israel strikes syrian military targets in response to rocket attacks a day before. and a multi monkey you're watching al-jazeera live from doha also coming up china accuses the u.s. of interference after the senate passes bills supporting hong kong protesters plus . i should have seen that connection differently and had i done so i would have raised my own objections donald trump's former special envoy to crane tells the impeachment inquiry that he didn't realize kiya was pressured to investigate job i

. also head out of business how weeks of antigovernment protests in iraq are affecting trade. israel says it's fighter jets have launched attacks in syria warplanes hit syrian army targets and iran's could force in the early hours of wednesday morning that's according to the israeli military serious as many of the rockets were shot down a day earlier israel intercepted 4 rockets launched towards the occupied golan heights from syria as an author is our correspondent monitoring developments out of beirut zina what's the significance of the targets here. well multiple targets multiple locations the attacks are being described as wide scale extensive the israeli army a knowledge ing that it was behind the attacks in and around damascus according to

the israeli military they hit positions bases warehouses arms the pows belonging to the quit this force now this is an arm of the iranian revolutionary guards they do have a presence in syria but also in the israeli military statement they mention that they target the syrian military positions as well including surface to air missiles now it's not rare it is rare for israel to target the syrian military over the years they have really focused the air strikes on iranian and iranian allied groups in side syria's syria so clearly a message here from the israelis that we are holding you with the syrian government responsible from any attacks that emanate from syrian territory israel is describing this as an act of retaliation they are saying that there was 4 rockets fired from syria towards the golan heights the occupied golan heights on tuesday night they're blaming this attack on the force there has been no independent

confirmation on that specific incident israel has been targeting syria really for years now it says that it doesn't want the israeli army and iranian military really to entrench itself in syria to use syria's a launching pad against israel or pose any security threat to israel so this has been going on for some time now but it has been a while since israel carried out such a strikes thanks very much. and israel's security was highlighted by the country's prime minister benjamin netanyahu just after he met his rival benny gantz who has until the end of whedon's day to try and form a government mr ganns is still in negotiations with other parties if he can form a coalition israel could face a 3rd election in less than 12 months mr netanyahu described his meeting with mr gans as the quote final moments of and start decision that could affect the country's security. yemen's who see rebels have released 3 ships and their crews

seize near the red sea on monday to south korean ships and a tugboat from saudi arabia being held near the port of data the saudi government called the seizure a terrorist operation the the who these say their actions were justified to u.s. military personnel have been killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan it happened in the province of logo officials say they don't believe the helicopter was shot down and they are now investigating the taliban has claimed responsibility. china has summoned a u.s. diplomat after the senate in washington passed a bill to support human rights in hong kong following months of often violent unrest a standoff at a university campus there is continuing a small number of student protesters have remained holed up on the campus of the hong kong polytechnic university since sunday some have been trying to escape and avoid officers who've been surrounding the building during the worst of it demonstrators hold petrol bombs and even shot arrows at the police we're live with

wayne hay in hong kong for the latest on that standoff in just a moment but 1st 200 thomas joining us here out of beijing for the chinese reaction to that u.s. senate resolution and what are they saying about it there. well be very swift and it's been very strong the summoning of the senior u.s. diplomat here in beijing to see the foreign ministry of the government is the thing that's up in the last couple of hours but really they were saying to him what they released this statement a few hours ago now clearly beijing was ready for this vote in the u.s. senate and was expecting it to be passed and they had a statement prepared it's very long and it's very strong and it's worth reading a bit of paper so you because you don't get words out of this out of beijing all that often not like this this acts they say neglects facts and truth applies double standards and blatantly interferes in hong kong affairs and china's other internal affairs it's a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations china condemns it and firmly opposed that it goes on and on in that vein

the issue hong kong faces is not about human rights or democracy but about stopping violence and chaos this vote in the u.s. senate china is saying encourage is what they call criminal activity violence riots they say out of a hidden political agenda this paints criminal moves as the pursuit of human rights and democracy it's no such thing they say hong kong is part of china this statement goes on to say we urge the u.s. to grasp the situation and stop its wrongdoing before it's too late and towards the very end there is well a not so veiled threat china will have to take strong countermeasures to defend our national sovereignty security and development it interests if the u.s. insists on making the wrong decisions because of course this act passed by the u.s. senate is not law yet in the u.s. that would mean sanctions and so on china but it would need to go to the u.s. president donald trump he need to give his assent to this for it to come into force and beijing is trying to head that off by making it very very clear how upset they

