the cent violations of turkish air space are unacceptable. nato denounces russia's actions in syria, and vows to defend its allies. ♪ >> this is al jazeera live from london. stabbing attacks in jerusalem and tel-aviv heighten tensions across israel and the occupied palestinian territories. i'm jonah hull on the croatia hungary border, or a narrow gap in a razor wire

fence. and is this the final whistle for sepp blatter, the fifa ethics committee suspends its president and two other top officials. ♪ hello, russia's defense ministry says it has hit 27 sites in syria. the increased russian air attacks coincide with a renewed offensive by government forces to retake territory. zana hoda reports from neighboring lebanon. >> reporter: the syrian army is on the offensive. reinforcements have been sent to the front lines in the northern countryside. it is a coordinated assault involving both the syrian and russian armies against opposition forces. russian military jets are providing air cover as government forces move deep into

contested territory. this is the first major combined air and ground assault since russia began its aerial campaign in syria more than a week about. >> translator: today the armed forces began a wide-ranging attack with the aim of eliminating the terrorist groups and liberating the areas and towns that have suffered from their scourge and crimes. >> reporter: syrian army commanders say the russian air strikes have helped them, but on the ground the opposition is fighting back. some groups like this u.s.-backed force is using american-made anti-tank missiles to hold off any advance. another rebel brigade showed its fighters returning from the battle ground with a tank captured from the syrian army. >> translator: we have reached an agreement with all groups to set up joint positions and all groups are ready to follow our orders. >> reporter: different opposition groups operate in the

countryside, they may share the goal of toppling the government, but they don't share the same ideology, for now they have put their differences aside in a battle against what they call russian occupation. the battle has -- forced yet more syrians from their homes. the countryside is important territory it lies between three provinces. it is also the entry point to the government's main strong hold in the west. before russia's intervention the opposition was advancing to that area. russian military intervention has strengthened the syrian government's position, both politically and militarily. but this coordinated ground offensive will be the first test of whether it can reverse recent losses and eventually lead to political concessions. zana hoda, al jazeera, beirut. as the fight intensifies on the ground and air, nato members

have gathered in many brussels to discuss the four-year long war. turkey is a member nation and russian planes have twice breached its air space last weekend. >> i call on russia to play a constructive role in the fight against isil. but russian actions and the support to the regime are not helpful. the recent violations of turkish air space are unacceptable. nato will continue to follow the developments closely, and we stand in strong solidarity with turkey. a political solution to the crisis in syria is more needed than ever. and nato supports the efforts by the u.n. and others to try to find a political negotiated

solution to the crisis. >> neave barker joins us now from brussels. what kind of practical measures have been they talking about there? >> reporter: well, firstly, much of the rhetoric that has been talked about here at nato headquarters have been about finding a coordinated response and how best to deal with perceived threats from outside the 28-nation nato alliance. but they are also calling for a more robust response, sending a signal to the likes of russia that potential threats will be seen as a threat to all. this comes of course off of the back of those two incursions into turkey air space. the first russia claims was bad weather, the second, though, according to nato is a little bit more suspicious. the feeling here is that they

need to ensure that russia sees that nato is prepared to continue acting as a deterrent to any potential threat to an alliance. and they are prepared to roll out a rapid task force, this would mean equipment and troops. and these troops would be able to also respond very quickly to any threat on nato's southern borders. no clear indication yet whether nato would be willing to station troops in the likes of turkey, but efforts are being made to show that they will do everything possible to defend all of its members. >> and neave what more is being done to try to prevent any kind of accidents that might happen? >> reporter: sure. it is a really crowded

battlefield, now, incredibly chaotic. you have different forces from different countries. you have the u.s. ally answer on one hand, now, of course, russia staging air strikes and sending cruise missiles into the region as well. the risk and chances of potential flash points increase almost every day. from what we gather from talking to officials here at nato hq, back channels are open. there is behind closed doors a degree of coordination even though on the surface, cooperation over tackling isis and bringing about an end to the conflict in syria is a long way off. >> okay. neave barker live from brussels. thank you. ♪ tensions are high across israel and the palestinian territories after a series of stabbings. in some of the latest unrest a palestinian was killed by israeli forces in east

