In damascus, syria, a potential major escalation of the regional conflict. We speak with the former official who ran the investigation into the Havana Syndrome. And Gretchen Whitmore on democrats push to protect abortion rights in this critical election year. We know abortion rights are in threat all across the country , as we have the potential of a second trump term. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. And friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma clore vine and the judy and peter bloom kovar foundation. Actually, you dont need vision to do most things in life. Yes, im legally blind, and yes, im responsible for the user interface. Data visualization. If i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. Its exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. That is the most rewarding thing. People who know, know b. D. O. Certified professional planner professionals are proud to support pbs newshour. Cfp professionals are committed to acting in their clients best interests. Two executives gave these former race dogs a real chance to win. A raymondjames Financial Advisor gets to know you, your purpose, and how to give back. Life well planned. William and flora howlett foundation, advancing ideas to promote a better world. At hewlett. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Geoff welcome to the newshour. There is an escalation of tension in the middle east tonight beginning in damascus, syria. Amna earlier today war planes attacked the consulate and killed some of the most senior members of irans revolutionary guard corps. Tonight there are reports of new attacks on International Ships in the red sea and a base in southern israel. Nick schifrin has been following this. Lets begin with damascus. What do we know about what happened this morning . Nick an official with knowledge of the operation tells me that Israel Attacked inside damascus killing three senior Islamic Revolutionary guard corps commanders. Including a brigadier general. That is him there. This is the most significant strike against the rotc since the u. S. Killed soleimani. You can see him on the left in this suit. Zahadi was extremely important to irans efforts in syria and lebanon. He was the point man with iran backed hezbollah up, who oversaw financing in syria and lebanon as well as shipments of iranian weapons into syria and lebanon. Also killed was his deputy, mohammed rohini. You see him there. What happened today is the decapitation of irgc leadership in syria and lebanon. It was not just the targets, it was the location. You see that inside irans consulate in damascus. That is the first time iranian sovereign territory inside syria has been struck, apparently by syria. An official with knowledge of the operation says that was not a diplomatic building, but nonetheless a significant strike against irans long time efforts in lebanon. Amna there is always a concern about rising tensions, escalating violence. Has there been any kind of response yet . Nick i iran, absolutely. As you suggested at the top, there has been confirmation by israel of an attack in southern israel on a naval base there permit believed, an israeli official tells me, from yemen. Houthis in yemen. We are also tracking reports of a Houthi Attack on International Ships off the coast of yemen. That would be the first time in a few days. And an attack on the u. S. Base in syria that hasnt been attacked since february. Amna u. S. Officials met about israels plans for a potential operation in rafah in gaza. Nick President Biden and israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin NetanyahusSenior National security aids met to talk about this operation permit the u. S. Does not want a major operation into rafa, where 1. 4 one million gazans have fled, but where homes final four battalions are hiding among israel says there is no way to win the war, but what the u. S. Wants is a say they have the same executive the same objective. Amna Nick Schifrin with the latest. Thank you very much. Geoff for the last decade, american diplomatic Law Enforcement and intelligence personnel have suffered grievous, often life altering injuries in the line of duty. No guns, bombs or rockets were involved. Many say they felt attacked by sound, debilitating waves of sound and pressure that left them with traumatic brain injuries, vertigo, and other physical ailments grouped under the government designation of a of Anonymous Health incidents. You may know it by Havana Syndrome. Last evening, 60 minutes reported on this story and assigned blame to a foreign adversary of the u. S. , russia. For perspective, lets bring in retired army lt. Col. Gregory. He ran an investigation of the Defense Intelligence agency about the sources of Havana Syndrome. He is now the founder and ceo of advanced echelon, you for being with us. You have said russia is behind these attacks. What informs that confidence . I just went off of a large body of open source reporting. You can go to the insider. They put out a great piece recently. There is a lot of arrows pointing to moscow right now, and i suggest you talk to some of the survivors because they will give you insight into the backgrounds and what they were doing and working on, and it paints a clear picture to the layperson about who could be responsible for this. Geoff you ran the military investigation into Havana Syndrome. You told 60 minutes that the bar for proof was set impossibly high. What