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jimenez in new york. we're going to begin with breaking news in syria, where 50 years of authoritarian rule by the assad family is quickly crumbling. rebel forces have entered the capital of damascus. >> allahu akbar. allahu akbar. allahu akbar. allahu akbar. >> and the rebels are celebrating after declaring damascus free and claiming president bashar al-assad has fled the city. they say they're preparing to take over state media offices to broadcast their victory. now a source tells cnn that the syrian military there has fallen, as well as syria's prime minister says the government is ready to, quote, cooperate with any leadership the people choose. rebels have been sweeping through the country since launching an offensive last week. they claim to have captured four cities in a single day before reaching the capital. that includes the third largest city, homs al assad, now syrians were seen tearing down and setting fire to posters of assad. rebels say

senior assad regime officials are preparing to defect in the capital as well. we're also seeing reports of syrian soldiers fleeing the country and going to iraq and the white house says it's closely monitoring these fast moving developments and staying in touch with regional partners. a lot of developments at this hour that we are continuing to monitor. i want to bring in paula hancocks in abu dhabi. paula, what can you tell us? what is the latest that we are seeing again in this very fast moving situation right now well, omar, it is extremely fast. >> the events that we're seeing unfold at this point in fact, just a matter of hours ago there were text messages going out from the the bashar bashar al-assad's regime's military telling people that they would create calm and stability, that they were in control. and now we see, just a few hours later, a very different situation so

events have unfolded very quickly. syrian rebels saying that they are in control of damascus that they have entered damascus, and that bashar al assad is nowhere to be seen. we have not heard from him in some time at this point. so residents in damascus, in fact, across syria, are waking up to a very different reality at this point, as you mentioned there, that the rebels are moving to to place themselves, they say in strategic positions across the the capital. we understand that they are moving to take over the the media as well, the state run media, the broadcasting station, as expected, you control the media. you control the narrative within the country and it is an uncertain time for many residents within damascus and many other cities across the country. i think one statement that stands out as as showing that the change in the situation is a statement we

had from the syrian prime minister, mohammed gaza al jalali, and he has said that he is ready to cooperate with any leadership. the people choose, saying that he would do everything that he can to try and make sure that this is a smooth transition so effectively an olive branch to the rebels and acceptance that the regime of bashar al assad has, has fallen. also calling on syrians to protect public facilities and saying to military forces, do not enter any of these, these public facilities or any of the institutions and also saying it's forbidden to to fire bullets into the air so there's some attempt by the prime minister there to to try and ensure that this could be a smooth transition himself, saying that i am at home, i will not be leaving home except in a peaceful manner. so we will have to see how that

unfolds. when the rebel forces entered damascus we did have some reports of clashes, but not many, and it appears that there are many reports that the military did disband and did move to out of the the city itself. so it is an uncertain time for residents. you can see there these are pictures at the damascus airport where many people fled to thinking they could fly out of the country, but when they got there, there were no personnel there. there was no one to check them in, no one to to get them onto the plane. and according to to some flight monitoring systems that don't appear to be any flights leaving damascus at this point. so it is a very uncertain time omar. >> paula hancocks in abu dhabi, thank you so much for catching us up joins us now from washington colonel, as you as you listen,

listen to paula as well. obviously these updates and these developments are incredibly fast moving right now but can you just give us the significance of of what the reverberations here are going to be with the end potentially of an assad regime in a place like syria? what happens next yeah, that's a great question, omar. >> one of the key things is the entire structure of the state is either going to evaporate or it's going to become part of what the rebels will use to control the population themselves. and that includes the intelligence services. so one of the key pillars of the assad regime was their intelligence system, which was a very thorough brutal, almost soviet style system and that is something that's going to be interesting to see how the hts and other rebel forces deal with that. the other aspect of this, of course is on the international side of things,

and each of the neighboring countries, whether it's israel or lebanon or iraq to the east or turkey to the north, or jordan to the south, each of them is going to have to figure out exactly what their relationship with syria is, and all of them have had a history with syria, some of it good, some of it bad. and in the case of israel, mostly bad but that is something where in many cases, those relationships might not change. that much. but they are going to definitely be, you know, something that's going to change a bit with the advent of a new regime in, in syria. so then the next factor, of course is which group will actually control most of syria's territory. is it going to be hts. that is a possible scenario, a very likely scenario. but they've got other groups. you know, right now it's a coalition of the willing basically that's going

after the assad regime and has been very successful in doing so but the remnants of the assad regime are in the western northwestern part of the country. and then, of course you have the kurdish forces in the northeast so those are things that are going to have to be worked out. if syria is to remain a unified country so there is a possibility that syria may come apart in some ways at this juncture, but it's going to take a while for that to materialize. there's also going to be, you know, in a degree of consolidation that hts probably will lead in the areas that it controls directly, and it will try to i think work with some of the other groups that they've formed a coalition with in order to have as much strength as possible at least in the middle and northern parts of the country. >> and as you've been speaking about them, hts hayat tahrir al-sham, they have sort of been the leaders of the opposition groups that have formed really

over a number of different factions. so of course, working together to seize power from assad is one thing. finding ways to lead among a number of groups that have differences, but united for this cause is something else entirely but i do want to track some of the progress that we saw them make, really quickly. i mean, it was just a week and a half ago we were starting to see reports of rebel forces clashing with government forces taking certain parts of cities, taking aleppo for example. and then that offensive seemed to rapidly escalate. and accelerate. are you surprised at the pace with which these rebel forces were able to move from city to city to city? and then, of course here to the capital in damascus? >> yeah, this is a really interesting feature of the way hts did this. and they had excellent from a military perspective, excellent preparation, not only of their own troops, but basically of what we call the battle space.

so they knew the terrain that they would be fighting in. they knew the strengths and weaknesses of the forces that were arrayed against them from the syrian regime. and so when it came to this, the the actual moment of attack that that part was a surprise. but once they captured aleppo, then everything started to roll forward and it was kind of like a snowball rolling downhill. and you could see the movement was almost irreversible because at each particular location, whether it was aleppo in the north or hama or then homs, you saw the government forces, not really putting up much of a fight. and once you see that happen, once that degree of inevitability comes into play then it becomes pretty clear that this is going to be a very quick situation so i basically once aleppo fell, it became clear to me that damascus would fall within a few days. you

know, within a week to ten days. i i predicted that at that point in time. but it is certainly something to see this happen. it is not unprecedented. we saw something similar with the taliban in afghanistan, and you know, you can go back in history and look at some of the movements in, you know, in the middle east when it came to the unification of saudi arabia in the 1920s, or, you know, you look at lawrence of arabia and those movements during world war one, there were some areas where you had this period of what seemed to be static, no movement at all between various military forces. but then things accelerated and that's basically what we saw here. so there was this degree of inevitability and he was able to exploit that quite effectively. >> and colonel, before you go, i want to get your take on a bit of reporting that we're just getting in. one u.s. official told cnn that what is happening is the collapse of

