it's not always pretty, but it's real... and we show you like no-one else can. this is our american story. this is america tonight. >> strategy review. >> i ordered new actions to intensify our war against i.s.i.l. >> president obama goes to the pejt tpentagon to assess the pln against i.s.i.l. winter in syria. >> this situation is unacceptable. a blot on our collective consciouconscience. >> millions of syrians desperately trying to survive.

peace talks in the war in yemen as a ceasefire is about to begin. >> shows both sides are not honest enough to win this war. >> skepticism on a country about to plunge into famine. drug smugglers trying to get into the united states from mexico. good evening i'm antonio mora. we begin al jazeera america's international hour with developments in the fight against i.s.i.l. today president obama stood by his strategy in syria and iraq. he went to the pentagon to meat with his national security and defense teams. he insisted the u.s. approach would not change and the u.s. was hitting i.s.i.l. harder than ever. also today turkey began withdrawing troops from a camp

in the mosul area. there to train iraqi soldiers, recent increase in turkish troops as a threat. al jazeera's jamie mcintire has more from the pentagon. >> antonio, president obama said read my lips no new strategy. trust me, the old one is working. president obama's motorcade left the white house mid morning for the short trip across the potomac. the rare pentagon meeting of his entire military and homeland security team was intended to show that defeating i.s.i.l. remains amongst the president's top priorities. later in the briefing room obama talked tough. president obama offered no new plans just a promise to pursue his current strategy with more

vigor. >> i ordered new actions to intensify our war against i.s.i.l. these actions including more fire power and special operations forces are well underway. >> that's very similar to what the president said the last time he visited the pentagon during the summer. >> indeed we're intensifying our efforts against i.s.i.l.'s base in syria. our air strikes will continue to target the oil and gas facilities that fund much of their operations. >> that was then. this is now. >> in recent weeks we've unleashed a new round of strikes on their life line, their owl infrastructure, destroying hundreds of their tankers wells and refineries. >> the president conceded progress was slower than hoped. >> this will not be quick. this is a long term campaign. >> and he has the same message now. >> we recognize that progress needs to keep coming faster. >> are the president pointed to

the ongoing offensive to retake ramadi to the fact that i.s.i.l. is losing power. >> 40% of the country it once controlled in iraq. it will lose more. iraqi force he are fighting deeper into ramadi, cut off supply routes into mosul. >> aiding iraqi and syrian forces on the ground, president obama is dispatching his defense secretary ash carter on an arm twisting mission to the middle east, to actually do more to battle i.s.i.l. first stop, turkey. antonio. >> jamie mcintire at the pentagon. you u.s. embassy in turkey says it may be threatened with an attack. telling all americans in the area to maintain a high level of vigilance. officials urge people to avoid

the embassy until at least wednesday. they did not elaborate calling it simply a security situation. turkey has pulled some of its troops out of a base, in mosul. an increase in turkish troops had have led to tension. the iraqi government calls their presence a hostile act. now the troops are on the move but turkey says they're not leaving the country. al jazeera's osama ben javad reports from err boo erbil. >> from the peshmerga sources we know that more than a thousand troops according to these kurdish sources are on their way out. turkey says there was only 150 that wesh certaint were sent he. tanks and heavy military equipment back to turkey.

the movement of these large number of troops caused a row among the two governments. the turkish intor called ambassd washington for help. trying to take on the i.s.i.l. strong hold of mosul. turkish forces say this has happened after intense negotiations between baghdad and ankara. these troops are on their way out and turkey insisting this is a regular redeployment of troops. >> al jazeera's omar javad reporting. why has this become such a

big deal? the turks have had troops in that area mainly as trainers for more than a year. >> yes, the principal source of confrontation is whether baghdad invited the troops in a year ago or not. turkey maintains they did, baghdad maintains they did not. as an internationally recognized sovereign government, iraq has a right even though it did invite turkish troops in, to ask them to leave. common fight against i.s.i.l. >> obviously it's rake territory they have got sovereignty, they can ask whoever they want in or out. but to turn this international incident and call it a hostile act because turkey increased the

