they used to provide strategic advice to assad regime.nowadays, they are even leading operations. >> narrator: opposing iran is saudi arabia, which is backing the sunni rebels. >> the rivalry between saudi arabia and tehran had started long before the syrian uprising. and now with the syrian uprising, the saudi government saw this as an opportunity to deal a mortal blow to iran. and they have carved that niche in this conflict by sending weapons and money to the rebels. (chanting) (explosion) but as long as they have the iranian support, i think this regime can continue to fight for some time. >> the potential for it to turn into a very dark and tough sectarian fight, the way it did in lebanon and iraq, is very high. and the regime has made it very clear that, "we're not going anywhere. and we're going to fight to the end. and if you want to take us on, you have to be prepared to sacrifice everything, and you may not win." it's hard to see where this ends. (gunfire) >> frontline continues online with more frguardian reporter ghaith abdula

it is an opportunity for assad gone.iran would lose a key ally, when critical to its terrorist operations, including against israel. that is why iran and hezbollah are massively stepping up their support of the job -- assad regime. they provide fighters on the ground. much of this weaponry is close to iraq. that cannot continue without consequences. unfortunately, jihadists groups are gaining popularity. they have convinced too syrians that they are on their side. many others are preparing for the day after his fall. syrian extremists are translating their battle success into authority over society as a whole, influencing schools and mosques. most of those extremists are from outside syria. many have shared with us their concerns about the influx of these foreign fighters. there are concerns with these extremists. to avoid a hostile syria armed with chemical weapons, we need to help better organize and empower the syrian opposition. though syrians who began the revolt by chanting, peaceful, peaceful. we have let them dow

wanted to remove bashar assad from power it could do so within twenty four hours it has that level of military capability and superiority and i said knows it the u.s. is major concern and i think the west's major concern is what happens after assad falls and unless that question is answered the u.s. is i think the obama administration rightly thinking twice about forcefully removing us that it can be done at the drop of a hat but it hasn't been done for the reasons that need to be outlined in other words the sectarianism that either is infighting among the opposition would you like to go into or to like those really you're going to learn a thing i said would you like to see the u.s. do that in twenty four hours. though it's not as simple as whether i would like what you did it was a part of a better syria with the forceful removal you just said it was yes but no worse possible doesn't mean it's inevitable no possibly nobody should ever be able to make the should it be possibility means it should not be the u.s. has and has not exercised it should not be all right gentlemen i'm going t

is it is time for transition it is totally to go because the regime of bashar al assad must come to an end we ask the regime to step down. has to go syrian forces fighting assad immediately felt encouraged the train was in motion and a two year journey later had the destabilization on syria has been a us nato project from day one they have lined up all of their allies in a very ugly effort to overturn the government of syria and to create instability at every and. so perhaps america did indeed pull the others in to then pull itself out two years on washington is criticized for its failure to bring things to a head in syria both at home and abroad we are providing vital humanitarian assistance for my as tarion assistance doesn't stop bombs the rebels who have suffered losses as heavy as the military now see they feel betrayed by the u.s. we did not get any real action on the ground from the united nation from the united states speculation is brewing that washington is starting to view the assad regime as the lesser of two evils preferable to radical jihadist groups the obama administ

assad seet not be how s that?>> i am making a huge distinction between helping councils of the liberated areas provide basic services, getting chlorine so public water can be not theback on, that is kind of humanitarian assistance provided to people in need in a government controlled areas. the programs we are talking $60ut, this is the million secretary carey kerry ed -- secretary announced. strengthen liberated areas and help knit and national liberation. transfers or is that done directly? >> we do that directly. that has nothing to do with the united nations request i would like to defend having the u.n. having a presence in damascus. they are not there to prop up the assad regime. they are toe there, people out to innocent wherever they can throughout the country. in syria, there is no only opposition on one side and regime on one side. they are trying to get it to these hard to reach areas and people everywhere. let me give you an example. years, there half have hardly been vaccination campaigns going onthey

