new york. we're live from london, next. >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ >> hello, and welcome. you are watching the al jazeera news hour. this hour, hundreds of rebel fighters and their families are allowed to leave the city of homs after a brutal siege. plus, more than 70 people are killed in a taliban attack on kandahar airport in afghanistan.

hello, i'll have all of your sport, including, arsenal tries to reach the knockout stages of the champions league for the 16th consecutive season. we'll look at all of wednesday's matches later in the program. ♪ our top story. hundreds of rebel fighters and their familiar list have begun to leave the syrian city of homs. it's part of a ceasefire deal. zana hoda reports. >> reporter: this is the result of more than two years of sporadic and difficult negotiations, hundreds of people, including fighters and their families are leaving this district in the city of homs. it was the last rebel strong hold in a city long known by the opposition as the capitol of the resolution. a ceasefire deal has come into effect. the united nations helped broken

the agreement. >> translator: the first batch of people from the neighborhood of homs has left. other groups will follow, about 160 families left the neighborhood, and about 300 fighters who are against the truce, as well as a number of wounded and amputees. it's part of a truce between assad's forces and the opposition in the neighborhood. >> reporter: the evacuation is the first phase of the agreement, they will head to opposition-controlled areas further north. the syrian government in turn will lift the siege of the district and end military operations there. but the warring sides seem to be interpreting other deals differently. the government says it means it will return to state control, is cleared of weapons. it also said that all rebels would leave the district within two months. the opposition, however, denies the district will return to

government control. >> translator: not everyone in the neighborhood of homs have left, only the injured and families. we are spread fast on the front line. neither armed groups nor the biggest brigades have left. this is our neighborhood, and we should defend it. >> reporter: opposition activists say the rebels had no other choice but to accept the deal, because the government's blockade caused a humanitarian crisis. food and federal supplies were only allowed in sporadically but no aid enters for over four months. some describe the deal as a surrender. the deal here is similar to the one reached in homs old city more than a year ago. they agreed to the deal only after they were starved and

outgunned. the international community is now working to try to revive peace negotiations, start a political process and bring about a nation-wide ceasefire. that won't be easy. while they are silencing the guns, they are doing little to bring about peace and reconciliation. as the diplomacy picks up, we want to show you what is going on in riyadh, there is that gcc meeting that is just about to get underway. we're waiting for the saudi king with his opening thoughts. we're going to be dipping in and out of that meeting, because the members of the gcc will all be giving their opening brief statements on how they think the gcc meeting should evolve and grow over the next couple of days or so.

on the right you will see the name plate saying secretary carter. that is ash carter, the u.s. secretary of defense. he is talking to a congressional committee, feeding back into the system on where they think they are right now in defeating isil, and where they think that fight should go next, one assumes. we'll carry on monitoring those pictures for you and go back to riyadh as soon as we have something to discuss. we are joined by our seen i don't know analyst. let's talk about homs. it was a mosaic, you have sunnis, shias,al low -- alawites. people are saying it was an ethnic cleansing. is that what is to come? >> it remains to be seen how

this really evolves. for example, it's the al-nusra affiliated forces that are leaving, but many of the other rebels who are considered moderate rebels are staying in the city, and keeping their weapons, but they are not using them. it's good to remind our viewers around the world that this city has been under siege for three years; that it's people -- it's -- it's -- it's inhabitants especially -- with 75,000, used to be 300,000 people, lived under siege for three years. the fact that now they can see the end of the tunnel, and that some sort of relief through the u.n. could come to the city, that people could have some minimum normalcy is a good thing. the rebels say they will take

control over their own neighborhoods for the time being, as i said this is a pilot for things to come. there are a number of hot spots around the country. if the regime will exploit the situation with more of the repression, this will be the second and the last such case. >> if the end game here is a pilot, a core central assumption has to be it's a trust, building exercise. homs has been obliterated again and again and again. there is virtually nothing there. so many people have left, and yet they are saying they want to go back. how can that possibly work as a foundation for building trust? >> well, you know, at the end of the day, there are very little choice when people realize all

