ok let's go back to that breaking news this hour because syria's president bashar assad his congratulated his country's military on breaking islamic states three year long siege it is all released in syria russia's defense ministry says if the whole area cannot be cleared of isis terrorists it would be a major blow to the terror agree to train carries the again there with more details on this. this could be a major major breakthrough couldn't it well yes and speaking of the latest things that we have received both from the syrian army and the russian military i can tell you that they are fully confirming it now first we heard the confirmation from the syrian president we saw it in a tweet that there was an announcement on syrian state t.v. we do realize that it's a very special day for syria and the people of syria then a few hours later this is something that happened within the last forty or thirty minutes or so we heard the confirmation from the russian military and now with the

actual details of what's been happening on the ground the blockade was being broken are emerging we're getting statements by the russian army getting bits of that information from the defense ministry and it looks like the islamic state terrorists around the errors or were planning to regroup or they were forced to regroup and they couldn't do that. thanks to the cruise missiles that were launched from russia's frag it asin in the mediterranean you can see the pictures of these cruise missiles flying into the air so first of all this strike. essentially. state plans to regroup but then also there were many many things destroyed in that attack there were some high. hideouts underground tunnels many artillery. units depos in the actual. i guess we should call it

personnel the fighters of islamic state we cannot call them personnel perhaps terrorists but yes there were many terrorists destroyed in that attack besides this as the syrian artillery and as the troops on the ground war advancing towards the walls of deir ez-zor according to the russian military the terrorists were trying to stop these advancements to prevent them from happening with the number of suicide car bombs and there were at least fifty according to the russian army but in turn these vehicles were destroyed by the russian air strikes in the area that's what we're hearing from the russian army these are the latest details that are emerging the latest details of that massive military that has now led to the break to break in the wall kate around. rapidly developing situation thankfully it was trying to get there let's get some more details and we can speak with danny makki

he's a syrian commentator and i think he's with us now good afternoon tea thanks for coming on russia's defense ministry says the liberating would abrasion of the whole of the result would be a major blow to isolate syria just explain why it is so important. oh this is a crucial boat i said in syria dead as old is one of the most strategic areas in the country it literally links the whole of the eastern section of the country and is what is one of the most of the largest remaining isis hubs within the country rock aside of course and the liberation of this area and the fact that it's been besieged since two thousand and fourteen and for three long years there has been over one hundred thousand civilians actually trapped within the city facing what is constant isis attacks and for that to have been liberated by a joint russian syrian and iranian coalition whose efforts again i say we have been

very effective of late is significant first of all it almost destroys isis his presence in this area it means isis no longer has any big cities to stay in i mean after that is old you've got the town of and made him and then you have a book come out which is on the borders after that there's no real cities left in syria if isis to be held out and so it will naturally go back into a into a into an insurgency there's no longer any big areas where isis controls and syria there is or was a huge significant victory not just. for syria but also for russia because since it intervention in two thousand september two thousand and fifteen the u.s. the west of all watched and wanted the intervention to be unsuccessful would have wanted these efforts against i feel to be undermined but we're looking at this two years on from that syria with the russians a ford has absolutely obliterated isis in many of these areas from power mirror to

certain to their resort and essentially we're facing now the end of isis in syria and this is been done without western support and without any western assistance in fact the west of actually attempted to handed out of the targeted there as odom the syrian military there are more than one occasion so from a strategic perspective this is one of the largest victories against isis are. probably say along with most o. in the previous year for sure what we're hearing from the russian defense ministry this afternoon who believe now that the war against syria will soon be over that's not overstepping the mark i mean wholesale defeat of isis on the cards pretty shortly. i mean certainly would not be premature to actually say that isis is almost finished in syria with the retaking of certain of the result of i get about in eastern how much of what we've seen is a large swathes of land controlled by i sit essentially taken back in blistering

