the image that age is the european parliament it's not accountable and it's impossible for people to where there is for. people don't want to take them or their needs are different from the stronger man our song you're getting the growth of rejectionism of this world because the model doesn't work europe's forbidden colony episode two at this time on al-jazeera. there are reports of hundreds of people fleeing eastern are being arrested by syrian forces. alone the whole raman this is al jazeera life my headquarters here and there are coming up. i six more years for vladimir putin after

a landslide victory in russia's presidential election. also testing the nerve agent officials from the world chemical weapons watchdog head to the united kingdom to examine the poison used on the former russian spy plus. by the shores of lake chad coming up i'll tell you why this source of fresh water for millions of people in the region is at the risk of disappearing. welcome to the program activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fled eastern over the past few days they say almost men between the ages of twenty five and forty were targeted tens of thousands of civilians have fled the rebel held on klav in recent days now the government stepped up its attacks on eastern ghouta last month the now controls nearly eighty percent of the. have

a treat. the syrian government has also released video of president bashar assad visiting positions in eastern guta soldiers who'd been part of the offensive to retake the area from the opposition the main rebel held group. that's a negotiation with the un about a ceasefire it's also asking for aid to be allowed in for the hundreds of thousands of people still trapped are. the people of damascus appreciate all of you for protecting the city and will remember this for tens of years or even generations this battle has been bigger than syria today you are fighting this battle on behalf of the whole world you shot to kill the terrorists you change the balance of the world all cynical to how small from beirut in neighboring lebanon. there are concerns about the fate of hundreds of men who have crossed into government controlled territories activists on the ground say they are now missing they have been arrested by government forces thousands and thousands of people have crossed into government controlled territory as this military operation in eastern

continues some of them found themselves in government controlled territories as the front lines change the activists expressing concern human rights organizations the united nations the i.c.r.c. demanding that you and monitors are sent to eastern so they can monitor this evacuation and make sure that people are safe and that people are protected we have to remember this is an opposition held area and many people who are engaged in any opposition activities is considered a terrorist by by the syrian government and it's not just those who crossed or left to who are now find themselves in government told territories there are thousands who are trapped in rebel controlled territories and they are worried they're issuing appeals open letters to the united nations please we want safe passage we want poor doors that are internationally monitored and we want to go to other rebel controlled territories in the north we do not want to go into government controlled territories people like media activists people like civil defense volunteers and doctors they are all considered terrorists by the government so calls for the protection of civilians as this. military campaign continues but there is

a lull in the fighting as behind the scenes negotiations continue between rebel factions and the russian military on a possible surrender. is the deputy director for the middle east and north africa or of human rights watch joins me now from beirut good to have you with you could you with us on the program i mean are there any steps being taken to protect the civilians that you know about in eastern guta. we human rights watch have been calling for the deployment of u.n. monitors to ensure that the civilians that remain an innocent will and those that are being evacuated can do so under protection and safely we do know that there are negotiations that are ongoing but at the same time as we have received verified reports of people that are going into government territory being detained no one has to be reminded of the types of violations we have seen in places of detention

in syria it is imperative that they are independent monitors overseeing these operations to try and protect those that are desperately fleeing we want some likelihood of independent monitors being allowed into syria or even into these conflict zones where really you've had very little chance an opportunity to see this type of model tring be put in place over the eight years of a conflict. the russian government has consistently tried to stand in the way. monitoring initiatives and other steps to try to deter violations in syria we have seen time and time again that they have their use their veto at the security council to stop those types of actions in the case of aleppo we saw the general assembly step in and send monitors when the security council was not able to now the general assembly should do the same thing they should urgently deploy monitors to observe areas that have come under government control and

places of detention to ensure that people are not mistreated that they are not arbitrarily detained and critically that people are not some merrily executed is not the only avenue really the general assembly to intervene or the way that pressure can be put on the syrian government from its allies via the international community to try and ensure the safety of the general public that are stuck in this scenario. so there is you know you know lateral action that has been taken sanctions that have been imposed trying to send a message to the syrian government that if they persist in these types of violations there will be some consequences but again you know the russian government has stood by syria not just in the battlefield but also corners of diplomacy which has paralyzed the security council to take stronger action we have persistently called them secure and security council to impose an arms

