>> tensions rise as i.s.i.l. fighters move closer to a key kurdish town in syria. hello, i'm darren jordon, this is al jazeera live from doha. also - hong kong's leader says china will not back down as they set a wednesday deadline. afghanistan to sign a long-awaited security deal allowing some u.s. troops to stay on the ground. i'm outside new delhi where a gandhi statue is being made. we speak to the artist, still busy at the age of 89.

fighters from the islamic state of iraq and levant are closing in on a strategic town in syria, next to the border with turkey. i.s.i.l. is within 5km of kobani, and there are reports of coalition strikes in other areas of syria. i.s.i.l. began their advance sending tens of thousands of kurdish syrians into turkey. stefanie dekker reports. >> reporter: more shelling in the town of kobani. the attacks intensified or the last few days, and is intensifying the anger on the turkish side of the border. many kurds have come to protest saying the government has not done anything to stop the price. >> translation: we are protesting because i.s.i.l. and turkish government is planning

against us. if our town falls, we'll take up arms and not care about the turkish government. >> reporter: they were dispersed and many injured. the turkish forces are taking no chances in a border area that is tense. turkish forces pushed the protesters back up the hill, getting them to the other side, pushing them further away from getting to the border with kobani. >> the fallout - mortar shells are landing in turkey. as we filmed... ..a more tar from syria lands across the -- mortar from syria lands across the road from us. the army has a heavy presence, but is not responding. head east, and you can see an i.s.i.l. position. this proximity is worrying and angering kurdish villagers. >> translation: we are afraid, we are threatened. shells have been landing near here, and we are at risk. the turkish government should intervene.

>> the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan said he'd step up the commitment to fight i.s.i.l. for now, the armed group controls large areas of syrian border with turkey. by sunday morning, a visible change in military positioning. the turkish tanks are facing the town of kobani. bernard smith joins us from the turkish town of ser uch. i.s.i.l. is inching closer to kobani. bring us up to date with the situation on the ground now. >> well that's kobani there. just behind me, a few hundred meters away. the latest update i have is i.s.i.l. forces advanced to 4km away from the eastern side of kobani. they have gained 6km overnight. they were 10km away yesterday. they are on the western side, 2km away, the same as yesterday. there's fighting ongoing. ongoing on both sides, and we

did see a mortar explosion in the distance a little bit on. the border - this town is quieter than yesterday. there's no protest here, and the border gates are open. there are people going back and forwards. we are told that syrian kurdish forces in kobani, around kobani are beginning to tell people in the up to , or wanting to tell people in the -- in the town, or wanting to tell people in the town to think of evacuating from there. >> turkish tanks are positioning themselves overlooking kobani, what can we expect from turkish officials over the next few days? >> well, today turkey's prime minister is chairing a cabinet meeting and the chief of general staff will address the cabinet meeting to give them an update on the situation on the ground. from the meeting they'll submit

two motions to parliament. the government will submit two motions to parliament. these will ask parliament for permission to send turkish forces outside of national boundaries, take part in international operations. two motions - one for iraq, one for syria. turkish's parliament will vote on thursday, it's almost certain that the vote will be passed. then we may expect turkey to take a prominent role in the n.a.t.o. and coalition anxious against -- against i.s.i.l. forces. there may be a clause in those motions to allow foreign forces to launch attacks from turkish territories. you could see them allowed in to interlick base, and other -- intur lick base, something that the u.s. has been wanting to do. >> bernard smith on the syrian-turkey border. thank you.

i.s.i.l. has taken large swathes of iraq. the u.n. is warning of a humanitarian crisis. less than a third that need aid there are getting it. thousands that fled from the group are living in schools and building streaks we have this report from the erbil suburb of ancow ra. >> reporter: it may look like an ideal life for a 12-year-old boy. farah plays cards all morning, and it's time for football. no classes to attend, no homework. there's nothing else for him to do. he is one of more than 5 million internally displaced iraqis. his father is worried. when fighters from the islamic state of iraq and levant arrive in the town, he was forced to flee with his wife and four children. >> translation: every day i wake up and thip of going home -- thinking of going home. that's where i built a life with my family. here i am, living in an

undignified way. >> reporter: all his work as a driver has gone to waste. he has realised this is a new home. a school classroom, where there's no classrooms or teaching. 140 christian families are being sheltered here. >> i'm very sad. >> another nine schools in the city of erbil have become refugee camps too. tents have been set up in the playground, the refugees moved in, and the local children were sent home. nearly 1,000 children should be studying, this is what the blackboard looks like. the classroom, and the areas that are cleared because families of refugees have moved in here. >> it's a crisis. they are so overwhelmed. they were forced to house the latest group in a construction site for a shopping mall.

