60 Minutes - 10/12/2025: The China Hack, Booms, Busts and Bubbles, The Road to Damascus

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Correspondent Scott Pelley reports on the threat China’s cyber campaign poses to America’s critical infrastructure. The former head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, General Tim Haugh, speaks with Pelley – in the general’s first television interview since his retirement – about the threat. With Wall Street soaring to record highs and worries of an AI bubble, correspondent Lesley Stahl speaks with Andrew Ross Sorkin — one of the most trusted financial reporters of our time — about his new book, “1929,” which examines the market crash a century ago, to explore whether history is about to repeat itself. As the deal brokered by the Trump administration between Israel and Hamas raises hope for broader changes in the Middle East, Margaret Brennan interviews Syria’s new president Ahmed Al Sharaa, a former Al Qaeda member, in his first U.S. television interview since taking office. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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abholing. Can you think of any reason that China would target your little community? That's the exact question I had for the FBI when they visited me on that first day, and I still can't answer that question. No, I can't think of one reason. The FBI told Nick Lawler that China has hacked into the computers of vital American utilities, even his, in tiny Littleton, Massachusetts. If they're willing to go after that small provider

that doesn't have a national security connection, that means every target is on the list. Do you think that we will have a crash? We thought it was a good time to check in with Andrew Ross Sorkin, one of the country's most influential financial reporters. He's just written a book about the market crash, a century ago. Are you scared? I'm anxious that we are at prices that may not feel sustainable.

We are either living through some kind of remarkable boom. Or we're reliving. 1929. The deal between Israel and Hamas could lead to big changes in the Middle East. We spoke with a man who knows a thing or two about remarkable transformations. Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Shada. Have you ever seen that poster, the wanted poster? Yes, of course.

You were designated as a terrorist by the American government. There was that $10 million bounty on your head. It would have been a waste. It would have been money ill spent. I'm Scott Pelley. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Sharon Alfonci.

I'm John Wertheim. I'm Cecilia Vega. I'm Leslie Stahl. Those stories, and in our last minute, New Hope for Peace in the Middle East, tonight on 60 Minutes. This episode is brought to you by Square. You're not just running a restaurant.

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Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same. same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. Until recently, Tim Hawke was among America's top spymasters. The four-star general spent 33 years in Air Force intelligence and rose to lead America's largest and most advanced intelligence agency. Hawk was also in charge of defending America from computer threats. In his first television interview since retirement, General Hawk is here to warn that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks

to an astonishing degree, and he believes he knows why. The surprise, Tim Hawk told us, is that China is targeting not just the U.S. military and industry, but also Americans in their homes. I think initially we were surprised that China would target every American with these capabilities. That goes against every norm of international law. That certainly goes against how the United States military would approach targeting in a crisis or a conflict, that the fact that they would go after basic services

as part of their effort that they have identified as unrestricted warfare is unconscionable. And what did they target? They targeted water, they targeted electrical power infrastructure, transportation are examples of the types of things that were targeted. And in many cases, they're vulnerable. Multiple intrusions at utilities were discovered in 2023,

and China had been on some of their computer networks at least five years. You're saying that the Chinese today are in American power plants, water treatment plants, other parts of the electrical grid, maybe even hospitals, telecommunications, all of that? So there is a daily contest that is going on to be able to deny China those accesses, but they are certainly attempting every single day to be able to target telecommunications, to be able to target critical infrastructure, both in the United States and in other countries, and they are doing that to try to ensure that they have an advantage in a crisis or a conflict.

Is China preparing for war? There was no other reason to target those systems. There was no advantage to be gained economically. There was no foreign intelligence collection value. The only value would be for use in a crisis or a conflict. In 2024, Tim Hawke rose to lead both the National Security Agency, America, America's largest spy agency, plus U.S. Cyber Command, the military defense in cyberspace. Hawk took over, just as the scope of China's hacking of utilities was becoming clear

in a place no one would have imagined. Is Littleton a major supplier of some kind of the federal government? We're not. Major supplier to a military base? No. Nick Lawler is General Miner. manager of the Littleton, Massachusetts Electric and Water Utility. His town has 10,000 residents.

