was produced in serbia it's ok our team and up in the syrian battleground the us government publishes information about federal contracts online. yelena and her colleagues have used this database to calculate the u.s. government's expenditure on soviet style weapons. since 2015 until 2022 pending the new will spend or $2200000000.00 us dollars what do you know about the roots of how weapons from balkan countries go to the middle east they go through turkey jordan co-write qatar and saudi arabia has allowed all u.s. allies u.s. allies exactly exactly yelena had been investigating a plane they departed from reactor airport 5 days earlier which she believes carried weapons to the middle east you can see tung fired her there are the words that this plane took several times and you can see places such as r r ion in qatar

exactly and also has the flight number mark which is very specific for the planes that are actually transporting military goods this. this is footage of the plane yelena tracked it has been loaded with crates at least 20 u.s. military flights have left this airport in the past 6 months. and when we arrive at the airport we to see a plane. this is one of the busiest airports when it comes to playing such as this one. is from the same airline and i have been investigating various really is pretty nuts it's just in the middle of a traffic junction. the air. they are about to take off. there are weapons there they're probably.

there is this here which fights happening it's running it all they need is there the. flight data proves that the majority of these companies planes from riyadh go to key west bases in the middle east. from their weapons can be funneled to syria. this ng the largest pentagon supply of weapons for syrian rebels is bulgaria through the e.u. is poorest country that's a change in for. gary as arms factories fell quiet after the end of the cold war but the wars in iraq afghanistan and syria brought new demand. factories where we opened and new production lines added to supply weapons to the world's most fragile regions.

we have come to bulgaria to find out more about the weapons the u.s. government buys for its syrian allies. so what is home to state manufacture of v.m.s. that. it is also with france's no we it was killed in june 2015. the ems that has been struggling to modernize and not fatal accident wasn't its 1st incident. a series of explosions rocked one of the company's plans in the time before the contract is a rival there were no casualties but production shut down for over 2 months. when we contacted v.m. set to find out more its management declined to speak to us. 2 leading trade unionists did agree to meet but did not want to go on camera not just the workers are refusing to talk to us but even the local t.v.

station what we do know is that the work has a. huge amount of pressure if v.m.s. that fails to complete an order their bonus is a cut was growing international demand for weapons the pressure is on to supply as false as the company can produce. we follow in the we use footsteps his training partner mike doherty had told us the fatal ammunition was 30 years old and we want to see if we can find out more. vs average where the training took place is just over there it's where no real die but we can stop because it's a militarized zone. instead we have to the warehouse that stores its ammunition. it's where the big explosions took place. we're told to leave immediately. what is really for you to shoot.

if you insist. we stopped to film in a nearby village instead to expose. local residents here with fact it by the explosions was so big that some houses in this village had to be evacuated. the local police arrived within minutes. they order us to follow them to the station will be a question i'm threatened with prosecution. it is clear that the authorities don't like any questions about bulgaria's arms exports. but one person did manage to proof that weapons. varian journalist illyana gay tons of a. arrived in aleppo as fighting intensified in 2016. syrian government forces had almost cleared the rebels out of the city.

in a desperate bid to defend their positions opposition forces responded with a barrage of artillery and rocket propelled grenades. and the syrian regime retaliated with air strikes. hundreds of civilians were killed in the crossfire. the suffering biljana witnessed was on full gettable. it was constant firing. day in day night. one of the rockets cell phone next to us over a mother a child there were big heads in front of me. a local journalist to kill ya know to a house that have just been vacated by the owners for a friend. this is truckers from the giro this is the basement which was used

by jihadists to saw huge. a test of weapons this weapon manufactured by a man with a country of origin. when local people realise that i came from bulgaria the 1st question i got was this why are sending quote balls to queue us here in the. after publishing his story an anonymous source directed illyana to a large online stash of hacked documents. taken together they proved that hundreds of flights had transported weapons from balkan states such as well gary and serbia to conflict zones. many were paid for by the pentagon. at least you have any idea who the perpetrators are among the papers where and use a certificates a kind of contract between buyer and seller the buyers must confirm they will not

