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Russia Launches Missile Attacks Into Syria from Caspian Sea; A Look at Dadaab, The World's Largest Refugee Camp; Thick Haze Envelops Southeast Asia. U.S. General Orders Retraining For All Forces In Wake Of Doctors Without Borders Strike; Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired October 7, 2015 - 8:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[08:00:50] MANISHA TANK, HOST: I'm Manisha Tank in Hong Kong. A warm welcome to News Stream.

We're following reports that Russia is coordinating its airstrikes in Syria with the Assad government. Details on the latest targets are ahead.

We visit the world's largest refugee camp holding some 300,000 Somali refugees in Kenya.

And a thick haze chokes southeast Asia fueled by illegal fires in Indonesia.

Russia is launching strikes on Syria from the air. And now from the sea as well.

We've just learned that Russian warships in the Caspian Sea fired 26 missiles into Syria, this is according to the Russian defense minister,

this as the air campaign continues.

A UK based opposition group says Russian airstrikes hit Hamaa and Idlib provinces today in coordination with shelling from the Syrian

government.

It says today's military activity marks a whole new level of cooperation between the Kremlin and the Assad government.

So, let's get the latest on all of this. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is in Moscow. And what we're learning now is

that that -- those coordinated attacks with the Syrians are becoming ever more -- well, they seem to be widened now to the sea as well. I mean,

what's the significance?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the significance is that this is a dramatic escalation in Russia's campaign in

Syria. I mean, up until this moment -- and we're a week in now to Russia's military action intervention in this country -- in that country, Syria,

it's just been air power that's been brought to bear on Syria against what the Russians say are ISIS targets and targets of other terrorist groups as

well, which is how they phrase it.

But what we've seen in the course of the past few minutes, only, is an announcement, quite an extraordinary one, by the Russian defense minister.

He was sitting in the office of the Russian president who, by the way, is celebrating his 63rd birthday today. When he almost casually sort of

announced to him that the Russian naval bombardment of Syria had begun. He said that four ships of the Caspian flotilla, which is -- the Caspian Sea

is quite remote from Syria. It's not close by at all. But four ships of the Caspian Flotilla had launched long range missiles, 26 of them, that

have traveled something in the region of 1,500 kilometers, about 1,000 miles, to their targets inside Syria, 11 targets apparently struck, all of

them according to the defense minister destroyed.

There's no mention of civilian casualties except to say that there weren't any as far as the defense minister was concerned.

Vladimir Putin, you know, took the news -- these are often very staged events, of course, but he took the news in his stride and congratulated the

defense minister on the operation saying that the results of that operation were positive.

And so that was how the world learned, or how Russia learned, of Russia's escalation of its involvement in Syria from airstrikes to now

officially to include naval strikes as well.

TANK: And Matthew, just to point out some of the pictures that we've been seeing while you've been speaking were pictures of the earlier

airstrikes. And they are dramatic enough. Bring in to that, of course, strikes from the sea. You can see how as you're saying this is escalating

so much.

Along with this, Russia has said it's willing to cooperate with the U.S. in Syria. I mean, this seems like an ever more complicated picture

then.

CHANCE: Yeah, Russia has said that it's willing to do that. It will coordinate it -- or says it will agree with the Pentagon to coordinate when

it's got some technical details in that agreement hammered out.

But the truth is, there is no agreement between the Pentagon and the Russian defense ministry, or Washington and Moscow, about what should be

struck. I mean, Washington, which leads a 60 member coalition is pinpointing its targets on ISIS. Russia appears to be targeting any group

that is opposition to Bashar al-Assad its -- the Syrian president and Russia's long-time ally in Syria.

And it really could make a difference on the field. I mean, as we've seen from these dramatic images. As we've seen from Russia's recent

bombardment -- new bombardment of groups in Syria from the sea, Russia is able to bring a level of firepower to that conflict that has never been

seen before in Syria.

And so that's likely to tip the balance. And we're talking about a bunch of rebels, disparate rebel groups who have made gains against what is

a Syrian army that is of limited and diminishing resources, that is to some extent demoralized.

You put into the mix suddenly a vibrant fighting force with high tech weaponry and long range strike capability like Russia. And that's -- it's

very easy to see how that could alter the military balance in the favor of the Syrian government.

[08:06:04] TANK: Yeah, very much so.

