islamic religion is killed. >> don't miss the exclusive al jazeera investigation. >> i can't allow you not to go into that because that is your job. >> only on al jazeera america. hispan hispanic >> everyone is like okay, what happened? maybe it is a nightmare darkness in the city of light. paris struggles to make >> united states stands with france and the rest of the world will eliminate the scouring

groups from the face of the group an act of war and vows a harsh reaction. >> translation: france was attacked in a violent way as the rest of the world reallys around a city. >> they will do this again and again. we will be here and we will never give up it is now 5am sunday morning in paris and you're looking at pictures from outside where mourners gathered throughout the night, holding candle light vigils in memory of the victims from friday's attacks a long night of mourning following friday's bullets and explosions. people gathered in front of the six attack locations throughout the evening. they held vigils honoring 129 victims and 352 others who were injured. i.s.i.l. has claimed responsibility for the carnage.

the frequentlying president says it's a war-- french president says it's a war. the prosecutor's office say one member's family was taken into custody. new video says show the case as that hit paris on friday. it shows police and gunmen exchanging gun fire outside the bataclan concert hall. that's the place where at least 29 pym were killed before two of the gunmen blew themselves up and the third gunman killed by police. john seigenthaler who is one at the memorial sites in paris. >> reporter: there is still a crowd of people gathered around and they are lighting candles and they brought flowers to pay their respects to the dead. a painful and agonising 24 hours for the people of paris and france. we have correspondents all over paris.

dana lewis is here. >> reporter: let's talk about the police investigation first of all as the authorities try to untangle this web which is obviously a significant terror cell. we can tell you that they have rafted the brother and the father of one of the suicide bombers. the first one that was identified through fingerprints and has been identified as a french national, and then also in belgium there were a series of raids in belgium and a lot of them appear now and the arrests of three people, they are connected apparently to the fact that some of these vehicles that were used in these attacks in knocked had a belgium licence plate, including, in particular, a car that was in front of the music hall which was the scene of the most bloodiest attack. >> reporter: in france they're calling it an act of war. >> translation: france was attacked in a violent could you aridly and shameful way. because of this it will not show

any pity against those of d.a.e.s.h. it will act within the law and use all areas internally and externally together with our alallies who are themselves targeted by the threats. >> reporter: the worst attack on french soil since warld wore 2. carried out investigators say by terrorists in three teams coordinating attacks at six locations. the first bloody chapter began at paris's main football stadium. it was heard over the announcement exploding his bomb. one may have passed through greece as a refugee. then at the bataclan music hall where the most horrific attack took place, a journalist took this video from his balcony. they took hostages and fire fire

on a crowd watching a band. >> translation: three people burst into the room and shot into the air and took hostages. the audience in front of the band. that is where we saw most of the victims. >> reporter: investigators say one man, a 29-year-old french man, was known to them and had a criminal record. a man told me watched survivors stream into his restaurant seeking refuge. he spoke to one shell shocked woman who had escaped the massacre. >> i asked her if she was hurt or something else. everyone was shoot, was killed, yeah, many dead. i could do nothing for her. >> reporter: tonight france's

general prosecutor said the suicide bombers spoke in perfect french to their victims. >> translation: the terrorists talked about syria and iraq. during the assault three terrorists were killed, the first by police the other by their belts. >> reporter: the city remained in lock down on saturday. even the city's iconic tower closed. in the afternoon people gathered in the republic to light candles and lay flowers for the victims. fearing more attacks, the police told them not to gather in large numbers. >> frightening, of course. we were so scared but we have to fight between for freedom and liberty. >> translation: what is that? what do you think has happened? >> extremists. that is the problem. in europe we have tolerance, and we have to close the borders.

