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Syrian Rebels Take Damascus; Russia Says Bashar al-Assad Left Syria; Bashar al-Assad's Whereabouts Unknown; UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting Manhunt. Russia Says Bashar Al-Assad Has Left Syria, Leaving "Instructions To Transfer Power Peacefully"; Rebels Take Control Of Damascus, Assad's Whereabouts Unknown. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired December 08, 2024 - 07:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:02:34]

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Good morning, and thanks for being with us. I'm Amara Walker.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. There is major breaking news out of Syria this morning. Fifty years of authoritarian rule in Syria are over. President Bashar al-Assad is missing. Foreign -- the Russian Foreign Ministry announced minutes ago that he left Syria and gave instructions to peacefully transfer power, but Russia says that they did not participate in these, and this is their word, negotiations. Assad has not been seen since this morning.

The news was met with celebration across Syria and beyond. As rebel supporters cheered in the streets, they tore down monuments to the Assad family.

WALKER: Rebels and civilians are already inside his palace, as you see here, roaming through its rooms, the kitchen, ransacking it. We've also seen images of children arriving with their families, others carrying out furniture.

And this morning, new video shows rebels escorting Syria's prime minister there in that suit, reportedly to a hotel, to officially hand over the government's authority. This happened shortly after the prime minister released this video message saying that he is ready to work with the new leadership.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MOHAMMAD GHAZI AL-JALALI, SYRIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translation): 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 VIDEOCLIP) WALKER: The prime minister said this takeover happened quickly. It really did. Just in a few days, rebels swept through the country, capturing cities in just over a week's time, and now they are searching for Assad, although again we are hearing that he has left the country, according to Russia's Foreign Ministry.

With us now from Abu Dhabi is CNN's Paula Hancocks. And Paula, I mean, of course the question is what happens next? Who fills this power vacuum? So tell us more about this rebel group, HTS, that led this coalition to overthrow Assad.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, this particular group, HTS, is one of a myriad of rebel groups, of anti-Assad groups that have been part of this effort. It's certainly the most prominent group, though.

[07:05:00]

It is a group which several years ago was affiliated with al-Qaeda. It was affiliated with ISIS in the past as well. But through the leader of this group, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, he has been trying to distance himself from those affiliations, saying that this is a different kind of group.

That is obviously the concern, though, that it does have these roots in Syria. We know, for example, that Julani himself has a $10 million bounty on his head from the United States. We know that the group is considered a terrorist organization. So it is certainly complex in the extreme.

But what we also know is that this is one of the many groups that has said now that they have freed Damascus, that it is free for all Syrian people, and millions within the country and around the world are celebrating the end of the Assad era.

Now, we know that there are another number of groups. Some are backed by the United States. Some are backed by Turkey. Some are considered a terrorist organization by Turkey as well. So they are all interlaced. They had a common goal, a common enemy, which was Bashar al-Assad, and we now know that he has departed Syria.

Of course, the question now is how do they move forward? What will this transition look like? We know that they're in charge of state media, and we know that they have had a commander on air who has been talking about this transition, trying to assure minorities that they would be protected.

Within Syria, you have Sunni, Shia, Alawite, Druze, Christian, many different groups, and minorities would potentially be concerned that HTS would not be supportive of them, if not even worse. But what this group is trying to do is to highlight the fact that they would be supportive, saying Syria is for everyone without exception.

Now, of course, we have to wait and see whether or not that is the case, but it's certainly a message that they have been trying to push recently. And it's interesting what we did hear from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying that not only Bashar al-Assad had left Syria, but also saying that he had given instructions to transfer power peacefully.

Now, this is what we're hearing from the Russian side. We can't independently confirm or deny that at this point. But we did see the prime minister being escorted by the rebels out of the building he was in, where he was supposedly taken to a hotel to hand over government authority.

The prime minister had said that he is willing to work and the government is willing to work with whoever the people choose. So on the face of it, and we are in the early hours of this process, but on the face of it, it does appear to be peaceful.

You have people walking into the presidential palace in Damascus, for example. You have children walking in as well. It does appear to be peaceful and as far as can be expected at this point. Victor, Amara?

BLACKWELL: Paula Hancocks for us. Paula, thank you.

Let's bring in now former U.S. envoy to Syria, Ambassador James Jeffrey. Ambassador, thank you for being with me. This statement from the Russian foreign ministry is the latest development, so I'd like to start there. They're confirming that Assad decided to leave the presidential post and has left the country.

