abu mohammad al—julani, head of the islamist group hayat tahrir al—sham.past links to al-qaeda, saying he wants to build a syria for all its people from the syrian prime minister, also a message of calm. translated: we're all concerned about this country and its institutions and facilities. i'm here in my home and i do not intend to leave it except in a peaceful manner, in order to ensure the continuation of the work of public institutions. the president's whereabouts are unknown. reports that he flew out of the country. a statue of his father pulled down shortly before he fled. his damascus residence now a tourist attraction. stripped bare of anything valuable, of anything at all. we saw people carrying out furniture with no one trying to stop them. the rebels may have brought freedom, but not security. the country is hoping for peace and fearing chaos. different groups control different areas. no one knows how this will play out, but whatever happens here will be felt across the middle east. barbara plett usher, bbc news, damascus. the collapse of the as

when it comes to your question on do we trust julani to lead this process, syrians were protesting julani three months ago, protesting the violations against syrian people. i don't think -- in the past like 12 years, 13 years, syrian oppositions mainly had an active political life. like i, yes, we [ inaudible ] our own identities, different political opinions, so we have this healthy [ inaudible ] between us, although we cannot agree on everything. and i think that skepticism that we cannot really tell trust julani . i'm just hoping that he has been showing a lot of wise decision-making process, i just hope that he will understand that we are done with a one-man show. we just hope that he can also not seclude anyone in this process. >> as i was saying to aria before the show, syria has had the benefit of watching other arab countries go through the erin springs, so hopefully syria will have learned from the mistakes and chart a different path forward. get some sleep, it is going to be a long journey, we are going to need your voices in this mix for many months and years to come. thank you

what do we know about al—julani and his intentions?no intention of using chemical weapons. under the control of syrian authorities. it the control of syrian authorities.- the control of syrian authorities. it is cold comfort. _ authorities. it is cold comfort, really, - authorities. it is cold comfort, really, isn't authorities. it is cold - comfort, really, isn't it? that would be. his message has really been one of reassurance. to the people in the cities they have taken over, but also in damascus, for example, in the communities who have most to fear from his group and those forces. that is the minority closest to president assad, a shi'a minority. there are those who have stuck with present assad who thought that was a better option other than a force who was a force who was jihadist in its foundation. is itjihadist in its foundation? guess, it was an offshoot of al-qaeda and i sex was in the mix to some extent as well. abu bakr al—baghdadi. mix to some extent as well. abu bakral—baghdadi. —— isis—k was in the mix as well. he is no

the group is led by abu mohammad al-julani. the us has placed a $10 million bounty on him a senior us official says that significant portions of al gilani's group maintain strong links to isis al-julani addressed the terrorist charges against him and tass in an exclusive interview recently with cnn's jomana karadsheh people listening to this are going to wonder why they should believe you. >> you are still a specially designated global terrorist by the united states with a $10 million bounty on your head, your group is a proscribed terrorist organization by the united states, by the un, by the eu, and others. >> now i say to people, don't judge by words, but by actions i believe the reality speaks for itself. these classifications are primarily political and at the same time wrong u.s. >> forces conducted airstrikes on more than 75 isis targets in syria on sunday. a pentagon official says f-15 fighter jets, a-10s and b-52 bombers targeted isis leaders, operatives and camps. the strikes were part of an ongoing mission to disrupt

that, of course, is who al-julani represents. there are, of course, many who have expressed concerns about what that means for the future of syria. they have expressed in recent days more moderate tones and have expressed a desire to rule in a way that is inclusive and democratic. we have to hope that that is indeed what transpires, and that is a democratic future for the people of syria. >> avi, we also of course, know that the americans have been striking in central syria where we we you noted isis, right? and that is, of course why american troops continue to be on the ground in syria. we also saw the incoming president elect donald trump, post about this earlier this weekend. he said this syria is a mess, but it's not our friend. the united states should have nothing to do with it. this is not our fight. let it play out. do not get involved. and then in another post, he talked about assad, russia and the ties between russia syria and ukraine and he says of the russians, quote, they lost all interest in syria because of ukrain

. >> the organization julani leads. >> uh he's in conversation, of course, with the rump government in damascus under prime minister ex-prime minister jalali and various other forces are coalescing. >> they're getting a lot of external support uh, president biden just came out to underline how important this success has been for the people and for the region. >> and, uh urging that everybody work together and avoid going after each other. we have to watch this carefully, but nonetheless that is the basic worries that we always have, even when a situation turns out very well. this is good for the syrian people. it is good for the region. it is bad for russia and iran thus good for the rest of the world and the u.s. believes there are links between syria's rebel coalition and isis. >> and i know we heard from jake sullivan yesterday, we've heard from the president, one of their main concerns is making sure isis does not reestablish a foothold a stronger foothold there in syria. how does this further complicate this new government and how do you see that piece of it playing out um, it's a