quotes. iran's artifice across the middle east hezbollah and hamas have been decimated and al assad's regime has collapsed i wonder what your take is on that. do you see this collapse as as an indictment of iran's influence and even russia's as well, in the region yes. >> to a certain extent, it certainly is that and i remember when i first went to the middle east, as far back as the 1980s, and we observed a lot of activity even back then between iran and syria now that relationship up until this point at least, had become a quite strong relationship. but the problem that the iranians have is that each one of their allies or proxies, in the case of hezbollah and hamas, and of course, in the case of syria, now, each one of those has been irreparably weakened and become useless to them from an international leverage standpoint. and as far as the

russians are concerned, it remains to be seen exactly what arrangements hess or whichever successor regime comes into place in syria which what kind of arrangements they make for the bases, the two bases that the russians have in the western part of syria, but that presence has also been weakened. and they certainly did nothing to support assad. and that very fact makes it very difficult for them to continue to exercise leverage over the rest of the middle east or even beyond that. so this is a serious blow to both iran and to russia all continuing developments that will likely play out in the days and potentially weeks to come. >> but of course, right now rebels are declaring damascus free after that stunningly quick and rapid offensive throughout the country, retired air force colonel cedric leighton really appreciate the time and perspective all right. we're going to have much more on the breaking news happening right now

in syria. rebel forces say damascus is now free and this video is set to show rebels there firing into the air in celebration. we'll be right back cnn heroes, an all star tribute. >> meet and celebrate the honorees, then find out who will be hero of the year, plus a special tribute to michael j. fox cnn heroes, an all star tribute. tomorrow at 8:00 on cnn i feel like new sunglasses like a brand new pair of jeans. >> i feel like taking chances. i feel a lot brand new oh to learn more about celebrity cruises latest offers

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said to show rebels troops firing into the air in celebration. and the rebels say they're moving to capture state media offices to broadcast their victory announcement over assad. rebels have been sweeping through the country since launching an offensive last week. they claim to have captured four cities in a single day before reaching the capital. you can see a sense of how quickly they have moved and the amount of territory they've captured on this map here. us president elect donald trump is also weighing in on the escalating situation in syria, posting on social media that the united states should have nothing to do with it. this is not our fight. let it play out. do not get involved. but he also criticized the obama administration for failing to enforce the 2013 red line, which stated that syria's use of chemical weapons would mean u.s. military action. now the president elect also said that the ouster of bashar al-assad might be good for russia because there is no benefit for moscow in supporting syria. so a lot to keep up with here. i want to go now to los angeles, where i'm joined live by kim kardashian she's a contributing

writer for the atlantic and the author of black wave saudi arabia, iran and the 40 year rivalry that unraveled culture religion and collective memory in the middle east. kim, thank you for being here. i want to start with a bit of news that we got in a little while ago, because i think it's pertinent to some of what you've written about a u.s. official telling cnn that what's happening in right now is the collapse of iran's artifice across the middle east. hezbollah and hamas have been decimated, and now assad's regime has collapsed. i wonder how you see the context of what we' seeing right now. news wise, within the region great to be with you. >> and yes, it's a bit strange to be in los angeles i just happened to be on a on a work trip but where i really want to be is home back in, in beirut, because this is a momentous historic moment for syria for syrians and for lebanon as

well, which was occupied by syria for many years and which suffered um, a lot under syrian occupation. and then trying to stand up to the syrian regime of hafez al assad and then bashar al-assad and many people were assassinated for doing that, including our former prime minister rafiq hariri, in 2005, who tried also not just to oppose syria, but to push back against the hezbollah stranglehold on lebanese politics, which has only grown or had only grown stronger since that day. and now, as you say we've watched hezbollah being decimated in lebanon and the the fall of the syrian regime, which was which had become key in that axis that iran had built across the region, and that leaves iran with not very much left in what

i describe as its forward defense strategy. it had all these proxies around the region to keep the fight with its enemies. in iran's view america and israel far away from its own borders. and that has now very clearly collapsed that carries some dangers for countries like like israel, possibly for lebanon. we'll have to see how things unfold inside syria. there is at first the incredible joy that we need to recognize that syrians are elated to see this oppressive regime that has ruled them for 54 years, including 13 years of bloody civil war, that that regime is finally gone. so there are there is the geopolitics of what this means for the region. but there is also an incredible moment that we should pause and recognize because people have been killed half a million or more in the last 13 years, thousands

hundreds of thousands held in prison, some of them disappeared, never to be heard from again. they may be alive or they may not be alive. we've seen some of them come out of the prisons that are being opened up, and of course, just the sense of relief and joy that 13 years of war trying to unseat bashar al-assad have now finally paid off and it is the doing of syrians themselves. they have outside backers, of course, like hayat tahrir al sham, tass but this is the hard work, the sweat the blood, the suffering of syrians that we need to pause and really recognize and recognize the agency that they have in this moment. and it will change the regional politics. it will have implications for the politics of lebanon, where hezbollah is now not only decimated militarily by israel, but will be weakened politically within the country. and i think its

opponents will inside lebanon will now speak out even more forcefully. hezbollah is going to be isolated in lebanon because supply chain of weapons and other support that used to come from iran through syria to lebanon will now most definitely be cut and amidst that joy, of course, the uncertainty of what comes next. so far, it's been fairly smooth, fairly bloodless almost. it's hard to believe that the regime that has held on for so long, including over those last 13 bloody years finally collapsed in just you know, nine, 9 or 10 days. >> kim, stay with us. right now. i just want to add one person to the conversation. i want to bring in cnn's nic robertson, who's in london with us right now. nic because one of the things kim was just mentioning is about what comes next. of course, you know, you pause to mark the significance of what this moment actually means

after more than a decade of fighting hundreds of thousands killed millions of refugees this rebel group is made up of a number of different factions that i guess, for lack of a better term, united in this effort to overthrow assad's regime. just can you explain the different factions that we're seeing here? and if there's maybe an indication of of who would take the country forward from here? >> yeah. i don't think we have a good enough understanding at the moment to see a principled political leadership emerging. giuliani has had, of course is the military commander, and we're still in the military phase. so this is very much under under under his control the political move forward from this and he's articulated in part, he said that he wants to see all foreign forces leave the country. and another senior political figure who's been on the landscape of trying to

negotiate peace with the assad regime almost a decade ago and has been very much at the forefront of of continuing as a political leader in the opposition, he told me this. he said, look, once you have that military control, once you have that transition of of power, government, this sort of the government institutions, the government buildings, the running of the country, the day to day, the paying of pensions, all those sorts of things that that are that are vital for the country to keep ticking along. um once the military has done its job of securing the cities and the countryside, they want to be able to pass on to a political onto a political set of leaders and the initial idea would be that that there would be an interim period of a 6 to 9 month period of a of a sort of a power sharing agreement