speed by the minute syrian military and their allies i mean this is a remarkable feat we're discussing an army which is taking back hundreds of kilometers a very rugged difficult terrain often in desert a or in heroes in an isis is very successful in using countermeasures and using suicide bombers and they've used twelve separate suicide bomb attacks over the last forty eight hours and for the syrian military and its allies and with russian assistance in their power to be able to retake such a huge area of land probably in around six months it's one of the biggest feats of this area of the syrian conflict i mean the west must be looking at this in all because this is a great day for the syrian people it's a great day for the syrian army and it's a great day for all of those who supported russian intervention in september two thousand and fifteen because they have been completely justify it i mean if you look at if you go back to the history of this how the west actually targeted russia and said that the intervention had nothing to do with i.c.a.o.

and that it's all to sort of defeat those opposing assad will in two thousand and seventeen we're looking at the district total destruction and obliteration of isis within syria and a lot of that is down to the sport given by the russians and the u.s. nowhere to be seen them in the west are nowhere to be seen to have been any statements in fact supporting this remarkable achievement in that it got a lot done it didn't want to jump in maggie ft do you find that odd that we don't hear sort of a collective congratulations about the defeat. of iceland such an important city. no i don't think it's because the west of have had a very consistent policy in undermining any anti i so efforts which are not led by them and their policy in syria has been clear to overthrow assad even when isis came on to the scene they still did not change from the policy and since the us doesn't really have a policy in syria the moment and all of its cards are essentially burnt out there

will be no need for them to actually congratulate the russians of the syrians on this trip to rethink victory what we've seen in the previous year is it is a coalition led by russia and syria which has made huge huge feats against isis it's destroyed them in the most difficult areas and syria and the us is only watched on them in that they haven't genuinely had a real desire or were real genuine willpower to fight isis because if they would have done that they would have caused all their cards with the russians they would have supported the syrian army they would have taken a more softer tone towards president assad and said that we have a much bigger terror group to face in syria we have to fight this together but this is this is a very significant moment because it proves i think history will definitely remember this day as an opportunity where russia and syria managed to defeat the most dangerous terrorist group in the world in their biggest bases without u.s. help and in fact where the u.s.

is undermining these efforts so from the perspective russia definition itself to be a greater international power and a more effective power on the ground in syria in a state where the u.s. faces essentially no no no real power on the ground and that's something which has been done through the efficiency and consistency of russia's policy towards syria and essentially certified by the fact that the syrian military has gone through to see to two hundred fifty kilometers of basically desert just to reach their resort and link up with the forces that were previously besieged within the city it's a remarkable feat and it should get stephanie the credit it deserved have you been able to see danny any to the reaction across the country just by sort of normal people the public in syria to this news that just came out over the last hour or so . one hundred percent i mean i've been in contact with friends of a fellow journalist who are there in syria from social media if you look at the

facebook posts of even some of the soldiers some of the journalists around the soldiers reporting from that as though it's a huge feat i mean everyone's talking about it it's a it's a day of national pride for syria because. syria faced a very troublesome crisis it's been in a grueling war for seven years and for their result one of the toughest areas to be retaken after so many casualties so many martyrs off the phone so many losses and after losing is losing lots of it to isis in that way it really does show a moment of solidarity for most syrians syrians are very happy on this day because it shows what can happen when people put their faith within the military when they put their faith in the army and the faith with efforts to fight isis this is the result i mean people would all ultimately say that this is this is a small victory the west may undermine this victory but take nothing away from what's happened we've had an army going through the desert for over five or six months just to reach what is

a sensitive besieged area this four thousand troops in that is or that managed to last out for three consecutive years in the face of huge isis attacks so when the syrian people when the journalist when the whole of the population see the remarkable feat which has been achieved then of course everyone is going to be happy and there is a day of their true celebration and congratulations from all syrians in in terms of this remarkable victory for their resort against isis ok dan you look really good to talk you have to leave it there finales danny mackey a syria commentator thank you. who can stick this to we couldn't go live now to a local journalist in in syria but he joins us now on the phone i understand i hope you can hear me that can you just bring it up to date then what is happening in the city. david hill well. as you know. fourteen hundred morkel climbing almost three hours ago units from the syrian army

