Syria, Russias Putin and Bashar Al Assad are on the same side. This is thanks to russia, the poster reads. We were brought to this, the sport city camp to see how the Syrian Government and their kremlin backers say they give refuge. One governmentsanctioned aid worker told me how and why these people are here. What have these people been through to drive them to become refugees . These people just dont have any homes. Dont have any families. So horrible stuff kids here, i hear stuff from kids about killing, about death. You know, its horrible. They live horribly. They just feel safe here. They dont want to leave the land and didnt have the money to pay for the trip to europe which anybody can do. Reporter is that why these refugees are here being protected essentially by president assad . Because they couldnt afford to go to europe . No. No, im not saying this. They want to stay here with president Bashar Al Assad. They just didnt wanted to leave. Reporter theyre housing at least 5,000 or 6,000 people in this one camp. A fraction of those made refugees by syrias brutal civil war. One of the reasons weve been brought here is to illustrate that not every syrian wants to escape the clutches of the Syrian Government and its president Bashar Al Assad. Some feel much safer under his control. Some like aisha and her family who fled earlier this year. Her husband is in the syrian army, she told me. Rebels behead Family Member of syrian soldiers, she says. For some the choice between the evils of Bashar Al Assad and those watching is simple. Cnn, syria. Now in the United States, the president , barack obama, made some unplanned remarks before leaving the state of california. He stopped in San Bernardino just a couple of hours ago before leaving for hawaii for christmas break. The president met privately with victims families and First Responders from this months terror attack. As difficult as this time is for them and for the entire community, they also represent the strength and the unity and the love that exists in this community and in this country. And as we go into the holiday season, even as we are vigilant about preventing terrorist attacks from happening, even as we insist that we cant accept the notion of Mass Shootings and Public Places and places of work and worship, we have to remind ourselves of the overwhelming good that exists out this. And that we met some folks despite the pain and the heartache that theyre feeling, they could not have been more inspiring. Now the latest into the investigation into that attack. A former friend and neighbor of syed farook faces charges in connection with the massacre. Our jim sciutto has details that and another plot the pair had allegedly planned. Reporter this busy california highway nearly became the site of a deadly terror attack. Enrique marquez, longtime friend of San Bernardino shooter syed farook, has told Law Enforcement the two watched videos of al qaeda cleric awlaki, became radical, and plotted in 2012 to throw pipe bombs on to the s. R. 91 freeway and then gun down motorists in the aftermath. The pair also planned to target Riverside City College by planting pipe bombs in the crowded cafeteria. The deadly plot stopped not by Law Enforcement but by marquez himself who backed out in fear after other terror arrests around the same time. As time passed, marquez said the two then grew apart. The farook and marquez relationship is something that fbi agents and historyons and counterterrorism officials will be studying for years. Reporter three years later as gunfire rang out in San Bernardino, marquez would immediate recognize his friends handiwork. Just hours after the shooting, marquez called 911 telling the operator, the [ explosive ] used my gun in the shooting, then, oh my god. When the operator asked, how do you want know its your gun . Me responded saying, they can trace all the guns to me. He claimed he gave farook the guns for safe storage. But Police Believe he bought them for deadly intentions in the aborted 2012 attack. Following San Bernardino, marquez is charged with providing Material Support to terrorism for his role in purchasing weapons used in the shooting. It is a statement by the fbi and by the administration that if you even come close to these caseser to helping them, we will cases or to helping them, we will charge you as if you are a terrorist yourself. Reporter this is a sliereri line of inquirey how could people with families in the u. S. , day jobs, farook in the local government, International Travel and communications, how did they avoid all surveillance by authorities but not arouse suspicions of friends and family. The president said lone wolf attacks like this are hard to detect and prevent. We saw that play out in the San Bernardino shooting. Jim sciutto, cnn, washington. Mr. Obama touched on the attack when he spoke earlier on friday at his final News Conference of the year. The president highlighted his achievements, and he assured americans that he wont be a lame duck president during his final year. Concerns over terrorism and defeating isis became a key focus. Lets listen to a bit of the conversation that Cnns John Berman had with our own Fareed Zakaria and john king about the president s endoftheyear remarks. You know, listening to the president , his language choice and in dealing with isis, is interesting. He said, isis is being squeezed inside syria and iraq. Is this to reassure the American Public or to battle back against people whos saying hes not doing enough . I think obama has a conception of american interests and security that says, look, we are very strong, we are very powerful, we are