number of troops by a few hundred. >> yes, i agree with the tenor of your question, not a wise thing to do, it was an unnecessary escalation to go to the united nations in my opinion. if i were still at the united nations i would have advised against it. i also however have to say that i think it points to a failure in the american team that runs u.s. policy in iraq. that it failed to detect and anticipate the problem and defuse it behind closed doors. allowing it apparently to instead come out into the open like this. that was not -- >> you would think there is some sort of coordination among allies and the turks have argued that they needed the extra troops to help defeat i.s.i.l. and to help their existing troops stay safe. what do you think they really wanted? >> well, this is the million dollar question as they say and unfortunately, the current

relationship between baghdad and ankara has not been good for a very long time. it seems to me that the turks have kept the sort of kurdish card in play. that is to say, the question of whether or not they're will to tolerate or even encourage kurdish independence in iraqi kurdistan as a hedge against the very close relationship between baghdad and the iranian capital. >> and the iranians. but that raises the question then, why did the president of iraqi kurdistan masu barzani not say a peep about the troops? there is no love lost between the turks and the kurds anywhere. >> massoud barzani has very close ties very wisely with

ankara. and as a matter of fact, i've always thought that the baghdad government should take a page out of his play book and to improve its relationship with turkey. >> how do they manage to have that relationship when the kurdistan, iraqi kurdistan government has also made the claims of trying to have an expanded kurdistan that would reach into parts of turkey? >> well, i'm not sure that the government of kurdistan has made those claims. i think you're right that, you know, rank and file kurds might have an aspiration for a unified kurdistan taken from the four countries that kurdistan is divided between. but i think massoud barzani has been very careful not to make those kind of claims and he has been very careful to manage his relationship with turkey. turkey has significant economic ties with kurdistan.

if iraq developed better relations with turkey the economic relationship would be much larger than erbil. but barzani has played well and has not made revisionist -- >> sorry to interrupt but as jamie mcintire reported, president obama's words were almost exactly what he said months ago. is the united states hitting i.s.i.l. larder than ever before? >> the american policy with respect to i.s.i.l. is to contain i.s.i.l. we're sitting now in december. i have seen nothing yet to dissuade me from the view that american policy is containment not defeat. >> ambassador strabadi there at the university of indiana. really a pleasure to have you back. thank you for your insights.

>> pleasure is mine, thank you. >> government mandated curfews, two people died fighting with police, further south near the border with syria, officials have owed more than 50 curfews across the region. there have been a string of deadly attacks there in the last couple of months since the ceasefire between the government and the kurds fell apart. two swedish citizens were convicted for their role in two executions in 2013. evidence against the pair included video of the men cheering in the background at two beheadings. international law allow swedish courts to try certain crimes that are committed abroad if the suspects live or are arrested in sweden. the free syrian army deny getting support from operation in syria. last week president putin was

providing fsa with weapons and other supplies. today a top russian general says the russian affairs was conducting strikes on behalf of them. neither russian leader confirmed which rebel groups nor has the fsa group confirmed. john kerry will meet with sergey lavrov. with winter sitting in the plight of refugees is once again a major concern. al jazeera's bernard smith reports. >> winter has arrived in syria. bringing with it a new set of challenges for people who have been displaced from their homes. >> these heaters are dangerous to have in a tent. children can suffocate from the smoke.

>> 35,000 syrians live in this camp on the northern outskirts of aleppo. while fighting in the area continues and is perhaps the most intense, anywhere in syria, in the central city of homs a u.n. administered ceasefire between rebels and the government is holding. the u.n. humanitarian chief stephen o'brien met residents of ware neighborhood, humanitarian aid has reached it for the first time in 11 months. in southern damascus, iranian backed progovernment fighters have been tunneling towards opposition positions. antigovernment fighters say they are trying to cut a supply route to damascus airport. they say the pro regime forces don't recognize the ceasefire signed by bashar al-assad's government. and 50 people have been killed in attacks on an opposition

