♪ new allegations of war crimes against civilians in syria as talks get underway to try to stop the killings. ♪ you are watching al jazeera, i'm jane live from hour headquarters in doha also coming up, the fight in yemen's oil rich region will meet a tribal leader who paid a high personal cost battling rebel forces. protests continue in burundi as the constitutional court allows the president to run for a third term. plus. i'm andrew thomas in brisbon

and how the venum from seiters like these could lead to a whole new generation of pain relievers. ♪ war crimes being committed against civilians in syria on a daily basis in the country's second city according to a leading rights group, amnesty condemned the government's reliance on barrel bombs against rebel-held neighborhoods in aleppo and says the devices killed more than 3,000 civilians in aleppo last year alone. rebel groups are also criticized for using imprecise weapons like mortars that killed 600 civilians in the city in 2014. and comes as u.n. backed talks on negotiations to end the conflict in syria get underway in geneva the u.n. envoy staffan de mistura will meet with the government and rebel representatives as well as with regional players including iran.

>> we must redouble efforts in search of a political process. the view is shared by the wider international community. russia hopefully refocus the attention on the political track earlier this year through moscow one and moscow two. there was also a youthful meeting in cairo. and last week the security council fully expressed to me unanimously, that another attempt to politically try to resolve the conflict should be made even if even if odds of success are indeed lost. the only way is to test the willingness of the parties to narrow the gaps and if they are ready. >> reporter: let's go live to paul brennan who is in geneva in the last hour i spoke to opposition and paul they said they have no idea of what the

plans are, expectations seem to be very low. >> reporter: you know i think i agree with you, jane. and i think staffan de mistura hasn't got a plan frankly at this stage. his plan is to listen. his plan is to spend the next couple months pulling everybody who are parties to this conflict one by one, into a room and actually listen to them to find out what the main grievance is and what the main negotiating points are. he is saying these are one to one low-key consultation and saying this is not some kind of geneva three but said geneva three might result from work he is under taking from today and he is pains at saying and you heard it in the clip we played and accepts the possibility of success may be low but despite the odds being against him he has a duty to try, he and his team. he said the deaths that are taking place and exodus and

refugees means he really has no options, u.n. has no option but to try to find some way of ending the conflict that torn the country apart and intends to take the next couple of months with an arbitrary deadline at the end of june to try to make it happen and he said if there is some sign of progress possible that it could go on past june if there are -- if there is room for optimism. >> i guess amnesty comes at a good time and plays blame for both sides of committing atrocities against innocent people. >> reporter: he said in the news conference the amnesty report concerns just aleppo when the situation across the whole of syria is of grave concern to him but the aleppo report by amnesty international does focus the attention on the world of the situation that is happening in syria at the moment. i mean the amnesty international research has looked at a period between

january of last year and march of this year and they found more than 3,000 civilians killed by barrel bombs, yet just 35 fighters according to their estimation killed by barrel bombs and the conclusion of amnesty international was civilians in aleppo are suffering and i quote unthinkable atrocities and not just at the hands of government forces and also accusations that have been made against rebel forces, opposition forces who have been bombing and targeting civilian areas. so the urgency with which staffan de mistura and his team have to try to go about finding some kind of progress some kind of compromise from all sides is very urgent indeed. >> thank you for that paul brennan. the french president has arrived in saudi arabia and is in riyadh for a leaders meeting and believed to be the first time a western head of state has been invited to the gathering. now the war in yemen is going to be a major focus of that

meeting. meanwhile saudi arabia says it is speaking with coalition members about a temporary halt on air strikes so humanitarian aid can get in and jets hit airports across the country and capitol sanaa it hit a cargo plane which an airport worker said it was used to transport food and supplies to remote areas and aiden have been hit despite a call from the u.n. for the coalition to hold fire. >> humanitarian coordinator for yemen is strongly urging the coalition to stop targeting sanaa airport and preserve the life sign so humanitarians can reach those afflicted in yemen and ocha reports insecurity and lack of fuel limited access to a delivery of services, partners report difficulty in providing medical services as a result of the current security situation and continued air strikes targeting harad, sada and sanaa and food partners reported they

