this is. a stunning announcement from the white house the united states is withdrawing all troops from syria today president declared victory over so-called islamic state in syria state department officials will reportedly be home within twenty four hours so why are american backed kurdish troops still fighting against the us also coming up. tonight on the federal reserve as the u.s. central bank looks set to raise interest rates that's despite pressure from the

white house. leaders dortmund lose for the first time to have the chance to close the gap at the top of the table when they host our be like. it's good to have you with us the pentagon says it has started the process of withdrawing u.s. troops from syria it comes after a decision that was announced by president. of trump and earlier hinted at the move with a tweet claiming victory over so-called islamic state now that the american backed syrian democratic forces the s.d.f. attempt to clear the town of hygiene of his long list of islamist fighters lies in the valley of the euphrates river close to the border with iraq it's the last stronghold of the militia which once controlled the large swathes of. syria and

iraq but as the mainly kurdish inches closer to final victory over a turkey is threatening to launch an assault against the kurds from the north reporter sent this report from the front lines in syria. people have escaped the clutches of the so-called islamic state that 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 i.a.s. fighters locked in regard battle on the banks of the euphrates. use does as human shields so the warplanes can't attack from the sky. there are plenty of mines everywhere and they don't want to let anyone escape. or. they're 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 yes it 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. and dozens of members of the s.t.'s have been killed in recent weeks and that's despite as 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 a 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. yes 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 kurdish controlled areas on its southern border and percy's the kurdish fighters as terrorists. these threats help yes precisely now when we're making gains in the fight for hygiene turkey threatens an offensive in northern syria. and that's bad news for the people still in the

highest control not everyone has been able to flee thousands are still trapped in the last pocket device territory. are bullish bring is that correspondent moron she is in beirut for us i'm sure going to need to you know we're getting reports that republicans in the u.s. congress are disputing what the president has said about islamic state being defeated from where you are can you confirm or deny that has the u.s. really defeated so-called islamic state in syria. but first of all the entire credit perhaps cannot be given to the united states because in syria even the iran backed militias have talked to the islamic state but of course american backed as the official says have made a huge contribution in this war against the so-called islamic state now has isis really been defeated territory they have suffered losses of territory you can see that to a large extent they have been defeated off dodging

a stick and they would be very few places if you will it isn't city out of the woods to have a presence in but had they been decimated is a different question altogether through encrypted communications some of the isis members are still communicating with some of us journalists talking about how they would rise again and they're just waiting for the fighting to end which means that they have greeting for the s.d.f. to get weaker which will happen if the american forces leave and if tucky attacks and then this is they will start a guerrilla wolf that is also on the question what's happened to all these isis fighters and their leadership two years ago we were talking about estimated thirty thousand of them and they were being killed nor are they seeking shelter in countries about the refugees are living these are all open questions at the moment and as we said in our reports there is the fear that turkish forces may attack kurdish troops who have been instrumental in defeating i s what would that be. well that would mean that the kurdish forces here would lose leverage

a lot of leverage they have made huge sacrifices in this war and they wanted some sort of and autonomy if not complete independence but this is if the american forces abruptly leave then they lose that leverage they do have some sort of a tacit understanding that bashar assad they've always had one but they will not be getting any kind of autonomy to s. it's a great loss for them it is also. then he needs to be seen what happens. in turkey in northern syrian border with the kurdish forces because if they have to go to that side of the border and take on the tough that means that they want to be a force that on the grounds that the economics is if you might towards the reporting tonight from beirut and thank you all right let's take this story now to the united states and bring in our very own minds whether she's on the storm force in washington d.c. good evening to you maya has there been an official confirmation about the decision to effectively withdraw all u.s.

troops from syria. the pentagon has confirmed that they will comply with the president's tweet and begin withdrawing the troops but there seems to be very little consensus as to why or how or whether or not this is a good idea even from within the president's own party we've seen several republican legislators come out today and say that they're not sure that this is a good idea there are questioning the timing and we've had several military leaders also say. similar to what on show mentioned that it be naive to assume that isis is completely defeated there are somewhere estimates range between two thousand and thirty thousand so-called islamic state fighters still on the ground somewhere in syria and even the joint chiefs of staff has said that their mission is far from complete especially in terms of stabilization so that begs the question what prompted this decision by the u.s.

