>> aid finally reach as starving sub bosh of home as u.s. denies syrian accusations that it killed three soldiers. >> i'm barbara serra. this is al jazeera live from london. france's far right leader ridicule her rivals after coming out on top in regional electio elections. and how threats against

al-shabab. washington has denied accusations that airstrikes by the u.s.-led coalition hit one of its army camps killing three soldiers. four aircraft were involved in the strikes, which have a large presence of fighters from the islamic state in iraq and the levant. syria is calling this an act of aggression. this confirmed that this will be the first coalition strikes to hit syrian forces. so let's get more now from the u.s. from roslind jordan in washington, d.c. we're hearing an official denial, but what are they saying, it's not them or no member of the coalition? >> well, first off, barbara, what the u.s. coalition is saying that it wasn't them. they were conducting airstrikes in another part of the province

55 kilometers away from where they say they believe there is a syrian military installation, but they were in isil-controlled territory against four oil we will heads trying to destroy the infrastructure, which has been helping isil stay financially afloat. they say that the u.s. has had a policy of not going after the syrian military because the problem that the u.s. has inside syria is with isil, not with the syrian military. >> remind us why this is so crucial for the u.s. to deny these attacks on the syrian forces? what are the implications? >> well, the u.s. is very much in the lead in accusing the syrian military of carrying out

these abuses against syrian civilians, against families around the country, but within the context of that country's civil war. the u.s. has said it's not going to get involved militarily in the civil war, but it wants to see if a diplomatic resolution between president bashar al-assad and the military efforts cannot be the way to resolve the political crisis. it's important for people to remember even though there are not ambassadors in either the american or syrian capitals right now, the two countries still have diplomatic relations, and so to launch any sort of military assault against anabranch of the government would really be unthinkable at least in the obama

administration's eyes. they're trying to keep their concerns about isil very much separate from their concerns about the ongoing civil war. >> roslind jordan with the latest from washington, d.c. thank you. meanwhile, hundreds of syrian rebels are preparing to leave the city of homes as part of a cease-fire deal. it's the last rebel stronghold in the strategic siege whic that has lasted over two years. >> for these children the arrival of this truck means food and rations. it's taken months but the humanitarian aid has arrived in a suburb in the syrian city of homs. the neighborhood has been surrounded by government forces for more than two years. four months ago they cut off the food. >> we've suffered a lot. we eat maccarone without the means to cook it. we've eaten spoiled food with no bread, and our children are dying of hunger.

>> it's been catastrophic situation where there has been a lack of food and medical supplies. now we're happy. we can see the children are happy. we thank god that after four tough months the ahead as reached us. >> thethe assad military denies that it has purposely starved the people. people have been wary of deals with very little or no guarantees of safe passage. humanitarian aid and evacuation an estimated 200,000, many who fled from other parts of syria, used to live nearby. activists say the cease-fire has been holding but they're unsure

how long it will last. al jazeera. >> iraq says it will go to the u.n. security council if turkey does not withdraw its forces near mosul. baghdad said that the deployment close to the isil held city violates iraqi sovereignty. it maintains that it wa has trained fighters. a foreigner fighting with the armed group al-shabab has handed himself in. he surrounded to an african military base in southern somalia. thethe government said that he was running for his life. he said he wanted to fight for isil rather than al-qaeda. we have more on the story. >> well, he is an american fighting alongal tha along

al-shabab fighters. he handed himself over at a base that was headquarters to al-shabab forces until they lost it last year. no one expected it according to government officials. now he has been airlifted, jones is now in the hands of the government. they were pursuing him, they wanted to kill him, but he escaped. what is happening there is some sort of tug-of-war and there are fighters with al-shabab who recently, you know, from the video in which they were paying allegiance t, that has angered al-shabab and there has been a purge of some of those who led

in this issue have been killed, including a sudanese national he killed an u.s. diplomat in khartoum in 2008, he was sentenced to death, but some how he escaped prison and ended up in somalia. >> the opposition party said that they'll use their new majority in parliament to push through a political amnesty law. the coalition won twice the number of seats as the socialists in sunday's election. nicolás maduro has conceded the defeat calling the result a slap in the face for his party.

>> the expresses of venezuela's ruling socialist parties headquarters confirm supporters' worst nightmare as election results were announced. for the first time in nearly 17 years opponents of the nation's populous revolution succeeded in winning the majority in the national assembly. true to his word, president nicolás maduro recognized his party's defeat. >> we've lost a battle today. but the struggle to build new socialism and a new society, it starts now. we should take this as a slap in the face to wake us up so that we can work towards the future. >> the results should have come as no surprise. spiraling inflation, crime, and chronic shortages of basic goods and services had become too much, even for many diehard supporters of the revolution.

