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U.S. Airstrikes Hit Iranian-Backed Military Sites in Syria; Biden Calls King Salman; Navalny Transferred to Russian Penal Colony; Gunmen Abduct More Than 300 Schoolgirls in Nigeria. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 26, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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LLOYD AUSTIN, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We're confident that the target was being used by the same Shia militia that conducted the strikes.

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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: America strikes. The Biden administration taking its first known military action. Location: Syria. Target: Iranian-

backed militia.

Then -- tensions with Iran also featuring in President Biden's phone call with Saudi Arabia's king. The details of that discussion are ahead.

And --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our top priority now is speeding up the production and delivery of vaccines and vaccinations across the European Union.

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ANDERSON: Germany warns it has too many vaccines in the fridge and not enough in people's arms. The E.U. still figuring out the kinks in its

rollout.

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ANDERSON: Well, it's 10:00 in the morning in D.C. It is 6:00 in the morning in Riyadh. It's 7:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi.

I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.

Well, America strikes, the world takes notice. It happened Thursday. U.S. military might back in the Middle East. The American president letting

friends and enemies alike know in no uncertain terms that like presidents before him, he will use force to prove a point. Whether that be deterring

threats on American troops or defending allies, be they democratic or not.

In the big picture, America reinforcing its role as the world's one and only superpower. This first known military action by America's newly minted

commander in chief being described as limited and proportional. President Joe Biden ordering U.S. airstrikes in Syria, targeting a site linked to

Iranian-backed militia groups. These pictures posted online by Syrian television. U.S. defense official says the decision to strike was made from

the top down after Mr. Biden consulted American allies.

The strikes, a response to ongoing threats and repeated rocket attacks on American forces in the region these past two weeks, including one in

northern Iraq that killed a U.S. military contractor.

Well, the defense secretary outlining the mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN: We're confident that that target was being used by the same Shia militia that conducted the strikes. We allowed -- and encouraged the Iraqis

to investigate and develop intelligence and that was very helpful to us in refining the target.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, U.S. official tells CNN up to a handful of militants were killed. This military message to Tehran coming amid talks of renewed

negotiations over that nuclear deal.

Tensions with Iran also playing a central role in President Biden's phone call with Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Thursday. The White House pointing

out before that call that Mr. Biden would only speak with the king, not with the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Both countries giving that call

positive reviews.

CNN has an expansive team of senior correspondents who will be connecting you this hour to these stories and why they matter. Arwa Damon is in

Baghdad. She tells us why it's significant these retaliatory American strikes happened in Syria and not inside Iraq.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Becky.

These particular sites inside Syria are very close to the Iraqi border, believed by the U.S. to be used by these Iranian-backed militias as part of

their smuggling operation, their weapons smuggling operation. Quite interesting to note that the U.S. did make that deliberate decision to

carry out the strike inside Syria as opposed to inside Iraq itself where there are any number of potential targets that they had to choose from.

Iraq is the -- the main proxy battlefield between the U.S. and Iran. And that reality has caused this country to pay a very heavy price. The

Iranian-backed Shia militias, despite the fact that the U.S. has gone after other Iranian-backed Shia militia targets, do remain a very formidable

force with very deep tentacles when it comes to weapons smuggling, carrying out these indirect fire attacks against U.S. interests and, of course,

trying to maintain their own level of control over the Iraqi population -- Becky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[10:05:17]

ANDERSON: Ms. Arwa Damon to connect us to the big picture.

I want to bring in our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman who is tonight in Erbil.

Ben, the first known military action by America's newly minted commander in chief being described as I said as limited and proportional, but it seems

America is back. No idle threat then from Joe Biden. How would you describe the significance of this move by Washington?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's important to keep in mind, Becky, that, in fact, even though this is the first military

action by the Biden administration, the Trump administration and before it the Obama administration and before it, the Bush administration, were all

fairly active in hitting a variety of targets in this area. Certainly the Trump administration launched a variety of air strikes on Iranian-

affiliated targets in this area.

Now so far, yes, it appears to at least, according to the Pentagon, that the president, President Biden, was given a wide range of options in terms

of striking back after the February 15th missile strike by its assumed Iran affiliated groups on Erbil and its airport, and previous strikes with

missiles or mortars on the Green Zone where the American embassy was located.