was the bar of proof and what was the motivation behind elevating it, in your view . I cant get into specifics based on classification levels. What i can tell you is that from my perspective, things and requirements from higher levels of the government seem to change quickly and you have to contact those officials still inside the government to figure out why they are changing certain requirements for the Intelligence Community. I can tell you this problem isnt going to get better with time. We need to address it head on and take care of the Havana Syndrome survivors and their families. It is about time to take action and that time is now. Geoff you retired from the army to start a company that helps the Havana Syndrome survivors. I imagine every case is different. Generally speaking, how are they faring, the folks you work with . They are not doing well. They continue to see government products, such as the recent nih reports or Intelligence Community assessments that gaslight them and tell them that their problems dont exist. We have been there before. This happened with the moscow signal for decades. This has happened with ptsd and we need to start taking care of people that signed up to protect america and americas values and their interests abroad. Because if we dont, americas eyes will be blinded and our ears deafened. Geoff Nick Schifrin reached out to the office of the director of National Intelligence for a response in regard to this reporting by 60 minutes, and they directed reporters to previous remarks by director avril haines, part of which read, most i see in the Intelligence CommitteeCommunity Elements concluded that it is unlikely that a foreign adversary is responsible for the anomalous health incidents. There are different degrees of confidence associated with that. At the same time, we continue to be vigilant looking for information that undercuts those assumptions. What is your reaction to that . I would ask whoever wrote that to watch the 60 minutes episode and read the insiders recent reporting. It paints a clear picture to most americans and also lists clear evidence that has been uncovered with open source reporting. Geoff do you believe the federal government is covering this up . I wont get into discussions of coverups and conspiracies. But what i will say is that hundreds of families have been impacted and this is also affecting our National Security. It needs to be addressed. Geoff one of the survivors who spoke to 60 minutes, an fbi agent identified as carrie, she referred to this attack as being the result of next generation weaponry and said that she and the other survivors, she viewed them as being test subjects. And yet as i understand it, the federal government has not been able to pinpoint or replicate whatever this weapon is. Can you help us understand more about that . I believe what the survivor was referring to is a directed energy weapon, and i imagine after this 60 minutes episode aired and recent insider reporting, there is going to be an avalanche of foia requests to uncover what the government nose and resurge it has done on this, what countries are using these technologies. But one might just go to google and search for a Energy Weapons and russia and see what comes up. There are plenty of examples of president putin pinning on medals and various awards to russian scientists in the field of directed Energy Weapons. Look at the comments he made in september about fielding more directed Energy Weapons and the National Security advisor in moscow, what he said in the article in september of 2023 about how moscow has successfully removed hundreds of u. S. Intelligence officers from the field in the past decade. I would like to know more about that. Geoff that is retired army lt. Col. Gregory. Thanks for your insights and time. Thank you. Take care. Stephanie here are the latest headlines. Former President Trump posted today the 175 1 million bond in his new york civil fraud case, averting asset seizures by state authorities. In february trump was found liable for fraudulently inflating his net worth to secure better loan terms permit trump is appealing. Late this evening, a new york judge expanded a gag order against trump in his hush money case. The decision followed trumps social media post assailing the judges daughter. Israeli forces withdrew from gazas largest hospital after a twoweek battle that left much of the area in ruins. The u. N. Health agency said more than 20 patients died. The israelis denied that claim but said they killed hundreds of hamas fighters. Mangle buildings spread across the hospital complex and surrounding blocks. Palestinian patients said Israeli Forces allowed them only limited supplies amid the strike. They let in a very small amount of food. We were 150 patients and 50 medical staff members. Not sufficient at all. No treatment, no medicine and bombing for 24 hours that caused immense destruction to the hospital. Amna the Israeli Military said some hamas fighters had barricaded themselves inside hospital wards and others launched mortar rounds inside the complex. Workers from the International AidOrganization World central kitchen and their driver were reportedly killed in gaza when an israeli airstrike hit their vehicle. They had been delivering aid that arrived in a ship earlier in the day. The Israeli Military says they are investigating the airstrike. The aid ships are carrying some 400 tons of food and supplies. They left from they