>> u.s. airstrikes in syria and iraq. five sides targeted all belong to an iranian backed militia. that group blamed for attacks on iraqi rocky bases housing american forces. 200 people freed in a controversial prisoner swap between pro-russian separatists in ukraine.

among them, five wright police charged with killing democracy protesters five years ago. australiaraged on in they are crating their own weather system. discordant damages and high winds. us.k you for joining the u.s. says it has successfully hit iran backed militia sites in syria and iraq. washington is blaming that militia for friday's rocket attacks on the military base. and wounded for u.s. oeuvres -- service members. the u.s. said it will take further action if necessary. >> the u.s. sent some two dozen -- says two dozen fighters from has blower killed. they were a response to the

group's rocket attack on an iraqi military base on friday. that killed a u.s. contractor and wounded several american and iraqi troops. >> we took a decisive response that made it clear what president trump has said for months and months which is that we will l not stand for the islamic republic of iran to take actions to put american men and women in jeopardy. they receive aid and support from iran. troops to fight the islamic state group but the u.s. incncasingly coconsiders in ckcked militias a more significant threat. iraq is close to both the u.s. and iran and isis increasinglgly caught in the middle of tensnsions. the iraqi prime minister made no public comment on the attack. but did cocondemned the u.s. retaliatory strike.

calling it a dangerous escalation that threatens the security of iraq and the region. >> let's bring in middle east specialist, thanksks for taking the timeme to speak to us. do you think these u.s. strikes will truly deterer other attttas against u.u.s. forces s like the we saw on friday? >> this is very possible. iran and the u.s. are sending messages through these kind of attacks. except that the u.s. air raid or the drone attack recently on the iraqi militia positions was an important one strategically speaking. those borders are for -- are extremely important. they connenect iran with the mediterranean. so the u.s. wanted to show this kind of determination in retaliating to the previouss attacks.

>> the u.s. defense secretary notably did not roll -- rule out further action saying t the u.s. would takeke action if necessar. how likely do you think that will be? >> their possibilities for these kind of escalation situations. iran iss embarrassssed by the po uprising in regigions against the government and against its own hegememony. for the iranians it't's importaa to have another kind of -- in iraq. s se wants to showw that h h proviving fermement he against iranians they want to put momore pressure on thehem. we have some interest in launching more attacks on pro-iranian positions. more is a potential for attention n on the iraqi syrian bordrder. but i don't think i it will lead

to an iranian american confrontation. it will remain through these proxy allies and the goverernmet is very y biguous in its position because o of the same loyalty, at has least sosome of its mininisters. so c confusion is now maybe the word to be used. let's talk about u.s. influence in iraq. iraq'ss been a rock's -- take on this? one mentionened it's a violatatn ofof their soverereignty. >> thehey have to say y that. but at the s same time manany ot ministers are very loy to the u.s. approach and they y fend the u.s. presence e in iraq. hers are me c critical l and some members of the parliament

rose to e iraqi has blah -- issueuendg to bring the would like t to askskor a kind f u.s. o official agenenda for the wiwithdrawal of the remainining trtroops andnd the civilians whe servrving withth the iraqi armym the e american a ministration.n. so there migight be sosome more pressure with discussioions, polititical discussisions in the parliament. nevertrtheless the iraqi gogovernment needsds the u.s. coveragege. politically y and sometimes in terms of s securitity cooperera. t at thehe same time they'rere very close to iran iaa way and they havee not -- so they y woud try to use anything to survivive evenen if that would mean some angry statatements that could be understood within the iraqi context itself.

>> you were talking about things being drawn along proxy lines. the russian foreign minister and iranian n foreignn minister were meeting in moscow for talks. calling the strikes unacceptable , especially he says when iran and russia arere trying to establish peace in syria and iraq. what's your take on that? >> the u.s. has aggressive policies in both iraq and syria, especially since trump took office. what iran and say russia did in syria has nothing to do with peace. they are forces of occupation, not a protected regime. , the ones that they mobilized as well as russian troops are also accususd of w war crimes. and what they did is one of the most brutatal occupupations andt

brutal interventions thahat we have seen. so definitely the s statement by rurussia and i iran a about international relations now and they have to say that to justify their crimes and their supporort of criminal regime.e. >> thanks for taking the time to speak with us. the death toll from a massive car bomb in the somali capital has risen to 81. rescue workers are continuing to search for the missing. the bombing in mogadishu was one of the deadliest in two years. no one has claimed responsibility yet but the president is blaming the islamist militant group al-shabaab. let's focus on sunday's prisoner swap between pro-russian separatists and ukrainian government forces. wereast 200 detainees walks to the exchange point.