What are the potential safe havens for Assad? If he's out of Syria, what are the most -- where are the most likely places he will be welcome?

AMBASSADOR JAMES JEFFREY, FORMER U.S. ENVOY FOR SYRIA: I'll touch on that in a second, but first, thanks for having me on. And secondly, let's get straight to the chase here. This is a great day for the Syrian people. It's a great day for the United States and our allies, Turkey, Israel and others, that this center of the Iranian tentacles in the region has collapsed.

As far as where Assad goes now, probably Tehran. I don't think the Russians will take him. I could be wrong because the Russians will try to negotiate to keep their bases up near Latakia, close to the Mediterranean.

WALKER: You know, as we're seeing images of people there in Istanbul this morning celebrating in the streets, you know, of course, we're seeing Syrian refugees around the world celebrating the fall of Assad. It may be a joyous, really momentous moment for the people.

But also, would you say there's a bit of unease and concern about what comes next, especially when it comes to how the next government may be formed, especially when you have, as you heard from Paula, you know, such a potpourri of different rebel groups who, you know, will now try to create a government?

[07:10:08]

JEFFREY: Absolutely. There are some immediate issues at the U.S. while we're, to quote, both the Biden administration and President-elect Trump, we don't want to get involved, certainly not massively on the ground, but we do have troops in country. We want them safe. We want chemical weapons.

We know Assad had to be secured. We want the Islamic State, which is still operating in the east of the country, continue to be suppressed. And we want to see a peaceful transition and no threats to the neighbors.

What we're hearing from the Gulf Arab states, from Jordan and from Iraq, is some nervousness. Assad was very unpopular. He was a threat to the region through his alliance with Iran, but he was a threat they knew through him and his father for 50 years.

They don't know who these guys are, and so there is some nervousness. We're going to have to work closely with the U.N., which has a mandate still on the books to try to reconcile everybody in Syria, and also stay close with our partners, which is, again, Israel, Turkey, the Arab states, and in the northeast, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

This is all very important, but it all can be done. That's the point I want to make. This is a really good thing.

BLACKWELL: Mr. Ambassador, what's your interpretation of how HTS and its leader, Julani, how they are executing this takeover, escorting the prime minister, Jalali, out of the government building into a hotel? Julani, who's head of this group, who posted on Telegram, don't fire off your weapons into the air. Do not approach government buildings.

The message to not just the people of Syria, but to the global community. What's your take on how they're doing it?

JEFFREY: So far, so good. We had indirect contact with his movement. When I was in government, we couldn't deal directly with them because they're on the terrorism list, but Syria is a very messy country. A lot of people are considered terrorists by a lot of other people. We saw him as a bulwark against Assad.

Two administrations, the Trump administration and then the Biden administration, worked with all these factions to freeze the conflict and stop Iran, Assad, and Russia from taking over the country. That worked until last week, and then the country started collapsing. Again, that's good.

Julani has been relatively effective in managing a significant chunk of Syria in the northwest with some 3 million people who fled Assad into the area. He's worked closely with the Turks. And again, we had USAID providing contractors support to the people in that area administered by Jelani. We had to sign waivers, but it all worked.

We didn't have any problems with him. He and his movement have not launched terrorist attacks internationally for many, many years.

BLACKWELL: Ambassador James Jeffrey, thank you so much for being with me.

WALKER: Let's get right to CNN Senior White House Producer Betsy Klein now. She's joining us with reaction from the White House, from President Biden, on this breaking news. What are you hearing?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, Amara, President Biden has been briefed every step of the way of this very fluid and fast-moving offensive by the Syrian rebels. And the U.S. has taken care not to insert itself into this conflict, and that is in part because one of those key rebel groups driving the offensive has been designated by the U.S. as a terror organization.

Now, we reached out to the National Security Council for the reaction on the latest developments, but overnight we heard from an NSC 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, extraordinary. This marks a very significant development in this 14-year war, and Biden officials are keenly aware that this and what happens next has the potential to reshape the balance of power in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, President-elect Trump weighed in earlier yesterday. He said that the U.S. should not get involved. But we also have new reaction from him overnight, including his own reaction on how Russia should proceed going forward.