The Biden administration chose sort of the -- one of the lesser options in terms of intensity. And so in a sense, it sends a message that these

attacks on U.S. forces will not be tolerated, but at the same time, it doesn't want to burn the bridges and sabotage the possibility of a renewal

of contacts between the United States and Iran in the hopes of eventually getting the Americans back in to the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, which

was negotiated by the United States, by European powers, China, Russia and Iran.

So, in a sense, they're still leaving their options open, but we did see a statement from the Syrian foreign ministry warning that this could lead to

an escalation. Now how serious the strikes were, it's not altogether clear. Kataib Hezbollah, the Iran affiliated Iraqi militia that was the target of

this attack, has acknowledged only one of its members being killed.

There's a problem in all of this, however. We heard Austin Lloyd, the new U.S. defense secretary, saying that this strike was taken after consulting

and getting intelligence from the Iraqis. Now some in Iraq are blaming the Iraqi government for allowing the United States to attack an Iraqi military

group.

So there's lots of complications here and we're just -- I hate to say it, we're going to have to wait and see whether this will be a passing moment

of heightened tension, as we've seen so many times before, or is this going to escalate? I suspect it may be passing -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman is in Erbil -- Ben, thank you.

Well, more on that phone call between President Biden and the Saudi king now. For what was said and also left unsaid, let's connect with CNN's Nic

Robertson in London.

And, as ever, in this region of the Middle East, things are, you know, nuanced, and also incredibly connected. We don't move from what happened

overnight with the attacks on the Iranian-backed militia in Syria to a conversation that Joe Biden has had with the King Salman in Riyadh without

ensuring our viewers do understand that there is a connection in all of this, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Beyond any shadow of a doubt. Look, what the Saudis loved about President Trump was how tough he

was on Iran and they were afraid that Joe Biden, President Biden, was not going to be as tough on Iran. And there's no -- that phone call between

President Biden and King Salman last night, the strength of the words is in actions on the ground.

So within hours of both the Saudis and the White House releasing statements saying, you know, we talked about Iran. We talked about the United States'

commitment to support, stability in the region, to support Saudi Arabia from Iran, that Iranian-backed groups, that very message that Saudi Arabia

wanted to hear.

[10:10:11]

Within just hours of hearing that, you have President Biden and U.S. forces striking Iranian-backed targets very close to Saudi Arabia in the region.

So that's a very strong message. It's a domestic message for Biden as well because there are people there that thought he was going to be soft on Iran

and it's a message for Iran. European diplomats are worried right now that Iran is misreading President Biden's overture to them to come back to the

nuclear talks, negotiating table, essentially without precondition. And Iran hasn't agreed to the U.S. doing that yet.

So there's concern that they are misreading. So Biden sent messages domestically. He sent it to allies in the region and very clearly to Tehran

as well, Becky.

ANDERSON: There are those in this region who had read that outreach, that early outreach by the Biden administration to Tehran as lightly being read

in Iran as a weak administration.

So let's see how this pans out and how Tehran steps up and reads what's happened overnight.

I do want to stick to that conversation that was had between the leader of the U.S. and the leader of Saudi Arabia because we have just discussed to a

certain extent, outlined what was discussed. What wasn't discussed is also notable, Nic.

ROBERTSON: It is. Look, everyone is talking about this report in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, and the director of U.S. national intelligence

is going to release -- expected to come in just a few hours from now, the CIA's assessment was that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman authorized the

killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudis have said that isn't true. They've denied it top to bottom.

But the question is, does this report have any flesh on the bones? No intelligence officials have come forward to give any sort of other

information since we heard from the CIA a couple of years ago. So this is a very important report. The understanding at the moment, however, is that it

doesn't contain a smoking gun implicating Mohammed bin Salman.

However, that's such a huge issue. President Trump -- President Biden's realigned his -- recalibrated his connections with Saudi Arabia. He said

he's not going to talk to the crown prince Mohammad bin Salman who runs the country day-to-day. He's only going to talk to the king. So, that

conversation was had in the context -- in the context of human rights issues.

We understand from the White House that President Biden did say that it was positive that Saudi Arabia had released some Saudi American activists and

female activists, Loujain al Hathloul was named in person by President Biden in the White House's readout and that was a message to King Salman

that the United States cherishes the values of human rights, will be looking for transparency in the relationship between the two countries

going forward.