OK, Matthew, thanks very much for that. I'm sure we'll be checking in with you over the coming days. For more on this ongoing story, Matthew

Chance there live for us from Moscow.

Doctors Without Borders has called on an international commission on humanitarian law that has never been used to investigate the U.S. airstrike

of a hospital in Afghanistan. It was bombed with precision and hit several times in a row.

The Pentagon says the U.S. plane carried out the attack, hitting the hospital by mistake. The aid group says it follows the rules of engagement

and he's an independent investigation to find out what happened so it can protect its medical staff in the future. At least 22 of them were killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOANNE LIU, PRESIDENT, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Millions of people right now don't have access to this kind of care. We had 13

surgeons and physicians in this hospital. We had eight ICU beds, you know, with ventilator. This was high tech medicine. This was not the little

bush hospital. You could not miss it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANK: Well, the U.S. command is now under review as well as the long range plan for American troops there. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara

Starr has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the aftermath of the attack on the Doctors Without Borders hospital, a stunning

military order from the top U.S. commander.

GEN. JOHN CAMPBELL, COMMANDER OF U.S. FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN: I have directed the entire force to undergo in-depth training in order to review

all of our operational authorities and rules of engagement.

STARR: That order an acknowledgment that something went wrong. Rules of engagement spell out when and how the U.S. military can conduct

airstrikes, like the AC-130 gunship that hit the hospital.

Doctors Without Borders says the U.S. knew it was a hospital. They were under attack for 30 minutes. It could not have been a mistake.

JASON CONE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Until we're told otherwise and until we see an independent investigation, we will

presume that this was in fact a war crime.

STARR: Did this violate U.S. military rules?

CAMPBELL: Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous U.S. procedure to enable fires to go on the

ground.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: There was no forward air controllers, American forward air controllers on the ground?

CAMPBELL: Sir, we had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires.

STARR: If the U.S. knew it was a hospital, did reports of Taliban firing justify the attack?

CAMPBELL: We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility.

STARR: Standards for airstrikes, at least initially, do not appear to have been met at the hospital. Military rules require U.S. troops are at

risk. Contrary to initial reports, U.S. troops were not fired on. When the U.S. is going after al Qaeda. Here, it was the Taliban.

When Afghans are about to be overrun. Here, the Afghans were trying to retake the area.

Campbell said the overall security situation in Afghanistan is still so uncertain, he needs to revise his recommendations about a troop

reduction.

CAMPBELL: We have to provide senior leadership options different than the current plan that we're going with.

STARR: It remains to be seen how many of the 10,000 U.S. troops still in Afghanistan will remain after the end of next year. But with ISIS, the

Taliban and al Qaeda still pressing for their advantage in Afghanistan, it's very much an open question.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TANK: So, as Barbara underlined quite a lot to discuss here.

Let's go straight to Afghanistan and speak to our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. He's live in the capital Kabul.

Nic, what strikes us straight away, and we listened to the press conference earlier today from Medecins San Frontieres, is they're calling

for this independent investigation despite the fact there are already investigations in motion. They want to make sure that this is done

properly from their point of view.

[08:10:10] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That they do. The independent Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission is the body that

they want to do the investigation. They say the attack on the hospital was not just an attack on the hospital, but an attack on the Geneva

conventions. And this international Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission was established and set up by the Geneva Conventions, or through the Geneva

conventions, to do exactly this kind of investigation.

Quite simply, what Doctors Without Borders is saying is they're not looking at this as a criminal case. They're not looking to sort of get

into 10 years of sort of legal wranglings. But what they say very simply is they need to know if they're safe to operate. They understand currently

the rules of engagement of the U.S. military and the Afghan forces and the Taliban of how they, the medical professionals who willingly come in to a

war zone to help the people of that country, they understand the terms upon which they have to operate, that they're allowed to operate in those

conflict zones.

But they say if something has changed, if somebody's interpretation -- the U.S. military, the Afghan military -- anyone's interpretation has

changed about the rules of engagement, then the independent investigation would find that out, put the facts on the table and then Doctors Without

Borders can therefore make informed judgments about where they can be safe, or how they can be safe in the future.

Because they don't come into these situations blindly, it's a calculation and it's based on agreements and understandings. So they want

to know if anything has changed, that's what they're saying here, Manisha.

TANK: Of course since all of this happened, NGOs have pulled out of Kunduz, a place that is increasingly challenged. It's an unsafe

environment with this tug of war going on between the Afghans and the Taliban.