between all the different political factions before it would then go to a vote for the public. and that's, that's really aspirational at this stage. i mean, let's remember that this evening, tonight in damascus the rebel command has told their fighters not to shoot in the air, but we're seeing a lot of shooting in the air and the fight to, for for control of the whole country is not over yet. we're seeing pockets of it. pieces of it. we don't know where bashar al assad will end up. and if he'll coalesce support around him, and if that will be in the north west of the country or the mediterranean around latakia, you know sort of his home turf, if you will, where where he has a lot of support. and if the rebels will try to shut that down, and if they can do it quickly, the political process perhaps holds on that there are so many, so many questions at this moment but i think everything that we've seen so far indicates that they do want to make a smooth transition and that there is a

plan when i spoke to this political, very senior political figure earlier, this evening, um, i did not expect him to be able to tell me specifically, step by step, what they what they plan to do. um but it's very clear that planning has been going on. i can also update you from what my sources are telling me is happening in and around damascus the rebels at the moment are questioning military commanders and intelligence officials about where assad may be. they're obviously speaking. i'm told to those, uh officers who would necessarily, in the course of their duties, perhaps have an insight into where assad has gone, those who might have been close to him in his offices, or those who might have been involved with his travel and transport, or readying that travel and transport, all those sorts of figures and intelligence and and military. the rebels are trying to track

them down, to question them so they can get a handle on what's happened to assad because until he appears or makes a statement that's an open question. and it's a key and open question because he is likely the only figure that any realistic resistance is going to if it's going to coalesce, is going to coalesce around him. and that gets of course, to the political transition, which happens after the military stability and of course, it's another reminder to emphasize, yes, we are still, as you mentioned, in the military phase of this, the noting that damascus is free has come from rebel leaders. >> as you mentioned as well. we have not heard in any form from president bashar al-assad. i want to bring him back into the conversation because, kim, you said something really interesting right before we went to nick that that this rebellion, this move was built in the blood, sweat and tears of the syrian people and i just want to dig into that a little bit more because, look, this comes after more than a decade

since the arab spring. of course hundreds of thousands have been killed, millions of refugees since then. this rebel offensive is made up of a number of different factions that might have their own individual disagreements and beliefs. but united around this particular movement. can you just characterize the significance of these various groups coming together, and sort of how we got to this moment mhm. >> um they did come together in a rather incredible way and created this pincer movement from the north with hayat tahrir al sham starting first from, from aleppo then, you know, you had the kurds come in and from the south. um other factions as well and that in essence meant that bashar al-assad in damascus and holding the coast was increasingly isolated and cut off from international borders. then with iraq and and jordan, the only border he still

controlled was with lebanon. i think time will reveal details of how this campaign came together, because it is rather incredible how fast it unfolded. it relied on several factors. it must have relied on the organization and coordination of these different factions. it also was made possible by the increasing decrepit state of whatever was left of the the state that bashar al assad ruled over and of course, it coincided as we've been saying with a moment in the region where iran's proxies were weakened, iran is feeling vulnerable and cannot send more support for bashar al assad the way it did to save his regime in 20 1314. and 15, and russia is otherwise occupied as well with ukraine. so this confluence of events suddenly meant that the writing was on the wall for bashar al

assad, and that is an incredible sequence of events that has been put in motion. you could argue since october 7th with the massacre committed by hamas in in israel, at which point i think iran realized because it did not want to go to war with israel effectively and did not want to enter into that conflict and that's why we saw that for a long period of time, for a year, almost hezbollah was trying to keep the war simmering on the border between israel and lebanon, but not launch into a full war. i think iran realized then, and i wrote it in the atlantic, that its strategy of using proxy militias and proxies around the region had really come to an end, because it was staring down the barrel of the gun itself. and that's the result of this incredible sequence of events. but again, i don't want to take away from the incredible courage of syrians

themselves who have made this happen with a lot of blood, sweat and tears and pain. um, and it is just really incredible to speak to some of them, to hear their news, to hear some of them already flying back the best they can to damascus or, you know, trying to make their way back towards, towards syria. you know, i really think that 20 13, 14 and 15 changed the world. syria changed the world when president obama did not enact his red line and allowed russia to enter that space by brokering a deal to remove bashar al bashar al-assad's chemical weapons which in itself is a positive thing, but that opened the gate to so many developments, including russia's military involvement in syria, including the rise of of isis, because there was a sense that syria had been let down by the west and jihadists thought, this is our chance to come and save the syrian

people, the ummah, whatever you want. and that led to hundreds of thousands of refugees into europe, into turkey, into lebanon. and that led us to the rise of populism and the refugee crisis. i think it's very important to remember that people don't want to be refugees they want to be able to stay at home and hopefully if things continue to go smoothly and i know that's a tall order, many of them will now be able to actually go home kim gaetz are really appreciate the time and perspective. >> again, we are in the initial stages of it seems rebels entering damascus and declaring the city free, but of course there is so much more that still needs to come after that. i really appreciate you being here and thank you to nic robertson as well. we want to continue on with the breaking news coverage happening right now. syrian rebels firing guns and celebrating in damascus amid claims the capital is free. stay with us allahu akbar, allahu akbar tomorrow on

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♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪ always great. >> go to deal dash dot com right now and see how much you can save this holiday season. >> find the perfect gift at cnn underscored from the latest fashion to tech to beauty. discover it all at underscore dot com we're following what amounts to really a political earthquake in syria. >> the toppling of the assad regime rebel forces say they are in control of the capital, and there's been no word from president bashar al-assad, whose whereabouts as it stands right now are unknown. now

syria's prime minister says the government is ready to, quote, cooperate with any leadership the people choose and the rebels have declared damascus free saying assad has fled the city where he's held power for nearly 25 years, and his family for much longer. sources tell cnn's nic robertson. the rebels are trying to track assad down, and a source tells cnn that the syrian military there has fallen, as video shows some soldiers fleeing damascus altogether. rebel fighters say they're taking over state media offices to broadcast their victory over assad, adding that some senior regime officials are preparing to defect in the capital as well. i want to bring in ibrahim al asal. he's a senior fellow at the middle east institute. he joins us now from washington. thanks for being here. i want to get your take on what we're hearing for starters, from the syrian prime minister saying we are ready and willing to cooperate with whoever the people choose to lead next. do you view that statement as significant in any way for what might come? what

might come now thank you for having me. >> so clearly, syria is now is in a transitional phase and it's definitely important that we see some cooperation between different sides for this transition to make it as smooth as possible and as fast and quick as possible. if every part of the syrian state has fallen, that would make it much more difficult for a transition. so the best case scenario is where the regime falls. but the state institutions hold. that's what syrians are hoping for, and that's what we are trying to understand. if it will happen or not and, you know, i think the two sides here that people see might be the rebels and the government or the regime. >> well, the rebels are made up of a number of different factions of groups that don't always see eye to eye, but have seemingly come together for this purpose of overthrowing the assad regime. can you just