the fighting broke out five years ago leading to the loss of more than 13,000 lives. we take a look at the emotions. >> hugs and tears for these ukrainian prisoners reunited with their families. a few hours after being released in exchange for pro-russian separatists, the soldiers and ukrainian citizens r rurned to pfpf where they were met and greeted by the president. >> we did what we said. they will celebrate new year with their families at home. happy, i amt, i am sure they are too. many said they were detained

for having pro ukrainian views and for not deserting their country. >> i came there to visit relatives, i was detained and placed in the basement of the former security building and spent hahalf a year there acaccd of espionage and was sentenced to 12 years. >> some were gone for years but the relatives never gave up on seeing thehem again. >> i was invited for identificationon twice. i hahad a dna test. i was doing documents that he wass a missing person and anothr that he was dead. but i didn't believe it. i was looking forward to seeing him. authorities say a total of 200 prisoners have been released. 124 4 of them going back to rebl held arereas while 76 others hae been handed over to pf - -- keep

-- kiev. >> in australia, wildfires continue to rage. high winds are fanning the flames there. visitors and r residents in the sosoutheastern state o of victoa were told to leave immediately to get away from the threat of bushfireres. a ands hohot and windy there's s a lot of fires s still going. we are best off camping down here until it's over. >> evacuated here so that wee were all safe fofor the day and see how it pans out. >> today will be the big day. we've got to o get through thee day. >> france 24ustralia correspondent told >> us more from sydney.

-- told us more from sydney's. -- frorom sydndney. >> the extremely hot, dry and windy conditions are making these fire risks worse, especially in the state to o e south where authorities have declared catastrophic fire danger but also in the state of victoria where there are several fires burning at ememergency levels. in eastern vicictoria, around 30,000 people were told to evacuate. there is more thanan 1000 kilomemeters of fire perimeter around 1000 firefighters on the ground and several aircraft tackling the blazes from above. is a very popular holiday destination. we are in peak summer season for mamany people taking timeff between n christmas and new yea. but despite these warnings from

emergency services, there are reports that some people have decided to stay and stick it out. fires haveoing forced the cancellation of new rthr's eve fireworks in pe and other cities. sydney will continue its fireworks despite pressure from local to help fight the fires. the united states was hihit wita new church shohooting on sunday. a gunman opened fire during a live-streamed service at west freeway church of christ in texas. he killed two people for he was gun dead himself by other branding worshipers at church. a place of worship turned into a place of terror in texas on sunday as a gunman walks into this church and opens fire on

parishioners made service. armed chchurchgoers retaliated. >> it's tragic and it is terrible situation especially during the holiday seaeason. i i would like to point out that wewe have a couple heroic parishioners who stopped short of anything you could even livese and save countless andd our hearts arare going outo them and their f families as we. >> the church services being live-streamed when the attack happened. his video was made private and but has since been leaked. parishioners say that none of the shooter. around 40,000 people were killed by firearms in 2017 in the u.s.. tightening gun controlol laws remain the c controversial issu. >> thanks for watchingng france 24, don't go away. i'll be backck with more

headlines. ♪ >> from a first driving car, bleak amateur footage taken by greenpeace advocates -- activists with her camera. hundreds of felled trees and desolate tree stumps left strewn across the forest floor. for greenpeace, this is an unprecedented -- one of the most destructive by industrial agriculture in the congo basin.

this particular plot of fororest in t the south cameroon is an ancient stronghold. reqequests, there refused access to the site. filmedd the plantation using a drone. the world'so one of leading rubber producers. it's operated by their local subsidiary. here over the last few years, rubber production has become one of the main drivers of deforestation. they've taken up the heart and mind. she is waging a silent war against a massive rubber giant and its concessions. enshrining the rights of these native pygmies into law is her goal. we follow her, who was

accompanied by one of the local pygmies. they are intent on showing us recording his communities distress. up ahead, the new terminal they have marked other territory. a board or a local community disputes. >> we meet with the company managers, they don't even recognize they have encroached on resources. or areas once occupied by these indigenous people. you could soon for yourself. this is a few meters away from the last camp and their other camps inside. forest are gradually being monopolized by the mining, forestry and agro industries. nothing is done today to preserve the area and protect resources that belong to these communities, soon there won't be