ANDERSON: How difficult is this relationship with the kingdom going to be? On the one hand, as you've just discussed, the sense that Joe Biden is

determined that he will elevate the issues of human rights and values in his foreign file with everybody, not least the kingdom. And at the same

time trying, clearly, to ensure that Saudi Arabia understands that the U.S. is still with them when it comes to ensuring that they are robust in

defending their own national sovereignty.

ROBERTSON: I think that message through the conversation that we know about the phone call and through the air strikes, that was sent clearly.

The United States will stand behind Saudi Arabia. One of the other things we heard from the Saudi readout of that phone call was that President Biden

promised King Salman that Iran would not get nuclear weapons. And that, of course, is a big Saudi concern. And they're going to support -- they're

going to continue to support Saudi Arabia at this time.

So I think that part of the message has really connected there, Becky. But, you know, going forward from here, there's a lot that the Saudis, you know,

else that the Saudis want to see from the United States and, of course, they can choose to look to other partners whether it's China or Russia for

weapons systems in the future.

You know, President Biden is walking a tight rope with Congress. Are they going to try to constrain his ties and connections with Saudi Arabia over

human rights violations by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? So, all of that is at stake but the phone call and that strike, that was -- in that

context, that relationship right now, a positive step forward.

ANDERSON: Yeah, fascinating. Thank you, Nic. You've heard from Arwa Damon, from Ben Wedeman and from Nic Robertson.

While Mr. Biden looks to this region and we discussed his actions over the past 24 hours, not least seemingly repositioning Washington's relationship

with regard the kingdom's crown prince, he is also looking to bring in more sanctions against Russia over what is known as the SolarWinds hack that

America believes Russia was behind.

And perhaps even more conspicuously in how Russia is treating this man, the Kremlin's most outspoken critic, Alexei Navalny. He's been moved to a penal

colony. That's what prison officials told state media. They aren't revealing exactly where it is, though.

The opposition activist was sentenced earlier this month to almost three years in prison for allegedly breaching parole while in Germany recovering

from nerve agent poisoning.

Let's connect with Moscow and CNN's Matthew Chance -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, thanks very much.

Well, look, in terms of the sanctions the United States and others are proposing to place against Russia, well, diplomats near Moscow tell me we

can expect those measures to be set out as early as next month. Within the next couple of weeks is what we're being told. And so, we're obviously on

standby to see what measures they will involve.

But it's been made quite clear by diplomats that the authorities in the United States and elsewhere want to make absolutely sure that a price is

paid by Russia when it comes to its -- what they say violation of human rights, particularly the human rights of Alexei Navalny, of course, who

suffered a great deal over the course of the past several months or so. We just learned or it's been confirmed to us at least by the Russian prison

authorities, Alexei Navalny has been moved from his detention center here in Moscow, the Russian capital, to a penal colony where he will be expected

to serve out the rest of his 2 1/2-year prison sentence that he was imposed on him earlier this month. In fact, it was imposed on him that he was found

to be in violation of the terms of an earlier suspended sentence.

Now what we don't know at this stage is where that prison camp, that prison colony actually is. The authorities have not made that clear to us. They

haven't told Navalny's lawyers where the prison colony is. They haven't even told his family at this stage.

In fact, the lawyers we've spoken to say they don't have to tell them until at least ten days after the move has taken place. It could be next week, or

even the week after before we find out where Navalny is serving out his 2 1/2 years in prison.

ANDERSON: Matthew Chance is in Moscow. Matt, thank you.

Well, coming up, hundreds of girls are taken at gunpoint from their school in Nigeria. Now devastated parents are begging for their return. The latest

on another terrifying mass kidnapping is up next.

Also ahead, strikes on Syria, a potential new phase in U.S./Saudi ties. All the while Washington looking to Tehran for a recalibration in that

relationship. We're going to hash all of this out with the former Republican Senator Bob Corker who lambasted Donald Trump's policies in the

region.

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ANDERSON: Britain's highest court has shut the door on ISIS bride Shamima Begum. The U.K. Supreme Court ruled a short time ago that she can't be

allowed to return home. Now, to file a decision to strip her of her British citizenship.

Begum was 15 years old when she left her home -- London home in 2015 along with two school friends to join ISIS militants in Syria. Then U.K. Home

Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship on national security grounds. Well, today he says she, quote, strongly welcomes the Supreme Court's

ruling. Begum remains in a Syrian camp.

