aj inside story am. mine is @ray suarez. in washington, i'm ray suarez. the u.s. president tells the u.n. general assembly the rebel group which has taken over parts of syria and iraq must be destroyed. >> no god condones this terror. no grievance justifies these actions. ♪ hello, i'm here with the top stories from al jazeera. on the run, rebel groups in syria evacuate as us-lead air

strikes hit close to their bases. yemen's government cuts fuel prices in a desperate bid to regain control of the capitol. and heaven on earth for fans of lego an part display in london featuring more than a million of the tiny plastic bricks. the u.s. president has told the u.n. general assembly that the world needs to join together in fighting the group known as the islamic state of iraq and the levant, otherwise known as isil. barack obama used his 40-minute speech at the u.n. to tackle a range of issues. he hit out at moscow, and told iran to agree on a new deal over

its nuclear program. he urged countries to make concrete commitments to fight the ebola outbreak. he also used the speech to urge action on climate change saying every major power needs to join the effort, but his main focus was the us-lead air strike against isil, and he said the group must be destroyed. >> i have made it clear that america will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism. instead we waged a focused campaign against al-qaeda, taking our their leaders and denying them the safe havens their rely on. and we have reaffirmed again and again that the united states is not and never will be at war with islam. islam teaches peace. muslims the world over aspire to live with dignity and a sense of justice.

and when it comes to america and islam, there is no us and them. there is only us, because millions of muslim americans are part of the fabric of our country. >> our diplomatic editor james bayes is live for us now at the united nations in new york. james as we just heard there, president barack obama highlighting the need for a global action against isil. will that message be heard by everyone at the united nations? >> reporter: well the coalition is quite a large group of countries now. it has been growing since the nato summit meetings in the middle east. meetings in paris. security council meeting at the end of last week here. people signing up to a coalition against isil. having said that, not every country in the coalition is part of the military coalition, and of the military coalition, not all are involved -- or most are not involved in what has been

happening, those air strikes in syria, which was just the u.s. and five of its arab partners. so there are different elements of the coalition, different countries that are prepared to commit different things. there is of course a big debate here about those air strikes in syria. are they justified under international law and privately a lot of diplomats will say that they believe they probably are not, if you read the u.n. charter, and that's why in about three hour's time, another meeting, not just the general assembly, but another meeting, the security council meeting of the united nations is going to be so important. >> apart from that united nations security council meeting -- and i believe a resolution is expected to come out of that -- what else is going to happen at the general assembly today? >> reporter: well, there's going to be other speeches that we need to look at. we need to look at some the arab

partners of the u.s. who are going to actually be speaking. the amir of qatar, the king of jordan are on the agenda, as are some of the western allies, the president of france and the prime minister of the u.k. and the meeting will not happen with 15 ambassadors around the table. around the table will be world leaders, and it just happens that the rotating presidency of the security council is held by the u.s., so the president of the security council calling the meeting to order today will be the president of the united states, president obama. that resolution, i think is going to be fine in the sense that we believe there's a consensus about isil and foreign fighters. i think the question will be about the legality of the strikes in syria, and that's where we want to listen very carefully to the contributions

from the chinese and russians. that's something we will be covering here on al jazeera, and watching very closely. >> indeed. james thank you for that. james bayes speaking us to from the united nations in new york. fighters from two of syrias main opposition groups are evacuating their bases and hiding heavy weapons as us-lead air strikes continue. al-qaeda linked groups have been fighting the main target of those sites for weeks now. opposition groups in syria, say the u.s. coalition should be targeting the are regime of bashar al-assad instead. >> reporter: god promised us victory. obama promised us defeat. this is what syrians want to tell the world. they took to the streets to protest against the us-lead coalition's military campaign

against the islamic state in iraq and the levant. these people say they don't trust the u.s. administration. obama our revolution is an islamic one, and we want an islamic state was what they chanted. >> translator: we condemn the air strikes. they killed civilians. the coalition is with the a regime. >> reporter: activists say this bran branch's bases were targeted by the air strikes. they ordered their fights to leave their bases in anticipation of more attacks. the u.s. did say they targeted khorasan, which is fighting under the other group. there were many who asked whether the military campaign would help the syrian regime

militarily. now many syrians say that's exactly what it will be do. the hazem movement was the first syrian-army linked brigade to react. it said the strikes didn't just undermine the sovereignty of syria, but will make the government stronger. the u.s. may have said it plans to train and arm rebels, but it is still not clear who they will be. >> translator: the free syrian army is not enough mature, is not enough big. if we talk about the islamic front, for example, i don't know exactly, they are united, but there are many question marks about their future, if some of them they may join isis. >> reporter: there is that possibility. already anti-american protests

