he starts on t.v. dot com. syria's commercial capital becomes the country's fiercest battleground russia accuses the rebels and their western patrons of leaving damascus no choice but to fight on. is the breathtaking olympic games opening ceremony kicked off british police tell a mass cyclist group to get on its bike. and saudi arabia police attacked demonstrators with clubs and live rounds as pro forma protests spread from bahrain and the united arab and. international news and comment live from the new center here in moscow this is r t with twenty four hours a day dozens of people have reportedly been killed in fresh clashes in syria's

largest city as government forces step up a counter offensive against the entrenched rebels witnesses describe the scenes in aleppo as the fiercest fighting of the sixteen month conflict russia says syrian authorities need to work towards peace but can't be expected to conceive while the western backed insurgents continue to take over cities moscow accuses foreign powers of fueling the violence to bring about regime change in damascus the former head of the u.n. mission to syria says assad's afford is only a matter of time but admits that it won't necessarily mean the conflict will end even occasions of also emerged a foreign meddling in syria in defiance of u.n. efforts. now reforms. one of which has passed as the united nations has issued a new mandate for its observer mission in syria which and this day ironically should help calm tensions in this country but if anything violence in syria has only intensified over the past week the clashes between the army and the rebel still continue. in the northern city of aleppo with the death toll believed to be

in the hundreds and enormous damage to the city's infrastructure now before the syrian uprising began aleppo was considered the best case for the burgeoning economic and political ties between syria and its northern neighbor turkey but ever since are there on and bashar assad stopped calling each other france turkey has played a very active and some would say a very destructive role in syrian affairs turkish territory is being actively used to smuggle weapons for the free syrian army and on the top of that's reuters news agency has revealed that turkey alongside saudi arabia and qatar has set out a secret military base in one of its southern cities to direct vital military communications support for the free syrian army now a number of experts have long warning that turkey's adamant support for the syrian opposition may calm at a cost to its own security for

a number of days the church of state has been struggling against its own militants i'm talking about the crudest on its workers party the been fighting for the establishment of an independent sovereign state for the kurds the world's largest people without a state a few months ago i haue the chance to visit several kurdish settlements around syria and i was very surprised to find that they are defected independent they have their own security force their own schools our own administration so old these developments with the kurds in syria leave turkey very nervous and on thursday its prime minister accused bashar al assad of aiding kurdish militants in syria and the. country it reserves the right to strike kurdish targets kurdish locations within syria pretty much like it does in iraq and. this may be

needed for turkish all self defense but if those attacks carried out that's going to make it very volatile a very bloody very unstable situation in this region far worse. than a border that well let's get some insight from london based security analyst charles shubert he's been closely watching events in and around syria charles is an expert on intelligence and security matters and of course you do have a military background are you surprised on how the rebels have made such an impact in all of this so far. on one level yes another no and i'll explain that first of all of course it's traditional in insurgency situations and that's what we have in syria that's what's grown and developed over the last year or so that regular conventional armies struggle to if you like play catch up with rebel movements that's because generally rebel movements use hit and run guerilla type tactics similar to what we saw against u.s.

forces in iraq in fact very similar in many cases even employing the same people those tactics have been honed in places like iraq and therefore they're going to be effective against an army such as serious but on the other hand this the rebels have recently adopted more shall we say capture and hold tactics of territory and in situations like that the extra or dish and firepower the firepower advantage of the syrian armed forces should really be brought to bear on this and it is surprising that given the inequality shall we say of the firearm situation the arment situation notwithstanding that the syrian rebels are increasingly i think and i think it's clear being equipped with quite sophisticated hardware from saudi arabia and elsewhere but nonetheless the syrian army has until relatively recently failed to capitalize on what should be a clear advantage and one can only say that looking at it from irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the situation there in many ways the syrian army has been quite cautious some might even say timid particularly in the way it's conducted and

campaigns relying very much on the use of artillery. relatively recently and so on and the use of armor without actually supporting the armor with infantry in urban areas and of course that can be fatal for such. elements entering a city held such as we've got now in aleppo but. can i just interrupt here that the mosque of course accuses foreign powers of fueling the violence many are saying of course the rebels are getting western backing just how significant is that backing how much are they getting i mean really could they achieve what they've done bearing in mind they're outnumbered and outgunned without the sort of western backing. no i think there's no question that western backing has assisted enormously and indeed i think it is fair to say that western backing for the armed rebels is of course allowing them to continue with what they're doing it's allowing them to evolve their tactics in a way that for example with additional supplies for example the west has made it clear that it's supplying for example it calls non-lethal equipment but this is

