will prevail this time. ♪ host: this is al jazeera, these are the top stories. israel is attacked the gaza strip and armed fighters have responded, provoking fears of a full-scale conflict. palestinian jada say it has fired 100 rockets into israeli cities. israel says its rocket system has intercept them. one of those killed was a commander of the military arm of the palestinian armed jihad.

10 others have died including a five-year-old girl. dozens more have been injured. we have more on the reaction in washington, d.c. >> the biden administration is reaching out to relevant parties asking them to try to calm the situation, do not aggravate tensions and to try and stop the violence that has been erupting in southern israel and the gaza strip all day on friday and overnight. the biden administration, of course, is very much committed to a two state solution, but it has been very clear, we saw this when the vice president biden -- u.s. president biden was in israel. they are not adequate place where the parties could negotiate on a separate palestinian state. host: beijing's foreign minister is defended drills in the taiwan

strait saying they are in line with international law. the white house has summoned the chinese ambassador to protest against the exercises a response to nancy pelosi's visit to taiwan. the turkish president erdogan is an talks with president vladimir putin. he says he hopes to turn a new page in tribulation. the two were talking trade and energy inclined to sign an agreement to boost economic ties. those of the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera after inside story. goodbye. ♪

host: could there be a new conflict between armenia and azerbaijan? there are been -- there has been renewed fighting despite a cease-fire being signed two years ago. will the truce hold? this is inside story? ♪ host: hello and welcome to the program. armenia and azerbaijan are blaming each other for renewed fighting near a disputed region. it is recognized as part of azerbaijan but it is mostly controlled by ethnic armenians. the latest violence has triggered calls for, between russia and nato. fighters targeted positions under the supervision of russian keepers -- russian peacekeepers.

two troops and a peacekeeper were killed. azerbaijan accused armenia of breaking the 2020 cease-fire. >> the republic of azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that the presence of meaning and armed forces and illegal armed formations and azerbaijan, russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed remains a source of danger contrary to statements. the demilitarization of those territories and disarmament of illegal armenian armed attachments are absolutely necessary. host: armenia's prime minister responded by saying azerbaijan has repeatedly violated the cease-fire. >> the continuous and deteriorating violations of the cease-fire regime along the

contact line, the cases of psychologically threatening armenians is becoming unacceptable. it is necessary to declare the peacekeeping mission in not going car back -- host: armenia and azerbaijan -- an outbreak of violence killed dozens of people. while the conflict killed more than 5000 people including soldiers and civilians. in november of that year a russian brokered cease-fire ended the conflict. russian troops were then deployed. in april armenian and azerbaijan leaders agreed to hold talks mediated by the eu. one month later armenians protested against their prime minister for making unacceptable concessions to azerbaijan. ♪ let's bring in our guests.

richard, director of a regional study center. istanbul, matthew, former u.s. ambassador and mediator on the conflict. the vice rector of the azerbaijan diplomatic academy. thank you for joining us on inside story. from your vantage point, as the peace process totally broken down at this point? >> not totally, but there is a big disappointment because almost two years have passed since the end of the war and the peace plan azerbaijan offer to armenia, which included opening borders, it has not been accepted by armenia. armenia keeps delaying the peace process. no progress has made on transfer

lines and recognition of territory. there is a big disappointment in baku, and frequent violations of cease fire's by armenian troops. these illegal gangs still cause stress to regional security. that is the main reason for pessimism and frustration as well as many european capitals. host: richard, do you think there could be a new conflict between armenia and azerbaijan, and did this latest escalation come as a surprise? >> in many ways i am concerned. largely i am concerned because this represents the most serious increase in hostilities since the fragile cease-fire in 2020. azerbaijan's attacks are not

limited to targeting our meeting in forces. this is a challenge to russia and presence of russian peacekeepers, meaning that the implications of a widening of this conflict are significant. nevertheless, armenia needs to recommit to diplomacy. armenia and azerbaijan need to reassert that there is no resolution by military force. diplomatic negotiations are the only way forward. host: matthew, this latest violence has triggered calls for calm from russia, nato, the european union. what steps can be taken to de-escalate? >> those parties are always calling for de-escalation and getting back to negotiations. i hope there is a recognition by both sides as you can hear from both fariz and richard nobody

wants further conflict. if they think azerbaijan initiated this round of fighting, it ended, and it was limited. condolences to the three troops that were killed, it was limited and quite emphatic, so hopefully this round is finished. what needs to happen is the prime minister needs to feel the political strength to go forward and not only finished implementation of the november 10 cease-fire statement, which calls for our meeting troops to depart, because were other things too, but also to move toward negotiation between border limitation and a final peace treaty to settle the conflict once and for all. i believe the prime minister wants to do that as i believe the president wants to do.

