yet another merchant sees summit as costing a lot of time a lot of money and present a manual macro is actually saying of course that the e.u. is being held hostage by briggs it and it's time that that was stopped david m. brussels. the u.n. says there's been an alarming rise in civilian casualties in syria's last remaining rebel held province the bombardment of it live intensified hours after russia's president hinted it would allow the move who's in is a main backer of syria what's it government calls the elimination of a terrorist's rights so to hold the reports from beirut. the board mint is intense and indiscriminate opposition controlled towns and villages in the northwestern province of idlib are under fire from syrian government forces and their allies who say they are responding to rebel attacks. there is supposed to be a ceasefire in lip the warring sides playing each other for the provocations. would

lead. to terrorists have had to ration and continue to launch attacks against the positions of syrian government. but syrian government forces have been hitting markets residential neighborhoods civilians are dying in term of the heaviest shelling since turkey and russia reached a cease fire deal in september. the syrian government says it lip is a legitimate target because it is controlled by a sham and other groups many in the international community link to al qaida. we are waiting for the implementation of the such years agreement but our patience has limits we must liberate the slams of our friends the russians can feel our patience whining they are trying to solve the issue with the turkish leadership russian president vladimir putin discussed it live with his turkish counterpart. gone in moscow this week putin said their efforts will lead to the elimination of

what he called the terrorist threat. turkey was supposed to create a demilitarized zone over our live free of weapons and fighters but instead. consolidated its control. russia and iran gave priority to ties with turkey over regaining control of turkey had warned an offensive in the province would cause a humanitarian disaster and be a breaking point and their alliance now the turkish government doesn't have as many cards following its strained if not ruptured relationship with the united states. the focus of the near daily syrian government bombardment has been to recapture two international highways that pass through it so far there has been no ground

offensive partly to avoid confrontation with turkish troops in the area that may change. russia will be careful not to risk its relationship with turkey but it has the upper hand how it uses that leverage will determine what comes next and it led . beirut iraq fears regional stability could be damaged by dog trumps decision to designate iran's revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization iran's supreme leader is describing the decision as vicious and these valid to take action against u.s. forces based in the middle east prime minister says the us president ignored warnings. we reached out to all of our friends in trying to stop the american decision i spoke to king abdullah of jordan egypt in leadership and they also spoke to the american administration such decisions may have negative repercussions on iraq and the region but the u.s.

administration went ahead with it. a three way battle is hotting up in the mountains of eastern afghanistan are still fighters started their offensive against the taliban province two weeks ago fighting forced around twenty thousand people from their villages and the afghan army special forces are being ordered to join the battle shallop both reports. the afghan army controls the roads and croon are but isolate and the taliban contests the countryside it's a police a school with you in convoy one of the few ways to exit areas further is the right for violence between the armed groups has escalated in recent weeks twenty thousand people from their hopes villages from the worst area of chpa daraa have arrived at this health clinic looking for help. and i sort of arrived in our village and we were dressed like this we took nothing and we just

fled by foot we left everything behind and came here some of our families are still living under eisel and with the ongoing fighting this is shereen his son mohammed saeed he was shot in the leg during a taliban eisel clash. the situation is very bad in our village and those who can make it they can come down here but those who aren't physically able are stuck there it's impossible to survive there i said on the taliban have been fighting in this area for some time but about two weeks ago our. assault on the taliban in the mountains around trying to push them out we understand they have about fifteen hundred francs in the syria from which they more text locally in kabul and then also further abroad with a rifle at the governor's house and cruel to ask him his response to this crisis. has been the governor for ten months much of his territory is contested by the taliban now the government must tackle both groups. of the. our military

are on the outskirts of shock but daraa they have gathered there and started but the proportions they are waiting for special forces to begin the operation the air force will also help us so hopefully in three days will capture the territory back . the time line is empty and these elders from chapter daraa know that the meeting with the looking for help they want temporary accommodation for the families in a government held area until they have guarantees it's safe to return. to. their wives or even more his hint these four women have twenty eight children between them they are convinced i saw the children and in the. what was the situation like that of the taliban. or did i say. i still arriving at our house and there was a big fight and we were not able to survive so we came here the whole mountain was

