bashar al-assad assad is engaging in the south and west of syria and to some extent withdrawing forces in some areas in the east, which is less populated. some believe one of the consequences is the taking of al-raqqah, the only major city in opposition hands right now. it was clear the problem there was not just the fact that the regime forces were not very far away. the problem was a division within the opposition itself. the opposition making any inroads? here., they are but on whole, it appears the regime is taking the upper hand. not much really has changed. there are movements here and there. there are air strikes. many airstrikes, but there are less in their numbers now, certainly in raqqa. believe that bush our side is happy with this situation and is content to see the ascendancy of the islamic states of iraq, from al qaeda.es there's been a big clash with the free syrian army and a number of fighters were arrested from the free syrian army and an arms shipment was intercepted. responded to the first incident four days ago by trying to arrest one of the leaders of this group.

that we're able to keep assad in power and he's able to come to an agreement with the rebels in which they all get a piece of the pie something kind of like how lebanon lebanon's government is and the other one is if the f.s.a. can unite and i just don't see that happening and the more that we arm these guys the worse off it's going to be i mean libya is still a mess and you see you saw that that spilled south into africa it's just it's just a giant mess and and giving them weapons is going to solve anything so honestly i think that that's why obama is sort of in a tough position here politically you know you want to talk to every american president was does but really what's he going to do he's not even sure what he's going to do in there and now they're sort of backpedaling because they don't really have intel on these guys they don't really know who they are and you can't just go you know drop in weapons willy nilly so it's really a tough situation and and iraq is is in the shadows in the n l tell you what if that erupts right along with syria which i think it's going to it's just

directly drawn into this conflict then there's the issue of chemical weapons should western support of assad's enemies be withdrawn if it is proven the rebels are using them against their own people. to cross like syria i'm joined by pepe escobar in london he is an investigative journalist and author in washington we have christopher chivas he's a senior political scientist at the rand corporation and an adjunct professor at john hopkins university and in new york we cross it jeffrey ingersoll he is a defense reporter with business insider right gentlemen cross-talk rules and i don't mean you can jump in anytime you want pepe if i go to you first it looks like there's more and more effort to inflame the conflict in syria than resolve it would you agree or disagree with that. this is just the beginning of tempted to start. you know seeing a little bit peter what a wonderful world this would be the obviously to make the g.c.c. this is what they're trying you know it's the same old story the us the brits and the french inside eight of the brits and france are trying to convince the other nato mem

he thinks assad is next. but, in fact, by supporting assad the russians are going to create a situation, i think, where the u.s. may be dragged in if there's indiscriminate large scale use of chemical weapons. that's the one thing that hasn't happened yet and my concern is that as the civil war grinds on and if the tide of battle begins to turn against assad-- whatever constraint there is, self-imposed, not to run the risk of tkaoging the u.s. in, they may begin to erode and we could see large-scale use. in that case i think there would be tremendous pressure on president obama to do something militarily. >> rose: you suggest here, dexter, that assad is testing everybody? >> yeah. i mean, if you look at every stage of this conflict, it didn't start -- we didn't start two years ago with scud missiles being fired in populated areas and 100 people a day being killed. we got to that point very, very slowly. and asat has been very careful. he's ratcheted up the violence very, very slowly. somebody described it to

assad is not going to go anywhere because the reality on the ground favors assad today., the opposition -- the political and the armed opposition inside syria is in a terrible bind. pressed between iraq, the high expectation, we will not talk to assad unless assad steps down and the reality on the ground, the balance of power, which neither side has the means to deliver a decisive blow and the regional and international balance of power. iran and hezbollah are deeply involved in syria's killing field. turkey and saudi arabia and qatar, and that's why it's becoming more complex and that's why despite the painful reality that the opposition has to sit down with the syrian government, there is no other alternative because there is no military solution to this raging conflict inside syria. >> sobering thoughts. fawaz gerges, as always, pleasure to have you on. what america needs to do to ensure the next generation of growth. my answerex. walmart's education benefits to get a degree, maybe work in it, or be an engineer, helping walmart conserve energy. even today, when our st

