♪ ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ we would love for you to be our elphaba. we want you to be our glinda the good. ♪ ♪ z e to 42424. >> i'm hanako montgomery in tokyo and this is cnn. >> russia has granted former

syrian leader bashar al-assad and members of his family asylum was actually the russians who first confirmed that assad had left power and that he had left the country. >> it's a moment of historic opportunity for the long suffering people of syria. >> this is a historic day for the middle east. the collapse of the assad regime it's very surreal. >> and i think the happiness is shared amongst all syrians, all around the world live from london. >> this is cnn newsroom with max foster and christina macfarlane. >> hello. a warm welcome to our viewers. joining us around the world. i'm max foster. it's monday, december ninth, 9 a.m. here in london. and noon in damascus, syria, where cnn's team heard strikes in the early hours of monday morning after the fall of assad's regime. it's not immediately clear who

carried out those strikes allahu akbar on sunday, the leader of the rebel forces in damascus delivered his first public remarks since their takeover of the country. abu mohammad al-julani says defeating the assad regime is a, quote, victory for the entire islamic nation. russia says that president bashar al-assad, a key ally to vladimir putin, fled to moscow with his family where they were granted asylum after rebels took the capital. they said they were actively searching for assad. some of the fighters, along with civilians, were seen ransacking his official residences and presidential office this morning, syrians celebrated in the streets of damascus some waving rebel flags and state tv marked the fall of assad on the evening news last night, hours after he was overthrown by welcome. >> after 50 years of injustice

under baath party rule and 13 years of crime, tyranny and displacement, and after a prolonged struggle in the face of all facets of the occupiers forces, the operations unit of the military leadership announced today, december 8th, 2024, the end of this dark era and the beginning of a new era for syria. hello to our viewers. >> amazing broadcast that. joining us now is cnn's fred pleitgen in moscow. fred so his family is there. what do we know about him getting there and why he was given asylum yeah this certainly was the culmination, if you will of a very long day of uncertainty as to the whereabouts of the former syrian leader, bashar al-assad. >> the russians late last night coming out and confirming that assad and as they put it members of his family had arrived in moscow and that they were being given asylum by the russian authorities as the russians put it on humanitarian grounds. so the russians are essentially saying that they propped up bashar al-assad for

a very long time. they were of course, one of the biggest military also financial backers of the regime of bashar al-assad, and that they would not now drop him. and in fact allow him and members of his family to come here and obviously stay here as well, now that they've been given asylum. but again, this comes at or came at the end of a large day of uncertainty and we mentioned some of that in the lead in to our live report right here, that when the rebel forces, when the opposition went into the capital, stormed the capital when the regime essentially collapsed they very quickly said that bashar al-assad had fled damascus, that he was not in damascus, but they did not know the whereabouts of bashar al-assad. and it was indeed the russian foreign ministry that who was the first to come out and confirm that bashar al-assad had left the country. they came out with a statement in the early afternoon hours yesterday saying that assad had told his subordinates to make sure that there is a transfer of power in syria, and that he had then left the country as they put it. the russians

themselves apparently also coming to terms with the fact that the assad government is no more in syria. what we are hearing is that here in moscow, at the syrian embassy in moscow, where yesterday we were in front of that embassy, there was no flag. apparently, by now the flag of the syrian opposition flies there as well. so the russians now themselves also saying they are going to be working with all groups on the ground of course, we know that the russians still have a lot of military assets on the ground inside syria. >> max, this was russia's key ally, wasn't it? in the middle east. so what does this mean for russia absolutely russia's key ally, by far its closest ally. >> its most important ally. and i think for for russia it certainly could mean that they have much will have much less influence in the middle east than they have had before. there were two main assets or big assets that the russians had for a very long time inside syria and still continue to have, and that is an airbase near the city of latakia at a place called khmeimim, from which they supported bashar al-assad's forces. really at the height of the syrian civil war, with bombing campaigns,

with air support for for assad's ground forces, so that was a very important, not just hub for russian military jets, but also a transit hub for russia. then to project power into the entire mediterranean region and all the way into western africa as well. so that certainly is an important asset for the russians and then also they have a major port in the city of tartus. and just last week, the russians conducted a huge military naval exercise from that port where they fired missiles that are nuclear capable from ships within the mediterranean sea. and that was also certainly something where the russians projected power into the mediterranean area and into a lot of conflicts that were going on in the mediterranean area from that, that port town as well for the for the russians. so this syria is very, very important for the russians. was very important. bashar al-assad was very important so for them, really is unclear what will happen next for their forces on the ground. and of course, also for russia's standing inside the middle east.

