it's time to keep cam and kee covered. >> you can keep u up-to-date wih all the news on our web-site. al jazeera.com. it. we have syrians and syrian americans for some candid insight. >> johada lee. the community has been asking for a show that includes people who are experiencing what's going on right inside syria rather than us just talking about it from a distance.

as we were watching the activity, it seems so many people are against intervention >> ever since we lost our show, every day, the community has been asking us to cover syria. >> no exaggeration >> a sample. allen asked for syria. amanda, syria. nicole, please discuss syria. alia, and we are all watching about syria. this is a mass relevance map. it shows in real lifetime exactly all social medi ty about syria. these red dots, it's concentrated in north america. here is a trends map. here is where syria is being discussed all around north america on twitter. >> the words, the darker the black, the more people are talking about it? >> there you go. it's l.a. my beloved bay area all the way in mexico. east coast. even florida. so the entire community.

we have had some very opinionated passionate responses. here is ali: where was this indignation years ago? this is like six years. we have one more joseph phillips summarizes, i think, the opinion of americans. >> it is impossible to take any sides. there is no clear side to take. so you, the viewer at home, today, you are the third host of the show. as always, you have driven our discussion. throughout this show, tweet at us live using the hash tag conversation. president obama has called for a national debate on certain i can't. some is taking place across the streets of america. there are those who are for military intervention. >>'s. >> free, free syria. >> and others are against it. >> as congress prepares to vote on military, sir why's

president, bashar al-assad said the consequence of such war. with nearly 300,000 syrian americans living in the u.s., we want to start the debate with them to find out what it's like for them living outside and for their families back home. joining us for an inside look at what's happen something syrian activist for the syrian coalition, a spokesperson for opposition forces joining us via skype is hela diad, a writer and film maker who is opposed to military intervention. in our google hangout, we have rasa salanski, an attorney who just returned from a trip to the region. yassan shashakly is in syria. actually, he is on the border of syria and turkey. he runs a refugee exampcamp. welcome.

yassan, we want to focus the first segment of the show on what americans don't know about this conflict because it's just not out there. in your opinion, what are americans seeing in terms of how things have unfolded in syria? >> i think that people in america are -- think they want to see where people are right, so there is a part of the thing for the people asking nothing but their rights for freedom. when you were there, what did you see or happening that you haven't seen reported? >> i think when i was there, one thing that really surprised me was not really about a civil war. it was about a revolution. living in the u.s., i stopped using the term "revolution to describe the situation in syria. when i was in syria, everyone

kept saying revolution and they didn't discuss it in the context of civil war. they were saying it was about people who are not against -- people who were in response to a brutal government, a government using extreme force to basically silence that oftpposition. it was viewed within the frame of self defense, acting within self defense. >> we have a community here nick says, i can't see how military intervention would do any good for the millions of internally displaced sirrias. chris says, i think the only way we should intervene is to help the refugees. when we ask what will u.s. intervention mean, is their plight being considered? crisis magazine said, yes, with $1,000,000,000 in humanitarian aid so far. rakan you are joining us from syria. talk to us about the condition of the 7

million internally displaced syrians. >> do we have racan? can you hear me? yeah, go ahead, racan. >> well, you know, it has been almost completely ignored. right now, in certain areas they are getting no clean water. everybody is drinking dirty water. people aren't getting food. you know, problems are increasing daily. people are living under a tarp on top of their roof. as far as the person i mentioned we should only intervene by helping refugees, it's like putting a band-aid on an open garb. refugees will keep popping up. how long can we sustain them? intervention is a better means to enhance, you know producing

thet, if you want to follow the refugees, you do that by ending the war. >> we realize it will be a little difficult to our guests. they are coming to us from syria. the connections are tough, but we think it's worth it to listen allegations harder to really get their perspectives. the regime has been bombing people in syria for some time. one of the concerns here on the u.s. side from folks is that if the u.s. or the international community initiates air strikes, that will put the civilian population at risk. do you think outsiders are making that out to be more of a risk than exists and that the folks there are pretty used to it and prepare for it >> i think it's safe to say that, you know, a bombardment regardless of where it's coming from, airstrikes, they have been using scud missiles on a daily mils -- on a daily basis. if an airstrike were to happen, if cruise muscles were to be used, there is, of course, the

risk of innocent civilian lives being lost. but the question is: what if it isn't used? what if military action isn't used and this is going to be my opinion, lives will be continued to be lost. there is no slooiings on sight. if some sort of intervention is not taken the way he kills people, different ways in which innocent deline. so there is a risk in place. but it's about solving the crisis. said. it's about solving the crisis making kind of the quickest way to end the refugee crisis or death tolls we are seeing on a daily basis. intervention. i would like for you to respond to what yisir just said. >> regardless of what i have heard, it just shows that as real understanding of what is going on syria. and intervention and air strikes

to syria will escalate the situation and the conflict from a sectarian war that is happening inside syria to include a proxy war that would include powers that are the many players, syria including hezbollah, iran, saudi arabia, kitar and the west. so, i think that most of the people or the voices i heard very long tried to ignore it is a conflict between people calling for democracy and freedom against a dictator. >> that's what the first phase of the syrian revolution. we have been now since a year and a half stuck in a sectarian war between shiia and sunni. supported by hezbollah and sunni who have been sending the arab jihadists to syria.

intervention in syria will not solve the situation. it will escalate into a regional war, will increase the number of refugees. we are sure that -- and most of the syrian know that damascus is not preferred for, like, external intervention and external war and that will make people inside syria pay a lot of a high price because there be more injuries. there will be more refugees knowing is talking about the syrian people. i think that's the main concern is to punish. >> i am going to stop you there because i want to pick up on that in our section segment which we will get to here briefly. as you are watching, you are hearing from syrians deeply involved in or actually living this crisis. just heard, even they don't agree on how the u.s. should handle this situation. so how is america to decide the best course of action? we are going to get to that after the first break. here are a couple

of other stories you are making comments on.