Can you think of any reason that China would target your little community? That's the exact question I had for the FBI when they visited me on that first day, and I still can't answer that question. No, I can't think of one reason. The FBI visited in November 23 to tell Lawler that China had access to his utility computer network. He says the feds told him he was one of 200. How much of all of this is controlled remotely by computer? All of it. In his water treatment plant, Lawler showed us tanks of dangerous chemicals that are precisely controlled to deliver clean water. If you had control

of these tanks, you've got control of Littleton, Massachusetts. You can poison the water. You can poison the water. But China was caught before it had operational control. With Lawler's permission, the feds watched what China was doing, and what they learned was part of an awakening for American security. If you are willing to go after a small water provider in Littleton, Massachusetts, what other target is off the list?

So from that perspective, this is a national threat. It's one that needs to be addressed, but it's also one that every American should understand. Because if they're willing to go after that small provider that doesn't have a national security connection, that means every target is on the list. So help me understand, why Littleton? If we are involved in something in the Indo-Pacific that is becoming a challenge between the United States and China, the more that that China could get us to focus at home means now our resources are focused in the homeland. That would distract us, distract resources, make it more difficult for us to mobilize in a crisis.

Littleton may not be a very large place, but if the Chinese took its water offline, the entire country would be focused on it. And if there were three to four other examples simultaneously, plus an information campaign, it could seem much larger than it is, or it could be done in critical places that would have a greater effect. Other critical places believed to have been targeted by China over years

include New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 13 gas pipeline operators, the Port of Houston, and major phone companies. But here's the bottom line on this. They have gotten to be very, very good at cyber operations. Mike Rounds thinks he knows why China is doing this. The Republican Senator of South Dakota is chair of the Armed Services Cyber Security Subcommittee. He believes China intends to deter the U.S. from standing up in a fight by hacking our most sensitive industries. But all it takes is a blip on the financial markets to delay certain trades by just milliseconds

to put the market into an entirely different attitude about the security and the soundness of being able to make those transactions happen. You're talking about causing chaos on Wall Street. Threatening to be able to cause chaos on Wall Street would be something that they would love to do. And turning the lights on and off. Most certainly. Or to start out with whether or not you can get an airline reservation.

And so those are areas that they would love to do just so that when the time comes, in my opinion, they can look at it and simply say, we know where you're at. Don't mess with us. we're capable of causing real problems for you long term. China is causing those problems by exploiting vulnerabilities in network equipment. In Littleton, Massachusetts, China found a weakness in a network firewall.

That's not unusual when software vulnerabilities go unpatched, or when out-of-date equipment is no longer supported with security updates. Once inside, China did not install malware which could be a red flag. Instead, it stole login credentials and masqueraded as a legitimate employee. They are just gaining access to that system and then attempting to lay dormant.

They're not spending more time collecting intelligence or taking other activities. It's there if they need it later. Exactly. Do we even know how extensively the Chinese are into our systems? I don't think we have a perfect knowledge of that. knowledge of that. How many Chinese attacks are there on U.S. systems in a day? I would expect that automated activity are happening at scans at the millions of devices

throughout every single day. China denies the hacking. The White House told us it is working to assess exposure and mitigate the damage. In Littleton, the damage forced Nick Lawler to completely rebuild his network at a cost of more than It is much more consuming to try to get somebody out of a network than to deny them access, which is why it's so critically important that we get the basics right in our critical infrastructure and in these substantive networks so that we aren't expending more resource to try to root them out. Tell me we're good at this. We are definitely good at this.

Really? But the scale is a challenge. Very few understood the scale or the challenge as well. as well as General Hawke. In the first Trump administration, he was promoted to two-star general, then three-star. But later, with a fourth star, he led the National Security Agency for only a little over a year. I got a phone call from a senior official in the Department of Defense that told me that the president had made a decision to remove me. He was fired in April after a far-right activist named Laura Lumer met with the president.

