tomorrow. fp tomorrow. >> gaining ground. iraqi government claims it could retake the strategic city of ramadi from i.s.i.l. by the weekend. but u.s. officials say it could be a much more protracted fight. syrian crisis, opposition accuse the government of using serin

gas. and embassy bombing that killed hundreds of civilians may amount to war crimes. peace plan, u.n. city council voted unanimously to support a new unity government in libya and urging other countries to do whatever it takes to help stabilize the country. subdued celebrations. >> all i ask is that people pray for peace for us in the city of nativity. so the war can end. >> how violence is overshadowing christmas this year in bethlehem. good wednesday evening everyone. antonio mora is off. i'm adam may filling in. this is al jazeera america's international news hour. we begin tonight in ramadi. that's where i.s.i.l.'s months-long hold on that city may be about to end. the iraqi military says its

forces remain within striking distance of the city's center. progress has slowed since the first day of the separation but they are not reporting any major set backs and they still believe i.s.i.l.'s defeat is just a matter of time. now allowing civilians who have been trapped in ramadi to escape. i.s.i.l. fighters have been forcing them to stay there sometimes serving as human heeled. many oshields. many of the newly liberated are children. gerald tan has the story. >> progress is slow but progress nonetheless. iraqi forces focus in, to recapture the capital of anbar 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 air strike from the international coalition. >> reporter: according to iraqi intelligence there are just a few hundred rebels left in ramadi, a sharp drop that from when i.s.i.l. stormed the city in may striking its biggest below in the government. iraqi forces have been trying reenter the city since early november. they have weeded out residents in some neighborhoods and booby traps throughout the streets. >> iraqi forces have been trained and ready to hold the ground after liberation of the city. this is going to be great boost for iraqi forces morale and great advance and progress in the fight against i.s.i.s.

>> reporter: the shia led government has cut off supplies to ramadi for months now in attempt to choke i.s.i.l. fighters. but it's also made life worse for the be residents of this mainly sunni city. winning the city, winning back the people will be a different matter altogether. gerald tan, al jazeera. >> douglas olivant joining us, former director for iraq in both the bush and obama administrations. douglas pleasure to have you. >> pleasure adam. >> trying ostart this microand building to the big picture and the future. let's start with what's happening there on the ground in ramadi. what do you make, how do you assess the reports that the iraqi security forces are now closing in on the middle on the center of that city? what does that really mean? >> well, we do seem to have unanimous consent, everyone agrees that the iraqi forces are

progressing into the city center of ramadi after crossing the rivers that isolate the city center from essentially the suburbs. what we just don't know is how long it's going to take. it's been described as inevitable and that seems to be case. there are literally thousands of iraqi security forces now surrounding the city and we think only a few hundred i.s.i.l. fighters in the center. but whether they've really pushed through the rest of it and now they're just cleaning up or whether there's going to be dedicated resistance in the center that will take days or weeks we don't know yet. >> interesting inevitable, that stiel wili.s.i.l. will be northy defeated, what changed here? >> i think a few things. the iraqi forces in ramadi, last may, clearly had a very, very bad day on the day that ramadi fell. we could have a long conversation about that.

but they had a bad day. but now it's just a matter of mass, and overwhelming. the iraqi security forces have literally tens of thousands of fighters that they can, over time, push into here. and so no matter how dedicated the i.s.i.l. fighters are, if there's only two or 300 of them and there are several thousand iraqi security forces that does make it pretty much fleftable. inevitable. >> that does make a difference. what does this mean for greater iraq now? >> this is certainly going to be a big news story. a big boost for a couple of people, big boost for iraq, security forces for their government to show that they can execute this competently. a big boost for two political figures involved, prime minister abadi in iraq and for president obama who has taken a lot of