are that this is going anywhere at all this act and by saying that they would take counter measures were it to pass that what those counter measures could be well that's really anybody's guess i mean they could escalate the trade war suppose from the chinese side they could make it even harder for things like n.g.o.s charities foreign ones to operate here in. china there are many things that they could do to make last that much more uncomfortable for the u.s. we have a go there yet but there's something of a senior u.s. diplomat so you see the government here in beijing is another signal really of how seriously they take this and how clearly they all saying that the issues in hong kong on nobody's business but china's under many thanks let's bring in wayne hay who is live for us in hong kong wayne could this news out of washington and the reaction to beijing impact the protesters do you think. well i think the response here peter will be and so far has been along fairly predictable lines echoing the sentiment from beijing we've already heard from approach china politicians here in hong kong saying the similar

a similar thing that this act is an interference in hong kong's domestic affairs on the pro democracy side and the protest is side they will seize upon it there and it will no doubt embolden them this act that is passed through the senate in washington as being one of the things that the protest is that rallied around one of their rallying cries over the past few months we've just seen another small protest here a fairly regular one during the week in the central part of hong kong by office workers coming down from their places of work during their lunch breaks to stay just small rally at this busy intersection some of them again waving u.s. flags so i think there's no doubt that they will seize upon this act and they will take it as them having the backing of a significant international power perhaps these are the most significant as far as the situation at the polytechnic university goes well it is ongoing still a very serious situation there you mentioned that the numbers inside that campus the resistance have been trying to escape some have surrendered some have

successfully tried to escape from the campus but most have been arrested and we believe the numbers that are inside there at the moment between 50 and 100 still refusing to come out the police still. very much have that area cordoned off ok when many thanks. of the u.s. president donald trump will testify in the impeachment inquiry later on wednesday gordon song learned as the u.s. ambassador to the e.u. he revised his initial testimony to later say he believed mr trump had links restarting military aid to ukraine to the country investigating the bidens joe biden and his son hunter by now on tuesday the white house attacked its own ukraine expert as he was giving testimony ellen fisher has the story. this could be a pivotal week in the donald trump impeachment hearings many of the shuttle to give

evidence were on the controversial july call with the ukrainian president that kills a key claim the hearings are based on 2nd hand reports giving evidence of tenet colonel alexander vigilant a career army officer and the ukraine expert on the national security council he was concerned by the call by president trump pushing for an investigation into democrat joe biden and his son immediately took those concerns to a white house lawyer is improper for the president of the united states to demand a foreign government investigate a u.s. citizen and a political opponent a decorated veteran of the war in iraq vidlin has seen his actions in testifying under attack from president trump's supporters who question his loyalty this is america is the country i've served and defended that all of my brothers have served and here right matters. thank you sir gilbert. thanks one of vice president might pence's jennifer williams also appeared before

the committee saying she had the call and considered it political in nature republicans are insisting the president did nothing wrong and was fully entitled to demand an investigation into biden and his son's business dealings in ukraine as millions of americans are watching throughout the hysteria and frenzied media coverage 2 key facts have not changed that are critical to these impeachment proceedings one ukraine in fact received the aid and 2 there was no investigation into the guidance then we had an appearance from kut volcker the former special representative to ukraine he's a witness called by republicans but he dismantled a key republican talking point that joe biden did something wrong as i previously testified i have known vice president biden for 24 years is an honorable man and i hold him in the highest regard former national security official timothy morrison admitted the ukrainians were told the u.s.

wanted something from ukraine to unfreeze the that had been allocated an actual quid pro quo that the ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general. make a statement or with respect to the investigations as a condition of having the ablest as democrats try to build a compelling case the republican leader of the senate where the definitive vote on action will be held says he doesn't see donald trump being removed from office it inconceivable to me to be 67 votes. to remove the president from office president trump who's described some of those giving evidence as never trampers in the past actually acknowledged he doesn't know most of them but i don't know i never heard of him i don't know any of these people other than i have seen. their investigation the white house is continuing to mount its defense issuing a statement from keith kellogg the national security adviser to vice president mike