Online, she explained that Hawk was disloyal and had been referred for firing. The evidence she pointed to publicly was Hawke's appointment by President Biden. She called Hawks firing a blessing for the American people. That has got to be galling after your career. I know in my heart that every day I wanted to achieve the things for our nation that would make us more secure and make every American safe. And that continued to my last day of service. So from that perspective, it certainly was impactful to me and my family.

But at the end of the day, it's about our nation and it's about our nation's security. You're sitting there with four stars on your shoulder. You have spent your entire life in the Air Force, and you've been accused of being disloyal. Your reaction is what? that every day I woke up committed to our national security and to meeting the expectations of the president. Not disloyal. Absolutely not.

The White House did not answer our questions about Hawks firing from the National Security Agency. Later, Hawk retired from the Air Force. We do not have enough of these types of leaders and a loss of any one of them without strong justification is disappointing. A new acting head of the National Security Agency was appointed, but the week after the firing, Republican Mike Rounds, chair of the Senate's Cybersecurity Subcommittee, saw Hawke's sudden termination this way. The departure of General Hawk is a loss for our nation, but will be a tremendous gain for any private or public entity

where he decides to lend his expertise and leadership. I wish him, Godspeed. That said, as our adversaries watch this hearing, it will be clear that no matter the scenario, our cyber mission forces are ready. The National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command are consequential organizations. The second I was no longer the leader, focus shifts to them. They have consequential missions to do. And for my family, it shifts to how do we serve in different ways. Today, Tim Hawke serves by teaching at Yale and consulting private industry, but sidelined in government

as China expands its aggressive hacking, spying, and theft of intellectual property. There have been resignations and firings of other people focused on America's cyber defense. What does that mean for our national security? Our overall capacity is getting smaller while we know China's continues to grow. growth. There is still immense capability in the U.S. government. And now we'll be up to the administration to be able to use that and build partnerships with industry to be able to ensure that we're countering these threats.

If the United States does not dominate in this space, what is at stake? First, I'm always confident in our nation. But if we don't dominate in this space, China gains advantage with the ability to continue to steal intellectual property, which impacts our economy. They could gain increased intelligence collection, which would help them every day and also in a crisis and conflict. And they could pre-position in critical networks, both in the United States and with allies and partners, that could give them advantage in a crisis. We can't let that happen. What's up, guys?

It's Candace Dillard Bassett, former Real Housewife of Potomac. And I'm Michael Arsino, author of The New York Times bestseller, I Can't Date Jesus. And this is undomesticated. The podcast, well, we aren't just saying the quiet parts out loud. We're putting it all on the kitchen table and inviting you to the function. If you're ready for some bold takes and a little bit of chaos, welcome to Undomesticated. Follow and listen to Undomesticated, available wherever you get your podcasts. Stocks took a nosedive on Friday after President Trump threatened a big tariff hike on China.

Until then, Wall Street had been at record. highs for months, which is why we decided to check in with Andrew Ross Sorkin, one of the country's most influential financial reporters. He's just written a book called 1929 about the market crash a century ago. We wondered if he'd run out of news to cover, or is he alerting us that what's been happening in the markets lately is a replay of what led to the most devastating financial collapse in our history. Tuesday, October 29th, 1929.

Imagine the New York Stock Exchange back then. The crush of frightened traders dumping stocks. Investors losing their shirts, businesses, their homes, sweeping away the roaring 20s. Walking that same but transformed floor today. Everything's digital. Well, yeah, okay. Andrew Ross Sorkin says we're in our own.

roaring 20s, the 20-20s, with stocks climbing for months just like then. The crazy part about this is from 1928 to September of 1929, the stock market was up 90%. When you say the stock market was way up, immediately I think of now. Are you scared? I'm anxious. I'm anxious that we are at prices that may not feel sustainable. And what I don't know is we are either living through some kind of remarkable boom, and part of that's artificial intelligence and technology and all of that,

or everything's overpriced. Or we're reliving. 1929. There was so much anxiety. Sorkin has covered the markets for two decades. He joined the New York Times after college, soon founding the Deal Book newsletter covering finance. He also co-host Squackbox on CNBC.

