iraq under scrutiny, the prime minister says he doesn't need foreign troops to fight i.s.i.l. you're watching al jazeera

we're just really unsure that they may approve to be a security expect. now the united nations have sent this report: there's a real problem here in what to do with those sunni arab

families that were caught in the i.s.i.l. take over. they say were collaborators or there because they were civilians in the area. any role the u.s. will play will have to take into consideration the nature of the conflict as well thank you for that. in the capital of burundi three gunmen wearing police uniforms have been killed after attacking a car belonging to a police commander. it is the latest incident in the nation hit by violence over the president's third term in office. the government says it's fighting insurgence. catherine soi spoke to some of the men. >> reporter: when the sun sets, work begins in a suburb of burundi's capital bujumbura. pierre and a few others are on neighborhood watch.

they say they're protecting their homes from the security force and political youth party wing. if they are attack us, we will defend ourselves this man says. a little earlier we met two other young men. they dressed like police and dig out a hidden grenade. he tells us he will use this today. they wouldn't say they're an organized unit, have a leader or where they get their weapons from. >> translation: police have been coming to our neighborhood to arrest and kill us, but at night we go to where they are and fight them. >> reporter: what started out as peaceful protests in april against the bid for a third term by the president had evolved into violence. people had been killed almost every night and their bodies left on streets or dumped in trenches. opposition government and

opposition factions blame each other. >> they found a way, to try to negotiate with the government, but you cannot negotiate with government when we are committing homicides like this one >> reporter: the united nations, african union and human rights groups are concerned about the killing which they all say has an ethnic dimension to them. it's a disturbing event for those following burundi events closely. there are also killings following the 2010 presidential election but more people now seem to have weapons. >> if necessity design to combine forces, the vigila, nte and more organized armed groups, we could find a rebellion that is much more dangerous, more

sophisticated and gather more resources to challenge the state >> reporter: the armed men told us they won't give up until the president steps down. government forces incest they will hand down each one of them. many innocent people are caught in the middle aa look at how burundi became trapped in violence in the last few months. protests began in april after the ruling party announced the president would run for a third term. in may burundi's top court decided that he can run in the election. protesters took in the street and then tens of violence. the army unit tried to overthrow the president but the coup failed. the election took place in july and he was reelected. the opposition called the vote a joke. in november, after months of violence, the u.n. security council adopted a resolution

condemning killings, torture and human rights abuses in burundi. a researcher at nordic africa institute and university. she says the conflict in burundi is unlikely to develop along ethnic lines >> there is an escalation of violence since the third term protests and then the election of the president. so now we have over 200 people, 220 people who have been killed. we have close to 200,000 people who have fled the country and are in refugee camps and we also have an unknown number of people who are displaced inside burundi. the country has been through cycles of genocidal violence and they're related to ethnicity.

the war that took place in the 1990s was related to ethnic divisions. there are a lot of credible reasons to be concerned. the violence is escalating and it seems that there's a political impact. i have difficulty, though, believing that we are facing another ethnic conflict in burundi. i don't think that burundi is divided in the same way and that ethnicity plays as much of a role. in this current political situation as it did in the past air strikes in syria, coordinated by the bashar al-assad regime in russia have killed at least 70 postmortem. five provinces-- 70 people. five provinces were targeted. the area has been under siege by re i'm forces-- regime forces for five years now. the coalition is continuing its air strikes against i.s.i.l. held territory.

the military analysts say that air strikes alone won't defeat i.s.i.l. in syria. they say troops on the ground are also needed. who are the armed groups and is the main authority fighting i.s.i.l. are they unified enough to succeed? >> reporter: it is estimated that there is as much as one thousand armed opposition groups in syria. they command an estimated one hundred thousand fighters. the british government which has given the go ahead for air strikes in syria as part of an international coalition says up to 70,000 fighters are what it describes as moderates. they include the northern free syrian army with around 20,000 fighters operating near idlib. the southern front alliance operating around damascus with an estimated 25,000 fighters and a number of other groups totalling around 14 thousand fighters. all of them have been fighting the syrian army which is