so this is this is a group that i mean the individual al-julani abu mohammad al-jolani, who's the head a $10 million bounty on his head. he is designated or his group's designated as a terrorist organization so it's not a simple, clear picture that we're looking at here that the bad has been removed and the good comes in it is extremely complex and it's difficult to see what happens next and what unfolds over the coming days is going to be absolutely fascinating. >> and thank you for the time being. paula hancocks is in abu dhabi with me. i'm joined now by kim ghattas. kim is a global politics fellow at columbia university, a contributing writer to the atlantic, a good friend of this show joins us live from los angeles. kim firstly, i just want to get your assessment of what we are seeing and hearing on the ground in syria at this hour becky, great to be with you and very strange for me to be in los angeles, where i happen to be for a work trip, but where i really want to be is back home in, in beirut, because these are truly momentous, historic events for syria, for syrians, for leban

so this is not a vote of confidence in that kind of hardcore islamist ideology that al-julani and his group represent. syrians like people throughout the middle east and throughout the world are for democracy. and so any attempt to try to impose a, you know, hard line islamist state on the syrian people will be met by resistance. it doesn't mean they're not going to try, but there are some, at least some signs that that he is puts at least the more extreme elements of his islamist ideology in the past in idlib, where his group has effectively controlled a large part of that province for a number of years now, certainly conservatives, certainly autocratic, but they respected the rights of religious minorities. they didn't force veiling on women. and this may be an indication that while they are still islamist nationalists, they may not be as scary as al qaeda or isis or some or taliban or some of those more extreme elements. >> yeah, that is a dramatic difference from al-julani, you know, roots in al qaeda, which which does carry those extremist views here. let's talk a little bit abou

but hts has attracted this attention because of the history of their leader al-julani., as his name suggests, he is in fact from the syrian area near the golan heights and went as a young man to fight the u.s. occupation in iraq. not now normal thing necessarily for someone motivated to do, given the emotions against the u.s. presence at the beginning of the war in 2003, 2004 and then later on, he moved into the al-nusra group which became al qaeda's affiliate fighting the syrian regime in the civil war and that, of course, led to great concern about the extremist nature. that part of the opposition against assad was indeed developing but then, indeed, the nusra group and julani himself suggested that when isis spawned from that rebel movement, that that was indeed too extreme for them and went their own separate direction. the issue i think, here is whether or not any of this designation any of this history of extremism, becomes the central tenet of what their government ideas necessarily are. and we don't really know at this stage whether julani has a particular speci

and abu mohammad al-julani is the the leader of that group, as you've just been hearing from christianep does have ties or did have ties to al qaeda, to isis al-julani himself does have a $10 million bounty on his head and his group is considered a terrorist organization by the united states. so it's certainly not an easy transition at this point but what we've been seeing from al-julani really over, over recent months and and years is him trying to to soften the stance to soften the reputation that his group has. and in fact, we've heard on state television, which has been taken over by the rebels, of course, just in the past couple of hours, there was a commander on television who has said that syria is for everyone, without exception. and was trying to hammer home the point that everybody was going to be welcome and treated the same whether it comes to the minorities, the alawites the sunnis, the shias, the christians, because there are concerns within syria that that this group may not be as tolerant of some of those minorities minorities, most of which, of course, have been penaliz

even though the main leader of the interim coalition, bu mohammad al—julani, now known by his real namem de guerre ahmed al—shara, urged syrians to celebrate peacefully today not to fire guns in the air. but there has been fireworks in the sky — you can see behind me. and the square, even though it's now 9:00 in the evening, it's bitterly cold. look, it's still alive with light. this is a day of celebration. although syrians know that the road ahead will be difficult, there will be reversals, and it may not work out the way they wished, but they're not allowing themselves to think that today, a day they have waited so long for, a day they've suffered so long for. and many tell us they never believed they'd see a day like this. lyse doucet there with a flavour of the atmosphere in damascus. as we've been hearing, today saw the first friday prayers since rebel groups took power in the country, after which people were urged to go out and express theirjoy. our international editor jeremy bowen sent this report from damascus. this ancient city has seen countless upheavals overfive millennia.

the islamist leader of the main rebel group, abu mohammad al-julani, who cut ties with al qaeda years ago, is now projecting a more moderate image. speaking triumphantly at the historic umayyad mosque in the capital city damascus, saying this victory, my brothers, is a new chapter in the history of the entire islamic nation. it is a turning point for the region. russia's foreign ministry now says assad has stepped down as president of syria and ordered a peaceful transfer of power. russian state media reports he and his family are now in moscow. assad, who was in power for more than 24 years, oversaw the brutal crushing of the revolution against his regime through more than 13 years of civil war. the un says more than 7 million syrians are displaced within the country, with over 6 million more seeking refuge abroad. russia, iran and hezbollah had helped him cling to power. but with those allies distracted in wars in ukraine, gaza and lebanon, the rebels seized the opportunity. 900 u.s. troops are currently in the country as part of the fight against isis. biden indicating that will co