pence he says he was on the call to the ukrainian president and despite evidence from others on tuesday he insists president bush did nothing wrong alan fischer al-jazeera washington. still to come here on al-jazeera violence in bolivia as the army tries to end the blockade of a major fuel plot and. i'm florence leon young turn lake at least in china where harry crabs off on so popular and expensive that that imitation in the market that story coming up. had a there still a very unsettled weather picture across much of europe in particular of the central med and central europe little is activity in the last few hours it is going to be carrying away but the damage has already been particularly close and austria widespread we've had avalanches mudslides and also flooding this is evidence of

mudslides a here's a closer view you can see this is actually just to the north of salzburg huge swathes of land being taken away and of holes some buildings have been destroyed but as a say the good news is this system is actually on its way for the tools east now does mean the rain is heading on tools of all kinds if not to behind kara conditions sunny final bit dry and really not too bad wednesday across much of western europe the next system is waiting to push in and it does say the rain heading across the u.k. and on tools fronts and sunny very cloudy day across much of spain and portugal meanwhile a little bit more unsettled through the eastern end of the med some showers on their way to athens and it does mean with all this weather in the mediterranean we will see some clouds certain across northern coastal areas of africa this is wednesday cooler in shipley mostly dry but we could suddenly see some showers into morocco rip just 17 degrees celsius and then as we head off into thursday still cloudy conditions but not bad 18 algy is.

the british iraqi journalist who's visualizing complex statistics in a simple. i think your office a summary excites of opportunities to break apart from most systems of power and to collect data in a way that represents different community challenging mainstream misconceptions and hope that by creating 100 industry shills it doesn't alienate people it doesn't make people feel like i'm not smart enough to understand this truth is that anyway .

welcome back you're watching al-jazeera life right headquarters here in doha these are your top stories israel says it's fighter jets have launched attacks inside syria the israeli army says its planes hit syrian military targets and iran's quds force in the early hours of wednesday morning. china summoned a u.s. diplomat after the senate passed a bill to support human rights in hong kong following months of often violent unrest in hong kong protesters inside a university campus there are refusing to surrender to the police. more witnesses have been publicly questioned in the impeachment inquiry against president trump one of them the white house ukraine expert described trumps phone call with the ukrainian president as poets improper. israel's prime minister has fast tracked a proposed law to annex the jordan valley after the u.s. announced it no longer views israeli settlements in the up by the west bank as being illegal palestinians condemned the move while the un and many individual governments confirmed they'll continue to consider settlements illegal and an

obstacle to peace are a force that reports now from the occupied west bank. a short drive south of jerusalem into the occupied west bank of the red roofs of the etzion settlement block for decades recognized as illegal by the international community including the united states. the morning after the u.s. reversed that stance benjamin netanyahu in the midst of a last ditch fight to stay in office made time to come here for a victory lap we now know here we are in a historic day with another huge achievement for the state of israel which we've been working on quite a bit the trumpet many straighteners but i see the historic one here and stood with truth and justice i thank president from public and secretary of state pompei or so the settlements are not per se illegal under international law the u.s. secretary of state said the declaration improved prospects for peace between israelis and palestinians an idea rejected by the palestinian leadership official

translation is that this land is not quite and this land. and that's consistent with the idea called deal of the century or the next century because they don't see the palestinians as people they don't see us with rights of the technician shortly before september's election netanyahu said he would annex the jordan valley if he won another term in office he has yet to secure that term nonetheless on wednesday he approved the fast tracking of an annexation bill or did reveal was among the settler leaders who met netanyahu he says the u.s. declaration could be seen as a signal of support for such a plan i see that as a potential leading to it definitely it might be an indication for the palestinians listen if you carry on missing opportunities there might be nothing left for you. for decades settlement construction has continued unabated no matter the u.s.

or international definition of its legality just last month 2300 new housing units were approved this is a major reversal of u.s. foreign policy it's a breach of international consensus on the illegality of israeli settlement activity but for most israelis it's entirely uncontroversial support for settlements has only grown in recent years and that's why benjamin netanyahu is main political rival benny gantz has also supported the u.s. announcement. just hours left of his officially a lot of time to try to form a government after september's deadlocked election netanyahu is trying just as hard to remain in office he's already using this latest u.s. announcement as part of his argument to stay on harry forsett al-jazeera in the occupied west bank. the pentagon is warning that isis getting stronger due to the u.s. withdrawal from syria and turkey is offensive there in a report it says those developments have allowed eisel to rebuild its capabilities and its resources and also warns the death of the ice salita. will not slow this