>> max, obviously this happened very quickly, but i'm just wondering how the state media in russia are framing this yeah, yeah. >> so that's something that we actually kept an eye on a lot yesterday and in the beginning of the day yesterday, when it was clear that assad had fallen and there was a big transition taking place there, really wasn't very much in the way of coverage on state media. they did lead the new newscasts, but it certainly wasn't something that was dealt with in depth in wall to wall coverage, like you would see on a lot of western channels, a lot of middle eastern channels as well. the other thing that we also noticed is that a lot of the information that was being given from state media seemed to come secondhand from western tv channels or western media, and also middle eastern publications as well right now there is a lot more coverage than there was before. the russians obviously understand that they are going to have to deal with this, that this is going to be a huge topic in russian society in russian media, in russian politics, as well, because of course, it does potentially deal a pretty large blow to russia's foreign policy, to the power that they can project within the middle

east, but also globally as well. so it is certainly something that is being discussed here in a lot of venues. and of course, also now on state media as well, but certainly if you look at a lot of the state media even this morning, i was just watching it before we went to air here. the situation in ukraine still very much center stage over what is going on in syria right now. max. >> okay, fred pleitgen, live in moscow. thank you so much for that perspective. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ordered the israeli military to seize a buffer zone that separated israeli and syrian forces. for decades, it comes as israel warned residents of the area to stay in their homes. let's bring in cnn's paula hancocks in abu dhabi i mean, there have been various sort of movements, haven't they, involving um, countries outside syria, within the country. um, this is an opportunity to um you know, make some, you know, movements around this chaos. i mean, how do you how do you regard it

well, max, i think at this point israel would be concerned and we've we've heard that they're concerned as many that have a border with syria are as to to what comes next. >> so what we've heard from the defense minister israel katz, is that he has ordered the military to station soldiers, military personnel in this buffer zone it's a there's a sort of heightened strategic position of mount hermon, which sits just on the border between israel the the golan heights which israel took from syria in the 1967 war and has since since annexed lebanon and syria. so it's a key area which we heard from the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. uh, they decided to move into when they saw that the regime, uh soldiers from syria the, the assad regime soldiers were moving out. they

were concerned about a vacuum there. and who might fill that vacuum. so what we're hearing from the israeli side is that they are within this area now. it's an area they have not been in for decades, but it is an area they believe they have to station soldiers in. let's listen to the prime minister. >> this is a historic day for the middle east. the collapse of the assad regime, the tyranny in damascus offers great opportunity, but also is fraught with significant dangers one of them is the collapse of the separation of forces agreement from 1974 between israel and syria. this agreement, held for 50 years. last night it collapsed. the syrian army abandoned its positions. we gave the israeli army the order to take over this positions to ensure that no hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of israel. this is a temporary defensive position until a suitable arrangement is found

now the idf has issued warnings to residents of syria in that buffer zone itself to stay inside. >> they have also ordered the the israeli military to make sure that there is no kind of smuggling of weapons from iran to lebanon through syria. so that's another key reason why the israeli military believes it does need to be there. now we did hear that there were airstrikes overnight in the the syrian capital of damascus. our cnn team on the ground reported that it wasn't immediately clear who was responsible for that. we have heard from reuters saying they believe it was the israeli military, but the military, not commenting on that. we did see, though, just last, last friday, a rare acknowledgment from israel that they had carried out airstrikes in damascus. usually they don't admit to two strikes in in countries