stronghold east of damascus. it happened after the u.n. humanitarian chief wrapped up his three day visit. >> this situation is unacceptable. a blot on our collective conscience. >> there are about 7.6 million internally displaced syrians. the u.n. says three quarters of them don't have access to drinking water while 2 million people are out of school. bernard smith, al jazeera. >> german chancellor gcial angea merkel said her country should pull back from number of refugees coming in. no evidence that foul play brought down a russian jet over

the sinai. airliner crashed on october 31st. this initial egyptian report contradicts the russian investigator's findings. it found evidence of a explosive at the site. on board object brought down the jet. peace talks in switzerland. and mahmoud abbas tries to justify recent attacks on israelis.

>> the war if yemen is th in yes of this day's in focus segment. both sides had agreed with a week long ceasefire to coincide with negotiation is. that was supposed to take place five hours ago. but it was postponed until 4:00 a.m. eastern time. zeina khodr reports from geneva. >> it is a show of force just before the warring sides talk peace. the yemen government and its government and the saudi led coalition have deployed forces close to sanaa. that's where heughtd rebels and theihouthi rebels andtheir alli.

pressuring the houthis and their allies to make concessions in switzerland but the people are not convinced they will be. >> it is unacceptable it's treason. >> reporter: the conflict is now in its ninth month. neared side is winning and the human cost is high. yemen is facing one of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. 21 million people are on the brink of famine. >> translator: it's time to end the humanitarian crisis. let's face it what we see on the ground what we hear from the politicians shows that both sides are not honest enough and willing to end this war. >> reporter: yemen's internationally recognized

government is backed by a coalition. it wants houthis to lay dowj don their arms. they are unlikely to do that. they have longer demanded broader discussion he which would involve a power sharing deal. the u.n. will be hosting peace talks at an undisclosed location in switzerland. the u.n. has imposed a press blackout because i wants to ensure every chance for a success. the u.n. says the factors for a political solution are in place. he did not elaborate. he wants outside elements like i.s.i.l. and al qaeda from

taking advantage of the situation. this could involve limits on sieges of population centers guarantee security and unfettered access to aid agencies. the last time was in late may, those talks collapsed even before they started talking. >> translator: i think we badly need an immediate truce to create a promising prerequisite for the troops. humanitarian ceasefire was something we tried but it lasted less than an hour and failed. >> this time, a ceasefire would begin on the eve of negotiations. if that holds at least while delegations discuss. >> according to the united nations more than two and a half

million people are placed within yemen, 168,000 have fled to neighboring countries to seek refuge from the fighting. almost 80% of the population requires some form of humanitarian aid. 5700 people have been killed since march, more than 800 of them women and children. joining us from washington is yemeni political analyst, amal handana, sana, always good to see you. let's start with the humanitarian crisis. the u.n. says yemen is on the brink.famine. you still have family over there. what do they tell you? >> it's getting worse and worse. a lot of things are on the black market. to the point that we expect water sooner or later will be on

the black market. 80% of the population, 20 million people don't have access to clean water and this is according to the u.n, a lot of the people injured in this are civilians, 86% have turned out to be civilians. that means both sides of this conflict have not paid attention to the people they are attacking are combatants. a lot of students are missing out on the education they should be taking. so it is very bad all around. >> the future of yemen which is already of course in doubt and today two saudi senior commanders were killed by a houthi attack and reports are that many other saudi troops were also killed, the ceasefire that was already supposed to begin was postponed until the morning. that doesn't seem encouraging. >> it doesn't seem encouraging but it somehow seems that the

saudi have succeed in pushined g out the houthi rentals from the south part of yemen. there is always an escalation of some sort because both sides feel they would finalize the battle going on for months. having said that the conflict means to be set an the table an negotiate. >> something they haven't been willing to do, now they actually will sit face to face or at least that's what's expected? >> yes, that's what's expected and they're going to talk and like the reporter said earlier, it's in an undisclosed location. because they don't want it to kind of fall out like it did before in may. it seems that hadi's government is looking forward to having something talks. they cannot keep going and the

yemeni people have really expressed their voice and their need for piece. we are hopeful with international pressure both sides will come to a peace agreement. >> you were talking about the flairups near pooh ceasefire. you have houthi government where the hadi government is now based, at the same time government troops have made a show near the capital of sanaa which is in houthi hands. you think there is something like this happening before the peace talks and there will be some compromise? >> as a matter of fact, the governor was kill, the islamic state of iraq and the levant and expand into the home town of president hadi. and they have the other time