had to suspend assistance in districts and others because of a lack of fuel. >> reporter: over the past few weeks the people of east of the capitol sanaa have been holding out against houthi fighters and gerald tan has more on the battle there. >> reporter: on patrol with its weapon at the ready, he canvass the land with his men, their aim to keep houthis out. he is an elder defending his home has come at a heavy price. >> translator: four of my sons were killed one was injured, we will fight until the last day to protect our land and our honor and to protect our country. the houthis came to our land, many members of our tribes were killed we fought them so hard and we will fight them to the end. >> reporter: the houthis say that advancing to flush out

al-qaeda linked fighters but people here deny there is any such presence. still with any new territory the houthis and fighters aligned with former president saleh gives them more clout at the negotiating table the men here say they are determined not to let it fall. >> translator: i'm sending my message to the houthis you will not occupy any of our land here. i also send message to the courageous fighters we are here to defend the country and not to be fooled like the houthis have been. >> reporter: intense battles have taken place in resent weeks and yemen main pipeline passes through here. the saudi-led coalition has also carried out multiple air strikes in the area to support tribal fighters on the ground. >> translator: my sons were martyred in a matter of an hour or two. many others were martyred as well and died defending their land their honor and their country. we were attacked.

we had to defend our country. >> reporter: it's been a fight to the death but for he and his men one to keep. gerald tan, al jazeera. protesters in guinea defied a ban on demonstration and fought with security forces in the capitol. at least 20 people were injured. it followed opposition leaders calling for nationwide protests over the timing of local elections and want local polls to be held by the presidential election which is scheduled for october. burundi's constitutional court has cleared the president to run for controversial third term but four of the court's judges have left the country. 11 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in protests since the president's party announced he would run again, the peace deal that ended a 13 year civil war in 2006 says a president can only serve two

terms and malcolm web reports. >> reporter: he says he is terrified by what is written in these letters and say they have been pushed under doors of people in the neighborhood at night by members of the party and he belongs to burundi tutsi minority and it has coffins and graves and say tutsi men, women, boys and girls will be killed if the president does not run for a third term. >> translator: they come at night chanting songs that threaten us saying they will smash anyone who stands in their way. >> reporter: it's because of these threats he says that thousands of people mostly from rural areas have fled to neighboring rwanda and can't go and they say it's because of miss information and people living here said there was a family of seven living in the house and left about two months ago and sold the sheets from the roof of their house for money for the bus fare to take them to

the border and you can see some clothes and possessions they left on the floor. we have spoken to several more people and say they want to leave but still trying to get the money together for the transport. we met the area leader here outside the ruling party's meeting place in a nearby town. he denied of sending the letters or making threats. >> translator: this is a lie. there are no names or signatures on the letters. the opposition may be writing those letters to make us look bad because they fear our popularity. >> reporter: whoever wrote the threatening letters seems to want to create ethnic tension and burundi protest and the political standoff are not along ethnic lines and it was one a houthi rebel group and now it has a small number of tutsis and thousands of houthis in the opposition opposition politician led another of the largest houthi rebel groups in the civil war which was largely fought along ethnic lines and

told us he is against the third term and say he and supporters lives are also in danger and says the president supporters are trying to use ethnicity to gain advantage. >> translator: but what kind of treatment am i enduring from him and his top government. >> reporter: back if the countryside this man is a member of another opposition group. he has been hiding here in a friend's house and now he is leaving in secret and packs a few possessions so he can pass unnoticed. many hope ten years on from the war the ethnic hate speech won't catch on but people feel the targeted violence is very real malcolm in burundi. still ahead on al jazeera. i'm in tunisia with a story of migrants who were rescued off the coast of libya and many of them want to go back and try again, they don't want to stay

here. and protesters take to the streets of the indonesia capitol to ask the president to save the beautiful game. ♪ with sheila macvicar >> compass will challenge the way you look at the world >> a different look at foreign affairs >> talking about big subjects >> first hand... >> telling human stories >> giving you a real look at the world today. desperate, hungry and risking it all... >> these people wanna get as far away as they can >> the migrant crisis sweeping europe, are governments turning their backs on those that need help the most? >> compass with sheila macvicar only on al jazeera america