under eisel control we were not able to live there they kept coming down to our village there were so many bullets flying. all those who fled told us they were more scared of i saw than the taliban but they are the baser of two evils the priority now finding a place for their children to raced till they feel safe to return home shallot ballasts al jazeera. the russian president has asked the international community to help develop the northern sea shipping routes it connects the far east of the arctic to the west and is usually frozen most of the year but because of global warming it's now becoming more accessible steadfast in reports from moscow. nowhere else is the impact of global warming felt as strongly as in the arctic ice is melting at a fast pace the effects of climate change are calculated to be at least twice the

rate of anywhere else on the planet and while it is seen as a reason for huge concern some see it as a business. navigating through the northern sea route between east asia and europe has now become a possibility reducing travelling time significantly compared to the southern route through the suez canal and developing the arctic route has become one of president putin smain policies he wants to see a ten fold increase in cargo in the next five years. only ten or fifteen years ago this number seems totally unreachable now it's a realistic calculated and concrete task to accomplish last year the amount of cargo on the northern sea route reached twenty million tons which is three times the soviet record from one thousand nine hundred seventy one. to one now most of the ships use in the northern route our oil and gas tank us but to help commercial cargo ships maneuver through the arctic russia is building three nuclear powered

icebreakers and aims to produce thirty more by twenty twenty five this part will be . at least three so if this. is just a scientists have raised serious doubts about put in supplants this estimation. are all just wrong some people rich president. look to. go through or so-called pink glasses. very ecstatic that arctic is even the climate is. gentle and rather close to global warming it's not it's something close to that from the clouds that therefore this number looks like impossible now the sense is that the problems of the arctic and the northern sea world as an opportunity for economic growth but neighboring countries in the region have other concerns that say there was

a perfect what they call the vulnerable part of the planet and whole global warming and that of exploiting it usually the heads of state of finland norway and iceland and sweden are all of just four minutes in petersburg and with a keen to have their voices heard for us global warming and its effect on the arctic. may not only lead to an environment to an ecological disaster but. they are a security threat of global proportions russia has downplayed concerns of a possible military buildup in the arctic but with gas and all reserves still untapped the arctic is no longer an undisturbed isolated part of our planet it is rapidly becoming a geo political you front step fasten al-jazeera moscow. this

is our just zero time take a look at the headlines but its main parties in israel have the same number of seats with vote counting almost over in the election prime minister binyamin netanyahu looks set for a fifth term with the support of a coalition of smaller right wing parties pressure is growing on sudan's president with the u.s. britain and norway urging authorities to deliver a plan for a political transition on tuesday people gathered a fourth night of protests outside the compound housing the military headquarters. the u.n. security council will hold another emergency meeting on the situation in libya as fighting there continues dozens of people have been killed in recent days fighters loyal to walt khalifa haftar are trying to take the capital algeria's interim leader says free and fair elections will be held within three months. says he has no political ambitions of his own he's promising to set up an independent committee

to oversee the poll protesters want a more immediate overhaul of the political establishment within the last hour the government has issued licenses for ten you political parties. tough new laws banning semiautomatic guns will be in place in new zealand by the end of the week parliament acted just weeks after fifty people were shot dead during an attack on two mosques in christ church during friday prayers all but one of new zealand's one hundred twenty m.p.'s voted for the gun reform bill it also outlaws parts that can be used to modify banned firearms. a u.-turn on air b.n. b. to allow property listings in the occupied west bank is being condemned the home sharing company had reversed its policy to remove israeli listings after settling legal action jewish lawyers sued their be in the when it said the homes were at the