actually very secure. Isis does not pose a threat to the United States the way the soviet union did with thousands of missiles pointed at us. It is a nasty, terrorist organization that is able to kill five americans here or a dozen or 14 here. He often points out that gun violence takes many, many more people. So i think part of what hes trying to do is to deliberately not not hype the threat but point out hes in control. When he says isis has been contained, later that day, that week, theres been a terror attack but john, to push back to explain what he think, he doesnt think hes been burned. He thinks cable news exaggerates the phenomenon and doesnt keep in mind that since 9 11 only 45 people have been killed by terrorist organizations. In that same period, 150,000 have been killed by guns. The argument, and you heard it again, is i dont like cable news. I dont like the way that you peddle this and exaggerate it. Hes not just operating in this cable news environment. Hes operating within a president ial campaign. Hes not running. His names not on the ballot. But his agenda very much is. And theres no theres no denying that one of the reasons he seemed behind, he didnt share the urgency of the American People after paris and after San Bernardino, is because not only are people getting that from cable news, theyre getting it from the republican candidates for president. You saw there, that was trademark obama again. Hes calm. Hes nuanced. Hes measured. He says were taking back 40 of the land and doing more sorties and doing this. He lays it out methodically. That sometimes has been a great political asset. At a time like this, sometimes its a detriment. Obama gave you his plan there and laid it out. Trump gives it to you in a few words ill bomb the bleep out of them with more passion and emotion. In the republican primary, people are looking for the antiobama. In the country at large because theyre hearing so much about the Republican Party perks the president can seem Republican Party, the president can seem too quiet at times. You poll the American People, terrorism is a leading issue. There are concerns. And have been events in the United States and around the world to cause concern. And i think part of the obama strategy, as freed noted, he doesnt want to be out every day explaining it because he doesnt want to overhype it and keep it in context. However, i think maybe he should be trying to explain it. Saying, this is terrible, this is horrible, were going do something about. Think about the numbers maybe not always give the gun control numbers but give the terrorism numbers. Thats the back and forth. Being in a campaign environment, i think his preference is to ignore the republican campaign, especially because its critical of him, and because he finds much of it not based in fact, not based really in this universe. Thats how the president of the United States would find. He chooses to ignore it but has to realize more that his political environment is every minute shaped by it. This week for the first time, we sort of saw what the president thinks that would cost in terms of lives. He had this closed door meeting with oped columnist and thinkers and said he thought 1,000 u. S. Troops would die a month and countless more injured in the battle. That was behind closed doors. He hasnt said that out loud, has he . He hasnt and, forgive me, it was a crime by reporters that these didnt try to get him to see publicly if the reports are to be believed and i believe they are to be believed in one of his off the record conversations. Why didnt one of the reporters try to get the president to discuss that . Remember, this is a president who came to office saying he was going to get us out of iraq and afghanistan. The last thing he wants to do is get us into syria. So should he explain those numbers to the American People more, especially when theyre listening to candidates you know, most of the candidates dont want to put Ground Troops in. A few do. A few of them have talked about doing it you could send them in, we can do this, you have the blustery language of trump. Should he do that, explain the costs, at least at a time when people ill end on this, its much easier to run for president than to be president. Should he jump into the debate now and then . He chooses not to. Maybe a lot of people wouldnt listen because hes in the last year of his president. It might be helpful. He said 100 lives a month lost, not 1,000. Thank you very much. Again, that was john berman speaking to Fareed Zakaria and john king about the president s endoftheyear remarks. You are watching cnn newsroom. Ahead, u. S. President ial candidate Bernie Sanders launched a legal fight against his own Democratic Party. Buttin hours, they patch but within hours, they patched things up. Well tell you how ahead. For the second hetime in ju a few weeks time, chinas capital facing its highest possible pollution warning. Right when you feel a cold sore, abreva can heal it in as few as two and a half days when used at the first sign. Without it the virus spreads from cell to cell. Only abreva penetrates deep and starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. You could heal your cold sore, fast, as fast as two and a half days when used at the first sign. Learn how abreva starts to work immediately at abreva. Com dont tough it out, knock it out, fast. With abreva. Especially, the pizza about football is here. Up your game with two large twotopping pizzas for only 7. 