coming up on our team fighting isis the u.s. begins flying surveillance missions over syria now many are wondering if this latest action will have the u.s. teaming up with a regime it's criticised. can easing tensions in ukraine president putin and more ashamed go meet as the humanitarian crisis continues in the war torn country but is this meeting providing any chance for peace. and an unarmed teenager killed by police and for use in missouri lead to the arrest but what does that mean for the community going forward we'll have a report from ferguson later in the show.

afternoon it's tuesday august twenty sixth four pm in washington d.c. i'm manila chan you're watching r.t. america well surveilling syrian skies the u.s. is latest response to the threat of islamic militants wreaking havoc along the iraqi syrian border has many wondering if one time follows the u.s. and syria could become front of me as well today obama administration officials announced that it would begin aerial surveillance of isis controlled territories within the syrian border an unnamed official tells the a.p. that while these aerial surveillance drones are necessary for reconnaissance purposes against isis militants the white house confirmed that they are not acting in cooperation with the assad regime so could this mean the u.s. is gearing up for new air strikes in syria in response to this syrian officials say they welcome u.s. surveillance of the isis militant. but the syrian foreign minister had this to say

any strike which is not coordinated with the government will be considered as aggression this as the u.s. ramps up its involvement in the region following the beheading of american journalist james foley and the life of another american journalist steve sauf hangs in the balance. so what is the bigger picture for the u.s. in this region here to to discuss this is matt southworth from the friends committee on national legislation thanks for joining us mr selfridge thank you for having me so let's jump right in just over a year ago the obama administration requested approval from congress to launch airstrikes against syrian president bashar al assad and his forces and assad is certainly not a friend to us and here in the u.s. but the phrase you know the enemy of my enemy is my friend is getting tossed around and what are the chances that our two governments will work together to fight isis

i think the chances of that are highly unlikely i think with the u.s. seizes an opportunity to take unilateral strikes against isis the interesting thing to me is that the administration when they requested that authorization last year was resoundingly shut down by the american public and congress was not even able to take a vote on that authorization because the public was so adamantly opposed to yet another war in the middle east and yet more potential for bombing but do you think that sentiment has changed given this new the new action in the rise of isis militants has that sentiment change i would think you know i don't actually think so i think most people haven't been paying close enough attention the difference between this time and last time is the president went on t.v. and said we want to new authorization i think of the president were to come on t.v. again and say we want new authorization which he will have to do because the president does not have open ended authority to wage war against isis is very far out of any existing authority for him and the administration to take that action so eventually if they keep this up they're going to have to seek authorization and

when that happens i think the public will again speak out and be adamantly opposed you think they'll still be opposed now now the u.s. has launched air strikes in iraq as we know against the isis militants but it's taking a very different approach in fighting the same group in syria along syria's side of the border why do you think that u.s. has. taking a different approach in syria just because we have a schizophrenia policy you know the us has long held contradict dring allies and contradicting beliefs about alliances in the middle east one question in terms of the surveillance in syria is are we doing actual surveillance for the purpose of gathering intelligence or are we actually doing target acquisition i served in northern iraq in two thousand and four with the u.s. army as an intel analyst and i know a little bit about that target acquisition i was responsible for doing some of that and it's not a science is definitely not a science so we have to wonder how long will this action take place before the chances of let's say bombing innocent iraqi civilians or innocent syrian civilians

happens and then what will we do right now just a moment ago you did mention that the obama administration will seek the approval of congress of course to go forward with anything now the administration has actually said that they won't guarantee that they will seek congress's approval to move forward with with maybe some air strikes in syria but how important is it for the lawmakers to approve the military response i think it's absolutely essential you know the only way for the public to weigh in on whether or not they approve a third war you know third major war and this time is for them to look to the congress to actually take a vote on an authorization and if that doesn't happen i think it will be a miscarriage of constitution of the already and now the administration has said that that isis is an imminent threat to the u.s. interests and in fact chuck hagel just recently said that it's a threat to every interest that we have is this really an accurate assumption or is

this an exaggeration to me it's more rhetoric you know there's very little evidence for the fact that isis is a threat sure they have made statements but statements in ability are two very different things and you know didn't have weapons of mass destruction in two thousand and three we learned that babies in. baiters in one thousand nine hundred one was made up for tisha story and i have real doubts about the sincerity of the underlying policy decisions being made for everything chuck hagel would make such a broad statement you know it's really hard to know from my view. officials are thinking we've been bombing iraq for at almost twenty five years we've been involved in the region for at least the last fifty and we have a few positive examples of where military forces work i don't know why we continue to double down on these failed policies we need a different approach and the approach of bombs and boots first will fail again if we if we do it now syria has become as at that as the days go by it's becoming