embargo on syria we know the russians are continuing to arm the syrian government we have called for i.c.c. referral. again the russian government has taken steps to try to undermine accountability efforts in syria in this context we do believe it is the responsibility of the un general assembly to step in and to send monitors who can be playing a crucial protection role today and for the movement we have to rely you are many other organizations eyewitness testimony as and when we get it telephoto via skype you be speaking to the syrian dissidents the syrian civil defense group notice the wire told me it's one of the you've been saying to you about the situation over the past few days. over the weekend i received a distress call from members of the civil defense who said that they were surrounded and i didn't mean that they were concerned that when the syrian government forces came in that they would be retaliated against that they may be

executed their concern for their relatives they want to be safely evacuated they're willing to go anywhere outside of government control and the message that they are trying to send is that time is running out their lives are hanging in the balance and we cannot just stand by and watch as this happens there is room for the u.n. to act and they should act now we should see what goes up a little bit closer to confront so much for joining us from beirut office. kurdish fighters in syria's northwestern a-frame region have to fight on after the main town was taken by turkish forces and their allies turkey launched the offensive in january to clear the enclave of kurdish y.p. g. forces andrew symonds reports now from turkey southern border with syria. they reached a friend at sunrise columns of free syrian army fighters turkish special forces have been active on the ground ahead of them kurdish y p g fighters had withdrawn

in large numbers there was limited resistance on one of the rebel fighters backed and directed by turkey with ground forces and airstrikes prepared to declare victory here. but when i met you know probably after we entered our free movement that all the center buildings we will declare a victory statement on the terror we are telling the civilians to come back to our friends it's safe now. within hours celebrations in the city center. of the syrians and the turks. people this is a gift from the turkish armed forces to the turkish people and our glorious martyrs on this day a reference there to the victory of turkish forces against the western allied

forces one hundred three years ago in deliberately in the first world war the turkish president was at the commemorations and made this announcement. most of the terrorist have already fled with their tails between their legs our special forces and members of the free syrian army a cleaning the remains in the traps i left behind in the center of affray al flags of trust and stability away even inside of rags of terrorist and so on the fifty eighth day of operation olive branch turkey's first objective is realized that if i can learn how to transit some civilians had chosen to stay instead of joining tens of thousands of others into syrian regime areas to the south. it's reported the kurdish y p g now intends to avoid direct confrontation with turkish forces instead engaging in guerrilla types of action the turkish have proved with force their intention to push back the wipe e.g.

away from its border and it doesn't and they'll be moving further eastwards this is likely to be one battle of several andrew symonds al-jazeera gaziantep russian president vladimir putin has been reelected and will serve another six years in office officials say it's his best performance yet this being his fourth term as president now he's won seventy six point six percent of the vote in sunday's presidential election with nearly all of the ballots counted the average voter turnout was sixty seven percent two percent higher than the previous vote six years ago putin was widely expected to win but the kremlin was aiming for a high turnout to boost the legitimacy of his victory his nearest competitor was communist party candidate pavel gruden who won almost twelve percent soon after the first exit polls putin addressed supporters in moscow's red square his victory is also seen as a validation of crimea is an exception from ukraine four years ago lawrence li

reports. by zuma they called his election such as the status of blood in your putin in russia but he was in reality little more than a coronation was giving you the news that we're going to you me it's very important to maintain this unity to attract those who could have voted for the candidate we have to stand together shoulder to shoulder we have to think about unity not about differences we should think about the future of our people about the future of our country we are destined for success. it was never a contest to single out the overwhelming percentage of votes cast and more than six out of ten russians voted for the kremlin it went more or less to plan of course russians knew perfectly well that when the television told them that they had to go out to vote because it was a civic duty what they really meant was you have to go and vote because we have to get putin back in the kremlin that meant this wasn't great election about who was

going to win but it was about but how much several instances of fraud were caught on camera harmless looking old ladies voting twice or stuffing reams of paper since a box is not enough to alter the outcome but for alexina valmy banned from standing in the election evidence of a corrupt vote. thousands of people went to vote and out of curiosity i went on twitter to check on the candidates to see if they are writing about violations they are behaving as if nothing is happening people who are observing these elections keep writing about other violations and they are complaining about it and the people who are remaining silent don't care about this they are candidates it's just that kind of election i guess. barely even took part in the campaign and was entirely absent from the t.v. debates but during the election videos surfaced on the internet like this one which gave a glimpse of how the kremlin wants people to think. the film depicts a man who tells his wife he can't be bothered to vote something which putin himself