battling to keep president bashar al-assad in power. around 20,000 fighters from the kurdish popular protection units or ypg have been battling i.s.i.l. for control of their territory in the north. the russian air force has bombed oil facilities controlled by i.s.i.l. oil revenue is vital to i.s.i.l.'s finances. but the institute for the study of war, a u.s. based think tank, says the russian air campaign has . on the ground from the lab knee groups is supported by heists and other militias from iraq, iran and afghanistan. high ranking iranian army officers are said to be leading the iraqi and afghan militias in syria. 76 iranian soldiers have been killed. they were advising troops on the battle field tactics against

i.s.i.l. among those killed was a general from iran's revolutionary guard in lebanon at least three people have been killed near tripoli after an army raid on the home of a suspected fighter. the suspect blew himself up in the raid killing himself and two female relatives. he had been wanted for a year for fighting. some members of the security services were also injured. the director of the islam institute for public policy at the american university of beirut. he says this is the latest incident in a long running conflict. >> there have been pockets of the hard line sunni groups all across the north and north-eastern lebanon. a decade they were out in isolated little camps in the mountain areas. then they started growing in tip lee. recently hooked up-- tripoli.

during the iraq war, northern lebanon and some of the palestinian camps in lebanon were areas where they were trained and sent to fight in iraq against the american army. this has developed now with a syrian war, has become more complex because with hezbollah fighting inside syria against the al-nusra and i.s.i.s. and the rebel groups in syria, this has spilled over into lebanon where some groups are fighting against hezbollah or against the lebanese army. most of the fighting has been in the north-east on the border with syria, but occasionally you get incidents like this in tripoli and very occasionally in other pockets around the country plenty more ahead here on al jazeera. raising the alarm, the u.n. says half of the population of memorandumen is one step away

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>> half a million fields will lie fallow. >> if we had another year of this severe drought, i'd say all bets are off. you're watching al jazeera. a quick run through of the top stories. violence continues in burundi over the president's third term in office. a neighborhood vigilante group in the capital told al jazeera it will not give up until the president steps down. the government says it's fighting insurgence. the debate about foreign nations contributing to a ground force to i.s.i.l. and iraq.

the forces are able to push i.s.i.l. fighters out alone, but there is increasing scrutiny about the way in which it does so. at least three people have been killed in the lebanese city of tripoli after the army raid the home of a suggestion expected fighter. he blew himself up and three relatives as well. reports of multiple casualties in the caspean sea after an offshore platform caught fire. joining us live from georgia and we appreciate your time. some of the numbers, the initial reports we're getting about casualties are extremely high. this is a tragic situation. what can you tell us so far? >> reporter: we're hearing from

an independent ngo which looks after the interests of oil workers. they are claiming 32 workers have been killed and 42 rescued from an offshore oil platform. it caught fire yesterday. it was in very strong winds off the coast and some kind of issue with a pipeline mechanism, and that's how it might have started. we understand the official response or official comments so far have not been forthcoming from the state oil company. it is a very important field there, that provides up to 60% of their gas output. at the moment, of course, we're still waiting for the informati

information. they haven't given a press conference yet we're still waiting for more information on this fire platform that has claimed several lives the u.n.'s world food program says yemen is at risk of slipping in famine with food supplies dwindling. they're at risk of going hungry. more than 14 million people are struggling to get enough food because of the war. more than a million people have been displaced in yemen since the fighting began more than a year ago. >> yemen has been the poorest country in this region and food insecurity has been very high even prior to the conflict.

yemen is dependent on food and fuel from import. since the intensity of the crisis increased, it has worsened. it is a complex crisis at the moment. we are able to reach out to people, but we do expect greater help from others to be able to reach from more. otherwise more than half of the population of this country is going to be in a very critical situation in the coming few weeks. from january onwards we do not have enough funding to meet the requirements and that is also complicated by the access, so it's a combination of both in terms of availability of funding for the coming year and, of course, we seek the support of all parties to be able to give us the freedom of movement to

reach out to the people that are in absolute crisis at the moment the funeral of a palestinian man shot dead by the israeli military on friday has taken place in the occupied west bank. hundreds gathered outside the morgue as the body was carried by a guard of honor to a waiting ambulance. a palestinian man was allegedly trying to stab israeli soldiers. thousands of people have been protesting in south corey's capital against the conservative president. thousands of people have been protesting against the conserve president. the demonstrators say the new policy seeks to undermine workers rights. a report from seoul. >> reporter: more subdued atmosphere here than a few weeks

