And we'll expand the conversation on the implications what, of course, this means for the people of Syria, but also for Russia, Iran, Israel, the U.S., the broader global community.

Stay with us. A breaking news coverage of the fall of the Assad regime continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:53]

WALKER: We continue to follow breaking news out of Syria this morning where rebels say that they are in control of Damascus and that President Bashar al-Assad's whereabouts are unknown at this time.

Mouaz Moustafa is the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. He is joining us now. Your organization is a humanitarian organization that supports the people of Syria.

Mouaz, first of all, I want to talk about this contrast about you know, there's this stunning development in Syria. You know for years Bashar al-Assad has depended on Iran and Russia to prop him up in order to stay in power. They even sent troops and warplanes to help him do so. On the flip side you have the people and these rebels who were able to take over the government to remove Assad from power.

MOUAZ MOUSTAFA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SYRIAN EMERGENCY TASK FORCE: It's incredible, it's -- it's really incredible, and it's not just very Important for Syria and the Syrian people, this is a -- this is a new Middle East. You're talking about rebels by the way that we're fighting without any international support. No attack comes, no anti- air missiles, no Air Force. It's a coalition of rebels of different stripes from the seculars to the Islamists from the conservatives to the liberals and they all had to kind of rely on themselves to be able to defeat Russia, Iran and Assad in Syria and Iran includes Hezbollah beyond the IRGC, and all these other Iranian backed militia groups.

And we mean -- imagine what this means for Europe. Imagine what it means for Germany where there's a million Syrians that are now packing up and ready to go home. Excited to go home because it's safe, because they're no longer arrested for no reason, tortured to death, chemical weapons used on them. And you're talking about a 14 million people displaced between internally and externally. This is -- this is a great day of liberation for a country that has been under a tyrant and his terrorist sponsoring allies Russia and Assad for way too long. And it's -- it's just a wonderful day.

BLACKWELL: And was yours as a humanitarian organization, so I want to read something that was just aired on television in Syria. This person was introduced as a commander, a leader of the operation to overthrow Assad. And he said, we address all the sects of Syria. Syria is for everyone without exception for the Sunni, for the Druze, for the Alawite, we don't deal with people like Assad did.

What is your degree of concern or confidence for the people of Syria now that HTS is in control? HTS of course leading this coalition, but what's your view as you hear that?

MOUSTAFA: Well, I think first of all I want to say it's important not to reduce the entire revolution in Syria and these 14 years of revolution both these peaceful protests and armed struggle to just one faction. But one of the factions in operations -- in the opposition forces it is HTS and they have been the ones with the most experience in governance because they were in large in control of large parts of Idlib province for a decade, and they are the most structured.

[06:50:14]

So, all of these factions agreed on two major principles. We are going to defeat and kick out Iran, Russia, ISIS, and Assad from Syria, and then we are going to give Syria back to its people.

How that happens is very important. But this speech is very -- is wonderful. It speaks, number one --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MOUSTAFA: -- in the name of not just one group but the coalition of opposition forces that are the people of Syria who liberated themselves. And it says that we are not going to be the Assad regime or Iran or Russia or ISIS. And those are groups that -- that put people by specific sects and turn people against each other.

And I think what Syrians have learned throughout all of this, and the really important part that the Syrians did it by themselves without outside supports like Gulf states --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MOUSTAFA: -- or Turkey or whoever, is that they are now divided amongst this guy gives us money, we have to act like this country wants us to or that. They are acting on behalf of their own country. And what's incredible is they're feeling --

BLACKWELL: Mouaz, we have to wrap it there. But we, of course, will have so many questions over the next weeks and months as Assad is gone and as we are learning more about this group, HTS, and its leader, Jolani.

Mouaz Moustafa, thanks so much.

We'll take a break. Breaking news coverage continues in a moment.

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[06:56:05]

BLACKWELL: All right more on our breaking news the fall of the Assad regime. And we just got in a statement from Russia's foreign ministry, of course, they've been questions about Bashar al-Assad's whereabouts. According to this statement Assad quote, decided to leave the presidential post and left the country giving instructions to transfer power peacefully, close quote the statement said. And they also added quote, that Russia did not participate in these negotiations, close quote.

Now beyond where -- beyond the -- the assertion from the Russian foreign ministry that Assad is not in Syria any longer. It is not clear where he is. Of course, we know that the leader of this -- this rebel group HTS is now, of course looking for Assad. They've cons -- they've seized control of Damascus that ended the presidential leadership this 50-year reign of the Assad family. This militant leader of HTS says that Assad has left the capital, we now know from the Russians that he's left the country. We're being told Syrian security forces are still looking for him, questioning the prime minister, questioning members of the military and government officers. We of course will follow up with any Details as we get from that report.

WALKER: Yes, the scenes from the streets in Syria and really all around the world celebrating the fall of Assad and also people in Syria burning images of Bashar al-Assad, his Presidential palace also being taken over by the rebels, people bringing their families, little children running into the presidential palace as well.

This is really a spectacularly rapid fall from power for Assad. We're going to continue to follow this breaking news and all the images and reaction that's coming in from the region and around the world as we continue to follow Assad's -- Assad's regime collapsing this morning.

Back after this.

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