this is al jazerra. ♪ ♪ welcome to the news hour. i am sammy in doha. iraq in turmoil. four children reportedly killed as the iraqi army launches attacks in the city of fa huge a. marking the worst massacre in modern egyptian history. more deaths on the first anniversary. a renewed ceasefire in gaza, as hamas insists lifting the israeli siege on the strip is nonnegotiable. and heading to the capital.

pakistan's opposition begins its independence day protest march. ♪ ♪ at least four children have been killed after iraqi troops carried out attacks in the city of fallujah. a fighter jet bombed targets including a mosque and a water purification plant. fallujah has been the scene of ongoing anti-government protests for months think meanwhile, the u.s. says it's unlikely to launch a rescue operation to help those people trapped on the sinjar mountains in northern iraq. thousands of the i can' yazidi y group fled there as i.s. moved in to the area. the humanitarian situation isn't as bad as originally thought. jayna joins us now live from erbil. jane, regardless of what happened with the yazidis. the humanitarian challenge in iraq is simply massive across the different sects, isn't it?

>> reporter: it is absolutely, sammy. as the united nations says that schools here likely won't open in northern iraq because half of them are occupied by people displaced from the north. in the refugees camp where we have been over the last 24 hours, people would horrendous stories people beheaded. the women taken away. it is a tragedy along the lines of a magnitude that's just beginning to be determined but the u.n. believes that dozens of children in any case have been killed and a yazidi community says thousands of their own people may have died, adults as well as children. all in all, they are having a lot of trouble, even though they are now safe coming to grips with what they do next. this floating bridge from syria is now the lifeline for iraqi yazidis. the route off sinjar mountain in to syria and back in to iraq.

thousands have come this way with the help of syrian, kurdish rebels. the yazidi live in the kurdish region but with their towns taken over by islamic fighters, here they rely on the kindness of fighters. by the time a lot of these people cross the bridge they have been stranded on the mountains for days and walked for hours. these are the survivors. but a lot of them are wondering what will survive of their community. this camp just a few kilometers from the crossing was built for syrian refugees, it's now full of yazidis who tried and failed to defend their towns. >> translator: seven of my relatives it were killed by shelling. some were beheaded. >> reporter: he says they need help to go back and bury the bodies. he shows me a photo of the did he cap dated body of her elderly brother killed last thursday when the islamic state group took over their village. >> translator: my brother was beheaded and they put it on the internet for everyone to see.

>> reporter: the yazidis say they have suffered more than 17 massacres over the centuries. after this last one they say the only solution is for them all to leave. their anger extends to their own leaders. this man asks why they should listen anymore to the prince of the yazidis. >> translator: it's been 300 years, they change our nationality to arab and then to kurds, we are not kurds, we are not arab. we are yazidis. >> reporter: there are dozens of men here who worked with u.s. forces during the war. they feel abandoned. >> i think they left us. they left us like. [ inaudible ]. we depends on the peshmerge and they said they are going to leave sinjar, but they left us. >> reporter: he is with six other families. his immediate family is safe, but his sister-in-law has lost 51 members of her family. she says they were auld killed

on the first day the fighters entered their town. they have all lost family members because they are such a small community. they also have lost the hope that they could ever feel safe in iraq again. >> and on the -- while all of this is going on there is, of course, a political transition process going on in the country. how smooth is that going? and how much influence but nouri al-maliki have on the army? >> reporter: well, not terribly smoothly. in fact, one would say it's stumbling a little bit given that the prime minister maliki refuses to step aside. he said he got the largest number of votes, he should be entitled to form the government and he's asked the courts to decide. now the indication is that the courts have indeed decided and it likely won't be in his favor. but that is still definitely a stumbling block. although the prime minister has put commanders in place and many of the security forces and intelligence agencies loyal to

him and that's been one of the weaknesses seen in the security forces in iraq, it's not expected that the security forces remaining, as many of those commanders have now been dismissed, will retain their loyalty to a single individual. in fact, the prime minister designate is from the same party as mr. nouri al-maliki and they are very much in the same mold, if you will. so essentially we are not talking about fears of a coup here by most people, but what we are talking about is still a period of prolonged political struggle that certainly does not help with the security situation. sammy. >> thanks for that. the crisis on sinjar mountain has attracted the attention of western governments in a way that the rest of the region hasn't. within the past week, the united states has launched more than a dozen air strikes against the islamic state group. while u.s. and u.k. special forces have been planning a rescue operation on the ground. both countries have also been