these actions, raising the military pressure on assad, will send the critical message to assad that heis going to go one way or the other. the armed services committee, which i chair, recently held an open hearing on the situation in syria and the defense department's efforts to plan for a full range of possible options to respond to the contingencies in syria. our committee is set to receive a classified briefing on sear cora next week, and i intend to raise these issues are our witnesses at that briefing, and i know that senator mccain and senator graham and others are also going to forcefully raise these issues with those witnesses at that briefing and to urge them to carry the message back to the administration that it is time to up the military pressure on assad. i thank the chair. i thank senator mccain and others who are participating in this discussion. and i also would ask unanimous consent, mr. president, i have five unanimous consent requests for committees to meet today during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders, and i

there is no assurance that this will turn the tide for for bashar al assad in the syrian army. has a lot to gain and a lot to lose but if it does suffer defeat in syria will remain a force in lebanon there is no other force that can contend with it will certainly the military diminish his voice claims to being the defender of lebanon and thus they'll have some real political problems back home. i think israel has a chance to wait and see projects strength and. find out if. is what it wishes is it was something in two thousand and six frankly do you want to jump in go ahead. well only to say that it's true that the situation is tense but this situation has been tense in the region since the occupation of palestine in one nine hundred forty eight so that's not going to go away until that problem is is resolved. there is a risk to hezbollah but i think you're over look good perhaps the depth of the breath of their commitment and support i promise. by the notion that this may be the good golden age coming for his ball on a victory and by by a victory i don't mean that assad stays f

insurgencies like this you know last for decades there's no way that assad assad to potentially hold on to power for a number of years you know if the international community continues not to take any kind of action but in the end he's going to go and the question is what's going to happen then i agree with you about that and the reality is is that we need to do everything we can to protect all sides including the all whites in syria from some kind of a major slaughter and that's going to require a lot more international cooperation including between russia the united states and nato and our partners in the region that we're getting right now. not only the other whites christians and kurds as well the kurds they are the north east syria they already have a measure of independence with practically no practical terms it's all crummy they would love that to continue in fact the christians know that if there is a one hobby is style sunni hard core opposed assad government these are doomed and so are the alawite says well so if you have everybody at the same table include of course with r

by russia and others in the international community to the assad regime don't could. on the contrary they services destabilize i disagree with you to state the state of this regime has to be other protect itself every country has a right to protect itself franklin go ahead in beirut. yeah and we've got it we've got a concert of the. syrian people to the fact of matter and i have spent the last of basically most of the last five months in syria i don't think that this syrian people are all it revolved because of all the hardship from the u.s. led sanctions to the brutality of the of the rebels and the brutality of the regime people are exhausted they want peace i don't rule out the russian plan i think that what this was not done at the you and i think has been mischaracterized they didn't only for sanctions the sanctions are going to expire on friday they didn't have the votes to lift the sanctions and i think the community the international community going to watch every arms shipment the only game in town may be. john kerry and sergey lavrov and i think that brahimi

for when assad is deposed? >> well, that's what i was really trying to get at in the column, martin. i try to argue that to a first approximation, a bosnia kind of model is what i think we need. it doesn't sound appealing, i acknowledge. ultimately we need a deal across the sectarian lines in syria, implemented by international peacekeepers including a modest fraction of americans in which the allowites would have a fraction of the country where they would be the majority and largely protect themselves. otherwise they're never going to give up the fight i don't believe. they're going to be viewing it as a fight to the death even if assad somehow goes into exile. if you want to get to a point where you can have any kind of negotiation, turn up the military pressure, but also provide this kind of a viable diplomatic end game for all the parties. that's what i was trying to get at with this idea of a bosnia model for syria. >> right. we talk about this red line, but isn't the exit as critical at this precise momen

these actions, raising the military pressure on assad, will send the critical message to assad that he is going to go one way or the other. the armed services committee, which i chair, recently held an open hearing on the situation in sya and the defense department's efforts to plan for a full range of possible options to respond to the contingencies in syria. our committee is set to receive a classified briefing on sear cora next week, and i intend to raise these issues are our witnesses at that briefing, and i know that senator mccain and senator graham and others are also going to forcefully raise these issues with those witnesses at that briefing and to urge them to carry the message back to the administration that it is time to up the military pressure on assad. i thank the chair. i thank senator mccain and others who are participating in this discussion. and i also would ask unanimous consent, mr. president, i have five unanimous consent requests for committees to meet today during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders, and i w