>> reporter: in fact, that man calling for the french borders to be closed, people want to be the borders to be tightened. they weren't closed, but they have been tightened up thank you very much. we're talking about the investigation. sheila is here, she has been talking to our sources. tell me, we have learned a number of things today. >> it's the most shocking thing. as this day has gone on, we know that one of the attackers who was killed by a suicide vest at the concert hall was a french national. he was someone who was known to the police. he was on the radar of the

french intelligence services. so how he was able to be implicated in this plot without the services picking up any trace of him is something of great concern. secondly, the person who made the suicide vests, all seven of the attackers were wearing identical vests made from the same explosives sewn together in exactly the same way, showing that there is a bomb maker out there who has been able to get the ingredients necessary to make tatp, a very volatile compound, and authorities know to watch for people who are trying to buy quantities of the very basic materials that go into making these bombs >> reporter: there is talk about a belgium connection and a german connection. what do we know? >> belgium is particularly interesting. the attempted attack on that train from brussels to paris,

the one that was interrupted security men off duty. that was by some people that were in this attack. the cars that were used last night had belgium plates. the police know that. they have intercepted people at the border returning from france it to belgium that they believe had some involvement in the attacks last night. the german connection, a week ago a man coming from the balkans in his 50s, intercepted with a car load of handguns, grenades and explosives. the police said they believe that he was enroute to paris. it's not yet clear. he has not told german authorities who his customers were but he is believed to be an arms dealer. did the weapons come from german eau or somewhere else. >> reporter: there's complaints

in paris that the police don't have the resources to follow people they want to follow. in some cases they knew about these attackers, or at least a couple of them, but then because they don't have enough money, apparently, they're unable to continue with that. >> it is a common incomplaint that they have had cut backs and they don't have enough money. we see that and understand because of the situation in the middle east and the situation with the i.s.i.l. if you look back to the attacks in january, two attacks, the first one the "charlie hebdo" dough attack and followed up by those two brothers. the authority said they didn't know about this because they were brothers and weren't talking on the phone, they could not have known about this. this is clearly something very different. the paris prosecutor has said this is three very well coordinated teams, an attack, a

series of attacks. the question tonight is why the french authorities, why other authorities in europe have no idea this was about to happen. >> reporter: you know paris well. can you talk a little bit about the emotion that you're seeing her. the worst attack from world war ii some people are calling it, france's 911. >> i've spent a lot of time in this city. i've been here when there were other attacks of an earlier time when hubs and clubs were being blown up. i have never seen the city on a saturday night this time of year so quiet, so deserted. i walked in my neighborhood. i live here when i don't live in the united states. i walked in my neighborhood tonight and restaurants are normal full, bars, cafés, deserted. >> reporter: thank you very much. we continue our coverage, but we will toss back to new york

thank you. one american was killed, two others reportedly injured in the paris attacks. among the dead 23-year-old student from california state university, long beach. the school president spoke about the tragedy this afternoon. >> this morning we confirmed that our student was killed in the paris attacks yesterday. she was in paris participating in a study a broad program. she was at a restaurant with other students when she was wounded. we have been in close contact throughout the night with students and families and have confirmed that 16 other long beach state students studying in paris are safe. we have also reached out to our ad french students currently on campus in international exchange programs. today we mourn the loss of our student and automatic the other victims of the tragic attacks two mexican citizens were

also killed. mexico's government have not released their identities or where in paris this were killed, but one woman held dual mexican u.s. citizenship, the other mexican spanish citizen. france remains under emergency state. border points such as this usually open to the rest of europe were manned by security forces. this is the second time since world war ii that france has declared this state of emergency. the last time was 2005 when the death of two teen analers caused country-wide riots. entire neighbourd and cities can be place on lock down and they can ban street demonstrations as they have done until tuesday. earlier tonight i spoke with a counter terrorism analyst at the institute for the study of war. she is also an expert i.s.i.l. i asked her if the paris attacks

demonstrate an evolution in i.s.i.l.'s ability to strike any where. >> this attack certainly is a continuation of i.s.i.s.'s strategy to encourage attacks in the west. it is a step up in terms of able to coordinate and launch attacks through its network what do we know about the command and control? has anyone been able to determine who's planning the attacks, who selected the targets, the timing, who is providing the weapons. who is recruiting the attackers? >> obviously the details will come out as the investigation continues, but even now we're starting to see similarities between the attack that we saw in paris last night and previous plots that were attempted by i.s.i.s.'s network with belgium and france. in particular, there was a cell in january 2015 that was planning a tack which looked