too well that this is a civil war, it has been for a while, and that no one is winning. the only other alternative is to continue fighting until everyone is dead, or everything is destroyed. i think the fact that they can now pick up the pieces and begin with normalcy, with this larger picture happening whereby syria might have a centralized government of sorts that assures reconciliation between government and the opposition, i think those sorts of pilots might bring the minimum necessary in order to recover. >> okay. we'll talk to you in a couple of minutes. as we were saying gulf leaders are in the saudi capitol. the conflict in yemen, however, and instability across the

middle east are also on the agenda. we'll take those live as they happen. do stay with us for that. the u.n. says more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since the month of march. more than 21 million people are in need of assistance, many are on the brink of famine. at least 2.3 million have been sourced from their homes and an estimated 15.2 million people in yemen lack access to basic supplies. sir, paint us a picture. we saw the reports talking about the country, basically being at a tipping point heading toward famine, but day-to-day for real people, how bad is it?

>> the situation in yemen is indeed very bad for the average yemenee. you menninged the figures. these are staggering. the situation has not improved since the end of march, notwithstanding all of the humanitarian aid efforts that we have deployed. so we are still very concerned that if there is no effort by all of the parties to the conflict to end the hostilities by declaring a ceasefire, if that is not happening soon, then the -- the humanitarian situation will really develop into a catastrophe. we should not forget the humanitarian conditions in the country are not only the result of the current conflict, but also of what was already a protected humanitarian crisis over the years, as a result of lack of development, lack of goods governance, back of human

rights, lack of employment, yemen was already the poorest country in the region, and this has aggravated the situation. >> you are talking about the infrastructure your people need to do what they want to do, is yemen headed towards being a failed state? >> there are a number of signals which make us worry that this is going to happen. but it's not too late. we see indeed that even the path of yemen, which has been reclaimed by the coalition-backed nationally recognized government, the southern part of the country. at the moment there is a breakdown of law and order. we see a number of militias, and they have all of the ingredients if we don't intervene quickly, that the country is falling apart. it is not too late. this is one of the issues that

needs to be discussed in next week's peace talks. how the country has a governance structure, how law and order can be established, but also how the hostilities can be put to an end, because if this conflict persists, these groups, which we see now surging in yemen like al-qaeda, and isis, daesh, they will only get more space, and this has to be stopped. >> the signals of what you are discussing, we have been receiving for a long time now. i'm intrigued to know why the international community hasn't done more for yemen over the past year or so. >> well, the international community of course has done a lot behind the scenes to get the parties arrange the table, but the conflict is very complex. there's a special envoy of the secretary general, which has

been untiring in getting now these peace talks next week happening. the international community has also come forward with funding for the humanitarian access on the ground, but the problem is, that the face as humanitarians on the ground, number of obstacles is related to access to the population. because as long as the conflict rages, it cannot reach those who are trapped in conflict zones, but also where the conflict is left, we are faced with bureaucratic obstacles with parties who want to control, there is the risk of diversion of aid, and these issues have been hafrp l -- hampering our response to scale up for this crisis in yemen. so, again, the talks next week should address these issues,

should create space for humanitarian actors to be able to reach out to all of those in critical need. because the humanitarian community is in yemen for one reason; that is to address the needs of the people. they are there for the people, and they need to work in all neutrality, impartiality and all independence. >> thank you very much. more than 70 peoples were killed in a taliban attack in afghanistan. it is one of the most heavily fortified compounds in afghanistan. >> reporter: this video released by the taliban is said to show the gun battle between taliban fighters and afghanistan security forces at kandahar airport. at least ten armed men got into a school building without being challenged. they passed through several security check points.