the assad's took it over.hen there are those who are supporting the regime against those who are sunni. you are creating a rule -- we are attempting to create a rule that addresses a schism throughout the arab world. there is no side that can win. guest: i'm not sure i share that view. syria is not a majority-minority country. about 70% of the population is sunni. collectively, minorities constitute about 1/3. christians are a much smaller percentage than the alawites. i'm not sure that we can view the history of the assad regime as having been -- as having its origin in some sort of multi-sectarian, multi- confessional understanding, in which the assad family took over and co-opted. this is, in fact, a regime that has fallen under the domination of the assad family. it is heavily controlled by the hour like -- the alawite minority. other minorities, including christians, have tended to support the regime, i think out of fear of what would happen in the removal of assad's power. there is a growing recognition

in his comments in the interview given last week by assad, assad claimed he was ready to negotiate with anyone, including militants who surrender their arms. neither of offers have yet been accepted, nor can we make a judgment as to the spirit with which they were intended, but can the foreign secretary offer his assessment of whether or not they constitute t a slight narrowing between the gap of the syrian authorities and opposition forces? finally, mr. speaker, let me turn to the central issue of the u.k. support for the syrian opposition and the announcement and the statement made today. it is right that the u.k. is at the forefront of coordinating international efforts to deliver aid to those most in need both with within and beyond the syrian borders, and i welcome announcements to that effect. when it comes the our support for the syrian opposition forces, it is vital that all of our support must continue to be targeted and accountable if it's to be effective. so, mr. speaker, the foreign secretary has today said the government will move towards, and i quote directly, more active

assad is iran's guy. assad, if he goes is a blow to iran. weapons going into lebanon, when the second lob none war was over between ezhezbollah and israel, hezbollah would not be allowed to re-arm. hezbollah is two or three times as strong as they were. they have been re-arming from iran, through syria, into lebanon. so assad is a bad guy. he is iran's guy. he has a stake in this and so do we. we ought to exert. it i think it's very important, what secretary kerry is doing is a very, very good step. but we need to do norensure that the right rebels are the victors after assad falls, which he almost certainly will. >> shannon: congressmen, we thank you both for your time here on this sunday. we appreciate t. >> thank jew washington's reacting after the in the-controlled senate for the first time in four years passes a budget in the g.o.p.-controlled house. the two blueprints have major difference. is there any room for compromise? i asked tom coburn if he thought the two sides could work together. >> there won't be a budget that will coalesce

right now, assad still dominates the syrian government. he knows that using chemical weapons is going to trigger american-- could trigger american intervention. he does not want to do it now. he does not want american intervention. but if he's driven out of damascus and up against the wall in the west of syria and looks like he's going to fail, he might very well use them, especially if he thinks it would trigger american involvement because america could be his last line of defense and last protection against something much worse. >> i haven't seen any hard evidence that they've been used. there have been some reports, and if they were used it seems to have been on an extremely small scale. but again, i think there's no hard evidence. might they be used? sure, desperate leaders might do desperate things if they felt there was no alternative. i don't think there's anything we can do to prevent their use, other than to threaten, as we have, if they were to be used it would cross a-- quote, unquote-- red line and have dire consequences. the

the syrian opposition says that forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad fired what they are claiming all chemical weapons as rebels surrounding an army base in the town of address on the outskirts of the syrian capital of damascus now the reports we have all that two rebel fighters were killed and some twenty two people were wounded it comes in light of accusations last week in which both sides accuse the other of using chemical weapons in any mysterious explosion near the city of aleppo which killed some twenty six people and wounded dozens not of that incident was swiftly labeled by western intelligence agencies as a chemical incident perpetrated by forces loyal to the syrian president assad the syrian regime asked the united nations to launch an investigation the russian ministry has said that if there are reasons to believe that chemical weapons in fact were used an international group comprising of permanent united nations security council members has to be saying to syria the american president barack obama he has constantly in the past put the issue of chemical weapon

asher al-assad reiterated -- bashar al-assad reiterated that he has no plans to step down.almost two years since the start of the civil war in syria. president bashar al-assad remains defiant. he's -- he says the west is conspiring to undermine his country. in an interview with the british newspaper, "the sunday times," he says john kerry is trying to force him out of power -- is wasting his time trying to force him out of power and instead suggested -- >> stop smuggling terrorists into syria. .top sending armament stop providing logistical support to the terrorists. stop financing the terrorists in syria. , rebel forcesnd are pushing to grab new territory in aleppo and in all the outskirts of the capital. the gains made by the rebels since last summer are widely seen by the opposition as a sign of the assad regime's disintegration. the syrian national coalition says it welcomes a national dialogue to solve the crisis, but only when assad goes, a precondition dismissed by the president. >> only the syrian people can tell the president to stay or leave, come or go. no one el