core of the dispute between israelis and palestinians it's inside story next stay with us here on al-jazeera. the u.s. and iran label each other's military forces as terrorists and raise the stakes in decades of hostility some of the objectives unlawful be the impact of these unprecedented declarations this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program. now the islamic revolutionary guard in iran is both revered and feared commanded directly to the supreme leader and as well as enforcing power they control major businesses now it's been designated as a terrorist organization by the united states is the first time the u.s. has ever labeled a foreign government agency in this way and allows more citations to be imposed on iran but to kill the guard and its business connections the u.s. secretary of state says the iranian force poses a fundamental threat to u.s. security this is stored step of red the world's leading state sponsor of terror the financial means to spread misery and death around the world businesses and banks around the world now have a clear duty to ensure that companies with which they conduct financial

transactions are not connected to the r.g.c. in any material way. it also gives the u.s. government official tools to counter iranian backed terrorism. this designation is a direct response to an outlaw regime and should surprise no one when iran responded by calling u.s. troops in the middle east terrorist groups and threaten to produce more advanced nuclear centrifuges algis there is a mess ravi has more from tehran. it's become a familiar routine u.s. president donald trump's white house issue some new action against iran provoking a chorus of defiant responses from senior iranian leaders immediately after the united states designated the islamic revolutionary guard corps as a terrorist organization iran's government retaliated by doing the same to u.s. forces in the region specifically mentioning u.s. central command and saying that the united states was a state sponsor of terror iran's president hassan rouhani speaking at an annual

event celebrating iran's nuclear program said his country was more united than ever against the united states who he characterized as being the world's top terrorist he also said attacking the i.r.g.c. would only make them more popular amongst iranians iran's parliament seemed to echo that sentiment on tuesday when lawmakers proposed a bill to carry out measures against the united states and help strengthen the i.r.g.c. even more some lawmakers even showed up in parliament dressed in i are to see fatigues as a show of support their own speaker of parliament ali larijani also said the move by the u.s. was a sign of an old grudge and a sign of quote stupidity since the i.r.g.c. has been on the front lines of the fight against the islamic state of iraq and the levant or eisel in iraq and syria now iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei who is the commander in chief of the i.r.g.c. said america's animosity towards the group is because the i.r.g.c. is a bulwark against u.s. interests and policies in the region referring to this latest announcement from the

white house said quote trump and idiots in the us administration think they are making progress but they are not they are on the decline he also said the i.r.g.c. has and will continue to be at the forefront of confronting iran's enemies both foreign and domestic both politically and militarily. inside story. while the islamic revolutionary guard corps is the most powerful of iran's armed forces the elite wing was founded in one thousand nine hundred seventy nine to protect the leadership following. the revolution which deposed the shah the size of the force is thought to be around one hundred fifty thousand ground naval and air force personnel as well as enforcing political power girl commanders have major business interests and control iran's ballistic missile program the u.s. accuses them of financing and training armed groups like hezbollah which is based in lebanon. thank you it was all right let's introduce our

guests now joining us from the iranian capital tehran is mohammad marandi dean of faculty of world studies at the university there trita parsi is a professor at georgetown university and he's joining us from washington d.c. and in london we have elie getter meyer deputy director of the middle east and north africa program and senior policy fellow at the european council on foreign relations trita can i start with you in the u.s. because i'm wondering if you can explain for for us exactly what the objective of the administration's policy of naming the revolutionary guards as a terrorist entity is. ostensibly the argument they're presenting of course is that this is part of the us as maximum pressure strategies of iran a belief that if they maximize pressure against iran eventually the iranians will capitulate and change all of the policies that might compare has pointed out that they would like to see a change and very few people would take the administration's claims about their

objectives at face value appears to be the real objective here is that by taking a measure like this the trumpet ministration is and trapping future administrations into what parents to become a permanent state of enmity between the united states and iran because any movement future administrations would like to do in a diplomatic direction whether it is to rejoin the g c p a way or just start new negotiations and try to get some form of an effort to reduce tensions with iran all of those efforts will become severely hampered by this decision this is reducing america own maneuverability in the future and that appears to be the objective all right coming to mohammed in tehran then the iranian authorities have responded in kind of exactly the same way ratcheting up the pressure they're all those who are now pointing out that there is a real possibility with both sides indicating that the other is a terrorist group