had warned against and the man then has a nightmare in which black africans suddenly appear in the armed forces to his horror there's a homosexual in the kitchen the message is clear is day this is what you'll get if you don't have putin in charge and of course it's coupled with a promise from the president spend more and more on the military but he can put in would very much like to normalize ties with the west but his personality means he can't show weakness he can't be seen to be giving up yet he understands very well that with international isolation his regime is open to risks and dangers his fourth term begins with a flat out diplomatic crisis with the west's events which are uncertain and fast moving but political change in russia continues to move as fast as the ice on the moscow river largely al-jazeera in most of. russia's central election commission says no way unless violations were reported compared to the last presidential vote

six years ago. the simple truth i want to stress that on the whole all serious complaints were not found so far and about possible violations there were twice as few reported compared to the last election in twenty twelfth's still ahead here on al-jazeera people in flew to use vibrant colors to turn the page on the city's legacy of violence. hello there we've been seeing some very heavy downpours over parts of so much air recently on the satellite picture you can see the bright white area of cloud here that gave us some very sharp downpours and there's more wet weather still to come as we head through the day and choose day further north it has to be mostly dry forest across many parts of thailand and through cambodia into parts of vietnam but we're seeing more cloud begin to develop now and i do think that wednesday will

turn increasingly unsettled as we head down towards australia of course we've been watching the tropical cyclone that was a tropical sinai marcus but it's down towards the southeast we had a different problem it was very very hot here and that hot weather gave us a problem with wildfires now the heat here looks like it's going to stick around for a while but marcus won't that heading away towards the west now and as it does so it'll take its wild weather with it it's still intensifying so it's a very good job it is working away from land before finally behind it nothing more than a few showers perth's hot though up around thirty four degrees and it's cool fours in melbourne only at nineteen the temperatures do recover there as we head into wednesday this time up to twenty five for new zealand notes of rain here all pushing its way across the south island for some of us in westland fiordland it looks particularly wet on tuesday and wednesday to.

i am doing this for the benefit of people. so they see the importance of the arab guys. who witnessed documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera. welcome back you're watching al-jazeera i've cell rom the reminder of our top news stories activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as

they fled eastern cuter they say man aged between the ages of twenty five and forty were mostly targeted the rebel held area has suffered heavy bombing by the government forcing tens of thousands to leave in recent days. also vladimir putin crucifix russians overwhelmingly voted for putin but independent monitors have reported dozens of irregularities in polling booths across the country. now officials from the world chemical watchdog will arrive in the u.k. on monday to independently test the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy moscow has dismissed the u.k.'s allegations that it was behind the attack on sergei scriptural and his daughter both sides of expelled diplomats in response russia insists it does not possess the nerve agent that was used. we're going to get your get was because i learned about this tragedy about script poll i learned about it from the media i think it's quite obvious that if it was

a chemical weapon we people would die immediately it doesn't have any chemical weapons which destroyed all its chemical weapons under international observation and some of our international partners promised to do so but they haven't done it therefore we're open to cooperation with the investigation. germany's foreign minister says the e.u. will offer britain solidarity on the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter britain's boris johnson is expected to brief his e.u. counterparts about the incident at the meeting in brussels his german counterpart a key mass says that there is no other credible explanation for the poisoning other than russian responsibility our correspondent followed the phillips's following events for us from the british capital while the germans awaited now and of course this was a meeting of foreign ministers in brussels which was expected really to talk about the russian election result and in directly then also the poisoning of this former spy. yes i mean this is yet another british attent to

drum up international solidarity and support and it's worth saying just the extent to which the british and russian rhetoric just how juxtaposition it is you heard there the russian president vladimir putin denying that russia. even possesses soviet grade military military grade soviet made nerve agent which the british say was responsible the british say that in fact the russians have been manufacturing it over the last ten years and looking at its possibility in use in assassinations so the british will be hoping for support from the other twenty seven countries and also burst also will be meeting again stoltenberg their head of nato while t. is in brussels in a moment we'll hear from boris johnson but first let's hear from federico mcgreevey the e.u. head of foreign policy issue went into that meeting this absolutely clear is our full sort it out if you will you know to condemn and our extreme concern about what