managed to breach the siege cut of imposed on ourselves by the city of theirs or each units came from the eastern part of the city and met with the units of the garrison and there's no city in a place known as the regiment one three seven which is the headquarters of an infantry regiment across part of the garrison of the city however though the military the jungle city is over. other forms of siege continue and are expected to continue for the next forty eight hours until the army completes its operation from the southern side of the resort but it will be all able to reopen the international road that leads to the city of their zone which will mean that supplies could be resumed into the city and the siege would be effectively over now the siege is over in terms of the military and are standing in the military meaning your start siege to for the people to resort to start to feel the difference it will take another forty eight hours at least three operations until the army we open the main road

into the city of those of us looking at the broader picture how long before i feel it's finally defeated in syria. well it's very hard to speculate and actually one of the things syrian officers told reporters today over and over again that we should not speculate in terms of timing and but to find carol five table. offer out of syria we have to bear in mind that this is this was the most powerful radhika group in the world it was able to control the areas of land and though it is defeated out of it most of the strongholds in syria. remains to have substantial falls was amazed to have called home to father soccer's radical farts are going to buy for the last minute. yesterday. i need to post. i don't get to actual functors managed to hold on before i think eight to ten hours which i

think shows in a way that the radical group is called giving up it's going to continue functioning but perhaps this will change is so useful to change the way it's fighting against the syrian army in the coming days so the officers of the military sources i've been speaking with were very cautious about setting a timetable for our souls full. of extinction or the nation out of syria. al-ameen how is the country been reacting to this news this cannot deny the last few hours. you know and the fear and conflict and i have been covering it's not two thousand and eleven there is a handful of moments but you can call actually historic moments things that would go with you till the end of life and this is one of them when actually the first units managed to bring each with a siege and actually meet with all the units people you have to understand that those people have been besieged for over one thousand four hundred days according to local authorities here according to local authorities they think it is the lone just driving seized and the history of modern warfare as they compare it to the

seizure of major cities in the soviet union in old war two and they think is it would be real to the cities as it will be a turning point in that certain conflict signaling the downfall of the follicles and the rise of the syrian government once again to control the country well yeah i was going to ask you about that i mean in terms of the pull knives pull the shower less sad pushing the need this increases it. yes you have to. i think i think it's not support for just the person the shell of all the support for the government of president bashar assad and believe government but you had think since the beginning of the conflict which has proven in many aspects right now that there's a sect of despite the fact awful managed to spread across six or seven to. problems little by little and after our sacrifices from the military and the allies they were able actually to regain control of our areas out of iraq so i think support

will increase to a quarter of the subcellar i think the president choices are also not only more supported by syria but i think it will go and gain more respect across it's proving to be sound choices that have been making some substantial results at least in the fight against large well ok well look really good to get you on today in light of what's happened this afternoon that was our abraham alike which was syria thank you thank you thank you. another key player in the fight against isis the lebanese political military troops hezbollah this year it's played a major role in battling islamic state fighters along the syrian lebanese border hizbollah lebanon's shia military and political organization was founded with the help of iran back in one nine hundred eighty two during these really occupation of lebanon since the beginning of the syrian civil war the group has been deeply involved in fighting against various rebel factions including our nusra front

terrorists hizbollah has also proven to be an important player in combat sing islamic state in syria the group has a strong anti western stance and has been listed as a terror organization by the us the european union and most arab league countries are israeli to speak exclusively to the creep's deputy chief shaikh nine. following my previous trip to lebanon in order to follow the hezbollah group to the arsehole mountains where they had cleared out the area from terrorists we have managed to build up a connection with hezbollah media group these are the our sole mountains east of lebanon it's the latest scene of the victory of hezbollah hezbollah managed to capture this cave which was used by terrorists as a base and that led to us being given a unique opportunity to interview their deputy leader nineteen named