Good to see you, too. Thanks for having me. Runs the Deal Book Summit, where he interviews the high and mighty. He co-created Billions, the TV show, wrote a bestseller about the 2008 crash, and now a book about 1929. We're always being undone by bubbles. There was the Internet bubble in 2000, the housing in 2008, a week. in another bubble, an AI bubble or something like that? I think it's hard to say we're not in a bubble of some sort. The question is always when is the bubble going to pop?

One symptom of a bubble is when the market goes up and up, but the underlying economy, the real economy, goes soft. And that appears to be happening right now. I would argue to you that the economy is being propped up almost artificially by the artificial intelligence boom. There are hundreds of billions of dollars that are being invested today in artificial intelligence. This is either a gold rush or a sugar rush. And we probably won't know for a couple of years which one it is.

Four million shares a day. 1929 was a sugar rush caused by speculation and debt. People who didn't really have much money were lured by walled by wall Street bankers to invest, using a new-fangled concept to take on debt called credit. You only had to put down 10% of the stock price, borrowing the rest from your broker. Prior to 1919, most people did not take on credit or debt at all. It was a sin. It was a moral sin to use credit to buy anything.

And it was really general motors. that basically came up with the idea that we're going to lend you money so you can afford to buy our cars. Brilliant. And then the bankers realized what's happening, and they realized that they can lend out money so that more folks can buy stocks. It was all sort of wrapped in the flag of democratizing access.

And in good times, when the stock is going up, it's like free money. In bad times, you're on the hook and you're on the hook. the hook in a very bad way. Since then, laws, regulations, and agencies have been put in place to protect investors, especially the less affluent from being exploited. We put up barriers after 1929. Yes. Protections.

Yes. So those are coming down. They're tumbling down. The SEC rules aren't as stringent anymore. Yes. The Consumer Protection Bureau practically doesn't exist anymore. Correct. That's what concerns me.

It's not that we're going off a cliff tomorrow. It's that there's speculation in the market today. There's an increasing amount of debt in the market today. And all of that's happening against the backdrop of the guardrails coming off. Including guardrails that allow only the wealthy to invest directly in private companies that have fewer regulations, like AI startups before they go public. So over the last 20 or 30 years, folks who had access to who could invest in private equity and venture capital clearly outperformed folks who didn't. That's how you really made money.

But you have to remember that these kind of assets are gambles. Public companies, after the SEC was created, were required to have all sorts of disclosure rules so that the public could understand what's going on inside them. inside them. Private companies don't have that. But historically, the average ordinary American wasn't really allowed to invest in the private companies. But in this flag of democratizing finance, there's a lot of people who want access to that. Wow. Isn't this something? This is spectacular.

Sorkin took us to the Fifth Avenue mansion of one of the big bankers back then who pushed democratization. If this idea of bringing the regular guy into buying stock, if that was a big problem back in 1929, why are we going there again? Doesn't it defy some kind of logic? There is a view that it's been only the elites that have had access to these investments, Facebook before it ever went public, Uber, before it went public. So there was this idea that it's unfair, actually, to the ordinary investors. because we haven't allowed them to get access to some of these investment opportunities early.

And there is a real push partially by the Trump administration, partially by the industry itself, which wants to get more money. Get more money in. Yeah. To open up the market to more and more people. So we have these guardrails for a reason. I mean, they're there to protect, and they have protected. They have protected a lot of people.

but some people would say they protected people from getting rich. Many people don't believe in capitalism anymore. And I think a lot of it is because they were not a part of the growth of the economy. We went to Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's biggest money manager handling $12.5 trillion in assets like pension funds. His annual letter to investors is a kind of industry roadmap. In his latest one, he suggested opening our retirement 401k's bastions of caution to riskier private investments in the name of, wait for it, democratizing investing. As I wrote, there are many great opportunities to be investing in startup companies, to invest in AI or data centers.