increasingly governable do you think that the u.s. maybe should have acted sooner were guarding isis i mean rather than the president calling them. absolutely the president the united states and the united nations should have acted sooner not in military terms but in terms of getting regional players and international players at the table to broker a political deal right now we've got the president saying there's no military solution to iraq yet we continue to drop bombs same thing with syria and there's no rivaling political process or no political process in tandem so my question to the administration is simply if there is no military solution how do you plan for the political solution and doesn't seem like we're taking any of those actions i think that's the opportunity that was missed not military action so we're just kind of responding with violence and i don't think that's going to get us anywhere with it certainly doesn't protect civilians it exacerbates the existing violence it's going to push more people toward the islamic state it's going to push more people toward

these other groups because they have the choice of self-preservation or die and i think you know this this policy is only going to exacerbate that now on one last note here today n.b.c. is reporting that an american was killed i'm sure you've heard about that over the weekend fighting for isis it says the free syrian army. released photos of american douglas mcarthur mccain his passport and photos of his body were released and right now the u.s. says it's just a small handful of americans that they believe have taken up the cause and a lot of europeans are actually joining but do you do you think that's an accurate portrayal or do you think there's kind of more more to this or to this one thing the u.s. policy over the last you know thirteen years and maybe even further has created us and them groups and the unfortunate side effect is some people are sympathizing with the u.s. and i think ultimately if people are defecting from the u.s. and fighting and certainly not you know the first time this is happened but

ultimately this is no way indicative of the american muslim community and i think that's an important point to stress i agree and i earlier today at a pentagon briefing when asked about how the u.s. is conducting operations against isis gen kirby said the following he says do you think we're we are authorized to act. from a military perspective. iraq and that's what we're doing but it doesn't mean we're turning a blind eye to the regional threat that they pose and quite frankly we're not turning a blind eye to their global aspirations as well you know much has been made about you know the. threat they pose and how imminent it is and you don't need to look any further than the recruitment of foreign fighters and the degree to which not just the united states government but many western governments are concerned about these foreign fighters leaving their shores going over there getting radicalized trained and then coming back at. now you heard what he just had to say do you think

we'll actually see more americans leaving to fight for isis and or or actually going to get trained and just coming back to do some of the homegrown terrorism here it's impossible to know but you know what i think could stop the not for the military action but good policing actual intelligence gathering and making sure that we're not continuing to conduct policies that are having these outcomes and if you look at where the u.s. military is taking military action in intervene across the middle east we have more examples of failed states and successful states so i think that's a really important point when weighing whether or not to continue and expand u.s. military action thank you so much thank you for your insight that was matt southworth from the friends committee on national legislation and the shocking video of james foley's execution by an isis fighter in syria sparked international outpouring of sympathy for foley's family friends and colleagues one of those colleagues is danish photojournalist daniel wright autism who was held captive

alongside foley for thirteen months august and was released by isis back in june and was able to deliver foley's last message to his mother and family here's a small sample of james foley is final note home eighteen of us have been held together in one cell which has helped me we have had each other to have endless long conversations about movies trivia sports we've played games made up of scraps found in our cell i have had weak and strong days we are so grateful when anyone is freed but of course for our own freedom we try to encourage each other and share strength. now due to the heavy scrutiny while in isis captivity foley wasn't allowed to use pen and paper to craft his letter instead addis then had to memorize foley's final correspondence after he was released on his than dictated the letter to foley's mother diane over the phone also sunday saw the release of another

american journalist peter t. curtis held captive in syria for two years however it was the united nations who managed to free curtis he was handed over to un peacekeepers in the golan heights region which is under israeli control. and an indefinite truce has been declared between israel and gaza today beginning at seven pm local time but not before a last minute volley of mortars being launched out of gaza into israel that killed one israeli and wounded six others the deal brokered by egypt marks an end to a seven week conflict that left more than twenty two hundred palestinians dead mostly civilians now israel says they had sixty four soldiers die along with three civilians and one time national. now following the july second kidnap and brutal murder of sixteen year old palestinian mohammad there at the hands of jewish

extremists his family finally now appears actually now appears to be the target of israeli police his nineteen year old cousin with the same name is now being detained by israeli police this is raising concern at the state department because there the cousin of the boy who was burned alive back in july is an american citizen and not until recently was the state department made aware that israel had detained an american now joining me now to discuss this latest revelation is our t's own amir and david he of me are being here now what what is the state department saying about this i mean this is all new news to the department has actually been quite critical of israel when it comes to the rest of my dear what the state department is most concerned about is the fact that the u.s. consulate general was not notified of this arrest immediately as is typical when a u.s. citizen of course is arrested abroad they've also expressed concern that members of

