you're watching t.v. news coming to you live from berlin no letup in the syrian government's brutal bombing campaign in eastern good time that's as shelling intensifies and the rebel held on clay monitors say more than two hundred fifty people have been killed in the damascus suburbs since sunday. also in syria a new escalation looms in the country's north that's as pro syrian government forces enter the town of offering to help the kurds defend against a turkish offensive turkey's president russia time out of one suspect says they pay a heavy price. for the new push for gun control after the florida school shooting

the u.s. president says he supports a battle devices that turn seventy automatic weapons into machine guns but will that satisfy demands for meaningful change. oh i'm terry martin thanks for joining us there is mounting international concern about the latest assault on eastern ghouta by syrian government forces the rebel held area has been under heavy bombardment and independent monitors now say more than two hundred fifty people have been killed there since sunday. is a group of suburbs on the outskirts of the capital damascus duma is the main town in the enclave which is completely surrounded by pro assad forces the siege which has lasted. more than four years is thought to trap up to four hundred thousand

residents the u.n. says it's deeply alarmed by the escalating bata. in the caucus of eastern gets these are the lucky ones terrified shaken but still walking . first responders usher them to safety as an air raid siren underlines the arjun singh as he escaped yet. the government's four year long aerial siege of the rebel held in place has intensified in recent days. with hundreds killed and injured and to national observers say it marks a new epoch of violence. we are witnessing some of the worst fighting of the entire conflict and the widespread

destruction of civilian infrastructure including medical facilities. wors received reports of attacks on five hospitals in eastern go into and is working to verify these reports of the casualties. the syrian opposition leader begged for an international response saying the atrocities amounted to a war crime this be a boy these children had been killed just today it is doable. because of the bomba of the sea their regime and the iranian militias and the russian. forces they are claiming that this artists the these are children and that it will fight for years . the bloodshed is so relentless here unicef should have blank statement in response to the un agency for children said words couldn't describe the suffering. which is left to numbers to tell the story of the staff or station but even monitoring groups can barely keep up with the daily death toll here.

let's go now to damascus where marwa is standing by live from the united nations world food program thanks for talking with us a recent report from the u.n. world food program said that some civilians and they were collapsing from hunger described a dire situation how much worse has that situation there in eastern due to become in the last two days. yeah the world who program is increasingly alarmed by the escalation in violence which is leading to higher and higher levels of food insecurity basically people do not have any access to the markets who markets are closed under bombardment and we have news that several of the bakeries that exist inside this enclave have been destroyed we also know that every week there is about thirty thousand to forty thousand bread bundles there are weekly produced to serve

the population those bakeries are no longer available so the situation is getting worse and people are forced to stay underground to avoid the shelling unable to go on to the streets or whatever's left of them to collect or buy food so a dire situation there in eastern goot what about aid organizations getting access there and getting food for example of other supplies medical supplies into eastern ghouta how how difficult is it to get in. it's extremely difficult and very frustrating for the world food program and other united nations agencies we have been requesting repeatedly for access and after seventy eight days of requests we finally got approval to enter as an area on the southern eastern part of eastern huta and we went there last week delivering food to only seven thousand two hundred people and this accounts for two point five percent of the total needs. the

local councils told us that the food was so little they would have to actually the flight each ration into five portions to be able to share it with the most vulnerable families this is why we've continued to call for access but first we need a secession of hostilities because we cannot go in as convoys under shelling what do the people in eastern guta need from your organization and other aid organizations what do they need. well when you're living in besiegement for a long time you cease to have access to food medical assistance or just basic commodities to be able to carry on with your life on a daily basis you're also missing education you're missing you're missing shelter you're missing blanket or i means to have electricity so what needs to happen is for the fighting to stop and then humanitarian organizations including the world food programme can then go in and assess the situation but also provide emergency

humanitarian assistance from our perspective that would be food that would then sustain the people on a week to week basis but what thank you very much for talking with us that was walt there talking to us from damascus she's with the u.n. world food program. staying in syria government backed troops have entered a free day kurdish enclave in the north of the country turkey is preparing to lay siege to the city as part of an offensive against kurdish militia it uses terrorists and a security threat but the arrival of troops backed by damascus is stoking fears of a confrontation with turkey that could further complicate syria's civil war. pro syrian government forces chant unity slogans after entering the northern enclave of offering they've come to help kurdish fighters resist the turkish offensive which began a month ago. we are in the heart of offering with huge numbers and will stay

