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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> and trying to make a difference in war torn iraq by bringing the symphony to the people. hello, we begin in yemen where the u.n. mediator jamal ben omar, says that the rival factions have agreed on a transitional people's group. after the houthis officially seized power earlier this month. that happened on february the 4th. we'll have more on the story out of yemen in just a few minutes right here on al jazeera. meanwhile, we'll move on to other news.

u.s. military commanders are preparing to retake the city of mosul from i.s.i.l. that operation involving 25,000 troops is being planned to start in april or may. i.s.i.l. captured second largest city in june. pent gone has described mosul as a pivotal town to capture. >> the big question, are they ready? since last september, u.s. military advisors have been working with the iraqi military to try oexpand their capacity and to basically make them willing to stay in the fight. the targeting of mosul which is currently being controlled by i.s.i.l. fighters could be a very decisive fight. and of course then the next question would be: would u.s.

troops be needed to help the iraqi military? the u.s. president has long said he doesn't want to send ground troops back into to iraq but if that's the only way the iraqi military would succeed they would make that recommendation. it is still too early to tell, given the poshes to the iraqi government and to -- the importance to the iraqi government and to i.s.i.l. fighters. >> apparently showing u.s. and coalition air strikes on i.s.i.l. in iraq, take a look at this video showing a strike on sunday near the area of el hapbdmae and it will a group in annanbar province iraqi forces swept in june of last year.

we're taking you back to the yemen story because just a moment ago we are telling you that news the u.n. mediator jamal ben omar, saying the rival factions have agreed on a people's council. editor in chief of yemen post what do you know of this hakim? >> the parties have not talked about this or announced about this deal. the issue of this deal is that the current parliament will remain and they will provide a forum called the transitional parliament, both will go together and form the transitional national council. this council will be in charge to lead the country for the next two years. these represent in this council

30% for women and 20% for youth. but again details of the distribution of these seats have not been agreed on. so this deal is an initial deal and very far from a final deal, which the details have not even been discussed yet. >> so, would you know which parties exactly then have signed up to this deal? have they all come on board? >> as of last night three hours before the deal was announced three political parties announced that they would not sign. this includes the islam party the announcement party and the rashrhr party. we have not had enough time to contact these parties and see whether they signed or not. so as of now unless these political parties announce their stand it's only the u.n. envoy

talking and i'm pretty sure he wants a deal to happen in yemen but we want to make sure this agreement is on the ground effective and not just a piece of paper. >> is this a step in the right direction for the country? >> yes for sure. if not -- this shows that yemen does not want a full war. just for the idea that factions are meeting in closed doors and negotiating, it shows a lot that yes, there is militants in yemen but also, yes people do not want a full war and want to avoid a collapsed state of yemen. this is effort but again more effort needs to be taken place that these efforts do not go in vain. >> thank you had akeem. agreement to train moderate

syrian rebels against i.s.i.l. the u.s. is saying that the goal is to go after i.s.i.l. turkey suggests the rebels could also target the syrian government of presidents bashar al-assad. meanwhile, syria's information minister is saying that the success of the u.n. bid for peace in aleppo, said he was referring to saudi arabia, qatar, turkey and jordan which he says have all offered support to rebels fighting the assad government. this week the u.n. envoy said damascus was willing to temporarily suspend shelling in aleppo so a ceasefire can be tested. the one in eastern ukraine continues to be broken. more fighting around the town of

debaltseve. and kiev, the protesters are remembering the dead a year later. more than 100 were killed when snipers fired on protesters. turning its back on the european union and favoring russia. president petro poroshenko have called on peace keepers to help the ceasefire in eastern ukraine. >> with the support of the russian army militants virtually wiped out debaltseve from the surface of the earth and now deebilitiesdeebilities remindsdebaltseve reminds me of the moon scape. >> debaltseve was seized by produce separatists on wednesday. paul brennan reports.

