crimes to be reelected next year protesters seem determined to prevent that with the strongest challenge to his leadership people morgan al-jazeera hopped on. or we got plenty more ahead on this news hour rise in attacks by israeli settlers on palestinians in the occupied west bank. and as venezuela's nicolas maduro starts a new term in office as president his opponents step up protests. and in sport a big win for the blazes as they swept away the hornets in poland action from the n.b.a. coming up later. all that still ahead but first syrian state media says israeli forces have fired several missiles at targets in damascus including the capital's airport syrian air defenses reportedly into cept and some one missile damaged an airport warehouse.

the u.s. and kurdish forces are attacking isis last stronghold in syria as strikes have stepped up on the town of had you know where remnants of isilon hold up the coalition offensive against them could take two to three months mohammed atta reports. heavy fighting in this town city. the last sliver of long remaining within isis control is undoubtedly. the cut is led city and democratic forces as d.f. i in a final push to also i still fighters from their last remaining stronghold in the eastern city. as they have commanders say they're making some progress back by u.s. airstrikes which have been stepped up since donald trump announced the withdrawal of american troops from city problem of this storage is full of weapons and ammunition we took from i saw fighters after days of fighting here this assault on i still is the final chapter of a conflict that began more than four years ago when the group says parts of it out

in cities and declared a hug. it out to government forces declare victory over eisel in december two thousand and seventeen despite analysts say their ideology is also very much alive in the region. it was pushed back. your logic there the sunni complaints they have been totally wrong over and everybody. that ukraine should be still ready. and therefore radicalism over the i.s.i. already. has eat roots and. that's why it has been totally illegal the fighting between the as d.f. and i still is centered around the town of hygiene on the banks of the euphrates river close to the syrian border with iraq. the hygiene area was once home to sixty

thousand people most fled to live in make shift comes for the displaced as renewed fighting intensifies more people are joining them here dozens of the newly displaced wait for tents and blankets in the bitter cold some say they fled on foot because they heard the u.s. coalition warplanes bumping vehicles. on the frontlines as their fighters are preparing for a long long there is to make the fighting hygiene will last two to three months dark may seem like a surprisingly warm time given the size of but any of them dealing with ice and health cities with populations three times greater fell with in days the difference is that in both bottles us and fighters that are typically ripped through to choose and from one of their positions in order to constitute a primary this time the truth is not on the. one hundred on the wall does it or

doesn't. a u.s. secretary of state might pump a zero is in the united arab emirates as part of his tour of america's middle east allies his public remarks are focused on one which the u.s. sees as the main threat in the region jordan reports now pompei zero has found that a big part of his trip involves reassuring u.s. allies ahead of the planned syria withdrawal. one thing is clear the u.s. military may be ending its direct mission in syria but it's not going to stop the fight against eisel on thursday the secretary of state mike pompei o said that u.s. aircraft would be prepared to target and to kill eisel fighters if they try to retake any territory either in syria or in iraq meantime the pentagon is confirming that some equipment that the u.s. military had been relying on while deployed in syria is now being moved out of the

country but for security reasons they are not saying how quickly this some two thousand u.s. troops in syria are going to be leaving where they will be based after they leave syria or how long the drawdown is going to take one thing is certain the u.s. is taking great pains right now to try to remind its allies that it's not abandoning them in terms of security cooperation there is also still the ongoing problem of the u.s. his departure and the status of kurdish fighters in syria there is a very real concern that turkey may go in not to go after a group such as eisel but to try to get rid of the kurdish fighters who belong to the y. p.g. because turkey considers them an affiliate of the p.k. k. which both turkey and the usa is a terrorist group the u.s. has said and both the national security adviser john bolton and mike on peo have

made great pains to stress this point on friday that they do not want anything to happen to the kurdish fighters negotiations with trying to protect kurdish fighters from what could be some sort of turkish military assault are still underway. eight people from one family have been killed in yemen in an attack by hooty rebels four women and four children died when a government held village. close to the border with saudi arabia was shelled saudi u.a.e. coalition says it destroyed the drone control center used in an attack on a military parade on thursday there's been an explosion and fire at one of yemen's main oil refineries in the southern port city of eigen the government believes it was a deliberate act and has begun an investigation refinery has been targeted in the past in clashes between government forces and hooty fighters causing fuel shortages

