using interactive content to inspire people to take action. global in the multimedia environment series going to w. this is d w news live from berlin this syrian town that the frame is now in turkish hands on her back fighters praising the turkish flag after a lightning and fan against kurdish militia overnight the battle for a free man has forced more than one hundred fifty thousand from their homes we ask what's next for the region also coming up russians go to the polls to pick

a new president in a vote many call a done deal letter and putin is expected to easily win a fourth term in office can he mobilize voters turned off by the predictability of the contest. top financial henery in berlin thanks for joining us. on camera back forces have taken control of the northern syrian town of affray in the chalice been the target of turkey's two month the fences against a syrian kurdish militia it views as terrorists its capture marks a major victory for turkey but as left thousands of civilians homeless and desperate. this is the moment turkey has been working towards for two months. the raising of the turkish flag over the town of affray in northern syria. this footage is said to show turkish backed

rebels entering the town on sunday morning. i was there at the time these men have been fighting since january to oust the kurdish militia known as the people's protection units a y p g over the drugs are. going to have to take he says the group is an offshoot of the band p k k terrorist group and as such a threat to its national security. across the border in turkey news of the victory was met with jubilation by president adeline and his supporters. most of the terrorists have already fled with their tails between their legs our special forces and members of the free syrian army or cleaning the remains of the traps they left behind in the center of the symbols of trust and stability are waving instead of the ranks of terrorists. for the civilian population of a fraying turkey's offensive has been devastating more than one hundred fifty

thousand people have been forced to flee for their lives in the last week as turkey attacks the city from the air and the ground. at the bottom of the levels we fled because of the airstrikes and the bombardment in our villages by turkish troops says this man there is no united nations or international community anymore they have forgotten all morality what can we do as civilians turkey is a monster country. it's unclear what will become of these people or if and when they will be able to return to their homes. journalist but american vogue and monitoring situation for us from the kurdish city of erbil in northern iraq vladimir explained to us exactly what is happening in a free right now why was it so important to turkey to gain control of the city. well. turkey didn't want to have any form of kurdish self rule in northern syria

and that's what they also told americans and because there were no russians in africa it was there were no americans and after they could attack the city because russia through this operation the docket and so after two months that they finally the respect the rebels they and thirty city a three. hundred more than hundred fifty thousand people were displaced to areas outside of that. and now that turkey has claimed that they gained control does this mean that there and there's an end in sight after weeks of relentless fighting. depends on what turkey is going to do because the turkish president there don't always say that we're not going to stop with our freedom we're also going to at that moment you're going to take the whole area until the iraqi border so that there is present make clear they want to destroy this kurdish all rule ministrations all the way to directly border so we will depend on the americans because the americans there in eastern syria and until now the americans out there

will not leave so we depends on the americans going to do are they going to protect of course from surface attacks or not. and as you said more than one hundred fifty thousand people have been displaced in the fighting what can they expect to happen to then and to the region well it's going to be very difficult for them the syrian government doesn't allow them to go to aleppo they're now like two small villages also i think so the pens on the turkey also thirteen of us they said they'll allow civilians are returned but i think most of them there will be not be willing to return because they're afraid of repercussions because they were supporting kurdish fighters most of them but the three maybe some of them who were there and are also still songs of the inside i think so we have to see what's coming in the next few days but a month and logan park thank you for your insight. syrian president bashar al assad has visited army positions in eastern guta near the

capital damascus syrian t.v. report at the army had given rebels in one village and ultimatum to withdraw this as more civilians streamed out of the besieged rebel held areas russian sources say some twenty thousand people fled eastern ghouta on sunday alone syrian government forces have been making gains in the area since starting an offensive last month. to russia now we're voting is underway and the country's presidential elections vladimir putin is on course to win a fourth term in a vote many say is a foregone conclusion as this report shows many russians see putin as their only choice. casting his vote in an election he's bound to win on paper vladimir putin faces seven opponents but in reality his only real challenger is voter apathy he sent to want at least seventy percent of the vote to prove he has a strong mandate to govern and although that's not what he says in public. approval

of the us a what percentage of votes would you consider successful he's asked you would any percentage which gives the right to fulfill the role of the president he replies. russians have known putin as their leader for eighteen years and many still consider him their only option. younger girls although i have voted for putin because i don't see any alternative if you know who you're with you have made the right decision i think are voting for putin everything he does works for me. you know i voted putin there's not much of a choice shall we say. that you. might choose the lesser of two evils. there are claims that in some parts of russia employers have been pushing pressure on staff to turn out and vote something one of putin's presidential challenges says she is trying to highlight. it i don't think we will observe what happens we will