tell us a little bit about the significance of who these groups are and why they're coming together is so significant so the the armed groups are really a composition of so many, so many different groups. >> we have the biggest one hayat tahrir al sham, but it's not the only one. many of these groups came together to form this force to attack assad and try to to liberate all the syrian cities. and while they were making their journey or their way from the north to to the south, at every city other armed groups joined them whenever they reach a town or a city, they get, uh connections, or they get calls from other groups who fought assad before and they want to join at this point. now, this coalition has achieved its primary goal of ousting assad from ruling syria. what's going to going to

come next is a big question, because this coalition might now start to disintegrate and we might start to see different groups trying to fight each other or compete against each other we haven't seen any indications yet that it's still happening, but it is likely. >> and, you know, for viewers who might be seeing this story for the first time or just tuning in and think that this might have come out of nowhere i mean, this has evolved very quickly over the past week and a half or so militarily, as we've seen these groups go from city to city but what i find interesting in this is typically when there have been flare ups from any form of opposition group towards the government in a serious way. we've seen supported air force strikes from russia of course, from the syrian government as well. it's been more of a coordinated uh, response from the government among their allies in the region at least as far as from where i'm sitting i have not seen a significant addition of

resources from russia from an iran or hezbollah or anything of that nature during the course of this offensive over the past week and a half. are you surprised that they have not contributed in a way, or to a level of significant significance that we've seen them do in the past? >> i think what was very interesting is how the regime forces imploded, because once that happened, there is no point of any support if the syrian army is not there fighting, no matter how much support the russians offer with their air power, they won't be able to convince fighters on the ground to fight for assad and assad couldn't motivate or couldn't get the fighters to fight for him. and i think that's due to multiple reasons among them is that over the last few years and during the the ceasefire, the de-escalation that took place in syria between 2020 up until last week, assad couldn't

offer a vision for syria. he couldn't improve the living conditions for those fighters. he couldn't offer them any hope for the future. the economic situation kept deteriorating. the corruption multiplied inside syria and there was a clear disconnection between assad and his loyalists and apparently at some point they reached a convention that he is the worst case scenario. and he is the worst of the two evils, and that they would take anything over him, hoping that it's going to be better. and there might be a chance for their life to get better in the future and of course, we are waiting to hear in any form from assad we have not seen any of his whereabouts. >> we know from our reporting that rebel leaders or rebel forces are questioning regime members over to where assad may be, but no communication, at least publicly we have heard at

this hour. but of course we are looking for that. ibrahim al i've got to leave the conversation there. but thank you for being here. thank you all right, everyone, our breaking news coverage continues after a quick break you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the beginning. luther said, i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out you are my shining star. it was the most exciting time in the world. his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. if we were to be able to talk to luther at all we just love you, luther. >> never too much. new year's day at eight on cnn lowes knows the perfect gifts don't have to stretch your budget. that's why we offer a free select tool when you buy, select tools and batteries from our top brands. so perfecting the holidays. >> oh, you're good. >> it's easier than ever. lowes knows how to help you holiday. >> so what are you thinking?

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1-800-261-4655. now. bah bah bah bah bah bah bah. >> head welcome to times square that's night of my life. >> new year's eve. >> live with anderson and andy. >> live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on max. >> welcome back everyone. we want to update you on our other top story that we've been following. as authorities brace for another day in the manhunt

for the shooter of a health insurance ceo. we're learning the backpack that investigators recovered in central park in new york city is believed to have belonged to the gunman. it contained monopoly money, but the search for the murder weapon in new york drags on as the investigation expands to atlanta. cnn's gloria pazmino has the latest. >> that's right. well, the finding of this backpack inside of central park last night has now led investigators down a different path. after the backpack was processed in an evidence lab by the nypd, which found that there was no weapon inside of that backpack. so the nypd sent a team of its divers into the lake at central park. and that is where they have been searching for a murder weapon. so law enforcement sources confirming to us that the divers are on the search for a gun. now, let's talk about all the other evidence that police have been able to

gather so far. we've seen the surveillance video. we know about the backpack. we know about the jacket. we also know that they have potential dna evidence that was left behind on a water bottle, that the suspect left behind, not far from the crime scene. now, of course, the missing piece here is who this person is. what is the identity of this person? and one of the most important pieces of evidence is what nypd officials here have referred to as the money shot. that's the photo we see of the suspect at the hospital where he was staying. you see that? he is pulling down his mask and flashing a smile. that is the only full view that we have of this person's face. the police are hoping that that will help to identify who this person is for now, two people briefed on this investigation tell us that they believe the nypd is close to identifying this man. now, we

are also learning more about just how fast it all happened. we know that from the moment the suspect opened fire, killing unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson to the moment he arrived right here to this bus terminal behind me, it was less than an hour. it took him less than an hour to commit this shooting to escape on a bike, to ride through central park, to exit the park and get on a cab and ride here where police have video of him entering the bus terminal. but not ever leaving the terminal that leads them to believe that the suspect has likely left the city of new york on that front. they are working with law enforcement agencies around the country, including the fbi, as well as other local police departments, as they try to identify who this person is. for now, detectives here in new

york city have said there is no indication that the shooter and the ceo had any prior interaction or that this was in any way related to thompson's personal life. in the meantime, there is a $50,000 reward for any information that may help lead to the capture of the suspect maria pazmino, cnn new york thank you. >> gloria. we also want to keep you updated on another story. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin announced an initial billion dollar military aid package for ukraine. on saturday, he also argued strongly for u.s. leadership around the world. the u.s. has led a coalition of countries to arm and equip ukraine's military since russia invaded in february 2022. now, austin said it would be a mistake to abandon kyiv. the aid package includes weapons vital for ukraine's defense now that package will provide ukraine with more drones, more rockets

for its himars systems and more support for crucial maintenance and sustainment and that brings the total of u.s. >> security assistance committed to ukraine since february 2022 to more than $62 billion. >> now, our breaking news coverage continues after a quick break, including on recent developments out of syria. stay with us tomorrow on cnn, it's a night that's good for the soul. >> join anderson cooper and laura coates for cnn heroes, an all star tribute. >> thank you guys. >> meet the honorees and celebrate their life changing achievements. >> they are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. >> then find out who will be named the cnn hero of the year it's really incredible. plus, don't miss a special tribute to this year's legacy award honoree, michael j. fox cnn heroes, an all star tribute tomorrow at eight on cnn it's the most wonderful time with

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year and get instant access to member benefits and social programs. join and get an insulated trunk organizer free. plus aarp, the magazine welcome back everyone. >> new video is coming in from syria, where rebel forces have entered the country's capital. just a short time ago. these rebel troops were broadcasting this message on syrian state television. rebel troops have declared damascus free and say that president bashar al assad has fled the city. now, a source familiar with the rebels operations says there's an active search underway for president bashar al assad. meanwhile, outside in damascus, scenes like this are playing out people standing on a tank posing with weapons and waving a syrian flag, potentially the beginning of a new chapter in the country of syria. thanks for joining us this hour. i'm omar jimenez in new york. we're going to have much more on the breaking news out of syria, which continues after a quick break

