the prime minister of iraq the claires victory over islamic state which is now being driven out of the city of mosul we take a look at that with the price of the liberation. also become a pretext for intervention russia's foreign ministry gets out of america's claims the assad government is planning a chemical attack in syria it believes the u.s. could just be looking for an excuse to deepen its military involvement there. the political commentator to c.n.n. is caught on camera ridiculing the channel's russian coverage adding to the controversy the network's facing about its news content. what do you think's going to happen this week to move the ball russia. didn't pick up

the really. low they're coming to you live for more from moscow you're watching r.t. international now our top story this hour the iraqi prime minister has declared victory over islamic state saying the army has recaptured the famous mosque in mosul where three years ago i saw declared a caliphate the stories being quickly picked up by the media. iraq's prime minister is declaring an end to isis in mosul after his forces recaptured a hugely symbolic site the ruins of the al nuri mosque so iraq's prime minister is the clearing the end of what he calls i sold fake state after his troops recaptured the ruins of the mosque what has not been as widely discussed as the cost of the liberation for the residents of mosul but again as the of recently spent over

a month in the city for us and he recalls his experiences there. it isn't over yet they haven't taken the entire city isis is still in a number of neighborhoods in the old city of mosul the newry mosque that they've taken is symbolic because that is where the slam a state was first proclaimed nevertheless you know if you think back at what price this victory has come it is it is tremendous this is a city that has been basically purged of its population and reduced the north much more than. rubble and it is very difficult to get a true sense of the devastation in mosul through videos and the articles really. understanding of how bad it isn't and how much was sacrificed when you walk through those very blasted streets we stopped at this crossroads because the view here

really epitomizes what. has been through the neighboring street all but destroyed the street across rubble the street over there it's the same story wherever you look that's an iraqi helicopter. launching missiles. at isis targets in and you can hear isis small arms fire there targeting the helicopter and . took of precision i haven't yet seen a single house in mosul untouched by fighting isis make sure not to give up. without a fight the iraqi army and the u.s. led coalition seem to make sure to not leave a square meter scorched it's bad what's happened to the city but what's happened to the people of mosul two million inhabitants before all of this things they went through the as strikes for example countless civilians knew counting how many

people of families children entire neighborhoods were key. strikes plenty of bodies still buried under the rubble on you little little along with your garbage common knowledge you know of now much the thought of me. there you have come to me to argue with the old me the chameleon we can enter the. third mother. and woman is our focus other like you that you had to fight their american after i left your mark on my own my sorry i did not let you off but out of my out of. but out of. civilians were isis is human shield they were their defense they hoped that by putting civilians in every

house by fighting on roofs in houses filled with civilians that the coalition the u.s. led coalition would refrain from bombing or cut back on its strikes they miscalculated at the end of the day they said basically well this is war civilians die casualties are a fact of life in this sort of situation the battle of mosul was never going to be easy that was understandable obvious from the onset i says defended with all they have they used callously the civilians of mosul but the ranks of the u.s. led coalition and the iraqi army their brutal you could say methods yes strikes the shelling the rocket attacks they didn't do much to lessen the suffering of the civilians in mosul. but i guess the if there were let's get the thoughts now that he joins us a political commentator good evening t.

what do you what were your thoughts today when you heard that announcement from iraq that they believe that they have defeated the caliphate. they have recaptured most of the have perhaps symbolically defeated. as an entity. as a sort of a colonialist movement that wanted to establish the caliphate but they're actually more did other than mention to the story you're covered the bit about the civilian casualties which is totally unacceptable but the other that mention the doves actually in the conflict in iraq no it doesn't it's actually to do with stewie shown by the united states is a lie is that iraq is in civil war regardless i select this to you the islamic state because of the civil war in iraq and because the involvement of other dimensions the other one we should probably we need to make the viewers aware of

when the act that started almost eighteen months ago led by. the military commanders on the ground to the issues around the city all together so they can capture or eliminate as many as number as possible from the islamic states fighters terrorists and president obama insisted that they should leave them an escape route i'm not sure what his strategy was all about but seemed to be the wrong strategy for me because that beefed up the islamic state somewhere else and reckon syria for example all give them a chance especially the leader of baghdad he we don't know if he's killed or he escaped those so i think this is the other that mentioned it to me viewers aware of sure so you're saying adèle that with some respect that they actually displaced i saw from mosul not necessarily sort of eliminated them. exactly because the whole idea is we would this evil evil ideology and evil there was to group there have