dropping aid on to the mountain and helicopters have airlifted some yazidi refugees to safety. now, the u.k. and european union have both pledged millions of dollars of extra support in the last few days. but a picture in the wider region is equally bleak and desperate. across the middle east objectiom says 20 million people are in need of aid because of conflict and instability. brigadier general mark is a former secretary for political and military fares. joining us now from baghdad. good to have you with us. would it be safe to say that the latest u.s. military intervention in iraq is about more than simply protecting displaced people. why is defending cities like erbil and northern iraq so important to u.s. interests? >> well, as you remember, sammy, what the president said when he introduced american air strikes in to the equation was that it was not only to prevent genocide

of the yazidis, but also to protect american facilities such as the consolate in erbil, as well as push back the islamic state forces that were threatening the significant cities insides of kurdistan. >> i guess there is a question, what does push back mean? is the u.s. goal containment of theism s. group or destruction? >> well, i think it's a little of both. what it's capable of doing right now is to some extent contain it. but i think in the long run, the u.s. strategy, which hasn't been articulated, needs to be to lead to its ultimate destruction. otherwise, it's going to remain a threat not only to our allies in iraq, but to the region and quite frankly to the united states as well. >> the effectiveness, then, of air strikes to achieve that sort of u.s. goal, i mean, it would depends really on the effectiveness of the ground forces there, which is the iraqi army. now, looking at their track record of fighting the i.s.,

would that suggest that the u.s. might be drawn a little further than limited air strikes, as is the case now? >> well, i would certainly hope so. because the americans have not yet shown a strategy for the islamic state. what they have done is they have shown a series of responses. to develop a full-throated strategy, means you take a look at what your national interests are, and you support those national interests through a couple of objectives. we haven't seen that yet what we have seen are some pin prick responses, but if we truly recognize that it is in our national interest to defeat, if not destroy the islamic state, we are going need to support more than simply dropping bombs from 30,000 feet. >> and perhaps also winning allies in some of the sunni heartland areas. will the u.s. be able to do that again as was the case at the height of the u.s. invasion of

iraq some years ago? >> well, sammy, i think that the americans would certainly hope that that could happen. a lot depends on the political process. if the political transition results in a more inclusive government. but let's be clear, those in the sunni heartland are starting to recognize, as they did with the old al qaeda in iraq, they are recognizing that the islamic state is a brutal group that is not serving the larger sunni interests. so as we saw in 2,000,061 could hope that the sunni heartlands themselves will reject the islamic state and will be part of destroying did in the long run. >> thanks so much for your thoughts there. >> sure, sammy. still ahead this hour, remembering a hero of gas arc the man who single-handedly made hundreds of bombs safe is killed on the job. emergency supplies on the way to ukraine's troubled east.

and finding out if banned football and luis suarez will be back playing sooner than expected. egyptian place have killed at least four people in protests. one year aggie description security forces broke up two protest camps in cairo killing at least 800 people. human rights watch called it the most violent incidents in egyptian history. >> reporter: the worst case scenario materializing in egypt. on the more than of suggest 14 security forces raided two encampments of protesters. one year on, the bloody events became known by the names of these locations.

the square near cairo university and the mosque in the capital. thousands of protesters had been gathering there for six weeks. demanding the military reen state president mohamed morsi. they were violently removed. after warnings and ultimatums. it was likens to a massacre. until today it's not clear how many people died. human rights watch says at least 817. egypt's health ministry says 638 bodies were found. but the muslim brotherhood puts the casualty figure much higher, 200600. among the victims were women and children. and military argued at the time the protesters were hiding weapons at the site. but the international community condemned the raids. analysts say it marked the beginning of a government crack down of the muslim brotherhood.

it was the symbol for morsi supporters with political speeches and large gatherings. the sit-in happened during the religion months of holy rom dawn. on this anniversary many wonder who will be held accountable and when. a human rights watch says senior leaders including then defense minister and now president abdul fatah al ceas sisi should be investigated. the movement to reinstate egypt's first democratically elected principle started using the symbol a hand showing four fingers. they say they will never forget, which also means the fourth in arabic. monica, al jazerra. human rights watch says 817 people were killed in that crack down last year as the report pointed out. but security forces didn't just target protesters. journalists who were trying to document events that day were also attacked.

