hellish, life, a newly displaced syrian family talks about their suffering as the u.s. talking about stepping up its fight against isil. ♪ hello there, i'm barbara sarah, you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up on the program. [ explosion ]. israeli soldiers fire tear gas at palestinian protesters in the occupied west bank, during what is being described as a day of rage. relief workers in pakistan pick bare-handed through the rubble as the number of people killed

in the earthquake surpasses 350. plus the afghan woman said to be 105 years old, who is among hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving in europe. ♪ hello. thank you for joining us. the u.s. is preparing to intensify itself military campaign against the islamic state of iraq and the levant, including more air strikes in syria. u.s. defense secretary ash carter has always told the senate committee that washington won't be deterred by russia's military action in syria. testifying before the same committee a top general added that u.s. soldiers would be embedded with iraqi soldiers. let's speak to rosiland jordan. good to see you. tell us a little bit more about what ash carter said about how he is planning to intensify the campaign against isil.

>> reporter: well, one of the things that the defense secretary highlighted, barbara is the fact that even though the u.s. has repeatedly said that it wants to see iraqi forces or moderate syrian rebels taking the lead in the fight against isil targets, they haven't been as aggressive as the u.s. would want, and that is why he is suggesting that a more intense, more front-line role for u.s. forces could be at hand. certainly the fact that this is even being considered is raising questions, again, about the administration's efforts to train and assist moderate syrian rebels to fight isil inside syria, and there was a bit of exchange between ash carter and john mccain, the senator in charge of the senate armed services committee. >> with respect to the title 10 forces that the department of defense trains and equips in syria, they have not come under

attack -- >> none of the moderate forces some of whom we have trained have come under attack from russia? >> not in our title 10 program, no. >> that's fascinating. >> roslyn we also heard voiced the suggestion that troops could be embedded with iraqi soldiers. do we have anymore detail about how they would actually work? >> reporter: well, he didn't want to get into more details about how that would actually work, but what he told the armed services committee has been hinted at by others in the defense department, including by the defense secretary just on friday that you might see more u.s. forces actually working side by side with iraqi forces or with kurdish forces as they try to go after isil. they admit there is a risk of

more u.s. casualties, we just saw one last week, but they are stressing that isil is a national security threat to the united states and its allies and what has been taking place so far just isn't getting the job done. no official recommendation has been made to the president, they say, but they are seriously considering this, barbara. >> rosiland jordan with the latest from washington, d.c. roslyn, thank you. meanwhile the u.n. security council is holding a briefing on the humanitarian situation in syria. more than 250,000 people have been killed since the war began. 6.5 million have been displaced, while more than 4 million have left the country all together. and three weeks since russia launched air strikes, the u.n. estimates another 120,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. mohammed jamjoom has the story of one syrian family who say

their life is hellish. >> reporter: this woman used to carry her youngest child into an actual home. now she says ruefully this is where we live. the mother of seven prepares what she can for her kids. today inside this dark dingy structure, it's potatoes. >> translator: our livelihood is gone. our livelihood is gone, our land is gone, our homes are destroyed. >> reporter: her family is just one of the thousands of newly displaced in syria since be the beginning of russia's air campaign. an increase in fighting has resulted in at least 35,000 idp's from the southwestern

outskirts of aleppo. >> translator: this is a hellish life. we reached our lowest points. now we have no place else to go, and there is suffering all around. >> reporter: in southern aleppo, it's not simply the war raining misery upon the newly displaced. as winter approaches, conditions will only worsen. already, keeping warm is a struggle. aid workers are doing what they can, but in this makeshift camp there are only so many tents to go around. abdul says tens of thousands of families are now displaced in aleppo, and more are arriving every day. >> translator: somebody sick from natural causes here can't go to a hospital. so how can you help somebody facing an emergency in somebody may be injured by a russian or