♪ hello again, the top stories on al jazeera, human backed talks on negotiations to end the conflict in syria are underway in geneva u.n. envoy staffan de mistura will meet government and rebel representatives as well as regional players. saudi arabia is speaking with coalition members about a temporary hold in air strikes so

humanitarian aid can get in neighboring yemen but jets hit several airports across the country including a cargo plane in sanaa. burundi constitutional court has cleared the president to run for a third term. a peace deal that ended a 12-year civil war this 2005 states a president can only serve two terms. his third term led to more than a week of deadly protests. u.s. secretary of state john kerry has made unannounced visit to is a somalia and roslyn jordan has an update from kenya. >> reporter: the first time ever that a u.s. secretary of state has ever visited the country of somalia and john kerry is showing obama support

for the president in the efforts to try to formalize and to legalize the democracy that has been taking shape for the past through years and po wants to show support the presidency ahead of next year's presidential elections and they want to see more encouragement of people on the local level getting involved in the political process. kerry is also meeting with members of civil society and regional political leaders who have their own concerns not just about human rights but also about the ongoing security situation. al-shabab still controls some parts of the country and that is making it difficult for hundreds of thousands of somali refugees inside kenya who want to return home to their nation. however, the u.s. is putting pressure on neighboring kenya to not do anything such as forcibly expel members of the somali refugee community because of its

own fears about al-shabab attacks. the u.s. is trying to make certain that the transition from all refugee status for these hundreds of thousands of somalis inside kenya is one that takes place in an atmosphere that is orderly and that is secure they admit that could take years. israeli army has told al jazeera it investigates all credible complaints regarding the conduct of its soldiers during the war in gaza last year and comments follow release of a report by an israeli ngo accusing soldiers of indiscriminate fire and led to the deaths of innocent civilians and erica wood has more. >> reporter: in just 50 days israel war killed more than 2000 people in the occupied gaza strip. its aim was to cripple hamas but most of the victims were civilians and more than 500 were children. on the israeli side 66 soldiers and 5 civilians died. the air, sea and ground

offensive on gaza destroyed schools, hospitals and crucial infrastructure. leaving damage that will likely take decades to rebuild. the group breaking the silence has collected the anonymous testimony of 60 israeli troops who fought in the war and what they said paints a dark picture of israel actions and apparent disregard to civilian lives. >> translator: we shot at cars at ambulances, doing things i was raised not to do. not to kill the innocent not to shoot innocent ambulance, it's like the wild west out there. and it was all approved by the commanders. i felt there was something morally rotten in this army and authorized to do it because the first rule is not to kill without reason and here i was formally told kill anything in your proximity. >> reporter: another soldier described how decisions were made about what they should target. >> translator: i remember that many times they decide based on

personal opinion alone what target we should hit and would give us almost full autonomy and say i trust you, shoot when needed and mostly machine gunfire and shells as well. >> reporter: the group that gathered the testimonies said it wanted to tell the real story of the war. >> what we are trying to do is enlighten the public to understand what is the moral price of occupation and how our wars look like so that the public would be aware so that the public would manage to understand what is the real story beyond the lives they hear from the government. >> reporter: the palestinians have asked the international criminal court to investigate alleged crimes carried out by israel but israel denied breaching international law and instead accuses hamas of committing its own war crimes. israeli army says it does its best to avoid civilian casualties but it cannot deny the weight of numbers and u.n. says 7 out of every 10 of those killed during the 2014 war were

civilians. erica woods, al jazeera. hundreds of rescued migrants arriving at the sicily port nearly 7,000 migrants have been pulled out of the mediterranean sea over the past few days and number risking their lives to reach the shores arises despite dangers and a british ship is helping with the crisis in coordination with the italian navy. hundreds of migraines also been pulled from the sea by tunisia fishermen and the country coast guard and unlike neighboring libya they prevent people from leaving the shores from europe and from the south we report. >> reporter: they tried to reach europe by boat now they are back where they started, in africa. these people are among almost 500 rescued by tunisia since march. the u.n. is helping those from syria, aratria and somalia