criticism for his strategy and is probably just about as happy to see this win as are the iraqis themselves. >> no doubt the president has been criticized for his handling of the situation. what about i.s.i.l. as a whole, we see them strong in syria, reports of them growing in size in even northern africa now. a defeat in iraq what does that say to the organization and how does that impact the rest of the region? >> well, every defeat is important. but i think we're going to have to see a couple more before we start to see the sense of i.s.i.l. as a movement or an organization that is on the move, that is expanding, that is growing. it's going to take a series of defeats to penetrate that aura that they have because you're right. they have -- their franchises are expanding in north africa, in afghanistan, even in

subsaharan africa and they have had their supporters throughout the world in paris in brussels in san bernardino perform these lone wolf or small-group attacks. so this is a good news story but it's hard to picture this being a game changer over the next few weeks. >> you bring up paris, you bring up san bernardino. let's go really big picture, you were a national security advisory for two presidents on this issue. let's say the u.s. military and the iraqi security forces and the coalition forces can defeat i.s.i.l, what else needs to be done in order to de-power this organization? >> that's a great point. there's a mill trif fight to be had here. and we've all seen what these i.s.i.l. fighters do to their opponents. we've seen them burn people alive, we know they're running organized gang rape organizations. that said, even once they're

eliminated there are deeper root causes that brought this group about. again as long as they are burning people alive and running rape rings, i'm not particularly concerned about the root causes, but we absolutely have to deal with the authoritarian governments in the region that don't allow any political participation, the youth bulge and their lack of political opportunity, and this ideology, this violent islamism that so many disenfranchised and poor men turn to. >> and that's a very big component to the issue. douglas olivant thank you for shedding light on this, thanks. the afghan government trying to push back a taliban advance. the taliban has, in the first british deployment in 14 months,

fleeing residents reported taliban executions have captured soldiers and now despite fears that the entire province was on the brink of a security collapse, afghanistan's acting minister of defense says his soldiers will continue on. >> the rest of the organization, they are operating hand in hand with all kind of equipment and assets they are putting at their disposal. this is not that our military is giving up. >> and all but two of helmand's 14 districts are heavily controlled or heavily contested by taliban. all but 14, are back in the united states at this point. defense secretary ash carter, among those at hand to witness an operation that the military calls a dignified transfer.

the victims a.m. remains will soon be turned over to their families for burials. and the six were remembered at bagram air base, with boots and helmets. the chaplain who carried on that service said that the best way to honor their lives was would be to carry on the mission they dedicated their lives to. >> the head of the hdp met with russia's foreign minister today. it is a move likely to upset the turkish governmental. turkish russian relations has been very strained. the very latest from istanbul. >> the leader of hdp party expected some sort of backlash.

when he left turkey his visit to russia was to try improve the deteriorating relationship. but the governing -- the ruling ak party, says that it was a huge mistake for the leader to be in the country. the official line of the turkish government is it shot down the russian military space because it violated its air space. therefore, the turkish government is going to form an spolapology for the russian government. saying that the pro-kurdish party has some sort of links with the pc part pkk party, urgc

to extend itself. we are expecting it to further deteriorate relations. >> hashem ahelbarra reporting. pegasus airliner jet, five aircraft were also damaged in the blast. the cause of the explosion is still not known at this point. meanwhile, turkish informs continue to bomb kurdish sites. troops and tanks have been deployed to towns on the borders of iraq and syria. turkish state media says it has

killed 130 so farce far this week. still ahead, russia's answer of aamnesty international's allegations. >> i did two tours in iraq, when i came back i couldn't find a job. >> fighting to survive. >> bein' a man and can't put my family in a home that they deserve... that's a problem for me. >> hard earned pride. hard earned respect. hard earned future. a real look at the american dream. "hard earned". sunday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

