in broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is r.t. glad to have you with us let us start with our breaking news this hour massive explosions have rocked the syrian capital damascus according to syrian state t.v. a military research center has been attacked u.s. officials have reportedly confirmed that israeli jets were behind the attack didn't start describing the scene as a huge blast which caused everything to shake damascus based journalist abdullah moment xeni earlier told me the details. about the. morning.

morkel come from. the. let's go live to israel now and get more on the latest developments from our t's'pol asli or paula thank you very much for being with us i know this is a developing situation how is israel commenting on the situation currently. well

we're just receiving information right now that pentagon officials are confirming that the strike that was carried out in the early hours of sunday morning was in fact a strike that israel carried out as of yet no confirmation from the israeli side and it's also doubtful whether or not in fact we'll get any confirmation from tel aviv later as very seldom do they either come nor deny that attacks that there are allegedly responsible for have indeed been carried out by them we're still waiting for official israeli confirmation as to the named israeli missiles of course that israel carried out a strike back on hers day in syria now since taking a vision is also reporting that israeli rockets struck early on sunday at a military was searched into on the outskirts of the capital of damascus in a region the mountainous region according to sources that are being quoted by syrian t.v. the israeli jets broke the sound barrier and hit civil military post as according

to the same report there were at least some twelve missiles that were launched from lebanese in a space targeting the capital of our of syria is the a t.v. claims that at least one israeli jet was downed after the explosion now the target of the strike is the strategic military position for the forces of the syrian president bashar assad and video footage that has been uploaded to you tube by activists shows a huge ball of fire rising into the night sky we haven't yet been able to verify any of the videos uploaded to you tube we haven't yet been able to independently verify the reports coming out of syria and as i say to you no confirmation from the israeli side we're also receiving syrian news reports claim that the rocket attack on this research same test has aided syrian rebels who have been battling government forces in the region. now palos this is not the first time israeli jets have been blamed for bombing syria even recently is it no it certainly is not this

research same to enjoin riaa was the target of an israeli strike back in january now the syrian government has stated that that a strike killed two workers and injured five others we are still waiting as i said earlier for confirmation of a second israeli attack in syria this year that happened on tuesday allegedly on a shipment of missiles that were making weight from syria to lebanon and israeli officials speaking on condition of bernama t. did say that israel was responsible for that attack what is important to note is that the conflict is not only becoming regional but seventy now has international ramifications his militia is a militant organization based in lebanon on that and i'd with damascus and israel has repeatedly in the past say that it would stop any kind of. any kind of game changing weapons from getting into the hands of his band going on is also appealed to the international community it's that israel has violated the united nations legislation as well as international law by flying over the lebanese airspace so

certainly the situation on the ground intensifying almost by the minute all right are to the policy or thank you very much we know that you're going to be following the situation as it develops as we get information from the united states and from syria nothing from israel as yet artie's teams continuing to follow this story let's now cross live to jason it did so is the news editor at antiwar dot com for further analysis on the situation jason thank you very much for being with us what could be the possible reason for these airstrikes if they were indeed from israel what were they aiming to achieve well it's unfortunately not clear yet until we have a clearer picture of what was what exactly was targeted it's difficult to speculate why the targeting took place or i would say that. the united states gave israel a green light for the previous attack in past months and reportedly gave them an ok

to launch future strikes so this probably isn't something that happened spur of the moment which is rather in the works for some time in your opinion what could be the outcome of the current situation what are the chances it will escalate into armed confrontation now that syria could possibly be involved to end it's spreading through the middle east it seems. well it certainly does seem that way and it could get very easily get out of control i of course syria's unlikely being in the middle of a civil war and launch much for retaliation against israel directly but at the same time this probably undermines some of the more islamic factions in the syrian rebels especially with reports that they're benefiting from these airstrikes that. paints them as. being the recipients of israeli aid in these attacks now jason it seems that israel is very keen to stop west weapons getting to hezbollah how far are they prepared to go fly if i think they're prepared to.

to go as far as they need to go and if that means all out war then as far as a lot of the people in the israeli government is concerned that that probably isn't a big deal although i would say event the fact that they've made such a public. spectacle of themselves promising me these attacks on that pretty taxed sort of leaves one wondering if it's not simply the excuse for any and all attacks they might want to launch on syria and whether or not it's targets to happen to have anything to actually do with as blair or not. now israel and hezbollah have been on different sides of the syrian conflict from the very beginning what could has blond get out of the conflict if they get involved. why i think hezbollah has already involved somewhat. in the syrian civil war of course they have