[simultaneous speech] >> committing all sorts of atrocities, muc according to al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. do you think this could be another international problem? >> absolutely. the government has been abroad and now the president is back in aden but unfortunately there is no real presence for government on the ground leaving vacuum for militias to take over. the military is very, very weak and this has left any way of defending him, which is weak and vulnerable. this is hard time to weaken out i.s.i.s. which has taken a lot of control. just today, prince ben al salaam announced an islamic coalition

that will fight terrorism in the middle east. you talked about all forms of coalition, which would include the houthi militia if we do not accept peace terms and settlement. >> always good to have you with us. thank you. the coalition that defeated france's right front. e-of marine lof marine la pen.

>> we have people who are desperately in need of jobs. >> hear from citizens caught in the crossfire... >> we want freedom, freedom! >>...and what america can learn from chicago's ongoing

gun violence. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news we'll take you under the u.s. mexico border to show you the sophisticated complex of tunnels traffickers are using. but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. army officials say sarge bowe bergdahl will face a court martial. , after leaving his post in october 2009, bergdahl was freed after a controversial prisoner swap last year.

dragged a prisoner from his jail cell after hitting him with a taser. phillip coleman died hours later after reaction to medicine. a court has found in the family's favor. small drones, owners will have to register them. thousands of drones are expected to be sold in the holiday season. accidents and close calls associated with drones have risen dramatically. the faa says registrations is needed to track negligent owners. the president of the palestinian authority has said the recent string of stabbings of israelis are justified. mahmoud abbas says, during that same period more than 100 palestinians have been killed.

>> translator: the young palestinian started to feeling desperation about the two state solution. they go around and they don't see anything that could lead logically to a two state solution. where is our state? we have none. settlements are everywhere, checkpoints are everywhere, walls are everywhere. >> rammed his car into a crowded bus stop wounding 9 before bystanders shot him dead. the far right party of marine la pen, was ahead in the first round of voting. but in the end she was out-maneuvered by the mainstream parties in the second round. jacky rowland are reports from paris. >> it was a reversal of fortune for the far right leader marine

la pen. first round gains evaporated. for a moment the party did look well positioned to win several positions, but the people decided otherwise. marine la pen tried to put a brave face. >> the globalists fight for dilution of france and its people in a global amalgam while the patriots believe the nation is the protector of the frens and that's each and every onfref you. >> the turnout was considerably higher than the first election, with 60% taking part. now a map is more evenly divided between the republicans and the socialists. it is clear that the republicans benefited from tactical voting

because in two regions the socialists have pulled out of the contest after the first round. in order to block the extreme right. arriving to address his republican party, the former president nicholas sarkozy. there was no triumphalism, but a approximate to learn the lesson of the first round. >> translator: this mobilization in favor of our candidates must not in any pretext make us forget the warnings given by all politicians including us in the first round of the regional elections. >> the socialist party of francois hollande bounced back. the president has seen his personal popularity soar after the attacks in paris. >> there is no sense of relief or triumph though or victory. the danger of the extreme right has not vanished.