transfer the weapons without informing the seller they are vital tool to stop the global spread of weapons according to the documents they and. the u.s. special operations command but the weapons and that up are in the hands of terrorists in syria. but she says the seller bulgaria bears responsibility to know when bogey area as a country is. in fault that our weapons and up in warsaw and in countries which are on that embargo we should stop our image at their exports. since their discovery the documents have been verified by international experts. so what is bulgaria's position on these exports. the government declined to come and so we turn to the only bulgarian official prepared to speak to us it is possible to say that is the best lippert mice in the

world stephan board and the chair of the co-president of the association of bulgaria and defense industries. all of this one is possible to destroy the tank on the later move because most of its members export arms to the middle east and he shows us some of the nice defense products they have to develop for private and government clients. we want to know if bulgaria is at fault when the u.s. special operations command or so-called passes the weapons on. as a member of the e.u. bulgaria is required to stick to the arms control treaties many of the contracts are fulfilled with the americans putting so. and use but it is known that the weapons are going to syria if you receive and use it for their country who is with

a good reputation. it is impossible to say i don't like to say you so are you this it is not responsible for boy or country the responsible for the country who make this and you said you make the do you or the state who is good reputation after that or say. much but i have a job on. the hill is growing evidence that this flow of weapons is having unintended consequences. analyst have found heavy machine guns rockets and even missile systems from bulgaria and romania in the hands of. it is now estimated that over a 3rd of all weapons used by the group in syria and iraq women have captured in eastern europe. so are u.s. arms exports inadvertently empowering the terrorists.

in london a group called conflict armament research carried out detailed analysis into how isel has obtained its weapons. are allowed i'm james bevan is the executive director. the vast majority of weapons a marked kalashnikov almost always on the left hand side of the receiver and they have a serial number. bevan spends much of his time in the middle east documenting recovered weapons. most have been captured by iceland battles from their enemies including weapons taken from rebel groups equipped by the us. to date conflict armament research has used serial numbers to trace 40000 items. is qana transfers have introduced weapons which they didn't previously have access to and that's a positive 1st for their friends a pack of o.t. . this is an r.p.g. 7 launcher designed in 1940 s.

but some of the rockets which they've acquired instance a b. through the u.s. train and equip program are the tandem rockets which basically converts a 940 s. weapon system into something that can defeat a modern tank so weapon that was supplied by the us government may well end up being pointed at us soldiers yes absolutely serious blowback there are serious buyback. but not all of weapons were captured in battle a significant number were handed to iceland by friendly fighters from u.s. equipped groups says the missile from an anti tank guided weapon system its transfer history is production in vogue area gets transferred across to one of the syrian opposition forces is then diverted to islamic state we pick it up less than 2 months after i left the factory to once more it's a weapon manufactured in bulgaria by v.m.s. that bought by the pentagon by

a private contractor if you supply weapons to non-state actors you have very little control over what happens to those weapons particularly in a situation like syria. our request to the u.s. department of defense for an interview was declined but we did get a statement saying america's partner forces are vetted and that the final use of the weapons is checked. meanwhile u.s. support for rebel groups in syria continues. and to defeat eisel america has chosen a new ally the president authorized the department offense to equip kurdish elements of the syrian democratic forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over isis in iraq or syria. but kurdish rebel forces have their own territorial interests and a new front has opened in a region already fractured by war. in a recent escalation to u.s. allies turkey and the kurds have been pointing guns at one another.