outside of of their domain. but it's certainly a concern for israel they had had this uneasy truce, if you like, on that border with syria not that they were particularly supportive or liked the assad regime considering there was plenty of weapons smuggling that went through that area to the detriment of israel. but it was a border. they did not feel the need to guard quite so heavily, so they now have these troops in this buffer zone which which separates the golan heights and and syria max paula, in abu dhabi thank you. >> back in syria, some of the most powerful images so far are coming from the prisons. the regime kept packed this video is shot inside the notorious saydnaya prison. it can be hard to tell in the chaos of these pictures, but we're told these are rebel

forces releasing prisoners that were held. their families have been gathering, searching for loved ones perceived as threats to the previous government. countless syrian men women and children have disappeared into this facility in what's known to be inhumane conditions human rights groups say thousands never came out. us president joe biden called the collapse of the assad regime a, quote, fundamental act of justice. he also offered a blueprint for how the u.s. plans to support the middle east in this moment of instability. it remarks from the white house on sunday. he's sending a us. he's sending us officials to the region and says he plans to speak with his counterparts there in the coming days it's a moment of historic opportunity for the long suffering people of syria to build a better future for their proud country. >> it's also a moment of risk and uncertainty as we all turn to the question of what comes next the united states will work with our partners and the

stakeholders in syria to help them seize an opportunity to manage the risks meanwhile president-elect donald trump is commenting on developments in syria. >> cnn's alayna treene reports from west palm beach florida. >> reporter the toppling of the assad regime in syria could further complicate president elect donald trump's efforts to tamp down the wars in the middle east between israel and hamas, but also the war between russia and ukraine. we first heard donald trump weigh in on the conflict in syria on saturday, when he wrote, quote, that the u.s. should have nothing to do with it. this is not our fight let it play out. do not get involved. but then overnight, after the rebels had successfully taken over damascus, donald trump wrote this. he said, quote, assad is gone he has fled his country. his protector russia, russia, russia, led by vladimir putin, was not interested in protecting him any longer. he went on to argue that russia is now in a weakened state due to

its war with ukraine, and then said that volodymyr zelenskyy, the ukrainian president who he met with just on saturday, a day before in france, he said that he wants to quote, would like to make a deal and stop the madness. he then went on to urge russian president vladimir putin to come to the negotiating table saying that he knows putin very well and wants to see an end to that war. so all together this could again complicate donald trump's efforts for what he has promised throughout his time on the campaign trail, which is to try and end the war. what he said was within 24 hours, but very quickly, once being sworn in but there are other concerns as well that are weighing on the minds of donald trump's team when i spoke to them about this one, is that how could this potentially impact the region overall? could this conflict in syria spill over into other neighboring countries like lebanon, but also there are concerns about the resurgence of some extremist groups like isis or others that could gain a foothold due to what is happening right now in syria. and kind of the instability in the region so all of this

something that they are working on, but again, donald trump is still just president elect he is still in the midst of his transition, and this will be something he will have to confront come january 20th. alayna treene cnn, west palm beach, florida a retired u.s. army major general mark mccauley joins us live from glendale, california thank you so much for joining us. >> i mean, there's a lot of hope in syria today because there's no doubt it was a horribly repressive regime. but we don't know what's going to replace it. and this is a strategically important country with a lot of military assets. right now that's absolutely true. >> and as multiple contributors on the cnn team have said, we don't know what's going to happen next we're in a phase of jubilance assad has been displaced. we have expressions of freedom appreciation, acknowledgment of all that's taken place. but there's so many multiple factors here.

first being that jilani, who is the titular head of the perhaps new government his hta, which was the front leaning forward organization, is consist of multiple different um organizations that have been in syria for a long period of time. he's put these groups together. they have successfully coalesced and they've achieved what we're now celebrating. the only issue is whether this relationship will survive this period of jubilance or will have a lot of splinter groups trying either to assemble to get something related to a consensus or start um, biting at each other, scratching, and perhaps creating further chaos in the area. the second is that we have the evacuation of what appears to be a significant, but we don't know. how do you