and power cuts no casualties have been forced now canada is the new home of the teenager who fled saudi arabia she feared being killed by have family for announcing it slam the plight of a house muhammad in noonan gained global attention when she barricaded herself in a hotel in thailand to avoid it deportation to saudi arabia john hendren has more in a desperate plea from a barricaded hotel room half urged the world to come to rescue them still and. i have no choice. they said to have to go to model and. no one can help man right now on friday she got her wish and we have accepted the un's request that we grant her asylum that is something that we are pleased to do because canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights to

stand up for women's rights around the world the canadian prime minister's announcement ended a weeklong drama that drew worldwide attention the eighteen year old fled saudi arabia accusing her family of physical and psychological abuse but was detained by the authorities in bangkok who at one point threatened to send her back she launched a social media campaign from her hotel room appealing to the united nations high commission on refugees saying she would be killed if she returned i'm not leaving my own until i see it. i want. the un agreed in turn to canada saudi arabia already faces international scrutiny over the killing of journalist jamal khashoggi in the saudi consulate in istanbul in october that prompted canada to review its arms sales to saudi arabia and. the case has drawn global attention district guardianship laws that require saudi

women to get a male guardians permission to travel or escape is said to have inspired other saudi women rajoub how mad. mock my god is going to start a revolution in saudi arabia go on social media now and watch the accounts off so many young saudis see rob you have shown us that we can do this refused to see her father and brother who traveled to bangkok to seek or return in the end it might have been noon savvy use of social media that led her to a new life in canada. the saudi official reportedly told the thai authorities who seized her passport i wish they'd taken her phone instead john hendren zero. for us the turn now to one of our top stories the african national congress unveiling its election manifesto at a rally in durban in this hour william khamenei is a professor at the school of governance at the university of veterans in

johannesburg he joins us now from there thanks very much for being with us now they're kicking off can't their campaign the n.c.a. in the province of natal what's behind that decision just talk us to talk us through that. you know the enormity of the other eight of january is really a good year over the last couple of decades not only sends a message to the public you know our party's policy or you know sort of has its program for the year and it kind of this is an op where the venue is normally decided the year before so this isn't to have it in durban to have it and of course a little nettled province which is the heartland of the former south african president of millions of president jacob zuma was already amazing a year ago when jacob zuma was stern in the presidency and also when there is a cup so much group and very very control of the a.n.c. believes that that time a year ago gratz you know a couple of months assess that would be is exwife course resign

a lot many assume are so very they had hopes that you know today would have been you know a victory march by him because as an atlanta zoo mark would have kicks off and sit would have been the answer president but we know you know see last the concert i'm a poser at the end of this conference december twenty seventh so is the shadow of the last president jacob zuma hanging all over this because although he was forced to step down he still enjoys a lot of support in the a.n.c. doesn't he. absolutely i mean you know the problem now for the present i'm appalled as the president of south african presently and see he is actually fighting it is wrong in the camp is the campaign of days of campaigning here of the elections but it's also not only fighting you know your sort of normal presidential campaign against your competitors your opposition parties but it's also it is finding a fight or so or you know at a duel fight against his own party or one faction of his own party so must assume our former president remember he left you know reluctantly were schools are of the

presidency he still has quite significant support and control in the party in fact the most will be controlled by forty percent of the party he is not a very happy man as a moment because you know he years down the if it's been prosecutors for corruption you need to be wanting president from a poser to give him some kind of amnesty which is not possible in our politics and so on so he's so for them of course this is a really difficult campaign you know he's going to have to fight his own party the jacob zuma group which is a party and then he has a fight also you know the competition what is happening south africa's politics jacob zuma when he was president you know he covered the country so poorly that it really energized the opposition parties so this election for the first time in south africa says that you know the country became democratic in one thousand nine hundred forty to be the most competitive election that the country has seen and