Right now, we are precluded to open. put those type of assets in many retirement products. And the Trump administration has now said we are going to allow in our 401 products the opportunity to invest in these private markets. But they are risky, aren't they? Yes. But everything is risky other than keeping your money

in a bank account overnight. But we're talking about 401ks, investing out of retirement accounts. Yes. You're risking. the nest egg, or a part of the, a little part of the nest. But what the markets will teach you over the last 100 years, even at the worst moments, if you have the ability to persevere

and you have a long-term horizon, you're going to do fine. And a diversified portfolio is essential. We're not suggesting, you know, one shoe fits all, we are suggesting the opportunity to have that ability to invest in these private market investments. He also believes we should be investing in crypto. It wasn't that long ago that the big bankers, Jamie Diamond and Larry Fink,

were saying that crypto was stupid and a fraud. I did say Bitcoin, because we were talking about Bitcoin then, was the domain of money launderers and thieves. But, you know, the markets teach you, you have to always re-look at your assumptions. There is a role for crypto in the same way there's a role for gold. That is, it's an alternative. For those looking to diversify, this is not a bad asset,

but I don't believe that it should be a large component of your portfolio. But Sorkin says some crypto can be abused in ways similar to 1929. Take meme coins, cryptocurrencies that can be manipulated by special. who pump them up, then let them crash. There are a number of examples where it felt like there was an inside group of people who were colluding to pump up some of these cryptocurrencies and other things. I give you a bizarre story of my own. I was on television with Larry Fink, and he makes a joke, I think, about how there should be a sorkn coin.

I think the sorkn coin should sorken coin. Well, two hours later, somebody makes a sorkn coin. Sorkin coin. And all of a sudden, this sorkin coin is now worth millions of dollars, and I'm watching it. Are you serious? Go up and up and up and up and up. The sorkin coin peaked at $170 million worth of trading in a day. And I think today it does something like $20 or $21 a day. I'm thrilled to have Bill Gates with us.

Sorkin is trusted by the world's top business leaders who talk to him, often excurs. I have no problem being hated, by the way. What role do you think these business leaders should be playing now? My own view is that most CEOs in America today are very scared to speak out publicly about anything. They are so worried that they are going to be potentially attacked by the administration or regulated. They're going to have a merger in front of some agency that's not going to be allowed to go through. They are so nervous about criticizing anything that's going on with this administration.

There are some economists who suggest that because Mr. Trump ties his success to the success of the market, that he's not going to let anything like what happened in 1999 happen, and that we should feel secure because of that. I think it's hard to know how things get out of control. When confidence disappears, it happens like this. So you spent nearly 10 years on this book. The inevitable question is, do you think that we will have a crash or not? The answer is, we will have a crash.

I just can't tell you when, and I can't tell you how deep. But I can assure you, unfortunately, I wish I wasn't saying this, we will have a crash. Now, Margaret Brennan, on assignment for 60 minutes. The deal brokered by the Trump administration between Israel and Hamas raises hope not only for an end to the war in Gaza, but for a broader transformation of the Middle East. And in some ways, that's been happening already. Israel's massive response in the two years since the October 7 terrorist attacks included decimating the powerful Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, which helped prop up the Syrian dictator Bashal al-Assad, who bombed and used chemical weapons against his own people. With Hezbollah weakened, Syrian rebels set out on the road to Damascus to overthrow the brutal Assad regime.

In December, the rebel commander, 42-year-old Ahmed al-Shara, proclaimed a new and free Syria, a stunning turn because the country's liberator had once been a member of al-Qaeda. Tonight, you'll hear his first U.S. television interview since becoming president. But before we sat down in the presidential palace, there was something he wanted us to see. This is Jobar on the outskirts of Damascus. 300,000 people once lived here. Syria's new president, Ahmed Ashara, brought us here last month.

It's shopping. It's... There's just nothing left. This war was cruel. It was a hard war. Every single room in any one of these buildings holds memories for those people who lived here. This wasn't a mistake.

