we ask why? because education makes the world make up your own mind. made full minds. this is the w and you live from berlin. is long as fighters at vans and a surprise offensive and northern syria revel unit celebrate. after entering the 2nd biggest city of a level, hundreds of reported dead and battles with government forces also on the sho. protesters clash with police for a 2nd night in georgia as anger grows over the suspension of talks on joining the european union. the

mariana evans dean, welcome rebel fighters have taken over. most of syria is the 2nd, the biggest city of a level that's according to the syrian observatory for human rights, which is now reporting russian air strikes. therefore, the 1st time in 8 years have a fighting between the mostly islamist rebels and government forces have been reported across the city. serious military says has inflicted heavy losses on the rebels who have been advancing on a level for days. reval fighters were seen celebrating in the city with hundreds of people report and killed the collision and fighting of some of the deadliest in years and comes after weeks of simmering violence. let's take a look at the groups involved in the offensive and why it's happening now. a major fighting erupt again in serious civil war. a day after staging the surprise attack on government held positions in the north, the rebels moved on to a level showing the city syrian states media said the army backed by its

allied, russia responded with strikes unintelligence positions and the leper eclip countrysides . the syrian army says the a self is being led by the higher the are shown for h t. s a militant group which controls much of northwest and syria. the i t. s is led by, i'll tell you this form of syria branch. it consists of multiple different and searching groups, some with cellar 1st and did you, how does the audiologist many reject the influence of foreign forces such as turkey, russia or the united states, but others approve. it's a complicated coalition, but what does unify them? is there opposition to syria and liter busha? assad? government has been displaced for 5 years. but thank god, i'm now fighting to reclaim on land from the grip of the criminal regime. we will persevere on this policy and call on young people to join us in the struggle to

take back our country. i don't show a lot of since 2020 the h t and signs of a ripple groups have been mostly biased in the invalid province. the area was subject to a turkey and rush, it broke a truce, but outside of a live there a large pots of serious, still controlled by rebels, opposed to assets. government, including along the border with the rock. us back to curtis forces maintained large parts of the north and turkey, along with the syrian national army control a so called buffers on along the turkish border with the offensive. the rebels may be trying to capitalize on the of the complex current free writing. elsewhere with assets allied iran, reeling from israel's defensive on hezbollah and 11 on and with rushes resources stretched with a drawer and ukraine. but the offensive and the syrian government's response has

left many civilians in the following line. groups of refugees helping fling the fighting heading to shelters, and the province i'm seeing is what happens. all of the people started leaving, but we stayed until the morning. but as i was preparing breakfast for my children, a plane flew overhead. as soon as we saw it, we ran into the visits on the front of the united nations is calling for an immediate, the escalation, and an end to the most intense fighting northwest and syria has seen in years earlier i spoke to fall was 0 just he's a professor of middle eastern politics and international relations at the london school of economics. and i asked him how well equipped the rebel forces are, as we have been really watching the rebels videos. and they're using really heavily heavy um, including the drones. drones have replay the image of pop in that it will fence it

effectively, really targeting the so you in uh army position and they seem to be really well equipped. and this tells you a great deal that the rebels, both it's flemish and the nationalists have been really put banning for this moment for a long time. it was amazing at shock. really a military ethic way. what surprises me the most is that many. so you, all the positions have folded very quickly. i mean, the advance has been very quick, very shattering. and the question that the so you and government, and most of us really trying to understand will the syrian government be able to mobilize enough forces to stop the advance of the rebels will say i'd be able to reconstitute its forces and the file with russia and you're on really a send, a alms that support for the c and regime it seems to me that's yes, right? yeah. and you're on have promised. and then in the, in the past 24 hours to send reinforce or the inforcement for this are you in

government, we have to wait and see how this particular yvonne's shock attack really unfolds in the next few days and next few weeks. well, as you just mentioned, remarkable how little resistance the syrian government forces seem to have shown as the rebels approached. what does that tell us about perhaps the kind of support that the rebels have among the civilian population? just how much support is there for this initiative is offensive rather against the assault or seem. this is really very surprising. what surprises me, the most is the vendor abilities of the side government. a venerable, the serial army is, is, is right. is that tax on the so you may have really undermine and we can the city and on the, considerably the president bush as a allies rush on the wrong p. all to find someone else in the ukraine in the