his suburb of 35,000 people was suddenly faced with an influx of 45,000 refugees. >> translation: the problem now is that we urgently need medicine, food and accommodation from the international community. >> reporter: back at the school they are trying to keep the glass rooms clean. once students looked at the cloth hoping for the end of the class. now, it will be time before he and his family can go back to where they fled from. >> reporter: australian police arrested a man accused of funding an extremist group fighting in syria. the 23-year-old suspect gave more than $10,000 to a u.s. citizens. about 100 police were involved. no weapons were found, but a large amount of electronic data was seize. a houthi spokesman said they will not withdraw from the yemen capital, but will work with

authorities. they maintain a grip an sanaa, despite signing a deal. days after rebels stifled a protest, houthis are still there. beijing will not back down in demanding pro-democracy protesters to clear the streets. at the start of a second week demonstrators are defiant, calling on beijing to allow them to freely elect leaders, something rejected. activists call on the current leader to resign. >> reporter: something we have seen is a pattern at the main area where the protesters are in central hong kong. that is that we see early afternoon a lot more people are showing up in the morning hours, people that have slept out overnight, and it builds. that is what we are seeing here now, afternoon hours bring in more people. this is a main thorough fair,

and we have seen that work. one thing that they have done today, there were makeshift stages, calling people to tell everyone they know, call them on the mobile phone and tell them to come out here. they are worried if the numbers dip too low t may give a window for the hong kong police to remove people. that is not the case. many have been coming down to the site now that it's midday. >> it's gaining momentum. more and more students are knowing what is happening and coming to help us out. >> one thing that is different on tuesday, protest organizers are building more infrastructure in the main thorough fair. we see a lot more tents go up. a few days ago they were for first aid, now they are up in the morning hours, and they have different things, we have the first aid tents, but now they are supply tents. water, snags, and this has -- snacks, and this has public address backup systems.

they are dedicating the time and stage to put the infrastructure into this, going against what the head of the government here is happy with. that is the people here are dispersed. they are knowing that. what is interesting is the days running ahead. if the numbers defined. the numbers are used as a possibility. right now the protesters are going nowhere. >> meanwhile, the obama administration voiced support for the demands of the protesters. white house spokesman josh ernst called for restraint. >> the white house calls for universal suffrage, and support the hong kong people. we believe an open society, governed by the rule of law is essential for hong kong stability and prosperity. >> afghanistan's government will sign an agreement with the u.s. to keep combat troops on the ground. the new president agreed to the

deal after hamid karzai refused to support it. rosalind jordan reports. with the inauguration of ashraf ghani as president, the people of afghanistan are getting more than a new leader. they are getting a military presence in 2015, something washington says will help make the afghan people safer. >> this one is afghanistan and the international community to maintain the partnership we have established to ensure that afghanistan maintains the gains of past decade. that is the plan. we look forward to having that signed. >> reporter: under the terms. bilateral security agreement, bsa, 9800 u.s. troops will train afghan forces and support them as they conduct patrols, gather intelligence and lead attacks. they'll not lead combat operations and will be deployed for about two years. washington wanted the agreement signed in 2013, to allow the

pentagon time to reassign soldiers and marines and remove combat equipment from afghanistan before the end of the year. the former president hamid karzai delayed signing the bsa, and finally refused to sign it. angering u.s. policy makers. the secretary of state john kerry alluded to this in a statement about his inauguration. >> reporter: hamid karzai is history in the obama administration's eyes. officials say there's a lot of hard work ahead to help. ashraf ghani government improve the military and security. experts say the u.s.'s challenge will be to prevent afghanistan from turning into another iraq where i.s.i.l. fighters chased off the army, claiming large parts of the country. >> if it holds together, even though a lot of people are higher than needed to be,