syrian air strike. there aren't even ambulances to help the wounded. >> reporter: the children still play, but it's the parents who can barely keep the agony at bay. >> translator: we left our home because of all of the death. there was nothing but death all around us. that's why we're here now. hopefully we won't have air strikes happening here. we have nothing now. >> reporter: nothing but a reality that is harsh and cold. mohammed jamjoom, al jazeera. >> for more on this let's go live to gabriel elizondo at the u.n. where they have been discussing the humanitarian situation in syria, which just seems to be getting worse and worse coming up to the fifth year of war. what have they been saying especially, i understand, about displacement? >> reporter: that's right, barbara, steven o'brien, the

u.n. under-secretary of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinate briefed the security council and painted a very grim picture on the situation there, especially as you mention on displacement. 6.5 million syrians now displaced within the country, but beyond that, just in the past recent weeks it has gotten worse. he said as you mentioned 120,000 displaced people in syria, mostly in the last few weeks, mostly from the northern part of the country. he also singled out aleppo, 45,000 displaced on the southern outskirts of that city in recent weeks after a government military offensive last week, and 80,000 displaced from the northern regions after a government offensive, and thousands more from homs and in the rural areas of damascus. steven o'brien warned the security council and to a wider

degree the international community now is not the time for complacency when it comes to syria. >> reporter: we all need to guard against becoming numb to the impact of this conflict, given the vast numbers and the sense of political impasse. yet recent developments in syria are a telling reminder that it is ordinary women, men, and children who continue to bare the brunt of this conflict. living conditions continue to deteriorate sharply. entire neighborhoods and comm e communities at risk. over 11 million in need of health assistance. nearly 9 million people are unable to meet their basic food needs. >> you really get a sense of the scale of the suffering. obviously, ending the conflict itself is easier said than done. but at the u.n. are they talking about what else the world could

do for better alleviating the suffering? >> reporter: well, they are trying to reach some sort of consensus, but the security council itself has been paralyzed because of the different factions on the council, especially after the russian air campaign began in syria in late september. september 30th to be exact. so there are wide, wide disagreements within the security council on -- on how to reach some sort of peace within the country, but really, this briefing by -- by -- by steven o'brien was not about the geopolitical situation, it was really trying to refocus the security council's eyes and attention on the humanitarian crisis there, and i'll leave you with one more number, because there is really human suffering behind each number, he said there are now 13.5 million

syrians in need of assistance, that's an increase of more than 1 million just in the last ten months. >> gabriel elizondo thank you. france has been hosting a meeting on syrias war. so far diplomats from the united states, europe, arab states and turkey have agreed that the syrian president bashar al-assad must leave power as a pre-condition for peace. assads key allies, russia and iran were not invited. ♪ a helicopter carrying soldiers, military leaders, and civilians has crashed in libya near the capitol tripoli. there were 20 on board when the helicopter crashed. one of them was the commander of the western military region. a so-called day of rage has

been organized across the occupied territory after three palestinians were killed in violence on monday. israeli soldiers fired tear gas at palestinians at a protest rally in hebron on tuesday. hebron is in the occupied west bank and is home for hundreds of jewish settlers living in enclaves in the palestinian territory. nadine barber joins us live from ramallah. what more can you tell us about the casualties today? >> reporter: barbara, you were mentioning hebron which is a tense place at the best of times with that strange coexistence or situation where you do have those israeli settlers living amongst the majority palestinian population under heavy security. this day of rage was called by the various political factions, and it is seen people take to the streets in many parts of the

occupied west bank. there haven't been any fatalities on israeli side the death toll from the last two weeks of violence did rise on tuesday to nine with the death of an israeli man who was stabbed and shot in a bus attack two weeks ago. the palestinian death toll in the last few weeks still stands at 60 people killed. but on tuesday, at least 25 people, we're hearing from medical sources were injured by live bullets used by the israeli army in hebron and elsewhere, just down the road from here in ramallah, where there were clashes between rock-throwing protesters and the israeli army, we're hearing that at least seven people were hit by live bullets there. so it's a very, very tense and dangerous situation at these protest sites. but to widen that, i think there's still a lot of anger among many people in hebron and

elsewhere, that some of the bodies killed in the last few weeks have not been returned to their families. one flash point was the funeral of a 19 year old who was killed on monday, but many families still waiting for their love's ones bodies to be returned. >> nadine thank you. lots more still to come on the program, including . . . outrage in the united states as a police officer is filmed throwing a child to the ground in a classroom. and china demands to know why a u.s. warship got so close to a group of disputed islands. ♪

