taking back territory, kurd irk fighters in syria make significant gains against the islamic state of iraq and the levant. ♪ i'm lauren taylor. this is aljz live from london. also coming up. fight the taliban, the afghan army says it has taken back a district, but the group still controls another important region. the race to distribute fluids in pakistan as the death toll from a heat wave spirals to 600. and we'll tell you why there are calls to ban the confederate flag in the united states. and an environmental

emergency is declared in chile's capitol after a thick blanket of smog desends over santiago. ♪ hello, kurdish fighters have made significant gains against islamic state of iraq and the levant or isil. elsewhere, the kurds with help from u.s. air strikes have forced isil to retreat from base also in the north. in that base is important because it links the city to other isil outposts. our correspondent reports. >> reporter: this kurdish fighter says they have discovered a tunnel used by the islamic state of iraq and the levant on the syrian turkish border. it's not yet clear whether isil fighters used the tunnel to smuggle in people or materials.

the people's protection units, which go by ypg have been making gains on the border. the latest discovery was after they took this border post in a nearby town. now that the fighting is over hundreds of families have returned. turkish authorities reopened the border for the residents, but despite kurdish forces pushing back isil there are concerns. syria's main opposition group have accused the kurds of abusing and driving out sunni tribesmen. a fact finding commission was formed to assess the situation, but they were blocked. >> translator: we were asked to communicate with the ypg forces but they refused to allow members of the fact-finding committee to enter claiming the snc has a political position towards the ypg units, and the committee is biased. >> reporter: the fighters deny

discrimination and abuse. >> translator: we share the administration of the town with all, as this country is for all. ypg is for arabs before it is for the kurds. >> reporter: the ypg gains are also alarming turkey. the turkish government considers the establishment of a kurdish-held area on its border a red line. >> if the kurdish forces really make major gains in the area you will probably find europe and the americas investing more resources, particularly president erdogan is saying the western powers are helping the kurds at the expense of the arabs. this has become a major security concern. >> reporter: turkish fighters have advanced to the out skirts of aleppo province. opposition fighters are consolidating their gains in the nearby idlib province.

as people return to where isil used to carry out public executions, there are lingering concerns of ethnic biases but they go back home hoping the worst is over. at least 36 civilians have been killed in the past 24 hours during government barrel bomb attacks in syria. a number of residential districts were targeted in aleppo, 19 were killed during evening prayers at a mosque. u.n. investigators have accused both sides of the syrian conflict of targeting civilians. they say the government has dropped barrel bombs in aleppo nearly every day this year and the rebel groups have imposed devastating sieges on towns depriving people of food and medicine. syria's permanent representative to the u.n. in geneva rejects the findings.

he said: an air strike in iraq has killed man linked to the 2012 attack on the u.s. diplomatic compound in the libyan city of benghazi. he was an isil fighter and he pentagon said he was killed by u.s. fighter jets last week. the ambassador and three other americans were killed in the 2012 benghazi attack. ♪ the afghan army says it has taken back a district from taliban fighters, but the group still controls another area forcing many in this the provincial capitol from their homes. jennifer glasse reports. >> reporter: taliban fighters are at the gates of this city

pushing the afghan army into the provincial capitol. this normally bustling city is largely deserted. people are worried taliban fighters could attack here and that means business is bad. >> translator: these days we have to pay the rent from our savings. no one buys anything from us. there is no one in the market or town. everyone has left. they have gone somewhere else. >> reporter: in a nearby field, they are harvesting the eggplants early, rather than lose the crops to the righting. mohammed has already fled once from a neighboring district. >> translator: the taliban came after us destroyed everything we had there. i was injured. they hit me. then we came here to live our life in the city. we are farming here just to survive. all we want is peace. >> reporter: the government has sent thousands of soldiers and police to fight the taliban, and they say they have driven the armed group from the district.

