CBS News
Blinken publicly confirms U.S. officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that ousted Assad
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that American officials have been in direct contact with the Syrian rebel group that spearheaded the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad’s government but is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and others.
Blinken is the first U.S. official to publicly confirm contacts between the Biden administration and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led a coalition of armed opposition groups that ousted Assad from power last Sunday.
Speaking at a news conference in Aqaba, Jordan, Blinken would not discuss details of the contacts but said it was important for the U.S. to convey messages to the group about its conduct and how it intends to govern in a transition period.
“Yes, we have been in contact with HTS and with other parties,” Blinken said. He added that “our message to the Syrian people is this: We want them to succeed and we’re prepared to help them do so.”
Blinken also said that officials are “also communicating directly with those in positions of authority in Syria.”
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
HTS, which was once an affiliate of al-Qaida, has been designed as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department since 2018. That designation carries with it severe sanctions, including a ban on the provision of any “material support” to the group or its members. The sanctions do not, however, legally bar U.S. officials from communicating with designated groups.
In an interview Saturday on Syrian television, the group’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, did not address any direct contact with the United States, but said the new authorities in Damascus, the capital, are in touch with Western embassies.
HTS has worked to establish security and start a political transition after seizing Damascus and has tried to reassure a public both stunned by Assad’s fall and concerned about extremist jihadis among the rebels. Insurgent leaders say the group has broken with its extremist past.
Al-Sharaa appeared in a video message Friday congratulating “the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution.”
U.S. officials say al-Sharaa has been making welcome comments about protecting minority and women’s rights but remain skeptical that he will follow through on them in the long run.
“We know that what happens inside of Syria can have powerful consequences well beyond its borders, from mass displacement to terrorism, and we know that we can’t underestimate the challenges of this moment and in the weeks and months ahead,” Blinken said Saturday.
On Friday, the rebels and Syria’s unarmed opposition worked to safely turn over to U.S. officials an American man who had been imprisoned by Assad.
Blinken said U.S. officials are continuing “our own dogged, determined efforts” as they search for Austin Tice, an American journalist who disappeared 12 years ago near Damascus.
“We have impressed upon everyone we’ve been in contact with the importance of helping find Austin Tice and bringing him home,” Blinken said.
Travis Timmerman, the American who said he was freed from a Syrian prison after Assad’s ouster, was taken out of the country by the U.S. military, CBS News reported earlier this week.
San Francisco residents were woken up by a tornado warning early Saturday morning during a powerful storm system that battered the region with heavy rain and wind.
It was the first-ever tornado warning for San Francisco, but not the first tornado, cited CBS News Bay Area meteorologist Paul Heggen.
The National Weather Service issued the warning for northern San Mateo County and parts of downtown San Francisco, just before 6 a.m. until 6:15 a.m.
According to the NWS, there was a cyclonic signature on the radar that had produced enough rotation signature to prompt the warning.
“The radar scan at 5:52am clearly shows a “hook echo” offshore — that’s the signature we look for to identify a developing tornado. This feature was embedded within a broad area of very heavy rain, but it still stands out,” Heggen explained.
Notice the cloud-to-ground (well, cloud-to-ocean) lightning strike near the hook echo. That confirms the instability present in the atmosphere — such strikes are only possible with enough vertical motion to separate charged particles (“hydrometeors”) within the storm. 4/15 pic.twitter.com/NY3RSewd6j
— Paul Heggen @paulkpix.bsky.social (@PaulKPIX) December 14, 2024
The NWS Bay Area said the warning was over for San Francisco at 6:07 a.m. And let the tornado warning expire at 6:15 a.m.
The warning led to a flurry of social media posts from residents who were woken up by the alert on their cell phones. It was being reported as the first-ever tornado warning issued for San Francisco.
There was also a special alert issued for a possible water spout on San Francisco Bay in the area of the Bay Bridge that expired ten minutes after the tornado warning.
While the strongest part of the system has passed, isolated severe thunderstorms remain possible for parts of the Bay Area through the morning, the National Weather Service said.
The risk of a severe storm is marginal, and the NWS said it will only last through Saturday morning. According to PG&E, the storm conditions caused power outages for thousands of people in the Bay Area.
CBS News
ABC News agrees to contribute $15 million to Trump presidential foundation to settle defamation suit
ABC News agreed to contribute $15 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court on Saturday.
Trump had accused ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos of acting “with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth,” after Stephanopoulos said that Trump had been “found liable for rape” in a March 10 interview with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.
Trump claimed in the filing Stephanopoulos “knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false.”
As part of the settlement, ABC News must also publish an “editor’s note” at the bottom of the March 10 online article that accompanied the interview which states: “ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.”
Trump’s presidential foundation and museum have yet to be established.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
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contributed to this report.
CBS News
Jamie Foxx hit by thrown glass in birthday dinner altercation at Beverly Hills restaurant Mr. Chow, rep says
Actor Jamie Foxx required stitches after he was involved in some sort of altercation in Beverly Hills while celebrating his birthday on Friday, according to a spokesperson for the “Django Unchained” and “Ray” star.
Police were dispatched to Mr. Chow, a high-end Chinese restaurant located in the 300 block of N. Camden Drive, at around 10:10 p.m. after learning of a reported assault with a deadly weapon, according to Beverly Hills Police Department officials.
Upon arrival, officers found that the reports of assault with a deadly weapon were unfounded, but instead that a physical altercation had broken out between two parties at the restaurant. They did not provide details leading up to what caused the confrontation.
Though police did not mention Foxx by name, a spokesperson tells CBS News Los Angeles that he was at the restaurant for a celebration.
“Jamie Foxx was at his birthday dinner when someone from another table threw a glass that hit him in the mouth. He had to get stitches and is recovering,” the spokesperson said. “The police were called and the matter is now in law enforcement’s hands.”
No further information was provided and it’s unclear if any arrests have been made.
Foxx, now 57, just recently revealed the cause of his lengthy hospitalization in 2023 as a brain bleed and stroke.
First-ever tornado warning shocks San Francisco residents during intense storm
ABC News agrees to contribute $15 million to Trump presidential foundation to settle defamation suit
Jamie Foxx hit by thrown glass in birthday dinner altercation at Beverly Hills restaurant Mr. Chow, rep says
First-ever tornado warning shocks San Francisco residents during intense storm
ABC News agrees to contribute $15 million to Trump presidential foundation to settle defamation suit