>> syrian activists are accusing government forces loyal to president assad of using toxic gas outside damascus. the allegations haven't been verified but causing baseless, five men killed in that attack. also in syria today air strikes hit a busy market outside damascus. victoria gatenby reports. >> they can barely believe what use is happened. attacks carried out by russian war planes against a syrian market. dead bodies everywhere and people are rushing to find survivors. they check if this man is alive. he's not so they move on looking for injured people to help. this is the town of bazena in

the damascus country side. people who live here say fighting between syrian government forces and opposition fighters has been nonstop for two months. they say the syrian regime is trying to break the deadlock with the help of russian air strikes. >> this is from the regime of bashar al-assad. this is what's happening to us. where are you muslim brothers? where are you? >> russia began bombing syria in september. it says it's targeting i.s.i.l. but the institute for study of war a u.s. based think tank say the russian campaign has mainly hit are syrian groups. >> especially on duma and zemelka has increased recently. they pretend they are hitting the terrorists but most of the people killed are women and children. >> these are the scenes that people of syria have become

familiar with. what has started as an uprising against the government has lon descended into civil war. played out across the country for almost five years now and killed nearly 200,000 people. victoria gatenby, al jazeera. >> amnesty international says it has evidence that russia's bombing of syria has violated humanitarian laws. russian air strikes have killed hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction to residential areas. now russia strongly rejected the allegation saying the group's report was full of, quote, cliches and lies. credit. >> reluctant to comment on these very serious claims by amnesty international that more than 200,000 civilians were killed in

2,000 civilians were killed in russian air strikes. the same cliches, same fakes, flood of lies empty without any proof. >> translator: we familiarized ourselves with the contents of this report. nothing unusual and nothing new in it. with regard to the issue of cluster bombs, russian air force does not use them. >> unprecedentedly open about their operations in syria and they stated croikl categoricalle were no cluster bombs in the country. the purpose of all these manipulation they said by amnesty is to smear others. >> peter sharp reporting from moscow. in context tonight we're taking a look at how conflicts are

putting children in syria at risk. in 2015, 16,000 peabs wer 16,00e born. unicef released the film, born into danger, to bring attention to this issue.

>> wait! >> wowferwow, a very powerful p. john budd, strikes me watching that video, how westernized this family appears. is that imaiiv indicative of sof

the families fleeing these incidents? >> ii think it was designed to when you see those people you can put yourself in their position. and what strikes you the most, when you're in conflict areas, is how much people are running. how much people are fleeing. how much time they don't have to do something. so they're running for their lives as well as running to give birth to a child. so it is a really quite, if you like, a poignant identifiable moment. and i think that's why it's been quite successful in terms of the number of people who are watching it. >> i know you personally have spent months working in south sudan, according to eun 7.we'r , we're talking about more than 16

million babies born into conflict, south sudan, central african republic, these are the countries they are most coming from. if you get a picture, after that video ends, what would happen to that family next? >> they wouldn't get to a hospital, they wouldn't get to a doctor. they wouldn't get to a midwife or even a health worker of any sort. the chance he are that they would give birth, that woman would give birth to that baby right there. and interestingly, given some of the things that i do know, at least she has a partner there to help her. in many countries, many places, that woman wouldn't even had a partner. >> the woman are alone -- >> alone, men either away fighting or they fled somewhere else or she is left alone. she may even have another child there with her. and it is quite common to see

that. it is quite common to experience it. >> as we look at the video playing out once again, i'm kind of curious given the current political climate ear in the u.s., there is a large segment of the population voicing concerns over refugees bringing them to america. do you think a video like this could have an impact on that national conversation? is that part of the goal? >> it wasn't part of the goal. what the goal was, was to bring it home to every person, whether you're in a developed country or not. what it is like to be in a conflict zone. that is the principal goal. what it is like for 16 million women every year who are giving birth to a baby. so that was the principal goal. if a secondary goal in this was to make people aware that stigmatizing these people who just but for the grace of god go i are found in this position, i hope it asks the question, is it right to stigmatize them?