>> these are the russian cossack soldiers who are claiming i have victory in the battle of debaltseve. many are flying the russian flag. their open allegiance is taunting. hello to russia, poroshenko. street by street, combat continued here for four days after the supposed ceasefire deal. small numbers of ukrainian soldiers are still thought to be holed up stranded inside the town. the dead lie where they fell. on the approach-road to debaltseve that town called chanukacross, the debris of a struggle, casualties on both sides here. here is a burned out ukrainian tank absolutely blackened by the intensity of the fire and the

fighting. there are more vehicles here, a further tank on the other side, two bodies are still lying in the open over behind the cameras as well. a fighter from the city of vladivostok described the final assault. >> the battle ended the day before yesterday the ukrainians were running out of ammunition, they were shooting with rhythms after that they retreated. >> reporter: ukraine's government said the retreat from debaltseve was organized but the soldiers who were there tell of a different story. racing over open fields, constantly under fair from separatist tanks and mortar. now, the captured debaltseve may not be the limit of the separatists ambitions. turning to the south of the area. >> in the area of mariupul, the

situation success monitored how servicemen in the area of sherakin those are being prepared for a possible offensive. >> on thursday ukraine's national security council asked for a peace keeping force. there is no guarantee that the request will be granted but they are fast running out of options. paul brennan, al jazeera. >> a major critic of venezuela's president has been arrested and accused of being involved in a coup attempt. antonio ledesma the mayor, adam rainey reports. >> this is the moment when the mayor of caracas a leading opposition figure was led away by security forces. the insignia is seen on some of

the vests. aids to the mayor said the men did not identify themselves or give any reason for arresting mayor ledesma. hours later hundreds had gathered outside the agency's headquarters in the capital demanding the mayor's release. his wife talked to al jazeera. >> translator: i hold president nicholas maduro personally responsible for my husband's safety. >> plotting to topple the socialist government last week. >> translator: antonio ledesma was captured under the order of the prosecutor's office to be investigated for the peace of the country and the security of the constitution. >> reporter: maduro said the plotters had the backing of the u.s. government.

many often sites plots to overthrow it without citing concrete evidence. massive food shortages and spiraling inflation. one of the country's main opposition leaders leopold orvetion lopez has spentolopez. has served years in jail. >> after the break, instead of celebrating chinese new year they're rubbing for their lives. we'll have the latest from myanmar.

>> the new al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrapup of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global

perspective on the news. weeknights, on al jazeera america . >> hello again, the top stories on al jazeera. newly released video from the u.s. central command apparently shows u.s. and coalition air strikes on areas controlled by i.s.i.l. in iraq. meanwhile, a centcome official saycentcom officialsays the operation to retake mosul will involve 25,000 troops and expected to start in april. rival political factions in yemen have agreed on a people's transitional council. helping guide the country out of its political crisis. after houthis performed a coup

earlier this month. involved in a coup attempt the layer of caracas antonio ledesma, was detained on the first anniversary of the start of antigovernment demonstrations. myanmar's chinese ethnic minority, a group says it represents the will of the people, many refugees are fleeing to hunan province. veronica ped rosa pedrosa reports. >> either trapped between fighting an ethnic rebel army and the myanmar army or fleeing for their lives. now that martial law has been

declared ending what they see as a threat to national sovereignty. >> we saw two helicopters and airplanes shooting. it was really loud. we ran away. we were so afraid. >> reporter: the new battle between the ethnic myanmar national democratic alliance army and the tapmar as the myanmar army is known is june with us of many between the central government and ethnic minorities. the military dominated government in napador the reality on the ground does not match the peace rhetoric. >> we have a ceasefire with the government through january 28th but this has been violated by the burmese army about 400 400 times. in 2014 alone to november there

has been 102 incidents. >> what can this mean for other areas? >> it can happen in any ethnic area given the fact the tamador has indicated their presence anywhere. >> the prolonged fighting between the ethnic minority armies and the government have meant that hundreds of thousands of people have left the country not just china but also here in thailand. there are possible political implication too. a test of the true depth of reform in myanmar. veronica pedrosa, al jazeera

myanmar. conflict mediation organization joining us from yangon, adam this latest battle we're seeing in that part of meenmyanmar is one in decades of conflict. how much further do you think this is going to escalate? >> well i think situation is very worrying. we have seen great humanitarian impact up to 30,000 civilians leave so far. we have seen a red cross convoy come under attack. so this is the most serious fighting we have seen in the past few years. these go back to the independence fight inin 1948. for more independence from the center of the country. this is a unique situation here at the moment. by way of background in 2009 an attack from the myanmar military

displaced the kokan group. the latest attack is to recapture that territory. this has been used as a base of many illicit activities, there are no immediate prospects that that will decline. what is likely over the coming weeks is we'll see fighting continue. >> what does all of this mean for the government's efforts to forge peace agreements with other ethnic groups? >> exactly. there's been a real effort over the past three years to reach agreements with different ethnic groups. ceasefires, agreed with almost all of them though in some cases they have been violated. efforts have centered on a nationwide ceasefire agreement. over seven rounds of negotiation is in the past year, getting closer and closer to an agreement which they haven't