the family appeared to be singled out of course this isn't the first time we've heard this last may we have tarik of will hear the other. mohammed who was killed the boy aura of course is the one in florida now in terms of the status of his arrest the charges are still unclear i asked the state department today for an update take a look at that. what can you tell us about the status of a dear u.s. citizen who's being detained in israel and why has his arrest been extended apparently to the end of september and why has he not been indicted yet. some of the son not going to be able to speak to because it's in the legal system let him get an update from our team on this today obviously you know this is a case that we are watching closely and we're involved with closely but we can check on the legal process and see if there's any updates. so as you saw there the

state department didn't have a whole lot of new information to add at least telling us why this young man has not been indicted yet but he's still being detained however last week the department said the u.s. consulate in jerusalem was offering consular services to the boy and his family hoping to really expedite this legal process just seems a little bizarre that it's taken so long that what what do we know about why he was arrested in the first place but what are they but if they were just to be clear so people understand he was born in baltimore but he has since left and his immediate family has left and returned to the east jerusalem area that's where he both lives and work so he was very much present in the aftermath of the brutal killing of his relatives thought to be his cousin of course that sixteen year old and police say they arrested him while he was rioting over that death of course he was probably very passionate about it but it's not clear what exactly he was doing what really merited that arrest and with no indictment yet it's obviously even harder to

determine and from what i understand even more of his family the boy that diet even more of his family is being targeted by israeli police what can you tell us about that indeed i mean the reason that we're hearing so much about this particular arrest is because he is a u.s. citizen so of course it's a little bit closer to home but he's just one of many there are countless palestinians in this family at the large large family. who have been targeted and we don't. i have verification of this but according to the family's count at least thirty five of them have been arrested so you can imagine how big this family is thirty five of them have been arrested and some of them have been released but as far as we know twenty one of them are still under the very thing harassed at the very least or kind of monitor something that exactly that's what that's what is believed at least at this point the attorney for the family says one of them is actually a doctor who was seen in the area of the rioting thought to be participating but he was not he was only offering first aid to some of the wounded and he is one of the

the ones that is still detained right now last but not least since we're just learning this news how how is israel justifying this detention i mean they still have him and now we know what are the. police deny this this claim through and through they say that the family is not being singled out that they are not being harassed in any way they say that this is purely coincidence that coincidence that this family happens to be the one that's rioting because they're passionate over over the death of that young boy and and that there are very large families so. well very actually still and as to why israel did not notify u.s. consulate there were arrests police say that is not registered as a u.s. citizen in their database and they also say that during the questioning when they were interrogating him he did not make it known to them using american citizens and i'm sure we'll be hearing a little more about that in the days to come so much for that was our tears of merit if it. and now to the crisis in ukraine the much anticipated one on one

meeting between president vladimir putin and petro poroshenko are underway in belarus this is the first bilateral meeting between the two our correspondent arena has more on what's happened so far. it's not even so much what was being said as it is about what we have seen happening here and i'm talking about that first chance that between russian and ukrainian presidents it has taken place and perhaps it is a sign off things to come and ukrainian president poroshenko spared no words when describing it's his upper hand and what. to do in minsk without any doubt the fate of the world and the viewer is being decided that's the potential of this meeting together we have to find the one and only solution upon which depends no more no less the peace on the entire continent. but it's definitely no easy task and russia's president has described his own view to the solution of the crisis in eastern ukraine. we're ready to exchange opinions on the crisis in ukraine which

we're certain it is impossible to resolve by further escalating the use of force without taking into account the interests of the southeastern regions of the country and of peaceful dialogue with their representatives. obviously there are a lot of things for ukrainian the russian president to talk about including a call to me and the issue of humanitarian aid to. ukraine and we have heard there are reports at least coming in from major that they are actually at this point saying not opposed to what is the second set of russian community area aid coming in to the regions which are in dire need there all however of course that humanitarian crisis in eastern ukraine actually could be the cornerstone of the talks between russia's president putin and ukraine's president poroshenko. and that was r t correspondent arena. and on the same day the russians and ukrainian presidents met to hold and an easy discussion decided to release information about

ten russian paratroopers detained at the border between the two countries on the cranium side the russian defense ministry has already stated that the soldiers were on the patrol route and most likely crossed the border by accident other similar border crossing incidents have become almost typical for this region since the fighting broke out in eastern ukraine back in april but it's the first time that russian soldiers were involved during the same period nearly five hundred ukrainian soldiers ended up crossing the border into russia all of whom were allowed safe return to their country meanwhile according to the latest u.n. report the number of civilian casualties in eastern ukraine has exceeded the twenty two hundred mark more than six thousand have been wounded and tens of thousands of people still have no place to go and are forced to live under daily bombardment while they face starvation artie's policy or witness the humanitarian crisis in the