>> a large percentage of the refugees right now heading into europe are children. the numbers that came out yesterday more than a million so far. i mean this is the greatest exodus since world war ii. is there a country there that appears to be doing something right? is there a model for how these refugees should be treated? >> i think germany is doing the best -- >> germany. >> -- it can. it has shown by example, it has shown by what it has done every day. and it is basically looking after, or a large percentage of the children, so about 300,000 children who have fled to europe. and it has been prepared to help, to take them on, and to look after them. in fact unicef last week announced a program or cooperation with germany. this is the first time we have

worked in germany since just after the second world war, when the german people faced an enormous number of displaced people. we are working with the government, with the refugees in germany to make sure they're response is the best possible. >> real quick one last question. i'm really moved by unicef's picture of the year, showing these two children surrounded by guards as they are trying to make one of these horrible journeys. when america sees these pictures their hearts break. there is the picture right there. what can you do to help these kids, besides giving money to an organization like unicef or save the children, what can they do about this? >> i think be aware. when you have a knowledge of something that's going to mean you're not going to be led by in

order to help these situations. >> because those two kids could really be anyone's kids. unicef spokesman john budd thank you for coming inta the studio. >> thank you. >> still ahead, british muslims share their stories about being blocked from entering the u.s.,. how he and others are being kept out of america. and russia, the reluctant for michel kortakofsky.

kortakofsky

>> and welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm adam may in for antonio mora. coming up for this half hour of international news, threatening jail time for those who partake in celebrations. but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. a man accused of chuting up a colorado planned parenthood, demanded that he be allowed to represent himself. the judge demanded he under go

mental evaluation. the man had outbursts and claimed he was guilty. storms have are claimed several lives and injured more. black lives matter activists held a protest in minnesota today against police killings of unmanned black people. after police dispersed the mall protests, they moved towards the airport, briefly shut down roadways heading into the terminals. united nations is back libya's unity government plan, supreme court endorsed a deal that was struck by the country's rival parliaments. could be a crucial threat against i.s.i.l. >> libya's fledgling government

of national accord. four years after the death of moammar gadhafi. ambassador to the u.n. said the new government was a necessary compromise. >> translator: it cannot achieve the aspiration of all parties, but it best represents what we can potentially achieve and it is the highest common denominator. >> reporter: members of two rival governments, political parties and civil society groups reached an agreement on a new government last week. the u.n. special representative for libya martin kobler encouraged other libyans to come on board for the good of the people. >> the schools have to be open, the lights have to work, and peace and security should really be established over time and that is the task of the

government of national unity. >> instability and the presence of i.s.i.l. also making libya a hub for the human trafficking of migrants seeking to cross the mediterranean to europe. instability in libya is a threat to international security. calling on individuals to respond in particular dealing with i.s.i.l. but the government has to ask first. >> the united nations kingdom says it is waiting to help. >> we are waiting with impatience and a lot of interest. once it's been created we'll talk to them about what is required against daesh. >> a plan for national security. kristin saloomey, al jazeera,

new york. >> ongoing initiative aimed at preventing domestic attacks. today's he arrests, stray plot to destroy deposit buildings and a naval base. one of the suspects under arrest will be charged with making a document likely to facilitate a terrorist act. the other will face charges of conspiracy to do an act in advance of a terrorist act. so far 13 people have been arrested in connection with this counterterrorism. 45-year-old man suffered multiple stab wounds and a 40-year-old man was mistakenly

arrested by police. more than 130 palestinians and 20 israelis have yet been kill. are despite the unrest in the nearlying daily attacks. they are still wishing for a peaceful christmas. imtiaz tyab reports. >> reporter: decorating is different this year. he was shot in the neck next month after the infiltration of palestinian protestors he's with around the recovery of final rounds. online video shot by an international news outlet that not only showed the moment

israeli was opened, clearly in shock. >> when i look at the person in the have it yoa it parties i had name someone else. >> all i pray is that people pray for us in the city of nah anyway tift. nativity. >> municipalities across the occupied west bank including here in bethlehem have also decided to scale back festivities. >> in bethlehem's major square, the christmas try is decorated and the nativity scene is on display. elser where, decorates were put

away. >> we have all the different conditions, we'll have the joy, we'll have the sooten an the encounters on 48th with groint. >> palestinian activists decorate an olive tree, those killed in the recent violence. they are calling it a resistance tree, it's meant to symbolize the city where jesus christ was born and that was promised peace in the bible. something it feels very little of, occupied west bank. >> and in other parts of the world a less tolerant attitude towards christmas has taken hold, ta tajikistan, brunei, tht country dressing up as santa

