>> exchange of fire on the israeli lebanon border. a u.n. piece keeper is killed. hello, i'm darren jordan you are watching al jazeera live from doha. and jordan says it will release a woman who has been on death row, if isil releases a pilot. and greece's new cabinet holds its first meeting. ♪

welcome to the program. the u.n. says a peace keeper was killed in southern lebanon. hashem has the latest. >> reporter: this is moments after an anti tank missile hit an israeli military vehicle in the disputed region near the border with syria and lebanon. israel deployed sold ers in the area, and fired rockets into lebanon. the armed group hezbollah which is based in lebanon has claimed responsibility for the attack. it says it is an response to an israeli attack last week against its fighters in syria. israeli prime minister benjamin netenyahu has warned of a swift and painful retaliation. >> translator: the idf is

responding to events in the north. to everyone who is trying to challenge us at the northern border, i advise them to consider what happened there not far from the city of [ inaudible ] hamas took its hardest hit since its formation and the idf is prepared to act strongly on all fronts. last wooek, israeli attacks against hezbollah happened in a syrian city. that's where high ranking iranian military commander and six hezbollah fighters were killed among them was the son of a senior hezbollah founder who was killed in damascus in 2008. iran and hezbollah had vowed revenge against israel. the latest escalation on the lebanese syrian and israeli border brings to memory the 2006

war between hezbollah and israel. that conflict killed hundreds of people and destroyed large parts of southern lebanon. we're joined now from west jerusalem. it's still a confusing picture in terms of israeli casualties what more have you been hearing there? >> reporter: darren we have just been able to confirm with the army some new information. the army is telling us that there were casualties. however, it is not giving a number and it's not specifying whether there were soldiers or civilians who were killed or injured in the attack, but for now we're getting a confirmation from the army that there have been casualties as a result of this attack which was an anti tank missile fired from lebanon at an israeli army vehicle this morning. now we are also hearing reports

that the united nations peace-keeping force along the border between lebanon and israel is urging maximum restraint from all parties. and we're also hearing from some sources and -- and several reports that we're reading that for the past hour at least, the exchange of fire along the israeli lebanese border has stopped. as you know israel immediately responded with artillery fire and shells into a lebanese territory and continued to do so since we first heard about the attack, but what we're hearing right now is for the last hour at least, this fire this exchange of fire has for now stopped. >> yeah i mean is this going to be left as a very serious border incident, or are there calls for its to be widened out in terms of a bigger confrontation? >> reporter: well that's the delima right now, i think, especially for the israeli

government which is trying to study, how exactly to respond, how harshly to respond. we know prime minister netenyahu is in a meeting right now in tel-aviv with his top security officials. we are also hearing some analysis out there, suggesting that a hezbollah target was cleared. they targeted an army vehicle, not civilians, so maybe hezbollah is also sending a message that really we're not looking for an open-ended escalation but rather to retail late to the attack which was blamed on israel six days ago which killed six hezbollah operatives and an iranian general. we are approaching elections on march 27th, and having a long exchange of violence between israel and lebanon and syria may affect the outcome of the election -- or the leadup to the

election. right now netenyahu is hoping to be the next prime minister again, and it hasn't been too long ago since israel came out of a 54-day long war with hamas in the gaza strip which lead to a high death toll compared to other wars israel has entered in the past with hezbollah in lebanon and hamas in gaza. so the feeling is that israel may respond in a way that contains the situation and prevents it from descending into further violence and possibly a war with hezbollah. >> thank you. let's cross over to nicole johnston now in southwest lebanon. tell us where you are, and how tense things are near the border. >> reporter: just beyond us you can see about 20 kilometers away you'll start to see the

beginning of the area it's not behind the first hill or the second hill but further beyond is where it begins. it's about 11 kilometers long. our cameraman is going to follow how it moves towards the south. just in front of me is one of the villages. as you heard from my colleague, those sorts of areas were receiving artillery fire from the israeli side. it has been very tense there. there has also been retaliateory action. we're told that the actual attack took place in the southern part of the area. our cameraman is pointing towards that area. as you go further south you reach israel's golan heights

area. i would say it's calm but still relatively tense. >> do these sorts of thing happening frequently on the border? >> reporter: this has been a tense border for a long time. but there hasn't been an attack of this scale for a very long time. the last time they had a smaller attack was in october, two israeli soldiers were injured in that attack but certainly, while we haven't had confirmation of the number of dead or injured on the israeli side it seems to have been a very strong hard attack by hezbollah. some of the hezbollah media is saying that nine vehicles were hit. they are reporting that there were a lot of dead and injured. but we haven't had that confirmed yet. but, yes, it is a tense border area and these things happen from time to time. it is one of the main places where hezbollah carries out attacks against israel.