once inside the gunmen seized families as hostages. >> translator: gunmen entered the airfield from the air where civilian families live and where there is a market. >> reporter: these are said to be the attackers armed with automatic weapons and dressed in what appears to be afghan army uniforms and equipment. the taliban has released this video in which one of the attackers warns u.s. participate barack obama that there is no safety for u.s. troops in afghanistan. he says u.s. technology will be finished and killed. despite having a newly elected leader, the taliban seemed determined to show it can mount well-planned attacks. this video is said to show fighters being equipped with

fake ids and equipment allowing them to pass as foreign soldiers, they even have official-looking vehicles. which security forces don't appear to check. taliban fighters overran a city in september. it was their biggest victory since being removed from power in 2001. the afghan army supported by u.s. air strikes took several days to regain control. the president is in talks, they will be discussing the possibility of peace talks with the taliban. right now, in kandahar, that possibledy seems remote. that taliban attack coincides with a regional conference in islamabad in pakistan that had raised hopes of reviving the peace process. kandahar which has seen two major assaults in just 24 hours.

that city is recognized as the birthplace of the taliban. in september, they took the northern city of kunduz. they have been consolidating support from north to south right across the country. the feeling just a few hours ago was that the authorities had locked down the situation in kandahar, but that has all changed now? >> reporter: yes, peter we are getting conflicting report on this attack. just a number of casualties. afghanistan defense ministry early this afternoon, announced that 37 were killed, among them women and children, then afghan commander, who is the most senior commander in southern afghanistan, after the press

release, announced that only nine were killed, and now we are hearing from hospital sources that the number of killed could be about 70 and women and children are among them. that simply tells you how miscommunication are among afghanistan security officials in this country. and how people are losing their faith in their security forces. >> as far as what has happened just in the past four, five, six hours or so, is it that the people who guard that compound -- because it is a big, well fortified, well guarded compound, is it that they did something strategically tactically wrong, or the taliban are so well organized they were able to absorb what happened yesterday, go away, regroup, and then come back for the fight? >> reporter: well, what happened yesterday was a kind of surprise for many afghans, because

afghans were thinking after the strong fighting in the north, the taliban changed their strategy. now taliban is focusing more in the north of the city, and they could be weaker in the south. now taliban by doing this attack showed to the afghan people that they are still strong and they can launch an operation such as this, anywhere they want, even in the safest compound inside the military airport. peter, we managed to talk to one family that were hostages last night. and they told us that the afghan government announced that only one attacker believed to be badly injured or missing, and they are looking for that. but this family said no, that's not true. they believe a number of attackers are still fighting. heavy fighting is still going on, and these taliban attackers are still holding these ten

member of two families hostage, and the fighting is still going on. so we are getting very conflicting reports, but we believe the fighting is still going on. >> thanks very much. plenty more still to come on the al jazeera news hour for you, including this one. >> what was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for. >> more condemnation for the presidential hopeful, donald trump after he called for a ban on muslims entering the u.s. i'm in the jungle of eastern columbia, where farc rebels are preparing for peace. and highs and lows for klay thompson as the golden state warriors extend their winning streak in the nba. ♪ top story out of europe this hour, a german woman accused of

involvement in the neo-nazi cell that killed ten people, has denied any involvement. she said she only found out about the murders after they happened. neave barker is live for us in berlin this hour. neave, why was she allowed to stay [ inaudible ] for two and a half years? >> reporter: that's a very good question. she had been repeatedly asked by the court in munich to deliver evidence, but it was something she flatly refused to do from day one. and it has now been 250 days of the active trial that has gone on for more than two and a half years. but it was announced that this week she would indeed break her

silence and answer some of the allegations and charges that she faces. ten accounts of murder, two bombings, and also a string of bank robberies. she is accused of being a member of the far-right-wing movement described in germany as one of the most violent groups since the gang in the 1970s. in this written statement that was read out by her lawyer, she said she had no involvement in the ten murders. she also gave an apology to the families of some of the victims, some of whom were in the court in munich listening in this on this. she said she has no direct involvement to the killings, and had no knowledge of them until after the murders had taken

place. she did, however, point the finger of her two lovers who were also members of the nsu, men she has grown emotionally dependant on, she said. also she described what her relationship with her parents was like. she said she had a very challenging relationship with her mother, and her father was a man she didn't know at all, she said. german newspapers have been a few from sympathetic to her. she has been described as the bride of adolph hitler. the trial continues a verdict is expected next year. if convicted she could well face life in prison. >> neave thanks very much. staying in europe a third gunman who took part in the paris attacks has now been identified.