and more lives are taken every single day. to spread of weapons is a global problem and even more so if exporting countries avoid accountability. it looks so to me it sounds ugly in scares people from america's high streets to mexico's on the world record holder to the side and who controls the other side people in power follows the smuggling route and test the ease of acquiring untraceable weapons on american soil the weapon that was designed for war and it took you about 5 minutes to buy a movie america's gun is arming mexico's cartels on al-jazeera congressman are you

interested in stopping crime. scholar and lawyer. and politician. radical and prisoner in a 2 part series al jazeera world tells the story of one of the most enigmatic figures in saddam's turbulent history. whose influence is still felt on events in the country to the city to robbie's life and politics on al-jazeera. does know one way of telling a story keeping is to tell it right and to be respectful best our desire is great

we have to get to know the person for me to. rewind returns with a new series. and playing dates on the past about using documentaries one. rewind continues with. i will come early. on in the week it's the heart. of the city we're holding on by everyone else to the 2 state solution today it is still barely possible on al-jazeera. but. celebrations in sudan as the opposition alliance signs a landmark deal with the military for a transition to civilian rule. of

thumb drive everyone come all santamaria and this is the world news from al-jazeera there have been more mass protests in hong kong but this time they are on both sides of the territories political divide. also a hit on a saudi oil field as yemen's protein rebels launch another drone attack. we would have loved her to come we started preparing her favorite new everybody in the family and neighborhood was anticipating her visit and we will meet the palestinian grandmother who is proud of the stand taken by a u.s. congresswoman. so it's a new era in sudan one many hope will finally assure in some stability after months of unrest and violence the military and opposition leaders have signed a power sharing declaration into law it establishes a transitional government and outlines who will make the decisions so. these people

have been demanding a civilian led government the still creates a sovereign council in the interim 3 years later interim is actually and it'll be run by members of the military and civilians this is been fraught with difficulties though the agreement follows months of demonstrations and killings after the military's removal of the longtime president omar bashir here's more from him morgan she's reporting from khartoum. that deal signed today between sudan's ruling military junta and the opposition coalition known as the forces of freedom and change is being hailed as a landmark and the beginning of sudan moving towards a civilian rule but some people in the opposition coalition are not happy the group's minister dance revolutionary front and said that this deal is not complete and does not represent them and that's not include anything about were refugees and the displaced people sudanese communist party one of the biggest opposition parties has often said that this deal is incomplete and that the revolution should continue

and has called on people to continue with protests and till this deal is amended but the opposition coalition and many people on the street seem to believe that this is a new beginning for sit down. higher the result of the protest movement was to call for a better life for the people but demanding civilian rule today is the day of the signing of the agreement a star day for sudan and hopefully the agreement will meet all the processes demands that the revolution was based on. them we hope to sit down to move forward so that we can be proud of our country forget about the guns and move towards peace freedom prosperity and unity we also hope to open new job opportunities for our young people but the upcoming transitional government has a lot of challenges people have been demanding justice and accountability especially today when the head of the deputy transitional military council stepped out of the signing whole post signing and people met him with chants demanding

justice and accountability there's also the issue of. people are saying that they want a transitional government that will be formed to improve the economy to improve the infrastructure of the country as well as the health and educational services a lot of thanks for the transitional government that is going to be lasting for 39 months and it's not clear if they will be able to achieve that and 39 months and if there will be a civilian rule handed over from the military in the 1st place. let's go back though and have a look at how sudan reached this point it was the protests against rising bread prices which were in december last year which quickly turned into calls for the former president omar bashir to resign he was accused of pushing up food prices and creating fuel and cash shortages in his mismanagement of the economy but she is also wanted by the international criminal court on allegations of crimes against humanity war crimes and genocide the procedures grew rapidly in the thousands of people demonstrating daily and bashir finally stood down on those protests

continued until last month calling on the military to then hand rule to civilians and let's not forget more than 100 protestors have died during this push for democracy. is a professor of politics at the to her institute for graduate studies and was with us earlier and said i guess the signing should be celebrated but the reforms will be slowed. i would have people expect that next morning when the prime minister sits in his office things are going to change and of course. that's not not going to be the case simply also because they want to station itself on the protests over the last 7 months have also grounded the state capacity down and they call me has been. has been even eroded more and more. and the state capacity to intervene has been reduced so in order to get away