>> it's a total change. that's what i want. because what we are putting up with is unbearable, intolerable, crime everywhere, enough. >> with legislative majority the opposition can set the congressional agenda that will approve or hold the government's budget, investigate public officials. in theory this would oblige the president to negotiate, but only in theory. >> because the government still controls for the five branches of the government. most importantly they control the supreme court. so the supreme court, the supreme court can declare any of these laws unconstitutional. >> but an emboldened opposition has other options, including organizing a referendum against the president. >> if the government does not change its attitude we will have to change the government.

>> another indication that more political confrontation lies ahead. >> in a normal democracy the division of powers is considered healthy. but in a country as politically polarized as venezuela, to pull together foes and create a consensus for the common good does seem a long shot. >> the leader of france's far right national front marie la pen said that french voters have rejected what she calls the old political class after regional elections put her party on top. they secured 28% of the votes ahead of the center right republicans, who have 27%. president françois hollande's socialists trail in third place. jacky rowland reports from paris. >> the morning after the night before, and marie la pen is in triumphant mood.

her national front party surged into the lead in six out of 13 regions, a success she predicts they will consolidate in the final round next sunday. >> the truth is that the national front maintains french people's trust more and more, election after election, and once again if you have some capacity and connection with the people you realize there is no surprise in yesterday's results. this will continue to grow, i'm telling you the next time you won't be surprised either. prepare yourself psychologically. >> the national front has long been seen as a fringe party out on the extreme right of french politics. these results show that it is now a mainstream party with a serious chance of governing least in the regions. for many people that comes as a shock. >> i see more and more people voting for the national front, people that i know. so voting for the national front

is now something almost ordinary. i think its dreadful, and it makes me very afraid. >> i can't believe that voting for the national front is a protest vote any more. i think it's an agreement with them and the ideas they represent. >> the losers were the ruling socialists. they did so badly in three regions that they pulled out of the second round in order to concentrate their efforts on places where they stand a chance at winning. an important question now facing the former president nicolas sarkozy and his republican party is whether to do a deal with the socialists. this would mean withdrawing some of their candidates too neither to block the national front. the answer, it seems, is no. >> we've been almost unanimous in saying that we must not pull it out of the way. first because we've campaigned for weeks.

>> voter apathy also played a part in these results. nearly half of the electorate did not bother going to the pullin polling station. more people may come out in the second round that could have a significant impact on the final results. jacky rowland, al jazeera, paris. >> still to come on the program, protection were pirates, the new security measures being used by sailors along one of asia's most important shipping corridors. and back to business in sierra leone, tourist attractions reopen after the country's ebola-free declaration.

>> now a reminder of the top stories. syria's government described airstrikes that killed three soldiers as an act of aggression. washington denied the accusation that it was behind the attack. opposition party said that they'll use their knew majority to push through a political amnesty law to free jailed opponents of the government. and the leader of france's national front party marie la pen said that voters rejected the old political class in regional elections that put her party on top. the u.s. has announced it has killed certain leaders of tw two armed groups.

the leader in libya was taken out in a strike in november, and a senior al-shabab leader was killed december 2nd in what it is calling as a significant blow to the group. the u.s. president has vowed to do what it takes to destroy islamic state. but critics say that it lacked any concrete policy changes. patty culhane from washington. >> on wednesday-- >> the backdrop, the oval office. this is only the third time that president obama has used the setting for an address. he has used the setting for the seriousness of the killings in san bernardino. >> the threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. >> he has had a tough time convincing the majority of

americans, according to polls 57 there's disapprove of how he's handling the fight against isil. and 72% say that the effort is going badly, and 68% say it is time to send more troops into iraq and syria. his strategy is facing serious criticism from republican presidential candidates. >> for god sake, change the strategy and destroy the caliphate before we're hit here at home. >> the president had his own criticism for the congress saying its time for new gun control legislation. that is unlikely. just last week the senate voted down a bill that would keep people on the in-fly list from buying weapons. president obama has asked americans not to frame this as a war against islam. >> that, too, is what the group isil wants. isil does not speak for islam. they're thugs and killers part of a cult of death. they account for for a finey

fraction for more than a billion muslims around the world. >> before the speech hundreds of advocates rallied outside of the white house to send a similar message. >> the basic thing is to make the world realize that the terror that they're see something not preparative of islam. >> the president was trying to calm fears, assure americans that he had a strategy to defeat isil because it was clear after the speech that he had no plans to change it. patty culhane, al jazeera. >> floodwaters are beginning to recede in the southern india city, but health workers are now increasingly concerned about the spread of disease. there are shortages of food, drinking water and shelter for those made homeless by the flooding. power is slowly being restored in the city and surrounding areas, but the fears that water sources are contaminated raises

concerns for possible outbreak of illness. greenhouse gas emissions talks are likely to tall. the study estimates that they'll drop just a half percent. ed the world is still pumping carbo carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and it needs to be stabilized to not effect the climate. south africa's government tries to fix a long-running energy crisis.