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millions who already know. go all in with stockx x i'm ivan watson at the national assembly in south korea and this is cnn this is cnn breaking news welcome to all our viewers watching from around the world. >> i'm omar jimenez. we're going to begin with breaking news in syria where 50 years of authoritarian rule by the assad family has crumbled in the face of a lightning fast rebel

offensive. the rebels say they are in control of the capital, damascus allahu akbar hamas. >> allahu akbar allahu akbar, allahu akbar. the rebels are celebrating and they're searching for president bashar al-assad, who has not been seen or heard from since early sunday morning. >> now, a source tells cnn that the syrian military there has fallen as scenes of chaos unfolded inside damascus airport early sunday, with people rushing to flee the country. here's what the syrian prime minister had to say about the growing crisis we are ready to cooperate with any leadership. the people choose, offering all possible support to ensure a smooth and systematic transition of government functions, preserving state facilities whatever leadership the people choose. rebels have been sweeping through the country since launching the offensive last week. they claim to have captured four cities in a single day before reaching the capital. and syrians were seen tearing down and setting fire

to posters of assad. rebels say senior assad regime officials are preparing to defect in the capital as well. joining us now is cnn's nic robertson in london. for us so, nic, as i understand, you're getting new reporting about the search for assad, who again, we have not heard from since these latest images have emerged. >> yeah. and this is a very, very important question for the rebels because as assad fled the country, if he has fled the country, then he ceases to be an immediate threat. if he's in hiding, moved to another location in the country, perhaps latakia on the mediterranean coast, the sort of heartland of support for him. is he going to try to hold out with a group of loyalists there? is that going to be an ongoing military threat and problem in the country? so, so right now, rebels are talking with military officers and intelligence officials who may have an understanding of where

assad was going, because he may have been involved in his transport or just aware of some part of the planning and as i understand it, rebels have been to the airport to search for clues. again, there for where he may have gone and what he may have done. and my understanding is from sources familiar with the situation that assad's helicopter was found at the airport in damascus which they therefore rule out that he's moved, moved off by helicopter. but the assumption is that he will therefore have left by plane. but again, the question is in which direction and in which plane, because a number of planes left the airport in the time frame that they're looking at. but but the key thing at the moment for the rebels will now be in damascus, securing military control securing a handover from the previous government to keep government facilities, offices buildings continuing to

function, continuing a sort of normality, if you will, of life. but very importantly securing buildings like military headquarters, like intelligence headquarters securing documents they may find there. i mean, one of the one of the things that has been done in the past to prepare cases against assad and his regime cohorts is for rebels when they've taken control. and this is going back over the past decade or so when they've gone into somewhere, is try to retrieve documents that account for atrocities account for torture, account for murders. and this will be very much on their minds as well. when they do that but in the short term, it is still securing the premises, securing the properties and making sure that there can be a transition as they continue to flood in more personnel who are going to have to stand up and do the job of the police and army who fled, which is providing everyday

security for for the citizens in scenarios like this around the world where there's a rapid change of power, it's not uncommon for there to be looting. this is something that the rebels are not going to want to happen, and that's been clear in the statements that they've been making and look these images have come very quickly. >> they've come on suddenly on the tail end of a rapid offensive over the last week and a half. but of course, the dynamic here is nothing new between opposition forces and the assad regime going back, of course, decades to his father. but even more recently with bashar al assad, with a brutal civil war that we've seen play out in this country. can you just tell our viewers how we arrived to this moment, stretching back even years, to which adds, i would say to the significance of the images that we're seeing now. >> yeah. i mean, if you sort of go back to the beginning, 1971, when hafez assad takes control

of the country and is a brutal dictator. so when he hands off to one of his sons and by the way bashar al-assad wasn't the chosen son, but the sort of right, tough minded son died in a in a car crash so assad, who trained as an eye doctor in london and not seen as a strong character by members of the, you know, sort of ruling elite in the country anyway, took control. he was challenged as part of the arab spring in 2011 on the streets by tass wanting to remove him, and he doubled down in brutality taking, you know, chapter and verse from what his father had done, turning guns on the on, on the, on the unarmed protesters, civilians putting leaders in jail and a year later, when that didn't work, turning tanks and artillery pieces on on towns of civilians. remember witnessing some of that in and around damascus in 2012. it

continued to be brutal but his his grip was slipping because he didn't have the majority of forces. that's when russia came to his aid. iran a long time ally of assad and the the syrian government also stepped in bringing their forces their own fighters in. and both of them were investing money heavily into the into the country in business enterprises, but also in, in keeping assad alive. but what really changed recently are a number of things. the rebels got better trained, they got better organized. they talked to each other, they reformed from where they had splintered in the past and they took advantage of the fact that russia was no longer able to give assad the full support that he needed. the military support on the ground because they were distracted with their massive war in ukraine. and iran through its proxy hezbollah in lebanon. and its also proxies inside of syria, have been badly bruised and

bloodied by challenging israel and, you know, israel has been involved in bombing many many iranian interest sites, weapons transfer depots, weapons weapons warehouses all across syria. it's massively weakened that support structure for assad so when the rebels broke out of that enclave organized, you know, able to communicate across the whole geography of the country and direct forces that went and did a job and then were ready to move on to the next target that their leadership gave them in a coordinated way, were effective in challenging assad's troops, who not backed up by outside help, fell by the wayside. and literally, as we saw today, overnight, 2000 syrian army soldiers in military trucks driving into neighboring iraq towing heavy weapons. i mean, this is utterly unheard of to

complete that circle of thought 53 years of brutal assad dictatorship. i don't think anyone ever expected to see his army fold and collapse, turn tail and haul it out of the country into a neighboring country so this, this this is, in essence, what brought assad down and brought us to the point of where we're at and the final stages accelerating rapidly over just the last week and a half. >> nic robertson really appreciate you being here. i want to expand this conversation now with out of doha with firas maksad. he is the director of strategic outreach and a senior fellow for the middle east institute. thank you for being here. i want to pick up where nic and i left off it's essentially analyzing this moment and how we arrived here. look, the rebel forces are united in their sense of wanting to overthrow the assad regime, but they're made up of a number of different factions who, you know, who might have their own disagreements at different points. but again, coalesced

around this common cause. i wonder what you assess of the different groups that made up this rebel push and if it portends any clues to what we might see from here yes. >> let me start by talking about the moment this is nothing short of a political earthquake in the heart of the middle east. for viewers to understand. this is akin to the toppling of saddam hussein in iraq in 2003, but perhaps even that much more significant in terms of its regional impact and repercussions because of where syria sits in that region to the north of jordan and saudi arabia, next to israel, but also hezbollah in lebanon, which depends on it for its supply lines from iraq on the southern border of turkey, which is very much backing these rebels. and then the impact on iraq, also on its eastern frontier. so what happens in syria? what is unfolding in syria doesn't stay