claus is considered a criminal offense and violators can face up to five years in prison. christmas is anything but forbidden in the vatican. in the wake of the attacks in paris and sa san bernardino, are representative from the u.s. >> it's better than a great opportunity to share ideas, exchange different ways of how we do things but also, to see how, although we do certain things different, it's also kind of gives us a good feeling to know that there's a lot of what we do is very similar. >> an hob for some of those police, police officer from poland and spain are also on patrol at the vatican. for security reasons, police are

not revealing the exact number of officers who are taking part. a british muslim who said the u.s. prevented his family from flying to los angeles for a disney vacation is now speaking out. roxana saberi has the story and why some critics are saying it is not an isolated incident. >> reporter: gim owner, tarek. >> my are business is fitness, that's it. >> an american official barred ten of his family members and him from boarding a flight to los angeles, even though they had u.s. travel visas. >> asking a question why this happened, i don't want to say, because the only thing that comes to my mind is because i have a muslim name perhaps. >> the pakistani born british citizen says his system members were devastated they couldn't go

to disneyland. >> i planned this trip for two months, all the kids were excited. you can't board the plane without explanation given. >> former candidate for brittle an's parliament said he had a similarly incident from heathrow. an official approached him and said his visa was revoked. >> woe make accusations against me without any proof or substantial evidence that he could provide me and they would just arbitrarily refuse or revoke a visa. >> are spoken out against extremism says he has heard of 20 similar cases happening to other muslims in britain. he says airport checks have tightened in recent weeks after republican presidential

candidate donald trump called for muslims to be barred in the u.s. in facebook said, if the u.s. doesn't approve of his policies then it must not bar innocent muslims from entering the u.s. told al jazeera, the religion or faith of an international travelers are not deciding factors in determining whether a person can enter america, health issues, prior criminal convictions, security concerns and immigration violation, but the u.s. is singling out muslims he said. >> people like me withstood and very vociferously doing this to me is in itself a big insult. >> roxana saberi, al jazeera. >> lots of questions there. russian authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for one of the most vocal critics of the kremlin. oil tycoon mikel kortokofsky.

>> may be himself imposed exile but are seldom would i would avn opportunity to criticize putin. >> found he and funded by mikhail kortokofsky. >> we did understand our risk. especially taking into consideration the fact that activists of open russia were jailed and searched before. >> on wednesday came the international arrest warrant accusing kortokofsky of

organizing a contract killing in the '90s. >> evidence of the accused involvement in home side and attempted home side the investigation has decided to request his arrest in absentia. and as you know the court had granted the petition. >> the kremlin's most outspoken critic, and once the country's richest plan, convicted of tax evasion and embezzlement. pardoned and released in 2013 and left russia to live in switzerland where he reinfluenced his condemnation of putin's russia. in the last week he has been increasingly outspoken in his attacks ton government. president putin he says has driven russia in a position where revolution is necessary and i'll help bring it about,

remarks that insensed the kremlin. they've gone mad he said. emma hayward, al jazeera. >> the new route to cuba and the united states is no longer through florida straits. now cubans are making their way through central america and mexico, but certain central americans are making that more difficult. many meticulous are stuck in costa rica when nicaragua closed the border. >> cuban migrants have found shelter in this house in the border town in costa rica. >> helped us so much taking us in, trusting us without nolg who we were. we are just trying to give back. we are like family now. >> reporter: almost 6,000 cubans have been stuck here since neighboring nicaragua shut

down the border stopping them on their way to the u.s. she was moved by the harrowing story that's why she took them in. >> they were assaulted in colombia but they are lovely people and hard workers. >> shelters have popped up across the center with migrants anxiously waiting for a way out. central american countries have seen a spike in the number of cubans since the island renewed relations with the u.s. for weeks costa rica has failed to broker a safe passage for them, new transit visas to try stem the stem of migrants. guatemala, rejecting their own migrants.