has happened there is really acceptable we i've been very heartened already by the strength of the support the buco use getting in respect of the incident. bringing today's technical experts from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons arriving in the u.k. to take the sample. mean trying be a russian grew increasingly absurd. with only the focus of the investigation obviously is solved where the crime happened but the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons arrives on monday at some stage i mean what can they do or say that the authorities in britain haven't already done. well they will collect samples and this is according to the british foreign office they will then test them at reputable international laboratories over the o.p.c.

w.'s choice and then presumably the o.p.c. w. will be able to say with some degree of authority whether the british assessment is correct that this was an overt chalk agent they may be able to give us some guidance on where they think it was made and how it was made and their verdict would presumably either boost or weaken the british case that this was a russian plot or we shall wait and see what they have to say as the day progresses and come back to barbie when that develops thanks so much head but to the middle east now where the iraqi city of fallujah has a decades long legacy of war and violence who was a major battlefield joining the u.s. invasion fifteen years ago did recent years experience the trauma of i saw rule now the armed group was pushed out two years ago locals are now trying to turn

a page with a new campaign to move on from the past iran can reports from baghdad. this is aside if alou jet really saying the gateway city to our province is busting into rights of color and painting the fine arts college has been rebuilt and students and teachers are producing more work than ever before fallujah has a violent history fifteen years ago it was the center of some of the toughest battles in iraq's recent past al qaeda in iraq then ten fallujah and much of a province into its base and the occupying american army was almost powerless to stop the group it was local ambar tribes with american backing that eventually defeated al qaida in iraq but an easy peace in the region was until last the neighboring war in syria spilled over into the province and i saw march into anbar in two thousand and thirteen. the fine arts college faculty members remember that time of dread this mural commemorate students who were killed because i said

painting was a center. it's not like i said i just do we as fine art teachers have took the initiative to keep the memory of the massacre in order to become a message of awareness for the world that the city removed all its violent and bloody images is now wearing another colorful dress and adopting a new no peaceful culture and a constructive awareness for spreading through a number of art and cultural activities. the memories of war run deep here people look back at the last fifteen years as a dark age and are trying to revive from the just reputation as a city of culture that i can provide that the ideology of i soon left negative impressions on the younger generation in the students through images and and that's why we're working to race all of these to fix and now says she is considered a city of peace and stability. but peace and stability are difficult things to maintain without government support fallujah like other parts of iraq faces

electricity blackouts that can last up to eight hours a day there are food shortages and the constant threat the remnants of isis fighters could attack in a day for the mayor of fallujah employment is key. we are hoping the government will provide job opportunities for the people include including the young everyone knows that when people return to pollute unemployment spiked in a city. fifteen years is a long time to be at war and despite the fact that iraq now enjoys a relative peace there's still a very long way to go before permanent security can be established now there are success stories in places like fallujah but in order to be able to build on them all of iraqi society needs to come together with elections scheduled for may iraqis will be hoping that the memories of the american occupation and sectarian violence al qaida and eisel are a thing of the past and the new government will build a better iraq. iran contra has been our live from baghdad i mean there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the people of fallujah but there are also real

concerns from local officials. that's right the mare for the year who you just saw in my report has made a call on monday saying that the iraqi government needs to step up and help the city of fallujah get rid of improvised explosive devices and other landmines that are plaguing the area now when i say area one of their tactics was to booby trap houses and to plant these i.d.'s to make it very difficult for the iraqi army when they left the area clearly that was a problem the iraqi army going into fallujah they've cleared most of those houses of explosive devices that got rid of a lot of those landmines that were placed by eisel but we're hearing that at least forty five people been killed in the last four months as a result of id's in the more remote areas and this is where a real challenge is presented to the iraqi army like i said they got rid of them in