well, they are led by a man called abu mohammad al—julani, called abu mohammad al—jawlani, who actuallydist leader, until2016, when he broke with al-qaeda. and he has been trying to re—orientate that particular group, the one he's head of, hts, as it's known, to make it less overtly jihadist in its outlook. what he says is he, you know, he's an islamist. he wants to have religious law in syria, but he says he's just thinking about syria. he's not an international jihadist who wants to somehow recreate the caliphate, that islamic state, of course, managed to start doing in syria and in iraq, resulting in, you know, a massive and bloody war. so that's the sort of man that he is. he's heading an alliance. it's a very split up situation of rebel groups. and they have found as far as the syrian arab army, assad's forces are concerned that they're pushing on an open door. let's speak to rahaf aldoughli, lecturer in middle east and north african studies, lancaster university. how surprised if you mean by this offensive?— this offensive? i've been surprised _ this offensive? i've been surprised

affiliated with isis in the past as well but through the the leader of this group abu mohammad al-julani, he has been trying to distance himself from those affiliations saying that that this is a different kind of group that is obviously the concern, though, that it does have this these roots in syria we know, for example, that julani himself has a $10 million bounty on his head from the united states. we know that the group is considered a terrorist organization so it is certainly complex in the extreme. but what we also know is that this is one of the many groups that has said now that they have freed damascus, that it is free for all syrian people and millions within the country and around the world are celebrating the end of the assad era now, we know that there are another number of groups some are backed by the united states, some are backed by turkey, some are considered a terrorist organization by turkey as well. so they are all interlaced. they had a common goal, a common enemy which was bashar al-assad and we now know that he has departed syria. of course the question now is ho

however, at the same time, as you mentioned, abu mohammad al- julani, the head of the organization or the committee for the liberation of the lavonte, he has some very strong, very notable ties to the predecessor of hts, which was very much the al qaeda chapter in syria. now, as you mentioned, julani has since renounced those connections and he has tried his best to present himself to the world is a more pluralistic figure, as somebody who embraces liberalism, who will allow for religious minorities, of whom there are quite a few in syria, to live with the rest of the population. sunni muslims, who for the most part, you know, are part of this regime or part of these rebel groups, you know, but this is a pluralistic society and that is why there is so much anxiety about what is going to be happening next, because the fact is the fall of the assad regime, the rise of these rebels, is only creating opportunities, for other militant groups. and as you mentioned, united states firing 75 missiles at different targets, nearly 150 different munitions fired at what the u.s. said were i.s.i.s.

but you can't remove the fact that you know, the height uh al-julani.is point with an american bounty on his head for al qaeda links? so that's clearly an issue that's going to have to be swiftly resolved somehow. and then of course, the question of exactly how does this syrian movement choose its next leader? what level of democracy does it apply these are all longer term, more sophisticated questions, but becky, i think what we've seen most critically over the past week, uh inside the middle east is a collapse of syria's two major guarantors ability to provide that security. the first and possibly the most anticipated battle has been hezbollah. iran essentially the iranian proxy based in lebanon that fought so brutally for assad over many years that lost so many of its own, more experienced fighters propping up the damascus regime. many, i think felt that they must have struggled to recover from that brutal fight. but managed to maintain the idea that they were still 100 foot tall when confronting israel, israel and the major attack we saw in the last

today, the leader of the islamist rebel group, abu mohammad al-julani, arriving triumphantly in damascus, addressing a crowd at a mosque. president biden today saying the u.s. is ready to talk with all rebel groups to try to build a new, inclusive syria. >> they're saying the right things now. but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions. >> covearge mr. assad, israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, whose country borders a part of syria, announcing the israeli defense forces had seized a buffer zone inside syria, saying it was to secure israel's border. president elect donald trump saying the u.s. should not intervene around the world celebrations from exiled syrians. more than 5 million syrians were driven abroad by the brutality of the assad regime and the civil war, including over a million to europe alone. huge numbers of syrians now hope they can return home for now. so much uncertainty. the question how will the rebels govern? and can syria finally put conflictd can behind it? patrick reevell abc news, london. >> the colla

we know that the leader of hayat tahrir al—sham, mohammed abu al—julani, has met with interim prime ministerre are no clear details about what the way forward exactly will be. in the day, we went to some government buildings, some police stations in the city to see what exactly was happening there. and outside we found members of hts fighters from htsz. they said they'd been deployed there this morning, that they'd come in from idlib region in syria, that for long has been controlled by hts. to secure the city and to ensure that there isn't any looting or vandalism, some of which we saw on sunday. but before the curfew, there's a curfew from five in the evening till five in the morning. but before the curfew in the central square of the city, it was still very much a second day of celebrations. hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians coming in, cars, just families all packed in, honking their horns, singing, cheering, clapping and just continuously there was a barrage of celebratory gunfire, literally to the extent where all of the roads around that square were littered with spent bullets.