>> translator: afghan forces are starting cleans operations there, and the fighters are being chased house to house by our forces. we have found 85 dead bodies so far. >> reporter: but the military's progress is no consolation for the civilians here. tens of thousands have already been displaced from villages because of the fighting now many are leaving the city carrying whatever they can. a heat wave in pakistan's sindh province has now killed more than 600 people. in the port city temperatures have reached 45 degrees celsius. soldiers are distributing fluids but as it's ramadan, many aren't drinking. >> reporter: southern pakistan is sweltering. high temperatures have caused wide-spread heat stroke. hospitals are treating hundreds of patients for heat-related

ailments including dehydration and exhaustion. >> reporter: the stroke has affected her land and leg. >> reporter: most of the victims have been the elderly. this is the muslim fasting month of ramadan, and many in pakistan abstain from food and water during daylight hours. to complicate matters, the local electricity grid collapsed because of the increased demand. in this city used to severe power cuts many are criticizing the government. >> translator: i'm greatly worried. i have no water or power in my home. i have been wandering for an hour to find ice. >> translator: the government is responsible for this whole crisis. the houses are deprived of power. there is no ice available in the market. the heat is unbearable. people are dying in the heat. >> reporter: the army and paramilitary rangers have set up

heat stroke treatment centers around the area while schools and public offices are closed until temperatures cool down. many are hoping for relief from the clouds with rain predicted in the coming days. fighting in southern yemen has killed at least 10 people and wounded 17 others. forces loyal to president hadi fought with houthi rebels. and in the yemeni city of ta'izz says both sides are committing human rights abuse. in the united states top mississippi lawmaker has said he is in maeve vor of removing the confederate emblem from the state's flag. the move comes after the governor of south carolina called for the removal of the

confederate flag off of capitol grounds. the church shooter accused of killing nine people posted picture pictures with the flag online. we're joined live from washington, d.c. by alan fisher. it seems this movement against the flag is growing. >> certainly the idea that wal-mart has made the decision to remove all confederate battle flag items from their stores is a significant step. if you go on to their website and put in the word confederate in the search engine it returns absolutely zero. sears say it will do the same thing. mississippi has a referendum of the people back in 2001 about taking the confederate battle flag out of the state flag but more than 60% who responded said

that they wanted to keep that there. that may well have changed. the governor said he doesn't think lawmakers will get ahead of the people on this issue, although when some senior republicans are saying we have to change this and there's a petition on line saying we have to change this which gets enough votes in front of the legislature, you see there is a sea change against this symbol. there are people who are contacted to confederate groups are saying you are taking a large part of our history and past. but people view the confederate flag as a sign of hate and that's why there is this growing movement to remove it from all places where it can be removed from. >> and this is all parts of perhaps a broader movement or discussion which hasn't been as open in the past about race and the history of race within the united states. >> some groups are saying look,

people are concentrating very much on the flag the fact that a governor wants to remove the flag from the grounds of the state capitol, and while people are talking about a flag which has been around for a very long time they are not talking about the issue of guns and how roof managed to get his hands on a gun that was used to kill a b in of people in that church. people are concerns that perhaps they are being misdirected, but there has to be a deeper conversation about race in the united states. many are saying that they can see the confederate battle flag as a significant symbol of what happened in the past. it's regarded by some as a sign of hate, repression and it has to bemoved. but there are those who would like also people to concentrate on guns and how roof managed to get his hands on the weapon that

killed nine people. >> thank you very much indeed. still ahead on al jazeera. >> a price hike leads to riots in armenia. >> reporter: i'm among an encampment of bedraggled migrants leaving their countries behind not far ahead, the hungarian border and the european union. >> comedy great, richard lewis >> i really am in love with the craft... >> turning an angst ridden and neurotic outlook... >> i have to un-ravel myself on stage as fearlessly as possible >> into an award winning career... from hell? >> it's thrilling when it's working.... >> every tuesday night. >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers.