carson is one of the most influential men not just in lebanon but in the whole region and he's a man who is very well guarded and it's very difficult to secure an interview with somebody of his stature but we managed to do so. and when we went to interview him in beirut. we had a very long security procedure to go through we had to meet at a certain location in the capital we then were told to leave all of our telephones and our electronic equipment before being escorted to another location where the interview took place we also asked about the ongoing conflict in syria in the fight against extremist rubble on the third that they've been at the front of every battle they've been fighting against isis not just here in lebanon but also of course across syria so many topics touched upon between myself and share in carson

in what is really a very rare and exclusive interview with one of the most senior members of the hezbollah group. yeah. the west wants to see middle east divided into weak countries so you can control everything the americans wanted to use islamic state against syria but then this monster turned against america so now they have no choice but to confront. america wants a regime change in syria that was the main goal of the war but when they failed to remove assad through military means or with the help of other arab countries the shifted to a policy of non confrontation with president assad because they know the islamic state poses as much of a threat to them as it does to the syrian people. assad

is not an imaginary president is a real and highly effective leader and the choice of the syrian people has been last year and a project to remove brezhnev assad as an act against the whole of syria which we cannot accept at this time of war the syrian people reelected president assad as the legitimate had of the state this is a matter of choice for the syrian people an armada of foreign powers to negotiate. the russian president has said that tougher sanctions against north korea over its nuclear program are useless blood made putin also believes that further military escalation on the korean peninsula could lead to quote a global catastrophe and speaking to the media at the bric summit in china from there his partridge. it was a very comprehensive post summit conference by president putin but of course one of those key points was about north korea and north korea he took her with countries

like libya and iraq where regime change had been opposed upon them and he believes that the north korean people are looking at that particular example and fear that threat of regime change being imposed upon them and he thinks that is the reason why that they're hanging on and they don't want to give up then you care tests if you. everyone remembers what happens with iraq and saddam hussein he stopped the production of weapons of mass destruction regardless under the pretext of searching for those weapons saddam himself was destroyed alongside his family members. if she didn't it could be the pressure is noted and they remember that in north korea do you think that just because of sanctions north korea will forget its policy of creating weapons of mass destruction russia condemns those north korean actions we think they are a provocation then you could hear should because all the koreans as i told one of my colleagues yesterday would rather eat grass than give up on their nuclear program unless they feel safe to do president putin was pointing out that the u.s.

response towards north korea has been sanctions are good as seems likely as well with yet more sanctions but president putin was a pains to point out that he feels that this is a dead end approach he doesn't back the need to rise ation all of the potential in fact he and president xi of china i mean very much against it saying that he was unacceptable but he believes that north korea will carry on regardless they want the militarization they want the need to rise ation of the financial and therefore they'll carry on regardless of sanctions so president putin think that's therefore it's a waste of time he also finds it illogical whereby russia and north korea have been put on the same sanctions list before and therefore it didn't work and now the u.s. is saying that they want russia's help in trying to impose sanctions upon p.r. knowing. that it's absurd to put rusher on the same sanctions list alongside north korea and then ask us to help impose sanctions against. korea. was a sanctions regime has hit a wall it is not effective but it is also to do with the humanitarian side of things no matter what we do to north korea north korea's actions will not change

that millions of people will suffer president putin reiterated his policy and that of president years well in that they believe the only way forward is through diplomacy and get around the negotiating table once again. what is the crisis on the korean peninsula escalates the u.s. embassy to the united nations has said north korea is begging for war on sunday pyongyang conducted its largest ever nuclear test the north announcement that it had detonated a hydrogen bomb the impact of which triggered an earthquake in the region prompted the u.n. security council to hold urgent talks and they appeared to make that will progress with the u.s. seeming to be at a loss for how to approach the situation was. enough is enough i think enough is enough the stakes could not be higher the urgency is now time is short action is required are countries patience is not unlimited the policy of strategic