>> all right. nicole thank you. jordan says it will release a woman it is holding on death road for an attempted suicide attack if isil releases a jordan pilot. let's go to the jordanian capitol. this is turning out to be quite a complex trade with many different layers. talk us through the latest details you have been hearing there in the jordanian capitol. >> the jordanian government has made its position very clear today. they are willing to release the prisoner in return for the release of the jordanian pilot. there was no mention of the japanese hostage who isil says they want the release of in turn for releasing the japanese host

hostage. however, they said if she was not released they would kill kill -- pilot as well. so they are in a tricky situation. now they are being demanded to release her in exchange for a japanese hostage not the jordanian pilot. >> it's the jordanians who really have the power to be able to negotiate with isil. how much pressure has the government been under to secure some kind of deal to get this pilot released? >> well the government is under a lot of pressure. there's pressure from the family and the tribe of this pilot. they come from the southern part of jordan. they are a very strong very big tribe, and they have been putting a lot of pressure on the government to do whatever it can in order to secure his release,

whatever they say. on the other hand they are voicing concerns that why is our pilot there? why was he -- what was he doing, part of the coalition forces targeting isil targets? they say this is not our war. this is their line. this is not our war. jordan should not have joined the coalition. and that is more pressure on the government on jordan's role in the coalition against isil. they feel it will only drag them further into the conflict. and the fact that jordan is being blackmailed into giving concessions is another sign that this puts it in a weaker position and doesn't strengthen the country. >> thank you. lots more still to come here on the government. mexico's government says all 43 students who went missing last september are dead.

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primetime news. >> welcome to al jazeera america. >> stories that impact the world, affect the nation and touch your life. >> i'm back. i'm not going anywhere this time. >> only on al jazeera america. ♪ welcome back. let's update you now on your top developing stories. a u.n. peace keeper has been killed in southern lebanon. after an attack on an israeli army convoy near the lebanese border. hezbollah has claimed responsibility and says it is in retaliation for an air strike

that kills some of its members earlier this month. now syrian kurds displaced in turkey are celebrating after learning that kurdish forces recaptured the town of kobani. but they are not being allowed to cross back into kobani because the security situation is still too dangerous for them to return. >> reporter: carefully stepping outside, watched on by those who fought for their freedom. with kurdish forces now in control, it's hoped life will return to the streets of kobani. but for the tens of thousands who fled the fighting and hope to return the road ahead is long. homes reduced to rubble entire blocks redestroyed. officials sayyaf four months of battle at least half of the

city is gone. syrian refugees in turkey getting home isn't easy. thousands came to the border on tuesday, some hoping to cross, but as the border is still officially closed turkish security forces pushed the group back. those in the turkish town say they still have reason to celebrate. >> translator: many people from our nation and all of the cities of turkey have come here. we are celebrating. they have a good outcome. we are come here for our oh kobani. kobani is liberated now, and we are extremely happy. >> translator: kobani is fully liberated today. we are extremely happy and celebrating here. we feel joyful about kobani since i.s. has left. >> reporter: taking control was a joint effort with u.s.-lead air strikes, iraqi and syrian kurdish fighters and diplomatic

maneuvering which saw turkey agree to let the peshmerga through. but it has fighters in hundreds of towns arrange kobani and has proved the damage it can do. and -- >> reporter: kurdish forces are in control of kobani town but the fight is still ongoing to the south and the southeast of the town. that's where isil fighters are believed to have retreated too in the small villages surrounding kobani. there are about 300 of them. they are tiny. but the kurds have to go in one by one and clear them. so far they say they have cleared four of those villages so the job ahead is still long. the challenge here that they need to create a buffer zone or corridor around kobani town to make it safe for civilians to come back. at the moment the border is

still closed. kurdish forces are saying it's way too early for civilians to come back. there's not much for them to come back to. as more than half of the city is believed to be completely destroyed and the situation is still volatile. air strikes have been ongoing. there have been several overnight. and we have been hearing jets over head in the sky for several hours now. we also heard very loud explosions throughout the morning. we are presuming that some could have been air strikes even though from our vantage point we can see what is going on. but we do know from kurdish forces that the fight is still ongoing on the outskirts of kobani town. the fight against isil is far from over. for the group getting from syria into iraq is vital, and the battle to protect supply lines is as intense as ever. the main route stretches from

raka to mosul. they are trying to cut off supplies to mosul. from the north of iraq zana hoda reports. >> reporter: this is the only way we can approach, sinjar city. it is controlled by the islamic state of iraq and the levant. sniper fire is almost constant. isil's main supply line that links its strong holds in syria and northwestern iraq running through the outskirts of this city. the fight for sinjar city is now in its second month. it is a vast area some 100,000 people used to live here. but even before the fight is over a new battle has already started. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: iraqi kurdish peshmerga troops are not facing

isil alone. their brethren came from across the border to help fight a common enemy. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: the pyz a syrian kurdish party linked to the worker's party or the pkk. the iraqi kurdish leadership which has had a long history of rivalry accuse them of wanting to impose their authority in sin sinjar >> translator: it seems the pkk has a plan. sinjar belongs to the iraqi kurdistan regional government. >> reporter: we went to a pkk base. suspicions between the kurdish parties run dope -- deep. >> translator: we never talked about creating our own enclave

here, but sinjar will belong to the kurdish stan regional government or the bagdad government. >> reporter: the yazidis remain camped in the area. they too are an armed force. some praise the peshmerga for defending sinjar. others blame them for allowing the area to fall to isil in august. but most are now demanding autonomy. >> translator: we won't accept any force here. >> reporter: isil has been pushed out of many of the yazidis villages on the outskirts of sinjar land long disputed by the kurds and central government in bagdad. that is still the case but now there are more players vying for control here. greece's new finance minister has already been outlining his vision for the economy.