similar to what we saw in paris based on your research have you been able to identify where the headquarters of ice will is and what is the connection between what call i.s.i.l. and what was previously known as republican guard, suddam hussein troops in iraq. >> we've seen much of the leadership parades near raqqa and syria. they also travel around toa vowed u.s. led coalition air strikes. many of them are in iraq and syria are also maintaining links to them. in terms of the guard there certainly are members of that group that are leaders with i.s.i.s.' organisation, but it has grown some of the attackers were known by french intelligence. is this any indication of a breakdown in terms of the fact that they didn't stop them before this happened? >> i think it's a reflection of the fact that not only french but also western intelligence

agencies in general are very, very stretched by the amount of threats that are emanating from terrorist groups if we are to believe that the attack in paris was a retaliation against the involvement in syria and iraq, what do you expect the french to do that would be an effective block to future attacks? >> i think that we're probably going to see france gear more towards military activity within iraq and syria. what i'm concerned about is the possibility that france and other actors might try to cooperate with russia in the bashar al-assad's strategy thank you for that. the paris attacks raise security concerns world wide, clueing here in the-- including here in the u.s. protecting the homeland next.

the debate in eye owe way has changed. iowa is changed.

[ ♪ ] new york's metropolitan

opera put on an unscheduled attribute for the victims of the attacks. they performed the french national anthem before their saturday afternoon performance. the audience found a strip of paper in their program so they could sing long. procedures in public areas, many are increasing patrols and visibility just as a precautionary measure. john terret live from washington from more on security concerns. i'm curious as you moved around today have you noticed any differences? >> reporter: i think what's going on is extremely subtle at the moment. although less so in new york city as we're going to see in a second. there's something like 1900 active terrorist cases that need investigating at the moment.

there's one i.s.i.l. case in every state in the union and so it's against that background that we tell you that for the longest time now, the greatest fear that the authorities have had is, a, the loan wolf attacker, the coordinated attack in 2008 and again yesterday, and then, three, that these things could come here to the homeland. tonight law enforcement is taking all three of those things extremely seriously as you will see. >> reporter: new york's time square, nypd officers with heavy arms. the counter terrorism response command and other special units also deployed at sensitive sites at various prices of the the nearly simultaneous gun and bomb attacks took place at a stadium and soft targets to the north of

the city. here at home sporting venues across america are on alert. in l.a. the rose bowl is asking fans to lea bags at home. sports teams are on high alert. extra also will be on duty at the sports. here in the nation's capital where a book of condolence has been opened in george town for people who wish to pay their respects for the victims, there is increased security too. not just at sites like the washington monument, but also at restaurants and concert halls too. before heading to turkey before the g 20 summit, president obama discussed security in the wake of paris,a mid fierce that this could be normal and the violence could spread here to the united states let's be clear about this. if you're going to a sporting event tomorrow, then you are

going to see enhanced security. the police say don't blame us, it's not our facility. this is the way-- fault. this is the way the world is going. it has gone 11 at night, so people are getting ready to go out. i think there must be millions of americans who are preparing to go out for a saturday night, more wary this night than they would have been 24 hours ago had paris not happened. i want to clarify one thing as well. there are nightclubs in new york tonight in here in washington dc which have enhanced security, but it is subtle. so you don't see it. it's not overtly done, but it is going on just in chase live from washington, thank you. an ad junct professor of law and director of homeland and national security. why do you think france has been attacked twice in the past year?