been actually interviews all over the media now with people captured from tunisia from egypt from chechnya from. morrocco from other parts of the world fighting there they should have been capture the good intelligence from them would have been very useful at least eliminate them but as you said where they've gone other the gone to rika to beef. are still fighters they're all escaped somewhere with become really create havoc all over the world not just in the region and with regard to the civilian death toll in mosul it's very difficult isn't it to get an exact figure do you think that will always be the case will there be some sort of inquiry to work out how many people died. or i doubt it very much if the current iraqi governments or even the coalition have enough. qualified people on the ground to hold this kind of inquiry it's always been known

in every situation that the islamic states fight that these terrorist groups will always hold civilians as human shield or as a bargaining chip and the should have been some kind of. strategy to minimize the best among civilians i don't see is a classic classic american double standard if someone else does it this is irresponsible it's carpet bombing we don't give a damn about civilians when we actually do it it's just an oversight agencies story is just not good enough strategy should have been thought in the bonds of minimizing civilian casualties yet all not double standard issue you mean people made the comparison of aleppo mosul of course a lot of western of aleppo was handled but then people say well look the same thing is played out in mosul in many people's opinion. yet this is double standard

because i gave you see. even if we were accept the criticism of liberating a level and all of that then at least the lesson should have been turned from a level i'm just taking it on face value i'm not going to use the word saying that playing politics just being a value at least lessons should have been learned as you should have been sort of pretty pert and giving the for our for program their reason their coalition led by the right in the cities and their i.q. for seven and now singapore months on mom's the plan they're going to do more well others you've got to keep the plan actually give you a card tied to the chest don't announce too much and work out the plan use commandos do whatever among military man but at least you should work out a plan to learn the lessons for which the russian kids i was in a little ok interesting and i'll look we have to leave it there good for you to come on r.t. tonight that was political commentator i don't darwish thank you thank you.

russia's foreign ministry has sharply criticized washington's claim that the assad government is planning a chemical attack in syria moscow believes such allegations could be a sign of an upcoming u.s. intervention one is yes namely it is even when you're both statements from washington we also knew that the u.s. officials refused to confirm the claims with any facts this situation looks like a massive provocation both military and informational it is likely that where we are seen as the moment is the threshold of a new intervention we discuss the situation with syria commentator danny makki and he says the claims coming from washington do pave the way for false flag attacks by rebel groups. united states of america is looking for some sort of provocation in syria and is actually putting pretext is for some sort of possible intervention and if history is anything to go by then trump definitely does not have any qualms in

actually attacking syria militarily on the ground as we've seen so moscow the sentiment is pretty much trump does seem like he wants to do some sort of intervention and he's looking for a reason to do so what people need to comprehend is that we're at a stage in the war now where the assad government is almost. a victory towards the end and this wasn't the case a few years ago so the assad government would have no reason logical or rational or military reason to actually use these weapons at this moment in time words the rebels have every single reason to provoke such an attack and to possibly use these weapons themselves and see the reaction that they want from the united states and their allies internationally. now another undercover video has been released apparently exposing attitudes at c.n.n. towards russia related stories this time one of the american news channel's political commentators seems to shrug off and dismissed all of the recent controversy what do you think's going to happen this week. i

think it. really was it was the second sensational video released by investigative journalism group project very task in as many days with the details now he's kind of. yet another leak related to c.n.n. from james o'keefe and project veritas that was van jones who briefly served in the obama administration and is now a commentator for c.n.n. in the clip he says that the russia thing is a nothing burger and now it's important to be clear here we don't exactly know what he's referring to about the russia thing could be the russian investigation could be the allegations about trump the context of the clip is not exactly clear who this leak comes on just in the aftermath of another recent leak from project veritas and jon bon a field an important producer for c.n.n. says the russia story is the polite term is nonsense that was just recently released as well now we here at r t reached out to c.n.n.

to ask for their comment and they have not replied and it's important to know that these videos that are coming out are not without controversy james o'keefe is personally facing a million dollar lawsuit at the hands of a contractor he interviewed after he interviewed posing as someone else and this was a contractor allegedly working with the democratic party so there's a lot of questions that still remain but we asked the people behind the video what they believe the russian thing to. we look at the entire video out there i mean people can judge for themselves and turns out further from the conversation but that's certainly my interpretation and i think that's the way the mainstream media for putting it the way the drug war and look at the line strikes again you know the president of the united states just to have radios i was personally groucho not so i'm assuming you are well well c.n.n. has been struggling to get a grip on its russia coverage of late stuff quick to publish unsubstantiated

stories earlier in the week three journalistic quit after c.n.n. retracted an article about an alleged senate investigation into links between a russian investment fund and the confidant of donald trump and in january c.n.n. broke a story claiming that russia had compromising personal information about donald trump that report was based on a dossier written by a former british spy it was later admitted that it was fraud and filled with unverified allegations the group behind the latest on the cover videos has warned that other media should be wary to. not just c.n.n. i want to make clear you are going through a mirror if you are going why you ordered them or your stories your tipping them all of them know me through your are worse than we may be. right now we are watching you you're one of those organizations probably going to sleep well.