many of the 130 people killed in the attacks died at the music hall. >> reporter: the french prime minister has confirmed that investigators have been able to identify the body of the third man who took part in the attack on the concert hall. if you recall, there were three attackers. they were armed with automatic weapons, and they were also wearing explosive vests. at the time when anti-terror police stormed the concert hall, two of the men blew themselves up and a third was killed by police. the prime minister has said the man in which was originally from [ inaudible ], but has travelled to syria, and then returned. french media have reporting that the information came via text message sent to the man's mother who is still here in france. the message says simply, your

son has died as a, quote, martyr, in paris. the mother connected the police. she gave them a dna sample, and according to the reports it was via this dna sample that police were able to identify the body parts of the third attacker. the republican presidential hopeful donald trump is facing a backlash from across the political spectrum after calling for muslims to be banned from entering the united states. kimberly halkett reports. >> i am officially running -- >> reporter: from the moment he announced his candidacy, donald trump has been testing the patience of fellow republicans with his rhetoric. now many say he has gone too far. >> this was not conservatism. this is not what this party stands for or what this country

stands for. >> reporter: ryan says there are many muslim members of the u.s. congress and armed forces who are assisting the u.s. in its fight against extremism. still trump is standing by his call to close the u.s. boarder for those who practice the islamic faith until threats can be contained. >> a total and complete shut down of muslims entering the united states until our eventtives can figure out what the hell is going on. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: his comments met with applause and appeal to a subset of conservative voters who are looking for an easy solution to a complex problem. but many republicans are also evangelical christians who believe religious freedom is part of the u.s. constitution that must be protected. one southern baptist leader said:

the white house is calling trump's comments unrealistic, even grotesque. >> what mr. trump said is deeply offensive, and has consequences for our national security. but the real question for the republican party and candidates, is are they going to be dragged into the dust bin of history along with donald trump. >> reporter: those who study presidential politics believe republicans will not. >> what you are seeing is that people are starting to rally around everybody but him. in other words in some strange way he is unifying the party against him. >> reporter: and against a branch of the republican party that right now appears angry, anxious, and amplified.

the german chancellor has been named time magazine's person of the year. she has been recognized for how she handled the economic crisis in europe, and her handling of the refugee crisis. coming up here on the news hour from al jazeera, the blame game begins as southern india tries to clean up after the worst flooding in a century. lights camera, but no action. why thailand is struggling to maintain its hollywood connection. and chelsea comes up against one of his previous rivals.

>> images matter. >> innovative filmmaker, spike lee - on his controversial new movie. >> the southwest side of chicago is a war zone. >> taking on the critics. >> and another thing... a lot of the people have not seen the film. >> and spurring change through his art. >> we want this film to save lives. >> i lived that character. >> we will be able to see change. ♪ welcome back. you are watching the news hour. top stories today. hundreds of rebel fighters and their families have started to leave the syrian city of homs as part of a ceasefire deal in

negotiations between the opposition and the government. more than 70 people have died in a taliban attack in on the kandahar airport in afghanistan. and the german woman accused of involvement in a neo-nazi cell has denied taking part in the killings. she said she only found out about the murders after they had happened. let's take you back now to that gcc meeting taking place in riyadh. we have had a reading of a quranic verse. we're hearing from the gcc think should happen. this is on syria and yemen. let's open the mics. >> translator: i asked the all mighty to help us, to make our efforts and all of our of forts

successful. i would like to thank his hien esz for his efforts. dear brothers. with all of the blessings in our countries, with the stability and welfare, we need not to forget that there are challenges in our region, and that necessitates the joint efforts of all together to improve ourselves and to prevent any threats against our countries, and to help our brothers to restore their stability and to face the challenges and on top of the challenges comes of the palestinian issue, and to restore the rights of the palestinians in establishing their country, their independent country with east are jerusalem

as the capitol. in yemen we are quite keen to bring stability to yemen, and the legitimate regime that we need to reach a peaceful solution for yemen to bring back stability and peace to its people. regarding the syrian crisis, the kingdom of saudi arabia is hosting the syrian opposition in order to help in finding a political solution, according to the geneva one accord, and the international community has a joint responsibility in fighting terrorism and extremism, and the kingdom of saudi arabia has exerted a lot of efforts in this regard. we will continue our efforts with coordination and cooperation with our sisterly countries and friendly countries because our islam rejects