sent some fighters to defend shiite religious sites to defend a few she at border villages along the lebanese border i think. again has of our lives primarily built as a defensive group to resist invasion as a postman often suborganizations so proudly of have fairly limited capabilities for as far as launching any sort of attack on israel now if you look at the bigger picture like taking a step back the syrian government is basically backed by iran and lesbian lebanon's hezbollah at this point time do you think that israel can afford having these countries against itself in a larger conflict. well i think if if it gets into a larger conflict israel certainly can't handle all of this by itself but i think there the assumption is it will especially with the u.s. still publicly plotting their attacks on syria that the united states would would step in as well and this would go from internal civil war to

a regional war and indeed to a global war and if you look actually at israel's past in the past ten years in fact they've conducted several wars with its neighbors the palestinians and lebanon if it was indeed israel who conducted the airstrikes tonight if they actually own up to this why would they want to unwrap another conflict in the region that's a very good question and i'm not really sure if there's a good answer for it and it seems like a lot of the people in the current israeli government are very hawkish on the idea of. exerting their power especially after the november war or with hamas was seen not to go in their favor and i think a lot of them are pretty eager to have another war in which they can sort of. flex their power and cause a considerable amount of destruction simply to prove their deterrent capability is

but the risk in that is that they could blow this up into a much bigger fight than what their vision may you mention blowing this up into a much bigger fight than their invasion in your words now in the course of the syrian war the region has been flooded with weapons why would one even want to stir up this hornet's nest that already exists in the region so that that's another very good question of course we saw that similar thing happened in libya when you know how we went into the libyan civil war the result was. i think it's safe to say catastrophic for the entire region all these weapons ended up falling into the hands of different smugglers different factions and it started wars all across northern africa and i think this syrian war in no small part stems from all those arms coming out of lap and who knows where and where it will go in to see if the syrian war and same way. all right appreciate your thoughts on the subject jason

ditz anti-war activist thank you very much for being with us here on our team thank you for having me now a local journalist in damascus of a doll. whom you heard at the top of this hour is now telling our t. that more than three hundred soldiers have been killed and hundreds wounded while activists are reporting up to two thousand deaths a dolemite was any is also reporting huge destruction at the john mariah research center of course we will be keeping you updated on developments as they come in to us and our t. team here in the newsroom. a law enforcement officials investigating at the boston marathon bombings have turned their focus to the widow of one of the suspects radical islamic material was discovered on a computer belonging to the american wife of tamerlan that sort of naive who was killed when police tried to capture him artie's it was he comes off as more. katherine russell she's a twenty four year old widow of tamerlan and she's been under investigation

basically since the identities of the boston bombers were revealed she initially came under scrutiny when authorities discovered female d.n.a. on a piece of a pressure cooker that was used to construct a homemade explosive material she submitted her fingerprints and d.n.a. and authorities say that they did not match the sample on the explosives that were found however investigators have also been probing her computer materials and what it turns now now is that authorities have discovered al qaeda is inspire magazine and other so-called radical islamic literature on the computer now the key question is whether this material actually belonged to her or whether it was downloaded by her husband or somebody else so that is the key question that investigators are looking into at the moment if we actually begin with katherine russell i mean she grew up in rhode island the christian daughter of an emergency room doctor and a nurse sort of the epitome of the all-american girl before she met in fact she graduated high school in two thousand and seven and according to one magazine report her yearbook quote had mentioned that she wanted to grow up and join the

peace corps people who knew her said the girl with a passion for learning and travel that really radically transformed since meeting she ended up becoming a college dropout she married him converted to islam and stayed at home and took care of the children the same could be said of himself actually there was an interesting interview with an ex-girlfriend of his who said that the man she met and dated in two thousand and six had transformed from a pot smoking party boy to an anti american the islamist jihadi essentially that is how she described him it's unclear what prompted the transformation in case but we do know that much of his radicalization officials believe was inspired by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula there's reports that he has watched sermons by the american born cleric anwar all blocky and according to news reports sources of actually refer to inspire magazine as one of the materials found under the possession of. it's known to have published a bomb making guide and investigators have also uncovered other evidence of sort of

radical material. artie's lucy caffein off reporting for us there now they have been labeled the clowns and loonies but now they have picked up a quarter of the votes in a british local elections the euro skeptic u.k. independence party a former outsider has grabbed one hundred forty seven seats in local councils a surprise increase from just eight previously they even came in second in one of violation prime minister david cameron reached out to ukip which he once called a bunch of fruitcakes now saying it's no good insulting them trying to benefit from ukip recent popularity and win back of voters who demanded to referendums on europe which is the first one next spring cameron's upcoming speech outlining the government's a legislative plans will focus on the main issues of you keeps program e.u. membership and immigration earlier my colleague bill dodd asked the deputy leader of the u.k. independence party not all whether they are getting worse. david cameron is committed to the european union we know that because he said if that is it that

