reports of a deadly gas attack in syria, claims that sarin may have been used. ♪ hello there, i'm felicity barr, and this is al jazeera, live from london. also coming up. moscow says an amnesty report is fake after it claims that russia may be guilty of war crimes in syria. and russia calls for an international arrest warrant for the critic. and a remarkable tail of

survival from china. the 19 year old found after 60 hours trapped under landslide rubble. ♪ hello, a gas attack is reported to have taken place in syria. five people are said to have been killed southwest of damascus. witnesses say government helicopters fired missiles containing the nerve agent sarin. this despite an international watch dog saying the last of syria's chemical weapons had been shipped out of the country for destruction last year. zana hoda has the latest. >> reporter: this is not the first time there have been reports of gas used as a weapon in syria. opposition sources say these people were exposed to gas when government helicopters fired missiles in the residential area, that rebel-held neighborhood on the outskirts of damascus has been a battleground

for some time now. >> translator: his rockets were carrying sarin gas and as a result five people were killed, including a 12-year-old boy, and more than 30 injured, mostly civilians. the sarin gas was used in the west neighborhood of the city. the victims showed certain sympt symptoms. this later caused the death of the five victims. >> reporter: it was one of the opposition-controlled areas in the countryside around the capitol where chemical agents were deployed in 2013. it didn't blame any side, but many western governments said the forces loyal to the syrian government were responsible. a deal was later reached between russia and the u.s. to destroy syria's chemical weapon arsenal.

the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons confirmed that the equipment for mixing, filling, and producing chemical weapons had been destroyed. since then there, though, there have been reports of chemical attacks. the fact-minding mission was not mandated to assign any blame, but the area had seen fighting between isil and an op-giggs group. diplomats said the findings added to evidence that isil had obtained and is using chemical weapons in iraq and syria. in that wasn't the only attack investigated in idlib there were several incidents between march and may, which the fact-finding mission said likely involved the use of one or more objection to kick chemicals including chlorine. the u.s. envoy to the chemical weapon watchdog has warned that the use of chemical weapons is

becoming increasingly common in the syrian war. zana hoda, al jazeera. russia has denied using cluster bombs in syria after the humanitarian rights organize, amnesty international suggested its air strikes could constitute war crimes. it alleges russian authorities lied to cover up civilian damage in at least two strikes. and accused russian and syrian forces of using banned cluster bombs. but russia say there is a lack of evidence in amnesty international's report. >> to say that there is not enough evidence when we have provided photographs and remnants of their weaponry, and spoken to dozens of credible video clips and other images of dead civilians of bodies in parts and so on, statements from

the ministry of defense itself in russia, where they say they have carried out particular attacks. it would be interesting to know from russia what more evidence they would like. because there is a ton of evidence at their doorstep that they have committed probable war crimes. >> peter sharp is live in moscow for us right now. tell us more about this response from russia to those accusations. >> reporter: since the bombing started the defense ministry has refused to comment on claims that civilians were getting caught up in the fighting, but such was the deaths in the wake of the amnesty international report that the defense ministry called a sudden briefing session this afternoon, and the spokesman there just totally denied all of the allegations, the claims made in the report. he said that once again there is nothing new, the same cliches

and fakes, nothing but a flood of lies and empty information. he said the russians had been openly cooperative, and doing what they needed to do to being open in their conduct of the actual fighting. but they said there was no cluster bombs at any of the bases, and basically said that the amnesty report was just malicious and an attempt to smear others. here is what the spokesman said about the report. >> translator: we familiarized ourselves with the contexts of this report, and as usual there is nothing concrete and new published in it. in re-gart guards to the suggestion of use of cluster bombs in syria, the russian air force does not use them. >> and russia sees itself as having similar abjebbingtives in

afghanistan as to the taliban. can you explain what it means fwha? >> reporter: it was a short one line, but they said that basically, the taliban interests in fighting isil basically overlapped russia's interest. earlier in the year, isil and the taliban declared war on each other as they vied for territory in the country, and the president's special advisor to afghanistan said the taliban interests objectively coincide with ours. and he said that methods and channels of communication have now been opened so information can be shared. >> thanks, peter. iraqi soldiers are battling to recapture the key city of ramadi from isil. the military claims to have taken a few neighborhoods on the eastern outskirts of that city. gerald tan has the latest. >> reporter: progress is slow,

but progress nonetheless. iraqi security forces close in on isil fighters in the central of ramadi city. the government is portraying the battle as a final push to recapture the capitol of an nar province. spirits are high. >> even it's very slow, but it's very well organized and very well coordinated between the local iraqi police, iraqi army, and the air strike from the international coalition. >> reporter: according to iraqi intelligence, there are just a few run rebels left in ramadi, a sharp drop from when isil stormed the city in may, striking its biggest blow to the government. iraqi forces have been trying to re-enter the city since early november, they say they have now weeded out fighters from two

residential areas. >> lots of forces have been trained and ready to hold the ground after liberation of the city. this is going to be great boost for the iraqi forces morale, and great advance and progress in the fight against isis. >> reporter: they have attempted to choke isil fighters but cutting off supplies, but it has also made life worse for the residents in the city. gerald tan, al jazeera. ♪ an international arrest warrant has been issued by russia for the kremlin critic. authorities accuse him of ordering the killing of the mayor of a siberian town back in

1998. >> reporter: this man may be in self imposed exile. >> translator: no matter what the kremlin propaganda and pr wanted to show us, putin is no superman. and he will not go down in history as a hero. >> reporter: on tuesday russian police raided the offices of a organization funded by the man. >> translator: it is not an unexpected event for us, especiallyic taking into consideration the fact that activists were searched and jailed before. >> reporter: on wednesday came the international arrest war rent accusing him of organizing a contract killing in the '90s.