mark me us media research center has found that the evening news programs of a.b.c. c.b.s. and n.b.c. all devoted a huge amount of coverage to the russian link stories during may and june in particular the channels focused heavily on the investigation into ties between russia and donald trump's election campaign more than two thirds was dedicated to control the say and at the same time for example america's withdrawal from the paris climate treaty got just forty seven minutes of coverage. that the u.k.'s prime minister to reason may has seen her party's program pass three parliament after the queen's speech with a majority of fourteen votes but may still being put under pressure by british newspapers which continue to call for her resignation that was after she was forced to strike a controversial deal with the northern irish pay party to form a working government in westminster polls suggest that opposition party leader

jeremy corbyn has overtaken may in approval ratings but he failed to make the amendments he wanted to the queen's speech in parliament on wednesday gerrard baton and any page from the u.k. independence party says to resign may's party is in chaos. but a disastrous manifesto which they had to backtrack on and now they've gone into the queen's speech with almost no content because they don't have a majority and i can't do the things that i suggested in their own manifesto the big job in front of them now is to negotiate our way out of the the wrong way to go about it but on top of that they've now got other crises which are arising because of the fire that you saw in the high rise blocks in london because of the terrorist attack so there's no other more immediate and pressing concerns as well so we're pretty much in a chaotic situation and she's in a very bad situation because she only has a majority of about ten. the uncertainties surrounding teresa mayes position as prime minister comes as the european commission announced that breaks it will leave

the year with a deficit of almost eleven billion euros a year complicating negotiations to leave the bloc we won't have the u.k. with is any more but they were a net pages despite the fact your rebate so you have a gap of ten to eleven billion euros a year last week may unveiled her breaks it plan to the nationals living in the u.k. however it was met with criticism by some european politicians european commission chief sean claude younker called it insufficient i'm president of the european council don't said it was below expectations jared batten again believes britain should exit the e.u. on its own. so there's no hard brakes and there's no soft there's only exit leaving the european union and they're going about it completely the wrong way if our government really wanted to leave and our parliament wanted to leave they do what i'm suggesting in this document which is to repeal the one nine hundred seventy two communities act as a first step so that legally we are no longer members under our law and we would we

would be on a very very strong position then because we are a very big trading partner with the our economy is as big as the twenty smallest countries of the put together so we're in a very good position to say to the world we've left this is how it's going to work we want trade friendship and cooperation and we're going to tell you how that's going to work and i would be very foolish to cut off their noses to spite their face by actually trying to pin allies us because we wanted to leave. now mary frenchtown says he's going to put pork and only poor can screw lunch menus he is going to ban alternative options in order to promote a more secular society but the idea isn't proving popular with someone from. we are putting an operation in place so the children eat everything and their diets are balanced there is too much waste so we will teach them to eat meat meat poultry or pork today we're talking about secularism in a generally anti muslim way we see secularism as

a tool of tolerance and living together and not exclusion any people who refuse to eat pork should feel. ok we can hear the differing views here now too because we're joined by jose marti he's a french legal defender and also. a political analyst could even see both gents let's start with you hosni because i know you're angered by the suggestion put forward by the mayor why are you so angered. can you repeat the question please mostly why you so angered by this suggestion that has been put forward by the man. well the thing is that in france it's just a bizarre way to deal with the. muslim community of our country by just suggesting that he's a. sorry the muslim community. you know it's disappointing by this kind of attitude we have to respect low frost the

much of the democratic country sorry. the thing is that i. can say that which is the highest public court for us already said last year that it is forbidden for mayor to ban broken e. or to. stigmatize by that way for the children for the mayor who has decided that it is there is no tentative for the poor it's a way to say that we don't care about the muslim faith or the jew faith because. jewish people don't also so it is very bizarre to note is that. they want us to look at the country mayor who are representing the lou has to decide has decided to not respect the law so it's a lack of. trust in our a system which is. a system based on freedom of the rights.