although it's so competitive and i'm a pause i must also battle is own party also we should point out these elections are coming up in may still some way to go but what is one of the main issues facing south africans as this campaign kicks off you mentioned corruption there but what else is on the minds of south africans. i mean you know the country is you know is in a crisis right now you know the economic decline of the kinds i mean this is sort of the worst period since one thousand nine hundred four from an economic point of view you know jobs we've got the highest unemployment drop lows i mean in the industrial worlds really big problem you know that the state the south african government have been so poorly cut and that it doesn't have the capacity the mainstay sounds in if a company is all in trouble up or needs to be out but we don't have the kind of money you know income or revenue has been declining massively. in south africa last

couple of years now the a.n.c. is owned voters at the moment are really many of them are starting to leave the a.n.c. . because they are looking for jobs looking for housing you know crime is very high violence is very high in the country you have a calling for governments to deal with violence to deal with crime aduba hospitals to deal with the education system i mean those issues is really going to dominate the lexer now what is also happened you know i said early on that the opposition politics has become more competitive you know since one thousand nine hundred four now what is happening is that young people that used to vote for the a.n.c. black young people many of them and employees are now supporting a new opposition parties economic freedom fighters these were former members of the a.n.c. that form their own political party now you have to think about it south africa is

a typical developing country with a youth a pulse and this election for the first time we will you know the majority of the voters it's in the may twenty nine thousand election will be new voters will be people who never who were born after the ends of a party they don't know who the glory days of the a.n.c. struggle. you know they don't know that you know they know. jacob zuma is or a pass equal rob as a car it's not governed. very effectively and so on so that's also going to be a challenge but you know majority of the new voters young voters. can be a you suggest to them because these are supporters are our answer is that they want to support an hour and they're going to yes sorry we're going to have to leave it there pretty talking to us william joining us there from johannesburg. now in a few moments we'll have the weather where that meteorologist rob mccallum also

still ahead on the edges you know why the chief prosecutor in colombia will soon be looking for a new job if these protesters have their way. and they might be freezing but the colts look to continue their hot streak in the playoffs against the chiefs. by the springtime flower of a mountain late. to the first snowfall on a winter's day. and i listed a ninety percent chance of developing yet another el nino which is when the all of the pacific west known around the philippines drifts eastwards and piles up against the coast of south america is just about starting out the temp is risen in a little bit as a tug of war has come down the peruvian coast now that usually means you get rather

more rain this part of what you sometimes even get rained lima and the one hasn't quite got to that stage yet but it got plenty of white cloud suggesting rain and it's been raining fairly heavy in the peruvian andes as a result once more we've got to contend with mudslides land full this is one that happened in peru the result of this amount of water fording further north on the green a side of the ends if you like it has any place been western wet in argentina in the year of. brazil huge amounts of rain last his three weeks this is now what it looks like in the lowland farming area of the past pompous in northern kenya now it's this is summer rains of course a little bit more calm in argentina but i suspect we've still got a lot more to see in peru and maybe the chilean andes of the next few weeks. the weather sponsored by cattle and race. to be a child. and carefully but it comes to an abrupt end at the burden of

young children. with a mother behind bars for siblings for each other and decide whether to stick together. the family in the hope of a chance across the us mexico border the other side of the. documentary al-jazeera. one of the really special things about work in progress here is that even as a camera woman i get to have so much empathy and contribution to a story we cover this region better than anyone else. because you have people. on political issues. the people who believe that tell the real stories mend it used to deliver journalism we don't feel in.

a reminder of our top stories this hour the runner up in the democratic republic of congo's presidential election is challenging the results in court. says he won with more than sixty percent catholic church election observers. syrian state media says israeli forces have fired several missiles at targets in damascus including the. syrian air defenses are reported to have intercepted some missiles but one of them damaged. the teenager who fled saudi arabia because she feared being killed by her family for announcing it is about to land in her new home canada has granted asylum

to. she gained global attention for barricading herself in a hotel in thailand to avoid deportation home. a four israeli settlers have been released into house arrest after being held in connection with the killing of a palestinian woman three months ago i should abi died after rocks were thrown through the windscreen of her car fifteen age is in police custody the numbers show violent crimes by settlers against palestinians rose steeply last year as harry force the reports now from the occupied west bank. yes robbie is finding comfort where he can mainly it comes from his family he and his wife i raised eight children together he says they always planned once the kids had finished their schooling to devote more time to each other to travel together about future was shattered in october last year when driving home past an illegal settlement outposts in the occupied west bank their car came under

