on al-jazeera. syria's final push to capture the southwest as it allies jostle for influence along the israeli border. logs all rommany watching al-jazeera life my headquarters here in doha are also coming up at least forty nine people are killed and more than one hundred fifty injured as wildfires turn through villages around athens. and pakistan prepares to choose a new government as campaigning and the day ahead of a general election. also cattles amir is in the united kingdom ahead of a meeting with the british prime minister as the blockade against his country continues.

welcome to the program the syrian government and its russian ally are targeting ice the linked groups in the battle for control of the southwestern region there have been dozens of air strikes over the past few hours the eye still affiliated groups around signed an evacuation deal previously struck with opposition fighters in neighboring areas meanwhile the fate of iran's presence in syria seems to be at the center of talks between its ally russia and its regional foe israel there are reports that moscow has offered to keep iranian and its allied forces one hundred kilometers away from the occupied golan heights israel has reportedly rejected that and has demanded their complete long term withdraw from syria instead the deal was discussed during a surprise trip by russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov and israel's prime minister. benyamin netanyahu on monday joining me now to analyze all of this is

stephanie decker a correspondent in israeli occupied golan heights a good to have you with us stuff once again let's just talk about where you are sort of the activity on the ground in the air was pretty ferocious over the past week and he was the situation like on choose day it really has intensified particularly monday and today we've seen a large amount of airstrikes also recently in the last ten minutes a lot of tank shelling targeting an area just evolve my shoulder so it is a very active pushes you mentioned by the syrians and the russians to get back this area now why is it important it's important because it's the last opposition held pocket in southwestern syria so what you really are seeing here is the government making very false advances taking back a lot of territory of course you know that our province was where the revolution started in two thousand and eleven so when that was lost last month that was significant but now it really is making very fast headway this area behind me under

the control of a group affiliated by ice with eisel so there is no sort of reconciliation deal on the table certainly at the moment for that and of course we have this impasse between russia and israel are not continues over iran and syria and one wonders how or how a solution is going to be found around. well you know this really highlights how complicated the syria you know battlefield stage of war is because you have all these international actors with their own interests when it comes to israel the one thing they're concerned about the only thing they are concerned about is iran and iran's presence inside syria the whole point is to push their you actually you see some smoke in the distance i mean to the right what they are concerned about is to push iranian forces iranian backed forces away from this border initially that was agreed you can see some heavy bombardment now that was

agreed to be thirty kilometers then it was further now the russians are offering one hundred kilometers with these raises saying is that that is not good enough they want the iranians iranian backed forces and their heavy weapons out of syria completely the iranians are saying well we're here at the request of the syrians so that's not going to happen unless damascus also says too so it just gives you a sense of the international factor and how really now you have international powers carving off their spears of influence in this country many syrians will tell you that they are the ones with the least say in their country's future at this stage of course stuff you know we managed to see those plumes of smoke in the distance and also those white tents as it as they seem and of course those tents have house a lot of civilians a lot of rebels the focus has been the southwest of the country and it's been a great deal of movement of people on the ground who's on the move and where are they going. there have the part of these evacuation deals there they're forced really by the government is that those who don't agree are bust up north

further to the province so you'll have rebels and their families will have activists journalists because of course they are terrified of the repercussions when the syrian army has been taken swathes of land here as we've been saying comes into their areas we know syrian intelligence has lists of names of people they deemed to be opposed to been active in anti government anti regime work over the years so this is their fear so what we're hearing now is there have been buses moving from canape which is a little north where we are but we had a statement from the opposition saying that it seems that the syrian government is not allowing some of those buses to move ahead so this is very very complicated so people are terrified of retaliation you can see another airstrike there and also how close this war is. probably heard how close this war is to the border with the israeli occupied golan heights i mean the fence is just a little further from that smoke of course we not only heard it stuff we saw it too we'll continue to join you through the day and monitor events where you are an