What is the situation there now? And how fragile is it?

ROBERTSON: It is fragile. The Taliban still control most areas outside the town of Kunduz. The government is saying, the spokesman for

the police chief there today said that the situation inside Kunduz is more stable than yesterday, but it's still a case of the Taliban are hiding out

in houses, there are still confrontations going on.

We understand the most recent information we have from the U.S. investigation team on the ground is they still haven't been able to get to

the hospital location that they want to get to, or locations, all of the locations they want to get to because the conflict there continues.

If it was a safe environment, it would be reasonable to assume that all the UN groups, all the NGOs who pulled out yesterday, wouldn't have

left.

The way in and out for the government at the moment is through he airport flying in, flying out, because the Taliban control the main road to

the capital Kabul. So, the city itself, it's still a fluid situation. And the problem of the Taliban's strength in that region is still a major and

fundamental issue for the government.

TANK: We're expecting soon to hear in the coming days, perhaps, to hear from President Obama about some drawdown in Afghanistan potentially.

But everyone wants to get an angle now on what the policy will be given that this situation or the situation in Kunduz -- and now this so-called

mistake. What can we expect. And what should we be on the watch for?

ROBERTSON: Well, I think there are two separate tracks here, if you will. One is how President Obama will lay out when he does the troop

drawdown. There are 9,800 approximately U.S. forces here, about 13,233 maybe approximately NATO forces in the country, that includes the U.S. of

course. And the drawdown for the U.S. troops was to go down to about 1,000 by the end of 2016.

The analysis at the moment is that al Qaeda is getting stronger, ISIS is getting stronger -- this is a U.S. analysis coming from General John

Campbell, the U.S. commander here. The threat essentially has changed since those original calculations were made.

So, I think on that track we may well hear, may well hear -- it's not clear yet -- which direction President Obama will go in. But the ground

does seem to being set for him to say, OK, let's slow down the drawdown. Would he even go as far as adding more troops? That does seem a little

unlikely.

Now, on the issue of how those troops will conduct themselves rules of engagement, as Barbara Starr said in her report there, General Campbell has

ordered a review for everyone inside the country here on the operations of the rules of engagement to make sure that they fully understand them, the

implication Barbara is making, that the general is making there, and a lot of other analysts are making is that it was a breakdown in the way that the

U.S. was employing its rules of engagement in the conflict around the hospital that led to the situation there. That's the implication, the

investigation hasn't run.

So, when we get more on the investigation, we may hear conclusions on that about the rules of engagement, how what troops remain and how they

drawdown or not. President Obama on the rules of engagement that they would maintain under here, that more likely may come from General Campbell.

[08:15:06] TANK: Yeah, well a lot of people want answers, don't they? Nic, we'll have to leave it there. Nic Robertson, thank you so much for

that. Live from Kabul.

Let's take you now live to Rome. The Secretary of Defense, the U.S. Secretary of Defense is speaking at a press conference there alongside his

Italian counterpart. Obviously, we're waiting to see if we will hear anything about that situation in Afghanistan. And of course the emerging

situation with the Russians in Syria.

Let's go to Rome now and listen in.

(U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER PRESS CONFERENCE)

[08:24:30] TANK: OK, so just to put you in the frame here, that was in Rome. The U.S. defense secretary, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter

there, speaking alongside his Italian counterpart Roberta Pinotti, both of them addressing the audience there. Ashton Carter talking about his visit

to U.S. servicemen a day ago. This is a two-day visit for him in Italy talking about various initiatives that they will be working with the

Italians on as part of that NATO alliance, including rolling out a ground surveillance program in the coming year and also major exercises that

they've not seen in decades, which Italy has agreed to lead in the future.

Let's bring in Barbara Starr, our Pentagon correspondent. Earlier, Barbara, we heard from you and we had this report about the situation in

Afghanistan in particular in response to that Medecins San Frontieres what the U.S. is describing as a mistake, but the bombing of that hospital. You

know, we're leaning on press conferences like this at the moment to see whether we can hear any more about the context.

Also today, we've been hearing about these missiles now being fired by the Russians from the Caspian Sea in these coordinated operations with the

Syrians in Syria with Assad's government in Syria. Bring us up to date on where we are with these developments today and their significance.

STARR: Hi, Manisha.