a regional meeting on tuesday brought some progress towards establishing an air bridge to guatemala 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 shelter terse some migrants have been resorting to people-smugglers often with dangerous outcomes. >> translator: after walking nine hours in the woods they astacked us and took our last $1500. we had no option to turn ourselves into the nicaraguan police and they sent us back here. >> reporter: a new meeting was called for dis28th. a temporary solution might be at hand but central american countries feel more cubans will embark on the journey, as long as the situation of staying in

america remains favorable. >> white house believes that baseball could advance u.s. goals in cuba so the u.s. treasury department has the authority to approve the deal. supporters of the plan say an agreement would prevent cuban players from risking their lives while trying to defect to other countries. still ahead here oon al jazeera america tonight. a crashing drone, check that out, nearly slams into a slalom skier. what the international skiing federation is doing about it. exchanging a spray paint can for a chisel.

is is. >> and welcome back. in ink sa south africa, a projes underway. al jazeera's famida miller has this report from capetown. >> high winds and heavy clouds overtake cable mountain.

built without ceilings. elaine has been living in one of them for 15 years. her home is one of the first to have a ceiling installed. >> in the winter it was very cold. it was better to be outside. the mass would come in from the open ceiling and fall on your face while you're sleeping. >> the project part of a drive 50 city to combat climate change. over the next two years 8,000 homes will be upgraded. the project is expected to see a dramatic reduction in electricity consumption and reducing carbon emissions by more than 5,000 tons a year. benefiting the most desperate. >> african cities will have to catch up very fast. climate change is hurting the poor people the most.

80% of the people here are poor and living below $1 a day. when the flood come those cities will be hit hard. >> several other projects to protect the environment, solar panels on the roofs of businesses, with excess electricity being fed into the grid. while water is free it's limited to 350 liters a day. that hits the most needy. >> the drive towards water conservation, water saving now a burden that poor people must carry, rather than industry mining agriculture wealthier households, that's where the savings in water and lesk shouly should be targeted first.

>> now it's made life a little more comfortable. famida miller, al jazeera, capetown. >> trying to kill the carcass of a huge dead hump back whale, 45 foot whrail that is thought to have washed ashore on tuesday. look at the size of this thing. residents flock to take a picture of the animal. three bulldozers at least one or two of them were broad in to remove the carcass. officials are afraid blood and debris could actually attract sharks to that popular swimming area. dangerous clash ton slopes. that oust tree tran austrian sks

overtaken by a drone that was flown too close to the course. a portuguese artist, makes a statement. sarah clark reports from hong kong. >> his studio may be inside but he prefers exterior walls. >> giving space to artists to create in it not just for cultural life but also for the factor that it basically makes life more interesting in the cities. >> he's an internationally recognized graffiti artist. these days, instead of spray cans he used chisels and drills to create oversized images in public places.

>> intimate layers you expose history, you sort of make the invisible, visible. >> a city landscape like hong kong is a perfect balance, it is the history that he wants to capture in his art. >> i try not to reflect on the big building, i try to reflect on the shadow it cast on the city. i think the shadow to work, that's what kind of interests me and where i want to put the focus on. >> this building is now being turned into ocreative and cultural hub and the owners try too document the the transformation. injecting a different energy into the neighborhood acknowledge they really receive that positively. >> and it's not just hong kong.

his work is featured around the world. from malaysia to spain, brazil and the united states. but the theme of his works are the same. keep pace with the development but keep track of his pras. >> an brshtd following that continues to grow. >> this is one of the most influential artists in our time. why he really has proven himself in the contemporary art scene as an artist worth watching outside of the urban context. >> short of asia, he wouldn't be short of inspiration. sarah clark, al jazeera, hong kong. >> that's it for this version of

al jazeera america's world news. coming up, a boost in his funding, coming up in two minutes.

>> good evening everyone i'm adam may in for antonio mora. and this is al jazeera america. we're tracking a storm front, dangerous weather, threatening holiday travel plans. planned disruption, protesters at a mall and an airport, trying to draw attention to police shooting. and a british muslim