terrorism and extremism. dear brothers, this meeting of today comes after 35 years of establishment of our gcc. after more and more achievement made by the gcc in our countries, and our people still need more in order to be given to them, and we are quite sure that we will all exert the utmost ep forts to achieve complete results in boosting the path of cooperation of the gcc and to find an economic and social infrastructure in our country's to help the people of our -- other peoples of our countries, and to prevent our

countries from any plots, terrorism, or extremism. at the same time, we need to build a joint defensive system for the sake of our countries and our peoples and peace be upon you all. [ applause ] >> so that ep opening address from the saudi king coming live to us from riyadh. he was talking there about the challenges. he was talking about a joint effort being rolled together. he was also saying we have to deal with the palestinian issue, and yemen as well. >> translator: gentlemen, peace be upon you all. it's my pleasure to meet today in our second country, the kingdom of saudi arabia, to continue the blessed path of the gcc countries, and it's my

pleasure to express my thanks and gratitude to the custodian of the who holy mosques, and to the government of the saudi arabia kingdom, and to the saudi people for the great hospitality. we wish all the best for the kingdom of saudi arabia, and the custodian of the who holy mosques. i'm positive your wisdom will help achieve the aspirations of our people. let me express my appreciation to the secretary general of the gcc, and to the assistant secretary generals and all of those who work for the follow

up, and for the preparation of this summit. we meet today within critical situations, quick situations in the entire world, and in our region in the middle east in particular. this puts a lot of responsibilities on us as leaders of the gcc, and -- i am confident our gcc will be able to deal with these challenges, due to our joint cooperation, and the political economic, and security spheres in order to protect our communities and to keep the aspirations of our people, and boost the welfares in our country. i think we agree together that the achievements made by the gcc, despite the importance of

these achievements, but our peoples are k looking for more and more. that's why we need to double our efforts. in order to achieve the aspirations of our people, because we have everything -- we have all of the capabilities, your imaginesties, terrorism is one of the biggest threats to the international peace and security. terrorism is increasing, and the slogans are not true at all. we have seen terrorism, and terrorist crimes in so many countries, because terrorism is a real threat to every country without any discrimination between the victims, regardless of the color, their religion, or the sect. and in this regard, the international community is quite urged now to double their efforts so as to face terrorism,

and to eradicate all of the reasons of this terrorism and extremism, putting in mind that we need to differentiate between terrorism and the legal rights of peoples to defend themselves against foreign occupation. terrorism, against civilians is a real problem that we all -- the international world has to confront in order to protect their peoples. but we need not to see any alternative of that [ inaudible ] that might be worse. we need to deal with the root of terrorism that has been feeded on the violence and the poverty and the loss of hope amongst the peoples and the lack of reforms. those who are trying to hit islam is making use of these terrorist crimes in order to hit the image and the picture of

islam and to blame the muslims for things that they have nothing to do with, and this necessitates that joint effort to explain to the world the real islam, the tolerance in islam, how does islam respect everyone? we need to be proud of our religion, because islam goes with all of the virtues of humanity. your majesties, your highneshig, despite the effort being exerted by the gcc countries to bring peace to the middle east, and jerusalem is the capitol, this has not been yet done. and the scope was not quite clear because of the israeli aggression, and israeli

practices that aim at changing the demographic and geographic sequence of the palestinians territories through building more and more settlements, and through aggression against the palestinians and putting gaza into siege. it's not accepted at all to have the palestinian issue without being sold because of the israeli practices. the international community has not to give a blind eye to the israeli occupation practices, because this will bring disasters to the middle east and bring disasters to the whole world. it's our duty to ask the international community to force israel to put an end to its occupation to the palestinian territories and to pave the way for the establishment of the palestinian state on the borders of 1967.