friends and he will campaign to stay in and if you are members of the european union you can't control your own borders so we have a problem in this country where we have twenty two percent youth unemployment a million kids in britain who are going to weigh every day and what about open. to twenty nine million remaining in a bulgarians when restrictions fall on january the first in communism it says that is nothing can do about that so quite frankly we're not worried that he's going to park his time cannot say because he simply can't see how you're going to gain momentum now because surely most governments at the time of these midterm elections always lose popularity you've got to keep the momentum up now but really to aim for part of parliament now is that that's is that really realistic for you keep it it's early stages well i think we will take a seat in the house of commons if not two seats before the general election in two thousand and fifteen if we continue on our trajectory and byelection zameen we are

finished. seconds and a lot of buy elections now particularly in the north of england and i think that we can eventually take a seat in a byelection but let's not forget that a big elections next year the european elections take place in june two thousand and fifteen these are the elections that we will win i genuinely believe we will send more any peace but so brussels than any other party and then in two thousand and fifteen ukip will be standing in every single constituency and we will be putting up a good fight if we enter the election on double digits ahead of the liberal democrats we have leadership debates in this country and nigel farage will be on those leadership debates and he would wipe the floor with clegg cameron and for large mania will start just finally back to immigration policy people do perceive you as racist how are you going to overcome that challenge just briefly well quickly we have a blanket ban on anybody who's been a member of a political party ever joining you that has nothing racist about discussing

immigration and wanting british jobs for british workers. and we've got more news online for you in excluding public fury against the muslim brotherhood in egypt reaches a boiling point when the islamist leader's son is lynched for a shocking murder he's accused of committing dot com for the full story. plus china's breakneck pace of industrialization may not comply with people's hopes for a green and environmentally friendly future hundreds rally in the city of cuming against the government plans to build another factory producing hazardous materials for details on our website. criticism over the domestic use of drones in the u.s. is mounting while demand for them is skyrocketing the federal aviation administration predicts some one hundred thousand commercial unmanned aircraft will be over american skies within the next five years and as artie's honest i see

a church going to has been finding out building and operating the drones is becoming a coveted profession for many. unmanned aerial vehicles better known as drones are not only in the skies but might be taught at a college near you at least three u.s. schools offer bachelor degrees in engineering and flying u a v's dozens more offer drone one zero one courses and classes. for the university of north dakota kicked off its four year program in two thousand and nine with just five students that number is now at one hundred twenty they've elected to major in unmanned aircraft systems and i believe the reason is that they see that as an opportunity for growth it's an emerging technology embry riddle aeronautical university in florida began training u.a.b. pilots and operators in two thousand and eleven and expects the number of graduates to reach the hundreds in the next several years and becoming and they may be as are becoming more prevalent in pretty much any time you can imagine the increased

interest in the drone industry is largely fueled by post-grad starting salaries that are much higher than those for pilots flying planes or helicopters or an economy that's hasn't recovered ok so people see opportunities for jobs wherever there's money to be had of course but the problem is that universities are supposed to do something more than serve the military industrial complex to widespread debate drones are notoriously used as weapons and u.s. wars abroad the one that's under heavy scrutiny right now is that i mean aircraft are in the past been used by the military therefore the logical leap is that i mean aircraft were used militaristically in the united states the federal aviation administration says that ten thousand commercial drones could be used over u.s. skies within five years for surveillance and other purposes while controversy surrounding them is that a piece dare day even talk about drones on a domestic there are many many cities in the country that have already got rights to use these drones and they will be using them so without the laws that protect

our privacy we do. not how they're going to be used most people teaching and studying the oriented programs insist their use is much more varied than for military purposes abroad and surveillance at home i think. where that when need be an issue at all border security meteorological and environmental surveillance such as sending a drone into a hurricane without having to worry about the pilots are among the applications most commonly praised and you use still the most common association with drones at home is law enforcement and it's this aspect that's making americans very uncomfortable obviously there's going to be some regulations that are going to have to be put in place so that people don't run around or at least you know police or whoever doesn't just have the ability to run around and you know go unchecked looking at you know having a ever watchful eye over the public but i don't think that will it will be a deterrent more so it'll be a challenge to make sure that you know people are happy with the implementation of

the aircraft into the national airspace system officials are yet to convince americans that there are more pros than cons to drones flying over u.s. soil it's time to say wait a minute hold up let's not move forward in this area without understanding where we're going and that's the problem here and that's the danger of these associations for unmanned vehicle systems international estimates the number of american jobs in the industry will grow to over twenty three thousand over the next fifteen years. and. new york. thousands of gun enthusiasts from every corner of the u.s. have gathered in houston to explore everything the gun industry has to offer this year's meeting of the national rifle association is likely to be the biggest ever despite all the recent shooting tragedies in the us the n.r.a. is holding steadfast in its opposition to obama's attempt to strengthen gun laws in the country are an important with the details. the national debate over gun control