respect of the authority of the french court who which is a. case the most all right in court and also disrespect to the international convention and i'm thinking especially in the convention of new york who is which is organizing the protection of a whole night and that he is saying that we have to go. i take your point but let's bring in i want got another question in the code that he will definitely says i just think you're going because you heard a lot of what was said now you've got some sympathy to what the matter has said why do you seem to side with him what what sort of validates his proposal g. think. well first of all we have to see the credit procedure behind this he is the mayor and with his town hall and his council they decided to stop this why because don't forget that they are funding this so he's deciding to do this as the

representative of his constituents and so this is the first element to democratic process second of all i think we must not underestimate the threat that this can represent to french society i mean definitely there is a problem with intimate integration of of migrants of one part of the muslim community and i definitely think that right now he can nuke is not the good time for the muslim community to be starting to ask for specific diets because what's the next step first of all we could say well if muslims ask for specific meals why can't vegans ask for some jews could ask for some catholics atheist black atheist why d.t.'s limit were is the school where everybody goes to school and eats normally and just has a fruit just have an ordinary meal this is the first point let's get back to islam first you can ask for specific meals then what are you going to ask for are you going to ask in some parts of to france today they already are asking for different rights so that boys and girls don't go to heaven pools to public swimming pools together was the next step do we ask jobs do we ask that some of the school textbooks oh not let us let's also calls what is it an exhibit and this is also an

odyssey you shaking your head there was well on. well to tell you the truth i didn't expect when i. accept to come to have an interview to hear such silly words it's such a shame to put. on the same little situation a french citizen because most of muslim or french citizens in france and to make a link between what happened with what happened with terrorist attack and things like that it is such a shame i'm ashamed to hear that and i have to tell it first thing now here i am in front of you as a lawyer and as a lawyer i have to remind you what is the law you can say that the mayor are representing people don't they have been elected that is not because they have been elected that they are doing things right now the highest court of froze.

say that one year ago if you like it or not that's the fundamental right of conscience has to be respected now you are seeing that most in people who want to have their own rule that's not true that's completely false that we french muslim citizens want to be equal we don't want to have more we don't want to have less also and you have to make sure that's disguised as consideration is just helping more stigmatization and not a good way to make sure that we're all living together with a good conscious the sentiment the feeling that we are all together just give you one example when there are terrorist attack the terrorist attack they don't look for who is mostly on the muslims that are the way that we all dealing with discussion of situation trying to mix all of the situations just to say that we are seeking for their own we don't care about just listen to what you just listen to

what. a radical imam can say also that means that you can. but it could be for which you want it so i was on he would bring in a couple a night with this guy. to polish it make out of that letter basically what they said was let me put it in a simpleton pride so let's put my question will come back to you in a moment in a white coat a walk on we just have a choice on the menu what's wrong with that wouldn't that solve the problem just so my people to have the choice to want to have pork and something else i mean what's wrong with that why just go down one raked. well the mayor saying that there's a cost behind that are the other people of this town ready to pay for that cost there's a cost as an organisation also when you buy muslim food in some conditions specific conditions you are paying back part of this part of the money you're paying is going back to the muslim community do the inhabitants of this town want to be in directly funding time a cultural centers or moscow stuff like that i mean this is something which is important and which people have to know we're just not buying muslim food you're

funding the muslim community and also let me just say one thing as i said before what's the limit and hosty didn't answer instead of answering the question he tried to attack me you are saying this is shame hosni what's the next step also second thing as we said start with the muslims and then when we see jehovah's witnesses first special food then we say special food for catholics where yes where is the limit we just go to school this is not a place to say we can just pick or choose and leave you want teachers various you know i'm sorry that in france you can have your way hosty piece a policy then you let people speak you know go you know you know it's a fundamental in your answer yes so that people answer hosking how do you know that you know if you got a lot because i'll get in france you have learned to relax morning have a little bit of a largely because it was the day i just may want to think why don't why don't let me just say when that's all you are about just go i can't administer it should i go to most it was almost expressed about a haas the answer and so are you afraid of answering what are you afraid i would like why don't i say months ago that i think the whole thing is also one sense of what i think i'm muslim school and why don't they go to most schools i don't hear

you i don't hear sorry sorry there is too much noise or two person speaking why why don't we call those names go through muslim schools if i mean that if you must go to the play does that hard to make some of them why don't they go to specific schools well any place go ahead ok. well. the time for me to answer. absolutely go ahead is that time for me to answer your question ok thank you first thing let me be clear. as far as i know muslim community in france and i'm not the representing of the french muslim community but as far as i know because i'm a lawyer and they have to deal with this kind of cases. on the asking for me they just want to have the possibility to have as much as as much protein as the children as we usually do in france festering if you're trying to say that there are some that have special claim as you were talking

about the vigor and i think the catholic but just see one thing you will speak about the catholic french is a. culturally is a catholic country you know every friday in the in discworld we don't have. always we have fish for instance that proves that there is a history in for us under respect that there is no problem with that no the thing is that on behalf of. some people or who are clearly racist people are trying to handle this principle which is a form done a lot of the likeliest consequence second is just to leave that you're not allowed to tell us exactly what you are doing. ok. ok i think you i mean you've got to finish mixing too many concepts here hostage this is getting a bit complicated for you we're just not about racism in our islamophobia whatever this is about just creating communities within the french society french aside it is.