far from it. i cannot forget the results of the irtsdz first rounofthe firs. all that obliges us to listen to the french people more and act. >> this was the last time french voters would go to the polls before the presidential election. that is stilt more thaelection. that is still more than a week away. jacky rowland, al jazeera, paris. >> crifechristopher dicky is th. the national front did worse in the second round, there was bigger turnout and in some cases socialists voted for the center right republicans. doesn't that indicate that france would get together and

not allow the extreme right to win? >> no i don't think it does indicate that. first of all, marine la pen and the national front have never polled so well as they polled in these elections that they just lost. the multi-peafort system in france -- earth multi-party system in france, the socialists withdrew from the two constituencies, where they didn't believe they had a prayer in hell. that is not something you can rely on especially when we come to the presidential elections in two years or 18 months. >> the image of the national front outside france is still connected to marine la pen's dad jeanne, his daughter kicked him out of the party, and you write that donald trump is now taking more extreme positions.

so how extreme is the national front? >> well, i think that what you need to know is that donald trux is the samtrump is the same kinf buffoon jean marie la penn. marine is different speaking to the people about the issues that really concern them. >> you wrote that despite the loss, the momentum is still moving in his direction. what about the extremist acts in the rest of europe? >> there probably will be more acts of terrorism. but it isn't just that, the failure of the leadership of the

two main political parties if you will. on the one hand you have president holland who has incredibly low approval ratings and then you've got nicholas sarkozy who wants to try siphon away the vote from the anational front, the frar righ far right t nobody trusts him anymore. the leadership is playing right into the hands of marine le pen. >> does that mean that it moves further to the right and siphon votes from the far right? >> the maybe result has been to build up marine la pen. when he was moving to the right against her father, who is an haitian semite, but he denies that, recommend that jean marie la pen made it into the finals

but 82% voted against him. >> in the first round you will find eerts la pen in the number one or number two position, what happens then, do the republicans vote for the right or do they go to the left? >> you know, it's very hard to way. let's look at the region where marine la pen was running runnig herself. she was 42% with the combined parties running against her, they got a little less than 60% of the vote. considerably large number before 80% of the vote. the rejections we saw in the presidential elections of 2002

in fact this leaves her a lot of time to run forward. there was a consensus that, i don't think the political mainstream actually believessists true anymore. >> it's a fascinating story. great too have you on. >> pleasure antonio. a presidential speech was cees voa brokkosovo broke away a in 29, was temporarily surrendered because of tear gas. after violence oon sunday kept people on the polls.

that is widely seen as a test for national presidential elections coming at the end of the month. at least two people were killed. 20 more injured in the violence. u.n. peace keepers, sending soldiers to protect the polling stations. on thursday the u.n. will hold an extraordinary meeting to investigate human rights abuses in burundi. security is deteriorating in that african nation ant since an when president pierre nkurunziza dlaishedeclared he would defy te constitution. a group of generals have also been charged. yet the u.s. statements warned americans to leave burundi because of the violence.

human rights leaders pu zhiqiang has spent a year and a half in jail, al jazeera's adrian brown reports from beijing. >> wasn't much free speech outside page's second, one of china's best known advertise dents. someone showded, the president's infant wands to. >> of course, many people are watching this trial, with great interest. he is a very, very prominent dissident and as you can see it's actually very difficult to film now. among the the diplomats the

first secretary of the u.s. embheaarebefore he too was push. he was here to slow support to pu zhiqiang, one of china's leading advocates for free speech. pu was arrested nine months ago. after statements he made mocked chinese government. he was accused of insighting ethnic hatred. the are internationally acclaimed artists ai weiwei. away from the court there is this kind of performance that's enough to get you arrested in the current climate. >> there is no freedom at all, you are guilty if you talk, you are even guilty if you sell

flowers. there are admonish threnld human rights you activates, there lawyers and journalists who have become a campaign against public utility and social dissent almost 2 years ago. last week one state owned nip urged judges in this case to ignore is pressure from western tbofltsentenced to tet for murda british businessman. a beijing court said she was eligible to have her sentence reduced because she showed remorse around for good behavi behavior. life in prison on several corruption charges. the supertunnels that drug smugglers get into the united states. coming up we're going to take you inside one of these

amazingly sphifnghtded tunnels in the ufs-mexic u.s. and mexic.