israeli occupied golan heights thanks for your time. electricity supplies to palestinians living in gaza is to be cut further from eight hours to just six hours a day the solar power station on the street can't get in a fuel to maintain its current town put it out of fuel and tring gaza has been greatly reduced since thursday when israel imposed restrictions on imports through the kind of. crossing the israeli defense minister has now said the crossing will be partially reopened in the coming hours i think forty nine people are being killed in forest fires erupted in several areas near greece's capital athens strong winds are whipping up the flames that left many homes destroyed and transport links disrupted states from urgency or force into places and residents fear things learned get worse it's all about us has the latest. panic as greeks look for their neighbors as flames close and a series of wild fires around athens broke out monday the first in

a forest nicknamed to a coastal town an hour's drive waste of the capital. fire crews trying to limit the destruction while evacuating recipients but it was out of their control. the fires sprayed by monday night three wildfires raged the worst snow east of athens in the seaside towns of. the death toll was twenty fourth until fire crews started to search in marty. by darkness charred cars and residents who had tried to escape the flames here the death toll doubled if you like you know really survivors and marty described running for the sea with flames chasing them into the water eleven military and coast guard boats along with dozens of private boats came to the rescue. what can i say it's over we are alive and that is what's important. the fire with lightning

fast we didn't realize what had happened but you couldn't it was the first time i've seen something like this but we made it we were like a bee colony and to see everybody standing next to each other the. greek prime minister alexa c. press cut short a trip to bosnia arriving late on monday to the firefighters headquarters in athens . you know visually. it's a difficult moment for the region it's a difficult night for greece at the moment more than six hundred men and women from the fire brigade and three hundred vehicles have been mobilized in three large fronts. his meeting with agency heads is not enough and he knows it greece needs international intervention as you know to make honest due to the large expanse the intensity and the dangers the fires pose the country has submitted a request through the european civil protection mechanism for international ground and air assistance yeah yeah. for greece and pick her season the fire is

a destructive to its fragile economy to roads and a major highway are closed for those who get past the blockades they gamble with driving past arc in flames this is the ninety four moesha way leading into athens one hundred kilometer now winds only fanned the flames and disperse the smoke blanketed the capital causing flight delays on monday. wildfires are not uncommon in greece the worst being in two thousand and seven when more than eighty people died when fires burned for days across the country this year a dry winter created tender box conditions now greeks must try to minimize the damage dallas' al-jazeera. well more than one hundred million voters in pakistan are gearing up to elect their

next prime minister ballot papers are being taken to different polling centers across the country campaigning came to a close twenty four hours before those polls open on wednesday for major political parties are in the race for the country's second civilian handover of power after a full term let's get the very latest from our senior correspondent kemal hyder who's in islamabad for us so the stage is set cobol the countdown to the voting starting begins what's the atmosphere like where you are. well i'm outside the election commission. electioneering campaigning of game two and the election commission of august on it saying that they have distributed that ballot bowl clinic cross country very high i think yoder g. or more to eight hundred. eight million new for that election and it is going to be the most expensive election and budgets on the

history made saying i did it is going to cost. two elections or to get that indeed everything in that million. have deployed that security force to all the areas where they are going to be acquired and all the ballot box have been moved to the boiling station of course to a speculation as to who might win it's a close election. get small members of parliament elected of course will become the prime minister but what's have been the tangible issues that the candidates have been discussing with the potential electorate. well the big issue of. me the rupee which. he has taken and. the outgoing government has borrowed. from the international organization is doubling the national debt they're all.

because they have not been able to. block the fact that. going campaign again that they get done again. figure prominently indeed elections are going. to be there. but of course so will continue to follow events and of course the start of the voting procedure on wednesday but we'll talk to you later in the day as well thanks . new satellite images appear to show north korea beginning to dismantle its main nuclear launch facility pay you can see the site earlier this month and then a few days later part of the structure has been removed the pictures were released by monitoring site thirty eight north kim jong un pledged to work towards the nuclear isolation during the singapore summit in june still ahead here on

al-jazeera the philippine president says his controversial war on drugs is far from over. and kicking off a big debate and. decision to quit the german teamsters questions about race and football stay with us here on alt. welcome to international weather forecasts we start in europe where remains very hot and for many places still very stormy particular across eastern areas you see this area of storm activity down through the black sea and it's here that we're going to see a concentration of showers of the next twenty four hours rumania down towards