jerusalem. hours later an attacker was shot dead after he stabbed four people with a screwdriver in tel-aviv. mike hannah reports. >> reporter: in each case police were quickly on the scene. but they are unable to predict when or where the next of these random attacks will take place. the first in this latest series of attacks were in or around the old city, but in the past two days they have occurred in separate israeli towns, on the outskirts of tel-aviv, and police say dealing with these uncoordinated and random attacks poses a major challenge. >> translator: we are talking about loan wolf attacks. about random unplanned and hard to expect attacks. these incidents are very complicated and a lot of skill and capability is needed to handle it. >> reporter: here visiting one of the israeli wounded the israeli prime minister has called on the public not to panic, and expressed his fullest

support for the police. >> translator: the goal of terrorists is to plant fear and the first step to fight this is to show personal and national strength -- let's take you live to brussels and listen in to the nato secretary general. >> the joint training and [ inaudible ] center has been inaugurated. we have trained nato and georgian troops together in georgia during the exercise agile spirit, and we have built on our political consultation and our practical cooperation. our relationship is on the right track, and georgia is on the right track. and today we welcome the progress we have made, but still there is more to do. we need to see more progress in key areas of reform, especially

in the rule of law, and in the need for independence of the judiciary. nato stands by georgia's aspirations. georgia east territorial integrity and sovereignty must be respected. we continue to call on russia to reversus its recognition of the [ inaudible ] and south [ inaudible ] regions of georgia as independent states. russia cannot change the reality of international law. the two areas are part of georgia. before our meeting with georgia, nato defense ministers discussed long-term adaptation of the alliance. the world is changing fast, and our job is to keep ahead of that

change. the changes are fundamental. in that is why we will continue to adapt politically, militarily, and institutionally. so that our deterrence, our defense, and our decision-making are up to the tests we face. we will keep on implementing the readiness-action plan, and strengthen our ability to counter growing threats like cyber attacks and missile proliferation. we will build our partnerships with other countries and work with them to make them more stable. we will make sure our decision making is as effective as our defense. this work will take time. this will be one of the key issues we will tackle at our summit in warsaw next year. nato keeps us safe.

and nato will continue to keep us safe. with that i'm ready to take your questions. >> >> reporter: [ inaudible ] you just said that georgia is on right track. we know it's too early to discuss the details about up coming summit in warsaw, but still what is the mood among the member states how the progress can be reflected first in december, in final document, and then in warsaw? thank you very much. >> the mood in the meeting was very good. and we very much appreciated the possibility to meet with the defense minister and i also met her when i visited [ inaudible ] some weeks ago. and georgia is really making progress. it's modernizing its armed forces, it's reforming

institutions, state institutions, creating an independent judiciary, and it's very much reforming the whole society, including the rule of law, which is an important element in the reforms we see in georgia. and in addition to this, georgia is really contributing to our shared security by contributing forces to different nato operations, especially to afghanistan and the support mission there. i'm certain that the ministers will find ways of recognizing this at their meeting both in december, the foreign ministers, but also at the summit in -- in warsaw in july. so we very much appreciate the progress we see. we are -- we are continuing to work and both georgia and nato

has more work to do. we will deliver on the substantial package and georgia will continue on the ambitious reform path. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. i was just wondering if you can tell us predictions about the ministerial meeting by the end of december. will nato call on [ inaudible ] to be a part of alliance, and also do you have consensus about this matter, and [ inaudible ] 14 of october, you will talk to authorities and also meet other political partners and positions, can you tell us more about that? thank you. >> monta negro is really making progress, and there's a growing recognition and also understanding in the alliance that monta negro is really moving forward. and i have visited georgia,

monta negro some, a couple of months ago, and i was able to see myself the progress it has made and is making -- you have been listening to the nato secretary general discussing some of the aspects they have been discussing. mainly talking about georgia, and that nato will protect georgia. and called on russia to stop its threat to georgia. and a means of keeping us safe, as he said with the changes to nato, making it adapt politically and militarily, to continue to keep the world a safer place. he didn't talk about the issues of russia, but he earlier said that nato was ready and able to defend all allies including turkey against any threats, and criticized the escalation of