as you showed in your opening package as soon as he said to foreign minister would sit down with his counterpart there were street protest in armenia. he has been painted by his political opposition of treason by wanting to restore contact with other masson -- azerbaijan to return to a state of normalcy. host: let me ask you about something. there is a lot of anger in armenia being directed toward the prime minister. as part of the agreement armenia had to give up swats of territory it had controlled for decades. how much anger is being directed toward the prime minister now and how much is that impacting his ability to actually finalize a peace agreement? >> in many ways what we see is

lingering opposition, but ineffective opposition definitely. much of the street demonstrations have failed to attract significant numbers. moreover, armenia is a much more vibrant democracy. the prime minister as won second reelection. there is a rare degree of legitimacy in armenia, which does reassure and also gives us hope to find a negotiated way out of this crisis. host: fariz, where does it stand right now when it comes to the government of azerbaijan and signing a final peace agreement? >> the division the azerbaijani government has declared is the region should be a region of peace, security, cooperation,

integration of economies. open communication lines, transfer lines. the construction of liberated areas, many railways, so the vision is we should achieve long lasting peace, but unfortunately there are obstacles ahead of us. one of them is that illegal armenian troops are in areas controlled by russian peacekeepers, and the second problem is armenia [indiscernible] the peace treaty. azerbaijan insist a peace treaty should be signed and borders should be opened and trade and communication lines should be restored. if you look at the infrastructure azerbaijan finished many highways and ray rice -- railways but armenia still continues to delay their

own part. >> i do want to offer one clarification. the armed forces, the military units present in nagorno-karabakh are not under control of armenia proper. these are local units of the locally elected leadership. it is a recognition of the limits of armenian control. what we are focused on in our media is limitation of the terms of the cease-fire agreement. it is difficult to agree with fariz, because we share the same goals and objectives of regional peace and stability. nevertheless, i think the recent attacks, the fighting in the past days have only demonstrated the imperative for greater

engagement by the west, by the european union to facilitate diplomatic engagement between armenia and azerbaijan. i do think blaming the victim approach will not work. host: fariz, i saw you reacting to what richard was saying. >> it is not exactly true that the forces only belong to local populations. there is many evidence that trucks are transporting armenian soldiers from the republic of armenia to nagorno-karabakh. other videos show soldiers themselves acknowledging that. this is not true they are fighting for their own. the azerbaijan soldier killed four days ago, the shootings and violations are constantly happening toward azerbaijan and

serviceman as well as civilians doing construction work. host: matthew, there are endless that says while russia has the most influence in attempting to keep the peace in the region, its resources are being stressed because of the war in ukraine. as the russian peacekeeping effort been impacted by the war in ukraine, and if so how much? >> i think it has to have. it is difficult to measure a lack of activity. russia's reputation has been devastated as a mediator. if it has invaded ukraine twice but also georgia, it's prestige as a peacekeeper is quite diminished. russian peacekeepers have a terrible reputation for the weight they behaved in georgia and mortal the -- moldova.

they are creating pieces of countries rather than peace. having said that they have performed rather well. there was an incident after the 2020 cease-fire statement that could have spun out of control and russian peacekeepers were able to diffuse the situation. the russian military is terribly stressed. of the 150,000 troops, 75,000 have suffered casualties, either debts -- deaths or injuries. that has an impact on how robust the peacekeeping operation can be. it has done a pretty good job. i think it would be great if the turkish presence was augmented in terms of keeping eyes and

ears on the russian forces. i think it is important the european union place an increasingly significant role in negotiations between the leadership. host: you bring up the eu, and the eu is presenting itself as a potential mediator. the prime minister and azerbaijan president, that was the second time at the have been hosted for talks on how to avert future questions. do you believe there were encouraging signs that came at those talks? >> there definitely was. it looked like the two leaders found a certain degree of chemistry and wanted to move ahead with the various agreements after november 2020, in particular an agreement that

called for joint infrastructure projects to be developed jointly among azerbaijan, armenia, and russia. then there was the backlash. richard is right that armenia is a vibrant democracy, the prime minister won a resounding victory in june, which helped him consolidate his strength against his opponents, but precisely because armenia is a vibrant democracy there are forces in armenia that some have not quite come to grips with the fact that this military conflict is over, and it is time to move forward as all were and hopefully with a lasting peace. host: what do you think about how effective the eu can be in all of this? can they be effective if they do not have any presence on the ground? >> to be honest, they already have been effective. the eu has been able to not

mediate but facilitate, providing a platform for armenia and azerbaijan to engage. eu engagement is much less provocative then -- than u.s. engagement or nato expansion. where we are going in terms of postwar instability is an endorsement of eu principles of engagement, connectivity, a peaceful resolution to inherently political conflicts. i think the eu and only the eu's best position to leverage the synergy going forward. what is most important is the need to engage diplomatically with the armenians. bilateral issues are important quite separate from the security