during his first press conference he made several proposals, and reassured his european counterparts. >> translator: there's no collision coarse between us and europe and there will be no threats. on friday myself and the president of the euro group will get to work on a framework to stop the economic de -- de -- deconstruction of europe. moscow says it is setting up a so-called bad bank that would buy bad loans from struggling banks. the move comes after the e.u. says it is extending sanctions on russia over actions in ukraine. >> reporter: external shocks is what the finance minister has called those two burdens, the falling oil price and the western sanctions. they have hit the russian

economy, he says to the tune of $200 billion. so russia is essentially having to come up with some sort of plan to deal with this. and what the government has been announcing is 10% budgetary cuts, across most ministries not defense, interestly enough. that will happen in 2015 and then in 2016, 17 and 18 there will be further cuts. and add on top of that the cuts that were made in 2014 and you can see the russian government is seriously curtailing its funding. it needs an anti crisis fund with which it can tackle the growing problems of banking crisis and state companies, other businesses coming to the government and saying we need assistance. we need help. we can't get money on the

international market anymore. and we have essentially run out. that's what the government needs cash for. if it doesn't do that then it is going to run into a bigger problem of companies going under, banks going bust hundreds of thousands of people unemployed and that's a crisis it doesn't want. amnesty international says nigeria's go repeatedly ignored warnings of boko haram attacks in the northeast. it says the top brass of the nigerian army were given advanced warning about the attack but did nothing. the philippinian president has addressed the nation in the wake of a deadly police fight. the president is under pressure to maintain a peace deal with the rebel fighters. mexico's attorney general has for the first time declared

that all 43 students who went missing in september are dead. the government says they were killed by a gang who mistook them for rival criminals. but many people still don't believe that account. adam raney reports. >> reporter: mexico's attorney general says there is no doubt what happened to the 43 students. >> translator: the evidence allows us to determine that the students were kidnapped, killed burnt and dumped in a river. >> reporter: this man says gang bosses called him to dispose of the students on the night of september 26th. the conference was completed with slick videos of reenactment. but it is unlikely to convince a skeptical country. so far forensic experts have

only identified the remains of one of the students. fire experts and parents say there's no way 43 people were burned by a few gang members at this dump. >> translator: we don't believe it. yesterday they saw many people marching in the street so they want to close the case. >> reporter: the conference came after the president gave a speech in which he said mexico could no longer be held back by that awful crime. >> translator: there needs to be punishment for those responsible for these unfortunate events but we need to take the part in the direction of continuing to move forward continue to sure that in mexico the best is still to come. >> reporter: the truth is many mexicans don't want to move forward. many believe that federal police and the army participated in the attack. if anything mexicans say they want a fuller accounting of what happened that night. he didn't say case closed but

the attorney general did make clear he was convinced he had all of the necessary facts to prosecute the case. in the coming days that certainly will surely be called into question by a skeptical public. afghanistan's parliament has rejected most of the president's cabinet nominees. afghanistan has been without a government since ghani and abdullah abdullah agreed to share power. it has been 25 years since east german officers tomorrowed the secret service in berlin. neave barker has more from berlin. >> reporter: on an anonymous street a facade conceals the former headquarterers of east germany's feared secret police. on its upper floors preserved

in its original condition, is the intersanctum of state repegs presentation. >> all of that dribble about no execution and no death sentence. nonsense execute, and with necessary without a court verdict. >> reporter: from his desk he ordered a ruthless clamp down on decent. these are the faces of those conscripted often against their will into spying on their neighbors and friends. this is the southeast surveillance training video, with instructions on how to gather evidence and make an arrest. behind each one of these doors is an interrogation chamber. the entire system was given over to one thing, making the prisoner confess. later they perfected the art of

something called operative psychology. >> translator: they found out in their own secret service university that to get more information not from beating people but by fooling them into thinking they would be treated better. >> reporter: gilbert was arrested and jailed for producing subversive material. he faced repeated interrogation. >> translator: when i was impri sonned here, i put my emotions on hold. i was afraid if they could reach deep inside me then i would be at their mercy. >> reporter: 25 years ago, a few weeks after the collapse of the berlin wall east germans stormed the headquarters. today the new museum gives access to all, and to the thousands of secret files. a museum but also a memorial to

darker times. neave barker al jazeera, berlin. and a reminder you can keep up to date with all of the news on our website, there it is on your screen new and improved aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com. people were found a month ago. the bodies were dumped in a mass grave just below this house. those who were killed are believed to have been held here after they were kidnapped. only a few of the bodies have been identified.