anything left for these people who so depend on the forest. their very existence is now at stake. >> a traditional way of life heavily depended on the forest under threat. camp, we meet a pygmy family picking fruit. fruit trees in this forest are also now fast disappearing. heavily affected by the farming. >> so this is a fruit tree which is a real positive impact on living conditions in the village. to sometimes set some of industrys but the agro

has been through so much we no longer have access to the fruit. us to getcult for hold of much about -- much of it. tocan be preserved for up three years. >> we make our way down the tracks to on the pygmy camps threatened with evictions. soon, it too will be destroyed to make way for yet more roads and rubber trees. they often come to check on this particularly impoverished family. and as community leader, he regularly ensures families here have enough food to survive. villagers know that at least have been camps

destroyed in the last few months and they fear they could be next. >> they told us that our camp would become part of the concession. we are part -- we are shocked they are taking our land as we have always lived in total harmony with the forest and nothing prepared us for this news. we thought we had the right to know what was happening because we are custodians of the forest. even if it's a public forest we have always cared and looks after it. now it's being strippeded bare. >> a few days later and some 100 kilometers away from the maryations, we meet locateted near t the congolese border. we meet at her officers -- monitors the she unrelenting deforestation taking place. known -- known as one of the

worlds second lungs. >> here you have a local community being relocated. wall look closely at the onto which has been a community mapping system made up of official maps and field data. maps drawn up with the internet -- intention -- many of them now accuse the rubber giant of gradually taking over their land. local communities don't always understand where the boundaries lie. sometimes we feel we can read the map but then it changes again. we are told the limit is here and shortly after it changes once more. for example, when we did the , we were told the

boundaries we had at the time had been modified. do we draw the new perimeter lines? we've never seen an official document drawing up any new boundaries. >> we obtain satellite imaging of this forest concession to find some ha data and assess the impapact of the huge producr on this ararea of rest.. 2300 hectares of forest pulled down between 2017 andnd 2018. 1010,000 hectaress since 2011. immense s stretch off tropical foforest sacririficed toubbeber planantations. the landnd cleared area a exteno the river, which separates the concession as a nature reserve.

lift this wants to outststanding biodiversity hotst in the world heritage danger list. >> we've considered this question. , theythe greenpeace hq organize meetings to discuss the opaque elements of the contract. signed between the cameroonian ste and the concession. >> what really surprises m me is that the companyny doesn't pay tax. even more worrying is that it pays eight dollars per hectare even though according to a financial rule introduced in 1990, hectares actually worth several teen dollars. in 2013, the cameroonian government --

theigners by lodge not have right to own property in cameroon. africa like greenpeace is still requesting the documents and shareholder documents are made public. these documents should be in the public domain. only last year, the vast rubber manufacturer published a press release in which it admitted to having nearly a quarter of cameroonian shareheholders but witithout actually naming any.y. ofpite the factct any members the community have not received any money to date, the robert bryan claims it has fairly compensated local residents for the lost of land and strongly denies any breach of cameroonian law.

still awaiting their rightful compensation are celiac and his mother justine. an expert report carried out by the fisheries administration had promised her a fair indemnity. >> there was an expert report on con -- compensation that estimated the amount. >> thehey were summoned to pay these 85,000 euros to justine. three years on and the money promises have still not been paid. servede the summons were , ey have not made any move towards and so far we have not received any compensation. times are hard for us. 75% are forests. ourselves in a really bad place.

it was on the only ones. ♪ insisting for answers from management, we were initially granted an interview with the ceo. but he then requested the right to review and amend all interview content. nothing has happened since. the worlrld'leleading rurubber producer folding undnd pressure from n ngo has finally annnnound new commitmement story local asooniann commumunities sucuch transferriring its -- hecectareo implement a forest clearing band. farar f forises s so these commununities thoughgh watctching the tropical forest

pulled down all around them. french guiana is france's biggest -- beautiful beacaches

man: two men are accused of being members of the so-called "beatle" cell from islamic states. woman: they've said there will be more i.s.-inspired attacks. maman: the men did not deny beig members of the british i.s. cell. woman: ...seemed unrepentant. man: they say they had not died because god had decreed that they should live. second man: i'm stuart ramsay in syria, and this is "hotspots." [camera shutter clicks] toninight, we're gonna take you behind the scenes of the world's biggest and hardest-hitting stories. alex crawford meets the oil thieves of west africa devastating the environment. man: we're doing it because we have no jobs. stuart: from central a america, the deported american gangs and