i'll bet she was in the 7 but. this is over to take a fall and that's that's what the people who are protesting against. to other news and tens of thousands of people in hong kong have taken part in pro and anti government rally supporters of the governments they were gathering around to mark park in the central district save hong kong together is their slogan counter demonstrations were happening on the other side of hong kong harbor moon with much as still demanding government reforms and more democracy. and it's not failed there was a tense standoff with police in hong kong as densely populated. district protesters threw eggs and pointed lasers at a police station but quickly dispersed once officers were out on the streets we'll hear more from her a bill homemade in a moment she's with the pro-government rallies 1st andrew thomas with the end to get. this right place of only been here about 15 minutes and yet already they're getting back into their vehicles to go to other protests spring up next this is the

tactics of the protest as they bring big numbers thousands to a location like a play station play station is just down the road and they gather outside making a little noise and some of them very few but some throwing eggs at the play station as well the police come out to the entrance of their play station and make their way to return and threaten tear gas before they actually deploy it the protesters move on suddenly quickly the police come out in vans like the us but as soon as they're oid the protesters just disperse into the metro system on to buses by foot going on to the next place it's a canton mouse game these protests i'm police chasing around hong kong. organizers say about 470000 people at the end of the rally that number is probably a bit lower but still it was a large showing here now most of the people we spoke to said they were coming here to denounce the violence the banner of this rally was saved from kong and support

the police most of the people we spoke to also said that they felt that to police has been unfairly represented and. over the past few weeks there is a sense of worry a sense of anxiety about these outbursts of violence that have been unfolding on the streets of hong kong one woman i spoke to said this is the youth get to have grievances but they have to find a different way to express it we do not want this violence because you don't know how much it can snowball where it could leave so you did have that sense of worry about the future now there is certainly a sort of generation gap between the 2 sides most of the people who were here by and large were maybe about 30 years old upwards a sort of working middle class and working class people who feel that they have a good life and that there is much to lose if this situation continues

here in hong kong they was obviously towards mainland china we saw a lot of chinese flags there was chinese anthem at the beginning of the rally and then there were a lot of speakers for example from the business sector representative of the taxi drivers and went on stage to denounce how much they had lost since this wave of protests started back in june so certainly a huge difference between the 2 sides and one thing that really stuck with us is that people came up to us to say please say the truth show both sides show that there are 2 camps here in hong kong at the moment and but the most important is for the violence to stop and then after that we can try to solve the problems. the rebels in yemen have launched their latest drone attack across the border into saudi arabia and in doing so set fire to a natural gas plant several armed drones targeted the shape of oil field the oil

company saudi aramco describes the fire as limited though and since production hasn't been affected all the saudi energy minister is accused of trying to disrupt the world's oil supply more from. yemen's capital sana. according to the whole of these spokes person he says that the have carried out the biggest operation deep inside saudi territories we have used 2 key draws that have crossed over 1100 kilometers to the east side of the kingdom and they have targeted this. field which is just. 10 kilometers from the borders of the. also according to the whole of these later. he says that sends also a message to the united arab emirates to stop their attacks there on.

the saudi war on yemen and also that the he says that. the saudi arabia's initiated its war in yemen order to secure itself that it should have done it with securing yemen's security 1st he also mentioned that the all citizens so the stay away from the saudi. bite will strike as the promising of more vital and also. harmful of tax on saudi arabia and on the same day as the strike on the saudi oil field iran hosted a hotel delegation along with some european ambassadors iran's foreign ministry arranged the talks which were attended by delegates from the u.k. france germany and italy they discussed the crisis in yemen they heard 3 members have been in iran for several days and the supreme leader last week. the u.s. president is condemning a democratic congress woman's rejection of an israeli visa as

a complete set up or should asleep says israel imposed unacceptable conditions on her request to visit family in the occupied west bank israel had initially banned her and fellow congresswoman bob because of their support for the b.d.s. global boycott movement is critical of israel's policies on palestinians so it's only been requested a visa on compassionate grounds to visit her grandmother. it was pretty traumatic to go through what i had to deal with with. somebody to me they were asking. me you know like my grandmother said i don't think your peers agree you're my dream man and i don't want to come back here you know come come here to come is my country my granddaughter so proud. has this report now from the family village where she met the congresswoman's grandmother it's been over.