simon mcgregor wood has more on that story. >> reporter: the sheer scale of the violence took everyone by surprise, including journalists. this was something the egyptian government did not want the world to see. our own live position was one of the first to come under fire from government forces. >> we are pinned down, we are being shot at, we cannot move from the location that we are at the time. we are pins down. get down now! get down now! >> reporter: the clear intention was to stop us filming. networks were jammed. camera crews and photographers were all targeted. >> go, go, go! >> reporter: any relief from getting off the roof was soon replace woods i the horrors we witnessed below. tear gas, heat, and hysteria. >> trying to kill us! >> reporter: as the police and military start today close in, journalists started to die. mick dean a cameraman from the

u.k. sky news. of the egyptian paper. and young egyptian photographer, all shot. >> we have to notice that one year after those events, no investigations have been launched to try to know what happened exactly and who killed the journal assists. >> reporter: sycamore were seriously injured. those trying to get closer to the story were detained by security forces. many were beaten. and had equipment con if i skated or destroyed. >> it was impossible for us to get inside that square. i think any journalists who were in there and who did manage to film were journalists that happened to have been there when the violence broke out. and they were very quickly trying to escape that violence. >> reporter: many tweeted their experience, tom fin from reuters with two photographers, soldiers have taken their cameras and are

deleting their photos. elizabeth from the voice of america pulled from car and detained by police. and abigale from the washington post, police fire tear gas to spectators and press, they are firing live ammo at us. we are trapped. despite the best efforts of the military-backed government information and pictures did get out. some journalists, along with hundreds of protesters paid the ultimate price on that brutal day. they died trying to insure the world knew what happened and who was responsible. simon mcgregor wood, al jazerra. an al jazerra correspondent was arrested a year ago while covering the protests, he was jailed without charge do more than 10 months and went on a hunger strike until his relieve the june, he spoke to my colleague stephen cole early and early explained what happened that day. >> actually, since noon when it was past 12:00 on that day, it was almost impossible for anyone

to move around in the square. looking now on the ground everywhere there were police forces and army troops as well. so i had to stay in the hospital. it the hospital itself. so about 5:00 in the afternoon, this place got stormed by police forces and they asked everyone to move out. so we were actually forced to use one way, which was the only way possible to leave the square at that time. of course nobody knew what was going to happen. and at one point when i had to cross through the army checkpoints there i was detained. >> did you see people being killed? >> yes, i did. actually, that was the first thing i saw that day early in the morning about 6:30 in the morning, i was making my way back to the square and i saw people got shot close to where the center of the protest was

taking place. >> how has all of this -- i suppose the expression, changed your life? >> you know, i have been to a war zone before that was during the libyan revolution in 2011, and i was in miss rat a which was by that time one of the most dangerous places in libya, but although i stayed there for two weeks, i think what i witnessed and what i saw that day on the 14th of august, 2013, was life changing, life changing because of the fact that you know, you didn't really know what to do. i mean, in libya, you had the option of moving around at least you could -- you know, there was a place where fighting was taking place. but here it was everywhere. you didn't really have the chance to go anywhere. and, of course, what happened later when i got detained, you know and, had to endure almost 10 months of detention, it was life changing. so i always think what has happened before is totally different from what has come

before. it's like a rebirth again. >> yeah, i can understand that. has it, 10 months in detention, a hunger strike, the shock of release, has it reaffirmed your belief in the importance of the freedom of the media, of journalism? >> i totally believe that if it was not because of the support of people for this aspect, the freedom of press, it wouldn't have been possible for me to get out of jail. looking at the fact that so many other people are on hunger strike in egypt and, you know, people have been detained every day, but the support i saw both locally and globally, and the campaign has been going on either for me before and for my colleagues as well, it's astounding and as well we need to see the fact that it's not only, you know, our colleagues that we have free-lancers who are still in prison,

photographers, local journal assists, who have also been detained on that day and still in prison up to now. just if i could mention somebody like a photographer, a free-lance photographer who was detained the very same day and still in prison up to now. we have other people who are from separate news networks, free-lancers mostly who are still in prison. so, but, you know, i may not have been kind of, you know, a hard defender of press freedom or at least not debt indicatin y life to it. but i would dedicate my life to this for now and for whatever i have left. >> he was held with three al jazerra colleagues who are still in jail. al jazerra is demanding the release of its three journal assists who have been in prison in he just a minute for 229 days. ba there are mo hammers, mohamed far me and peter greste were accused of helping the outlawed