are spreading. these people don't necessarily support isil, but many support the other conservative groups. if the u.s. and the coalition don't expand their fight to include the regime, they risk making more enemies on the ground. the u.s. has carried out five more air strikes against isil fighters in syria and iraq. it says they targeted sites in syria, and also carried out two strikes southeast of erbil, and two west of bagdad. the fight against isil has taken its toll in many areas in syria and iraq as well. one of those places is in northern iraq where sue filed this report. >> reporter: this is the town that has been flattened by u.s. fighter jet areas in their attacks and we can hear more fighter jets in the sky even

now. the local people here say either the buildings were completely flattened by the attacks or the isil fighters retreating from here as the peshmerga forces pushed in, they blew the homes up. the only building left standing with the mosque. along a kilometer of this stretch of road, all of these buildings now there is virtually nothing left to them. and that's because of their proximity to a town that is a couple of kilometers away. they are saying that they think isil are fighting so hard for this area because it's a very oil-rich area. the peshmerga say they are surrounding the up to. they can't take it, they say, because when they have gone in the past, the isil fighters blow themselves up. they are really hoping there will be more air strikes here.

and they are absolutely sure there are no more civilians there, and calling on the us-lead coalition to come and bomb zuma. stephanie decker reports, some syrians who fled to turkey now want to go back to defending their home. >> reporter: these people are going back to syria. they are among more than 140,000 syrian kurds who came to turkey fearing isil's advance. >> translator: i'm going back to fight. all of us here are going to get our weapons and fight isil. isil fighters are not human. we don't leave our town. >> reporter: if people crossing back with from the kurdishtown around 50 meters from where we are, but there are also others returning to different vagdiff e differentage -- villages.

>> translator: i'm 70 years old, and i'll still alive. isil forced our entire village to leave a after they stole everything and beheaded some of our young mren. but we prefer to be killed at home. >> reporter: the people here don't think the air strikes are making a difference. these images show kurdish fighters trying to push isil back from the area. >> the situation is very much, they are fighting, but there is no weapon to help them to fight dash. dash is using heavy weapons. >> reporter: even though there are families here crossing back, the majority are men who say they are determined to protect their homes and land. kurdish leaders have called for international help to fight isil, but people here say no one is helping them. so many civilians are taking

matters into their own hands. military aircraft have landed in the united arab emirates. around 400 australian air force personnel have landed near dubai. the australian government has yet to commit to taking part in combat, however. cargo aircraft are also expected to deliver humanitarian aid. an armed group in algeria says it has killed a french national it has been holding hostage. he was taken on sunday by a group climbing allegiance to isil. now they had demanded france stop its action against isil in iraq and syria. a jordanian court has cleared a high profile cleric in the last legal action against him, bringing an end to a 15-year legal battle. he was accused of planning

attacks against tourists during jordan's celebrations in 2000. he spent years in britain without charge, and was deported from there to jordan last year. in june he was cleared of planning an attack against an american school. nato says it is observing a significant withdrawal of russian forces from ukraine, but the alliance says thousands of russian troops still remain deployed near the border. russia had several thousand combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles inside ukraine. yemen's government has cut fuel prices in an tempt to ease tensions in the capitol of sana'a. yemen's president has warned of a civil war if the houthis do not believe the capitol. we are joined by a houthi activist who says the group is still interested in a peace deal. >> there is an agreement that

has been signed. a new prime minister will be chosen within two or three days, and a government will be formed within a month. this is an agreement that has been signed. so to say that the houthi doesn't want to -- to -- to how say -- to have a -- a good government, because they do. they have done that, and if they really like you said doesn't want to do that, then what was the point of signing agreement with the government. they signed agreement, and he said yesterday in his speech, he said we want to unite, and he said we want to work all together to build a government. if they want to control the whole thing, they wouldn't sign this agreement, but they want to share the whole government with everybody else in yemen. still to come on al jazeera, one month since the ebb of the gaza conflict, the shelling is over, but some gazans say hope will never return. and -- we have gone beyond the

boundaries of human enterprise, and imagination. >> india joins an elite club of countries who put a satellite into orbit around mars. ♪

♪ welcome back. the top stories here on al jazeera. the united nations general assembly has opened in new york, with barack obama addressing the first session. the u.s. president vowed to lead a coalition to dismantle isil, and issued a global call for nations to come together to join

the fight. fighters from two of syrias main opposition groups are evacuating basis assist-lead air strikes continue for a second day. the groups say they have hidden heavy weapons and communications equipment. yemen's government has cut fuel prices in an attempt to ease tensies in the capitol of sana'a. it has been a month since israel and palestinian fighters agreed to a ceasefire in gaza. rep -- representatives are due to hold talks to try to create a more formal trust. >> reporter: the green flags of hamas flutter in the wind above the rebel. thousands of families used to live in this gaza neighborhood. it has been a month since the truce began, little, if nothing

has been achieved so far to rebuild the lives of gaza's people. as permanent ceasefire talks begin again, there isn't much hope among people here. >> translator: there is no hope. fattah, hamas and egypt give us no hope. life just gets more miserable >> translator: we understand we had to suffer during the war, but after the war the suffering has just gotten worse. >> reporter: the palestinian government wants israel to lift its land, air, and sea blockage gaza. since the fighting stopped israel has only partially opened one of his border crossings, but has banned rebuilding materials because it says hamas may use it to rebuild tunnels.