Trump says in a new statement to social media, 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. Trump goes on to say that Russia lost all interest in Syria because of Ukraine, and he says that he knows Putin well and, quote, this is his time to act.

Of course, Russia, a key ally of the Assad regime, and this also comes just after President-elect Trump met with Ukraine President Zelenskyy in Paris yesterday. All of this as world leaders are closely watching what Trump does and how he reacts, taking office just 43 days from now. Victor and Amara?

[07:15:10]

BLACKWELL: Betsy Klein for us at the White House. Thanks so much.

Of course, we are pushing forward with new developments as this is a fast-moving story out of Syria. Syrians are celebrating after rebels take control of Damascus and declare that Bashar al-Assad's 24-year authoritarian rule and several decades more of the Assad family has all come to an end.

The Russian foreign ministry says that Assad has left the country. We'll take a closer look at the possible implications for Syria's neighbor Israel and the wider region in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:20:23]

WALKER: We are on top of breaking news out of Syria this morning. It is a new day in Syria. Rebel forces say the Assad regime has fallen as they stormed into Syria's capital of Damascus.

BLACKWELL: Bashar al-Assad was the second generation of an autocratic family dynasty that held power for more than five decades. Despite being accused of severe human rights violations, brutal assaults, Assad maintained power.

Here is CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour to explain.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So the palace that Assad used as his, you know, as his headquarters has now been overrun in terms of the images that you're showing and that are being broadcast and that the rebels are broadcasting. But at no point did Bashar al-Assad express, you know, solidarity with his own people and with the modernization in the region.

Remember when he first came to power, there was a group, there was a threesome of new Arab leaders. There was King Abdullah of Jordan who had taken over after the death of the longtime Jordanian monarch King Hussein. There was Bashar al-Assad in Syria after the death of the longtime dictator Hafez al-Assad.

And then in Morocco as well, Hassan VI had taken over after the death of his father. And there was a thought back then, and this is, you know, early 2000s, there was a thought that these three new leaders would usher in a new reality. Well, in Syria it didn't happen.

There was a lot of hope, there was a lot of investment by the United States and others to try to see whether there was a new ability to create maybe not a full democracy but at least some kind of different situation. But it never happened.

And then of course the assassination of Rafic Hariri, the reformist modernizing president of -- prime minister of Lebanon who was assassinated. The U.N. blamed the forces of Syria. You know, Assad always denied it. But that's what happened there. And then you saw the gradual dissolution of the Lebanese state as well.

And now all these years later, and in the interim of the Arab Spring when Iran came in specifically first to put down the Syrian-Arab Spring, Iran came in on the ground along with its Hezbollah foot soldiers, and then shortly thereafter, a couple of years later, Russia entered saying that it was coming in to put down terrorism.

And a point that Lavrov, the foreign minister, raised yesterday, they said we came into Syria and they came in on the ground, you remember, and they were serious proxies at the U.N. Security Council. They always were the political voice for Assad and protected him in the international community for all these years.

Now all that investment has essentially appeared to have gone down the drain. We don't know if there are any meetings between the rebels and the Turkish authorities and the Russians and the Iranians. We don't know how this is going to end up.

And we don't really know what the pathway by the rebels is going to be. They talk a good game right now. They're talking about being more inclusive. Julani, who is apparently the head of this rebel group, who was a member of al-Qaeda who then broke away, created HTS, or whatever it is, the group that they're with now, we don't know where they're going.

We also don't know whether ISIS will be reengaged, but we certainly do know that the United States doesn't want to get involved. We've heard a tweet from President-elect Trump, but presumably they will use their ability because they are, you know, they are also stationed in Syria.

How long that will last, we don't know. But they say that they will continue to operate against ISIS if that threat reemerges. So a lot of unknowns right now, except for the fall of the Assad regime. That seems to be clear.

WALKER: All right, Christiane, thank you for that.

Now Israel is responding to the situation in Syria by sending additional forces to patrol near the border with Syria. Israeli military personnel will be deployed to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights region. This is along the Syrian border and near Lebanon.

BLACKWELL: Now Iran has had a military presence in Syria for about a decade, primarily to help keep President Assad in power. With the rebels now taking over, the Israeli military says its new deployment will, quote, "strengthen the defense in the area and the forces' preparedness for different scenarios".