nonetheless it will be a partial success in the global struggle against terrorism. given where afghanistan was when we began, how far from n.a.t.o. it is, how many other challenges are present. it will be remarkable for all the countries in the coalition and afghan partners. >> a step closer to ending all of the military operations in afghanistan. >> let's talk to kate clark, the country director for the afghanistan analyst network, joining us live from kabul. this is what president hamid karzai refused to sign, increasing tensions with washington. president ashraf ghani endorsed the pact a day after taking office. why the political change of heart? >> it's not a political change of heart at all. both president ashraf ghani, as we have to call him, and his rival, c.e.o., dr abdullah

abdullah said that they would sign the bsa as soon as they took office. to be honest, apart from hamid karzai, and a few people around him, i would say that most of the political elite here support signing the bsa, and support continuing military help from america and from n.a.t.o. because if the bsa with america was not signed, n.a.t.o. would not be supporting the afghan state and security forces. if raises a question - can 10,000 american troops cover the whole country, effectively? no, they can't, and they are not intended to. the war moved on. this is an afghan versus afghan fight. you have got the afghan national security forces pitted against the taliban. n.a.t.o. and the american forces have largely withdrawn. those that are still fighting -

it's almost entirely in support of the afghan security forces, and that will end by the end of the year. the american military says less than 1% of operations are unilateral, to do with false protection, getting rid of i.e.d.s, and withdrawal. this war has changed. the 10,000 american troops will be supporting the afghan forces, with a few social forces who will be engaged in pursuit of al qaeda. so very specifically an anti-ray allen operation, not anti-taliban. >> we know that hamid karzai refused to sign the deal until a peace process was underway with the taliban, if the taliban is not included, doesn't it mean security will be a problem in the country? >> well, we'll see. it takes both sides to do a

peace deal. so far the taliban said that they weren't interested until the americans leave. and we had a big signature attack here in kabul as the in august ration went ahead. at the moment they are not playing soft with the new government. at the same time, during the second round of the election, in certain places, the taliban did not stand against the electorate and this was in places where they are very strong, they are in control, but people wanted to vote. particularly places where there were tribal agreements to get the vote out, local commanders couldn't stand in the way. there was a sense in which individual taliban at least were not fighting against this transition. and they were very upset, particularly with the first round, with the high turn out figures. since then we have had a horrible dispute of the election that has gone on for months.

so the taliban have been emboldened by that. there has been hard fighting this summer. we'll see how they want to deal with the new government. we'll see how the government wants to deal with them. that's not quite clear yet. >> kate clark in kabul, thank you. still ahead on the prime... >> hamas is i.s.i.s., and i.s.i.s. is hamas. israel's president said i.s.i.l. and hamas share the same dream of world domination.

welcome back, a reminder of the top stories from al jazeera. fighters from the islamic state of iraq and levant are said to be within 2km of kobani, a strategic town on the border with turkey. mortar shells fired on the border killed deli. a security pact between afghanistan and the u.s. which will see some troops stay in the country. president ashraf ghani agreed to the deal after outgoing president hamid karzai refused to store it. beijing says it will not give in demand for full democracy, and called for the sit-ins to end. protest ants in the hong kong ape dopted the um -- adopted the umbrella as a call for democracy. it's not just a symbol. >> if someone wrote a survival

guide to the protests in hong kong, it would list the umbrella as a basic necessity. they are good for protesting in the rain, the sun, and shielding against the police projectiles. maybe that is why the umbrella is the symbol of the pro-democracy in hong kong. >> supporters donated hundreds of replacements at the special distribution places. it's ironic that most of the umbrellas are made in china, which backed against a crackdown and warned against a dissent. >> i was here, we were here. we are using umbrellas to protect ourselves. >> reporter: there has been acts of violence leaving some police officers injured. >> we condemn the violence acts of some protesters. >> reporter: the umbrella is a clear of unarmed resistance, with a history.