may be among the most divisive issues in the united states but it's also proving to be a p.r. success for america's largest and strongest kind of rights organization approximately seventy thousand people turned out for the national rifle association's annual meeting taking place here in houston texas you could understand the enthusiasm and the strength behind the n.r.a. so many families here have brought their their children now was those in attendance are not allowed to fly any of the weapons or ammunition but they certainly are allowed to pick up the guns hold them in their hands i aimed them for the kids there are air guns that the kids are allowed to shoot also for actual gods to play with and many in the crowd told me that they come with the feeling of victory because in recent weeks u.s. president barack obama's first furthering gun control legislation failed in the

senate that effort of course was for strengthening background checks when you hear from the people that turned out they say that they will stand behind the n.r.a. to continue to fight any efforts washington makes and furthering gun control legislation i think it shows americans feels about our freedom to own guns is second amendment and most of us are supporting the n.r.a. because there are a backbone for believe in and fight for our rights so i didn't split the speaker grill i didn't use it it's wonderful i look to you like to one for the you know there would be no more i think a lot of people came this year because. president obama was reelected and we know we have a tough fight to just keep our rights former vice presidential candidate sarah palin and texas governor rick perry are among the along with

a name. broke on conservatives that addressed crowds throughout this three day of that all those that spoke accused president obama in new york city mayor michael bloomberg and even the mainstream media leading a vicious attack against the second amendment but that fights includes a very hefty financial investment according to reports the n.r.a. spent seven hundred thousand dollars in the first quarter of this year to fight any efforts made by washington to strengthen gun control now ironically as the u.s. leader has been making his efforts to strengthen gun laws gun sales have been a pretty increasing and membership to the n.r.a. has been expanding so far in this ongoing political battle of the n.r.a. he's clearly proving itself to be strong enough to go up against and defeat the president of the united states reporting from houston. r.t.

. let's now take a swing around the globe to take a look at more headlines making international news this hour. seven u.s. service members have been killed in two separate attacks in afghanistan a roadside bomb killed five men in the southern province of kandahar two other american troops have been killed during an insider attack by a rogue afghan soldier in the country's western helmand province this comes just hours after president hamid karzai asked to the taliban to stop destroying the country and help defend it against what he calls foreign plots. three people have been killed and dozens injured after two blasts went off within minutes of each other near an election office of a pakistani liberal political party in karachi and the taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack militants earlier promised to target three secular political parties ahead of the general elections it'll be time more than seventy people have been killed in the ongoing insurgent attacks in the run up to that all

the vote is expected to mark the first ever democratic transition of power to start . in hungary and hundreds of far right protesters rallied on budapest's martyrs square a day before the world jewish congress opens the country judges that came under fire for authorizing what is widely seen as an anti-semitic protest for the victims of zionism in a country with the largest jewish community in europe it was organized by a party who ran a campaign called on going for longer and variance in two thousand and nine. two soldiers are dead and four more were injured in an attack on a mali an army patrol in near the northern city of gal a suicide bomber and armed militants a provoked a clash that left two mali and troops killed three of the attackers also died in the fighting the attack underscores the challenges the country faces of following a french led military intervention to liberate the three main towns controlled by

al-qaeda linked groups in northern mali the area has it been rocked by several of suicide attacks targeting the military forces in recent months. in tripoli government supporters have clashed with demonstrating militia members who are demanding a khadafi era officials would be ousted from the government last week armed men latest siege to the country's foreign and justice ministries calling for a purge of the old regime members violence and instability are once again threatening the country two years after a nato led intervention and the overthrow of colonel qadhafi. millions of orthodox believers are celebrating easter in church ceremonies around the world it's one of orthodox christianity as most important services and marks the resurrection of jesus christ thousands of people gathered at russia's main vigil and the cathedral of christ the savior in central moscow artie's medina question of

has the details price does freeze and that's the phrase are to dock speakers read each other with this celebration the team is urgent on saturday you believe. in the church of the holy sample in jerusalem and the holy fly is described by our two dogs believers as a miracle that happens alfre here on the eve of the easter celebration later that fire is distributed to the r.v. docks countries including balad russia's serbia georgia and many others and it was also brought to russia. in moscow of nuclear airborne and was later delivery to the price deceivers that which is the landmark arch of docks cathedral in the country and that's where it be a main easter service was taking place this service to began shortly before midnight on saturday priests and.