deadly nerve agent in the ongoing civil war shattering washington's earlier accusations it was the assad regime which had resorted to using illegal chemicals. in the cold economic despair drives tens of thousands of former supporters of france to turn their backs on the french president. and. dozens of young protesters behind bars for taking part in antigovernment. claims that defendants confessed that. it is a pleasure to have you with us here on this monday. with your news from all around the world. now u.n. investigators are saying they have strong grounds to believe that the rebels in syria used chemical weapons against civilians according to the testimonies of both victims and witnesses opposition fighters sprayed the deadly nerve gas sarin an agent that's banned internationally and that's amid widespread allegations backed by the us that it was the syrian regime that have resorted to chemicals in the long lasting civil war inside the state just over a week ago washington declared the assad government had used such and therefore had crossed obama's red line opening the possibility o

beenshear out assad has boosting his defense strategies -- president assad has been boosting his defense strategy. is this a psychological win or a strategic win in military terms. ? >> it is a very strategic win. this city is close to damascus. it is on the highway that connects damascus to the mediterranean coast. for thosehe heartland who are loyal to president assad. they do not want to see that route cut off by rebels. as i mentioned, hezbollah fighters from lebanon are assisting the syrian troops. i have read reports that they have said they are leaving this battle. hezbollah, according to many observers and military analysts, is playing a controversial role. it is also worrying israel, which has already launched three attacks on syria in recent months. we just heard in new reports that syria has put on stand by its most advanced domestically- made weapons with orders to hit tel aviv in israel if israel launches another strike on syrian soil. we also heard an israeli if president that assad wants is an attack on israel, the consequences will be crippling. >> thank you. meanwhile, t

they support assad. they think they're going to be external natured if assad falls. that is really one of the primary and maybe only reason they are supporting assad at this moment. so if we can pull those two groups together so that they know there's a future and a more plurallistic type society post assad i think we'll have a better ability for them to come together and hopefully not have some of the highly negative consequences that might come after the fact. but we have to change the balance. that's what will bring russia in. i think that's what secretary kerry is working on. and i think it's the right thing to do. >> rose: okay, i want to talk about secretary kerry's visit to moscow in just a moment. but i'm surprised that they haven't reached out to the alowites before this. because clearly they have to be part of the solution, do they not? >> there is no question. and you know, it's not just them, charlie, as you know. there is a christian population-- population there that is very concerned about extremist sunni taking over the country and what that may mean

just down the street are the positions of the pro-assad militias. when gunfire erupts, bullets from there sometimes fly into the rooms of buildings. >> translator: the enemy positions are just over there. every time a battle erupts, we exchange fire with them at close range. >> reporter: more and more sunni militia have smuggled themselves into syria to fight alongside the anti-assad rebellion. hussein huru was one of them. he died on the civilian front five months ago. his brother walid says hussein accused the assad government of oppressing the sunnis in syria. >> translator: i'm proud that my brother died fighting in syria. many young people in this area feel the same way. >> translator: our young people are burning with anger. they're heading for syria to protect our children and islam. the shia are trying to take over the middle east with the help of assad and iran. >> reporter: on the other side of lebanon's divide is the shia group of hezbollah which is drumming up support for assad. its influence is strong in the northeastern city of hermil

officials, however claimed that assad is simply lying.nal security correspondent jennifer griffin with our support. >> reporter: when asked by the3 hezbollah television interviewer whether russians had delivered a controversial arms shipments that the u.s. has described as a potential game changer, syrian president bashar al-assad hinted that a shipment of the s300 anti-aircraft missile system was on its way, and parts of it had already arrived. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: agreement between us and the russians for a long time. they're committed to the agreement. agreed with russia, all will be implemented, and part of it has already been done. >> reporter: u.s. officials say he had been bluffing and they have been watching it shipments closely. so far the u.s. and israel agree that the advanced as 300 surface-to-air missile system wassnot among the many arms that have already been delivered. israel threatened to take military action if the russians completed the missile shipment to syria. the mobile matron far reach of the

