cbs' elizabeth palmer is in damascus and has more on this extraordinary story. >> reporter: we'd been sites all morning where prisoners had been held, looking for any who still might be there, dead or alive. then we spotted a video on social media where men from a town near damascus showed a man they claimed was an american. we drove about 15 miles out of town. and found him. >> my name is travis, and i'm from missouri. >> travis timmerman had been in prison for seven months. he'd crossed syria's border illegally back in the spring on a christian pilgrimage and been arrested. what is the hardest part of your being in prison? >> there really -- there wasn't a hard part. well, it wasn't too bad. >> reporter: really? >> it wasn't bad. i was never beaten. the only really bad part was that i couldn't go to the bathroom when i wanted to. i was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom. so that was quite the hardship. >> reporter: prisoners across syria bolted from captivity on monday, and timmerman was among them. unaware that syria's dictator had bolted too. the men who freed yo

cbs' elizabeth palmer takes us inside one of the world's most notorious prisons where thousands of syrians are looking for loved ones who disappear. >> reporter: the search is on for syria's disappeared. some kind of maybe underground holding cells. this prison is literally a black hole. horrible. dark, damp, smelly, cold. in squalid cells the assad regime locked up its critics, their families were told nothing. and thousands were never seen again. syrians called the prison outside damascus the slaughterhouse. last weekend islamic fighters broke in and let the rough lee 4,000 prisoners go. on the women's side, you can hear a fighter saying, go on, the regime has fallen. go home. the prison is now empty. but every day families strewn through the gates. they come with photos and memories of brothers, sons, husbands, hoping against hope to find a secret dungeon that might hold a loved one alive. that's unlikely. two days ago the white helmet rescue group carried out excavations but found nothing. the syrian observatory for human rights estimates the regime had imprisoned over 100,000 people s

cbs news's elizabeth palmer made her way into syria. >> reporter: as we approached what used to be a closely guarded frontier, we found all the guards had melted away. we've crossed the syrian border and that gunfire is celebratory gunfire. those are either fighters with the group that's taken over in jubilant armed citizens. in downtown damascus the fighters who seized the capitol on sunday were parading their weapons. syrians looked on smiling not quite believing their eyes. these men are with an islamist group, hts. their leader is abu muhammad al jolani, a conservative syrian muslim. he spoke at an ancient mosque. this is a victory for islamic nation and a new history for the nation. jolani has promised to protect christians and other syrian minorities. now the dictator bashar al assad has fled, delighted citizens tore down symbols of the regime. some even went for a joyride on the statue of assad's father. how do you feel now? >> happy. happy. proud to be syrian. finally. >> reporter: she was in the crowd that flocked to visit previously forbidden territory, an assad family hous

our elizabeth palmer has more. >> reporter: i have never seen damascus so filled with joy. bashar al assad, the dictator, had fled to moscow, and just like that, the fear of saying something that might get you arrested was gone. the islamist fighters who had seized power a week ago were partying, too. in the main suuk, shoppers walked on assad's face. while at the prison where his critics were tortured and killed, crowds poured in to what syrians used to call the slaughterhouse. it's some kind of maybe underground holding cells. this is where political prisoners were disappeared. horrible. dark. damp. smelly. cold. all week families combed the cells for clues that might tell them what happened to their husbands, their fathers, their sons. in a house near damascus we met an american, travis timmerman, who had entered syria illegally and being locked up in an assad jail since may. you got more than you bargained for, didn't you? this. >> well, i'm here. >> reporter: you're alive? >> yeah. >> reporter: he is a lucky man. as soon as the regime fell, local people set him and the

elizabeth palmer, thank you. >>> to canada and another aviation scare.n an air canada jet with 73 passengers and crew caught fire during a crash landing in halifax, nova scotia. the aircraft skidded on a runway causing a wing to catch fire. authorities say the plane experienced a suspected landing gear issue. luckily, no injuries are being reported. >>> well, tonight violent weather has left a trail of death and destruction across the southeast. at least four people are dead. the storms left homes destroyed as you see there. trees down, and roads blocked. a reported 47 tornadoes have left a trail of destruction stretching across at least six states. cbs's jason allen is just north of houston, texas. jason, good evening. >> reporter: jericka, good evening. there are dozens of homes that are damaged in this neighborhood. but this one is one of the worst. the wind blew open the garage doors here, then got inside and lifted the roof right up off this house. a tornado spun up from a deadly outbreak of storms, leaving a trail of damage across parts of the sout

elizabeth palmer, thank you. president-elect donald trump is now signaling that the u.s.not intervene militarily in syria, posting on social media "this is not our fight." cbs's charlie d'agata reports on american interests in syria which include nearly 1,000 u.s. troops and one of the longest-held american hostages. >> reporter: the assad regime's spectacular takedown comes with serious ramifications for the u.s. specifically how to deal with the main rebel group now in power, hts, a group that's on the u.s. designated terror list. >> there's anbuild something siy better going forward, but as you note, there are risks too. there are risks associated with the possible resurgence of extremism and terrorism. >> reporter: the rebel group's leader, abu mohammed al-jolani, has long ties to al qaeda, having fought u.s. troops in iraq in 2003 and later running a branch of al qaeda in syria. it's the threat of islamic extremism that's kept roughly 900 u.s. troops in syria. the mission in recent years: to keep the more high-profile terrorist group isis pinned down. and this weeken

now that the assad regime has come up, elizabeth palmer takes us inside one of the notorious prisonsthe world, where syrians are looking for loved ones who disappeared. >> reporter: the search is on for syrians disappeared. it's some kind of maybe underground holding cells. sednaya prison is literally a black hole. horrible, dark, damp, smelling, cold. in squalorred sells, the assad regime locked up its critics, their families were told nothing, and thousands were never seen again. syrians called sednaya just outside damascus the slaughterhouse. last weekend, islamic fighters broke in and let the roughly 4,000 prisoners go. on the women's side, you can hear fighter saying "go on, the regime has fallen. go home." sednaya is now empty. but every day, families stream through the gates. they come with photos and memories of brothers, sons, husbands, hoping against hope to find a secret dungeon that might hold a love one alive. that is unlikely. two days ago, the white helmet rescue group carried out excavations that found nothing. the syrian observatory for human rights estimates that th

elizabeth palmer, cbs news, sednaya prison, damascus. >> norah: nearly 250,000 prison served in the u.slitary, with about 2% of them in combat roles. tonight, one of president-elect trump's cabinet picks is in the spotlight over comments about those female warriors. cbs's scott macfarlane reports from capra terry -- capitol hill were the his meeting with senator . >> reporter: for the man who runs to run the hadn't gone, pete hegseth met late today with alaskan republican murkowski, and tomorrow meets with another potentially pivotal moderate vote, susan collins, two senators who defied donald trump on key votes the past. >> i'm going to ask him on everything from his position on ukraine, on sexual assault in the military. >> reporter: over the past 24 hours, hegseth has been asked about his controversial statement weeks ago that women shouldn't serve in combat roles. >> it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. >> reporter: on fox news monday night, you reference military -- women in the military but not in comment. >> i want to c

now that the assad regime has crumbled, cbs' elizabeth palmer takes us inside one of the most notorious of syrians are searching for loved ones who disappeared. >> reporter: the search is on for syria's disappeared. it's some kind of maybe underground holding cells. saydnaya prison is literally a dark hole. >> reporter: horrible, dark, damp, smelly, cold. >> reporter: in squalid cells, the assad regime locked up its critics. their families were told nothing, and thousands were never seen again. syrians called saydnaya just outside damascus the slaughterhouse. last weekend, islamic fighters broke in and let the roughly 4,000 prisoners go. on the women's side, you can hear a fighter saying "go on, the regime has fallen, go home." de saydnaya is now empty. but every day families stream through the gates. they come with photos and memories of brothers, sons, husbands, hoping against hope to find a secret dungeon that might hold a loved one alive. that's unlikely. two days ago, the white helmet rescue group carried out excavations, but found nothing. the syrian observatory for human rights e

cbs's elizabeth palmer reports from damascus. >> reporter: as we approached what used to be a closelyan border, and that gunfire is celebratory gunfire. those are either fighters with the group that's taken over in syria or they may just be jubilant armed citizens. in downtown damascus the fighters who seized the capital on sunday were parading their weapons. syrians looked on, smiling, not quite believing their eyes. these men are with an islamist group, hayat tahrir al-sham, or hts. their leader is abu mohammed al jolani, a conservative sunni muslim. and yesterday he spoke at the ancient umayad mosque. "this is a victory for the islamic nation," he said, "and a new history for the region." jolani has also promised to protect christians and other syrian minorities. now the dictator bashar al assad has fled. delighted citizens tore down symbols of the regime. some even went for a joyride on the statue of assad's father. >> how do you feel now? >> happy. happy. proud to be syrian. finally. >> reporter: lena zakar was in the crowd that flocked to visit previously forbidden territory, an

we get details now from cbs' elizabeth palmer. >> reporter: jeju air flight 2216 was already in troublefinal approach. the pilot had reported a bird strike and sent a mayday signal, and the plane's landing gear wasn't down as it raced to the end of the runway and crashed into a concrete wall. all 175 passengers died, along with four crewmembers. two others, the only survivors, were pulled alive from the tail section. inside the airport, a fire official read out the victims' names to stunned family members and friends. all of the passengers were south koreans except for two thai citizens. at a memorial center set up in the city of muan where the crash occurred, people came to pay their respects. one of them was south korea's interim president, who has only been this the job four days. the crash site was combed for evidence to add for information that will eventually come from the cockpit and flight recorders. one tv station is reporting today that the same boeing 737-800 was involved in another minor accident back in 2021, but it will be months or even years before investigators understa