including communications equipment which can be used to coordinate attacks and so on it's clear that over the last few months there's been an enormous increase in the capabilities of the armed opposition and partly that is down to very clearly it's down to issues such as organization which again depends on communication and other aspects which in which the west is assisting even though it isn't supplying weapons directly that is unable to evolve so that opposition fighters are able to go into cities hold areas and of course when they do that that is what them if you like encourages an inevitable response from the syrian army much the same response as you would see with most armies around the world that we're now faced with a situation of urban warfare guerrillas embedded in an urban area deliberately so it will invite attacks with artillery and have your weapons do you agree with russia's position saying assad has no incentive to back down as long as the rebels continue to carry out terror attacks in occupied cities and i decided conceding should the international community weigh in with

a peacemaking effort or just simply let this conflict rage on. well as the u.n. monitoring mission itself said shortly before general mood came a way. that both sides clearly want to fight and one can imagine that this is the case because this is now officially designated a civil war it's been clear for some time that's the case you've got a situation where clearly one side cannot stop fighting without the other i think it was recognized even by the u.n. envoy. you know to that situation that in fact both sides have to draw both sides have to recognize a cease fire you've got a situation increasing now where is the armed rebels who are doing the attacking that is clear from reports on the ground from people at the ready to be. shall we say rebel such as for example the b.b.c. they are showing footage now which clearly shows that defensive initiative is now aligned with that because it's clear that if governments are attacked if their organizations and cities and infrastructures are attacked they clearly will respond

either in self-defense or to regain the initiative. or any army would do want to talk about here and a lot of time as usual if the rebels win if sad does fall what happens then is syria going to be a better country after that. i think that's far from certain there are certainly amongst the opposition democrats perhaps people who are secular working on the inside as well as the outside with that has to be said many of those should we say opposition figures who are speaking about secular democracy are actually on the outside of syria itself the question is who is controlling who is the influence behind the armed rebels who are succeeding on the ground in may well to continue one has to look at the supplies and the inspiration of those people and one looks to places like qatar saudi arabia and one has to wonder whether saudi arabia is interested in promoting democracy certainly isn't with its people and its only no borders and one i think has to have the greatest fear is that assad fall it will far from being a panacea for this problem for syria may well be the precursor for atrocities chaos

and carnage on a secular basis and a syria that may well be far worse than people can imagine it could possibly be a replacement for assad interesting to hear your thoughts on this thank you very much for your time charles shubert live from london thank you very much indeed for being with us here on r.t. . welcome to the program this hour two raters on a rampage you can find out why gyptian is a failing to stem the increasing flow of stolen artifacts from the country. but first the summer olympic games are finally underway in london and while athletes were gearing up to go tough on opponents police were getting tough and some locals around one hundred cycling activists taking part in the monthly mass bike ride were arrested during the games opening ceremony they claim to be encircled by police while pedaling towards the point of this is reportedly used pepper spray scuffles broke out show itself proved to be a breathtaking spectacle over the final price tag of twenty seven million pounds

the olympic torch was delivered by football superstar david beckham virus speedboat on the river turns seven young athletes nominated by produced sporting greats let the flame to the applause of sixty thousand lucky with the extra began to culminated with understanding functions. and you can learn about how the two teamed up with agent double zero seven made a surprise entrance at the in the big opening slot on t.v. . and also online updates from all the and pick competitions. well while some are being swept up by the spirit of the olympic games others are not so infused. i know i'm here. in the crazy back home because of the yeah later we asked people in the big apple whether they'll remember the names of the athletes several months after the olympics

concluded mr president in about ten minutes from now here on r.t. . also we look at how athletes are cashing in on their perfect bodies with glossy covers and fancy photo shoots leaving the sport as perhaps an afterthought at the games. tensions a simmering in eastern saudi arabia following friday's police crackdown on protesters clashes occurred in the city of qatif where activists say about fourteen people were injured after officers began shooting live rounds so the rest will fall into demonstrations against political imprisonment and discrimination by the sunni rulers the area mostly populated by shiites is seen unrest throughout the year with saudi authorities beefing up security position forces have also been silenced in bahrain and united arab emirates jim political analyst eric draitser says the ruling elites in the region are actually marching to the beat of a different drum. to voice your view in saudi arabia is to stand

against anglo american hegemony in the region remember the united states the british the israelis and the western powers have been propping up these regimes for decades and so to popularize ideas that are anti regime is essentially to say that saudi arabia qatar and the various gulf monarchies are not going to be subjected to us hegemony any more saudi arabia has a very repressive police state apparatus that exists in the country and because of that you see a tremendous amount of repression and that repression can very easily escalate into violence we saw a similar situation in bahrain where the the royal family essentially carries out what what would what could be considered entirely backwards system where people are thrown into prison for tweeting people are thrown into prison for criticizing the regime really what we're looking at is