>> parts of the philippines are getting slammed by typhoon melor. the powerful storm is packing 85

minor winds. the storm surge was up to 46 feet at one point. trees and power lines are down, leaving a large part of the central philippines without electricity. almost 800,000 have been taken to shelters. in argentina, people died in a bus accident, mostly border police. carrying about 60 people when it fell off the side of a bridge after its tire burst causing the driver to lose control. when joaquin el chap chapo n escaped from his jail cell into a tunnel, john holman has the

story. >> under its floorboards is one of superopportunities to get drugs into their biggest market the united states. their sophisticated works of engineering with electric lighting, ventilation, and even a primitive transport system. this trolley can be wheeled along these rails as i'm doing now, that's exactly what the people working here would do to transport soil in and out of the tunnel. you are their multimillion dollar investments up to eight soccer pifn pitches long. but just one load of emergency would pay for it. they rent these out to other criminal groups who want to transport their merchandise to the other side. told little, run the risk of rearisk of arrest or worse.

it's happened that cartels simply killed the people to take their knowledge can them. world's most wanted drug lord el chapo out of jail. long row of warehouse he often the are mexico side and long row in the united states side, given at any time there's a large vacancy right, empty houses, the cartel will use that to their benefit. >> special tunnel tasks, using rudimentary equipment and door to door activities, three have discovered them from undergrown poleundergroundpoles.

>> we have come across instances where the tunnels are knopf not remediated and the car tells will tig into the, situation. so far around 180 tunnels have been discovered along the border. but how many more have the authorities been guarding? john holman, abc news acknowledge mexico. >> the tront sta toronto star ws is a small but vital step to end the war against bashar al-assad. no longer argue they do not have a credible negotiating pash. it writes that the obstacles ahead are hoournlg but there is now a glimmer of hope. israeli's, the full economic and

political cooperation will turn the paris agreement into the reality. it writes, there are still serious issues about sears effect in the long term. and brazil's from odea writers, the results were, quote, better than knowing. guide the is thact that world leaders recovery strs no alternative to the erd. italian police busted a, be seized 3500 phony papal blessing valued at around $80,000, police also confiscated unauthorized papal rosaries magnets pencils and plates, as part of a crack down for the jubilee clear.

year. on the mission to space, american astronaut tim cochra. the u.k.'s tim peak says he understands the significance of his historic journey. >> i think it's a really important step that great britain is part of the international space station program so i' i'm delighted thas occurred. the first part has already been achieved as far as what i hope for this nation. >> it's a grade time to inspire a new, in-depth look at the russian spaits policeman. designers and architectures aree

sharing their view of what hong kong will look a decade from now. ative yah gopalan has the story. >> hong kong's architects merging with an uncertain futu future. participants were asked to, losing its semi independent status of one country two systems. >> we were very interested in creating a platform for people to is speak, for young designers and this generation to have a way to communicate their thoughts and thinkings. >> some thoughts needing participate. >> this is a reflection about what we are going through right

now in hoong congress cfnlg like collapse offer of the government leadership. it's really really chaotic. so i can project 30 years from now it might get worse. >> the oar tift based his vision on how the government thanldz pro-democracy, other products were not so bad beings. the creator much oornlgs of the. >> they are like the constructions made by the protestors on the street. so i want to redreet that absence so people can fail the same situation and figure out what they were doing on the street. >> other exhibits stayed away from ploj. this structure is made

by 3d metal printing. the new technology using light weight metal can be used in homes of the future, according to what the homeowner envisions. our hong kongers may be living in stacked aluminum pods. straightforward future for city, a growing urban glung l with a skyline that keeps going upwards. divya gopalan. al jazeera. >> ride sharing business seattle city council voted to give the groups opportunity to union i'd of i i've. >> i'll be barkt with more mimee

in a moment.

goevening, i'm antonio mora. president obama tries to clarify his strategy and the work done to get help from allies. debating the fate of a baltimore police officer accused in the death of freddie gray. the possible protests that the city is preparing. >> and the right to unite. drivers for ride hailing apps like uber and lift, utilizing in seattle. the impact on contract employees