♪ time now for a reminder of the stop stories here on al jazeera. the u.s. defense secretary says washington expects to boost the intensity of the campaign against the islamic state of iraq and the levant in syria. meanwhile the united nations security council has also been discussing syria with where the humanitarian situation is getting worse and worse. in the last month alone over 120,000 people have been displaced. and there has been a so-called day of rage in palestinians sparked by the killing of palestinians.

a hospital was hit by two air strikes in yemen. everyone managed to escape after the first attack, and there were no casualties. doctors without borders said it provided the coordinates to the coalition two weeks ago. the fbi has been asked to investigate an incident at a u.s. high school where a police officer appears to body slam a female african american student and drag her across the classroom. shocking pictures. the officer named senior deputy ben field carried out the action in south carolina after the student refused to leave the classroom for being disruptive. the incident sparked outrage on social media. field has been placed on leave while the incident is

investigated. even the taliban is getting involved in recovery after the earthquake in afghanistan and pakistan. kamal heidler reports. >> reporter: brick by brick, locals pick up the pieces of belongings and valuabled buried under the rubble. rescue teams are in the area to assess the damage. for most it was a narrow escape as they saw their homes come down. this man built his house over 30 years ago from savings he and his deceased brother made working in saudi arabia. he remembers the moment when the earthquake struck. >> translator: it was shocking for everyone. the kids and women were crying. it was like doomsday. we are lucky that god has saved all of us.

>> reporter: as we walk through the alleyways, there was still the persistent threat of after shocks. the authorities have begun recovery efforts. >> the patients are being given good treatment and we have no shortage of medicines. the provincial and federal government has given us a clean check to give them maximum support and relief. >> reporter: most of the deaths were in adjoining districts, but it could have been a lot worse were it not for the depth of this earthquake. with the death toll mounting it is estimated that thousands of houses were destroyed across the province, and people are now waiting for relief and rescue to arrive. the earthquake may have spared pakistan a major catastrophe but it has left an imprint on most

people's minds. just a few kilometers from the town of kabul, hundreds of people are being treated for injurieses at the local hospital. but there are reports that there could be more fatalities and destruction in remote areas. kamal heidler, al jazeera. the search for survivors in afghanistan has ramped up. at least 115 people are now known to have died there. and authorities are expecting to find more people affected in remote areas as jennifer glasse reports from kabul. >> reporter: 12 afghan girls some of the first to die in the earthquake are laid to rest. they were killed during a stampede to get out of their school in northern afghanistan. in eastern afghanistan, traditional adoby mud walls collapsed, reducing the village

to rubble. survivors bundled up what belongings they could salvage. not everyone survived. >> translator: during the earthquake when the wall was shaking, one of my sisters came out of the house. when she came out she disappeared under the wall. there were others inside. only she ran out, and the wall collapsed on her. >> reporter: much of this village is uninhabitable and winter is approaching. >> translator: our house has been destroyed by the earthquake. we have nowhere else to go. we have living outside, we ask the government to help us. >> reporter: the injured and dead were taken to local hospitals. this province suffered the highest number of casualties so far, but at least 42 dead. further south, the same scenes at the hospital.