muslim brotherhood. in june 2 were given seven sentences mohamed seven extra years because of a spent bullet that he had picked up a at a protest site a palestinian delegation has announced a knew five-day ceasefire. they are returning to cairo where talks are being held. israel has yet to comments. one member of the palestinian delegation said they agreed to extend the truce as long as they were desires were hold. last week we spoke to a bomb disposal man in gas who halves clearing bombs, he has since been killed while trying to carry out his job. jane ferguson reports. >> reporter: he had one of the most dangerous jobs in gaza. he led the region's only group of bomb disposal workers trying to diffuse explosive that landed, but did not detonate. with little or no professional

equipment. just last week, he spoke to al jazerra. >> translator: to handle these missiles is very dangerous. but the one who accepts this job must know his duty. >> reporter: on wednesday, he was killed while performing that duty. he had been trying to disarm a large bomb when if exploded, killing him, three of his colleagues and two journalists. this is the spot where the bomb disposals unit and journalists were when that bomb exploded. however, there are sites like this all across the gaza of unexploded ordinances, so the dangerous job that those men were doing is entirely necessary. at the site, other unexploded bombs litter the ground. families still rummage through the remains of their homes for anything they can recover and children play in the open grou ground. hazem's family says that's why he did such dangerous work.

>> translator: what motivated him was his humanity. he loved people. and this is why he went everywhere to look for and diffuse these missiles, to save the lives of children, well, and old people and to secure is the houses of the innocent. >> reporter: many moorehouses and neighbors in gaza still need to be cleared of these devices. after weeks of israeli bombardment, a ceasefire does not protect people from bombs on the ground, waiting to explode. jane ferguson, al jazerra, gaza. well, since israel's assault on gaza began on july the 8th64 israeli soldiers and three civilians including a thai national have been killed in israel. 1,957 palestinians have died according to gaza's health ministry. the u.n. says nearly three-quarters of them are civilians. and 469 are children. more than 10,000 palestinians

have been wounded and more than 209,000 people are still seeking shelter in u.n. facilities. if you want to get more on that story as well as the others that we are following here on al jazerra just head over to our website, aljazerra.com. you can see our front page and our lead stories there. it's aljazerra.com for you. brazil has declared three days of mourning after presidential candidate eduardo campos was killed in a plane crash. the leaders of the socialist party was on a cessna executive jet that came down in bad when thisser. the election is due on october the 4th. from the city of santos, al jazerra al gabriel elizondo reports. >> reporter: a giant hole in the middle of a residential neighborhood marks the spot of a plane crash that took the life of a young presidential candidate, eduardo campos. the plane debris hit more than 10 buildings, exploding projectiles destroying anything in the path in this port city an hour outside of saul paolo.

>> translator: at the moment it crashed we felt a big shake, it was an explosion and we didn't know what was happening. he thought a built had khrapgsdz. >> reporter: perhaps amazingly, nobody on the ground was killed but all seven of the people on board were. the two pilots, campos, and four of his aids all of them were on their way to a campaign event. we are right here at the crash scene this is as close as the police will allow us to get because it's still an active investigation. as you can tell, the weather is not good. it's raining and very overcast. and we are told these were the conditions at the time of the accident. initial reports are that the plane tried to land but aborted at the last moment and at that point the control tower lost all communications with the plane. >> h he was a rising star in national politics, former governor of a large northeast state where he stepped down from governor this year with more than 70% approval ratings. >> brazil lose a young leader

with an extremely promising future in front of him. a man that could have climbed to the highest posts in the country. witwithout a shadow of a doubt t is a loss, regardless of our differences we always kept a strong relationship of mutual respect. >> reporter: as crews sifted through the wreckage looking for clues of what happened, the political world in brazil was left in shock with the election campos hoped to win only six weeks away, his supporters wonder where to go from here. >> translator: it's pretty sad. we are going through a very complicated political situation. all of a sudden we are trying to change things, something like this happening, it's pretty sad. >> reporter: no matter the politics, the overwhelming feeling here is that eduardo campos is a man who died too young. gabriel elizondo, al jazerra, santos, brazil. much more ahead on the show, including hopes for a return to peace in the capital of the central african republic. and the first papel visit to

asia in 15 years, pope francis visits south korea for a five-day trip calling for peace. i am lee welington in london for a traditional indian trying to reach out and grab a new global audience. @jvé

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>> teachers unions in cal have been dealt a big plow. teacher tenure, protecting jobs through the state's tunne public schools has been ended. it's headed for an appeal, and it's the "inside story." >> hello, i'm ray suarez. a confident superior court judge decided that a state system of