>> no, i don't think the threat comes from the assad regime. i think it comes from iran. as you say, assad has his hands more full with the rebels, but hezbollah is a possibility or the iranian guard units are already inside syria. it torques the gravity of the crisis up considerably and why it's so dangerous. >> eric: the president had warned of the red line concerning chemical weapons. what do you make of that? >> i think that the obama administration miscalculated very badly here saying as long as ago as august of last year, that chemical would be a red line. publicly in a very embarrassing almost humiliating way last week backed off of it. this sends a signal to assad that he has gotten away with it and even as far as north korea that when barack obama draws a red line he doesn't mean it. it hitters the president's credibility and hurts the country as well. >> eric: there is a stunning headline in the "new york times" the lead headline, says, quote, off the cuff obama line put the u.s. in bind in syria. wording of the warning of chemical came as a surprise advisors sa

these actions, raising the military pressure on assad, will send the critical message to assad that heis going to go one way or the other. the armed services committee, which i chair, recently held an open hearing on the situation in syria and the defense department's efforts to plan for a full range of possible options to respond to the contingencies in syria. our committee is set to receive a classified briefing on sear cora next week, and i intend to raise these issues are our witnesses at that briefing, and i know that senator mccain and senator graham and others are also going to forcefully raise these issues with those witnesses at that briefing and to urge them to carry the message back to the administration that it is time to up the military pressure on assad. i thank the chair. i thank senator mccain and others who are participating in this discussion. and i also would ask unanimous consent, mr. president, i have five unanimous consent requests for committees to meet today during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders, and i

deadly nerve agent in the ongoing civil war shattering washington's earlier accusations it was the assad regime which has resorted to illegal chemical weapons . according throws dozens of young pro-reform protesters behind bars for taking part in government violence all amid claims the defendants confessed to torture. and socialist i call in the polls economic despair drives tens of thousands of form of supporters of francois hollande to turn their backs on the french president. it is a monday morning here in moscow. with the worldwide news live on r t u n investigators now say they have strong grounds to believe rebels in syria have used chemical weapons in the country's civil war while no evidence was found the government has ever released any of the deadly now those challenges washington's previous statement it was the assad regime which had apparently resorted to the illegal weapons but earlier i discussed the latest developments with. you want human rights investigators say based on the evidence that they have the rebels in syria have used the nerve agent sorry this is a major devel

had no hard evidence to accuse the assad government of doing that now this geneva based u.n. investigation is believed to be separate from the investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in syria in the middle of march assad forces and the rebels blame each other for that damascus has requested a u.n. mission to investigate the incident but the investigation is being stalled because in addition to investigating that specific incident the u.n. chief now demands access to all facilities in syria and there are concerns that this inquiry was the u.n. into the center of a possible hunt for weapons of mass destruction where it faces the ghost of iraq the fear again is that politics may get ahead of facts so going at this point a u.n. investigation team suggests that it's been the syrian rebels not the assad government that have used chemical weapons in the ongoing civil war conflict but it's not the only grave development coming out of syria you and i get an a for the past few days breaking news out of syria with these israeli airstrikes are the latest reaction to these

used a deadly nerve agent in the ongoing civil war confusing washington's earlier accusations the assad regime had been the one resorting to illegal chemical weapons . according. to taking part in government violence although made claims that defendants confessed only after torture. and socialist. in the whole economic despair drives tens of thousands of former supporters. to turn their backs on the french president. with a worldwide news live from moscow this is r.t. with me i thank you for being with us today. u.n. investigators say they have strong grounds to believe that rebels in syria have used chemical weapons in the country's civil war while no evidence was found that the government has ever released any such deadly agents now this flies in the face of washington's previous statement it was the assad regime which had apparently resorted to illegal weapons i discussed the latest developments with. you want human rights investigators say based on the evidence that they have the rebels in syria have used the nerve agent sorry this is a major development which comes at a time when t

had no hard evidence to accuse the assad government of doing that now this you need . to geisha is believed to be separate from the investigation into the alleged use of chemical weapons in syria in the middle of march assad forces and the rebels blame each other for that damascus has requested a u.n. mission to investigate the incident but the investigation is being stalled because in addition to investigating that specific incident the u.n. chief now the men's access to all facilities in syria and there are concerns that this inquiry wants the u.n. into the center of a possible hunt for weapons of mass destruction where it faces the ghost of iraq the fear again is that politics may get ahead of facts. and denise a from the french center for intelligence studies told us see when rebels and they have received chemical weapons from abroad. well it's very difficult to say probably be told them in. syrian stock but they could also are being. received. from the foreign countries because we don't know what they've got to riyadh plague them or know but for for us it's not re