military actions in syria as troubling. in the meantime, let's move on to other news. sepp blatter has been suspended for 90 days by the organization's own ethics committee. the vice president has also been suspended. andy richardson has the latest on the crisis >> let's go fifa. >> reporter: but now for now with sepp blatter in charge. the ethics committee he set up has suspended him for 90 days. it's not though a proof of gill, and blatter could yet return to its desk before the election to choose his success takes place. his lawyers issued this statement:

in may, swiss police arrested seven top fifa officials in zurich on various corruption charges. fifa, it was revealed was also being investigated by yooigs police. blatter went on to win a presidential election, but days later said he would be resigning his post. last month swiss police said the 79 year old was now the subject of a criminal investigation, accused as making a dismroil $2 billion payment to the head of european football. while both men deny any wrongdoing, platini has also been suspended for 90 days, seriously undermining his stated position to succeed blatter:

his immediate prospect, though, appear bleak. >> the ethics committee has to check his credential, so you can't see any way he could go forward. >> reporter: another potential successor was former fifa vice president of south korea. but the ethics committee has hit him with a six-year ban. blatter may yet be able to hand over power on something like his own terms, but this is hardly the end game he would have been hoping for. prosecutors have raided volkswagen's premise across germany, including the headquarters in factory. the move following revelations that vw cheated emissions tests using special software. the raids are an attempt to identify the individuals

responsible. meanwhile the boss of volkswagen's u.s. operations has been facing a congressional committee in washington, d.c. michael horn has hold politicians that it wasn't a corporate decision, instead individuals were responsible. >> in the spring of 2014 when the west virginia university study was published, i would told there was a problem that could be remedies. i was informed that that included various penalties and also that the agency could conduct engineering tests on their own with -- which could include analysis on [ inaudible ] devices or other auxiliary equipment. >> the medical charity doctors without borders has withdrawn from kunduz and is reassessing its entire afghan operations after the u.s. air strike that killed 22 people at its hospital on saturday. the battle for the northern city

continues. our correspondent is there. >> reporter: this is the main jail of kunduz city where ten days ago over 600 prisoners escaped from after the big taliban attack on kunduz city. now this is an outskirt of kunduz city. this road leads you to the center of the kunduz city. we just came back from there. heavy fighting is still going on. both sides are struggling to get control of the city. afghanistan security forces saying that the reason that they are failed to get full control of the city because taliban are hiding in a residential area and they are afraid if they go in the residential area and fight taliban there, it might cause heavy casualty. now residents are telling us that enough is enough, it's more than ten days that they are living in this heavy fighting situation. they are running out of food. running out of water.

no electricity, and any movement is almost impossible inside this city for them. >> translator: people have been destroyed. the government has to provide us with security. we can't survive anymore like this. >> translator: we used to work daily and make enough to survive. now there is no work. we don't have anything to eat, and nobody cares about us. >> reporter: they are asking both sides for a ceasefire so they can get out of their area and go to some safe area. the saudi-lead coalition in yemen is being accused of bombing another wedding. this is the second such attack in recent weeks. riyadh denies bombing a wedding in september. more than 130 people were killed in that attack. e.u. ministers are leeting to discuss europe's ongoing refugee crisis. they are considering plans to

deport hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from europe within weeks. more than 600,000 have arrived on the continent this year. sonia is following the events for us in luxemburg. how would this plan work? >> reporter: lauren they are planning on doing this as a two-fold process. what they need to do first, they say they need to figure out first and fast track refugees who are fleeing war, conflict, and fast track them and relocate them on to third countries within the e.u. now with that, they say, there also has to be a deportation of those that they have identified as having come over to europe as economic migrants, and with that, they would work with their host nations of where these migrants have come from, and deport them back, using