a situation where there it's the pot calling the kettle black the united states and the western powers and their proxies in the middle east are using human rights as a cover when it is convenient and in turn violating human rights when it serves their interests so we can't we can't look at this in any objective terms this is all in the service of anglo-american imperialism in the middle east and in the gulf . as egypt writes new pages in his history pieces the countries that legendary pass to slipping away museum looters and two murders have stepped up their hunt for artifacts as obvious as their reports officials say they lack the resources to stop the thieves. egypt's pride and past which is slowly being stolen from its people here at the museum of egyptian antiquities in cairo more than five thousand years of civilization on display and earthed over the years from the shifting sands with the world's largest collection of fair army pieces and the treasures of king tooting carmen but the ancient world's artifacts are being planted to this museum

and something. from the museum says this is not the one of the bitter downsides of the chaos of last year's bloody uprising on the streets of egypt an outbreak of fifty museums and antique warehouses across the country more than one hundred thousand artifacts are stored in the cairo museum basement alone and at least a million are stored across more than egypt protecting these treasures requires a colossal effort all the more difficult since many police have left the force in the wake of the country's unrest before the revolution where fifty go out of place the maximum very little ten people then two fifty after the russian it became seventy four hundred people of one that's against. the twenty inside it all starts here in the shadow of the permits or near ancient temples in the desert sites here egyptians dig for a quick and illegal back it is easy to go deep under the cover of darkness and far

from the nearest security guard but many don't even go there far instead turning over the own backyards under the ground on the only house there are for only one and so if you want to conclude from million people on the ground even something as simple as a knife from the times of the pharaohs can sell for up to fifty million dollars on the black market deals are done through a labyrinth of illegal buyers across europe and the united states. of money digs happen and vast open places that are difficult for us to access those responsible then leave the country by sea or across the border where we have few police it's impossible to know what's been stolen directly from the ground as we have documented evidence that at least three hundred pieces were stolen from museums since the revolution and it's estimated that illegal digs have increased one hundred fold in the last year those trying to safeguard egypt's in comparable

history feel powerless the country's treasures are falling into the wrong hands and lost to the people forever the egyptian president may have more pressing matters right now but many archaeologists here feel the legacy of the people is surely worth fighting for before it's too late egypt is in a state of flux and while there are many people here worried about its future there just as many more you do about preserving its past policy r.t. cairo. let's have a quick look at some other stories now making headlines around the world this hour overnight sectarian clashes between sunni gunmen and their rivals in lebanon's northern city of tripoli a wounded eight people police fired warning shots trying to disperse the competence before troops were deployed in the area tensions in the country were spot months ago by the uprising in neighboring syria with the white minority supporting prison . and discern the two countries share a tangled web of sectarian connections which are easily inflamed. a drive by shooting in southern thailand has killed at least four soldiers and injured two others the troops are cornered by suspected islamist militants and shot at close

range as they were returning to their base from a patrol is the most insurgency in the country's volatile south the ruptured in two thousand and four and has left over five thousand dead so far. severe wildfires are engulfed parts of siberia with a state of emergency declared the situation to be hampered by extreme temperatures the crews battling the blaze say they've managed to protect residential areas firefighters work is being held back by poor visibility that prevents the emergency planes and helicopters from reaching the worst hit areas the cities in the region also envelops and pick smog making it difficult to. be praised for preaching freedom and reform the georgian leadership is cast as a democracy success story both by the western media and by state channels at home but some journalists who work in the country see a completely different picture as artie's. found out. that's exactly what we're seeing in my culture the well you my part of the world you know you are leverage

that you know energy by giving people more freedom freedom is the key word find words from the georgian president some western officials like hillary clinton continuously praised me truly for his supposed program of reform but journalists in the country are less impressed and say talk of freedom doesn't extend to the media made at the new journalists is now a dangerous profession in georgia there's always a risk of being accused of being a spy journalist get beaten up frequently all of this is happening in front of the entire country. the chances are that most people in georgia won't find out about these cases from their evening news according to the latest polls more than eighty percent of georgians depend on t.v. as their main source of information yet georgians only have free access to three channels all of them controlled by the state one way or the other. one channel is owned by saakashvili eight another where his friends relative to all people get

really is just state controlled propaganda and we think so what if the georgians don't get the full scope of their country's events from the t.v. sets after all there is always the internet but still they have to understand a lot of people here still live in rural areas and for a lot of them the world wide web is simply not available readily at their fingertips. independent channels like of concept or channel nine are available only to those who have satellite dishes and other luxury for most georgians. sometimes i have friends or relatives visiting from other parts of georgia and they watch these channels and say what is this really happening in this country we knew nothing about it but operating an independent media outlet isn't easy here journalists say their cash flow has run dry since advertisers were told by authorities to stay away from channels which may be affiliated with the opposition