here until we kick out the ottoman turks occupiers. turkey says its troops of the area and force the pro-government fighters to retreat president have ever won has warned them to stay away. which is unfortunately as you know these kinds of terror organizations take the wrong steps with the decisions they make. of course it's impossible for us to allow this they will pay a heavy price. russia's foreign minister is calling for dialogue saying the syrian conflict can only be resolved if all parties respect each other's territorial integrity. i'm convinced that turkish legal interests with regards to ensuring security can be fulfilled and satisfied through direct dialogue with the syrian government she was pretty movies you know look sprightly to. keep ankara says the offensive is aimed at driving out

the kurdish y p t militia which it views as terrorists and a threat to turkish security but the latest fighting raises the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict. our correspondent dorian jones is following developments for us from istanbul dorrian turkish and syrian government forces together with their allied militias are now facing off in how serious is this confrontation. well there has the potential to be extremely serious at the moment we are talking about only several hundred militias linked to the massacres entering and joining the syrian kurdish militia in the of the fight against this offensive the numbers are relatively small and given the fact that we're talking about a force of thirty or forty thousand turkish and it's militias that it is supporting

involved in this offensive what will be concerned about is is this the beginning of a new development will further militias linked to damascus and iran join this fight along with heavy weapons that they do have including tanks and armored cars at the moment is unclear damascus hasn't made any official statements over this there has been speculation that these militias that join the syrian kurds. are linked and have previously fought with the syrian kurdish militia in the past it's part of why the development is unclear one thing is sure will be on the phone to moscow and tehran probably to say that the end of what is a risk of a much wider confrontation looms which will have major implications in particular for moscow's efforts to bring an end to the syrian civil war but turkey is expressing resolve for its offensive inside syria can turkey still expect to succeed with its military offensive in given that assad's troops have now entered the fray. well this is the big question i think that's what we will be

seeing is that turkey will be accelerating its operations in the african enclave we've already heard from the turkish president on tuesday that they will be planning to lay siege to our friend's main city which is also called for in in the coming days that is a sign that. possibly has only a limited time to secure its goals before major changes on the ground a key factor here will be what moscow doesn't. currently control syrian air space it is at the moment allowing turkey shares jets to continue supporting the offensive into syria if that is removed that will be a major setback to the took the operation and will put its operation in doubt will be now given the fact is also an important part of the syrian regime daryn thank you so much dorian jones there in istanbul. now some other

stories making news around the world today the u.s. state department says north korea canceled a planned meeting with vice president mike pence at the last minute he was supposed to hold talks with government representatives during the olympic games and south korea. reportedly scrapped the idea after pence denounced the north's human rights abuses. clashes between police and squatters on the outskirts of peru's capital lima have left at least one person dead officers fired tear gas canisters to clear the area the evicted residents say the land had been unused for years. and at least five thousand people have been cut off by landslides and hundreds of tourists are stranded after a powerful storm battered new zealand's south highlands the storm was the tail end of cycle which tore through several pacific nations last week. to the u.s. now were last week's mass shooting at

a florida high school has ignited a new push to end gun violence seventeen people were killed in that massacre now the surviving students are leading the movement for change pressuring state lawmakers to pass tighter gun control laws but on tuesday they suffered a setback as politicians rejected a motion to consider a ban on sales of assault style rifles. that students made the long journey to florida's state capitol to confront lawmakers but politicians voted down a motion to even consider a ban on assault rifles students say they remain motivated. that's why we're going to how hot the president knew that they were that they were going to hear a significant day stated on his part on florida we have to get at me and we have to do you know show them how our boys you know usually tell them how they have it was like there are signs that they're being heard although he campaigned on a pro-gun ticket president donald trump announced his support for tighter

regulations on gun accessories and just a few moments ago i side a memorandum directing the attorney general to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn illegal weapons into machine guns. i expect that these critical regulations will be finalized jeff very soon. on wednesday the president is set to host a listening session at the white house with victims of mass shooting violence but many in florida are tired of talk they want action. they're not the students have vowed to continue protesting for gun reform their next stop is in washington d.c. in march youth across the nation are not giving up in the fight for their lives and just forgo

a reminder of the top story we're following for you here today on t w news the u.n. says it's deeply alarmed by civilian deaths in syria's eastern ghouta airstrikes on the seized rebel held enclave of claimed hundreds of lives since the weekend. you're watching the news so soon we will be with you at the top of the next hour with another place watching. we make up oh but we want tons of. under. the surface i. want to show you the continent's future. part of it and join youngsters as they share their story of their dreams and their challenges the seventy seven percent platform for africa.