arms embargo to help the rebels like president assad and as artie's maria phenomena explains foreign involvement is increasing all the time the syrian uprising the last of the arab spring sprang up in march two thousand and eleven by august of that year when in another arab spring country in libya colonel gadhafi had lost defacto power it was already clear who was next in the firing line this morning president obama tag on assad to step aside as if on cue many others would soon echo the same rhetoric is time for bashar to go to the message to president assad is it is time for transition it is totally to go with the regime of bashar al assad must come to an end we ask the regime to step down. has to go syrian forces fighting assad immediately felt encouraged the train was in motion and a two year journey later had the destabilization on syria has been a us nato project from day one they have lined up all of their allies in a very ugly effort to overturn the government of syria and to create instability at emory and. so perhaps america did indeed pull the others in to then pull itself

now we're told assad has.ny say this is a pretext for going in and going into some kind of advanced war with assad. >> yes. >> how do we know who to believe here? >> well, you start by not believing the people who lied to you before. the american government lied to its own people. honestly, i don't know of a worse lie one could tell other than a lie to take a country to war. to make up things to take people to war. that's got to be the most obscene, immoral thing to do. so this government hasn't earned the right to be trusted. if it says assad has chemical weapons or ahmadinejad has a nuclear weapon -- >> but it's not this government, is it, that went to war with saddam. >> which government? you're talking about obama versus bush? >> yes. >> i'm talking about the real government. wall street, the banks, people who made $2.2 trillion we spent on the iraq war. who made the money? soldiers in the field? i don't think so. this is always about the people who have the purse strings and the politicians bought by them

take a listen. >> it's not a question of when assad leaves. or if assad leaves.tion of when. he will leigh power. not a question of if. >> i am confident that assad's days are numbers. i think he must go and i believe he will go. >> the last one was today. >> if you go to the first time that he made the caug august 18, 2011, 2200 people died at that point in syria. now we're in excess of 70,000. it's one of the reasons i believe this will be forever a black mark on the obama administration. basically done nothing. the question he got today at the press conference to suggest that the u.s. hasn't done anything. the president pushed back hard on that but he was unconvincing in the suggestion we have done much. if you look at the numbers, it suggests we haven't. on the question of the use of chemical weapons, i think the president has shifted the red line a little bit. the first time he talked about chemical weapons he said if they are used or moved. well, we know if they were moved in december. we know they have been moved after that. i talked to someone on this mat

leaders of the opposition free syrian army say assad is making false accusations. government troops are losing ground to the rebels. analysts say assad is speaking defiantly to try to boost their morale. >>> four years on from the end of fighting, slis ree lafrpga i getting on. many are getting valuable help from the international community. >> reporter: more than 20 years of fighting between the majority government and minority insurgents drove hundreds of thousands of sri lankans from their homes. now, though, the end of the war has allowed nearly 300,000 displaced people to return to the north of the country. it's a region that saw some of the worst violence. it's not just a simple matter of moving back in, of course. with housing and infrastructure destroyed in the war, long-term support is required to rebuild and get life back on track. to take one example of help from abroad, the japan international cooperation agency donated 60,000 palm tree seedlings to sri lanka last year. the war damaged countless trees in this area. many have died completely. we. >> tran

no it is not the first time the syrian opposition in the pot as saying today that al assad's forces fired what they are claiming are chemical weapons at will surrounding an army base in the town of address on the outskirts of the syrian capital of damascus now the latest report suggests that two rebel fighters have been killed and some twenty three people wounded it does follow last week in which we saw accusations from both sides accusing the others of using chemical weaponry when there was a mysterious explosion near the city of aleppo now you remember that in that explosion twenty six people were killed and dozens more wounded that explosion was quickly and swiftly they billed by western intelligence agencies as a chemical incident perpetrated by forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad the syrian regime has since the united nations to launch an investigation and the russian ministry has said that if there are reasons to believe that chemical weapons were used an international group comprising of permanent united nations security council members has to be sent to syria what we

the problem is that the rebels are saying that the assad government is killing the christians, and vice versa, and nobody really can tell. they're fleeing, and they're very much caught in the cross-fire. churches have been destroyed, and there are terrible reports coming out, but it is hard to sift through them at this time. >> syria is sort of the latest example of what is happening in the arab spring. what impact has the arab spring had on christians in the middle east? >> what it has done is it has overthrown strong men, like mubarak, and soon probably assad, who kept a tight reign against islamist terrorism. but what is happening now is that in egypt, the islamists are now in charge.