turkey very stormy indeed a few storms likely across parts of greece forces strong winds are still in evidence helping to fund the wildfires which rage central parts of europe very not looking too bad western areas very hot war american tuning to push up from the south and every chance of seeing some isolated but still quite intense thunderstorms for the ticket as we head on through into wednesday temps there in london thirty degrees but i think some places could be well in excess of that so as you move down into north africa the weather is much as you would expect his pretty hot particular across algeria at the moment but temperatures elsewhere are very much as you'd expect him to be although it certainly has warmed up in cairo temperatures now up as high as forty two degrees celsius for central parts of africa lot of big storms quite a long way north through chad and share through towards mali expecting further showers here during the course of wednesday southern portions of africa generally dry and fine my stem cape town highs of eighteen. so whether it's sponsored by cattle waste. where were you when this idea popped into your heart when

they're on line it's undoubtedly chief call of poverty inequality in our society today or if you join a sunset criminal justice system is dysfunctional right now this is a dialogue what does it feel like bring you to go back for the first time everyone has a voice and allow refugees to be the speakers for a change join the colobus conversation announces iraq. welcome back you're watching on just their arms the whole rabbit a reminder of our top news stories the syrian government and its ally russia are

targeting isolating groups in the country's southwest while a bid to recapture those last remaining southern pockets continues russia reportedly is pushing for a deal with israel moscow has offered to curb iranian presence near the occupied golan heights but israel has apparently rejected it at least forty nine people are being killed in forest fires are burning in several areas near the greek capital athens the fires have destroyed homes and destructive transport links officials have declared a state of emergency in two areas. more than one hundred million people in pakistan are gearing up to vote for a new government ballot papers are being taken to different polling centers across the country in preparation for wednesday's general election for major political parties are in the rights. now the even of capital raise in the united kingdom where he's seeking international support in the face of the block. kate is due to be prime minister to resign me in the coming hours in the meantime a u.k.

newspaper is reporting a casting agency is seeking actors to protest against his visit the independent publish an e-mail containing errors from we quote extra people saying a client is seeking a large group of people to fill space outside downing street during the visit of the president of cattle this is an anti cat hour event you will not have to do or say anything they just want to fill the space you'll be finished by twelve thirty well the casting agency said it was contacted by a p.r. company for the event from which it has since withdrawn the p.r. company has refused to reveal its client. was with cher i mean when her middle tiny juror in his first stop at a london university. qatar's leader began his u.k. visit at a robotics lab at london's imperial college set i mean been hammered then had a meeting with business leaders in the city it's all part of

a push by qatar to rally international support the countries under a land sea and air blockade imposed by saudi arabia u.a.e. and egypt the operation relationship between us is quite extensive across a whole variety of fields from. security defense investments and today of course focusing on health and health issues where we work together so it's a good visit and we encourage all our friends in the gulf to resolve their differences and we hope that can be done since the start of the g.c.c. quizes qatar has not only ramped up its missile capabilities but has also expanded its security and political operation with key our allies such as the us france and the u.k. and this is quite crucial for qatar at a time when it continues to face a blockade imposed on it by its neighbors the blockade. countries have dismissed international mediation they say qatar must first stop funding extremism

close a turkish military base downgrade its ties with iran and shut down the al-jazeera news network qatar has strongly denied the accusations and called the demands a violation of its sovereignty despite the crisis it has signed major arms deals including the purchase of twenty four typhoon combat aircraft from the u.k. as part of the deal pilots from the two countries will protect the skies above qatar when the arab nation hosts the twenty twenty two football world cup since the crisis there qatar instead of being cut off from the rest of the world actually engage the world even more than they have done before so why they've been cut off regionally they've actually expanded their reach into the west particular and the united states it build partnerships that are more resilient in many ways than the partnership that saudi arabia and the u.a.e. you build in europe and in the united states the u.s.