ago. many are saying that's because there is a lack of police presence that has definitely diffused any potential tensions here. the fact that you can't really see many police out on the street. that means the protestors hope that the spotlight will be on the issues that they want govern to address. number one, work reforms, otherwise there will be more unemployment for them in low paying jobs. another factor is state authored history textbook which the government wants to replace. the eight books that are currently in schools and being used there right now. they shows this a tendency of dictatorial leadership. overall, many are coming out into the streets to express a general frustration with just the way life is in seoul at the

moment and in korea in general. they feel that there is a widening wealth gap and that the workers here are only becoming poorer the f.b.i. is investigating the mass shooting in the u.s. state of california as an act of terrorism. there are reports that the woman who took part in the attack had pledged allegiance for i.s.i.l. in a facebook post. the f.b.i. say it is unlikely that they were directed by i.s.i.l. to carry out the shooting. >> reporter: a dramatic turn of events just 48 hours after a mass shooting that killed 14 people. investigators now saying it's a terrorism investigation. >> based on the information and the facts as we know them, we are now investigating these horrific acts as an act of terrorism. we have uncovered evidence that has led us to learn of extensive planning.

obviously, we have uncovered evidence of explosives. >> reporter: a first picture of tashfeen malik, the 27-year-old investigators say was the second shooter. the f.b.i. is saying a number of pieces of evidence have informed their decision on terrorism, but offered few further details of what that evidence is. the investigation is now likely to increase its scope and urgency. despite rampant speculation in the u.s. news media, there was no evidence are eleased by the f.b.i. that i.s.i.l. directed the attacks carried out by tashfeen malik and syed farook. it is a complex case and neither of the two suspects appeared to be on any f.b.i. watch lists and neither had any criminal records in america. the f.b.i. urged patience say saying it might take time to get to the real motive. >> there's a lot of evidence in this case that doesn't make sense. we're trying to be very thoughtful to understand it and

to make sense of it. >> reporter: officials did say they don't think this was part of any larger plot, but that will likely do little to ease the worries of people here now more anxious than ever after it has been called terrorism. >> reporter: the southern india state of tam il nadu have eased and the airport in the main city of chennai has reopened. at least 280 people have died in the flooding. this cluess 14 patients-- includes 14 patients who died in an intensive car unit after their life support machines had no more power. >> reporter: the death says of at least 14 patients aat a private hospital city in chennai as a result of power failures

has become a national talking point on the one hand the state government says that private facilities like hospitals should have been ready to a scenario or a crisis of this magnitude in the city, but the critics argue that it despite the private facilities fling to have these facilities ready-- having to have these facilities ready in terms of back ups of generators or back ups of back ups in these times, it is the government's responsibility to have overall over sight of what is and isn't happening in these particular areas and how ready the state is more generally when it comes to dealing with such a disaster. now, the debate is even further in terms of infrastructure across the state, not just in tam il but also in india, how prepared are facilities in areas when it comes to power, when it comes to xhupgs and water. -- communication and water. the essentials are that needed

in times of crisis. despite relief and recover continuing in the southern state protesters in australia have demonstrated against the rile of the country's first shipment of reprocessed waste. it came from an australian reactor producing isotopes. it is the first such shipment to be returned to australia after reprocessing in france to make it safe for long-term storage. brazilian president has described impeachment proceedings against her as a coup and she is determined to fight for her political survival. she is accused of hide iing figures. >> translation: i will fight this because i have done nothing that justifies this procedure and primarily because i have a commitment to the people of this

country tensions between palestinians and israelis, christmas preparations are taking place in the west bank. palestinians are getting ready for the celebrations. 112 palestinians and 17 israelis have been killed since the start of october. >> killing of palestinians, this affects, of course, the celebrations of christmas. religiously we will go ahead with the traditional celebrations. no problem with that. but the general as a matter of will be affected by that. >> we are celebrating today with a very critical situation in palestine. many injured, still remaining wars, check points and mostly still the message of peace and

the political solution of justice and peace is so away from the horizon much more ahead on al jazeera throughout the day. you can always get the latest if you just go to our website. that is aljazeera.com. pledged allegiance to abd abd. abu bakr al-baghdadi. today a news agency that supports i.s.i.l. says i.s.i.l.'s followers carried out the attack. meanwhile, fbi said it is now