a hail of rocks and stones enough said. there was a huge explosion in the car the glass fell in my wife and i had been talking in the rocket on the side of her had she fell on me but came out from her ears and nose my daughter was screaming i didn't know what to do the car was swerving right and left it was the longest three seconds of my life three months on the israeli security services have arrested five students from a religious school at the outpost in connection with a shower robbie's death saying that they collected evidence of extremist and anti zionist religious ideology consistent with what's referred to in the israeli media as jewish tara the suspects are reported to be from the illegal settlement of youths are near the palestinian city of nablus for all the attention is raised this attack is not an isolated one it's part of a patent a surge according to recently published figures of attacks by settlers on palestinians in the occupied west bank in july twenty fifteen a husband wife and their toddler son were killed in the fire bombing of

a palestinian home in the west bank village of duma a crackdown by israel's security services saw a reduction in settler violence but last year the numbers rose sharply again it's reported there were four hundred eighty two and palestinian crimes a three fold increase on the previous year the incidents include assaults vandalism of vehicles and property as well as threatening graffiti israeli human rights group ph d. and recorded twenty five such incidents in just one day last month after two israeli soldiers and one baby were killed in palestinian attacks it says too many settler crimes against palestinians go unpunished we've had about over twelve hundred investigation falsely documented and monitored since two thousand. five and eight percent of those indictments were served and in a mere three percent were any convictions served we also noted that eighty two percent of investigation files are closed in circumstances that suggest police investigate a failure to israeli police call those figures misleading and incorrect your cue

ball robbie says he is finding some solace in the fact that suspects have been arrested in connection with his wife's killing he hopes that any eventual punishment will act as a deterrent to others but whether the freed or jailed for one hundred years he says nothing will bring back his wife sorry force that al-jazeera in the occupied west bank. i abraham for how it is an author an associate professor at the institute of graduate studies he joins me now to talk more about this good to see you again sir thank you as we heard there's been a rise in these types of attacks on palestinians by israeli settlers what do you put it down to well this is one clear example of. the of the causes of this increase because those crimes are going unpunished which is a clear think a culture of impunity among those in the west bank that there are committing these crimes and it's going on and punished this is not the first time this the most

dangerous aspect of this actually the this has emerged as a pattern there are several other cases where. you know crimes on this level where committed this was it was part of this but then. was either softly punished or no punishment no punishment at all including one cares actually of the jews of him who was been the life. a couple of years ago and no see the spanish month was given to the perpetrators which created and encouraged this kind of behavior in those early in this particular case that the people who carried out this attack on the palestinian family were arrested and we heard in harry's report there that the father hopes that this will acted as a deterrent to others will it i mean israel doing in israel doing enough to deter these kinds of attacks well obviously this is not the audience not the dance at all this raises very serious questions about you know state sponsored terrorism because

with this kind of terrorist actions taken by settlers in the west bank and that the state has become complicit with this by and not delivering the serious punishment that these things. deserve then the state is involved. on the other hand also we have the policy in an authority that is unable to protect its own citizens and in this case we have serious concerns about the responsibility to protect and the palestinian territories who's responsible to protect since the policy meant that it is unable to deliver this and you have the a part of thirty there's a the authority is complicit with these types of crimes which is the responsibility for the international community to take on the on the part of the responsibility of to protect because the palestinian in the west but the policy is of those banks are

left unprotected for these kinds of subjected for these kinds of terrorist actions and you talk about the palestinian leadership needing to do more is there a risk that that could inflame the situation further while the palestinian authority since is taking responsibility and they can go thirty in the foreseen and that is it has to deliver protection for its own city citizens but these times you know these types of actions are taken outside that's on to what's called area aid where the policy of that is able to exercise it's on the third of these are happening again what's called a sea where it's the primary security responsibility is for the israeli for the israeli authorities and there's radio authorities as observant is watching is not doing enough to protect this and this explains why we have seen the increase of this terrorist actions from almost one hundred attacks in two thousand and seventeen to almost four hundred in two thousand and eighteen and. no clear and