resurgence and it says the group is likely to focus on freeing fights is being held by kurdish led forces inside syria that it has for me is director of the sense of for middle east studies at the university of denver he says a stabilizing force is now required to fill appollo vacuum in the region the short term challenge is to try and stabilize this area it was previously stabilized by american troop presence in alliance with kurdish forces so now that that arrangement has been changed i think that's the immediate i think the pressing challenge is to find some alternative security arrangement that prevents this area from further destabilizing allowing isis to you know insert itself and to reorganize but of course the longer term challenges still remain in these have to do with you know that the social economic and political conditions that produced isis to begin with to have to do with you know authoritarian regimes unemployed

young people the lack of hope and also the ideological challenge that isis still poses as a as a movement that can still attract disgruntled young muslim men from around the world so i think those are the you know those are the 2. immediate imperatives that i think need to be dealt with amnesty international says more than $100.00 iranians have been killed in the crackdown on protests against petrol price rises they're running government says $6.00 protest us and 5 police officers were killed state t.v. is showing some 300 of them being arrested for rioting and threatening shopkeepers . weeks of anti-government protests in iraq are damaging trade some shop owners are struggling to stay in business because of roadblocks port closures and internet interruptions while many say they're sympathetic to the protesters demands they also want to return to stability so mona fulton has that story from baghdad. as protesters digging their heels in downtown baghdad nearby businesses face

a struggle of their own traders near tahrir square have found themselves on the front lines between security forces and demonstrators this hardware store and the other were burned down in recent unrest staff are still sorting through charred merchandise because the anti-riot forces were on top of the buildings they targeted them the 2 shops that belong to us this one and that one were burned we weren't able to extinguish the fire as you can see it all turns to ash surveillance video from adjacent buildings shows protesters throwing petrol bombs the shop is insured but it will take time to rebuild in the meantime shop employees warry about how they'll support their families and then of course. we have daily labor is this is our livelihood if i don't work 2 or 3 days it affects me on. it's not just the businesses around tahrir square that are feeling the pinch port and road closures in southern iraq have stifled trade analysts fear the uncertainty stemming from the

protests could have long term adverse effects on the economy. political stability is an essential part of the investment climate i believe that these problems will lead businesses to think practically and to transfer their investment to other countries the partial internet shutdown has head but it does budding online business community. is iraq's main online food delivery company but revenues have dropped more than half since the recent protests began. to tell about an obligation depends greatly on the internet if the situation continues like this we don't think we can continue for the next 2 or 3 months i don't believe we'll be able to cover their salaries. the lack of jobs is what started the protests in the 1st place but now the economy appears even worse off demonstrators say that whatever the cost of the unrest it's nothing compared to what has been lost to the corruption and

a small price to pay in the interest of bringing about larger change the monopole teen al-jazeera. you know going to is asian american state says political instability and human rights abuses are damaging democracy in the corral here hundreds of people have been killed or jailed or forced into exile since protests against the president daniel ortega began in april of last year and it's want him to step down to call elections. in bolivia at least 3 people have been killed during a security operation to end a blockade on a major fuel plant by supporters of the former president abel morales they're demanding the return of the leader and after he resigned earlier this month following antigovernment protests histories about. violence scenes once again in the city of hundreds of members of the security forces headed to this ng got their gas plant on tuesday supporters of dallas were blocking it to prevent gas from reaching the capital. several people were killed and many others injured when

security forces cleared the way. they are killing our bolivian brothers we want freedom we want a president with our blood we will fight for it with our lives. there are roadblocks in many parts of bolivia and the streets leading to the capital are no exception protesters say bolivia's democracies are under threat but protests like this one are preventing gas diesel and some food items from reaching the city people here say that they want to repeat what indigenous leaders back up that he did when he shot down all accesses to the capital well they're saying that they want to do exactly the same right now to force the resignation of interim president or any 9 year. to back up that is subjective in 1781 was to isolate law passed in the fight for independence from spain he was

later killed. under siege was a tactic also used in more recent times in 2003. then president. was also forced out of office after massive demonstrations that closed the capital . with ever more of the country and an interim administration in place security forces claim they won't allow the past to repeat itself many say the violence needs to stop. bolivia is split into it is a good country even more or less is gone and what are we going to do about it i would like to see people unite and find a candidate for elections stop throwing rocks we are killing one another among the libyans and elections will come and we won't have a candidate violence needs to stop. the attempt of us happened as the interim government is negotiating with a one party for new elections this people that want to have

a new process within the must but there are no no seeding with a with a government for new elections by the radical people within the party led by a more or less are person in this people with threaten everything to not do any consensus with the government some type of consensus appears to be the only way out of the current crisis a crisis that has this and the a nation on the edge. now for a few months every year in china apostles with activity during the season for harry crabs but these chinese delicacies are so popular that spawning counterfeits farms louis travel to eastern china to find out more. has been working the waters of young town lake for more than 20 years he's one of thousands of crab thomas here autumn is harvest season for chinese mitten crabs also known as hairy crabs a delicacy prized fritz which grows so the humor i sleep on my houseboat every day

and i have to keep our eye on the crops or so they don't escape. also how to look out for thieves. hairy crabs also reared in surrounding lakes but it is farms from youngstown lake that are believed to produce the best ones to preserve the quality of the water the local government has limited the number of farms allowed on the lake. it has created a whole business channel restaurants logistics and tourism every year we see more tourists coming. to enjoy the corrupts which are of the highest quality the crabs are sold all of the china and exported overseas last year the output from this area was a 1600 tons but what was marketed and sold as harry crabs from young chang amounted to $20000.00 tons that's a lot of fake crabs out there the crab association here has taken measures to

protect its famed progeny there's a cure our code on each tag and once you scan it a screen comes up giving you information that's a statement confirming that the scribe is from yung chang lake as a serial number there's even a phone number you can call to make sure the crab you've got is the real deal connoisseurs insist they can tell the difference between crabs raised in young and lake from the rest. quality of crabs from young lake is much better than crops from anywhere else their shelves are also thinner. i don't craps from anywhere else other than a young lake to meet flavor and the role it's reach or. being eating crabs for a long time i can tell the difference they're more expensive but it's worth it.

as long as there are people willing to travel all the way here for genuine young gent hairy crabs farmers like didn't want to have to worry about competition from county florence lee al-jazeera young gent lake eastern china. welcome back welcome to just joining us you're watching al-jazeera my name's peter dhabi top stories israel says it's fighter jets are launched attacks inside syria the israeli army says its planes hit syrian military targets and iran's could force in the early hours of wednesday morning serious as many of the rockets were shot down a day earlier israel intercepted 4 rockets launched towards the occupied golan heights from inside syria israel's security has been highlighted by its prime minister benjamin netanyahu that came just after he met his rival benny gantz who has until the end of whedon's states try and form a government witness against can't form a coalition israel could face a 3rd election in less than

a year less than you know described his meeting with guns as the quote final moments of an historic decision that could affect the country's security. china summit a u.s. diplomat after the senate passed a bill to support human rights in hong kong following months of often violent unrest in hong kong protesters inside the university campus there one of them are refusing to surrender to the police more witnesses have been publicly questioned in the impeachment inquiry against the u.s. president donald trump now one of them is the white house ukraine expert describing donald trump's phone call with the ukrainian president as quote him up properly. 2 u.s. military personnel have been killed in a helicopter crash in afghanistan it happened in the province of loga officials say they don't believe the helicopter was shot down and they are now investigating the taliban has claimed responsibility. the pentagon is warning that i sill is getting stronger due to the u.s. withdrawal from syria and turkey's offensive then in

a report it says those developments have allowed eisel to rebuild its capabilities and its resources it also warns the death of the eisel leader abu bakar al baghdadi will not slow this resurgence amnesty international says more than $100.00 iranians have been killed in the crackdown on protests against petrol price rises the iranian government say 6 protesters and 5 police officers have been killed 3 people have been killed in bolivia during a security operation to end the blockade of a major fuel plant by supporters of the former president abel morales demanding the return of the leftist leader after he resigned earlier this month and had massive protests against allegations of electro fraud up next it's inside story on have more news on this channel in 30 minutes hopefully see that by.

al-jazeera where every. the united states says israeli settlements are no longer illegal it reverses 4 decades of u.s. policy it puts the trump administration at olds with the international community so why now a phone call reason this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm in wrong it's a dramatic shift in u.s. policy and goes against the position taken by international organizations and most other countries the u.s. says it no longer views the illegal israeli settlements in the occupied west.