your majesties, your highnesses, there is a responsibility that is legal. that is what is the reason behind us as arabs and the international community should work together in order to protect peace and security in the entire world. we should adopt all of the measures to stop the bloodshed in syria, and to lessen the hardships of the syrians, and apply the geneva one accord that will achieve the aspirations of the syrians and pave the way for them to live in dignity. and give them the whole choice to establish their country without any intervention from any powers whether locally or

regionally, or internationally, that's why we praised the efforts of the kingdom of saudi arabia for hosting the meeting of the syrian opposition to choose the opposition delegation that will represent syria in the vienna talks and negotiations, and we express our full support to the kingdom of saudi arabia in such efforts because the syrians are being now facing a genocide. and in this regard, we ask the syrian opposition to be up to the responsibility to unify the ranks, to organize, and to cooperate their efforts to more things, steps beyond the delegation. regarding yemen, we need to stress our position that yemen should be sovereign, and we support the legitimacy in yemen. we reject any attempt to enable certain sects to dominate yemen.

because of the arab coalition, and because of the unity of the yemen people, we will be able to achieve this, and we have the outcomes of the yemenis in january 2014, we have declaration 2015. the security in iraq, the stability of iraq, any national unity in iraq is quite important for us and the gcc, and quite important for us as an arab nation. that's why we call everyone to support -- upon everyone to support iraq, and help iraq in bringing back its security and stabili stability. let's stress that. fighting terrorism, combatting terrorism, will put an end to these militias and will pave the way for the iraqi state where

they are all on equal footing, they are all being treated with equal footing. in libya, we hope that our brothers in libya overcome their problems and troubles and achieve the national reconciliation, and to go along the path of unity, stability, and peace in the -- in libya. in libya, nothing will work but a political solution. your highnesses, your majesties, your highnesses, we need to boost our cooperation, to achieve stability and economic health. finally, i ask [ inaudible ] to help us to have a successful summit and to achieve peace and stability in our region, and peace be upon you all. [ applause ]

>> that was the amir of qatar there, reacting to the opening address from the saudi king after the amir has gone beyond the predictable pleasantries, he was talking about how confident he was to deal with the challenges. he said we need to keep and maintain ours a -- aspirations. he said terrorism is a real threat. we need to eradicate the reasons behind terrorism. he then said people making use of crimes as they blame muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism. he then talked about the issue of palestinian and he framed that in terms of israeli aggression, gaza, he said was in a constant state of siege, he said the international community should ask israel to stop the

occupation. just before that, we heard from the saudi king. he was talking about joint responsibility, how islam rejects terrorism. he paid lip service to the long history of the gcc. 35 years since it was established. we will all exert our efforts to help. that is the secretary of the gcc you are now looking at. >> translator: -- achieve more and more connections and more and more mercy, and more and more integration amongst the people of the gcc. at the same time i would like to express my gratitude to his highness, together with the effect forts of his government through a whole year in order to boost our support, the path of

the gcc is culminated by the implementation of celebrating the achievements of an elite group of some of our sons and daughters held in doha under the custodian of his highness, i would like to express my gratitude for this sign, that shows how dedicated you are to help the efforts of the distinguished individuals of the gcc countries. it's my honor at the same time to express my gratitude and to congratulate the [ inaudible ] of a man, the united arab emirates, the kingdom of

bahrain, and we ask all mighty to maintain stability and peace and welfare in our countries. [ inaudible ] mosques, your majesties, your highnesses, in this regard i would like to say the decisions and resolutions of the gcc council, regarding the integration in all faiths, and the expansion of cooperation amongst the countries of the gcc together with other friendly countries -- >> the gcc secretary there, welcoming the various heads of state and dignitaries to this new gcc gathering. he was expressing his appreciation and gratitude for the efforts on the part of the saudi king, and he said he hope to maintain stability, not just in individual countries, but across the region. marwan is keeping us company

monitoring those opening speeches coming out of riyadh what is your reading according to what we have heard so far? >> well, i think it's almost a tradition for the gulf leaders to mention palestinian as it is one of the historic occasion that remains a priority. even if there are things worse happening in syria and yemen, they always begin with palestinian. there is a certain underlining of the fight against terror. i think that's a very clear, very urgent, and a top priority of the gcc countries. that is probably something that will be echoed in washington. and of course the question of syria and yemen, the hottest doe see yays if you will, and i think the language is more about finding solutions than escalating any such comments. >> let's take you live to washington, because ash carter