But it was a terrifying night at a girls school in northern Nigeria. The government says gunmen on motorcycles stormed a state-run boarding school

kidnapping hundreds of children. One source tells CNN the criminals forced the abducted girls from their dormitories in the forest.

Some managed to escape the attackers but it's believed more than 300 have been kidnapped. One police officer has also been killed. It is the second

such brazen abduction in just over a week. And parents are distraught.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They said there is security in our state, but by Allah's name there is no security because if there was,

this would not happen. Now whether they have studied enough or not, they are not going back to school. And this is not just coming from me but from

all the parents from this community.

REPORTER (through translator): Even if Allah brings back your daughter, you will not allow her to go back to school?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes, by the grace of Allah, she is not going back to school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Peter Hawkins, UNICEF's Nigeria representative reacted to the outrageous crime. Quote: This is a gross violation of children's rights

and horrific experience for children to go through, one which could have long lasting effects on their mental health and well-being. We utterly

condemn the attack and call on those responsible to release the girls immediately and for the government to take steps to ensure their safe

release and the safety of all other schoolchildren in Nigeria.

Well, Peter Hawkins joining us with more on this horror from Nigeria's capital Abuja.

And what more do you know at this point, Peter?

PETER HAWKINS, UNICEF NIGERIA REPRESENTATIVE: Very little more except for the fact this is yet another attack against innocent girls, in this case,

this is the third one in the past three months. As you said in your report, it's the second one in just over a week.

This is -- it's horrific. If they survive, this is going to be a life- changing experience. If they don't survive, parents have lost their beloved children. And as your reporter said, even when they come back, they might

not be able to go to school again. Other parents might not send their girls to school.

The compound effect of all of this is horrific for a whole generation of children currently at school.

ANDERSON: You utterly condemn the attack, and rightly so. You call on those responsible to release the girls immediately. How likely is that

given the context of these other kidnappings?

HAWKINS: Well, the children who were taken from the school in Niger state, which is a neighboring state a week ago, are still being held captive with

the captors.

No, it's unacceptable. One day is unacceptable. Two, three, four days, one week is totally unacceptable.

And as we know from the Chibouk girls in 2013, some of those are still in captivity. This cannot go on. And this is extortion. These children are

being used as pawns in someone else's game.

And it's got to stop. The government have got to take a strong stand, ensure the protection of schools and ensure that those perpetrating such

crimes are dealt with appropriately.

[10:25:04]

ANDERSON: You say the government must take steps to ensure their safe release and the release of all other schoolchildren in Nigeria. You say

there needs to be a different setup effectively on the ground. I mean, this is the government's responsibility. Have we seen enough action from the

government? Are you convinced this is something that the government is indeed intent on dealing with?

HAWKINS: We have. And there is the discussions taking place behind the scenes that would show the government are taking this seriously. It is

horrific but we've got to step that up. I mean, it's incredible that nobody knew about a group of people going into a school and taking anything up to

300 girls away with them.

The logistics of that on its own requires enormous amount of planning and enormous amount of support network. Someone must have known somewhere along

the line this was going to happen and once it has happened, the escape routes are very difficult.

So, let's share intelligence. Let's share information and allow the people who can respond to respond in a timely fashion either to prevent it, which

would be the ideal, but even once it's happened so they can intervene in a timely way.

The effect on these girls --

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON: I must pin you down on this.

Yeah, and you make a very good point, but I must pin you down on this. From what you said, this suggests that local authorities, you say, must have

known, you know, that there must be people on the ground who have known.

And you have also described the act of these kidnappings as extortion.

Very briefly, just explain what you mean by that. What is going on?

HAWKINS: Well, we don't know. This is the problem. We have to unpack that.

People who know have to somehow find a way to ensure the information about these people, whoever they are, whatever they are is shared and an active

response takes place to either prevent it, which is the ideal situation, not only in this case but in many other cases, but also to ensure that

these children, the ones from Niger state and the ones last night from Zamfara state, are released with immediate effect.

ANDERSON: Peter Hawkins, we thank you for joining us out of Abuja today. And we will, of course, continue to follow this story. As we get more,

we'll bring it to you.

HAWKINS: Thanks very much.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

More on our top story this hour. Those U.S. strikes in Syria, we will talk with a prominent former U.S. lawmaker who has called Donald Trump's

decision to pull out of Syria a strategic error. More on that after this.