>> thanks for having me. the french have a challenge because between five and 900 of their citizens are in syria now fighting this jihad. in addition, maybe 200 have returned to france and they say about 750 are looking to go to france. a lot of their population is involved in this effort, both going and coming, and i think they've also been a part of the coalition. it's not surprising that they're a target for i.s.i.s. because france has been a part of the u.s. coalition against i.s.i.l. next question, beyond the obvious tragic impact on the families of the victims and the people of france, what do you think is the wider impact beyond paris, beyond france of this attack that occurred yesterday? >> certainly it's a reminder that terrorism is an ever present threat to the west, that al-qaeda is still active, i.s.i.s. is now increasingly

active and terrorism is a real problem. we need to be active in thinking about that both in our day-to-day lives and as a government preparing and planning for attacks and preparing to be - to protect ourselves against those attacks do you think that there's a possibility of that kind of attack being launched in the states? do you know from your sources, your contacts of prior colleagues and government, whether there are i.s.i.l. cells in america? >> the f.b.i. director back in march or may said very clearly that i.s.i.s. is actively recruiting in the united states, that there are over a thousand people that they're talking to here in the united states, and more troubling, he said what he is seeing these people to i.s.i.s. and they were unable to encrypted communications.

we know that they have desires to attack here here in the united states. it's very troubling and no doubt a desired attack here. so we should be very vigilant here in the united states how do you think french intelligence missed it? at least one attackers were known by french intelligence. how did they not see it coming? >> it's hard to connect the dots and bring the intelligence together, to make sure you know what it is. particularly when a lot of threats are going on and a lot of noise. at the same time it's important that we not let our guard down. at a time when attacks is increasing, one has to wonder whether it's a right call when you were working on capitol hill you were described as an architect of security

initiatives, force against i.s.i.l. and al-qaeda. at this point what do you think we should do? >> we need to look at the intelligence collected thus far and make sure we haven't missed anything. we need to start looking at authorities and figuring out are the right authorities are in place to collect the intelligence. we have locked back a program, and the about in the post incident have put restrictions on overseas. we have to look at are they the right calls. there might be. we need to increase our intelligence collection to make sure we are safe here at home thank you for that saturday night on the streets of paris just does not look the same. the energy of the city of light toned down but the spirit of the people remains resilient. plus a tragedy in paris changes

the focus of tonight's presidential debate. live to iowa next.

america is showing solidarity with the people of france at west point. the team official lip carrying the american flag, they also carried the french flag. the u.s. military academy sent out a tweet say they are standing with the french people. the sun is rising in paris on a sunday morning. here is the latest. people mourning overnight in

front of sick attack locations. there were candle light voyage ims honoring the 129 and 352 others injured. i.s.i.l. has claimed responsible for the carnage. sheila mcvicor is in paris in the city which is now strangely quiet. >> this is the one place tonight where people are gathering here. to light candles, place flowers, to remember those who were murdered and those who tonight still fight for their lives. the rest of paris is quiet. restaurants that should be full and would be full any other saturday night empty. cafés and bars on one of the busiest streets on paris have no clients. people are heeding the warnings to stay in doors and stay away from the places that are so

important and essential to the life of the city. i have reported from you're for more than 25 years. when i'm not in the u.s. this is where i live. in my neighborhood close to the to the city i have never seen it so quiet on a saturday night. i've been here when paris has gone through some other terrible challenges. this road should be as busy as the i95 at rush hour. paris tonight is mourning and nowhere does that hit home more than here, at the iconic symbol of the city, the eiffel tower usually lit up and brimming with life. tonight draped in mourning black the attack changed the focus of tonight's democratic presidential debate. the three top candidates faced off for two hours in iowa. the moderators reworked the questions to focus on national

security and terrorism. political correspondent michael shaw is pre the debate just ended. how did the terrorist attacks in paris changed the direction of tonight's democratic debate? >> indeed, they did. you saw a sort of an somber cro crowd. of course, it opened with questions about paris. it didn't go much further than that. they talked about that. they were all asked about it, but then it came back to clinton to ask her what should be done here and what should be done here. merck also running for pretty said the attack is shows we're at war with war at radicalise limb.