president. the timing is very questionable and we can't draw any firm conclusions but we do know is that president trump has been engaged in a series of conversation with the turkish president out of on over the past week including reportedly a phone call this morning just before he announced that u.s. troops would be pulling out now as was mentioned u.s. troops have been working very closely with kurdish fighters in northern syria and the kurds have long been a target of the turkish president both politically and militarily so with the u.s. troops suddenly gone or out of the way turkey may seize the opportunity to move in on the currents all right it's a reliance we are on the story for us tonight in washington with the unexpected announcement by the u.s. president that all u.s. troops in syria are leaving my i think you. will hear some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world the european commission has revealed

plans to handle a new deal brecht's it these include measures to avoid disruption in key sectors such as air traffic in financial trading british citizens residency rights in the e.u. would also be protected but new restrictions on trade and travel would come into force berlin has marked the second anniversary of the terror attack that left twelve people dead and dozens wounded here in the german capital on december nineteenth two thousand and sixteen a radical ones tunisian man hijacked a truck killed its driver and plowed into a crowded christmas market. the world food program says it is cutting services to palestinians in the west bank and gaza strip due to a lack of funding some two hundred thousand people will be affected by the cuts so one of the program's major donors was the united states but it announced funding cuts to projects for palestinians earlier this year. staying with money the us federal reserve has just hiked its been marked interest rate by

a quarter percent to a range between two and a quarter. to two and a half percent the increase was widely anticipated despite opposition from u.s. president don't trump today's move was the fed's fourth rate increase this year the fed says the u.s. economy remains strong but it expects growth to slow next year. let's pull in our financial correspondent standing by at the new york stock exchange good evening to you yes so if the fed expects the economy to slow down next year why is it increasing interest rates again. well because in general the federal reserve is still saying that the economy is still remain strong even though it's not as strong as the seen it in the past couple of months we see a strong labor market we see strong consumer spending and therefore this rate increase and obviously wall street does not to happy with the decision right now and we know that the u.s. president donald trump he has broken with tradition here and he's openly opposed

the fed policy that including the increase of any rates what's he going to make of what happened today well we can just wait for his next tweet and clearly he won't be too happy and maybe that the federal reserve keeps increasing interest rates might be one reason so just to give the impression that they're not backing down from the criticism of a u.s. president donald trump the main point is not so much that we saw an interest rate increase today but the federal reserve did hint at the two more rate increases next year and there we can argue if that was expected or not but i guess that is the main reason why wall street fell quite a bit before the rate decision got out blue chips were up by almost three hundred points now we just went into negative territory with the dow jones. at the new york stock exchange thank you. our sports news now european champions real madrid have

galloped into the club world cup final thanks to a three one win over japan's. gareth bale scored a hat trick in abu dhabi to set up a meeting with host our union saturday's final the spaniards are in the running for a third straight world title well with dortmund losing for the first time this season last night defending champions byron munich have a chance to get their bonus league title challenge back on track they face leipzig shortly and a victory would bring them to within six points of dortmund at the top of the tape . haven't lost their thirst to retain the but is the good side of 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. environs 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 sneak over us knows rb live seek are a viable opponent had to shut a few in for a lot sic basically play the same way as us and i quickly when they're attacking they have strikers capable of causing problems when they find space behind the defense and that he could become an army life six front line scoring duo use of postmen and t.-mo vanna each scored a brace last time out the tandem will be gunning to help life seek leap frog buyer in the table. is this movie here 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 byard fail to

take advantage of dog men slip by b.b. leipsic even more pressure will mouth to an eco kovach each. and you're watching the w. news live from berlin i'll be back at the top of the hour with more world news followed by the day to just see of the. stories that people the world over information the profile of the paintings they want to express t.w. on facebook and twitter up to date and in touch.