mainly -- more of a kind of encouraging tactic rather than threatening them into taking back their nationals. this, they say, has to be done, because they are realizing that after months and months of hundreds of thousands of people coming on to european territory in such dangerous fashions with -- using people smuggling rings, that the problem is not being solved this way. so in effect what they are trying to do is create a flow of people who need help to go on to other countries, seek refuge, in other countries where they need it, but they need to separate them from the economic migrants. particular focus is being given to give italy and greece a helping hand. those two countries have been really dealing with the burden of those who have been coming across in boats as well, and what they are doing is creating

what they are saying are hot spots for people to get to, and to boost frontex, the european border guard to try to sort out the genuine refugees who have come into europe, and -- and then just give them that extra authority to be able to fast track those processes, lauren. >> sonia thank you. well as e.u. leaders met in strasburg, thousands more refugees and migrants continued their journey west through europe. hungary is a key crossing point, but one that may soon be closed. it opposes the plan to enforce refugee quotas. jonah hull reports. >> reporter: arriving in thisco way shan town heading north. no one takes this route for granted anymore, having sealed

its boarder with serbia, and with this border sealing almost complete this is all that remeans. a gap just 3 meters wide. croatia on one side, hungary up ahead. through this gap pass most of the refugees heading into europe, now 4,000 a day. the european union's entire refugee policy currently depends on what hungary may or may not decide to do with this gap in the fence. the government has made it clear the gap could be closed at any moment. hungary doesn't want the refugees. they are seen as a threat to the country's christian values, but this is a vital route to the secure future these people crave. before you came here you heard there were problems with the border. >> yeah. >> reporter: what have you found here now. >> completely different.

i fear that i i'm looking for a country for me and my children. i'm sorry, i have to go. >> reporter: good luck to you. for now the way through hungary remains open albeit sanitized and highly controlled. the refugees are crammed on to trains and whisked away to the austrian border. they will barely see hungary and it will barely see them. what would happen if they told you, you lad to go to another country in europe? not germany but another country? >> i don't know. i just hope. >> reporter: you hope for the best. >> yeah, sure. just safe, peace, legal situation. i don't want more. >> reporter: but hungary and some other central european countries oppose the european union's plan to share the

refugee burden among the member states. there's talk of poland slovakia, and the czech republic sending troops to help hungary keep the refugees out. that would leave thousands with nowhere to go. jonah hull, al jazeera. opposition poll situations in kosovo have used whistles and tear gas to disrupt a session of parliament. it's the latest protest which gives the serb population greater powers. the mayor of rome is coming under increasing pressure to resign in the wake of a scandal over his expenses. prosecutors are investing the finances following allegations that he claimed family dinners under official business. he has promised to pay his

entire city hall credit card bill which is $22,000 which includes legitimate expenses. one of the biggest racing events is getting ready to ramp up. and for the first time in 17 years an all female team will be taking to the track. >> reporter: in a sport dominated by men, the novelty of female drivers brings attention. this race is an endurance event, two drivers share 161 laps of a track a little over 6 kilometers long. this is the first female pair to complete in it in 17 years. but both are professional drivers, the ladies are used to standing out. >> it starts from the beginning. when we look at go-carting there is hundreds of boys and maybe five girls. so already then right in the

beginning the ratio is much different. >> reporter: it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to compete in this race, ability and possibility of winning attracts sponsors, but so does novelty. gracey says men often suggests she gets more support because she can wear a skirt and look pretty. in general men are particular. one in particular, gracey's boyfriend. last year he came in fifth. your own hopes for this weekend, to beat your girlfriend or win the race. >> both equally important, i think. >> reporter: it is still fairly niche intaernationally. >> i hope someone can get to formula 1 to prove to everyone that we can do it. >> reporter: for now they are just the stars of this race.

this is all part of the razzmatazz that goes with the big race, but it is in the driving seat that these women earn respect. they want more women to do the same. plenty more stories for you at anytime on our website. the address is aljazeera.com, and you can watch us by clicking the watch now icon. ♪ finding a new leader. house republicans debate on who should be the new speaker. what he knew, and what hen knew it. the head of volkswagen america testifies on capitol hill. plus a town in michigan struggles to find a fast solution to lead in their water. ♪