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Strikes on Iran-Backed Militias in the Middle East Escalate; Wild Beavers Return to West London for the First Time in 400 Years. Aired 4- 4:10a ET

Aired February 05, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, sunshine. It is Monday. Happy to start the week with you, lovely people. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, where we tell

you the what, letting you decide what to think.

We`re going to get right into it today. We start in the Middle East as U.S. and Iranian leadership are playing a delicate game of diplomacy in testing

relationships in the region. Officials are reporting increasing concerns about proxy malicious in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, who threatened to disrupt

the global economy.

In Jordan, a recent drone attack killed three American soldiers. And in Yemen, Houthi militant attacks have targeted commercial ships in the Red

Sea.

Here`s our Oren Liebermann to explain why the U.S. is striking the region.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: For the third time in recent weeks, the U.S. and the U.K. carried out joint strikes against Houthi

targets in Yemen. This time, the coalition airstrikes targeted 36 targets across 13 different locations in Yemen. As the U.S. and the U.K. backed by

a coalition of Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand try to disrupt the ability of the Iran-backed rebel group to

target international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The U.S. went after underground storage facilities, command and control, missile systems, drone storage and operation sites, radars, and helicopters

of the Houthis.

So, in that target list, you see the effort of the U.S. to try to disrupt the abilities of the Houthis to continue to attack commercial vessels as

well as U.S. warships.

It`s also worth noting this is the first time we have seen the U.S. strike Iraq and Syria simultaneously.

The U.S. carrying out strikes at seven locations across Iraq and Syria, more precisely four in Syria, three in Iraq, targeting 85 different targets

and using more than a 125 precision guided weapons.

That is an order of magnitude more powerful that the strikes we`ve seen the U.S. carry out in Iraq and Syria over the course of the last several

months.

The U.S. had made it clear it wasn`t trying to start a war with Iran here and very much trying to avoid that possibility. So, no strikes in Iran

directly. But very much going after Iran`s proxies in the region and the ability of the proxies to carry out attacks on U.S. forces.

Worth noting, these strikes, of course, come five days after a drone attack in the region killed three U.S. service members in Jordan and wounded

scores more.

But it`s not just that. There have been more than 160 attacks on U.S. forces in the region and this was effectively a more powerful response to

all of that. And yet there`s no expectation that this is the end of it. President Joe Biden saying there could very well be more to come. And

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin being more blunt on this in a statement after, saying this is the start of our response.

The key question here, of course, what does the rest of that response look like? And where does it play out?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Pop quiz, hot shot, which of these animals is the largest rodent in North America?

Squirrel, Muskrat, Marmot, or Beaver?

If you said, Beaver, put your tails up. North America`s largest rodent typically weighs between 35 and 65 pounds and comes in at three to four

feet long. But capybaras in South America are the largest rodents in the whole world.

Let`s hop on across the pond to the wetlands of England, where the Eurasian beaver, a species hunted to extinction are returning to London for the

first time in 400 years. CNN`s Anna Stewart introduces us to the family of five that was relocated from Scotland to West London in hopes of rebuilding

the country`s lost beaver population.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment that a family of five Eurasian beavers happily settled in to their new home.

SEAN MCCORMACK, VET AND CONSERVATIONIST: It`s been a massive day. I am so excited. It`s a bit of a weird, surreal moment to know these beavers now

living in Urban Greenford in Ealing behind me. I have to admit my heart was going like the clappers when I opened that first box and big mama beaver

came out. She is a whopper.

They did fantastically, I was absolutely thrilled. They came out, they showboated in front of the world`s media. It`s only, you know, a few

generations ago that they were exterminated and yes, it was a real proud moment to see them swimming around here in this main pond at Paradise

Fields again like they had never been absent.

STEWART (voice-over): Hunted to extinction over 400 years ago, Britain`s largest rodent was welcomed back to a wetland haven on the outskirts of the

capital, adjacent to a retail park and a busy highway. The project has been done with the support of the Mayor Sadiq Khan`s "Rewild London Fund."

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: One of the reasons why we have invested millions of pounds in this project is it`s good for humans, it`s good for

nature, it`s good for our city. It`s really important to create environments like this where we as Londoners can appreciate nature.

MCCORMACK: 84% of people now in the U.K. live in towns or cities. So we can`t think of nature and thriving ecosystems as being a countryside issue.

Actually we need to embrace nature and nature-based solutions on our doorstep in cities as well.

STEWART (voice-over): One month on and the beaver family is already having a positive impact on the local habitat.

MCCORMACK: So we are in almost a low-lying basin, surrounded by urban landscape and heart standing and roads, and things like that. In high

rainfall event, we`re getting flooding of this area and the water is basically gushing through and it`s going into the storm drain systems and

into the sewers and it`s gushing out in Urban Greenford downstream.

STEWART (voice-over): Sean McCormack from Ealing Wildlife Group believes that nature has the answer.

MCCORMACK: So here it is, they are magnificent creation, their first dam. So absolutely incredible, this started as just a couple of twigs across the

stream bed and as you can see now, you know, we`ve got almost a meter difference in height between the water upstream and the water downstream.

STEWART (voice-over): Beavers create dams under the cover of darkness, not because they care about urban flooding, they have an instinct to create

pools of deep water to hide in. The happy consequence for us is that their refuge systems actually slow down the flow of water.

MCCORMACK: The land will actually, overtime, act as a giant sponge and it will absorb those high rainfall events and it will release it slowly.

Even if you`re not interested in wildlife or nature, it is a win for the urban community in Greenford to not have so much flooding. So they build

resilience in the landscape especially in times of climate change.

I`ve been in a very privileged position to be coming in here every day, on my own or with a pair of volunteers at a time and seeing it for myself. But

I think the real proud moment will come when we are showing the urban community here in Ealing just what beavers can do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10, a trailblazer starting each week, this black history month, we`re going to be highlighting seminal

black figures who transformed America in profound ways. First up, civil rights activist, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander in 1921, Alexander became

the first black person to earn a PhD in economics in the country. Then she later became the first black woman to graduate from the University of

Pennsylvania`s law school and to practice law in the state.

She shattered so many glass ceilings all while facing racial prejudice. During her first year in college, she was told she couldn`t check books out

of the school library, but she persisted and remained a champion of equal rights throughout her life.

Here she is in 1947, right next to President Harry Truman, who appointed Alexander to his committee on civil rights, which became the backbone for

the movement over the next decade.

And another American difference maker getting today`s 10 out of 10 inventor, Garrett Morgan in 1916, he patented a precursor to the gas mass

used by soldiers during the first world war. He hired a white actor to pretend to be the inventor. So as to avoid any possible racism of potential

buyers.

But one invention that many of us see each and every day, Garrett was the person who came up with the idea of a three-signal traffic light. That`s

right. He thought, you know, there should probably be a yellow light in there. So people know when to slow their roll. We are going to go full

green light, though, on our shoutouts for today.

Let me hear a roar for the talented Tigers at Plaza Middle School in Kansas City. Thank you for subscribing and commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube

Channel.

And this shout out goes to Colchester High School in Vermont, home of the Lakers, keep crashing Colchester, rise up. See you tomorrow, lovely people.

I`m Coy Wire, and we are CNN 10.

END