define the term significant quantum or number of syrian military personnel what we don't know to any degree whatsoever is the extent to which the significant arsenals of the syrian armed forces have either been removed taken someplace else whether these arsenals are secure in any sense whatsoever. and thirdly if in fact, these arsenals exist and there is a significant big, big concern that within these arsenals uh, we might indeed find that cache of chemical weapons, which was a subject, uh, of uh, a tool that assad used back at the time, the commencement of the civil war, the years 20 1112, 13, 14. and whether those caches of chemical weapons are adequately secured by some authority, that is responsible and would either destroy them

or remove them as a temptation for any number of players who find themselves within the borders of syria now, including isis who's protecting the international community here? >> because the reality is that america doesn't have much influence there. they pulled out all of their presence effectively, didn't they, under i think the obama administration. so as much as joe biden talks about, you know, making sure there's some sort of smooth transition here, he's not the key player. so who's going to have the say yes, my god, that is a distinct and from my perspective, deadly accurate observation of what's taking place we have basically vacated there is right now a vacuum that's going to be the discussion in the next couple of days. >> it began even tonight, in which we've talked about russia, what russia is going to do, will russia once again

engage with this new, uh ostensible government in order to maintain its bases? and then if russia is there then the question is where are where is the west um, and that question was not answered by president biden tonight. i felt i expected him to say something along the lines of, yes, not only are we going to be monitoring, but we will reinforce the 900 military personnel we have east of syria for the purpose of very adroitly and skillfully attacking, um isis as isis continues to stir up conflicts in that part of syria. now, we know that there were a couple of airstrikes, uh by us forces. that's a positive thing, but there is no right now strategy that we have on our side as to

how to properly engage this new government. these new forces, and how, once again if i slip back to the issue of weapons of mass destruction, how they are going to be contained. so that's a huge problem that has not yet been adequately addressed. certainly, that's my opinion. >> okay, mark, thank you. so much. there's a lot to worry about in the future as we celebrate on the ground or see those celebrations on the ground now, after the break, rap superstar jay-z, responding to allegations of sexual assault plus new york law enforcement releases new photos of the man suspected of gunning down a top health insurance ceo. still on the run. almost a week later, and taylor swift ended the eras tour on sunday night in canada. coming up, what the singer revealed to her audience during that final show like a relentless weed moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back start to break away from uc with tremfya with rapid relief

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we'll have much more on what is happening, what comes next ahead. but now to some other stories that we're following for you today authorities in new york are combing through evidence as the man who shot and killed a health insurance ceo remains on the run. the nypd has released more pictures of the alleged shooter believed to have left the city, but authorities are still trying to confirm the suspect's identity as well as find the weapon used to kill unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson on sunday divers once again searched a lake in new york's central park, hoping to find the gun used in the crime in another part of the park, police found the gunman's backpack with monopoly money inside. jay-z meanwhile, calling the sexual assault allegations leveled against him heinous and idiotic a woman is already suing rapper sean "diddy" combs now she's updating that lawsuit to include jay-z, whose real name is shawn carter. the woman alleges that both men assaulted her at a party in the year

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welcome back to cnn newsroom. >> i'm max foster. if you're just joining us here are today's top stories. syria's ousted president bashar al-assad and his family have fled to russia after rebel forces toppled his regime. sources say they've been granted asylum on humanitarian grounds. south korean prosecutors have banned president yoon suk yeol from traveling overseas amid an investigation into his attempt to impose martial law last week and potential insurrection charges to president yoon publicly apologized on saturday but it was too little, too late as his party is set to seek his resignation and are pushing for his suspension and a major league baseball player now has the biggest contract in the history of sport. according to reports superstar outfielder juan soto has agreed to a 15 year deal with the new york mets worth at least $765 million. espn says soto could

earn more than $800 million if certain conditions are met the lebanese army has deployed new troops along its border with syria. lebanese officials say the soldiers are there to maintain security and protect civil peace. lebanon says it wants to distance itself from possible repercussions of the syrian rebel offensive. we're joined live now from damascus, syria, by unhcr representative gonzalo vargas llosa. thank you so much for joining us. um, just take us through your concern about that border area. first of all, because obviously, other borders around syria as well are a concern for the countries in the in the region sure. >> thank you very much. i mean, maybe if we take a very, very quick step back. >> um the context in which all this is, is happening, this is a country, of course, been at war for 13 years. there are at