has been talking to a congressional committee there. the u.s. wishing its gulf allies would do more to combat isil. that's the top line we're getting out of washington, d.c. we'll stay with these live pictures and talk to my correspondent rosiland jordan. rosalind how significant is what we're hearing from mr. carter? >> reporter: well, the defense secretary said that saudi arabia and other members of the gcc have been preoccupied after their initial air strikes against isil targets notably in iraq, but also in syria. they have been preoccupied with the ongoing civil war inside yemen. and this has been something that the administration has not talked about publicly for sometime. but they were not pleased when the saudi-lead coalition started

putings air power and troops inside yemen, because they felt that this was basically turning the u.s.-lead coalition, into a western coalition, not one that included support from neighbors of iraq and of syria. so to have ash carter come back out, peter, and say that the saudis and other members of the gcc need to refocus their efforts is important. it's also worth pointing out that much of the military hardware which the gcc countries have, they have that equipment because of their relationship with the united states, and so the u.s. is saying you need to bring some of the equipment, which we have gone to great length to make sure that you could obtain, you need to bring that into a fight that we consider important. >> and if you could just flip that around for us, and look at it from a slightly different angle, rosalind, a few days ago we had barack obama in the oval

office. there was nothing new that he was saying to the nation, and then the week before that we had josh earnst, reiterating again we do more than everyone else, and we do as much as we are prepared to do. >> reporter: well, ash carter when pressured by the chairman of the senate armed services committee, john mccain, said, look, we could certainly deploy as many ground troops as we deem necessary to try to go after isil, but that would, again, make the situation a u.s.-lead war, and that would not [ inaudible ] to the u.s.'s larger national security goals, which includes trying to make sure that the countries in the middle east don't feel they are under attack by the united states. this was a lesson they learned after the war in iraq most notably, and the obama administration has been very clear that it does not want to

go down that path again. however, there is considerable political pressure here in washington to do exactly that. now the question is, how long can the obama administration resist, and then what happens once barack obama leaves office in a little more than a year's time? what will his successor do about the ongoing fight against isil, which he has said is going to take years not just a matter of weeks or months. >> triangulate this for us, because we have the secretary of defense saying we want more help from the gcc, but who does the job of coalescing by force those two things together to make something really improve on the ground? >> you know, i -- i must say peter i'm not usually that easily surprised -- but it is surprising hearing ash carter say that with no context

whatsoever. it's almost disenginous saying we want more there the gcc when the sunni allies for the past five years have been begging the united states to get more involved in syria. saudi arabia started to act in yemen after they felt betrayed by the united states after the chemical attacks when they said that's a red line, and the syrian people were left unprotected, no, no-fly zones, no safe havens and so on and so forth. who can take on such a job? the only country in the world, really, that is capable of imposing that no-fly zone that we have seen in iraq, imposing something like that in syria, is the united states. the gcc countries and all other

arab allies including turkey who would want to act in syria would not be able to do such a thing without the leadership of the united states. apparently there is now some sort of urgency in washington to wrap up things in syria, and do something about the isil attacks. maybe this is another way to get people on board, because maybe the u.s. is now more interested in doing the job. >> okay. we have got the gcc going on in riyadh, making the right kind of noises. will they go further than they have gone? probably not. we have had ash carter, the u.s. defense secretary in washington saying will the u.s. probably go further than they have gone in probably not. no. you can keep right across all of the developments with our colleagues in london top of the hour. we're back tomorrow at the same

time. we'll see you very soon. bye-bye for now. ♪

rebel fighters and their families pull out of the syrian city homs in a ceasefire negotiated with the government. ♪ very good to have your company, i'm david foster, you are watching al jazeera. also in the next 30 minutes. more than 70 people killed in a taliban attack on kandahar airport in afghanistan. france says it has made significant progress on reigning in greenhouse gas emissions at crucial climate change talks in paris. and we