convincing argument or explanation is given by the government which again exposes those later authorities and leave them complicit with these types of crimes all right good to speak to you if i had thank you you thank. now the twenty two day shutdown of the u.s. government is now the longest in history with no end in sight and eight hundred thousand federal employees missing their paychecks donald trump is urging democrats to give up their weekend and vote for his five billion dollar border war with mexico is backed away from his threat to declare a national emergency over the issue. i'd rather not do it because this is something that congress should easily to this is something that the democrats should do and i don't want to give an easy way out of something as simple as this not only simple it's easy and it's going to secure our you know we have

a country that is under siege you could actually get a lot of people don't like the word invasion we have a country that's being invaded by criminals and by drugs and we're going to stop it so i want the democrats to come back to washington and vote. our demands are growing in colombia for the chief prosecutor there to resign now start on battle martinez is accused of covering up bribery linked to south america's biggest ever corruption scandal asunder and yet he has moved from bogota. holding flashlights of colombians gathered in various cities demanding their country's attorney general steps down. is accused of covering up the regularities and bribes paid in colombia by the brazilian construction giant target rich at the center of the biggest corruption scandal in the region we colombians are tired of seeing the powerful steal money and nothing happening our institutions our justice

system a kept captive and we want them back i took you to forces were unable to prevent protesters in front of the attorney general's headquarters taking down the offices flag and burning. i in two thousand and fifteen the legal advisor of colombia's biggest financial group owned by. the country's richest man. partner with the british winning a one point six billion dollars contract to build a major modern way but in a series of documents. then the auditor of discovered more than thirty million dollars in legal payments and informed martinez about them yet in a dramatic twist pisano a son in a third witness have since died and what are said to be suspicious circumstances well martina's became the man in charge of investigating the crimes other branches admitted in a plea bargain with the united states the partner of justice being eleven million

u.s. dollars in bribes to colombian politicians but that's just a fraction of the total amount of rights he has allegedly hate hearing and yet turney general denies any prior knowledge of the payments and continues to reject calls for. it's resignation. prosecutors have pressed charges against high ranking officials in a number of countries including former presidents while in colombia only mid-level officials have been charged matter dina's has recused himself from two related cases that many fear a complete and impartial investigation will not happen in colombia as long as he remains in office. the issue is that practice financed the presidential campaigns of the two most important political parties in colombia they paid x. ministers congressman if the attorney general falls the entire structure falls with them. just days ago peru's attorney general resigned

under increasing public pressure after he dismissed two leads prosecutors in the scandal. powerful political backers continue supporting him but it's unclear if he'll be able to withstand the growing calls for his removal. opponents of venezuela's president are challenging his right to a second term and countries throughout the americas are refusing to recognize the legitimacy of his rule critics say his socialist policies of wrecked the oil rich economy and provoked latin america's largest ever migration crisis there is a ball has more from caracas. thank god it's been a day since the quantum other little was sworn in for his second term in office and already members of the opposition controlled national assembly took to the streets to denounce him as a super of the executive office are seen that his daughter is one of the millions

that have left been swimming in the past year she says families shouldn't be forced to leave apartheid as soon we don't have an apology of why there is a polo guy in them because we don't have that medication so our food to what we don't have security in the streets the demonstration was small compared to the massive ones that happened in two thousand and seventeen when thousands took to the streets to protest against mandalas attempts to disregard the national assembly for most of the people here and this is the first step towards opposing what they call it the dictatorship of precedent we call out model but they're also calling on the armed forces to rebel against the government even though the military has played a crucial role in a war child the socialist revolution was the precedent of a national assembly is one where you don't he was elected last week and now says he's ready to become the interim president and called for new elections he told

al-jazeera he first needs the support of the armed forces and the venezuelan people for a hand then a guy you know what is it the strength of the people is crucial in this process and we have people that were forced to leave the country others to teams murdered and even tortured i think nothing to stop us it has not been easy for us we are survivors and we are in resistance. before your position has called for a demonstration on january twenty third and promises the national assembly police consider to be in contempt by the administration will be in charge of defending democracy in this country international pressure may also help but analysts say it is not enough then they also simply to go cool and they need to force the government to negotiate the international community plays an important role but it's not enough there has to be a true leader that can connect to the masses to force majeure to negotiate you need a population ready to defend their rights.