>> translator: the presence of evidence of the accused involvement in homicide and attempted homicide, the investigation has decided to request his arrest in absentia. >> reporter: the kremlin's most outspoken critic, and once russia's richest man has already spent ten years in jail for charges that were widely seen as punishment for questioning the russian power. in the last week, he has been increasingly outspoken in his attacks on the government. president putin, he says has driven russia into a position where revolution is inevitable, and necessary, and he adds i'll help bring it about. on wednesday he reacted to being

charged in absentia. they have gone mad, he said. still to come on the program, praying for peace, why christmas for some in the west bank will be marred by violence. and we'll tell you why thousands of cubans are stuck in costa rica. ♪

♪ hello again, and reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. syrian opposition activists say five people have been killed and dozens injured in a chemical

weapon attack southwest of damascus. russia has rejected an amnesty international report that suggested its air strikes in syria could constitute war crimes. and the head of iraq's army says he only needs a few days to drive isil forces out of the city of ramadi. a 19 year old has been pulled live from the rubble of sunday's landslide in the southern chinese city. more than 70 are still missing after a huge pile of construction waste smashed into buildings in an industrial park. adrian brown reports. >> reporter: alive against all of the odds. trapped under debris for almost three days. he is a migrant worker, age 19. his voice and pulse were feeble when rescuers finally reached him. raising their morale and those of local people. >> translator: it's a miracle. a man was rescued alive. we were so happy when we heard

about it. very happy. >> reporter: he has been in the office of a factory when the mud slide happened on sunday morning. but a man found close to him was dead. doctors are hopeful he will recover, but his injuries are serious. >> translator: he is severely debilitated and dehydrated, he sustained multiple injuries. >> reporter: at the rescue site frantic efforts to fine more survivors have intensified. but they are also finding more bodies. the operation has also begun to effect local businesses. >> translator: we cannot go out now. we cannot transfer the goods in and out of this area. there is no guarantee for our lives. many workers have to eat and there is no power supply now.

>> reporter: the da luge of mud and construction waste engulfed more than 30 buildings. it happened after heavy rains dislodged the man made pile that had been there several years. now a senior official of the firm that managed the dump has been arrested. a local government report had identified storage problems at the site months ago, warning of a catastrophe. guinea's president says the prime minister and his cabinet have resigned. he says they stepped down to allow his soon to be appointed cabinet to take over. he won reluck shun in october in a controversial vote that the opposition says was rigged. a rebel leader in central african republic has withdrawn his petition to a crucial election.

he is the leader of the seleka. it is hoped the presidential election on sunday will help end conflict. tan tania page reports from the capitol. >> reporter: he posed a very real threat to the possibility of a peaceful election here in central african republic. he had declared an autonomous state. but now he says he supports a positive and sincere contribution to the election, and says he regrets calling for the partition of the country. this is very significant because he was one of the seleka commanders who lead a mostly muslim group of fighters here into the capitol and overthrew the president in 2013. they committed atrocities

against civilians on the way. when the french forces moved in, the seleka withdrew, and mostly vigilantly groups rose up and took revenge on the muslim population. in that prompted months of interreligious violence here in the capitol and across the whole rest of the country. people here tell us they are sick and tired of the violence, of the bloodshed. they want the country to move forward, they want the election to happen peacefully. now that he says he is on board and people have the choice of 30 candidates, all promising to bring unity between christians, muslims and the rest of the mie noirties, people have a chance at hope. but there are still many armed groups out there. the disarmament program hasn't been effective. so the threat of violence at sunday's election is stilt very real. turkey's government says it is too early to say what caused a deadly explosion at istanbul's

busiest airport. five aircraft were damaged. turkey says weakness in security is out of any question. israeli place have shot dead two palestinians who stabbed two people in east jerusalem. since october, 130 palestinians and 20 israelis have been killed in violence across the palestinians territories and israel. christmas celebrations across the occupied west bank will be subdued this year. palestinians political leaders have decided to tone down holiday festivities amid the wave of violence. it's an annual tradition that 19-year-old jameel normally looking forward to. but decorating the christmas tree is different this year, he

suffers from severe pain and can barely standing after he was shot in the neck last month at a protest sneer his home. he was injured after israeli commandos dressed in plain clothing, infiltrated the crowd and a allegedly opened fire with live rounds. while we covering in hospital, he was sent a video that shows the moment the undercover israeli forces began shooting, and also when he was taken into an ambulance by first responders, clearly in shock. >> translator: when i look at the person in think video, it feels as if i'm looking at someone else. it was a life-changing experience. all i ask is that people pray for peace, for us, so that the war can end, and i pray for god to haver mercy on all of those killed in palestinian, and give patience to their families. >> reporter: it's not just families like his who are