>> we will be able to see change. >> gripping.

hello again a reminder of

the top stories here on al jazeera, kurd irk fighters in syria have made significant gains against the islamic state of iraq and the levant. they have pushed isil out of a town near the armed group's biggest strong hold. the afghan army says it has taken back one district from taliban fighters. and a heat wave in pakistan's sindh province has now killed more than 600 people. rwanda has reacted angrily to the news that his head of intelligence has been arrested in london. he is wanted on suspicions of terrorism. rwanda has described his arrest as lunacy. barnaby phillips has more details. >> reporter: the allegations against him date back to the years immediately after the rwandan genocide of 1994. he was already a senior of his

commander at that stage, and he is accused of having taken part organized indeed a series of retaliate retaliatetory killings. and it is alleged that three spanish aid workers were murders, because they knew too much of the involvement of mass cures in houthi villagers, and he is said to be involved in the decision to kill those aid workers. it's a charge which the rwandan government denies strenuously, and they give a different version of events of what happened in 1994. it also puts the british government here in london in an awkward position. it has close ties with the

president, and it has been impressed by social and economic progress. so it will be an interesting extradition hearing, due to take place in a london court this coming thursday. serbia says it is struggling to cope with the rush of migrants hoping to reach the e.u. the government has reacted to shock by a plan from hungary to build a fence along the border. jonah hull met some of the people trying to make the crossing. >> reporter: they have been on the road for weeks. they are afraid of arrest and police violence. >> give me water, please. >> reporter: hi morning. yes, so guys we are doctors without borders. we provide medical -- >> reporter: the charity visits twice a week at the far end of the camp the medic finds a woman who has suffered a miscarriage.

where do you guys all come from? >> afghanistan. >> reporter: everyone? >> yeah. >> we had problems in afghanistan all of us these guys from taliban, such problems you know. and everywhere we are going problems. >> reporter: 34ris asking for money? >> yes they ask for money. >> reporter: and they beat you up? >> yes strongly beat i'm -- in my whole body i feel pain. >> reporter: where are you going? >> i'm going to austria. >> reporter: austria. >> i go to belgium. >> london. >> london. >> reporter: they schedule.com stay more than a night or two in these little encampments in the long grass here. desperately incredibly desperate people resting their aching bones, leaving far behind them countries like afghanistan,

syria, yemen, and iraq and not far ahead of them now, the hungarian border and the european union. so the people are often in quite bad shape when they reach this point in their journey? >> yes, of course. they have been coming here really exhausted and really tired and like they really need help and medical care. >> reporter: this man is a prosecutor who fled afghanistan with his wife and two children. she needs medical attention, the children ask for sweets and chocolate. what do you tell them about the future? what do you tell them about the life that they can expect in europe? >> i would like to -- they have a good future and because we leave country for them because they should get an education. >> reporter: another frequent visitor here is a hungarian priest. his van filled with donations of bread, water, and basics like

socks and shoes. >> i -- i have seen many thousands of people here, but this is just a fraction of the people crossing the border and many of them are not coming right here just going directly because they have money, they have their ways they have the smuggler, you know, system working. >> reporter: within hours most will have left on the road to what they hope is a better life. the only certainty is that many more will follow. a tunnel linking france and the u.k. is to remain closed for the rest of tuesday. a strike by port workers blocked the tunnel. it also saw a surge of migrants trying to get on board trucks bound for the u.k. which were stuck in traffic jams. >> there seems to be an earlier some sort of disturbance. >> reporter: a queue of trucks and scores of migrants desperate

to reach britain. some manage to jump on to the back of a vehicle, making the most of a strike by french workers at the port. here is driver chases a group away after noticing them trying to break into the back of his truck. elsewhere french police tried in vein to keep them away. they have been blocking the tunnel, which has lead to traffic slowing to a crawl. >> we went to blockade a tunnel until 11:00 am when we were removed by security people. one of our colleagues has been quite seriously wounded on his head. >> reporter: truck drivers are being advised to stick together and ensure their doors are locked. they are largely dependent on help from local volunteers who provide food and clothing. the french ferry workers fear