and safety of nagorno-karabakh. host: fariz, i want to look for a moment with you at russian peacekeeping efforts. how effective do you think they have been? >> they have been quite effective i would say, because they are helping to preserve stability and security, and not many huge cases of violation of cfr -- cease-fire has taken place. when some illegal armenian soldiers were transported, it was disappointing to see russian peacekeepers allow that. there are been high-level politicians including even french presidential candidates who have managed to visit nagorno-karabakh. this is not welcome by

azerbaijan. russian peacekeepers should bind by international law. in the future there will be opportunities to improve the work of russian peacekeepers. most importantly in terms of making sure illegal groups will be withdrawn as stipulated by the november cease-fire agreement. host: if i could follow-up with you, you have on the one hand what the russians are doing, and then you have mediation attempts by the eu. does that complicate the situation more? >> not so much. i would say they complement each other. the eu offers financial and economic incentives. construction on military assistance, mining activities, trust building activities,

issues related to infrastructure . the russians are focusing on hard security and making sure violations of the cease-fire do not take place. i think they are elementary. they do not feel any danger or hesitation by eu enrollment. i think they are positive tracks. host: richard, it looked like you were nodding all along. >> i agree with fariz very much. what we see is a unique paradox. despite russia's aggression, pressure's unjustified invasion of ukraine, its previous initiative georgia, what the russian peacekeepers represent is rare security on the ground. with eu engagement, a

complementary, not a contradictory approach. eu engagement will only tend to legitimize what was a peacekeeping deployment. after all, even the cease-fire agreement was crafted by russia and imposed by russia. it is the best we have on the ground. host: matthew, how much concern is there on the ground that the fighting could get worse and how unstable my things get in the region if things play out that way? >> i am not so concerned the fighting is going to spin out of control. neither the president or prime minister want that the weapon. i think they want to do what richard has been suggesting. have nagorno-karabakh gain a

position at the table. azerbaijan's perspective it is impossible. the military phase of the war ended, and there was a possibility for the status of nagorno-karabakh to be on the table and the prime minister did not agree with that. now pashinyan is saying we do want to negotiate that. this is the big issue. it is a political-legal issue. i do not think either side wants to resume large-scale military operations, but there are those who wish to restore it to. russia is not among those in the national leaders of armenia and azerbaijan are not among those. host: if both sides are eager to sign a treaty, a formal peace agreement, why has it been so difficult to broker this? >> is simply the case that there

is fear on the armenian leadership side that there is such a -- maybe not huge, but vocal opposition that has included physical threats to pashinyan's survival where he is deemed a traitor for signing the agreement. back in the 1990's there was a horrible incident, there was assassination on the floor of the parliament that led to the best -- deaths of the prime minister. he knows his history, he is being careful. host: you ultimately think this will be finalized and a treaty will actually be signed? >> i do think so. i do not know when. the timing depends on how quickly the national debate moves ahead saying the war is

over, we need to settle once and for all and integrate our economy back into the region versus those who say we will never give up. it is humiliation to believe we would trade the blood of our fallen compatriots in the sovereignty for academic benefits i think the momentum is moving in favor of a peace treaty. host: we have run out of time, so we will have to leave our conversation there. thanks so much to all of our guests. thank you for watching. you can see the program again anytime but our website, and for further discussion visit our facebook page. join the conversation on twitter , we are at ajinsidestory.

goodbye for now. ♪ ♪ qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq ♪♪ ♪♪ -lunchtime beneath the skyscrapers can be entertaining, as herds of bankers fill countless restaurants. this street is nicknamed "fressgass,"

roughly "the feeding street." as a contrast to the many trendy restaurant chains, frankfurt's kleinmarkthalle -- that's "little market hall" -- is a delightful old-school alternative. the venerable farmer's market was saved from developers by a local outcry, and remains a neighborhood favorite. explore and enjoy the samples. -this is anti-aging. you have no need of it. -i don't need it, no. [ speaking german ] this stall is all about german sausages, and amid this carnivore's delight hides this -- the city's classic wiener, the frankfurter. my best market tip -- find the most popular eatery, get local advice, and go for the town specialty. ♪♪ just around the corner is roemerberg,

frankfurt's old main square, lined with half-timbered buildings. because of its historic importance, it's one of the few bits of the old town rebuilt after the war in its original medieval style. on a sunny day, people head for the main river. a centerpiece of the riverside park is this welcoming 19th-century iron bridge. enjoy the lively scene along the riverbanks in the shadow of frankfurt's towering skyscrapers. taking a riverside stroll, i'm struck by how germans, while so productive in the workplace, are also expert at relaxation. ♪♪

ñcñcñcñc♪ [singing in cantonese] [singing in cantonese] bill birtles: it was the pro-democracy movement's anthem of hope. that somehow, the will of millions of hong kongers would prevail over the might of beijing. ♪♪♪ [singing in cantonese] [singing in cantonese]