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[10:30:28]

ANDERSON: Returning to our top story this hour, the U.S. says militants were killed in yesterday's American air strikes in Syria. The strikes

targeted sites used by Iranian-backed militants who attacked Americans across the border in Iraq.

This is the first known military action by America's newly minted commander in chief, President Joe Biden. Tensions with Iran also central to Mr.

Biden's phone call over the past 24 hours with Saudi Arabia's King Salman. That happening late on Thursday.

Now, I want to bring in Bob Corker now, a former Republican senator who was critical of the Trump administration's policies of times in this region.

He's Skyping with us from Chattanooga in Tennessee.

Importantly, your experience in and on the Foreign Affairs Committee is the reason specifically why you are such an important guest for us today. And,

Bob, thank you for joining us.

First, let's start with these strikes. A response, we are told, to the repeated rocket attacks in the region by Iranian-backed militia groups. The

decision to target these sites was made from the, quote, top down, not because of a specific recommendation from the military. To your mind,

importantly given your congressional background and experience in foreign affairs, was this strike justified, sir?

BOB CORKER, FORMER U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: Based on what I know and, Becky, first of all, let me say, it's great to be with you. And thanks for

having me on. But based on what I know, yes, it seems very proportional. Obviously, seems to be because of the targeting that took place from that

site in Erbil earlier. So, yeah, I was glad it happened, and thankful that it did.

ANDERSON: What's the message here, sir?

CORKER: Well, I think appropriate pushback, again, proportional pushback just to send a message that we're not going to tolerate that, where our

contractors' lives end up being at risk and I think we don't do that, these types of things continue.

So, you know, again, it's almost pro forma. I don't look at it as any huge news story. I do -- again, I support, based on what I know today, I support

what was done. And again, I'm thankful that they did.

Having been in Erbil many, many times, I certainly relate to the proximity and again support what they did.

ANDERSON: Sir, many people reading into this strike, a message to Tehran and the timing of this strike, of course, coming on the backdrop of

President Biden's phone call with Saudi's King Salman on Thursday, Iran a central pillar of their discussions.

You have been critical or certainly quite loud about trying to persuade the Biden administration not to rush back into the Iran nuclear deal. Just

explain what your position is and why on this.

CORKER: Yes, the region -- as you know, I had a pretty raucous relationship with the Trump administration, ups and downs and pretty

raucous. But the one thing they did that I think was unique to their administration and an incredible breakthrough was the normalization we're

seeing between the Arab community and Israel.

And it happened for numbers of reasons. First, they showed strong support for Israel, which many people, you know, were in horror over. And that was

moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. They had a major summit as you remember with the Arab leaders in Riyadh early on in their

administration and then doing away with the Iran agreement was something that became an organizing element because, as the Israelis were concerned

about what Iran was doing, especially with ballistic missiles, obviously the Arab community the same.

So all those things happening together and then the negotiations that took place, with Jared Kushner and his team, have created something that I think

is phenomenal for the region. I really do. And the business activity, the standard of living, the effect on politics in the region, to me, if we

continue on, could be pretty phenomenal.

[11:35:00]

And I'm staying fairly close to that.

So I think the Biden administration needs to be very, very careful. Obviously, they have this issue of Khashoggi to deal with, and they need to

deal with it. And we'll see what the report says when it comes out. I think I know what it's going to say.

But still, working in this region to create the kind of change that has been created by the Trump administration and then Biden coming in and maybe

undoing that by unnecessarily pushing forward with the Iran agreement -- let me justice mention, the Iran agreement came into play in 2015, in

October. So this October it will be six years in. One of the great problems with it was the sunset provision that ends the agreement in many ways after

year ten.

So we're just 4 1/2 years away from that point. We tried to extend the sunset provision when I was working with the Trump administration as they

first came in. I actually think France and the United Kingdom would have gone along with that, who knows about Iran, obviously, but it was Germany

that really was pushing back on that.

So the deal has flaws. Hopefully, the current deal would not be something that they would push through with, but I think they need to be really

careful not to undo the gains that have existed in the region over the last six months.

ANDERSON: Important stuff. And thank you for that.