left on saturday to feed them more than one million palestinians on the brink of famine. In israel, antigovernment protesters lingered after mass protests over the weekend. Hundreds slept in tents outside the Parliament Building overnight, demanding a hostage deal with hamas and early elections, insisting that Prime Minister netanyahu must go. If good leaders or a new coalition is not taking over, we are doomed. We cannot imagine him not being replaced, because he is driving us to the abyss. Amna also today, ultraorthodox israeli jews protested the end of their military exemption. After an Israeli Supreme Court decision. The issue could divide netanyahus coalition, which includes ultraorthodox parties. North korea has launched at least one Ballistic Missile tonight, according to south koreas military. The missile appeared to land in the sea outside japans exclusive economic zone. It is north koreas first known launch event since march 18, when it conducted live fire artillery drills. The florida Supreme Court upheld a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. That could pave the way for the state to enact a stricter ban after six weeks. The High Court Today allowed a referendum on abortion rights to go before voters in november. California is drying out from destructive downpours over easter weekend. In big sur, the daily caused a chunk of highway 1 to collapse into the sea. Some people were stranded before police began escorting them out on sunday. Forecasters say the storm will dump more rain and snow as it moves east this week. Most fast food workers in california will learn 20 an hour after the new minimum wage law took effect today. California has more than 500,000 fast food workers, many supporting families in a state with a high cost of living. The law applies to fast food chains with at least 60 locations nationwide. The last known survivor of the uss arizona battleship, lou conter, has died. He was a Navy Quartermaster when the japanese attacked pearl harbor. The arizona exploded and sank, killing nearly 1200 sailors and marines. Conter flew 200 combat missions and survived being shot down. He was 102 years old. Still, tempora keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. A look at why access to government nutrition programs varies across the u. S. And a rhode island artist fuses design and accessory, creating art you can carry. This is the pbs newshour w eta studios in washington and from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Geoff the u. S. Coast guard temporary alternate channel for vessels involved in clearing debris at the site of the collapsed Francis Scott key bridge in baltimore. Over the weekend, one of the largest floating cranes on the east coast arrived to the site capable of lifting up to 1,000 tons. But before it can start removing steel and concrete, officials have difficult work, like removing a section of the steel bridge that is draped over the cargo ship. Today marilyn governor wes moore explained how large of an undertaking the cleanup is. We are talking about a situation where a portion of the bridge beneath the water has been described as chaotic wreckage. Every time someone goes in the water, they are taking a risk. Every time we move a piece of the structure, the situation could become even more dangerous. We have to move fast, but we cannot be careless. Geoff President Biden is expected to underscore the governments commitment when he visits the area on friday. For more on the Recovery Efforts , we are joined by one of the key people in charge, Lieutenant General scott spellman, commanding general of the u. S. Army corps of engineers. Thanks for coming in. Thank you for having us. If i could begin by saying on behalf of all the men and women of the United States army, certainly the men and women of the army corps of engineers, our thoughts are with those who lost loved ones in this accident. We are going to do everything in our power to help the governor achieve his number one priority, return those loved ones to their families. Geoff how are you and your team approaching the Herculean Task of reopening that main shipping lane . Walk us through the process you envision. President biden called me shortly after the bridge collapsed and wanted us to know that the army corps of engineers number one priority was to reopen the navigation channel. We are going about this in three steps. The channel is 700 feet wide by 50 feet deep and we know we have a large section of steel truss bypassing that channel. We have to get the truss out of the channel, then get the concrete and reenforcing bar, any other wreckage on the bottom of the channel off the floor. When these ships come into the port of baltimore, they are drafting 48. 5 feet. The bottom of the channel is 50 feet deep, only 12 to 18 inches of clearance. Thats why its important we have a clean floor. Second step, we work with the coast guard and their counterparts. We have to move the dali on the lip of that navigation channel. We have to refloat that vessel and get it to a safe portion of the harbor, and that will allow us to restore normal twoway traffic into and out of the port of baltimore. Finally, we have to get the concrete, the asphalt, and remaining structure off the river bottom. Geoff the stretch of bridge draped over the ship weighs Something Like 14,000 tons . Thats correct. Geoff how long might this take . We are going through the mass on each one of those numbers for that pa