least 16 million syrians who are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. 7 million syrians have been internally displaced over the years, and more than 5 million syrians have fled syria to neighboring countries and beyond. now in the past few days, while the fighting has been going on, almost 400,000 syrians have been internally displaced within the the the country. so the humanitarian needs, uh, and the phenomenon of force forced displacement is is is huge now, on the return of the forcibly displaced. and that links links, of course, to the issue of the borders. i mean, um you know, we have all seen over the past particularly 24 hours, an enormous amount of of excitement from syrians inside syria who've been displaced

over the years, but also from many many syrians who are outside um, syrian refugees, uh people who have been waiting, you know, for years for a change to, to, to, to take place in, in syria. that would allow them to, to, to come back now. um well, we have certainly seen a change happening in the past uh, few days and so there is really here now an opportunity for that dream to be uh, to be realized. and so that enthusiasm, you know is valid and, and, and is understandable. um however, for that, uh voluntary return to to to happen and to be successful there are at least 2 or 3 things that are absolutely required. one, of course, is a peaceful transition, a peaceful

transition to to to power that is on the political side and of course, uh that, that that part is, is led in, in the un by the, by the special envoy. but at the community level, uh while you see, while we need to see that peaceful transition at the political level, we need to see at the community level tolerance reconciliation um um, between those who stayed here during the war and those who were uprooted and, and and and want to to to return, but also equally important, we really need to see an injection of humanitarian support and financial support by the international community. as i was saying at the beginning, this is a country that is on its knees on the economic side. its infrastructure is destroyed, its economy is is destroyed, and so if we want that dream of hundreds of

thousands, possibly millions of syrians to come back home, they cannot do it. they cannot come back to a place that has that has nothing now, going specifically to the issue of the borders. yes we have seen over the past day or two days, uh some syrians crossing the border not far away from here, less than an hour's than an hour's drive. so these are again indications that, yes people have been waiting to to come back. and now they see, uh, an opportunity. but as i said, for that opportunity to be uh, to, to to materialize, uh, there are a number of things that need to happen from the side of those actors who are in charge here. >> gonzalo vargas llosa really appreciate your time today in such a fast moving environment. and we wish you well with your

work, with so much moving around. thank you. we're going to cross now to cnn's jeremy diamond. he's joining us from the occupied golan heights uh, live for us jeremy, a lot of uh, movements in that area to yeah. >> that's right. israeli troops have been going into the syrian buffer zone on the other side of this border fence right here. this is the line that separates the israeli occupied golan heights. and a syrian territory. there is a buffer zone of about two kilometers where israeli troops have not been positioned for more than 50 years. but now israeli troops are inside that buffer zone. and we're also told, according to the israeli defense ministry, that israeli troops have also captured positions beyond that buffer zone, as well in syrian held territory. you can see my cameraman, john, is now zooming in on a building here where moments ago we just saw some israeli troops who were positioned inside that buffer

zone. and then if he whips back around over here this gate that is over here is where we have seen israeli military vehicles have gone back and forth throughout the day yesterday was the first day that israeli troops began going into this buffer zone, after the israeli prime minister said that syrian troops left their position. on the other side of that buffer zone according to the prime minister, that meant the collapse of the 1974 agreement between israel and syria that has held for more than 50 years. and he then sent israeli troops to go and take over those positions effectively positioning israeli troops between the communities here in the golan heights and those newly victorious syrian rebels. so as you can see, this gate is open at the moment and we expect that israeli troops will continue to go inside and outside of that area. now, in addition to what we're seeing here in this buffer zone, we