struggling to celebrate this christmas. municipalities across the occupied west bank including here in bethlehem have also decided to scale back festivities. in the major square the christmas tree is decorated, but elsewhere, decorations were either toned down or not put up at all. political leaders say it was the right thing to do. >> this is the mosaic of all of life in bethlehem. we live the joy, the sadness, the faith, the challenges, and the -- the encounters with faith on ground. >> reporter: at the opposite end of the square, activists decorate a olive tree with pictures of those killed in the recent violence. they are calling it a resistance tree. this town was promised peace in

the bible, something it has seen little of for many years. u.n. special envoy for yemen has warned of deep divisions between the country's warring factions, saying the path to peace will be long and difficult. he made the comments to the u.n. security council after talking aimed at resolving the conflict finished without agreement. he is calling for strong stronger -- fees -- ceasefire agreements. >> translator: tragically, we were not able to preserve the cessation of hostilities throughout the length of the talks, although we did see a significant reduction of violence. in the first days there were numerous violations reported by the committee, the lack of compliance with the cessation of hostilities, demonstrates the need for stronger agreements, as

well as robust mechanisms to assure adherence. thailand military government has delivered a report card over how it believe it has performed in the past year. >> reporter: the man who lead the coup is still thailand's prime minister, the former army chief delivered his year-end report and confirmed he is still working towards an election in 2017. >> translator: we have one year six months left, from january 2016, to july 2017. the government will be laying the ground work for the stuff we haven't done. >> reporter: but many still fear the military be break their promise and try to stay in power. if it does, some analysts say an economy that is already struggling in many areas would worsen, there would be unrest, particularly in the poorer rural areas. >> those people have been putting up with this for a long

time, and they are going to burst any time soon, because they couldn't survive. >> reporter: in september a military appointed panel voted against a new constitution. that meant another delay to elections until 2017. it lead to accusations that the entire process was a staged delaying tactic. the general has at times threatened to stay in power indefinitely. the prime and his government has embarked on a drive to promote nationalism or thainess as they call it. anyone overly critical of the government is accused of going un-thai or of harming the country. people arrested on charges of insulting the monarchy have become increasingly common. the prime says measures have been taken to protect what he insists is an ongoing process of reform >> translator: all of the laws

have stipulated and barred certain actions. but people still violate it, which makes it look like i'll have late human rights. these laws are there, because we are still in the reform process. if it was a normal situation i wouldn't be standing here. >> reporter: for many normality means democracy, which is still 18 months away. but it may not be the type of democracy people hoped for. france east prime minister has outlined proposals to change the constitution in response to last month's attacks in paris. special policing powers put in place under the recent state of surgery could become part of the country's constitution. they will also include the proposal to strip duel citizenship for people convicted of terrorism charges. >> translator: it's a heavy sanction which our nation can impose on someone who has

betrayed it in the worst possible way. it's a bloody, total, and definitive denial of any will toly together. so it amounts to denying the soul of our nation. nicaragua and costa rica are still undecided about the fate of cubans headed to the united states. the central american country hasn't been able to broker a safe passage for them. >> reporter: cleaning the garden of their benefactor, for a month these cuban migrants have shelter in this house in costa rica. >> translator: she helped us so much. we are just trying to give back. we are like family now.

>> reporter: almost 6,000 cubans have been stuck here since nicaragua shut down the border stopping them on their way to the u.s. she says she was moved by the ha harrowing stories of their trip, and that's why she took them in. >> translator: they were mugged and assaulted, but they are lovely people, and hard workers. >> reporter: the presence of thousands of cubans has changed the face of la cruz, shelters have popped up across city. central american countries have seen a spike in the number of cubans since the island's renewed relations with the u.s. costa rica has failed to broker a new transit for them.

guatemala and nicaragua blame the u.s. for allowing cubans to reach their soil while rejecting their own migrants. a regional agreement brought some progress, but no agreement has been reached. >> translator: we ask you to be patient. we are making progress. in the meantime, please stay safe and don't try to cross illegally. >> reporter: but after weeks in the shelters, some migrants have been resorting to people smugglers, often with dangerous outcomes. >> translator: after walking for nine hours in the woods they attacked us, and took our last $1,500. we had no option but to turn ourselves into the nicaraguan police who sent us back here. >> reporter: a new meeting to solve the issue has been called for december 28th, a temporary solution might be at hand, but central american countries fear more cubans will embark on the

journey as long as the temptation of settling in the u.s. remains possible. and there's much more on many of our stories on our website, the address to click on to as ever, is aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. shopping center showdown, mass protests planned at the mall of america days before christmas. >> seal the truth, huh? kill the babies that's what planned parenthood does. >> reporter: attorneys question whether the accused colorado planned parenthood shooter is mentally fit to stand trial. a deadly storm system is sweeping across the country, as millions of people head out for the holidays. and the nfl on the