this is all that remains of the airport here in gaza. it was destroyed by the israelis in 2001, and having it rebuilt is one of the key demands of the palestinians, but that is very unlikely to happen, because hamas and the other armed factions are refusing to disarm. this is actually the site where palestinians want a port. the late palestinian leader laid the first stone in the sea here in 1989, and nothing has been done since. fishermen are back on the water after the war, but israel bans them from fishing further than 10 kilometers from the coast, the intimidation and arreings by the israeli navy continue. this is gaza's border with egypt. since last year's coup there has been few people leaving through this crossing. the only palestinians allowed go egypt must have medical

emergency permits, a work visa, or dual citizenship. hamas says it is a resistance group fighting for independence as others have done out there history. the people here say they are living in the world's largest open prison. a place, they say that makes the headlines only when the bombs are falling. israeli border police fired grenades at a crowd of palestinians inside a compound in jerusalem. these pictures appear to show them entering the mosque known as the temple mosque to jews. the world health organization says there might be a vaccine available in large enough quantities to help control the african ebola outbreak by the end of the year. currently there is no licensed

treatment, but two vaccines are being tested. more than 2,800 people have died in this outbreak since the first cases were reported six months ago. the international criminal court has opened a formal investigation into the atrocities committed in central african republic. information collected over 18 months shows that war crimes and crimes against humanity have taken place. the office of the prosecutor says those responsible will be prosecuted. hundreds have been killed in village violence. the country plunged into a civil war after a coup last month. al jazeera continues to demand the release of its journalists imprisoned in egypt, peter greste, baher mohamed, and mohammed fahmy have now been detained for 270 days. they are falsely accused of

aiding the outlawed muslim brotherhood. greste and a fewmy each received a seven year sentence. and baher mohamed received an additional three years for having a spent bullet casing in his procession, which he picked up at a protest. india has become the first country to put a satellite in orbit after its first attempt. the mission was monitored from bangalore. >> history has been created today. we have dared to reach out into the unknown and have achieved the near-impossible. [ inaudible ] as well as all of my fellow indians on this

historic occasion. [ applause ] we report now on how the success of india's space program has inspired the country's next generation to reach for the stars. >> reporter: up close and personal with science. he is helping these children to understand what is going on in outer space. by seeing rockets in action here, they are learning about india's mars orbiter mission unfolding millions of miles away. >> when i was a kid i wanted to become an astronaut, but nobody told me how to do that. so i wanted to fill in that gap, where i could tell a child who wants to become an astronaut what is the process like? >> reporter: he wants the next generation of indians to know.

he says india needs to invest in local invention, and a work force. >> we need to have a younger generation who is doing this for us. so in the coming decades, we should have those young generations becoming scientists and technologists, so that's the area where we are working with these kids. >> reporter: in november last year, india launched its very own mars orbiter. for years india struggled to reach the space technology. >> there were the limitations [ inaudible ] we can achieve, what we [ inaudible ] technology there, and we have [ inaudible ] done so. >> reporter: for millions of

people, indian's home grown space program is a source of pride. for the government it demonstrates the country's potential as a major player in the global space hub. it's proof that space exploration doesn't have to be expensive, and it's progress could encourage other countries to explore the world beyond without the economical restraints. hundreds of students have been marching through hong kong's financial district protesting against the decision to restrict electoral reform. it is the third day of a week-long student boycott. students plan to block indicate the city buildings. thousands of homes are at risk of being destroyed by wildfires in the u.s. state of california. more than 2,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes.

a new exhibition of unique sculptures has gone on display in london. the artist has used more than a million leggo blocks to create the exhibition. >> reporter: when he was ten, he wanted a dog. his parents said no, so he built one using leggo bricks. >> i would come home at night and need a creating outlet. >> reporter: and sometimes it was leggo. his works have toured the world. and this 8-year-old for one is very, very impressed. >> i think my favorite thing was the trex. >> reporter: have you ever seen anything like this before? >> i have never seen anything like this before at all. >> reporter: did you imagine

that leggo would create things like this? >> no. but it's amazing seeing that you can make so many things out of just rectangular bricks of leggo. >> reporter: when you are three or four, leggo is seamlessly endless in the things you can produce, but when you are in your 40s almost anything becomes possible. like this little house that i have just made. it has got a window, door, and a little man outside. >> it's not the sort of box houses and farm yard scenes that you normally see. is your message here that anybody can do this and should. or is this rarefied art? >> well, i want to inspire others. so if they want to take on these type of projects i encourage

them to do so. >> reporter: it has been described as a surrealist mash up of forms and artists, which makes sense when you look at his l lego screen. june that hull, al jazeera, london. south korean activists are taking their protests against their government to new york. they are angry about what they say is -- term elections? plus, are voting rights becoming more exclusive? marginalized groups casting ballots.