the reason is precisely because he wants to support assad. is receiving influence from iran, iran, of course, is main supporter of assad. the other reason is sectarian one. this isn't as if malaki isn't aware of what he is doing. he is, of course. the story, secretary of state, representing a country which has been in retreat from iraq. obama made a decision to leave no residual american military in iraq, which essentially would have zero influence. we have zero influence. that is why iraqi sees america as relevant. obama talks about the tide of war receding. side of war is rising and america is receding. it's irrelevant. that is the story of visit. >> shannon: also a stop in afghanistan. there has been discussion whether we were on the same page with leaders there in afghanistan. something we said today, we are on the same page speaking with president karzai. what do you make of that? >> karzai apologized to what he said when he suggested that somehow the u.s. is involved with the taliban. and all of their al-qaeda links. to somehow subvert

all of various groups fighting assad of syria. they want assad to go. that violence across the border from syria into lebanon and most particularly into jordan. i think obama was trying to have a better relationship with king abdullah of jordan. unlike other parts of arab spring where they are willing to let kings fall but with abdullah he has to support him and give him the kind of assistance he needs especially to deal with the refugees. problem with refugees they rarely come alone. there will be fighters that want to bring the fight to jordan. >> arthel: that makes it so complicated. i was in istanbul, turkey and i was talking to a guy from syria. he was saying that want president obama to arm the rebels, opposition forces. britain and france are on board with the notion but how do you think president obama will move forward with respect to syria? of course, there is chemical weapons factor. >> we have green and white and now i think what he has done he put the red line. chemical weapons we're not going to let that happen. >> arthel: so finally, i as

and the security council that the troops of bashan assad's regime withdrawn from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfill during the next twenty four hours we will treat the hostages as prisoners. let's it's not the first incident of its kind last week the united nations confirmed that an employee it was it's a un it disengagement observer force that is stationed in the area was kidnapped you need to remember that the u.n. force was a step back in one nine hundred seventy four following the one thousand nine hundred eighty three cheaper war its purpose is way to monitor the disengagement of israeli and syrian forces as well as maintaining the cease fire and just a reminder that is what was captured israel captured the golan heights from syria back in one thousand nine hundred sixty seven syria once the land that turned in exchange for peace syrian troops are not allowed in the area and israel and syria are technically still at war the area that is patrolled by human peacekeeping forces. now paul of the incidents come shortly after syr

anglo-french backed insurgents or whether it's being used by the assad government so there's already a prejudgment going on un inquiries have a very mixed bag over in terms of their reputation they've been good on gaza sometimes they've been appalling when it comes to nuclear negotiations or the i and other un agency in vienna so when it comes to w m d it's ten years on since the iraq war we know how previous u.n. weapons inspectors reports were sketchy but then on the other hand those same weapons inspectors years later said huge amounts of pressure were put on them and huge amounts of bugging as we know from wiki leaks put upon them so un reports always complicated to tell when the outcome of going to be is going to be let me pick up on what you said just now u.s. president barack obama again said today the government as he put it use of chemical weapons would be a red line but if it turns out the chemical attack if it did happen was carried out by the rebels then of course united states president obama and secretary kerry will say that president assad is not in control of the chem

you defected. >> yes. >> reporter: from assad's army. >> yes, yes. ar >> reporter: you're fighting your friends right now. what is that like? >> it is very sad. it is not so simple for us to fight against our friends, against our citizens. because the army is destroying be everything. it is not the army of-- to defend the country. it is an army now to defend they killer, the murderer, bashawd. >> reporter: the u.s. says rightrer, b now it's giving food and medicine. >> yes. >> reporter: what do you need? >> what really we need iss ammunition and antitank and anti-aircraft missiles. >> reporter: the rebels needles. those heavy weapons to fight assad's military armed chieflilythose by russia and iran. idris also asked the u.s. for training to turn his fighters into a unified army and to protect against a chemical weapons attack that he thinks assad may carry out. if you spoke to president obama and to the american people what would you say to them? woul >> i would say to him, "mr. to president, you are watching what is going on since two years now.ears