on top of that their every move is being closely watched by authorities here i know as well i constantly find myself facing over the top control from local officials i'm always being followed by some strange people who say they're from some unknown news agencies and ask me questions why do we film stories about political prisoners for example the last all just it's about state officials don't feel comfortable coming to us because we ask questions they don't want to answer but state controlled media never ask those questions. president saakashvili is a frequent guest on various american t.v. channels but he's never made an appearance on any of the opposition channels at home perhaps it's not so much the questions that he minds is the effect his answers may have and billy see georgia is an r.t.s. . where we have more stories on our website r.t. dot com with the latest news and in-depth analysis twenty four seven including google's little secret find out how the search john has managed to keep an illegal

private data collection that it should have destroyed back in two thousand and ten your classified information revealed online. and tree huggers get hot under the collar of thousands of chinese protesters rampage the coastal city of key dong all to plug a pipeline find out the details and outing dot com. well lympics grabs the headlines these days with the eleven opening ceremony and sports events some say it's just a way to hide from real problems when next our own resident takes to the streets in new york asking people there whether they share the jubilant limp experience that has taken over the british capital. do you really care about the olympics this week let's talk about that are you excited about the olympics and no one here. is that crazy back home because of it

yeah and we got out what are you excited about college team usa i hope we go all the way. the right does that mean we're the best country in the world if we win all the gold medals who i don't know about people really aren't that into track and field and. you know then the swimming you know the media build up between. phelps and his rival you know but you don't even know the name of the right man even think of his name on the front just finish tonight. for a minute do you think that the olympics are kind of a way to just distract people from what's really going on might be. problems do you think people remember the names of all the athletes three months after the olympics are done i guess it depends what kind of sponsorships they've got and what advertisements are doing but yeah if their names are in plays and in lights everywhere they're selling us wheaties yes exactly those athletes will be

remembered a lot of them probably wouldn't you know i guess a sort all some boss that did push ups. and. push ups that i admired for the olympics. that's in satan so they're trying to yeah they're getting they're getting people excited anyway that they can what is why do they do that just for the good of sports no idea probably just try to drum up some more money for the country at that right over here tourism you know historically the olympics is something that's always meant to be a unifying action yes so it doesn't that kind of take away from that message of unification when it comes down to just drumming up business ya think. greed. unfortunately taking over the priority of some folks whether or not you care about the olympics the bottom line is that you should be prepared to be bombarded by a lot of media coverage in the coming week.

staying with story number one in sports then the olympic games which are a perfect chance for the athletes to attract the world's attention not only with their sporting skills but also by flashing their flesh and as are. found out some of the competitors have been very quick to strip. faster higher stronger bodies built like machines and olympic extravaganza of athletes grace magazine covers baring it all it would be nice to hate like to not look at these athletes like you know these are special specimens almost members of a different race but these are people just like us they could they could help us strive to do better their superhuman bodies are on display in a competition for attention and personal exposure the olympic gold is not just the the gold at the sleeves when and where but the good old of all these endorsements and all this this ability you know they want to cash in on it's their moment in the sun unfortunately i think that undermines the olympic goal and ideally.

the original idea to lettuces one might scrapped the olympic dream and culture now transformed into glossy images of athletes striking a pose in the nude the original olympics were performed completely naked so you could make the case this is turning back to the original form of the olympics. in an ever expanding entertainment culture surrounding the olympics self p.r. is the new tradition and the fifteen minutes of fame an opportunity not to be missed and you've got hundreds of athletes who come back to nothing but a lot of them really look back and say well what do i get out of the last four years i could have made more money being a manager at mcdonald's corp that's one of the biggest sponsors of the olympics is on a journey to send a somewhat confusing message while the athletes are busy promoting their stunning bodies mcdonald's sets up the biggest joint in the world outside the olympic

stadium a record one hundred fifty thousand condoms are also being distributed at the olympic village that's roughly fifteen condoms for each athlete some argue sexing up the olympics is slowly racing the true meaning of these historic games the marathon really. it came into effect and they based it off the great story i'm a guy that's a pita is coming from wanting you know citizens about basically the how the war was ending with the persians and going to twenty five miles and just having bleeding feet and how that inspired the marathon for what it is today. or surrounding the olympics of today's anything but just sportsmanship appears to be the last guest joining this party and hearty new york. you know what you thought he would live here moscow but with headlines for you just a few moments well stay with us. the

sky. russian airlines.