most likely used a deadly nerve agent in the ongoing civil war confusing washington accusations the assad regime had been the one resorting to illegal chemical weapons. according to dozens of young pro-reform protesters behind bars for taking part in antigovernment violence all of it claims the defendants confessed but only after torture. and from the socialist i call in the polls economic despair drives tens of thousands of former supporters. to turn their backs on the french president. worldwide news live from the heart of the russian capital t with me rule received thank you for joining us today. investigators say they have strong grounds to believe that rebels in syria have used chemical weapons in the country's civil war and while no evidence was found the government has ever released any deadly agents now this does a fly in the face of washington's previous statement it was the assad regime which had apparently resorted to the use of illegal weapons do you tell us now to watch these guy in a church you can. you want human rights investigators say based on the evidence that they have

assad. >> rose: but i thought they were in favor of a conference. or not? >> in favor of a conference? they're in favor of a conference but they're not in favor of assad's removal from power. >> rose: as a condition to a conference. >> as a condition to a conference. and the opposition say we will not -- we can't imagine a future where assad or his government are part of a transitional government. so i think this needs to -- this block needs to be overcomed for the to find some sort of a solution. >> rose: you both have been on the border. how bad is it, these refugee camps? >> they're bad. now -- i was just there just a week ago and the weather is nice and i think that makes a huge difference. obviously there's camps in jordan on the border out in completionly exposed territory. it's been two very rainy winters in a row in the middle east. it's muddy, there aren't enough health facilities, there's not enough in terms of keeping people busy. >> rose: and speaking of the jordanian camps, what is the threat to that to the jordanian government? >> well, let's

used to have some kind of influence over the assad regime. right now, it's not only about what he thinks will work, but also about what he is willing to do. let's not forget, a large majority of americans is against any form of military intervention in syria, especially boots on the ground. it was about 10 years ago, arch -- march, when a different prime minister from the uk and a different president here in the u.s. stood in front of the press in the white house, explaining why they were intervening in iraq, said it was going to be a rapid intervention. then there was afghanistan. americans are very wary. they have war fatigue. >> americans might be leery of a new military strategy against syria in some form, but politicians in washington are also very suspicious of vladimir putin. is this initiative finding support in the capital? >> exactly. the consensus, nevertheless, here in washington is that the new initiative is better than nothing, but, like you said, there is suspicion. the russians have not done anything significant in the last tw

one to get assad out of there. the second war unfortunately is going to be between the majority of syrians and the radical islam i haves who have poured into syria. we need to be ready to fight two wars. >> jon: okay. so two wars. let me just add that up quickly because i know we're already in two. so, let me see. that's about four. we have four wars. that's do-able. it seems like it will take a lot of boots on the ground, however. >> you don't need boots on the ground. >> we don't need to put boots on the ground. >> the worst thing the united states could do right now is put boots on the ground. >> jon: interesting. so we have to find a way to arm the rebels, the right rebels, to take down assad. once assad is down, ask the rebels for the guns back so that the regular syrians can have their country back and we need to do all this by remote freedom magic. >> you don't need boots on the ground from the u.s. point of view. but you sure do need international actions to bring this thing to a close quickly. >> jon: latv

likely used the deadly nerve agent in the civil war confusing washington as that accusation was the assad regime had been the one resorting to the illegal chemical. a court in bahrain throws dozens of young pro reform first houses behind bars for taking part in antigovernment violence and made claims the defendants confessed only under torture. from socialist i think to all put in the polls economic despair drives tens of thousands of former supporters of francois hollande to turn their backs on the french president. international news and comment life for moscow this is our scene with me. hello and welcome to the program u.n. investigators say there have strong grounds to believe rebels and see where have used chemical weapons in the country's civil war while no evidence was found the government has ever released any deadly agents this flies in the face of washington's previous statement it was there as saddam regime which had apparently resorted to the illegal weapons or he's been a chicken has to details. you want human rights investigators say based on the evidence that they have the

european policy maker was wrong in refusing to talk to bashar al assad. he is a brute, no doubt about that, but nevertheless, he is going to stick in power in damascus. >> thank you so much for your insight. >> on to some business news now. the eu competition commissioner says internet search giant google will probably have to come up with more concessions if it wants to avert a $5 billion fine for anti-competitive practices in europe. >> over a dozen rival companies accuse google of squeezing them out of the results of search queries. the eu opened an investigation, and last month, google came up with a list of solutions, but many critics say those proposals are inadequate. shares in a spanish finance group plunged, enraging small shareholders who said they were cheated into making risky investments. created in 2010 from the merger of seven troubled savings banks, it has become a symbol of spain's banking crisis. last year, it was bailed out by the spanish government and has received billions of euros from the eurozone rescue package. >> hundreds of cust