in syria. but first and foremost, let's talk about the human angle here. this is a regime that for over 50 years under the mantra of freedom unity and socialism oppressed its people tortured and killed hundreds of thousands. about half a million people were either killed or disappeared during the uprisings of 2011. and what unfolded after. and so this is a deeply human moment. and also in the name of palestine and resistance oppressed not just syrians but also lebanese, where the regime for many years occupied lebanon and palestinians, hundreds of thousands of which are refugees in syria. so this is a deeply historic moment but also a very personal moment for millions across the middle east. now, as as it pertains to the rebel factions, yes, they are multifaceted. there are there is a strong jihadi islamist element here

led by hts hayat tahrir al sham used to be an affiliate of al qaeda has gone to great lengths since to distance itself from the group and appear more pragmatic and more encompassing of the various elements and communities within syria. there's also remnants of the more secular minded free syrian army, and so it is a moment of great opportunity and change for syria. but it is also potentially a moment of peril, as many wonder what the role of hts rebel islamist movement might mean for the country and of course, you know, you mentioned the very important aspect of this on top of the the hundreds of thousands that have been killed, millions of refugees have been created as well over the course of of this period. >> and there are many people who are waking up as daylight hits there at the beginning of a new chapter for the syrian world, a new chapter that that the country has not known for, for decades. really, at this point, i want to get your perspective to on, as you see,

sort of the numbers that we have up on screen, the the internally displaced over 7 million in syria and other countries as well. but let's talk about the region, because i thought you i thought you put it well in regards to what happens in syria, does not stay in syria as far as impact goes. i wonder where you see the first the first impacts of what's happening here start hitting in the most significant ways in the days and weeks to come well, thank you for that question. >> it's an important one. no doubt in my mind, the most immediate impact will be felt in neighboring lebanon. these are in many ways two sister countries that whose fates have been intertwined. the late samir kassir, a political thinker in lebanon that was assassinated by the syrian regime, used to very famously say that there is no salvation in lebanon without freedom in nearby syria. so in lebanon where hezbollah looms large, trained and armed by iran, now

loses its strategic depth in syria and so for its future influence in lebanon, for iranian influence and ability to project power into the levant. this is a game changer. certainly, israel also where syria shares the frontiers, israel to syria's south is impacted. and we're already seeing that there is movement via the israeli military to perhaps expand a zone in southern syria to create some kind of buffer zone. worried that some of these rebel factions might create instability across the border. but what my sources tell me is that the rebel factions have already formed special units to secure the frontiers, both with israel and with lebanon, not wanting any further instability at this moment but wanting to focus on consolidating power within syria and you know, you talked about this a little bit earlier, but some of the images that we've been showing of celebrations in the streets of

some of the rebel fighters, but of course, you've seen what i imagine are some civilians as well reacting to this news i mean, how do you believe they are interpreting sort of the beginning of, of this new chapter there is no doubt in my mind that for millions of syrians, this is a moment of liberation. generations of syrians over five decades. so anybody, uh, under the age of 50 doesn't know anything in syria, but assad rule, the rule of the assad family with an iron grip. first, the father hafez al assad, and then his son bashar, which has now fled the country and whose fate remains unknown. but for some syrians, too, it is a moment of great consternation and concern, particularly the minority communities in syria. the alawite offshoot of shia islam. the ismailis, the christians and the druze they want to make sure that this islamist heavy

fighting force, the rebel force will be inclusive in its approach to a new governance, a new day, a new dawn in syria, and so far these rebels have been sending all the right messages trying to shed the more hard line islamist image of the past. but of course, we'll have to wait and see how this plays out. and how they, in fact, will try to govern syria and of course, this is all playing out in multiple stages. >> we saw the military offensive play out significantly by the rebel forces over the past week and a half. of course today seems to be when they when they've captured the city of damascus. but of course, tomorrow and the weeks ahead of how you govern with with this power is a completely separate question. in itself. the last thing i want to ask you actually is, is on that portion of things because we have heard from the syrian prime minister who says that the government stands ready to cooperate with any leadership. the people choose i wonder how you interpret that

type of statement coming from a senior government official, while the whereabouts of of assad are still unknown, when we haven't heard from assad at this point, how do you interpret the comments of an official like that well, i would say that these comments are encouraging. >> it points to some kind of communication between the remnants of the regime and the rebel forces that have entered the city, and it is a positive indication of perhaps an orderly transfer of power. but i am here in doha, qatar, today where in fact the leaders of the various countries that have influence in syria, the united states, russia, the iranian foreign minister, the saudi foreign ministers and others have been convening and meeting to discuss how to influence that orderly transition in syria. and there is a call for a constitutional process, a political process that would

bring in the various elements of syria, including the opposition. the challenge here, though, is that tass continues to be the rebel the main rebel force continues to be a foreign designated terrorist groups for many of these nations. so it's going to be tricky business for many of these countries of historic influence in syria turkey. i should have mentioned one of them of how to deal with an organization that has historically been deemed a terrorist one, and the political the outside political opposition does not currently have much influence on the ground for us. >> maksad, thank you for taking the time perspective. i really appreciate it. a lot of breaking news on what appears to be a very historic day for the country. really appreciate it thank you. all right. more on the breaking news out of syria. this video is said to show syrian refugees in turkey celebrating the rebel takeover of damascus. we'll bring you all of this and much more. stay with us

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won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. >> it is not for asthma tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia and osteoporosis call your doctor if worsened. breathing chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling problems urinating, vision changes or eye pain occur. >> ask your doctor about breztri. >> welcome back everyone to the breaking news in syria. rebel troops say they are now in control of damascus. this video shows celebrations like this one happening in damascus and other cities. meanwhile, a source familiar with the rebels operations says there's an active search underway for president bashar al-assad. now, this is a look at what syria looked like just days ago. and who controlled which parts of the country but now rebels claim the capital is theirs and the prime minister says he's ready to work with, quote, any leadership that people choose. the united nations envoy for syria is calling for calm and avoiding bloodshed the need for an orderly political transition has never been more urgent

starting with the urgent formation of inclusive and credible transitional arrangements in syria for this, we need an urgent, serious process fundamentally different from what has gone on before. reporter now for a closer look at the military situation in syria retired u.s. army major general mark mccarley joins us now. um, if you can hear me, mark, i think one of the things i want to hone in on is, you know, this offensive happened so quickly as far as the rebels moving through the country of syria, there's only really a week and a half ago or so, we were starting to hear reports of them taking even portions of cities. and so i guess my question to you is, are you surprised with the speed that they were able to to move through this campaign across the country to the capital

yeah, i think the most appropriate answer is yes. >> i was surprised but then my thought processes went back to august of 2021, and that was a period not necessarily, certainly not the same conflict but the movement of a strong insurgency group. and that was banned in afghanistan and that moved incredibly swiftly when you have people that are focused on one singular objective and this th. s certainly is that organization, a conglomeration of a variety of anti-assad um organizations that wanted so desperately to rid the country of assad so it went incredibly fast. um, the mechanics will still be sorted out. we haven't yet done the analysis as to the composition of the