This was a target. Of course, all these were direct targets with one objective, to displace the people in these areas. About 13 million Syrians, half the population, are internally displaced or living abroad as refugees. Over half a million died during nearly 14 years of civil war. There are places like this throughout, Syria, where even mosques were bombed, Al-Shadat told us,

rebel-held areas that were destroyed by Bashar al-Assad and his allies, Russia and Iran. There are entire generations that have suffered tremendous psychological trauma. So it's very important that the period of liberation give people new hope for their return and for reconstruction. You're a father of young children. of young children. Do you think this will be rebuilt in their lifetime? For sure. The Syrian people are strong.

When Al-Shaas' Islamist forces launched a surprise attack on the city of Aleppo in November 2024, they not only won, they kept going. By the time they got to Damascus, the capital, the dictator Bashar al-Assad had fled to Moscow. Al-Shada's forces ended 54 years of the Assad family's tyrannical rule in just 11 days.

In January, leaders of the militias that overthrew the regime appointed Al-Shada, president of Syria. We spoke with him in the cavernous building that Bashar al-Assad once occupied. What was it like when you first entered this place? Entering this palace wasn't a very positive experience. Much evil towards the Syrian people came out of this palace since it was built. To understand his improbable path to the presidency, you have to go back about 20 years

when Al-Shada left an upper-middle-class life in Syria to join al-Qaeda in Iraq. He wouldn't go into details about what he did then, but he was arrested and spent six years in American and Iraqi prisons. Released in 2011, just as a popular uprising against Bashar al-Assad had begun, he started an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria

that staged suicide bombings and armed attacks against the Assad regime. We did not take any external actions outside Syrian territory. We did not target anyone but the Syrian regime. But the United States stated that many of the attacks killed, quote, innocent Syrian civilians, and designated Al-Shada a global terrorist, putting him, with his nom de Guerre, on this wanted poster and offering a $10 million reward to anyone who could help, quote, stop this terrorist.

Have you ever seen that poster, the wanted poster? Yes, of course. When you met President Trump back in May, he described you as handsome, tough, and he said you had a strong past. Have you any doubt about that? I don't have any doubt about your strong past, but it's because of that past that you were designated as a terrorist by the American government. There was that $10 million bounty on your head until just a few months ago. It would have been a waste. It would have been money ill spent.

We are talking about 25 years ago. I was 17 or 18 years old. The level of awareness that you have now is different from what you're talking about. what it was 20 years ago. He eventually broke ties with a former ally, the founder of the terror group ISIS, and in 2016, renounced his allegiance to al-Qaeda. Did you actually believe in those terror groups then, or were they just a means to an end?

If I had agreed with them, I would not have left them. Many of the officials that I spoke to about you describe you as a pragmatist. Other skeptics say that you change to meet what you need to be in that moment. And that's important to understand who you are and the direction you're taking Syria in. Are you saying that you are just a completely changed man? I don't entirely agree with the description of pragmatist, because in Arabic, it has some negative connotations. The point is, let's look at what's happening now.

regardless of what was said in the media. Today we have really saved the people from the oppression that was being thrust on them by the criminal regime. Ten months after the fall of the Assad regime, we found signs of normalcy and difficulty, uncertainty and hope. In Damascus, one of the world's oldest cities, the bazaar, still bustles. And the faithful still come to pray at the Umayyad mosque, as they have for 13 centuries. One of the only places you'll still see Bashar al-Assad's face is on Syria's highly devalued currency.

You need a brick of it to buy dinner. Many Syrians have electricity and running water for just a few hours a day. The country's woes are the result of the long civil war. but also harsh economic sanctions the U.S. and other countries imposed to punish Assad for his human rights abuses. Alshada wants all sanctions lifted. And in May, during a speech in Saudi Arabia, President Trump took a bold but provisional step in that direction. I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. Last month, Alshada spoke at the end of Syria.