cbs news' elizabeth palmer found timmerman in a house outside damascus. >> when i came to syria, i was unaware of the political situation entirely. because that's just how i am. i came here for spiritual purposes. >> reporter: his family had reported him missing over the summer and called his appearance the best christmas gift. >> i just busted out crying. i called her up, "i've seen the video, it's him, he's alive." >> yes, i'm so happy. i'm hoping he calls me tomorrow and says he's okay. i want him to come back home. >> reporter: traveling in the middle east, secretary of state antony blinken said he's focused on timmerman's return. >> i can't give you any details on exactly what's going to happen except to say we're working to bring him home, to bring him out of syria, to bring him home. >> reporter: blinken says the administration is also working hard to locate american austin tice, the marine veteran working as a freelance journalist when he was abducted in damascus in 2012. ian lee, cbs news, lebanon, missouri. >>> there is renewed optimism this morning of a cease-fire and hostag

with a new season around the corner, elizabeth palmer goes behind the scenes at "squid games," a southstreaming series that was a worldwide phenomenon. >>> faith saling has asmo and the latest on wednesday's fatal shooting of brian thompson. commentary from former cbs sports and news chief sean mcmanus and more. it's a "sunday morning" for the 8th of december 2024. we'll be back after this. your next favorite thing about this place is waiting to be discovered. did you know you can do this? ... and you don't wanna miss that. >>> leaders of some 50 nations are in france today celebrating a moment some thought would never come. the reopening of a landmark cathedral notre dame. seth doane is in paris. >> reporter: those indelible images of a burning cathedral against the parisian skyline were also burned into our memory, but the heartbreak of that day when seemingly all was lost has given way to a resurrection of sorts. with the ritual knocking, the archbishop of paris marked the reopening of notre dame saturday night, just five years after the fire, unveiling a restoration perhaps as extr

elizabeth palmer, cbs news london. >> major: violent storms and tornadoes tore through the southern u.she weekend killing at least four people. the national weather service confirmed 35 tornadoes across the region. the houston area alone got hit by half a dozen twisters, storms also delayed thousands of flights complicating the post christmas travel rush. it will be a wet and warmer than usual new year's eve in times square. much of the country will ring in 2025 on a rainy note. cbs's rob marciano joins us now with what we can expect. rob. >> reporter: hey, major. the good news is we want to have the dangerous storms we had the past few days. this is still a point in system. over the corn belt, that's where most of the rain is. it will be moving pretty rapidly off to the east. so it will bring rain ahead of it because that's where them mild air is, st. louis, evansville, cincinnati up at the ohio river valley and across eastern pennsylvania, philly, me tomorrow.ght around maybe some heavy rain and under storms tonight. but some cities, 50 and rainy in new york city, 68 in orlando, that'

cbs's elizabeth palmer will lead us off from damascus with more on the story travis timmerman.d evening, liz. >> reporter: we've been visiting military sites all morning, where prisoners had been held, looking for any who might still be there, dead or alive. >> [speaking in a globalmight sr >> reporter: then, we spotted a video on social media where men from a town near damascus showed a man they claimed was an american. we drove about 15 miles out of town. and found him. >> my name is travis. and i'm from missouri. >> reporter: travis timmerman had been in prison for seven months. he crossed syria's border illegally back in the spring on a christian pilgrimage and been arrested. what was the hardest part when you were being imprisoned? >> there really -- there really wasn't a hard part. well, it wasn't too bad. >> reporter: really? >> it wasn't bad. i was never beaten. the only really bad part was that i couldn't go to the bathroom when i wanted to. i was only let out three times a day to go to the bathroom. so that was quite the hardship. >> [speaking in a global language] >>

. >> this is elizabeth palmer.inians, and the agony of israeli hostages and their families form the backdrop to this year in the middle east. >> but the game changer came when israel took on its archenemy, iran. >> i have a message for the tyrants of tehran. if you strike us, we will strike you. >> armed with billions of dollars in american weapons, israel attacked iran's puppet militia hezbollah in lebanon. retaliation israel said, for scores of rocket attacks on its northern border. >> it assassinated hezbollah's leader hassan nasrallah. >> and booby-trapped hundreds of pagers that left hezbollah fighters dismembered and demoralized. >> in iran, ayatolla khamenei put on a brave face on telling supporters, with the divine power of god, our resistance will now expand. >> but the regime have been humiliated. >> even the hundreds of cruise missiles fired at israel was intercepted, and did little damage. iran lost out in syria, too when its ally, the dictator bashar al assad, was toppled by islamist fighters who swept