dhs forces, but that will come in time. but yes very, very surprising and, you know, for for you, as you as you watch this, of course, incredibly quick offensive, uh what message do you believe this sends to the surrounding countries in the region as well? >> i mean iran has interests in syria, russia has interests in syria. they have their own respective conflicts, of course, that they have been dealing with. but do you believe this sends a message outside of syria uh does it create a message? >> yes whether that was the intention of gilani, who is the operational commander of the insurgent forces, and he intentionally wanted to transmit a message. no, but what it creates is an entirely different international situation in syria, so that you have forces, um these forces date back to the beginning of the contest of wills between

assad and the free syrian army back in 2011. this was sort of an expression, if you recall, of the arab spring, a little late, but an expression of the arab spring and now you have this, uh, i can't use the term elimination you have assad on the move. as i read the reports, he has, um um, departed exited from damascus but it does say something about those forces. the iranian forces, the russians, and of course hezbollah, who have consistently supported assad as part of the strategy of those three to protect their interests. you know, that russia has a naval base. it has an, uh air force base in syria. uh, russia was confident about its relationships with assad. now, all of that is put asunder. so if i were sitting in moscow and doing an

assessment or sitting in tehran and looking at an assessment, you have complete destabilization. uh, there has to be a whole new set of parameters understandings and agreements. so this is a big deal. >> of course and, you know, we're waiting to see if any form of communication comes out from assad amid all of this, his whereabouts still unknown. but as our nic robertson has reported, there are regime forces questioning or excuse me, rebel forces questioning regime officials over where assad's whereabouts may be. mark, i got to leave it there. thank you for the time and perspective okay. >> you bet. thank you. >> of course. all right. a new day in syria. and possibly a new chapter ahead for the country. as rebels declared damascus free. we're going to have much more on the breaking news when we get back. stay with us welcome to times square

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369369 today. >> it's knockout time in the nba. emirates cup quarterfinals. buckle up folks. win or go home. the magic take on the bucks, then the mavericks face the thunder. the emirates nba cup coverage begins tuesday at 630 on tnt welcome back. >> rebel forces in syria are actively searching for president bashar al assad after capturing the capital damascus. a source tells cnn they are questioning syrian military officers and intelligence officials who might have knowledge about his movements. assad hasn't been seen or

heard from in days. now the rebels have declared damascus free after taking over several cities in a really shock offensive launched just last week. syria's prime minister says the government is ready to cooperate with any leadership the people choose. i want to bring in our paula hancocks, who is in abu dhabi for us. so, paula, can you just bring us up to speed on what we know so far about this moment and how we got here well, omar, as you say, it was a remarkably fast process to bring us to where we are now. >> and the situation to which syrian residents are waking up to now, a very different country, a very different capital as rebels say that that damascus is now free. they have called on syrians around the world saying a free syria awaits you. now, what we understand at this point is that those rebels moved to take

up key positions within the capital, key institutions. we understand that they were taking over as well. the the media building, the television and radio building. if you control the the media, you control the narrative. and we're seeing as well that the sources say rebels believe that there were senior officials within the regime that were preparing to defect. now, we have heard from the prime minister this is mohammed gaza al jalali, who said that the government is ready to cooperate with any leadership the people choose. now, this could be seen as as an olive branch, as an acknowledgment that the regime has fallen. but he is calling for a peaceful transition for the people of of syria saying that that that the institutions should not be taken over by the military at this point. of course, he is not in a position of power, but saying he is at home and he

will only leave peacefully. so there is a hope that this will be a peaceful transition. a transition to what? we don't know at this point, but rebels, according to one source familiar with the situation, are actively searching for bashar al assad. at this point. we understand that rebels are questioning senior syrian military officials, intelligence officials, but he has not been heard from since rebels first moved into to the capital. just a matter of hours ago. now it is an uncertain future, though, for residents. we have seen some panic. we have seen some run to damascus airport. um trying to to fly out of the country. but what they found when they got there several hours ago was there was nobody working there. there was no one to check them in, no one to put them on a plane. and according to, to some flight monitoring systems, they don't appear to be flights at this point. so it is a very uncertain time. we heard

from some residents saying that as they saw the rebels coming into the city in different areas, they did hear pockets of clashes but for the most part and on the face of it, it doesn't appear as though there has been much, if any resistance from the syrian military. the regime's military. we have been hearing reports of them fleeing the city and some even fleeing the country. so a very uncertain time at this point and an extremely fast moving set of events. >> omar celebratory time for many people. but of course, many questions remain as to what's next. and of course, the whereabouts of president bashar al-assad. paula hancocks in abu dhabi really appreciate the reporting and want to continue the conversation now with ryan crocker. he's a former u.s. ambassador to syria, as well as former ambassador to iraq, afghanistan and pakistan. he joins us now from doha qatar. thank you for being here i want

to start actually with your with your time as u.s. ambassador to syria, because if i'm not mistaken i believe it overlapped with the time that bashar al-assad actually came to power in syria in 2000. and i wonder how you compare that moment from when he first rose to power, i guess exceeded power from his father at that point to how we've arrived to this moment now, almost 25 years later i actually got to know bashar a bit before he became president. >> in the last year of hafez al-assad's life, when i was ambassador to syria, i was asked to meet with bashar, and we had several meetings, just the two of us that went on for hours and again, i think that assad was preparing for his own demise. and trying to introduce his son, who had not been chosen for the leadership role to the ways of the world particularly the wicked ways of the the west, led by the united states and i came away from

those conversations thinking that boy, we've got the conventional wisdom on bashar wrong. we seem to think that because he knows how to turn on a computer and studied some postdoctoral uh ophthalmologica l studies in london that he was a nascent liberal westerner. uh my conversation indicated the opposite that he was every bit as committed to the rule that his father had founded, and even less flexible. so what what happened next didn't really surprise me. sadly and so let's continue on from, you know, those initial conversations okay. >> it maybe went differently than you thought it was going to going into it as you as you left that position as as his rule sort of progressed and at points got more violent and especially into the 20 tens, post-arab spring, we saw death

tolls continue to rise and potential uses of chemical weapons. i mean, i wonder how you watched that development and what you were thinking as, as these events began to unfold well, it was a horrific spectacle unique in the turmoil of the arab spring but not really surprising again, history is important and history in syria includes the the brutal suppression of the muslim brotherhood in hama in february 1982, when bashar's father ringed the city with forces loyal to the regime to destroy the muslim brothers. >> and they did pretty much. but they also destroyed the city of hama, the fourth largest city in syria and as many as 30,000. almost all sunni muslim civilians. so that was an early indicator of how the assad regime would control

