this is news coming to you live from berlin could it be the final battle against islamic states u.s. backed kurdish forces are close to ousting the obvious from their last stronghold in syria to threaten turkish intervention is putting victory. also coming up keeping the planes flying with one hundred days to go before the u.k. is due to leave the european union the e.u. steps up its planning in case britain crashes out with no breaks and we'll go live from brussels. and go to sleep in munich get an opportunity to gain ground on

illegal. headed opened their first defeat of the season and be capitalized as they posed see. below i'm terry martin good to have you with us american backed forces are close to gaining the control of the last syrian territory held by so-called islamic state syrian democratic forces the s d f made up of kurdish and arab fighters have captured the town of hud gene and are now in the process of clearing out islamist fighters gene lies in the balli of the euphrates river close to the border with iraq it's the final urban stronghold of the g. hottest militia which once controlled substantial territory in syria and iraq. but as the mainly kurdish inches closer to. turkey is threatening to launch an assault

against the kurds further north. sent this report from the front line in syria. people have escaped the clutches of the so-called islamic state. stranded in a camp two hundred kilometers from the front line. traumatized exhausted but free after days of rain and cold weather the conditions are atrocious but it's better than being under the guns of the. of the euphrates. as human shields so the warplanes can't attack from the sky. planted mines everywhere and they don't want to let anyone escape. the criminals dirty thieves they took everything from us our money as well and then

they left. the battle for the last bit of territory held by as is a tough one. the militia has lost nearly all the land it held was around five thousand fighters are putting up fierce resistance their leader abu bakr al baghdadi is thought to be among them. dozens of members of the s.t.'s have been killed in recent weeks and that's despite our support from the united states and other allies. they've put booby traps and mines everywhere we were advancing but slowly and we have to take care to avoid civilian casualties. this is what's left by the fighting the streets of hygene the former terrorist stronghold most of the people who live here have fled. the mainly kurdish s.d.f. has captured the center of the town and most of the outskirts from my ass. fighting

is continuing in the surrounding villages to jihadists are still managing to stay john bush is a hit and run attacks. but the u.s. fighters try every day to attack our units and recapture the villages but we are pushing back with all we have. the american backed s.d.f. is now facing a potential enemy on another front. victory over the i.r.s. in the euphrates valley is within reach. but now turkey is threatening to march into courage controlled areas on its southern border and caresses the kurdish fighters as terrorists. these threats help yes precisely now when we're making gains in the fight for turkey threatens an offensive in northern syria. and that's bad news for the people still in the i ask

control not everyone has been able to flee thousands are still trapped in the last pocket of highest territory. for some analysis now let's bring in gaiters steinberg he's a middle east expert from the german institute for international and security affairs here in berlin did see a good so we just heard about the retaking of the stronghold hud gene in that report can we safely say now geater that islamic state has been defeated in syria militarily it has been defeated it doesn't control controlled territory anymore no towns but it did still. on the ground the coalition forces count between counted between four and six thousand fighters in iraq and syria combined before the latest events so it is still an actor four to six thousand is quite quite a big organization it's it's it's a military no it's a terrorist act of two to be reckoned with in the coming years and we've heard

about islamic state in syria and iraq also in afghanistan to a degree what about the leadership of islamic state do we know where they are and what they're going to do next when the iraqis tell me that the leadership especially the caleb moore. that he is in syria he has has gone on the ground he's severely injured and i believe that he will either be caught or killed in the coming months but still the organization is out there not only in iraq in syria as you have just hinted at but also in afghanistan in libya. and yemen so the network is still out there. reports suggest that turkish forces in in syria could end up attacking the kurdish forces who have played an instrumental role in defeating islamic state in syria why would turkey do that when turkey has an interest in defeating islamic state to well

turkey has a priority in syria and that is fighting the p.k. k. and the turkish government assumes that there is no difference between the ruling p y d the big the united states and the p.k. k. and that is why they fight the kurds and not isis but that has been one of the one of the standards of middle east politics in recent years turkey doesn't fight isis fight these family stayed as it should it doesn't take the organization seriously it concentrates on the kurds and i think that's a major mistake threatening all security as well give thank you so much for your announcer's good or steinberg for the middle east middle east expert from the german institute for international insecurities fares there really. now to some of the other stories making headlines around the world today local activists say more than one hundred people have been killed in ethnic clashes in the democratic

republic of congo dispute between about ten day and but new groups in my and on bay province sparked the fighting the clash has stoked fears of more violence ahead of sunday's presidential election. european union has agreed on a plan to ban single use plastics a ban is expected to come into effect in two years time and intends to reduce the amount of plastic waste on land in the world oceans the measure will still must be approved by e.u. member countries and the european parliament. and the german government has approved a bill to help businesses employ skilled workers from outside the european union reposed law would ease residency requirements and restrictions on hiring foreign workers germany's labor market has more than a million unfilled positions. just one hundred days to go before britain is set to leave the e.u.