patience is over or is never something the united states wants the united states does not think conflict only the strongest sanctions will enable us to resolve this problem through diplomacy all of our counterparts need to impose dissensions we will defend our allies and our territory the united states is prepared to use the full range of our capabilities to defend ourselves and our allies meanwhile russia and china offer their solutions to the hostilities. but as soon as it is all this thought on it you know comprehensive settlement to the nuclear and other issues plaguing the korean peninsula can be arrived at so me through political and diplomatic channels we reiterate our readiness to help this process via the implementation of the initiative proposed by russia and china. china and russia have proposed an initiative for the denuclearization of the korean peninsula it is practical and feasible and aimed at easing the tensions and

preventing further escalation. will russia and china have proposed what has been called a double freeze initiative it calls for north korea to stop its nuclear ballistic missile testing and then in return the u.s. and south korea must halt their joint drills near north korea's territory however the u.s. has dismissed the idea. the idea that some have suggested a so-called freeze for free is insulting when a rogue regime has a nuclear weapon and an i.c.b.m. pointed at you you do not take steps to lower your guard no one would do that we certainly want it here today explores now the other options open to donald trump. the u.s. and north korea stuck in a behavioral rut neither seem willing to back down it looks so bad you might think a third world war was imminent but surely no one wants that so how does the world tackle north korea what are the options while option number one twitter war.

president trump has been dropping twitter bombs on pretty every occasion saying pyongyang is looking for trouble and threatening locked unloaded military solutions and south korea and i should point out that it's a u.s. ally is caught in the rhetorical crossfire question is how effective all of these twitter bombs there's no reaction except from kim parading more of his ballistic missiles and even saying he now has a hydrogen bomb on to the next strategy option number two. trade wars and sanctions the u.s. and u.n. security council have hit north korea with sanctions over and over again since two thousand and six and guess what they don't seem to care and to add more pressure the u.s. has been hinting at seizing all trade with any country that continues to do business with them the united states will look at every country that does business with north korea as a country that is giving aid to their reckless and dangerous nuclear intentions but

how realistic would this be that means that approximately eighty countries would be affected and that's not to mention the economic consequences for the u.s. itself option three. the scariest of all which still exists actual all out war the us are the only party openly threatening a military response at the moment and it looks like they could find themselves alone in this fight other leaders have been clear about not wanting to go down this road. you've argued i have to answer no to that i do not see a military solution for north korea i cannot accept it america's closest ally the u.k. is saying that even a conventional war could potentially wipe out the korean peninsula we keep hearing about the need for diplomatic solutions yet we hardly see any progress to resolve the deadlock so where are we now back at the beginning it seems but surely there should be no limit on diplomatic efforts now dear tutor r.t.

. the more russia could take the us to court over the situation concerning their diplomatic properties in san francisco new york and also washington d.c. because you sure are american counterparts didn't let russia use its property it's a violation of our property rights i will tell the foreign ministry to go to court will she how well the highly praised you dish you system in the us works. well on thursday washington demanded russia vacate its consulate in san francisco in two diplomatic entity sting and this follows on from president trump's decision to extend sanctions against russia over alleged election meddling moscow responded by demanding the u.s. cut its diplomatic staff in the country to the same number of people that russia has in america let's get some he's now from martin mccauley he's on the story in russia expert and joins us this evening hi jim martin some are saying there that

russia could take the u.s. to court over this do you think it's likely. it's possible because the russian rules very the property is in fact in their name or under american go or the owner of property and they have the right to it of their property so therefore to be very interesting because it will be a diplomatic. if they do go to court then perhaps the u.s. government will have to defend its position and the power in the united states is between there's a triangle the supreme court congress and the president and if this goes to court it might even go higher than that the supreme court might be actually asked to judge so therefore this is going to be a long drawn out affair that one would hope that in the meanwhile some other solution would be found yet in the meantime i mean how much of an effect could it have on u.s. russian relations.