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please go there al jazeera.com. >> "consider this" will be right back. ♪ ♪ [ music ] when you draw a red line for a dictator and you don't punish

him for crossing that red line, that means you are allowing him to do that once, twice, a third him. >> welcome back. we are talking about syria with syrians and our video comments raise a pretty good point. you are against u.s. intervention in syria but when the leader of the free world draws a line in the sand and there are no consequences when that line is crossed, what good is the word of that leader? >> i just want to say that obama has not really seeing the people killed for two years and there were 200,000 people killed. 1.6 refugees, 7.7, they were displaced. they were young people who went into damascus in detention and punished by the regime. the international community didn't do anything. >> are you suggesting obama lacked credibility?

>> obama, the red line for mr. obama was only when the use of chemical weapons. because that's a risk or a kind of danger for the national security of the have national world, what about the national security of the syrian people? and i think that the action of america should be about prevention of the use of this chemical weapon, not the intervention but through punishing the person, the individual, the official in the regime whether it's bashar al-assad or anyone else who commits the crime. not to punish the country, not to punish the syrian people. there is no right for the opposition who has not been elected by the syrian people and america. >> before you move on to the next points, i have got to get the community in. lisa mentioned credibility. keep the credibility is frequently cited as a reason to go forward. according to keith t doesn't matter.

human lives are at stake. ron says the problem is the legacy of iraq for america. there is a lack of trust and "hate to be wrong about chemicals used against syrians and doing nothing to help." is this more about saving face or saving lives for the u.s. >> secretary kerry today himself said it t it's not about obama's red line. it's about the international community's red line. the international community has made it clear that chemical weapons kacannot be used against a civilian population. >> that's a norm within the international community. so this was the dragger to what led to the international, but for international action to take place earlier, but seeing it as a trigger, if that's what it's going to take, if that's what it's going to take for action to be taken, let's move forward. let's use this as a means to end the regime. let's use this as a means to bring down bashar al-assad and be able to try him in

international court. >> the international community capital move because of russia and china which is one of the reasons the obamastration feels it's falling back primarily on the united states. how do syrians feel about states? >> i mean syrians want a solution at the end of the day. the syrian people have been calling for the international community, have called specifically to the united states and taken to the streets of the united states for action. they have looked to the united states as a democracy. for the past few years. and the united states also has allies. they have turkey in the region. they have countries that have said that they will support some part of action taken. but if you pay attention to the hearing today that took place as well, the united states is the most capable and has the most capacity to do the things they want to accomplish and what the international community hopes to kay come accomplish. >> nasi says there are no honest

brokers here this is the tragi conundr conundrum. and bar eke says who knows who will pull iran. world warr iii: rheme, i am going to go to you. many are saying syrians are being used as a pawn in a greater chess game. >> i think that's true. this is a proxy war. it has been a proxy war for the past two and something years. you have russia and iran on one side. you have saudi, kutar and the u.s. on the other. the idea that the whole u.s. hands off syria is ol syria for awhite. not to the extent, not to the way i would hope as a syrian the u.s. would be involved. you know, i am rather ambigleaam bif leapt about intervention. i think it i think it's somewhat of a false binary because it's not so much about intervention or

non-intervention but how do we end the blood shed. i think there are means that have not been employed that should be employed including really the u.s. stepping up and having talks to really end the blood shed. >> that's what we want. so, you know, going back to that question, i can't say because i hear yissef. i hear what she is saying. i also deal with some aspects. so it's a tough call. it's not about that but how do syria. >> you run a refugee camp. do you hear or believe that syrians think the world and the suffering? >> of course. i mean early in our revolution, people were holding sign asking the international committee just to help them against the brutal

regime and they saw no help whatsoever. so they are really waiting for any kind of help. everyone knows and it has become very obvious, the russians and even hezbollah sending their forces to the camp depots. so basically, the syrian people have no ability to fight other kuntz trees by themselves. we all look for america as like our savior because we believe in the american democracy, the american freedom. >> quickly >> we want arab democracy, syrian democracy. we do nots look to america to give us freedom. we syrians need to strive for this freedom. we need to empower our political opposition. we need to have our own rules and regulation and our concept enough. >> halah, how do you do that? this has been going on for two

years, 100,000 people are killed. don't you think the opposition could? >> yes. i understand, but let me really explain to you my point before you say what you want to say. is that the international community didn't work on political solution. we have very strategy -- fragmented. the military opposition inside syrian has been hijacked by muslim front and by al-qaeda. we have the syrian people have been silenced and afraid fob part of the political solution. there are external forces like a rab i can't and russia and iran using syria as playground for their political agenda. we need to empower the political democracy. look at afghanistan. pause you there, halah. i am wondering if it's too late for a negotiated political solution. i want to touch on that when we come back to the break. all day long, we have been interacting with so many of you

online a lot said you need to be heard. keep tweeting those questions. we are going to get to them with our guests right when we come back. before the benghazi attack. we'll she see you at the top of the hour. why some critics say the school is setting the kids up for failure.

this is al jazeera. hello, and welcome to the news hour. it is good to have you here with us, these are our top stories. >> russia's president vladimir put ton said he would back military action, if it's proved the government was behind the >> radiation readings at japan's plant hits a record high.