special representative for syria engagements, ambassador james jeffrey, glad to have you on the program rebels claiming to enter aleppo. how significant would that be? james: it is significant both from the standpoint of syria but from the standpoint of the larger conflict that has been going on since october of last year. arguably the last 20 years between iran and its proxies including the assad government and a mix of countries and movements. the syrian opposition, turkiye and syria and the united states. these rebel forces are directly or indirectly in terms of the al qaeda off suit under -- offshoot under turkish report launched attacks after a cease-fire that had been in place brokered by turkiye and russia in 2020. that broke down. there is finger poking -- finger-pointing on how it broke down. carl: what do you make of the syrian army? is it able to repel this type of attack? james: it has been weak and successful for not -- against the islamic state south of the euphrates. it has not been unsuccessful calming resistance to its reign in southwest syria in the last several years.

as we heard ambassador james jeffrey say there, the conflicts in the middle east are tied together —e a ceasefire between israel and hezbollah seems to be largely holding into a third day, though both sides have accused each other of minor violations. israel's military has warned lebanese residents not to return home to 60 villages near the israel—lebanon border. the leader of hezbollah, naim qassem, said on friday that the group is ready to help the lebanese army build up its defences. army troops are set to deploy across southern lebanon as part of the truce deal. in his first televised address since the ceasefire took effect on wednesday, qassem said hezbollah had won a "divine victory over israel". meanwhile, israel is continuing to hit targets in gaza, as part of its stated aim to eliminate hamas. people across gaza have mixed feelings on what the ceasefire in lebanon will mean for them. while some think the truce may be a step towards ending israel's bombardment where they are, others are worried that israel will in fact double down on gaza, with dire implications for civilians

i'm quoting him, james jeffrey, who was the former especially envoy of to you as to syria. he said that guy, the forces in eat live, are an asset of the u. s. a strategy in the country. therefore, it is impossible for these a tie the types to, to advance and move and receive all these type of weapons and immunization without for the support. and in this case, we have to focus on the role of the c i a and depend, are going in delivering these type of wip entity and immunization to these terms as groups. and in this case, the timing is not a coincidence because today we have a ceasefire agreement in live on on. and now the americans are uh, focused or hyper focused, lets say unto ukraine fund. but at the same time, they still see syria as an obstacle to their absolute huge him when he made it to me really, truly and financially under each. and therefore they wants to destabilize the country and force i saw into compromise. and this was the same strategy in 2015 in 2015, john kerry. he was a former secretary of state of the u. s. he met with steven a position figures and someb

james baldwin. that's pressure enough, in and of itself, because i wanted to honor his legacy in the way that i thought it should be honored. jeffrey a celebration of the centennial of his birth, including an exhibition at the national portrait gallery called "this morning, this evening, so soon: james baldwin and the voices of queer resistance," which takes its name from a short story he published in 1960. another at the schomburg center for research in black culture, "jimmy! god's black revolutionary mouth," presenting baldwin's archive of personal papers. there's a new album by singer-songwriter and bassist meshell ndegeocello called "no more water: the gospel of james baldwin." and reissues of seminal works with new introductions and artwork. along with a podcast, the baldwin 100, in which host cree myles talks with contemporary writers and thinkers. what is his relevance today, especially when you think about younger people, younger readers, younger citizens? >> despite the time that has passed, his amount of truth is still relatively radical. even when i think about, like, his novels and like giovanni's room, and we're thinki