also know that the israeli military has been conducting airstrikes inside of syria. we have been hearing and seeing those jets overhead throughout the morning and we know that the israeli military said they are going after strategic weapons of the israeli of the syrian armed forces going after ballistic missiles, air defense systems that the syrian that were previously held by the syrian regime. so a lot of military action is taking place here as a result of the fall of the assad regime yesterday, which stunned the region at large, of course, and of course, in this community as well, of majdal shams, where we are now, we also know that there are people who have family on both sides of the border. the people in this area consider themselves to be syrians of the syrian druze community. and many families here are separated by this 1974 demarcation line with families on both sides of that border. >> a truly historic moment

isn't it? jeremy, thank you so much for joining us from the golan heights. well reaction to the historic weekend events in syria pouring in from around the globe as everyone tries to make sense of it. we'll be right back welcome to times square last night of my life. >> new year's eve. live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn streaming. >> hank used to suffer from what felt like a cold and flu medicine hangover in the morning. then he switched to mucinex, nightshift, mucinex is uniquely formulated to leave your system faster, so you wake up ready to go dry mucinex night shift and feel the difference. >> slow down honey a new driver you need new insurance zebra pays over 100 insurance companies to find savings no one else can. >> up to $400 a year. trevor oh, look. it's my stop. the zebra. we do the searching, you do the saving. >> imagine making premium cocktails at the touch of a button introducing bartesian

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without talking to your doctor. ask your doctor >> com physicians mutual physicians mutual i'm bill weir on the california coast and this is cnn assyrians around the world celebrating the end of the assad regime in parts of lebanon, turkey, libya and greece. >> they held up the rebel flag marking the beginning of this new era. people braved the rain in london to show their support gathering in the iconic trafalgar square i can't speak for all syrian people, but i can confidently say the majority of syrian people probably didn't think this was going to happen in their not even in their dream so it's very surreal. >> and i think the happiness is shared amongst all syrians all around the world in sydney australia, syrians were dancing. >> sydney, australia, syrians dancing and singing on the

streets as you can see, they started setting off fireworks when the sun went down. as well. iran's foreign ministry weighing in on the unfolding events in syria on sunday. iran, a key backer of assad, says it will respect syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity but not without some caveats our interaction with the group that took over syria will depend on their behavior, on what policy will they adopt against the islamic republic of iran? >> what policy will they have against the syrian shiites? what will be the distance between them and the zionist regime? what will be the distance between them and the terrorist groups and how will they behave meanwhile the iranian ambassador to syria warns that the fallout from the collapse of assad's regime could spark a conflict involving regional countries and turkey that will go beyond american control i'm joined now by steven erlanger chief diplomatic correspondent in europe for the new york times. >> steven comes to us live today from berlin. thank you so

much for joining us. i mean, it is a day of hope, isn't it, for all of those syrians who felt so suppressed by the often barbaric regime that's just been ousted. but at the same time, we don't know what's going to replace it. and we have a main rebel leader who you know, used to identify as a jihadi. but his rhetoric in the last few days has been very positive. so how are you reading it? >> well, i think you're right. we we know what's gone. and what's gone has been horrible and barbaric half of syria is either displaced or in exile. more than 12 million people. so there is enormous reason for hope at the same time what's coming, we really don't know. um, you have a fragmented syria. it's been fragmented for a long time with different armed groups. and mr. gilani leads one of them. um and probably the most efficient of

them. he's saying all the right things about bringing together a coalition of all the fighters. um and but there are powers at play iran. you've just heard turkey has serious interests. russia is very concerned. um and the meddling of of big powers, i think will hurt. and also there's a lot of worry, um, given jilani's past. i mean, he is an islamist. is he less radical now than he was before? he still has a big bounty on his head for terrorism um, but again, he's saying all the right things. but let's say if you're israel, one would have to worry about a fragmented syria where radical islamist groups who have no love for the israeli jewish state will feel freer to operate at the same time, it will be much more difficult

presumably, for iran to keep supporting hezbollah. it could almost starve it because it has been through syria that iran has been funneling weapons and money to hezbollah so it's a very interesting time. it's a dangerous time. the rhetoric is good, but we really want to see what's going to happen will there be a real transitional government? will there be an effort to pull in all minorities, or will syria continue to fragment? will armed groups who control large different parts of syria agree to come together? we really have no idea um, the iranian ambassador's got a point, hasn't he? >> when he talks about this being, you know beyond american control, they don't have a foothold there turkey now has a pretty strong foothold there, presumably. so how does this change the geopolitics in that