killing field of the ukraine in gaza. and 11 on and also what we need to understand is that the rebel seemed to have really pull with less, created a joint military operation rules. and yes, they do have some support. the fact is you're talking about sizes and the rebels, both the slam as naturalist and you have this trouble coming to about that and really shopping. the said regina and the city, an army seems to have been really caught nothing yet. it's early is still eddie. we need to be really cautious about making generalization. the say, an army is mobilizing, i am home is reinforcements are arriving. and who knows, they might be able to really reverse and re take some of the towns and villages, even though what we are seeing is the re igniting of the city and rule that has really never. and it has been simmering for the past 4 years. and which seems to me

a very bloody phase. so i was under the place people hundreds of being killed. this is the last thing we need on of the war zone. and then at least after what we have seen in gaza, unloved on an al sweat. and the reason that was i was as professor of middle eastern politics and international relations at the london school of economics. many things indeed for all of your insights. thank you. it's all right, let's turn our attention to georgia now where protesters have clashed with police and the capital to be leafy for a 2nd night. tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against the ruling george and dream hardy's announcement that is suspending accession talks with in your opinion. the government accuses b. u of disrespecting george and values. critics say george and green dream has become authoritarian and is drawing georgia closer to russia. the

this was the scene in sibley sees main boulevard. angry crowds face stuff against police for a 2nd and i after george's government said it was freezing talks to join the european union. oh, this tricia is quite tons. as you might see on the background, there is a riots police mobilized right next to the problem. and we can hear that some of the protesters are, some of the protesters are sorry, the parts of the police has been using the uh, want to cut on when what sort of people searching? yeah, they would leave the farm and square for few minutes and they would come back again, which makes it quite a police to discuss the crowd. the protesters say the ruling george and dream party is dismantling democratic rights and pulling georgia into must goes or bit.

we're not fighting only again for doing very important something we're finding is wasa, we're finding is watching the voice, the base country norm as amount of resources, money and everything, which is no inactive. so that is why i do us a lot of they do as of the democratic world support to jim people. the protesters already have the support of george's pro western president mission media. this today, i can say with confidence that the resistance movement has the guns. that's that it is your movement initiated by you without any once instructions oldham on fried, less than 10 years of peaceful, constitutional resistance movement towards it and attendance philadelphia to it with it. but it's not a so he that really clear on that show the investment worthy of georgian support,

e u membership. george and dream also says it wants to join the blog eventually. but people here have taken to the streets because they, since their european aspirations are slipping away. let's bring indeed up a use maria, cut a mazda who we just saw in that report on last night is protest. instability. maria, good to see you. some very dramatic scenes. last night from the capital. but you know, we have heard that the majority of georgians support you, accession, but do they support these protests? yes, indeed. i mean it's, it's difficult to say and to speak on behalf of these, you know, whole society at least pointed. we can see by the amount of people by the amount of the growing protons that more and more people are sort of joining in. indeed it's very difficult even outside the pro test environment just on the streets to find

someone who you know is not actually astonished. some people would describe it as a shock, if they didn't expect that the government would take the sort of, you ton and they would announce it. so, you know, abruptly and officially, even so many will sort of a skeptical about the genuine aspirations of the government to become a part of the u. that has been sort of a seemingly turning move in to the west today to the east and to the north of to the full scale invasion of ukraine. can see the anger, at least is growing on the a sort of and good, no, just uh wrong the decision of the government that some describe as critics describe, describe as a betrayal of georgia and the national interest and betrayal of the constitution. which in, which is in time the you are assigned to the task. so i'm say that they are shocked

by the use of extensive pools by the police. so definitely we can say that today georgian society seems very disrupted by what they are with this thing on the streets where mostly mostly young people, students are protesting and facing the police. now, george's president, who we should mention largely has a ceremonial role. she's back to protests. how has the government reacted to this support for the protests? and are we going to see more today? yeah, the government has voice before that. they don't to concede the president a to be president of the country since she became highly critical of the they are paula says, uh uh, what she calls the russian style poses the president. so it seems like the government is just disregarding any statements that the president is making. what

is more the government has already introduced? it's no me for the president, for the presidency. i just, you know, few days ago which they are pointing their set to a point in place in the some box. so the government is doing people is urging people to say at home and not to, as they call a provoke the police to. so it's definitely we, it will be interesting to see where the sort of protest movements goes from here is going to be, become even, you know, lodge and what is going to be the response. are we gonna see more violence? and as we can see, more wireless, we see from the police more sort of angry people become at this point. that was a d w. 's, maria, cause i must say, reporting from to the leasing. maria, thank you so much. we appreciate it to and that's the