reached yet but they are on the brink of doing so. so the real concern at the moment is how this fighting in kokang will impact on that process. there is a real worry of those in the area here, that they will derail those plans great effort to keep those negotiations on track. the question is whether they will be successful. >> what needs to be done exactly to put an end to the fighting in kokang any escalation that you speak of? judge when yeah, i think real difficulty at the moment is this situation is being played out militarily on the ground and not through local negotiations. we've seen the myanmar military lose perhaps 50 soldiers over the past ten days. they'll i think be seeking retaliation for those losses and from their point of view, this is a warlord who's trying to capture area that had belonged

to the myanmar government. and so they're going to strongly risstronglystronglyresist this incursion and so while dialogue may help to defuse the situation that is unlikely to take place. >> adam cooper there reporting. what may be a deal breaker for its crumbling economy chem germany has already turned down greece's offer and extension of their loan for six months while it renegotiates it. john siropolous reports.

>> alexis tsipras sounded as defiant as possible. he effectively told his european partners what stance greece would take in the talks. >> grease is fighting today for its national sovereignty. >> grease spent the day in a war of words with hard-liner germany which is worried about tsipras's left wing spending practices. >> the greek proposal is the first step but we have to say that this offer isn't sufficient because it's lacking concrete measures that need to be taken in grease. one thing is not acceptable, we can't ease things in greece and have german and french taxpayers pay for it. this hasn't been talked about at all. >> the sticking point is it doesn't want to see the next six months ever continuation of austerity policies that it wants

to renegotiates. that is the heart of its demand. >> it says the time has come for those who want a solution to show themselves. friday's euro group has two choices, to accept the greek proposal or reject it. >> the prime minister is proceeding in this way because he's very smart and has a sense of direction. he reached this point with courage and expectations and all the people support him. >> reporter: but they elected tsipras to keep greece in the euro zone not to tumble out of it. >> it's knot mattering that i'm with or not with this settlement what matters is that we are in the euro zone. >> greece wants to repay its debt but cannot. it needs $25 billion this year

alone. it can only convince the creditors to the truce. john siropolous, athens. reunited with their families in nigeria's yobi state. they were kidnapped at the beginning of the year. one of the release captives say they were let go after refusing to follow boko haram rules. >> translator: we told them that we could not worship the way we wanted them to. they told us if we couldn't follow their ways we should go back and follow the green and white flag. we told them yes. >> goodluck jonathan has promised to defeat the group. his government is working to improve the capacity of the military forces.

with help from neighboring countries. iraq is beset by infighting and war the with i.s.i.l. but music in the country does stretch back to the so-called cradle of civilization in mesopotamia. entertain iraqis wherever he can. jane arraf has this report from baghdad. >> reporter: unexpected things happen when conductor kareem westphi conducts. after he died he kept the recorder and taught himself to play, to keep his friend's spirit alive. the wood is cracked but the music is as moving as ever.

there are decades of memories wrapped up in these songs. those that have forgotten us. she tells us later she hasn't seen her daughter in seven years years. amateur musician. >> he used to play the udin violin. when we lived under the economic sanctions in the 1990s we had to sell it. >> normally aplays much grander venues. hadhe's the co-director of the iraq symphony orchestra. he could live anywhere, but he wants to make a difference. the ude the guitar. once he founded a music school but he's found most effective way to spread the love of music is to go out and play.

>> i head to these places almost every other day of the week. between hospitals streets of baghdad, churches, book market, fish market, whatever is possible to create this exposure. >> across town he has turned a little used community affairs building into a center for murvegmusicclasses for young people. they're still learning the basics here but many of the lessons are outside the classroom. a lot of these people have only ever known war. music gives them an escape and a realization that life could have other possibilities. it's brought this community center back to life as well. ♪ ♪ in a spare room the part time musicians figure out what they're going to play. they give lessons to any of the kids that want them. they all have day jobs but they

are trying to give back. they all hope instead of playing with guns, more kids will play with guitars. jane arraf, al jazeera baghdad. >> you can always keep up to date with all the day's news by going to the website aljazeera.com. concrete data that officers were profiling blacks. >> takes your breath away. >> it is limited the san carlos apache reservation, sacred land, a place to be protected from the top of the s