has called on its allies in the region to set aside their differences washington fears a prolonged crisis could lead to more instability possible but i'll jersey or london now the white house says president donald trump could revoke the security clearances of six former intelligence officials who criticized him over the rusher inquiry among them is the former f.b.i. director james coburn who tried fired last year trump accuses them of influencing agencies that are supposed to remain politically neutral. when karl is a former deputy national intelligence officer he says president trump routinely attacks people to distract the public from investigations into his behavior. the error that the journalists make pundits make in the public makes with regard to trump is to try to find some rhyme reasons the to the actions in fact trump is quite simple he will say or do anything that he thinks

momentarily will protect him or attack an enemy that's the only motivation he had she's not interested in policy or public welfare particularly unless it coincides with his own views that's yet so that's why he did this because she has been seized for historic levels of corruption incompetence and frankly probably treason latin american leaders are meeting in mexico in the hopes of reestablishing trade and economic ties after recent elections in colombia mexico and chile and mexico is trying to integrate with the economies of south america and make itself less dependent on the us the thirteenth the pacific alliance summit comes ahead of more talks over the future of the nafta trade deal between the us canada and mexico you could argue as president then you will take it is rejecting the man's to step down saying it would only lead to more instability

in an interview with the us network fox news all take a blame paramilitary groups for the deaths of three hundred people since antigovernment protests began in april but he denied allegations that he funded the groups and said opposition m.p.'s and drug cartels are staying in the region prosecutors in chile say they're investigating more than one hundred fifty members of the roman catholic church for sexual abuse they've been complaints from more than two hundred sixty people most of them with children when the allegations of abuse happened earlier this year pope francis publicly apologize for what he called a culture of abuse and cover up in chile's catholic church. the international monetary fund is warning inflation in venezuela could top a million percent by the end of the year electricity unions in the country are holding an indefinite strike in protest against low wages and poor working conditions they've joined the nation's nurses who've been staging industrial action

for almost a month attending only emergency cases venezuela's economy has been steadily collapsing since oil prices fell heavily in twenty four. to asia pacific now where the philippine president says his controversial war on drugs is far from over during his state of the nation address roderigo deterred so out of the campaign will be as relentless and chilling as the day began. and has more from manila. his government promised president rodrigo dietary does third state of the nation address will be his best it was meant to highlight his administration's achievement over the past two years but it ended up becoming one of the most chaotic national events in recent times the president was an hour and a half late that's because of a political drama that played out in congress before his address factions within

our allies in the house of representatives launched a leadership challenge former president gloria macapagal arroyo was a congresswoman now moved to unseat the house speaker this prevented the ratification of a peace agreement between the government and the more islamic liberation front rebel group. planned to sign it into law on monday it was supposed to be an important part of the president's state of the nation address still the tear to manage to deliver his speech the war against illegal drugs is far from over despite public outrage. warrigal will not. name instead. and surely. if you will. gun or improve relations with turnover does not mean. men will be. in the west philippines.

as deter to spoke inside there were protests outside this is the biggest anti-government protests since president rhodri go detector was sworn in two years ago and there is no shortage of anger and frustration here activists say his government is oppressive and they want him to resign. these protesters say the state of the nation speech is an attempt by the government to conceal grave violations against the filipino people these women a bit they do not understand some of the issues mentioned in the speech they say security is a concern but they are more worried about the rising cost of food and other basic goods. i hope that the prices of goods will be lowered especially rice i hope that

promise will happen because the poor are getting poorer. the state of the nation address is meant to be a showcase of the government's achievements but the political drama inside congress overshadowed the speech and what it revealed instead the cracks in detected leadership. dug an al-jazeera mini and. bring you some breaking news coming out of asia as well from the state news agency in la we're getting news a hydroelectric dam has collapsed in the southeast of the country several dead hundreds are missing. allow relies heavily on water and it stands in cooperation with china so we're trying get some more idea of what's going on there and bring that to you as soon as we can let's go to europe now where italy's foreign minister says migrants and refugees rescued from the mediterranean will be allowed to come ashore as the e.u. tries to reach