a ward full of children all injured while they played together. >> translator: there was a wedding ceremony, all of the kids were playing and it was prayer time when the earthquake started. one wall fell on the children. two broke their arms. about 23 people injured and killed in the incident. >> reporter: afghan authorities are still accessing the extent of the damage. some areas were controlled by the taliban. the taliban issued a statement calling on afghans and aid agencies to help the needy, and telling its fight eres to support them. jennifer glasse, al jazeera, kabul. china has summoned the u.s. ambassador to explain why an american warship sails close to

man made islands in the disputed south china sea. the u.s. say the missile destroyer was in international waters, but beijing has warned it will respond to deliberate provocations. rob mcbride reports. >> reporter: the united states has been signalling for months that it would make this symbolic sail past, china has warned it would respond appropriately, and both sides have been good to their word. the patrol came within 12 nautical miles of the dispolluted islands in the south china sea, normally the internationally accepted limit of a nation east territorial claim. but the u.s. says these are international waters open to anybody. china says it shadowed the u.s. vessel accusing it of harming regional peace and stability. >> translator: we want to urge the u.s. to respect our position and correct its mistake

immediately. it should not conduct any dangerous provocative actions that threaten china's sovereignty and security interests, and keep the promise of not taking sides on the issues of territorial disputes. the waters of the south china sea with disputed by china and several asia neighbors, among them the philippines, which as an ally of the u.s. welcomed the move, saying the ship was operating in international waters. >> the balance of power says that there is not just a single of voice that must be adhered to. there must be a plurality of voices when all parties are effected by changes on the ground. >> reporter: japan has its own territorial dispute with china in the east china sea. it went further expressing concern at china's island-building activities in the south china sea. >> translator: the unilateral conduct to change the status quo

such as the large scale landfills to build ocean platforms in the south china sea are a common concern for the international community. as the prime minister said, it's very important that the international community united to maintain the peace and stability in the south china sea. we're closely conducting our intelligence information with the united states. >> reporter: the united states says the decision to send the warship reaffirms its right to sail in what it considers international waters. china says it will safeguard what it sees as its territory. but there is widespread regional support from china's neighbors for america's actions. polls are open in egypt as the country votes in a parliamentary election. the country has not had a parliament since june 2012 after a court dissolved the main chamber. it was nominated by the now

banned muslim brotherhood. egyptians are voting in 14 out of 27 governance across the country. meanwhile early results from tanzania nia's elections though that five members of cabinet have lost their seats. election officials are calling for calm following allegations of vote rigging. it's the tightest run race since tanzania gained independence in 1961 and the first major challenge to the ruling party in decades. results so far show that the ruling party's presidential candidate is in the lead. the republican of congo's electorate has voted in favor f constitutional changes allowing their president to run for a third term. con go's constitution will now be amended. the opposition called for a boycott of the vote, but the

government says turnout was 72%. haru matasa sent us this update. >> reporter: the opposition is not happy. they say the vote was rigged. they say there is no way voter turn out could have been that high. the government says just because you saw a few lines in the capitol, that doesn't mean it represents the whole country. they say most people voted in the rural areas. a lot of the opposition leaders are under house arrest. police have surrounded their homes and don't let them leave. last week, tuesday, people took to the streets to protest, and police opened fire and shot some of them. the significance is that it shows that one president can change the constitution and extend his term in power if he so wishes to do so. some firth could be a trend on the continent. people are concerned about rwanda, the drc, and uganda as

well, where presidents seem to indicate they want to extend their time in power. it is feared that if a few individuals can get away with it, more will try, and the community will seemingly do nothing about it. the european commission president has lashed out at member states over a $2.5 billion shortfall in funding to deal with the refugee crisis. he also criticized member states for being too slow to resettle refugees. slovenia has hinted it way build a fence along the border. the country has yet to detail what form its fence might take. an afghan woman said to be 105 years old is among the latest arrive at a refugee camp. she crossed from syria with a

group of others. incredible story. lots more on the refugee crisis on our website. the address on your screen right now, aljazeera.com. lots more as well on our top story, that is that earthquake between afghanistan and pakistan. >> today i will first outline the changes in the execution of our strategy that we have considered and are now pursuing militarily. >> defense secretary ash carter testifying on capitol hill the new strategy of taking down isil. a new word in the south china sea. the outrage over this video showing a police officer in south carolina throwing a teenage girl to