monitor irregularities as you know our campaign team works as a poll observer. shafik i would love to do that in a war that is that is the only opposition leader who's seen as a real challenger to putin is alexei no valley and he's been banned from standing in this election over what he says a trumped up fraud charges he may have called on russians to boycott this election but it looks like a done deal for the man who's dominated this country for a whole generation. for more now we go to our correspondents emily sherwin in moscow and near tracks in the central russian city of cazan emily you aren't there in the heart of the capital polls are open any excitement bearing in mind many russians believe that this is a one horse race. well there is some excitement

where i am at the moment i'm in as best you know hall which is in the center of moscow where there's an election party going on a show as you can see behind me which is in part being broadcast on state t.v. and there is some excitement here people have been called on to go to the elections to go to the polls and they're trying to create a kind of holiday atmosphere but out on the streets a lot of the people i spoke to in the run up to the election said basically why bother voting we know putin is going to win anyway it's not really interesting. and with such a lack of enthusiasm there's actually been a push from the kremlin to to galvanize voters to to increase turnout why is the turnout such an important indicator in this election. will since it looks likely that putin will win another term his fourth term it's

very important for the russian government to show through turnout numbers that these this vote is legitimate anyway despite the fact that it will probably be the same result and i've seen that here at this show there's even been ringing girls in a boxing ring announcing the current level of turnout that we've seen at the polls . ongoing they've been announcing it as as we've been as we've been watching and also all over the country there's been an attempt to create a kind of holiday atmosphere and to really pull people to the polls there have been . the competition's raffle's with cars up for grabs and they're really trying to achieve apparently seventy percent turnout that's the goal to show that these these votes are legitimate and really it sounds like the russian government is going to considerable effort to galvanize people but just turning now to marriage or i can because on and central russia there have been reports of irregularities such as

ballot stuffing around the country what have you seen. while i can all for a small snapshot of what's happening here in cazan i've been there three polling stations and downtown on the capital of tatarstan polling station number forty four forty five and forty six just to give you an idea there are more than four hundred fifty polling stations he and cousin they didn't allow me to film at polling station number forty five saying i need a special local accreditation if i wasn't on their list so i had to go or i tried to explain then that i got a creature from the russian government from the. ministry of foreign affairs but they did not care so completely different picture at the polling station number forty four we could film everything no problem whatsoever and then we went to the polling station number forty six and they told us that we could film but only from

afar and this is kind of a sudden the ship is like i couldn't agree on that so i left and can you tell us have you seen any sort of election monitoring in place to ensure a fair vote when you were at those polling stations. well independent observers at polling station forty five they complained that there was no place for them to do their job there is an independent organisation to protect their electoral rights of citizens called goals and their election observer told me that they were not allowed to monitor the election at the polling station number forty five representatives of goals told me that they don't expect a mass fest of a false vacation season cousin but they do expect cases of fraud outside of cazan in the villages where you won't find any independent observers at all it's also difficult to accompany election officials to people who cast ballots at home this

is also possible so no one really knows what's happening there emily sure when and manager x. or itch thank you very much. russia and britain are trading more accusations and the poison case of the former russian double agent surrogate. russia's ambassador to the e.u. vladimir chips off said russia possesses no chemical weapons and suggested the substance used in the english city of saulsbury may have come from a nearby research laboratory britain denies this foreign minister boris johnson called the claim a satirical at all evidence points to the kremlin the return of double agent surrogates cripple and his daughter remain hospitalized in critical condition after being exposed to the nerve agent two weeks ago. motor sport now and french rider johan's arco claim pole position in the opening race of the moto g.p.

season in qatar the yamaha riders that a blistering pace to smash the lock record which had stood for over a decade reigning world champion mark marquez couldn't not stop performance and so hill starts sunday's race from second and a comedy writer do you look around off the front row in there are. millions of people around the world put on their finest greenery on saturday to celebrate st patrick's day of her reign in ireland couple of dublin two colorful costumes elaborate floats and thousand spectators while the day's biggest and they say oldest procession took place in new york city more than one hundred thousand people came out for the fun and in chicago the tradition is to die the city's river embroiled green organizers say though the die use is environmentally safe and straight from the for the fish. don't forget you can always get news on the go just download our from google play for the awful story that will give you access to

all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news you can also use the d.w.m. to send us photos and videos. you're watching d.w. news from berlin and more coming at the top of the hour and don't forget to get all the latest news and headlines on our web site that's d.w. dot com i'm still henery hope to see you again soon.