One expert believes that Israel's actions in Lebanon may have also influenced what is happening now in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

[07:25:04]

QUTAIBA IDLBI, RESIDENT SENIOR FELLOW, SYRIA, THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL: The war in Lebanon has set conditions for Iran's activities in Syria that has not really been in favor of the Assad regime. On one hand, of course, Hezbollah and Iranian militias across Syria have, you know, their capabilities decayed over the last six months, you know, of the war in Gaza and Lebanon.

But more importantly, Israel has been very active in preventing Iran from sending weapons or personnel to Hezbollah, especially in the last month of the war.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let's bring back now CNN Military Analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton. Let's stay right here in this -- the implications for Israel and what this means now that Julani and HTS are in control. Julani has his roots in al-Qaeda Islamists. Does he want that fight with Israel? I mean, considering all that must be managed now with taking over after Assad has been forced out, does he also want to head southwest?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Victor, good morning again. I think the answer to that is for the moment, no. Julani seems to be somebody who understands that he needs to consolidate power at this particular moment in time.

And what he's looking at, Victor, is basically melding together a workable coalition, not only of the people that he has with him right now, with the groups that he has with him right now, which are, you know, certainly a disparate bunch of different factions, but he also wants to make sure that he can have a viable government in Syria.

He's got a lot of challenges. Not only does he have to control the area, that -- to maintain control of the area that he has right now, and that includes, obviously, Damascus, but he also has to work with the areas in the west where perhaps loyalists to Assad still exist.

The other thing is in the northeast, in that yellow area around Raqqa, that is Kurdish territory, and that, of course, gives him a lot of challenges right there as well. So the last thing he needs is to go into Israel or do something that, in essence, provokes Israel to do something.

The Israelis have moved troops into the Balfour zone (ph), and the Golan Heights. Their 210th Division is the one that is looking into Syria and is basically to respond to anything that happens there. But the Israelis also do not want to get involved in anything in Syria. They're waiting to see what happens and, you know, what kind of regime Julani and his groups create out of what has happened here.

WALKER: Yes, and Colonel, from what we know right now, these rebel groups and, of course, HTS, they were able to topple Assad's regime without any foreign help from what we know right now. Moving forward, as, you know, we see how they govern, how a government is formed, do you believe that outside help will be needed? And, you know -- I mean, because it doesn't seem like Julani will be open to it, but what are your thoughts on that?

LEIGHTON: As far as outside help is concerned, in terms of consolidating power, he may want to have some discreet help given to him, and it really depends on who that might be. Perhaps the most likely candidate would include Turkey, perhaps some of the Gulf States in, you know, like Qatar or Bahrain, the UAE, countries like that, those are countries where he might be able to tap into some resources.

One thing that he will need, no matter what he really thinks in terms of, you know, his governance and his ability to do that, is economic aid. And that's going to have to come from a multiplicity of sources, but primarily the rich Gulf States would be a prime candidate for that as well. So the economic aid will be necessary to rebuild Syria, and that is something that he has to have as one of his primary aims if he's going to remain in power.

WALKER: But, of course, the world is closely watching what happens over the next few hours and days to see what kind of transition we may see.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, thank you so much.

Our breaking news coverage in Syria continues. Still ahead, the search for Bashar al-Assad as the Russian foreign ministry says he has left the country. Where has he gone? And what does this fall mean for the region?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

WALKER: All right. Back now to our breaking news out of the Middle East, where the Bashar al-Assad regime has collapsed in Syria.

Celebrations breaking out across the country as rebel forces declared Damascus free today. Claiming Assad had fled.

BLACKWELL: The sources tell CNN that there is an active search happening right now for Assad. Russia claims has left the country with instructions to peacefully transfer to power. I do want to read something that just came in right before we get to Nick Paton Walsh. Syrian rebels have declared a curfew in the capital of Damascus. Starts at the very top of the hour, 4:00 p.m. local time until tomorrow 5:00 a.m. That's from a statement by Military Operations Command just posted on Telegram starting at about 25 minutes.

WALKER: All right. CNN Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is with us now. Nick, we've been talking so much about the geopolitical implications and what this means for the region. But if we can focus right now on Syria and what this means for the people there, we've been seeing the celebrations out on the streets. We've heard from residents who say that they no longer will have to live in fear.