I think it's fair to say Defense Secretary Carter even while he is in Europe joggling two crises at the Pentagon -- the hospital strike. The

investigation into that continues. But the top commander, the U.S. commander General John Campbell, you know, has already ordered what he

calls retraining of American forces on the rules of when they can launch the airstrikes and against what type of targets.

It's a big hint that General Campbell at least believes there may have been a violation of those rules in this strike. We expect to hear more

about that throughout the day.

But at least here in Washington this morning, the story about Russia in Syria is very fast moving. The Russian defense ministry says it has

launched naval attacks across the Caspian Sea, Iran and Iraq into Syria, into what it calls terrorist targets, what the U.S. believes are anti-Assad

militias and civilians.

The U.S. not able to confirm yet that those naval attacks have occurred, but U.S. officials are telling us several days ago the Russians

did move warships into the Caspian and it's something they've been watching very closely.

At the same time, the U.S. is able to confirm that the Russians are now in ground combat, in ground action in western Syria using those

artillery pieces and those rocket launchers that they moved in several days ago, launching strikes to back up Syrian forces in the air and on the

ground -- Manisha.

TANK: Barbara, what more can you tell us in terms of the Pentagon response to the Russian comments about working with the U.S. on getting

these -- on these ISIL targets, in some sort of coordination. It seems very unclear. What is the response?

STARR: Well, I think what the Russians appear to be talking about is having another round of these so-called deconfliction talks. The U.S. and

the Russians talked about it once last week.

The U.S. wants those talks. It wants to make sure that there are technical agreements about how both air forces fly so they stay out of each

other's way. But that's the technical side of things.

Against this backdrop of Russian moves that, you know, the U.S. does not find to be very truthful, in its view, a lot of concern about what the

Russians are really up to. If they're launching missiles in the air, if they're flying and striking in areas where there's anti-regime forces. Not

what the U.S. wants to see, not what U.S. pilots want to have to deal with.

So, a second round of technical talks, to be clear, is expected at any time.

But what it means for the bigger picture, I think, is still a very open question.

TANK: OK, Barbara, thanks very much for that. Thanks for bringing us up to date on the Pentagon view on these things.

Barbara Starr there.

Still to come here on News Stream, home for the homeless. This sprawling village in Kenya was meant to be a temporary solution for people

forced to flee violence, but decades later it's become the world's biggest refugee camp.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:24] TANK: Hi again, I'm Manisha Tank in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

The Russian defense minister says the country's warships in the Caspian Sea fired 26 missiles into Syria. He says long range missiles flew

some 1,500 kilometers to reach their targets.

Meantime, a UK based opposition group alleges an unprecedented level of military cooperation between Russia and the Assad government as they

carry out coordinated attacks on Islamist factions in western Syria.

Doctors Without Borders wants an independent investigation into why its hospital in northern Afghanistan was bombed with precision several

times in a row. The Pentagon says a U.S. plane carried out the attack by mistake. The doctors say they follow rules of engagement and need the

investigation to guarantee the future safety of their personnel.

Parts of northeastern China are dealing with thick smog. The country's national meteorological center issued an alert warning people to

reduce outdoor activity. And the U.S. embassy in Beijing says the air quality there has reached hazardous levels.

Now, you saw part of a news conference. And in that, you saw U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter with his Italian counterpart just moments

ago. And he said that Russian airstrike -- the Russian airstrike campaign in Syria is, quote, "a fundamental mistake."

Carter adds that the U.S. is not ready to cooperate with Russia on operations in Syria.

So, let's get the latest on all of this. Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance, he's in Moscow, Matthew we caught up with you

a little bit earlier. And at that time, you were saying that just minutes before we spoke we got this news about this extension of these operations

by the Russians in Syria.

CHANCE: Yeah, that's right.

I mean, despite all the criticism that's coming from the United States and other countries as well, the calls for Russia to reign back its air

campaign, Russia has actually launched a dramatic escalation of its intervention in Syria.

Within the last hour now, the Russian defense minister appearing on Russian television sitting very casually in the office of the Russian

president Vladimir Putin informing him that a naval bombardment has commenced, of targets inside Syria by elements of the Russian navy.

Actually four ships of the Caspian flotilla apparently took part in this operation launched in 26 long range missiles, some 1,500 kilometers over

several national borders, it seems, to reach targets inside Syria, 11 targets, according to the Russian defense minister were struck and

destroyed, something that the Russian president said was a positive development.