internal order with extreme brutality and sadly, it was like father like son and now, now we arrived to this moment where all of this has happened and now you have rebel forces that advance very quickly throughout the country and are now declaring that damascus is free. >> assad is nowhere to be found. we have not heard from assad. i wonder how you assess this moment and what it means for for the future of syria well, this is a moment of true revolution, both internally in syria and in the region. >> internally a a hateful repressive, brutal regime is gone. it's over and it is a cause for jubilation on behalf of on the part of and on behalf of the syrian people regionally the the tehran damascus beirut, hezbollah link is now broken

that is a link that's been in place for over 40 years. it was an early step by the islamic republic when they took power in iran to reach out to the minority. alawi regime in syria and establish a strategic tie that that linkage bedeviled us. i'm a survivor of the 1983 beirut embassy bombing brought to us by hezbollah in collaboration with the syria and tehran i was still in beirut for the marine barracks bombing in october of that year. again the act of the same trio so with that, an end to that linkage and the weakening of hezbollah we've already seen in its confrontation with israel, uh an era of of real violence directed at the united states and israel, as well as the lebanese people, is at an end that's the good news uh

the uncertain news is none of us really know what happens next. who are these guys? uh hayat tahrir al-sham was an al qaeda affiliate that um, as your coverage has indicated, split off some time ago, but we really don't know much about them. and we don't know if the coalition that has led to the downfall of the assad regime is going to hang together to rule the country. and even if they do hang together, how will they rule uh, the minority populations of syria, the alawites, the christians, the kurds have always been concerned about sunni dominance. well, now that's what they're looking at. and for israel, clearly, the setback that iran has experienced first in lebanon and now in syria is a good thing. but who exactly is going to be on their northern borders uh, who are those guys who is abu mohammed al-jolani? well we

really don't know. but his surname al-jolani, the golani uh, indicates some attachment to israel's border region so this is a time this is just the beginning. it is by no means a conclusion of course. >> and so much is has gotten us to this point. but as you point out, the future is a little bit less certain. former u.s. ambassador ryan crocker in doha really appreciate the time perspective. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> of course all right. we have much more on the breaking news happening right now in syria as we have been talking about rebel forces say damascus is now free. we'll be right back with more details tomorrow on cnn it's a night that's good for the soul join anderson cooper and laura coates for cnn heroes, an all star tribute. >> thank you guys. >> meet the honorees and celebrate their life changing achievements. >> they are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. >> then find out who will be named the cnn hero of the year.

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emergency task force. thank you for being here. um, you know i think over the last decade, obviously, the offensive here and the toppling, at least what appears to be the toppling of the assad regime of over what we've been reporting on is significant. but also along the way, there have been millions of refugees, hundreds of thousands of people killed leading up to this moment. many of them, of course, of course caught in the crossfire of what has been brutal war. um i wonder what do you what does this moment mean to the refugees who are watching from from outside of their country and for the families of those who lost loved ones over the course of getting to this moment it's indescribable. >> i mean i lost family friends, coworkers um, in this 14 year long uh, revolution against a horrific tyrant and russia and assad and isis and

hezbollah and irgc and iranian aligned militia groups and the fact that the syrian people were able to defeat all these evil powers by this, by themselves, without regional allied help, without the international community helping, without anyone really helping, not the united states, not anyone. um, it's really amazing. and the for the refugees and for the internally displaced you're talking about 14 million out of a population of 23. that's that's insane. they are so ecstatic to be able to come back home right now as the rebels swept through aleppo and homs and hama and liberated now damascus in the entirety of syria, idps have already been returning home and the refugees across europe, many of them so many friends that i've spoken to are packing their bags and excited to be able to go back home to a place that is safe. um of the tyrant bashar assad and his allies in the one place, i would say now in the middle east that has a hope for

democracy out of any of these arab countries in the middle east, many of which tried to save assad up to the last minute and they're just so proud. i'm so proud. one of those refugees um, is you know, is caesar. uh, i was he's the person who exposed assad's killing of men, women and children and elderly in horrible prisons. and, you know, we were just on the phone crying that now caesar can even tell the world who he really is. so for the millions of refugees in the region and in europe, um, it's time for them to come home. and that's what they're preparing for. >> and you know, you speak to the emotion that i think is clear, even in the faces of some of the people that we've seen in the videos that that have emerged from here. um you know, some have also worried though, that moving forward, sometimes if there's not a clear direction of where power might go or how governing might play out, that that some

of the same chaos that has brought pain to so many could potentially come in the future. obviously, any sort of political plan is way down the line from this moment, but i wonder what you believe. the path forward for syria should be now that they have have done what in some ways was a very difficult portion of capturing these cities all the way to the capital well, a lot of us have had experience in governance. >> um, there are so many areas that have been outside of regime control, like idlib province, the northern countryside of aleppo province other places, and, and despite the constant bombardment by iran, russia, assad and the siege and the lack of humanitarian aid, they were able to govern. and whenever aleppo was taken in two days, services were established in aleppo within hours. i mean i was calling the the the the bishop of aleppo, who's the the sort of the highest ranking catholic representative

appointed by the vatican in syria to check up on on all these different, you know, especially the christian communities et cetera.. how are you guys, you know, how are they feeling and they said, we fear only russian and assad regime airstrikes. of course that will not happen anymore. russia is defeated and out, assad is defeated and out and they said, we founded by how much electricity we had. like, why did assad never turn it on? for us, electricity has been on the whole time. so right now what we have is out of the cities that have been liberated, rebels are anyone in military gear is moving out of the city. local governance is taking place. technocrats that are coming in providing services are there. and now this coalition of forces that have liberated syria and liberated them without outside help, meaning they don't have to be loyal to emirates or turkey or qatar or this or that. um, and that allows the unity of the syrians as they forge a way forward to be really possible. and you know, we look towards un security council resolution 2254 now that there isn't the obstacle

of russia and assad and iran, it is something that can help in a roadmap for the way ahead. but syria is closer to becoming a democracy than any other arab country. on earth. >> i think more optimism in the country than there has been in a long time. just based on what we were hearing from officials in the videos that we are seeing mouaz moustafa, i really appreciate the time perspective. thanks for being here. >> thanks, sir all right, everyone, we'll be right back with more breaking news now is not the time to lose faith there's a war hidden in plain sight. >> i'm the only one that can tell you the truth without spice, the great houses would feed me to the worm. >> fear is the last thing we should be spreading the sisterhood above all doom, prophecy streaming exclusively on max red lobsters across the

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joined the group. but a key question for many foreign leaders right now is what donald trump's global posture is going to be once he assumes office next month, especially as it relates to the russia ukraine war. some have feared that donald trump will pull back u.s. ukraine in line with his populist posture. but have also questioned if and how he could deliver on that promise that he made throughout his time on the campaign trail to swiftly end the war. now zelenskyy, following that meeting, had said that it was good and productive and added that they agreed to continue to stay in contact on the issue. alayna treene, cnn washington. >> and thanks for joining us. i'm omar jimenez. becky anderson picks up our coverage out of abu dhabi with more coverage on the breaking news out of syria. after a quick break you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the

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