the european commission has revealed its plans to deal with a no deal brags that the e.u. outlined measures aimed to avoid disruption in key sectors such as air traffic and financial trading british citizens residency rights would also be protected but new restrictions on trade and travel would come into force among them british trucks would lose rights to carry goods into the e.u. and britons traveling with pets would face border checks. well for more let's cross over to our brussels correspondent gary mattis there at the commission has been outlining its plans for britain leaving the e.u. without a deal what do these plans entailed. terry the e.u. wants to avoid the was consequences of no deal breck's it insulter day they have clarified some plans some contingency plans really what could be addressed for instance is financial services that but london is particularly important for that

some clearing houses for instance could remain open for a year and it also includes information about goods coming into the european union trucks for instance they could be excluded from from a close daughter so they could continue for potentially a year if the u.k. is willing to allow the same for the e.u. and then there's also the every nation sector the number of planes could continue flying and also safety sufficient to to ficus for airplanes could continue to be operational for a year now brigs opponents in the u.k. have been painting a picture of huge disruption of trade and port traffic is that reflected in the news no brook no deal breakers that scenario. i think it is first of all if there's no deal we won't have a transition face so from one day to the other everything is about to change and the who just wants to make sure that the was the case consequences are somewhat soft and then of course

a number of things are completely not addressed so you for instance there's no measures mentioned on fisheries medicines data flows veterinary checks so you will you are bound to see those queues at customs controls and medical shortages are also very likely now supporters of briggs in the u.k. have been talking about a managed no deal that could perhaps mitigate the negative effect is that what the commission's contingency plan amounts to. i think what we're looking at is really only time limited directives and not steels so the picture of a managed to no deal breaks it is i think the wrong picture here the e.u. has clearly said these contingency plans are only there in order to minimize the damage for the e.u. so they're only taken from the e.u. sixpence perspective they can be unilaterally. you can unilaterally quit those deals and clearly they have this time limit for just one year but it could be shorter as well. thank you so much for your inside political correspondent there in

brussels montanus. one is legal leaders often suffer there first a feat of the season on tuesday night falling two fortuna disallowed door to one sold off and took the lead early on we don't do you get back you don't breaking quickly to next is seventh goal of the season and after the break a ferocious strike from john some of doubled their advantage to two goals dortmund pulled one back through. but it was too little too late held on for the shot to one victory over the weekly. so the losing the match overnight the defending champions by munich have a chance to get their title challenge back on track they face let's say for the saving eleven the saving and victory would bring them to within six points of

dortmund at the top of the table. modern haven't lost their thirst to retain the bundesliga title this season yet they have had some hiccups against some unusual suspects one match day twelve promoted side dusseldorf managed a three three draw in munich which gave the defending champions a serious wake up call. in byron's following home match the defending champions were wide awake eighteen through nuremberg no problem thanks to their informed ace robert levin don't ski despite their current momentum byron's nico kovacs knows rb life seek are a viable opponent. you know that's a shock to a feeling for a lot sic basically play the same way as us quickly when they're attacking which they have struck has capable of causing problems when they find space behind the defense. that he could to come in rb life six frontline scoring duo use of

postmen and t.-mo vanna each scored a brace last time out the tandem will be gunning to help life sick weak frog buyer in the table. i was this movie he meant as we've seen already this season it is possible to points in munich if we could take old great points not be very happy if we didn't if byard fail to take advantage of don't mean slip by beating leipsic even more pressure will now to an eco kovach each. hero watching t.w. news still to come to the world's pharmaceutical giant star verging there over the counter drugs operations will go to frankfurt to see how it will shake up the market. and high speed underground travel by car tech entrepreneur it on musk unveils his high perth luke

a vision of commuting to college. all that and much more still to come here on d w with devastating. i'm scared that if i were not tired and in the end they see me you're not allowed to stay here anymore we will send you back. are you familiar with this. new smugglers with clients and. what's your story.