[07:35:00]

But it seems that there's also -- amidst the joyous moment, there is a bit of consternation or trepidation about what may happen next. What are your thoughts and what is your assessment of HTS and which way things will go?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, certainly there should be anxiety, and I'm sure mixed in with the jubilation there is. Look, in short, this is the removal of one of the most horrific brutal dictatorial regimes in modern times by an unknown.

We do think we know quite a lot about HTS, the group who led the rebel forces here. And this is a huge smuggler's board, different types of rebel groups here, some on the extreme fringes, others much more western-minded in terms of the moderate force that they wish to market themselves as being.

But ultimately, the leader of HTS, al-Jolani, is a man with a $10 million bounty on his head because of his former associations with Al Qaeda, associations that he now rejects and very much trying to suggest he is a matured version of himself. But as we well know, this is all easy to market oneself as in an offensive where you're taking towns and moving forwards militarily. The job of governance is exceptionally hard.

Although, the messages we've been hearing so far very, carefully put together from HTS is that they wish to be a government that has a space for all the different religions, the different sects, the different ethnicities inside of Syria. There's obviously one potential immediate issue outside of trying to heal the horrific rifts between the Alawi Shia that form the minority that essentially Bashar al-Assad relied upon to keep himself in power, and the Sunni majority who they persecuted horrifically in the civil war, and that's the Kurds who are supported by the United States up in the northeastern area that were the bulwark of the U.S. campaign against ISIS, died and did so much of the fighting for them.

Turkey, who've been pretty much, I think it's fair to say, the eminence grise behind this remarkable lightning rebel advance and, frankly, its sophistication and the sophistication and inclusiveness of its messaging, Turkey have made it quite clear they don't want to see any support for those Kurds because they see some of the affiliated groups of the Kurds in the northeast as being terrorists in the minds of Turkey.

So, we've already have one huge complicating factor here initially. Is that necessarily going to come to a head in the week ahead? Possibly not. It may get put on a back burner. But we're now dealing with the huge complexity of a group that's been in the sidelines for a long period of time and obviously, suddenly, found itself capable of taking on the hollow remains of the Assad regime abandoned, it seems, by Tehran and Moscow having to deal with a country that's been through utter horrors in 13 years.

Just to remind people, you know, the Assad regime, Bashar's father carried out the massacre of about 20,000 people in Hama in 1982. That was, you know, where we're building from. And the Syrian civil war saw the use of sarin gas against children's suffocating in a basement in 2013 in the east of Damascus. We've seen prisoners turning up in Aleppo's rivers bound and shot at point blank range. We've seen random airstrikes using barrel bombs, essentially the hollow, empty barrel filled with all sorts of metal fragments and explosive and just dropped on civilian areas to cause horror and damage, tearing across so much of Syria.

Bashar was responsible for some utterly horrific things, and that's certainly scarred a nation. And that will make them, I think, possibly many Syrians desperate for change, for hope, maybe for some kind of better governance, but also with an awful lot of tough stuff to get over.

BLACKWELL: Nick Paton Walsh reporting for us from London. Nick, thank you. And stay with us. We have more details coming in by the minute of the breaking news out of Syria. The Assad regime ends.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:40:00]

WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. As we follow breaking news out of Syria, Assad's regime has collapsed. We're getting new information by the minute. We are learning through reporting from our Nic Robertson that Assad left Damascus under Russian protection. This is from a source close to the rebels and that he traveled to Latakia in northwest Syria, that is a coastal stronghold for Assad. And that is also where Russia has an air base. So, obviously a lot of questions about where Assad is headed and if Russia will actually be giving refuge to Assad.

BLACKWELL: The ambassador we had on earlier, the U.S. envoy to Syria, said that he didn't believe that Russia wanted him that potentially be headed to Tehran, but with these new details, maybe that opens that possibility back up.

WALKER: Yes. And let's now turn to a CNN exclusive. We're hearing from Syria's top rebel leader speaking one on one with our Jomana Karadsheh. That leader has advised his fighters to be, in his words, merciful to civilians, adding that any defecting soldiers in the Assad regime would be safe if they laid down their weapons and surrendered. Here's part of that conversation.

[07:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABU MOHAMMAD AL-JOLANI, LEADER OF SYRIAN HTS (through translator): People who fear Islamic governance either have seen incorrect implementations of it or do not understand it properly. We are talking about something that aligns with the traditions and nature of the region. The most important thing is to build institutions.