town of yasser. these men have seen some of the worst fighting in this conflict but there's one thing they find even worse life was trying to destroy the local population their own people basically those who survived kiev's onslaught are slowly starving for four long weeks residents of yassin ovata have been without food and water the only way in or out is surrounded by heavy artillery believes there was more this will be a combination we're doing everything we can so the people there who are not in the schools we're not going to let a humanitarian crisis happen. it's now for an on the anti-government fight has to make sure cities under siege get supplies our first stop is this bread factory they've been baking this bread for the last twelve hours a day and a half thousand blows give money for everybody knows that this is all humanitarian aid for the hungry people not feel good i'll grant it further. but it's not so

pretty driving into yesterday twenty kilometers outside of tonight's where some of the fiercest fighting is taking place it's a lot. tougher now again missiles hit in the streets a man was killed in a willing visit yesterday they had sent to gas boy every hour there was shoot through shelling it with while you were here you would hear it all. would quickly spades that helps arrived those who haven't fled the town risk the thunder of shelling to come quickly and take what they can. or you are that you want to develop he's a new knowledge about the most. difficult or you know what they want to share your schemes the gloom i just was wondering did i do study all of it here it's over to where it didn't really start to get the deal it was no big deal it was well. just. you know.

you. know let it be said of think that over the years no one of your heard what the laws of war do three days ago this bridge was still standing entire buildings have been blown up neighborhoods completely destroyed this can bother them they're terrorists but even they know it's can move as you can see where the great is they were specifically targeting the hospital they tried to destroy the place with children injured are being treated for that they want to create chronic unbearable additional. sources but for now with the emergency supplies still reaching the city at least there is momentary relief for the people who refused to be driven out paula c.r.t. yesin of otter eastern ukraine. and michael brown the eighteen year old who were shot to death by ferguson p.d.

was laid to rest in a nationally televised service yesterday his death sparked weeks of protest and rioting in the st louis suburb brown's funeral was peaceful but while the common ferguson continue. has more. here in ferguson the streets remain calm and quiet and have basically been that way for the past twenty four hours as a matter of fact students boarded buses for their first day of school today this coming after the district pushed back the start of school three times due to the ongoing violence over the past two weeks but on monday night we saw no arrests and very few demonstrators out on the street and much of the reason for that is because michael brown's father personally appealed to the community asking that on the day that he buries his son for there to be peace for there speak quiet for there to be no weiland said of course the community did respect the wishes of michael brown's family but many optimists that i've spoken with say that the fight for accountability and justice is far from over. thousands braved the boiling

temperatures monday patiently waiting to enter a seat that was church inside an hour funeral service for the young man whose name and story has dominated international headlines more than two weeks after michael brown was shot and killed by a police officer he is finally laid to rest his family and friends get the chance to say goodbye but what this community has not yet received are the answers to the analysts questions surrounding the death of the unarmed teenager the white officer who shot at least six bullets into the african-american eighteen year old remains on paid administrative leave while state and federal prosecutors investigate. the police killing fueled nearly two weeks of violent protests in which heavy handed actions of a militarized u.s. police department shocked the world tear gas rubber bullets flash grenades and

death threats. used against mostly armed activists and journalists were dragnets. and few demand funds have been bad been sued. i can tell you good man of course that was an excessive amount of force and it happens everywhere everywhere around the world tuesday citizens are being encouraged to take to the streets for an international day of action demanding an end to police brutality and unchecked state violence the campaign is called hands up united but tear gas at the hair they're also using a broad right and a lot of people were even comparing ferguson torricelli's but those were shouldn't be about pilot anyway right like it's not ok for tear gas be used against citizens in the us decide ok in other countries either so we're calling on communities and citizens across the world to sort of push back together at the same time because none of us deserve that kind of treatment from the state tear gas was banned in

more fair under the chemical weapons convention of one thousand nine hundred three however it was not banned from police forces to use domestically a thank. one america's the enforcement only fires the chemical on its own people it remains the top supplier of tear gas to governments around the world tuesday's international call for action as a united everyone wants a b m c that's a great show of solidarity because it will put pressure on our leaders on everyone to know that hey everyone's watching you we see you we're not going to allow this to keep going like this cornelius flowers says the tragic reality is that the use of chemical weapons against unarmed demonstrators is becoming the new norm practiced and promoted by american officials we were out the other night i'm standing out and somewhat prepared and he had a bag you know he will pull out a gun he put out a gas mask and he said that are you prepared and that's just crazy that's crazy that's what preparation it is

a gas mask the police shooting of michael brown sparked a palpable sense of anger and frustration extending far beyond the borders of turkey and all the country beats for justice and accountability america's police practices remain under heavy scrutiny. of our team. and i'm going to do it for us for right now stay tuned boom bust is coming up next. placed schools the try to players play polo going to be. more. like a war zone for sure taking everybody. the lead the way no law no weapons. like the plane.

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