today, the leader of the islamist rebel group, abu mohammad al-julani, arriving triumphantly in damascus, addressing a crowd at a mosque. president biden today saying the u.s. is ready to talk with all rebel groups to try to build a new, inclusive syria. >> they're saying the right things now, but as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions. >> mr. assad, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu, whose country borders a part of syria announcing the israeli defense forces had seized a buffer zone inside syria, saying it was to secure israel's border. president elect donald trump saying the u.s. shouldn't intervene around the world celebrations from exiled syrians. more than 5 million syrians were driven abroad by the brutality of the assad regime and the civil war, including over a million to europe alone. huge numbers of syrians now hope they can return home for now. so much uncertainty. the question how will the rebels govern? and can syria finally put conflict behind it? patrick reevell abc news, london. >> the collapse of the assad

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the leader of the main group of rebels, abu mohammad al—julani, said that the ultimate goal is to reachsad. to prevent sucking smuggling of arms of the syrian border into lebanon. it is not certain who exactly was verify that, and they would try to operate to continue to make that happen. it's more difficult with syria and i worked on, and islamic rebels backed by the church gained control of the northern passage, in the short term it might mean that iran is less free to transfer arms through their but over time i think the stability of syria would allow all the bad actors to find opportunities and to use whatever they can as strongholds. let opportunities and to use whatever they can as strongholds.— opportunities and to use whatever they can as strongholds. let me ask ou about they can as strongholds. let me ask you about that. _ they can as strongholds. let me ask you about that, because _ they can as strongholds. let me ask you about that, because he - they can as strongholds. let me ask you about that, because he said - they can as strongholds. let me ask you about that, because he

cnn international correspondent jomana karadsheh spoke exclusively to al-julani about his ties with all qaeda leader, your group has had affiliations with al-qaida with isis and now you are projecting this image of a moderate leader and a moderate group. >> what is hts right now? >> hayat tahrir al sham hayat tahrir al-sham is one of the factions in the region, just like all the others. >> now we're talking about a larger project. we're talking about building syria hayat tahrir al sham is merely one detail of this dialog and it may dissolve at any time. >> it's not an end in itself, but a means to perform a task confronting this regime jomana kory honea is on the ground in aleppo with rare access to the group and she brings us this look at the aftermath of the rebel offensive this is the bassel roundabout, named after the deceased brother of the syrian president, bashar al-assad, and one of the first things that people did when rebel forces took over the city of aleppo was toppled. >> the statue of bassel, a symbol of the assad regime. this is an area where there were fierce battles wi

they are promising a new chapter and abu mohammed al—julani, or the name he now goes by, his real nameg a new future and people can change but everyone is very weary and so they will wait and see how he proceeds, if he lives up to his word before removing those sanctions. what do you make of the statements we heard from assad, we cannot verify that. what you think was the goal there and what does it mean for the russia drawdown in syria? assad is first, on one hand, completely humiliated, he ran to moscow like a coward, it seems as though it is a last—ditch effort to make it seem as though he was not trying to abandon anybody in syria because that's been the narrative that is coming to him a lot on the ground that military felt he was not there on them and he abandoned them. he is trying to rectify his image to make it seem like that wasn't actually the case and he had no plan and it all happened in the last minute and the russians bought it up. he is not going to say much unless the russians approve it. vladimir putin is not happy with assad because russia has a military base there as

we've definitely seen a lot of statements from ahmed al—sharaa, previously known as abu mohammad al—julanif hts, saying that we want to rule in a way that is democratic, or at the very least open to others. however, there is concern about what that will actually be like in place, given that the cabinet is largely formed of members of hts. they've gone ahead and started to appoint governors of different provinces in syria that are very much aligned to hts, so it's wait and see. it's been very interesting to see american diplomats, of course, in damascus today. previous to that, british diplomats and also the un envoy meeting with hts. the overall thinking in the region is to open arms and try to bring in the leaders that are sitting in damascus today and try to press upon them the importance of being not only inclusive, but also looking forward to how to rebuild the incredible years and decades of damage inside of syria. now we know that hts were in control of large parts of the idlib region of syria. what do we learn from the way that they ruled and governed over that area? there wasn't mu

. >> and the leader of syria's biggest rebel faction, abu mohammad al-julani, is poised to chart the country's future. the former al qaeda commander cut ties with the group years ago, but the group he now leads, hts is considered a terrorist organization by the u.s. as well as the un. professor stephen zunes, with the university of san francisco, an expert on the middle east, says the future of syria could go down two completely different paths. >> the country is in really poor shape, and so two things can happen in these situations. you can say, okay, everybody, let's forget our political differences, come together and try to rebuild society. or they could say, let's take advantage of this and let's push through our ideological agenda and which direction syria is going to go remains to be seen. >> professor zunes says he expects the international criminal court will hand down indictments for war crimes against former president bashar al assad. but since assad has received political exile in russia, the professor says he does not believe assad will ever see a trial for the war crimes

in his message, the leader of hts, al—julani, now using his own name, he had this message to syrianstranslation: | would - like to congratulate the great syrian people for the victory, for the blessed revolution. i would like to invite them to public squares to express theirjoy, but without gunfire and terrorising the people. and then let's move onwards towards building this country back. as we have said since the beginning, we shall be victorious. god willing. there will certainly celebrate gunfire in the square last sunday and across the country, we hear it every day. see what the like down the square. we can now speak to my colleague lina sinjab. she is in the heart of the square. describe what is happening around you. yes, it is 'ust happening around you. yes, it isiust the _ happening around you. yes, it is just the start _ happening around you. yes, it is just the start of _ happening around you. yes, it isjust the start of a _ happening around you. yes, it is just the start of a big - happening around you. yes, it isjust the start of a big day. l is just the start of a big day

think the syrian army clearly has shown that it's not willing to defend the regime. >> i mean al-julani he's doing this world exclusive interview with cnn. he claims that he's gone through a transformation and did an about face on past hard line rhetoric. what do you make of what is it's certainly a pr campaign. what do you what do you think about it well, you know, i'm from peoria on this one. >> show me uh, you know, show me your deeds and not just your words. the words are great. uh the hts broke away from al qaeda in around 2016. uh, they've said that they would not persecute christians and other minority groups in the areas they control and so far, that's been the case. uh, but we'll see going forward. you know, it is hts is designated a terror group by the us government and a lot of foreign governments as well. and that's based on its background. so um, al joe kenny clearly wants to, you know change that perception and we'll see going forward as they govern aleppo and other areas that they have seized, how they how they act, if it's reality and not just perception how is the us vi

controlled by the armed opposition and the leader of syria's biggest rebel faction, abu mohammad al-julaniry's future. >> the former al qaeda commander cut ties with the group years ago, but the group he now leads, hts is considered a terrorist organization by the u.s. and the un. middle east expert professor stephen zunes, with the university of san francisco, says the future of syria could go down two completely different paths. >> the country is in really poor shape. and so, you know, two things can happen in these situations. you can say, okay, everybody, let's forget our political differences, come together and try to rebuild society. or they could say, let's take advantage of this and let's push through our ideological agenda. and which direction syria is going to go remains to be seen. >> professor zunes says he expects the international criminal court to hand down indictments for war crimes against former president bashar al assad, but since assad has received political exile in russia. professor zunes does not believe assad will ever see trial for war crimes. >> president biden sa

the rebel forces have been about abu mohammad al—julani and their grip, hayat tahrir—al shams.administration and the incoming trump presidency as well as other major players in and around the middle east. i asked retired brigadier general mark kimmitt who is a former us assistant secretary of state, how significant this development was for the united states. it's tremendously significant in the minds of many. this is another blow to the ring of fire that the iranian and its proxies, that iran and its proxies have been surrounding israel with and with what we're seeing in the pushback in lebanon against hezbollah, the fight against the houthis, the toppling of bashar al—assad. i think generally, most of the observers would say this has been not only a significant blow to bashar al assad, but one to the iranian theocracy as well. there should be a lot of concern. if you take a look at their actions up to this point, they've been running a brilliant strategic communications campaign, not the least shaving their beards before they appeared on television. but we should not kid ourse

are some signs that they may not be as hard line as the group's origins and that of the leader, al-julaniily has scattered over the years. >> he hopes that they will be able to join together and celebrate a new future for syria. >> is the big problem and now people are very happy. something different, something new, has become a new syria, now a new life. >> for now, the al-taweel family said they will hold out hope for the best in the days to come. christien kafton ktvu fox two news. >> a store employee locks himself inside of a bathroom while suspects ransack an oakland gas station. we are hearing from the owner about that mob style robbery next. plus, tough decisions coming to oakland. dozens of people addressed the city council today as it considers how to resolve a $129 million deficit. >> and tonight, in sports, a monday night football clash in texas. the cowboys hosting the bengals and the blocked punt that went wrong for dallas. but first, award winning artist billie eilish headed to the south bay. how it will be a show unlike anything sap center has seen before. [music] ♪ the hol

it appears that julani, the leader of the main rebel group, the umbrella rebel group, has reached out to other rebel groups. they've worked together it appears as if they've had significant training coming from, you know, coming from military experts who are well equipped and well knowledged in, in, in fighting and warfare. and it's been effective. they've fought effectively. they've brought their forces to bear on all the different major cities from aleppo to hammer to homs. they say they now completely control fully control homs, not just liberating the prison, but taking control of it. and you can tell that they've been working methodically. they get to the outside, they go in. they don't claim that they've controlled the place. 24 hours later, they say they've controlled it. and this has gone on hour by hour through the day. and in fact, we woke up early today and the rebels movement had sprung up, reemerged, if you will reawakened itself in the south of the country. so by the end of where we are right now, at the end of the day in syria, you have rebel elements on the very northe

but ultimately their figurehead al-julani is somebody who previously had affiliations with al qaeda that remain means there's still a $10 million bounty on his head. so it's a very complex needle for them to thread going forward because i think, um, this group are going to have to simultaneously, uh satisfy the anger and the the sort of sense of sacrifice of its own fighters while at the same time to trying to put out a message to the international community that they're not just another iteration of that sectarian hatred and, of course, try and get some international aid into. remember, so much of syria is rubble at the moment and needs desperate, urgent rebuilding. there's an acute hunger crisis, so the needs are tomorrow. as we've seen in the past, people who are very good at toppling regimes or governments turn out to be rubbish at governing, but it does seem that behind this particular rebel movement that there are a lot of fairly well sophisticated backers reem, i know that you are um, you remain politically independent, but you've been committed to supporting syria's transition to

i mean, at the end of the day, the julani forces have hated the iranians because the iranians supported the assad regime, fought against these guys. so there is a common cause there. but he's seen as an islamic militant and all that kind of thing what's your take? >> well, i think there's a number of things that the united states can do. first and foremost is that bts is a designated terrorist organization, and that's going to make rebuilding and reconstruction and a new syria very difficult. so i'm sure this administration and the next administration is going to have to deal with that first and foremost, if they are not, then they are likely to engage in sort of the same nefarious activities that we saw the assad regime do and and iran, as they try to build a power base in spite of of sanctions and these kinds of designations. whether or not there's going to be some kind of alliance between jolani and iran, i highly, highly doubt that these are people that have been, you know destroyed by by iran and its proxies so i don't see that likely happening. that said, iranian proxies could com

he has he backed the radical leader who took over al-julani in deposing assad because, you know, he's been wanting assad to go like we all did for years. but now, what is he doing now? he's attacking the syrian kurds who we support in eastern syria. so he's he's going to be a problem. biden is not going to do anything about it. but president trump has a huge opportunity. and i know for a fact that president trump dealt with erdogan once before over the same issue. and it stopped as a result of a phone conversation that he had with president erdogan. i just know that for a fact. and i believe once he's in power here, one of his early calls will likely be to erdogan. if he hasn't started talking to him already, to tell him to knock that off. so our audience understands his motivation. he believes if you're a kurd and you're motivated against turkey and you want to take a piece of turkey back that you believe is yours to establish kurdistan, that is not the motivation of the syrian kurds in eastern syria. their motivation is to get rid of isis and make sure that they don't rise again. bu

are some signs that they may not be as hard line as the groups origins and that of the leader, al-julanitawil said his family has scattered over the years. >> he hopes that they will be able to join together and celebrate a new future for syria. is the big problem and now people are very happy. >> something different, something new, has become a new syria, now a new life. >> for now, the al-taweel family said they will hold out hope for the best in the days to come. christian captain, ktvu, fox two news. >> china has opened an antitrust investigation into santa clara based chipmaker nvidia, the world's largest provider of processors that power ai. according to the chinese government, nvidia is suspected of violations in the country's anti-monopoly law after its purchase of israeli chip designer mellanox. the move is widely seen as retaliatory. the investigation comes after the u.s. last week launched its third crackdown in three years on china's semiconductor industry. nvidia has not yet commented on the investigation. on wall street, though, nvidia shares did fall nearly 3% after that a

al-julani addressed the terrorist charges against him and hts in an exclusive interview recently with cnn. cnn's jomana karadsheh people listening to this are going to wonder why they should believe you. >> you are still a specially designated global terrorist by the united states with a $10 million bounty on your head. >> your group is a proscribed terrorist organization by the united states, by the u.n., by the eu, and others. >> now, i say to people, don't judge by words, but by actions. >> i believe the reality speaks for itself these classifications are primarily political and at the same time, wrong natasha hall is a senior fellow with the middle east program at the center for strategic and international studies. >> she joins me now from washington. natasha, thanks so much for joining tonight. >> thanks for having me. >> the u.s. designates it's a terrorist organization for a reason. it had a past affiliation with al qaida. it's carried out suicide bombings over the course of the war. so i wonder what's your view? have they substantively changed or just changed for show, as it w