the city itself but the villages and the outskirts of proving much more difficult they don't have the intelligence to try and pinpoint where all of these improvised explosive devices and that's why people are dying and that's a real problem like i say for the mess he's actually asking the iraqi government to try and step up efforts to get rid of all of this but like i say it prevents a significant challenge for the iraqi army simply there's no intelligence as to where these are so people are dying as that plan fails people are dying as they troubling the roads for them and we'll leave it there imran khan there in baghdad thank you. now the world is facing a water crisis sun today experts will meet at the opening of the world water forum in brazil to discuss how to deal with it in the second part of our series first we visit lake chad in africa which provides water for tens of millions of people in four neighboring countries but the lake's been shrinking and environmentalist so warning of impending disaster if nothing is done to stop it i'm

a valve reports. for the people of getting village and the lake is life but these fishermen say things are changing. for another when water was abundant in the lake we could fill our boats with fish on one trip now the water is scarce and we need ten trips to catch half the previous amount. of lake chad was one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world it struggles the borders between chad cameroon and nigeria in the mostly dry ice ahead climate the lake remains an exception of necessity for thousands of fish animals and plants species supporting the livelihoods of forty million people living along the. drought and the harsh dusty winds over the last sixty years have turned much of the area into a desert. hundreds of islands began to appear in the middle as the water levels dropped environmental organizations and regional governments have long sounded the alarm bells. villages that were on the shores of the lake years ago are now fifty

kilometers away. the studies show that is appearance of the lake is an extremely sad situation within the last twenty five years its water receded by two thousand five hundred square kilometers and the right of it's shrinking is getting faster now causing a huge disruption in the natural habitat. the climate issues have been compounded by insecurity in recent times the group boko haram used it and its new islands as a hiding place and base from which it could launch attacks but in the majority of villages around the lake are now deserted especially on the nigerian side those who fled are living in refugee camps and lack of funds has also complicated regional and international efforts to launch meaningful programs to save the lake. and there's a growing concern that further deterioration of the lakes environment will encourage thousands of disability young people to join armed groups as the only available

source of income. and lake chad. well in part three of our thirst series on tuesday we look at how drought is ravaging in northern kenya and is leading to the big conflicts arising from water and pasture scarcity that's tuesday here on al-jazeera and you can follow all of the stories that we're covering here on al-jazeera by logging on to our website at w.w.w. to town to zero dot com. you're watching al-jazeera i'm so robin these are all top stories activists say syrian government forces have arrested hundreds of people as they fled eastern guter over the past few days they say men between the ages of twenty five and forty were targeted government forces have been bombing the rebel held area for weeks forcing tens of thousands to leave the syrian government has released video of president bashar al assad visiting positions in eastern guta assad met soldiers

who'd been part of the offensive to retake the area from the opposition the main rebel group. and say it's in negotiations with the u.n. about a cease fire first of all you all. the people of damascus appreciate all of you for protecting the city and will remember this for tens. years or even generations is about has been bigger than syria today you are fighting this battle on behalf of the whole world for each shot that killed a terrorist you change the balance of the world. vladimir putin has cruised to victory for another six year presidential term with nearly all of the ballots counted russians overwhelmingly voted for putin but independent monitors are reported dozens of irregularities in polling booths across the country officials from the world of chemical watchdog will arrive in the united kingdom on monday to independently test the nerve agent used to poison a former russian spy moscow has dismissed you can

a geisha and that it was behind the attack on surrogate scruple and his daughter both sides have expelled diplomats in response russia insists it does not possess the nerve agent that was used. to going to get your goat it was because i learned about this tragedy about script poll i learned about it from the media i think it's quite obvious that if it was a chemical weapon we people would die immediately it doesn't have any chemical weapons which destroyed all its chemical weapons under international observation and some of our international partners promised to do so but they haven't done it therefore we're open to cooperation with the investigation now the e.u. says it will offer britain solidarity on the poisoning of a former russian spy and his daughter britain's boris johnson is expected to brief the e.u. foreign ministers about the incident at a meeting in brussels his german counterpart hiker must says that there is no other credible explanation other than russian responsibility those were the headlines here on al-jazeera martin dennis will be here in thirty minutes with the al-jazeera

news our next it's witness. lost and amend. found and saved. one when he's reveals how one charity is giving pakistan's lost children i knew chance and luck on al-jazeera.