they will lose their job last month. for now all train services between france and the e.u. are suspended. euro zone leaders say a debt deal with greece would be reached within days. they are discussing a proposal which includes new taxes for wealthy greeks. it will be in exchange for urgently needed bailout funds. athens has to repay the imf $1.4 billion by next week or default on its debt and risk leaving the european union. john how compatible is the deal in terms of the supporters of the government who voted for tsipras's government and now seem to be getting a dose of austerity? >> reporter: well, the government is in a difficult

position, many of the proposals that we have seen leek out of brussels are the side proposals. they have been combined with other proposals that came from the creditors. but the package is not going down well here at all. some lawmakers are saying already that that sort of package cannot come to parliament, others are keeping quiet. i spoke with the leader of the hard line faction, he's head of the so-called left platform, which is one of the components of the government. he is one of the most outspoken critics of austerity. he told me that europe is going through a period of monetaryism, referring to the economic theory out of chicago, a period of neoliberalism, the political institutions have surrendered to markets. he says we have simply got to turn around that. i think that gives you the sense

of how the hard line of the government is coming into these negotiations. they are seeing this as an idealogical battle. at least a section will vote these measures down if they believe that they do not bring greater prosperity to greece if they believe these are along the lines of greater austerity, which they believe will bring further recession to the greek people. it's also about turning around an ideology that is limited to all peoples of europe. so there could be possible controversy within the party. >> what happens if the government does fall apart over this? >> reporter: well if these proposals come to greece and do split the party, they may still pass through parliament with the support of the opposition but i doubt they can stand with a divided party, with a key vote

that has put some people on one side and others on the other. if there isn't a deal by the tuesday deadline when greece defaults next week then again the prospects for this government remaining in office are also slim. so either way it looks difficult or catastrophic for the greeks. >> thank you very much indeed. rising electricity prices have seen large protests in armenia's capitol, hundreds were arrested as anger grow. andrew potter reports. [ shouting ] >> reporter: riot police move in on hundreds of protesters in the armenia capitol. attacked by water cannon uniformed and plane-clothed officers arrested more than 200 on tuesday.

the crowd had been part of a larger protest on monday that attracted about 5,000 people. they are angry at the government's decision to raise the tariff on electricity prices by between 17 and 22%. after the protesters were stopped from reaching the presidential palace, they blocked a central avenue overnight refusing to disburse. the electricity network is owned by a russian firm. it says the increased tariff are in response to a fall in the value of the armenia currency. the country's borders are blocked because of an ongoing territorial dispute, meaning it is largely dependent on experts to russia and the money armenias working there send home. an environmental emergency has been declared in santiago

after a thick blanket of smog descended on the city. the city's 7 million residents were advised to stay in doors. >> reporter: it looks just like what it is a thick cloud of soot suspended in the air. >> translator: the quality of air has a cumulative effect on people's health. it impacts the respiratory system, can provoke heart problems and even lung cancer. >> reporter: authorities were forced to declare an environmental emergency. 40% of vehicles were banned from circulating. 90% of heavy industry was forced to shut down using firewood for heating was forbidden, and people told not to exercise

outdoors. >> translator: my eyes are burning, any chest is hurting, and i'm having a hard time breathing. >> reporter: high levels of smog are common here especially in the winter months. but chile is hosting the america cup football championship, one of the most widely viewed porting events in the whole word, and the poor air quality is concern. can you cannot see behind me is a stunning view of the andies mountains. another thing that is missing from this picture are clouds, which would indicate that desperately needed rain is on its way. >> translator: even with the massive restrictions we see the air quality is not improving substantially. we need rain and more rain. >> reporter: and with neither in

site there's no telling how long this emergency will last. lucia newman al jazeera, santiago. plenty more for you on our website, the address is aljazeera.com. and you can always watch us there by clicking on the watch-now icon. aljazeera.com. ♪ given new life, the senate advances a bill that will give president obama more power in negotiating trade deals. a huge rally calling to take action. european officials consider the latest proposal to hold off defaults.