>> i don't think we are. we're at where with jihadists. >> reporter: of course, when you hear her say that, it raised a lot of eyebrows because people tonight were looking for an enknee. people wanted to hear that. a lot of people also know that hillary clinton's record for having voted for the iraq war and that came up later. hillary clinton and bernie sanders were talking about it and a lot of the preparation for this debate centred around that. bernie sanders tried to fight getting too much on foreign policy in this because he knows that's hillary clinton's strong suit. she was prepared for questions about her vote on iraq tell me this. of course hillary clinton is a former secretary of state also has been slammed by republicans and some other critics for her role in the benghazi attack? did that come up.

>> yeah. someone asked if another shoe was going to fall. she said she thinks she has spent 11 hours showing that illusion to the time before. i think they are going to have to be able to take some things from this debate. they will say that hillary clinton said we are not at war with islam. they also saw her talk about the fact when asked about wall street, she talked about how - after 911 happened she was the center from the new york, she was there and she supported wall street because they needed it. a lot of people saw that that was a little too tricky tieing 911 and wall street. i think the republicans are going to have some issues not so much hillary clinton but bernie sanders, some of his views. and o'malley had his best time tonight talking about issues, but he was always pusheda side

when it came to hillary clinton and bernie sanders conversation you would have heard him talking about breaking upment banks. we will hear more about with that i'm sure. in less an an hour president obama will land in turkey to attend the g 20 economic sum ultimately. fighting i.s.i.l. was always part of the agenda. i asked our correspondent how the paris attacks will impact the meeting. >> you're absolutely right. it was always going to be at the top of the agenda, both i.s.i.l. and the civil war in syria raging into its fifth year. ground zero in that war of aleppo. coupled that with the fact that turkey is hosting the g20. it goes on a rotating host basis. turkey's number came up this year. no other country the president

here has been pushing for a safe zone and no apply zone within syrian territory. the united states has balked at that because of the cost and complexity of doing that, but the turks are very concerned about the rev gentlemen crisis, as are many around the world. the turks are hosting some two million within turkish territory right now. two million refugees from the war in syria. that's twice the number which happens to be lebanon. the president said that he believed i.s.i.l. had been contained within syria and iraq. that's clearly not the case because have what we have seen in france. the urgency of tackling the situation has been increased exponentially as these leaders gather here at this resort on the turkish coast of course, many the members of the g 20 are also members of

nato. there is an assistance pack with them which the u.s. enacted back in 2001 after september 11. is there any indication that there might be a side meeting of nato members and whether france may or may not ask for na touchlite o military intervention given what happened in paris? >> there will be all kinds of meetings here. many countries are going to be meeting on the margins of this as well. incidentally, the president of france is not coming. putin is coming. it was russia's military intervention into the war in syria that has complicated matters even further and one of the concerns here in turkey and among many of these nations gathered here is that the offensive that many expect with the bashar al-assad forces, the leader of the regime of syria,

are coupling with air strikes pushing west gips the rebel forces, kurdish forces coming in from the west forcing refugees up through turkey. these offences are expected quite soon towards the city of aleppo and then the occurred coming in from of the west which brings up another complication, which is the occur curb government is concerned between. u.s. military and the kurds. they have taken the lead from mt sinjar in northern iraq. the kurds and the turks, of course, have historical animosity which is of great concern. any number of wrinkles if you look at what is happening here. foreign fighters is going to be moving ever higher on the agenda in the wake of the allegations and who is responsible for the attack. this meeting is shaping up to a pivotal one. heading into it, officials said they do not expect anything concrete to come of of it.