and sheltered in the town here are west africans. and registered as economic migrants. that makes it difficult for them to claim asylum. >> our country is no good. ghanna and i'm from ghanna. and we need help. >> reporter: tunisia is no longer escape route for migrants because borders are securer and coast guard vessels patrol the waters. but tunisia authorities say they are worried that lawlessness and fighting in libya will send more people out to sea. these fishermen are concerned too. they are tying to make a living but often end up rescuing boats in trouble. >> translator: each trip cost $5,000 be we have to stop fishing and return to shore with lost souls. >> reporter: the european union wants to tackle the problem of

migration at source namely in africa. it plans to target the smuggling rings south of here in the saraha desert a controversial idea is to try to persuade transit countries like morocco, egypt and tunisia to help register and process people. tunisia red crescent is reallying and said europe cannot out source the problem. >> translator: it can run but there are limits and high unemployment here and most of these people are not happy to be here and want to be in europe. >> reporter: many here walked through the desert to reach libya. some people this is their second or even third failed attempt at crossing. this is why they keep trying. >> there is big difference in africa and in europe. and the different and when you get to europe everything will be

okay with you. >> reporter: they now have a choice go home with nothing or return to libya. risking their lives and to reach a new continent, i'm with al jazeera, southern tunisia. let's go to riyadh and saudi arabia where the gcc meeting is taking place, the focus being on yemen and the king solomon is speaking. >> translator: all the goals and ambitions of our nations and who was keen to boost and support the activities and works of our gcc to be the umbrella of protecting the region and the stability of the region.

our meeting today is being held within critical circumstances that deserves more efforts in order to keep the gains achieved by our regions and to confront any bad behavior from other parties in order not to stabilize the region and not to increase the sectarian rift in our region. and the coalition have responded quickly to defend the legitimacy in yemen because the houthis have refused a lot of initiatives to avoid a lot of

problems in yemen and not to drag yemen into carriers. as the storm has achieved the goals that has been launched for, we need now to work forward and to be able to implement the gulf initiative and to implement the outcomes of the yemeni dialog and to implement the u.s. security council resolution 2216 in order for yemen to enjoy stability and security. we welcome our -- we welcome the meetings of the yemeni parties in order to bring back stability and the umbrella of the gcc. we are quite keen to extend all the efforts in order for the

humanitarian aid to reach those who are in need in order to support the great yemeni people in this crisis. we declare the establishment of a center for this rescue operations and support operation to be based in riyadh and also held by the u.n. order to facilitate all the processes for the needed humanitarian processes for the sake of the people of yemen and in order to implement the gcc initiative to support the yemeni people so we have issued our orders to amend the situations of some of the yemeni individuals here in the kingdom and to allow them to

work and to allow them to gain what they need to support their families we will continue our efforts in supporting yemen with whatsoever capabilities and facilities need in order to bring back stability and to play again its role in theahe arab domain and we need to find mass destruction weapons including nuclear weapons because they are a threat to security and stability and only in the region but on the international level and we urge the international community, particularly the five plus one countries to be up to the responsibilities in this regard. and they need to put firm regulations to maintain and keep the stability of the region and not to pave the way for weaponry

because of race in the country that will be always on the expense of the stability and welfare of the region's people. your majesty, your hiennesss and the palestinian cause is the core of the problem in the region and palestinian people are suffering, the palestinian people are living a catastrophe. israeli occupation is a threat to the international and regional security and the stability. the international community has to play its role through the security council resolutions in order to keep stability in the region and to -- for the partners to accept the resolutions. regarding the syrian crisis we know that the syrian people are suffering a lot and terrorism is now being on a large scale, that is why geneva one is a good way

to start or a good start to bring stability in syria. and we put in mind that the current syria has no future for the political situation there. finally the people of the gcc, the people of the region are hoping to achieve more stability and more security and to boost the gcc cooperation and implementation and peace be upon you all. [switching captioners. [back >> reportedly takes credit for a shooting outside an art show in texas, now investigators are trying to