it featured in latvia's revolution in 2007. the name caught on, for the month of november, during which the uprising took place, it rained and snowed in its capital, leading to the overthrow of latvia's prime minister. protesters in hong kong can take comfort in that parasol parabell, as they face a long road ahoed to what they say is -- ahead to what they say is real democracy. >> israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu compares his country's bombing of gaza to the u.s.-led air strikes in iraq and syria, saying hamas and i.s.i.l. are seeking world dom nation, from new york, james bays reports. >> reporter: the israeli leaders' arguments were not new, but they were forcefully delivered, focused on the brutality of i.s.i.l., making a link with his own opponents. i.s.i.s. and hamas are branches

of the same poisonous tree. hamas is i.s.i.s., and i.s.i.s. is hamas. and what they share in common all militant islamists share in common. >> after a war in gaza, in which over 2,000 palestinians were killed, he attacked allegations that is yale used excessive force. >> these libelous charges that israel was targetting civilians, we were not. >> binyamin netanyahu made it to the top of israeli politics, in part because of his performance skills to this year's general assembly he brought props. this, he said, was a photograph of children next to a rocket launcher in gaza, and he brought people. the applause in the chamber was not coming from other delegations, but his team and invited guests. earlier this year the u.s. brokered peace talks between israelis and the palestinians,

now,ar the war in gaza, that's shaky truce, not even a proper ceasefire agreement. >> as prime minister binyamin netanyahu left the u.n., the peace process looks as if it stalled for the foreseeable future. the palestinian ambassador to the united nations, mansour, says binyamin netanyahu is trying to discredit the newly form government. >> the prime minister and his government have been using a similar line for the past few months, since we succeeded in establishing national unity and the national consensus government. he is continuing with the effort of trying, you know, to destroy the national consensus government to provide us, to keep us weaker, so we cannot get closer to the active of ending

the occupation, and to succeed on the independence of the state of palestine. he came to the general assembly, used, you know, a bunch of lies trying to convince the distinguished documents and the leaders in the chamber that, you know, that the problem in the middle east is not usings, but it is, you know, the people in the gaza strip defending themselves and being exposed to the heinous crime committed against the people, especially the civilians, the chin, the woman, and the massive devastation to the gaza strip, leading to the displacement of 5,000 people and the massive destruction of tens of thousands of homes, properties, schools, churches, mosque and so on and so forth. i don't think that he succeeded in convincing anyone.

finally to india to meet an artist who is creating his best work at the ripe old age of 89. he has created hundreds of sculptures for close to a century, as part of our series. we have his story. >> reporter: they are a monument to his work. political and historical figures line the outside of his studio. inside he continues to work tirelessly. from political figures, such as india's first prime minister, to historical ones such as benjamin franklin, soutar's work is in demand. the son of a carpenter from a poor family, his art career began as a schoolboy. >> he ask me, he give me and ask me to design, and it was

selected. >> reporter: that led to a request for another gandhi statue and another. he became famous for this gandhi sculpture, which is at india's parliament. >> people like it. i like it. we have to understand gandhi, what he was, what he wanted. by the statue maybe we'll get inspired. he worked for the peace of the world. i liked his thinking, and i started thinking i wanted to make a big sculpture on this subject. >> now he is doing just that. >> this is the largest sitting gannedi statue made, said to be -- gandhi statue made, placed in front of the assembly. statues like this have made soutar famous. now, he feels his legacy is

incomplete. >> 16 of his statues are in parliament. others in every state in india, and dozens of cities worldwide. soutar regrets not having created a modern art sculpture on a large scale. >> i wish to have big as possible modern art. i got designs. >> that regret hasn't dampened his passion, say those that work with soutar, including his son. >> i have been here since on early age. he has been a creative person, and a very spirited person, and jolly and enjoying his work. so i think that is one of the reasons why he has been so active. >> reporter: the senior soutar has no plans to retire. >> still i go on. >> reporter: even at 89, the desire to create keeps him

going. let's give you a quick reminder, you can keep up to gait with the news on the website. there is the address - aljazeera.com. complz >> one country, two systems? china, hong kong, it's "inside story." hello, i'm ray soares, since 1997, when the british left their crown colony and returned