region? >> well, the americans have about a thousand troops. there basically fighting isis. what remains of isis? um and but this has been a big victory for turkey. but turkey's main interest is, is are the kurds in the north and the americans back the syrian kurds, which annoys the turks. um, and the turks are very, very eager to maintain control over their border. the turks also want to be able to send back all these refugees. they have 3 to 4 million syrian refugees back to syria. it's become a big political issue inside turkey. so different countries with different interests. um, hopefully can come together and stay together. but it was very notable that donald trump, for instance, said, you know, the u.s. should stay out of this. this is not our problem yeah.

>> which is his view often, isn't it, of these foreign conflicts. but certainly with this one, he's probably, you know because they haven't had the presence there for a long time. it's going to certainly have less of a role. stephen, thank you so much for joining us. now, after assad fled damascus, some of the rebel fighters and civilians were seen ransacking his official residences. they also discovered his luxury car collection near his main palace. video showing more than 40 cars parked in this huge warehouse. the collection includes a lamborghini, a rolls royce, a ferrari f50 which routinely sells for about $3 million, i think, and remember, this is in a country where the united nations estimates that around 85% of families struggle even to make ends meet. at least one of the cars has a damascus license plate taylor swift has just wrapped up the concert tour that made her a billionaire. up next, a look at the historic eras tour that lasted nearly two years. would you believe long after guests leave viruses and bacteria linger air

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million people have seen her perform throughout the nearly two year run. cnn's camille barnard has more on swift's eras, which became the highest grossing tour of all time. >> it really is the end of the eras. thousands and thousands of people who went to these shows, or who even listened to the show outside of the stadium, or even watched the live streams from other fans on social media. this was a more than three hour long concert, with 44 songs in that set list. so many people coming together these concerts created earthquakes at times, boosted local economies. but if you ask a lot of the swifties, they will tell you that it was about coming together to listen to the music, to share these moments and to sort of forget about some of the problems that they were facing in the world. i met one of the superfans. her name is julie barfuss. she gave me the friendship bracelets. i followed her along and i asked her what this concert and what this tour really coming to an

end meant for her here's a little bit of our conversation there's so much community and connection with this group of people. >> the swifties that are out there and it has kind of restored my hope and faith in humanity a little bit. i definitely am going to miss it in some ways, but also it is going to just sit on the shelf in my mind as this just really bright, happy memory of time. and like i said i, i will eternally be grateful to taylor for giving this to us because really, what a gift it has been. >> and taylor swift's team has not released official numbers in terms of how much this tour has grossed, but it's estimated that it's grossed more than $2 billion. that is a record setting number right now. the record belongs to elton john and the u.s. travel association said that between the travel, the hotel the food, the merchandise, swifties spent about $1,300. also, according

to another estimate, the swifties spent in the u.s. about $5 billion. but that is direct spending. so it is estimated that even more money was spent here in the u.s., so it's not just the money that taylor swift is making. it is also the impact on so many local economies, both here and overseas. we're talking about the hotels, the restaurants near the venues where she played and performed. and so it's just so many people impacted by what taylor swift was able to accomplish over the last couple of years so it's not just the swifties that are going to be missing the eras tour camila bernal, cnn, los angeles. >> she'll be back soon enough. i'm sure. thanks for joining us here on cnn newsroom. i'm max foster in london. cnn this morning is up next. after a quick break

show me you might see cause i'm a real tough kid i can handle my. >> they said, babe, you gotta fake it till you make it, and i did. >> lights camera,. >> smile. even when you wanna die. he said he loved me all his life. >> but that life was too short. breakin down i hit the floor. >> all the pieces of me shattered. as the crowd was chanting more. i was grinning like i'm winning. >> i was hitting my marks cause i can do it with a broken heart i'm so depressed i act like it's my birthday you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime luther. >> never too much new year's day at eight on cnn like a relentless weed. >> moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to

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