that may be the case. the urgency is great now thank you for that. turkeya waiting the start of the g20 summit. i.s.i.l. has officially taken responsibility for yesterday's attacks in paris in a statement they call those attacks the first of the storm and vows that france will remain a key target. investigations are ongoing, but it appears i.s.i.l. may have carried out four deadly attacks in four separate countries over the last month. >> we must recognise that whoufr strong and however much we prepare, we in the u.k. face the same threat. >> reporter: bring the's prime minister voiced a fear shared by many i.s.i.l. watchers. >> it is clear that the threat from i.s.i.l. is evolving. last night's attack shows a new degree of planning and coordination and a greater

ambition for mass casualty attacks. >> reporter: i.s.i.l. call for its supporters to launch attack says world wide is not new. until recently the group's violence was confined to specific areas of the middle east. in the last month that has changed dramatically. before friday investigations were also underway in turkey, egypt's sinai peninsula and lebanon. despite not taking responsibility, i.s.i.l. is still blamed by turkish officials for a double suicide bombing at a pro kurdish peace rally that killed more than 100 people. it is considered the worst attack in modern turkish history. the group has taken responsibility for the downing of a russian jet over sharm el-sheikh. it was likely destroyed by a gun smuggled onto the aircraft. all 224 aboard were killed. just one night before the attacks in paris the group

claimed responsibility for twin bombings in southern beirut that killed at least 43 people. thousands of arab and foreign fighters make up i.s.i.l.'s ranks inside iraq and syria and until recently attacks were mainly carried out there. the key question remaining unanswered is how much of this was directed by the leader in raqqa and how much is carried out by people inspired by the group but taking little or no direction from it. >> clearly of some of this is affiliates. if the russian plane was drowned in egypt, that that was an affiliate. >> reporter: while i.s.i.l. may have expanded its reach, it has been bombarded in areas of syria and iraq. also under threat from russian air strikes in syria. to the extent that the attacks are not centrally directed, strikes in the middle east may do little to stop them. >> reporter: he is saying that his country will be messrsiless

against the terrorists. i.s.i.l.'s claim of responsibility for the paris attacks on line, it says throngs they continue to launch air strikes against them in syria, the strength of death will not leave their noses speaking of the battle against i.s.i.l. in iraq, just 24 hours after the kurdish peshmerga took control of the town of sinjar in the northern part of the discovery, a mass grave believed to contain the remains of over yazidis men and women killed by i.s.i.l. imran karen reports. >> reporter: after the peshmerga advanced swiftly into sinjar, evidence of i.s.i.l.'s brutally comes to life. items include bones and personal items found at this site. this is a person who says

members of his family and relatives are buried here. he is angry at what happened. >> translation: we understand this is war. we know people will die, but this is more. we will never forget what they did here. we will have our revenge. >> reporter: according to the u.n. i.s.i.l. killed at least 3000 yarzidis men and women. the community practiced an ancient relative edge and i.s.i.l. considered them to be heretic and forced them to revert to islam or be killed. according to authorities there on could be hundreds of sites like this across the region. as the kurdish peshmerga go further into the town and clear different areas, it is likely that they will find more mass graves. the head of the local intelligence department says it's further evidence of i.s.i.l.'s violence. >> translation: we keep finding

evidence of the actions. this needs to be documented and recorded. >> reporter: it's up to this man to record that evidence. originally from sinjar, he has worked with the international criminal court for 13 years and now advises the kurdish regional government on war crimes and genocide. he says this attack took place on august 15 and that that grave contains 76 bodies, including young women and that it might qualify as genocide. >> these young girls, they told us they managed to escape from i.s.i.s. and they came to our center for interrogation. i am gathering evidence. i am leading that project. they told us about this - they have been there and they told us that they mentioned all the details. so this is evidence. >> reporter: given the it is likely that vital evidence of i.s.i.l.'s killings in this town will have been leveled due to

the activity here. for yazidis it is relief that some evidence is being discovered coming up we will have more from paris, but first murman leaders tell the children of gay parents to leave home or the children will be kicked out of the church - morman.

the city of baltimore reached 30th homicide. the stabbing death of a man the first time it reached this high in 16 years. the police commissioner said public safety in baltimore requires sustainable partnerships founded in mutual trust and respect. this challenging moment shall too pass.