a real possibility of military conflict now. the the the new sanctions and the declaring of the guards a terrorist organization doesn't have any economic impact because the guards have already been sanctioned thoroughly there's nothing more they can do in fact some many here pull believe that is a sign of u.s. weakness and defeat that they are sanctioning something that's already been sanctioned it means that they really don't have much else to do so economically and politically it doesn't make a difference it does have a there are certain areas where there could be trouble for example in the persian gulf or in the indian ocean where the navies of the two sides regularly confront each other or for example drones flying over syria that could be an issue so yes it makes it more dangerous and also i agree with your previous guest said about

preventing future administrations in the united states from moving towards rapprochement if for example the a.n.c. the africa african national congress and nelson mandela who were declared as terrorist by the united states only after president mandela's term in office as president south africa were the restrictions on him removed so that he could enter the united states so the it's a very complicated process removing all of these different sanctions and. actions taken by ministrations and congress in the senate early coming to you in london how do the europeans feel about this mohamed is suggesting that there's not going to be any greater economic impact because the revolutionary guards are already laboring under massive raft of sanctions do you think that this will turn the screw even tighter on the revolutionary goals in the business they control and uranian economy more generally. well i have to agree the economic impact is going to be negligible

. find any major european company that's willing at this point in time to do business that could remotely be viewed as connected to the irish given the immense amount of u.s. sanctions that already same place so in terms of its all europe iran trade i don't expect it to take a major heads now what this could potentially do is chill the appetite of new companies a new board members that were considering entering business deals with iran because this designation creates a new layer of criminal responsibility for folks that may be knowingly engaging in this sort of a business but again i can't forsee any major european company in gauging this type of business in any case now what it does do in terms of europe or wrong relations is add a new layer of political tension to the relationship in terms of trying to preserve the new create deal europe and iran are currently undertaking technical extensive

technical work for this new payment mechanism to allow some degree of trade to flow between iran and europe and this new layer of tension from the united states really puts a question mark over this effort in some ways because the europeans have been telling iran behind closed door listen let's hang on tight until the twenty twenty elections in the u.s. are more clear about where action washington is headed perhaps there might be a democrat president that takes a different view on the chase if your way so hang on iran this argument for europe is going to be significantly impacted by this latest designation mohamed coming back to you so in certain courses around the world the revolutionary guard of being completely demonize how do we really use feel about the revolutionary guard we've heard there are an elite force they have a great deal of business interests in the country but we saw the supreme leader extolling them for their virtues of keeping many enemies out of iraq.

well if you look at multiple polls that are carried out regularly both by iranian institutions and western institutions the most popular public figure in iran is the commander of the quotes brigade general hossam son in money after him. foreign minister zarif is the most popular public figure in the country so i think that goes that tells a lot about how people feel of course it's a country of eighty million and you have eighty million different views but the very fact that the united states antagonizes the revolutionary guard which made many sacrifices both during the imposed war which where the united states back saddam hussein and gave him chemical weapons and in for example just iraq next door helping prevent isis from reaching our borders or taking iraq this is the attack in islam of the united states towards the guards which which has

a lot of public support because of that history only only makes them stronger it only makes them more popular and actually what's interesting is that these this deck this statement that made by the united states came at a time when the construction segment of the our part of the guards which builds infrastructure they are busy rescuing people in the provinces where we had floods and it puts brigade which is the armed. part of the old guard which works in iraq and syria against isis and al qaeda they too are in the provinces rescuing people and helping people deal with the flood as we speak so it's really extraordinary how how the timing was really bad for the united states really in hand i gars president rouhani today made it very strong say more right for the guards but rather lately now around the eyes i guess they can public figures

together thank you ma'am it at trita coming to.