So, on the one hand, you're getting, you know, these offers of cooperation and coordination with the United States, that's something that

also emerged today, that Russia is prepared to coordinate with the United States potentially, but on the other hand you're seeing Russia very much

pursue its own agenda aggressively on the ground in Syria.

TANK: OK, Matthew, thanks very much for that update.

So very fast moving, as Matthew pointed out, and also Barbara Starr earlier in the program. Thanks.

You're watching News Stream, still ahead on this program, Indonesia is drawing outrage from its neighbors over all this haze. Demands on the

country to step up to solve the problem.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:26] TANK: We want to take you now to the world's largest refugee camp. The sprawling complex in Kenya is home to 300,000 people.

Four years after he visited Dadaab, David McKenzie has returned to see if anything has changed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in the best of times, Dadaab refugee camp is unforgiving. We have come back four years

after the devastating famine of 2011.

(voice-over): So we think he's here in K-1 section. He looks very familiar.

Looking for a man whose story deeply moved us. We met Adunuid (ph) Ibrahim as he carried Atikah (ph), his dead child. Ibrahim fled war and

starvation but he could not afford the $1 it took to take Atikah (ph) to hospital so she died of hunger.

Today, in the maze of tents, we find Ibrahim's family. They're still struggling to survive. Adiadin (ph) says her husband left the camp in

desperation.

"He felt so ashamed," she says, "that he couldn't provide for our remaining children. He went to Somalia to try to find some work. The

agencies have abandoned us."

Like everyone here, their food rations have been cut by 30 percent.

(voice-over): The camp was set up 20 years ago as temporary refuge for Somalis fleeing the civil war. Now there are more than 300,000 people

living here, the biggest refugee camp in the world.

(voice-over): The camp is one of Kenya's largest cities, but remains a maze of temporary structures built by a population that needs permission to

leave.

Two-third of refugees globally, more than 14 million people, live in protracted situations like this.

(CRYING)

MCKENZIE: Has the world forgotten about the camp?

JOHN KEUGORA (ph), PHYSICIAN: I think the one that has forgotten and gone to other, and like Syria.

MCKENZIE: Doctors like John Keugora (ph) continue to treat babies like one-day-old Nera (ph).

KEUGORA (ph): The baby is fine.

MCKENZIE: He says recent aid could cause malnutrition to spike.

(on camera): Why aren't things changing?

KEUGORA (ph): There's no long-term solution for the conditions here.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): When they fled Somalia, Adiadin (ph) says they never knew how long they would stay.

"We were running for our lives," she tells us.

She lost her child and now her husband.

"I'm heartbroken," she says.

Years later, the refuge she helped to find has only brought her struggle.

David McKenzie, CNN, Dadaab, Kenya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:40:14] TANK: Well, according to the UN refugee agency, there are almost 20 million refugees around the world. So let's start with southeast

Asia. Earlier this year, tens of thousands of people took to the sea. Some are ethnic Rohingyas, they're fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Most

traveled on rickety boats for weeks trying land in countries that would take them.

And their plight has been echoed in the Mediterranean. This year, nearly 500,000 migrants made the dangerous sea journey from North Africa to

Europe, that's according to the International Organization for Migration.

The migrants have been trying to reach western Europe, causing tension within the EU on how to respond.

So you may have found some of these images, or perhaps David's report quite moving and maybe you want to do something about it and learn more

about it. We have lots of links on our website to organizations working on the ground in Europe. And you can also learn more about what refugees are

going through. It's all at CNN.com/impact. Do take a look.

Now, Southeast Asia is facing what we're calling a smog crisis. The environmental group Greenpeace released aerial footage showing the source

of the problem. For weeks, haze from forest fires in Indonesia has been spreading to Singapore, Malaysia and parts of southern Thailand.

The Indonesian government blames companies, which illegally set the fires to clear land for cultivation. And Malaysia has demanded Indonesia

take action against the firestarters.

Now, before we go a reminder of our breaking news this hour, Russian war ships in the Caspian Sea have fired 26 missiles into Syria, this is

according to the Russian defense minister. And as you can see from this map here, any missiles launched from the Caspian Sea would have to overfly

at least two other countries before reaching Syria.

We'll have much more on this story in World Business Today. That's coming up in just 15 minutes.

And that's it from News Stream for now. I'm Manisha Tank. But please don't go anywhere, World Sport with Amanda Davies is up next.

END