if we reject claim and embrace the hopes, dreams and promise of a greater american city. thousands of outraged people resides from their church shocked by a new ruling that excommunicating same sex couples and even their children. the ruling was surprising as recently m arcs rmons were open to same sex couples. >> reporter: the spiritual harlot of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints today was transformed into a protest zone. a lot of angry mormons gathered to resign from their church. they want out. jan and jamie were married a year ago. both women were raised mormon, so were jan's kids from a previous marriage. they're upset with a ruling issued last week that calls for

disciplining even excommunicating gay coupless and bandannaing their children. >> my older children were married in the temple and they got a phone call from the bishop saying that if they don't renounce me, they will not allow them to hold their temple recommends. >> reporter: the rules barred the kids from bop touchily until they're 18 and only if they move out of the house and renounced their parents' lifestyle. >> reporter: now the mormon church is bracing for more of this, an exodus. according to the spokesman "we don't want to see anyone leave the church". the new rules were quietly published last week in a book to lay leaders. soon after an officer explained

the position. >> reporter: are the children of these same sex partners at issue here? >> it is to protect children in their innocence and minority years. we don't want the child to have to deal with issues that might arise where the parents feel one way and the expectations of the church are very different. >> reporter: the back lash was immediate. on friday the church's top three leaders known as the first presidency softened it on children, allowing for some children to be grandfathered into church membership. when a >> back in 1990 i was married in that temple. so today i am resigning from the church, releasing that church, that temple and everything that

it has held over my life for 44 years. >> reporter: with that modification, it was not enough to quell the emotions here at this rally and prevent same sex couples from leaving the church they once loved so much they are the ordinary people who are often overlooked in syria's civil work. a filmest festival with the sole purpose of shedding light on the flight of forgotten families coming up next.

[ ♪ ] there will be no light shows tonight in paris. the landmark tower will remain dark in tribute to those who lost their lives. the tourist attraction will also remain closed while france is under a state of emergency. irish group were scheduled to perform tonight at a venue three

miles at the theatre. u 2 called the events an attack on music itself. canada has pledged to take in 25,000 syrian refugees by the end of the year this weekend a group of exiles are putting on a film festival to help people understand the hardships that millions of syrians are facing after many years of war. >> reporter: the theme of the syria film festival is a reminder that damascus is the city of jasmine and that even four years of conflict doesn't quell the desire to tell stories through art. many who will attend will have only experienced syria on the new says. >> i think they will see the human story of the syrian refugee crisis and the real people behind this. one of our slogan is hear the stories behind the number, and you can also see the stories behind the reports.

>> reporter: what stories they are. in queens of syria 50 women in exile in jordan spent six weeks learning to act and staged the an chant greek tragedy the trojan women. >> i've been away from syria for a long time. >> reporter: 50 feet from syria is a surgeon who leaves comfort and safety at home to working in a turkish border doing what he can for the victims of war. appearing at the festival in person a well-known actor, j harks had abdo. he now lives in america. he dreams of a devastated homeland. >> it's a nonstop trauma. at the same time you have to think of your career. you've left everything there. everything you've built like for 25 years. now is lost. now we have to start from

scratch where no-one knows about you. >> reporter: syrian exiles in toronto dreamt up this idea. they hope one day to stage a different kind of celebration. >> my dream is to have a festival that focuses more on how we're rebuilding syria. i want to talk about normal problems like transit, political problems, relationship problemss, anything other than war. >> the title of the final film underlies that message, not who we are. it looks at exile butta mid undying hope for return. the main challenge today is telling this city's avid film buffs that all tickets are sold out. they will have to wait until next year before we go, a quick recap of the events in paris. people honor the victims of friday's shootings and bombings

but holding candle light vigils. i.s.i.l. claimed responsibility for the carnage. the french president has called the attack a war and vowed vengeance. thank you for joining us. survey with us for the very latest on the attacks in paris. the news continues now from other colleagues in doha. goodnight.

>> translation: the investigation will try to find the perpetrators, their accomplices who ordered them, the route and who financed them several suspects arrested as the french prosecutor says the paris attacks that killed 129 was a coordinated operation. this is al jazeera live from doha. there is grief and violent reflection as people get over