are some signs that they may not be as hard line as the group's origins and that of the leader, al-julani el tawil said his family has scattered over the years. >> he hopes that they will be able to join together and celebrate a new future for syria. >> his big problem and now people are very happy. something different, something new, has become a new syria, now a new life. >> for now, the al-taweel family said they will hold out hope for the best in the days to come. christien kafton ktvu, fox two news. >> well, we are watching for aftershocks after a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck in dathe usgs says that quake struck just after 3:00 this afternoon near the townf yerington, nevada. that's out 60 miles southeast of reno. so far, no reports of any damage, but people have reported feeling the shaking as far away as walnut creek. >> all right. checking out the pictures from today. >> it was a mild day yet again today. temperatures still above the average, unless you're in the central valley where the temperatures were cooler, especially down towards fresno and bakersfield. and we had 70 in

and julani is boy, he sure sounds good, but the taliban didn't sound that bad. after the fall of afghanistan either. and step by step, they put all the repressive measures back in. so we just don't know where this is going, brianna. and that that really is the question we want to make sure wherever it goes, they don't have access to the chem and bio. >> yeah. and then finally, just one question. as you have trump coming into power with a message of sort of isolationism, stay out of syria. and we saw what he did, pulling out some american troops who had long been supportive of longtime kurdish allies in the region. what do you expect? maybe the dynamic is he's coming back into the white house and how that could impact things in syria i'm kind of expecting a different dynamic. >> i think now he's he recognizes he knows what power is. he wants to be a global player. you can't be a global player by withdrawing from everything he's got a seat at the table. there with the forces on the ground he's got something to talk about with erdogan and mbs. he's in a critical po

and this is mohammad al-julani, who is, of course, the leader of this group that's taken over the us does call them a terrorist group. there's no apparent intention to remove that designation. according according to john kirby, in the last 24 hours or so. but here's what jilani said the fear was from the presence of the regime. the regime is now gone. the country is moving toward development and reconstruction. it's going towards stability, he says. people are exhausted from the war. the country is not ready for another one. it's not going to get into another one. and then he says this quote, the source of our fears was from the iranian militias, hezbollah and the regime which committed the massacres we are seeing today. so he seems to be sending a message. i mean, you heard netanyahu say there you start arming hezbollah and iran, then we're going to have a problem. he seems to be trying to say that he doesn't want to have a problem. >> yeah, but who is he speaking for? i mean, there's so many different rebel groups. he's obviously the leader of the main rebel group, and he's become

and you know, it was interesting this morning, cnn had an interview with mohamed al-julani, the leader and he he sounded moderate despite a pedigree that goes back to al qaeda and isis, where he was talking about being very inclusive and respecting the voices of all these different groups. and we've seen on the streets of damascus, we don't see what we might have thought which would be terror executions, mistreatment of the populace. so this will be the key question over the next coming days and weeks is what will it look like? >> jake so president-elect trump, your former boss, said last night the u.s. should not get involved in any way obviously, he pulled troops out of syria during his first administration. when you were secretary of defense, do you think that that is the right approach, that the u.s. should not be involved in any way well first of all, we do still have troops in southeast syria at al-tanf and it's about 900 troops there, principally to to continue the counter isis operations to make sure that caliphate doesn't rise up. >> but secondly, to watch iran's movement thro

. >> syrian rebel leader abu mohammad al-julani, who's been on the u.s. terror watch list since 2013 with a $10 million bounty on his head, is declaring, quote, complete victory over the assad regime, reassuring religious and ethnic minorities. quote syria is for everyone. no exceptions. >> this victory my brothers, is a victory for the entire islamic nation. this new triumph, my brothers. marks a new chapter in the history of the region. >> syrians sweeping into damascus, ransacking assad's palace, uncovering a luxury car collection worth millions, including a ferrari f50, a lamborghini a rolls and a bentley former state department middle east negotiator aaron david miller joins us now he's a senior fellow now at the carnegie endowment for international peace. sir, thanks very much for being with us this morning. >> thanks for having me casey. >> so let's start with this rebel leader abu mohammad al jolani. what we know about him, about the group he leads and what that means for america's interests and security well, you know, ahmed al sharaa is his real

are some signs that they may not be as hard line as the groups origins and that of the leader, al-julani el tawil said his family has scattered over the years. >> he hopes that they will be able to join together and celebrate a new future for syria is a big problem and now people are very happy. >> something different, something new, has become a new syria, now a new life. >> for now, the al-taweel family said they will hold out hope for the best in the days to come. christien kafton, ktvu, fox two news. >> the city of lafayette is welcoming a new chief at the police department after leading the department for seven years. police chief ben aldridge is stepping away. he is joining the martinez police department to serve as a captain. in his place, lieutenant james williams will take over the department. last night, the community gave the outgoing chief a sendoff. >> he's just added so much safekeeping and feeling of security and authority and kindness in our community, and we've just been really lucky to have him. the reason why we even moved with this new police chief is because of that

abu mohammad al-julani says defeating the assad regime is a, quote, victory for the entire islamic nations 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