a deal to distribute new arrivals its new populist government has taken a hard line on migration turning away rescue ships over the next five weeks e.u. countries will discuss how to divide up those that are arriving turkey has weighed into the debate over the german football and message the decision to quit the national team and advise the two turkish president of the earlier ones that treatment in germany had been and we quote on forgivable. announced his retirement on sunday saying he'd suffered racism and disrespect because of his turkish descent from berlin dominic cain has more. his international career is over now club duty's with arsenal have taken mesut ozil to the far east but in his absence the fallout from his retirement is reverberating around germany the newspapers have seized on his statement in which he pointed the finger at the german football association specifically and its president hein hardaker linda

accusing him of having a racially discriminative background earth still has been in the spotlight for his off the field actions since this moment posing with the turkish president both alone and with other german players who have turkish roots red chip type area one is a divisive figure in germany as are the policies of his government but in the turkish community in berlin even among those who oppose aerotow on many support earth will and i think. begin fighting racism begins with showing people where the limits are we've had enough someone needs to say that to the german football federation that all players with non german backgrounds are welcome and we will make sure that you feel well in germany if you have a second or third home that's ok but you're here and you're a part of our society some in the football world here remember what happened after france won the world cup in one thousand nine hundred eight how that multicultural team acted as

a catalyst for the then german hierarchy to change its thinking first of all they tried more integration they tried to build of more schools and as you see it worked in whether you were twenty one in four thousand or nine and whether with the team in two thousand and fourteen in brazil. you know that if there are success nobody discusses where they come from. and yet after this summer's french victory in russia some did highlight the racial background of that team with one comedian describing the victory as africa winning the world cup something french officials angrily dismissed saying there is no hyphen in people's nationality they are french and only french. here in berlin mesut ozil does have one very powerful ally angle americal says she values him as a great footballer who did a lot for the national team and in his career he wore the national jersey ninety two times scoring twenty three goals and helping his team to win the world cup but

now he says the levels of racism and disrespect he's received mean he will never wear this again dominic kane al-jazeera berlin. your child is their arms the whole roman here's a reminder of our top news stories iran's presence in syria seems to be at the center of talks between russia and israel there are reports that moscow has offered to keep a rainy and it's allied forces one hundred kilometers away from the israeli occupied golan heights israel has reportedly rejected that proposal and has demanded their complete long term withdraw from syria and stand wildfires have killed at least forty nine people there the greek capital in athens and strong winds are whipping up the flames that have destroyed many homes and disrupted transport links the government has declared a state of emergency in two areas more than one hundred million people in pakistan

are gearing up to vote for a new government ballot papers are being taken to polling centers across the country for major political parties are in the race. and breaking news that state media in law is reporting that hundreds of people are missing after a hydro power down collapsed in the san say district of the province of at the poe it happened on monday night sweeping away many of the villages nearby and other regions been affected by severe flooding. the un's highest court has ruled in favor of cattle in the case it brought against the united arab emirates the international court of justice says the measures taken by the u.a.e. after the blockade of qatar amounted to racial discrimination by voters to seven the united arab emirate is. that one families.

separated by the measure is adopted by the united arab emirates five twenty seven. a new satellite images appear to show north korea beginning to dismantle its main nuclear launch facility well here you can see the signs earlier in the month and then a few days later part of the structure has been removed the pictures were released by a monitoring site thirty eight north kim jong un pledged to work towards nuclear denuclearization during these singapore summit with donald trump in june those were the headlines and back with a full half hour of news in thirty minutes time next on al-jazeera it's the story do stay with us. you stand the differences. and the similarities of cultures across the.

al-jazeera. and here in the stream today the global move to ban single use plastic straws is reaching a fever pitch take a look at why this movement caught on so quickly and who is most affected by it i'll be looking out for your comments online at a.j. stream and of course we're live on you tube. the history of straws officially straws debuted in ancient mesopotamia worser marion's guzzle beer from strong's of gold in the one nine hundred fifty s. the rise of the automobile brought with it passed them on the desire for disposable dinnerware straws were this really. cheaper and easier to mass produce plastic straws were soon every crazy magic straw.