77 each. Better ingredients. Better pizza. Papajohns. Com a look at the capital city of china. You see a thick smog choking the air. Environmental authorities have issued another red alert, the highest level possible, because of the pollution. This is the second nightmare just a few weeks that second time in just a few weeks that weve seen. This Officials Say this alert, though, is just a precaution. To beijing and matt rivers standing by live. Good to have you with us. Can you explain to viewers how this round of pollution compares to the past couple of rounds that weve seen . Reporter pollution here and the way people feel about it in beijing is relative. I think if you took nearly anyone who doesnt live here and put them in todays environment, they would say this is terrible, it smells bad, looks bad. You can see it in the air. To most beijingers, todays pollution levels are pretty tame compared to what weve seen just over the past month in two other separate bouts of pollution that lasted for several days. It was late november until early december that we saw the air quality index soar above 600 here in beijing. Today its hovering around 00. And the around 200. And the World Health Organization it says should be around 25. Thats a little context for you there. In terms of this red alert, the government is acknowledging that this latest round of haze, though not quite as bad as other rounds, is still enough to prompt some mandatory restrictions that would be keep being half of the citys cars off the roads. It would be keeping transportation trucks off the roads. It would be shutting down construction sites and factories. And come monday, schools and businesses will have the option to keep students and employees home for the day if they so choose. So you explained what officials are doing. What are people in beijing doing with this situation . How are they dealing with it . You say its common there. But you know, its still dangerous for a good part of the population. Reporter absolutely. Especially for levels like this, for people who have chronic respiratory illnesses think asthma, for example. This air does make an impact. You walk around streets in beijing. People are wearing pollution masks. Here in the bureau, we have several air filters running continuously throughout the day and night. But that said, people here in beijing kind of tend to look at pollution the way someone who, say, lives in the American South would think about heat in the summertime. Its just a part of life. Theres not much that can be done about it from their end. So its just theres a quiet sort of frustrated resignation that even though the beijing government and the Chinese Government as a whole say they are doing what they can to combat pollution here, i dont think anyone in beijing believes things will get better any time soon. Matt, i am hoping for you and the people in beijing for a good, strong win to push that out so you can get a little fresh air for a bit. Thank you for your report there in beijing. We appreciate that. Absolutely. Big question, though, how long will the smog stick around in beijing . For that, lets bring in our meteorologist, Karen Maginnis at the World Weather center. You know, i told matt about that wind. That going to happen any time soon . No because the air is going to be reasonably calm. This is really part of the problem there are a lot of factors here. One that doesnt get mentioned a lot is not just that the air is light and that there are a lot of cars. There are over 20 Million People living in beijing. There is essentially a bowl area if you look at it. There are mountains to the north and west. And there are industrialized cities to the south and east. So everything, all those pollutants in the atmosphere, kind of settle down into this basin. It does need something atmospherically to blow it out. There are ongoing problems because theres coal being burned to keep warm. Now the temperatures over the next several days are on either side of the average temperature. Just around five degrees. Its not until thursday and then going through the weekend that we start to see those temperatures a little chillier. Thats a doubleedged sword because we are looking at colder temperatures. Theres more coal that will be burned. At least there will be mixing in the lower levels of the atmosphere. That will be good. Weve got this ridge of High Pressure across the region. So that kind of you is perez the wind and suppresses the wind and doesnt allow particulates in the atmosphere to get mixed up very much. More of the activity is further east. This is the second time, the on the heels of december 7th. This is only the second time that they have issued this red alert. That means schools will be closed. They will regulate the number of cars on the highways. They will also regulate the industry that is spitting out a lot of pollution that goes into the atmosphere. A lot of components over the next several days. This looks to be a two to fourday event which could be deadly. Thank you very much for explaining for us. Now we move to u. S. Politics and the u. S. Democratic party. Amid president ial candidate Bernie Sanders he may have declared an uneasy peace after a messy internal fight. The party says it will restore access by the Standard Campaign to a voter data base after akooa accusing his staffers of obtaining information from hillary clinton. This resulted after sanders sued the party. The party says it expects each campaign to operate with integrity. The Sanders Campaign said it was glad that the party had capitulated and reversed its outrageous decision. Meanwhile, lets talk about donald trump. He has picked plenty of fights in his campaign. But hes going in another direction. Some are even calling this a bromance between these men, mr. Trum