We are not talking about rule by individuals or personal whims. It's about institutional governance. Syria deserves a governing system that is institutional, not one where a single ruler makes arbitrary decisions.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many Syrians are happy and will be happy to see the end of the Assad regime, but they're also worried about what's HTS rule would mean, including minorities.

AL-JOLANI (through translator): No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them. There must be a legal framework that protects and ensures the rights of all, not a system that serves only one sect, as Assad's regime has done.

KARADSHEH: You know, listening to you speaking, you've gone through quite the transformation. Once an Al Qaeda leader, your group has had affiliations with Al Qaeda, with ISIS, and now you are projecting this image of a moderate leader in a moderate group. What is HTS right now?

AL-JOLANI (through translator): Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is one of the factions in the region, just like all the others. Now, we're talking about a larger project. We're talking about building Syria. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is merely one detail of this dialogue, and it may dissolve at any time. It's not an end in itself, but a means to perform a task confronting this regime. And once that task is complete, it will transition to a state of governance, institutions, and so on.

I believe that everyone in life goes through phases and experiences, and these experiences naturally increase a person's awareness. A person in their 20s will have a different personality than someone in their 30s or 40s, and certainly someone in their 50s.

KARADSHEH: So, are those days behind you?

AL-JOLANI (through translator): Sometimes it's essential to adjust to reality, and because someone who rigidly clings to certain ideas and principles without flexibility cannot effectively lead societies or navigate complex conflicts like the one happening in Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right. Our thanks to Jomana Karadsheh for bringing us that interview. In other news. Now, we have yet to come. Investigators are expanding their search for who killed a health insurance. CEO in New York. The key piece of evidence that may not have helped the search.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

BLACKWELL: The search for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has now entered its fifth day. Police released two new photos of the suspect yesterday. Now, in one image, he's in the backseat of what appears to be a taxi.

WALKER: Investigators also say they found Monopoly money in a backpack they believe the gunman used. Investigators went back to Central Park yesterday where police divers searched a pond near the backpack's location. CNN's Mark Morales is joining us now. Give us the latest, Mark.

MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Amara, this is -- this investigation continues to scale up. But as you've seen, there's much more new evidence that's being collected. But in many ways, we're still in the same place. And that is, there is still no identification of who this suspect is. And in many ways, that's very critical, even more so than what we've seen if the suspect is still within New York City limits.

Once the identification happens, you can actually start a nationwide manhunt, and then other law enforcement agencies from all over can actually assist in helping you find this person. But the way you get to that identification is through evidence and this massive. Undertaking of collecting every piece of evidence, whether it's images or video, is what we're seeing right now. So, these new images that were released, we see yet again, he's wearing a mask. But notably, it's a different mask than we've seen. And we don't see his entire face, but we do get a better look at his eyes. And this is something that's been happening. It's been this video collection unit, collecting still images, finding anything that might trigger somebody to say, oh, that's right, I did see this person. Anything that might help them build out the timeline of where he went every single day that he was here.

Now, the other piece of evidence that was very key to this was the backpack. As you remember, that was found in Central Park on Friday. They were finally able to go through the contents of that backpack. Most notably, there was a jacket. These pieces of evidence are important because now investigators can sort of go through them, see if there's any DNA evidence that's been left on anything, whether it's sweat or fingerprints, anything like that, because again, it's more critical right now to find this identification right now than whether or not he's actually within the city limits.

And as we're going through this, what -- notably what was not in the backpack was the handgun, and that's what brought divers back into the water into Prospect Park. The handgun is another massive piece of evidence that is still not turned up that investigators were hoping would be in that bag. But again, it's -- everything is being utilized to try and find out who this person was, and the investigation is still continuing. Victor, Amara.

[07:55:00]

WALKER: It's incredible how there's been so much evidence, yet no identity, no sighting yet of the killer. Mark Morales, thank you very much.

BLACKWELL: All right. Breaking news out of the Pentagon. A Defense Department spokesperson says U.S. officials are monitoring the developments in Syria. And they will, quote", take necessary steps to protect U.S. military in the region," close quote.

Stay with CNN all day for breaking news coverage. Inside Politics with Manu Raju is next. As we leave you of these pictures of families, children going into the presidential palace. There are reports of looting of the national banks there. There is a curfew that starts in just five minutes that goes through the next 13 hours.

WALKER: A momentous day in Syria as Assad's regime has collapsed. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00]