it believes that at least part of the solution is wind power. we have the details from port elizabeth. >> the turbines towering over the landscape are hard to miss. government officials hope that if more of these go up they could help address south africa's energy crisis. ththe area is heavily depend on fossil fuels like coal. >> it is not doing enough in our addiction to coal. generating almost 90% of cool. i think this is wrong. >> developers of this wind farm project have signed a 20-year

contract. this wind farm just outside of port elizabeth has 20 wind turbines that generate 16 mega watts of electricity. that's enough to power 40,000 medium-sized homes. port elizabeth is known as a windy city. the coastal winds make this a perfect place to build wind farms. the electricity produced is cleaner and ultimately better for the environment. a percentage of the profits go into a community trust that decides what families need like healthcare, education, and the solar powered water heaters. the local youth center is maintained with money from some of the wind farm profits. children from poor communities have a safe place to play and learn a new sport. >> the kids go away from their homes because there is no hope and they develop these projects. >> wind energy costs five us per

kilowatt power. it could still take a while, but they hope that these turbines will become part of africa's landscape. >> let's go to sierra leone. the country is hoping to bounce back as quickly as possible now that the "world health organization" has declared it ebola-free. the economy has been top priority and tourism is crucial to growth. we go to an animal sankary in free town, which has just reopened its doors to visitors. >> they're intelligent, playful and don't mind posing for the camera. the sanctuary for orphaned and abandoned chimps that closed down during the ebola crisis.

now after losing $100,000 since reopening visiting numbers have fallen. pre-ebola sierra leone the sanctuary was a tourism attraction. >> they would spend the money to fly into the country. >> it is estimated to have cost the government around $11 million. back at the sanctuary visitors are beginning to return they're close to us, and they're very endangered, and it is important that there are sanctuaries like this where people can come and learn about them. >> that's part of the goal of the sanctuary. educating people about conserv conserving chimps. in the 1907s it wass mated

that there was 20,000 chimps in sierra leone. now it is estimated there are 5500. locals have been warned not to eat bush meat since the ebola crisis, and now there is optimism that everything will bounce back. >> russia has lost its latest military satellite after it failed to separate from the october that was sending it into orbit. the satellite was launched from the space center in northwestern russia on saturday. the satellite is expected to burn up in the atmosphere on tuesday. hijacking and see robberies have returned to the straits of malaca after a period of calm. syndicates have become better organized putting pressure on

maritime companies to defeat them. we have reports now from singapore. >> armed guards to protect against pirates. security companies are flourishing because of the high number of robberies at sea. a singapore based company said it regularly provides armed guards to shipping companies. >> easily 55% to 60% in this vicinity where they're traveling south of singapore are away from the singapore island to the south china sea. >> this man's oil tankers have been hijacked by pirates three times in the last year. >> of course we're very concerned. we have started our own sop on how to deter this. >> the ship owner is reluctant

to carry armed guards. he relies on the malaysian navy to protect his ships and crews. but navy commanders say that ship owners should be more ale alert. >> the zero kind of policy. therefore, i request all mariners out there please observe good practices. should they see any suspicious contact approaching you, days and nights, we must be alert. >> the armed guards are offering equipment to scare off pirates with sound or water. ththey're not allowed to enter into each other's territories. this is seen as an important solution to combat piracy in southeast asia, but the problem

is on the land where leaders of pirate syndicates are able to evade arrest. sources in indonesia say that the financier of the hijacking has yet to be arrested. navy and police spokesman in singapore has not responded to questions from al jazeera. >> perhaps singapore wants to deny its citizens or it's residents may necessarily not be involved in piracy activity. the financial sector is obviously very strong. it's quite influential, and it's always been slightly autonomous of the singapore government, and so perhaps also there is a degree of reluctance to open up that pandora's box. >> lack of law enforcement and reluctance to share information continues to create uncertainty

and fear. for the thousands of sailors who pass through southeast asia every day. >> and more on the website www.aljazeera.com. >> building trust between law enforcement officers and the communities that we serve is one of my highest priorities as attorney general. >> the justice department announcing a probe into the chicago police department as authorities there reveal details of another officer-involved shooting case. >> the threat of terrorism is real, but we'll combat it. >> is the president doing enough