latest on the w news. this. our up next are documentary takes a closer look at wraps. i'm marion evans dean. i'll have more headlines for you at the top of the hour from me and the entire news team. thanks for watching the this is he is hungry for the future. so i'm saying in southwest china says you 2000000 people live here. many of them are young readings coming through, making money, having fun with nice schools and some see stuff. december 13th on d, w. the,

a new world, a week's as the sunset, silver big cities the world of rach a world that a shadow humans for e. all right, so the stuff of horror stories and urban minutes often smoking our disgust and fears. they're seen as dirty, aggressive and devious carriers of deadly diseases. and they're everywhere. many feel like they already know more about this animal than they want to. but what do we really know about our unpopular neighbors? the

large scale research projects around the world are looking at the behavior of that's in big cities. and one of the 1st was a model project launched in vancouver, the canadian red capital that allegedly boasts the highest rank population. chelsea hills where it's a pioneer of modern rank research, sit out in 2010 to answer some basic questions. what are the things that interest me when i started the vancouver rock project is how little we know about rats. and i really wonder why that was the case. why these animals that live amongst us since the dawn of civilization, we understand so little. and i think the 1st is that there are little distasteful or maybe not as glamorous as, as some of the other animals that scientists could choose to study. so if you have the option to choose between a rat or gorilla, you might not choose the rach,

i think the 2nd is, is exactly this issue of co existence that we've lived with them for so long. we think, oh, we maybe we know everything there is to know about them. and i think the final thing is our, our attitude toward the science of rights and rap management that previously had been considered really a blue color occupation. something you just get rid of. and only now are we recognizing yes, rats or an animal, a wildlife population, just like polar bears just like sam. and so we really were wanting to understand the basics. where to wrap populations look like in modern cities, how many rats are there in each block? how do they behave, and more importantly, what diseases do they carry? the goal is a future where humans can co exist with rats, with this few health risks and fears as possible. that means,

questioning previous believes and taking a complex approach to the question of living with the rodents. the scientists with the armageddon project have already begun to expose the secret lives of powers as rach on on, on such. and this is a very small young wrapped up in the heats what's known as a brown wrap to fix it. scientific name is rach as nor vega course and it's the right most commonly found in european cities and in paris. specifically, this one is perhaps 2 weeks old, and she's just starting to venture out of her bureau mazda. she'll kill, this won't tell you so. so like a real, ha, uh, don't group. i mean, it's true that this rat, one of the common rat, also known as a sewer rap is quite typical in urban environments, didn't you? not? it was that causes conflict because it's usually considered dangerous. and dirty

girl fits it on my key questions that i commit on anybody don't sure. a lot of people there is no denying that it can post health risk who didn't have room on. but it's also an animal that co exist is with us. and then the roof was, it is done and you've been so there's increased interest in that and when use and even a growing goodwill towards this little animal. new stuff off, i guess the present to jump video is of the, to the ship to tell you about, keep you, that'd be cool for mazda to push on, like, you know, about the part of the keystone by the community. for me, the armageddon project is an attempted answering fundamental biological questions that have eluded us to push it. it's a 1st for paris, or even for france in general. there's never been a research project that has some studies wraps in the city or paris in particular on film. another important topic is health. just seeing how high is the risk of rats transmitting diseases in paris here too. we have no information, no data,

no no idea really the ill found it. pleasant, suzuki boma sheets. and finally the 3rd topic, which i also think is very important, is understanding why some people hate radcliffe, and others loved them. and how to better approach these differing rad opinions and images. it is the most difficult. uh, do you have the . ringback the york in northern england was a key part of the roman empire. and sewell archaeologist david norton, is using 1000 year old bones to investigate what rats can tell us about human

history. good speakers where there has been people, they have always been rach who have always liked the idea of using small and unlikely remains to tell kind of big picture stories about human history, tiny wrap things making. so we send to meet us. now i'm kind of getting them from lots of different places and getting together a story of what they can tell us about connectivity between different human supplements. the nature of the basic it's tracing when, when they were understanding the presence is behind that, using those processes to understand here the end of the roman empire and the development of medieval trade,