Let me just pick up on something that you mentioned, of course, the imminent release of this declassified intelligence report on the killing of

the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Of note, in the readout of the call between Joe Biden and the Saudi King Saman, there was no mention of the murder of "The Washington Post"

columnist. Despite the expected release of this intelligence report. You say you are pretty sure you know what's in it.

CORKER: Yeah.

ANDERSON: Then tell us.

CORKER: Yeah, well, I was part of a handful of people who met with Gina Haspel who is head of the CIA at the time, and she gave us a briefing. You

probably read it in published reports today that there was a briefing that took place not long after Khashoggi was murdered.

And so -- in that briefing, I think everyone who participated, these would have been chairmen of various committees relevant to security and

intelligence and foreign policy. I think everybody there left there without a doubt that the crown prince had not only known about it but directed the

killing of Khashoggi.

So, again, there may be new evidence that I haven't seen or heard. I've been gone now for two years and two months. But my guess is it's going to

indicate he was very much involved and really, the person who began this whole process. So how you deal with that when you're trying to normalize

relations, obviously creates a really tough issue for the administration to deal with.

ANDERSON: That I understand, very, very briefly, Senator, I understand it creates issues for the administration in dealing with the Kingdom.

CORKER: Yeah.

ANDERSON: What, though, could happen in the states with regard the crown prince should the rest of the lawmakers or when the rest of these lawmakers

see this declassified report? What are you expecting to happen next?

CORKER: Well, I think there's going to be -- of course, this has been a long time. And usually it would have been great, as you know, to deal with

this issue at the time that it happened. It was a shame that the administration at that time took the position that they did and really

didn't want to delve into it.

It's always best to deal with it right in the immediacy. There's going to be additional pushback, whether it's weapons sales, whether it's other

kinds of things. There has to be a price that is paid when you know that a crown prince, if that's what ends up being shown, if you know the crown

prince directed the killing of a United States resident that had three U.S. citizen children who was a journalist for "the Washington Post." there has

to be a price to pay.

And so, my sense is there will be a clamoring from Congress for some price to be paid for what he did.

ANDERSON: Bob Corker, a pleasure having you on. Come back. Thank you, sir.

CORKER: Thank you, Becky.

ANDERSON: We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:41:58]

ANDERSON: That is the sweet sound of Fiji's rugby team serenading workers at the Sydney hotel where they have been quarantined. The team known as the

silk tails has been there for two weeks. And on Thursday, came to their balconies to thank those who have been caring for them. What a lovely

gesture.

Since last March, or since March last year, anyone arriving in Australia must undergo hotel quarantine. That is if you can get in. The country has

limited international arrivals since July which has left tens of thousands of citizens themselves stranded abroad.

Well, legendary golfer Tiger Woods has begun the next phase of what will begin his long process of recovery after a devastating car crash earlier

this week. He's been moved to Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to continue his orthopedic care.

Patrick Snell with us.

Patrick, what more do we know? What are his fellow golfers saying in support?

PATRICK SNELL, WORLD SPORT: Yeah, Becky, there's no question -- lng, long path ahead for Tiger Woods. We learned in recent days the pins, that

screwed that rod in the right ankle, left and foot area.

But you're quite right. The never-ending list of well wishes and messages that have been coming through really do speak volumes. We heard the raw

emotion of players like Jon Rahm, the Spanish player, Justin Thomas, the American who spoke of feeling sick to the stomach as well.

From the world of women's golf, Annika Sorenstam making her comeback on the LPGA Tour for one event this week in Florida. Also speaking out her

support.

But I think there's one that really does break through. One time rival turned friend Phil Michelson, his fellow American really wishing tiger

woods, basically saying we're just lucky and appreciative his kids didn't lose their father. Really powerful words from Michelson.

Becky, back to you.

ANDERSOIN: Yeah, fantastic.

All right. Thank you, Patrick.

And you will be back on "WORLD SPORT" just ahead with a comprehensive look at the latest in the fight against online discrimination aimed at

footballers. That is really important. That is coming up after this, folks.

(WORLD SPORT)

ANDERSON: Yeah, keep it up because we have to kick it out. Thank you very much indeed. Patrick Snell with "WORLD SPORT."

We will be back with CONNECT THE WORLD after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.

ANDERSON: Tonight, Joe Biden's first authorized military strike as president happening right here in the Middle East. It sends a message, it

seems, to the world at least that the U.S. won't hesitate to use the military might to deter threats and protect allies.

[11:00:00]

END