United Nations General Assembly, the first Syrian leader to do so since 1967. He's seeking long-term investment in Syria and still needs the U.S. to repeal sanctions permanently, which some lawmakers are reluctant to do. And at the U.N., China and Russia would need to vote to lift terrorism sanctions against him. Al-Shada personally welcomed a high-level delegation from Moscow last month. A remarkable development given the Russian Air Force helped their military. Air Force helped Bashar al-Assad pummel places like Jobar. There are millions of Syrians living in tents because things like this happened to them.

Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin are living in Moscow. What justice do they face? We will use all legal means possible to demand that Bashar al-Assad be brought to justice. However, engaging in a conflict with Russia right now would be too costly for Syria. would it be in the country's interest. New sectarian violence at home has raised questions about whether Al-Shada can control the fighters who helped bring him to power.

On Syria's western coast in March, his security forces and allied militia were accused of participating in the massacre of 1,500 civilians, most of them, members of the Alawite community that was loyal to Assad. The United Nations does say that your security forces violated humanitarian law.

I believe this is an exaggerated, And I believe that Syria is committed to prosecuting anyone who committed crimes against civilians, of any party or side. But then again, this summer, during a fight between ethnic groups, Al-Shada's security forces and Bedouin militia were accused of executing unarmed members of the minority Drew's community in the southern city of Swayda. A Syrian TV broadcaster was reading the news when Israel, which also has Jews citizens, bombed Syria's army headquarters and defense ministry.

Al-Shada told us Israel also bombed the grounds of his presidential palace twice. One time I wasn't there, but the other time I was in the palace close to the site that was bombed. To target the palace to convey a message, that's not a message. That's a declaration of war. But Syria doesn't want to engage in wars, and it doesn't want to be a threat to Israel or anyone else. Israel said publicly their intention was to protect a minority group there, the Druze. And the Prime Minister said he had to protect them because your forces did not. This is a Syrian internal matter that should be resolved legally by Syrian authorities.

After Assad fell, Israel occupied strategic parts of its shared border with Syria and conducted air raids and land incurred. and land incursions citing potential security threats. President Trump's special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, has been trying to broker an agreement that would ease tensions. Your government has been discussing a security agreement with Israel. Does that for you mean that Israel has to return all of the land that it seized after the Assad regime fell?

During negotiations, yes, for sure. Israel must retreat from any point taken after December 8th. Syria has not provoked Israel since we arrived in Damascus. Meanwhile, this past week, parliamentary elections were held in much of Syria, but only a limited number of people were eligible to vote. Under an interim constitution, Al-Shada signed in March, he's supposed to serve as president for five years, leading a transition to elected government.

What kind of government do you want to see here? Is it a democracy? General elections will be held once the infrastructure is rebuilt, and once the population has IDs and proper documents. So eventually you want Syria to be a place where every person gets one vote? Absolutely. If Al-Shadok can follow through on his promises, it would be a new day for Syria and for the Middle East.

But as we saw, Major challenges lie ahead. In Jobar, Al-Shara told us it will cost $600 to $900 billion to rebuild his country. And that's going to require the international community's help. The world watched this tragedy unfold for 14 years and couldn't do anything to stop this massive crime. So the world today should provide support to Syria. Anyone who obstructs the lifting of sanctions on Syria

is an accomplice to those who committed this crime. News of a ceasefire deal in Gaza, including the return of all Israeli hostages, offers hope that the war, ignited by Hamas and its slaughter of 1,200 Israelis will finally come to an end. We've thought about the people we met since the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023. Among them, Al-Longot and Yardin Röhmengat. He escaped with their daughter, Yardin was captured. She was released after 54 days and reunited with her little girl. We also remember these Palestinian children.

How many of you lost one of your parents? The Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza says 67,000 people have... thousand people have been killed there two million were driven from their homes i'm leslie stall we'll be back next week with another edition of 60 minutes now streaming everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery we don't know what we're looking for their bodies are the scene of the crime their symptoms in history are clues we saved her life we're doctors and we're detectives I kind of love it if I'm being honest.

Solve the puzzle, save the patient. Watson, all episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus.