this is news live from berlin and syria's protracted war just got more chaotic as alliances shift kurdish militia in syria are teaming up with president assad's forces to push turkey out of the border on please it invaded last month. also coming up chancellor angela merkel tells her party that she would like this woman to be elected secretary general is this the take it to the chancellor ship. plus after the florida massacre school students stage

a diana outside the white house to demand more gun control at the same time the man accused of murdering seventeen students last week appeared in court. i'm sorry kelly welcome to the program thanks for joining us human rights monitors say that the syrian government has stepped up its bombardment of the rebel held area close to the syrian capital damascus killing scores of people the syrian observatory for human rights says that the government air raids on eastern huta have killed seventy one people over the past twenty four hours and injured three hundred twenty five the suburb has been under siege by regime forces for more than four years the united nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis in the area which is home to four hundred thousand people.

and elsewhere in the syrian conflict the state news agency says that protein forces will soon be entering the northern region of afrin to help kurdish militia repel turkish forces turkey has warned that it will confront syrian government forces if they enter the city now ancora began a military offensive there last month aimed at displacing the kurdish y p g militia that control the reach him. an entire town in mourning this is become a familiar sight enough rain in recent weeks with residents regularly attending mass funerals for kurdish fighters killed in clashes with turkish troops. it's against this backdrop that syrian state t.v. reported on a move that could change the dynamic of the fighting the news anchor of this bulletin announcing that militias allied to the syrian government would soon arrive in a freeing to help kurdish forces push back the turkish offensive. meanwhile

in government held aleppo just south of a free syrian kurds have been demonstrating against the turkish offensive and in support of y p g fighters many of whom can be seen in the city. and there the syrian army and we are one of the syrian people and one we are all one and we have one will. during a visit to jordan the turkish foreign minister said a deal wouldn't affect his country's resolve. if one of my kitchen order must all of my kitchen you know if the syrian regime really does enter affray into clans kurdish militia then there's no problem however if it comes in to protect them then nothing and nobody can detach and stop the turkish army it's very clear operation olive branch and affray names to cleanse these areas from terrorists and if it

terrorists that it would then your. turkey is keen to avoid a kurdish stronghold on its southern border with syria so its own forces launched a major military offensive into a frame last month in a bid to expel the kurdish fighters that control the region the offensive has further complicated an already but will during web of alliances and rivalries in syria. and to help explain the fallout of a possible deal between the syrian kurds and assad i have with me here in the studio middle east analyst daniel baer lucky is also the editor in chief of zenith magazine and daniel thank you so much for joining us this evening thank you as we just heard we have this report basically from from syrian state television telling us that you know that the syrian regime is about to assist the kurds in this fight against turkey. could this just be tactical mis information or do you think that this is actually the case. no i don't think it i think it's tactical but i don't

think it's misinformation because such a move would make sense and could also be lead to a face saving solution for all the conflict parties involved here. that's a bold statement so i should probably explain why i think the id and its affiliated militias in this area the kurdish militias that are considered a terrorist organization by ankara they have strong enough rain but they have no way to move out of they have no way to defend it in the long term so on the other hand they can give the turkish army a very very difficult time and so there is both are somehow stuck in this conflict so inviting the syrian regime could also be a face saving solution for turkey and this is also how i interpret the statement of the turkish foreign minister because they would say as long as the syrian regime moves in we have achieved something politically we can tell our constituency the syrian regime has taken over the people id has been weakened and what i think the turks want to achieve is control the border zone they don't want to take over three

and they cannot they would just want to control like a buffer zone along the turkish border in this area and so i think all three parties would be satisfied to a certain extent only of course the people do because they are the ones that are suffering so tell me if i hear i'm hearing this correctly do you think that the syrian regime is going to take over administration of a free man or will it still be in the hands of the kurds well you know there is administration in this fake up ministration administration in this part of the syria has meant much in the recent dia's but we have seen deals between the syrian regime and the people in other parts of syria let me remind you that since two thousand and eleven two thousand and twelve this year the regime has withdrawn from certain parts of northern syria and has given silently given the administration of this area over to the people id militias the airport and family which is like a very important let's say the capital of one of the continents at the turkish border until today held by the p. y. d. but the airport of the city is controlled by the syrian regime and its allies in and out to damascus. so we have seen deals before and i don't think this is an

unrelated six in our you but what if we have a different scenario what if we have turkey continuing to you know assault offering for example continuing with its an offensive in order to every game this territory how close could we be to a direct war between turkey and syria we have seen clashes between syria and turkey syrian jets have been downed by a turkish army and we have seen a military intervention of the last year in other parts we have the area of monday which was just still contested which is between nothing and the other could its contents it is possible but what we see in syria is if clashes between two countries two armies of forces occur that would not necessarily and their full fledged war between these two countries what is what is important it's to to to keep the promise of weakening the p.y.t. and of course like in all this setting of brinkmanship to prove himself

a commander in chief as long as this war if this war continues and continues for him he's going to lose a lot of troops and it's going to weaken the reputation of the turkish armed forces this is why i think this would be a solution and it seems that the russians have also had a word to say and it seems that one has talked to putin about it and it quite confirms the scenario that i just try to depict the shifting alliances are absolutely fascinating we thank you so much for joining us to talk a little bit about the potential fallout of it all then your gallup editor in chief of the magazine middle east expert thanks for joining me. and with turkey engaged in syria is looking to improve military ties with some of its allies including germany where the past few days have seen a thawing in relations this after uncle released german turkish journalist denis you child who was held in istanbul for a year without charge but now some are wondering what turkey might get in return they think that a deal for

a take factory may be on caressed price. seeking speedy approval from germany turkish prime minister banally yielder him is hoping the two countries might soon cooperate on building tanks in turkey a deal potentially worth billions. in january german foreign minister sic mark gabriele signaled berlin would ok a proposal to retrofit tanks with new anti mines systems but that plan was put on ice after turkey invaded syria's afridi region with german built leopard tanks gabriele rejected speculation a deal for a tank factory would be approved critics fear there may be a secret deal to approve the factory in exchange for the recent release of the german journalist denise you joe also known as the the foreign minister would never admit it but in my view it's perfectly clear there's a connection there if you look at the whole story i assume is a direct link to. the german foreign ministry has denied those claims it

says the country's acting government doesn't have the mandate to make such a deal and the putting on this to court this country's future governing coalition has agreed in its negotiations to further tighten the weapons exports so i wouldn't be able to support an agreement like that. after turkey's controversial use of german leopard tanks against the kurds in northern syria both sides know a strengthening of ankara and butlins military ties would likely be unpopular. well now i'm a gret karrenbauer might not be a name that rolls off the tongue especially for non german speakers try saying it ten times fast but you might be hearing it a lot more because in the future because chancellor angela merkel has told her conservative c.d.u. party that she would like her to become its general secretary that means that she

would be in charge of the party's david day operations and of places her in pole position to take over as chancellor if america steps down it's by all means a colorful choice and a good come combo of the take the position as general secretary of the cd hugh although she already has helped more important posts within the party but conservative leader uncle america wanted a party manager whom she can trust one hundred percent and on a good come come by has been close to america for many years we can once again when we have known each other for many years now and i can say that we can rely on each other even if we both have our own opinions so i think we'll have some exciting times ahead of us. the media has given come combo the nickname mini america the board a k k as she is known in the c.d.u. party is much more than just a mini unincluded com combo or has been state premie of the sol region since two thousand and eleven. victory at the state elections last year was key to merkel's

win in the nationwide elections just a few months later know she gives up this strong position to help marco to set up a reform agenda within the sea do you. even if this new i'm firmly convinced that germany needs symbol continue to need strong political parties not political movements dominated by single persons. on the great come combo or is considered to be down to earth a matter of fact approach to politics is very popular her nomination as general secretary can also be seen as a way of reaching out to america's critics of those she's loyal to the body leader articulate come combo has never been too shy to voice opinion in the past one out of the united states where protesters in washington have staged a so-called die in to demand tougher gun controls in response to the florida high school shooting the demonstrators gathered in front of the white house and lay on

the ground to push their message all the mass shootings are commonplace in the united states the latest massacre where which saw seventeen people killed has prompted a particularly angry public response students and parents at the high school where the shooting occurred have led the call for gun reform. and for more let's bring in carolina chinmoy who is following the very latest from washington d.c. and carolyn i want to begin by talking about these student activists because they have really been imploring lawmakers to do something we have seen a series of very very passionate pleas in the past few days what has been the reaction from washington. well speaking about the president donald trump he spoke oh with a senator on friday we probably kind of all a billion traduced with a democrat a senator or a democrat and this is bill and. how state and federal governments report

offenses that could prevent people from buying a gun but we have to remember that donald trump a ran for president as a pro-gun candidate and tied himself to the n.r.a. to the national rifle association throughout the whole presidential campaign so this kind of questions always arise after such a tragedy sarah what is congress going to do is there going to be a legislative response or not experts say that people are not now nor really shocked anymore after such tragedies we have to remember this is the thirteenth tragedy in this year and that a major change in gun control is unlikely to get the support it needs in congress but also among american citizens people here in the united states are still defend their rights to carry and to own a gun carolina chinmoy checking the pulse of washington d.c. in the united states amid this debate about gun control in the wake of the shooting

we thank you so much carolina. up to date now on news i'm sarah kelly in our land thank you so much for chatting and i hope to see you against. bush by the germany is a strong country. that we have achieved so much we can do this and have something hinders us we must overcome it via. going where it's uncomfortable global news that matters t.w. made for mine.