according to reporting by jordanian state television ahmad al-sharaa, also known as abu mohammad al-julaniled the group of rebels that ousted the syrian president bashar al assad earlier this month. he held a news conference with turkey's foreign minister in damascus on sunday. apparently, they said, all weapons in the country will now be controlled by the state we will not by any means allow for arms outside the control of the state, whether from revolutionary factions or factions in the sdf areas. >> we need to close this chapter as quickly as possible, because the presence of rogue arms in the country is what leads to chaos and unstable security president elect trump has said the u.s. >> should not get involved in the situation in syria. he wrote, when it all happened, this is not our fight. let it play out. but what does that mean? after all? i spoke to jasmine el-gamal and former middle east adviser at the pentagon, and she says it won't be that easy for donald trump to just ignore what's unfolding there. >> this is one of the things that we've seen time and again with the u.s. admini

mohammad al-julani, who was just appointed as syria's caretaker prime minister, tells reporters the assad regime is no more that his people are exhausted and that foreign governments should not fear a war with syria. but fighting continues in the country's north and east and across its borders. israel says it struck syria nearly 500 times in just two days, while turkish state media says this drone strike destroyed military equipment that had been seized by a kurdish group. joining us now is retired lieutenant general mark hertling. general hertling, thank you so much for being with us. despite the ouster of assad, some of the rebel groups that joined forces to unseat him are directly opposed to each other. and with him out of the way. do you foresee a period of peace in syria, especially given that some of these kurdish forces and turkish backed fighters are at odds? >> well, giuliani has a couple of tasks in front of him, boris. the first one is to gather the groups together that have been fighting, and it has been an unbelievable spectrum of people who have been fighting in syria, all p

we also heard from from state department officials that they are looking at the fact that that al-julani is his he has a $10 million bounty on his head. >> his group is designated a terrorist organization by the united states. that's clearly going to be problematic going forward. we understand that there are no decisions on whether to change that at this point, but it's certainly having to be looked at. >> max, paula in abu dhabi, thank you. for several frantic hours on monday, people searched syria's most notorious saydnaya prison they suspected that some prisoners were being held in secret cells inside what amnesty international called the human slaughterhouse. cnn chief international correspondent clarissa ward is there. reporter the stream of families never stops climbing towards syria's most notorious saydnaya prison pushed on by reports that thousands of people imprisoned by the regime of bashar al-assad are still trapped alive. >> in a section underground. this is the red section of the prison. they've been trying for days to reach it. maysoon abu tells us there's no oxygen becaus

government when we sanctioned them uh, an offshoot of isis, by the way and and and its leader, mohammed al-julani, very publicly in 2017 disavowed global terrorism and cut ties with al qaeda and tried to rebrand as kind of a more moderate but still islamist militia. i really i want to stress that that this is not the beacon of democracy. and that's been proven in how they've governed the northwest of syria so we only need to look at recent facts and examples of the fact that they have crushed dissent in that region. uh, they did they have jailed and tortured activists. there were women who were living in that area who said that they were fearful and left, though they were not required to to to wear a veil and so on and that said, at the at the heart is an islamist militia behind this that has governed with a conservative, if not radical sunni ideology. and so we have to see they have said the right things. as josh said so far, so good. but my experience in in in this region of the world and by the way, when, when we've seen islamist militias in other parts of the world in afghanistan, for example

he's hayat tahrir al-sham his name is mohammad al-julani he was a jihadist in iraq, starting in 2003. and during the period from 2006 to 2011, he was actually imprisoned by the u.s. in several different places. one of them, abu ghraib prison. he moved back to syria in 2011 upon his release, set up an al qaeda affiliate in syria. then he split from al qaeda to form tass. and then by the time we get into 2023, he'd been organizing this group for quite some time he conducted some operations, first against al qaeda and then against isis. and he killed one of the former leaders of isis during this period what can you tell us about the isis footprint in this area? >> because obviously it is still a concern not just for the united states, but for the world. >> absolutely. so this is this is actually very interesting because everybody thinks about isis as being a defeated entity right now and that's it's true that they are defeated, but they are still in existence. so places like this right in here in the syrian desert all these places that are marked in the striped fashion are areas in which

their leader, abu mohammad al-julani who are these people?ery well because the first time his name came up was in 2012, when abu bakr al-baghdadi, as you remember, the leader of isis, sent him to syria as his personal emissary to start a militia to basically become isis man in syria. >> so that's the starting point. later on, he breaks with baghdadi. he decides to pledge allegiance to zawahiri the al qaeda leader. so this is someone with a troubling background to say the least. >> he'd been imprisoned by the u.s. in in iraq. >> yeah in iraq, he'd been been held in prison as many of these jihadis had been. yeah. and then, interestingly, what happens is, you know, the united states declares him a foreign terrorist organization. and so the leader of this foreign terrorist organization and put a bounty on his head. so this is the person that's the leader of the movement. he has claimed to to have reformed. and we see encouraging rhetoric, certainly from his people. and also some, you know activities that make us think that perhaps they've moderat