the human side and then trying to understand how much roll they could just they didn't take the. 2 researches in hills and key are also studying the complexity of human rac relations . scientists want to develop a good rep management system for the finish capital and to lease use of the city use rach. wild threats are often seen as harmful and, and useful, but then again we have pet rents and laboratory rats. so racks are they have multitude of meanings in human cultures to the present day relationship between you mentioned, rats, is, is quite heated and, and it's always important to look at history and look at the past relationship in order to understand why we have present day conflicts. and discussions oftentimes

people compare rights to humans and. 2 say that right uh, quite similar to us the using the project is laid by 2 almost below even though the cities red problem is small in comparison to other cities, either those team is ambitious and is taking an unconventional approach. when you look at the human evolution, going to look the stories that that's what, whatever is the situation human able to add up to a mutual standard alignment and the rest i see very much of a similar situation. so the greatest thing with the rest of is that how well they can take each situation on thrive. you and then the rest and laboratory roots which have been studied for 150. yes,

for different. good bye bye. a medical uses are all of the kind of life medical advances that we have because human lifespan has us as long as we get to the time of the kind of like 1000000. so for us to kind of like sacrifice their lives for the for the find the . 4 so we know that the rest on the okay, they are scared of everything new. but these look like the beach us new for me to schedule for everything you. but they quite quickly learn what is the truth and what is it does come like it makes it easier on somebody in human environment for going to like it's more difficult to say in another room. so such and such. all right. but makes it very interesting from kind of like in order for the plan, which is quite a few the

understanding is lots of different, unemotional running around, for example, and the truck place up the we had mice truck. so going to write down, see me last direct trucks, but they ask about us more. then then again on here you can see on these truck plays, we have red trucks. so we know the address, i'm moving around here and there is maybe one of the thursdays inside the stone wall here. so they're running some of the here and then moving around the car to car and in here. so then we're setting up to come over here to see where that can work to make sure that this is a rep and whether it's the individual rathole several ranch are very social animals. they bring food to the nations of weak family members. and when forced to choose between rescue and your fellow right and a piece of chocolate experiments show that rats will usually choose to help

the these cities aren't alone. a team in berlin is also interested in the parallel worlds of rach, they're working to assess the use of reg poison in the city sewers. for decades, berlin is bunk ranch, wood, road dentist, sides with severe consequences for the environment. 2 but no one knows if the pesticides are the right approach. and if it makes sense to guard the city with the industrial amounts of rank boys and yeah, a socialist class, please now started our research project wrapped control and sewers required. we 1st had to catch at least 60 animals from different populations around berlin to create a basis for genetic analysis to see if the animals are related to the addition i use and switch huffman on that,

and so connected to them. and then we have very little a prior knowledge about wild wraps of mine, just kind of kind almost as that's why i was of condemning the last one happened the most pressing. now for all florida, we had to meet the strict requirements for approval as an animal experiment. and it took us a long time to find the right trap. it had to be animal c, which is a very small market recruiter. today we're placing and beating the traps so that the animals can get used to them off and once the traps has been accepted, we trigger them and then we'll catch some grabs for genetic testing. we met, we used thermal imaging, cameras and wildlife cameras to select the 2 best methods for above ground and underground paradise e 5, estimate jordan, oscar viewed. 2 the, the vancouver researchers have already reached some surprising conclusions. in the

most problematic district were apartment blocks are built on a great rats move within, clearly defined territories that has some interesting consequences. the 1st phase was sort of a fact finding mission about what the health risks are that routes. how was in um, think hoover's downtown, the site. so really understanding where the robots and what diseases they carry. 2 we caught 700 rats and identified something like 1200 related relationships. so parents off spring, full siblings have so length of all of those relationships. there was only about one percent of them that were in different city blocks. and that was quite surprising to see how little they move between blocks and of routes. don't move between those blocks. they don't spread their diseases with them. so what we found

using lift those for rose. this as an example was that disease is found in some blocks and not others because those blocks are really reflective of family groups. they're reflective of transmission being with in families and that in different blocks you have different families that just don't come into contact with each other. and roads. interestingly enough, also sort of mark the territory for these families. this is my block. you stay in your block, and there's very little contact between the raf families. if we know that rats don't move much among city blocks, you know that your neighborhood rat really is your neighborhood, right. and you can target your management approaches to the scale of the city blocks the the, the don't get you.