assad: like any human. jeremy: have you thought about the casualties and felt or understood the pain of the people wounded and killed? assad: this is something we live in every day weather from the other side or our supporters. we live with the casualties on a daily basis. they are family. i lost members of my family. i have lost people i have worked with. it is something you live every day with in pain. jeremy: not long after the interview, the air force was attacking a rebel-held suburb of damascus. civilians still live here, short of food and medical supplies. the president rejected the complaint that had blocked relief aid to other besieged areas. the war is made up with layers of conflict. ending the killing it gets more complicated. katty: a short time ago, jeremy joined me from beirut. why did the president give you the interview now? jeremy: he is feeling more confident and i have been asking for a few years for the interview. it became clear that we get it in the early part of the ottoman and about

president assad insisted his country is not a failed state. speaking exclusively to the bbc, he admitted his government is receiving communication from the u.s. coalition against the islamic state. he bears no responsibility to the humanitarian crisis engulfing parts of his country as they enter their fifth year. an estimated 200,000 people lost their lives. more than 9 million forced from their homes, many to refugee camps in neighboring countries. well documented evidence as barrel bombs have been dropped on rebel held areas. in an interview, president assad denies uses forces. cities and homes have been reduced to ruins. president al assad was speaking to bbc. >> president, you have lost control of large areas of syria. the jihadist group, islamic state emerged. 200,000 syrians are dead many lost their homes. they call it the most serious humanitarian crisis since the second world war. has syria become a failed state? >> no as long as the government and state are fulfilling the need for the syrian people cannot talk failure states. talking

but here's the key to the assad piece. to any extent that assad wins iran wins. so syria was the perfect state from the iranian perspective because syria did whatever a iran wanted it to do. charlie: and it gave them access to lebanon and hezbollah. mike: exactly. and has bala couldn't exist -- hezbollah couldn't exist without the support it gets from iran. syria is important for a lot of reasons. that's why this is so hard. charlie: before i go to iran you do have the sense that you've got to do something now, that this thing is growing, becoming more violent, and they are consolidating. yes, they've been stopped and at some point there's going to be the launch of a campaign to get back mosul and there's the pashmerga who say if you give them the weapons, they will fight. but we are not sending them anything, so they say. i can't understand why we wouldn't support. mike: i know exactly what they're saying. we are clearly not doing enough from their perspective. i think we have to accelerate. we have to accelerate what we are doing on the ground and it doesn't ne

more from bashar al assad's brand-new interview coming up.ight, so this tylenol arthritis lasts 8 hours but aleve can last 12 hours. and aleve is proven to work better on pain than tylenol arthritis. so why am i still thinking about this? how are ya? good. aleve. proven better on pain. 3rd and 3. 58 seconds on the clock, what am i thinking about? foreign markets. asian debt that recognizes the shift in the global economy. you know, the kind that capitalizes on diversity across the credit spectrum and gets exposure to frontier and emerging markets. if you convert 4-quarter p/e of the s&p 500 its yield is doing a lot better... if you've had to become your own investment expert, maybe it's time for bny mellon a different kind of wealth manager ...and black swans are unpredictable. you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim. so you talk to your insu

says syrian president bashar al-assad must be part of a solution to end fighting in the country and oppositions he is the problem. youtube turns ten, we take a look at how the video sharing site has changed the internet over the last decade plus. >> i'm daniel lack in canada yukon territory and looking at how scientists are studying the amazing athletes in this ultra endurance race the yukon ultra to learn how conditions might be for humans in space. ♪ fighting is intensifying in eastern ukraine hours before a new ceasefire is due to take effect pro-russian separatists and ukraine army are battling near the town and these images claim to show a build up of russian artillery northeast of the junction town and tweeted by the u.s. ambassador jeffrey piat on friday and said we are confident these are russian military and not separatists, ukraine president had this to say about the latest violence. >> after what this is of minsk it's not just an attack of ukraine, this is an attack of minsk results and without explanation because unfortunately after minsk the defense operation of russia intensified

but you've to deal with assad and in a diplomatic way. are the russians and the iranians prepared to do that at some point? and what do you have to do to have on the table to encourage them to do that? >> that's a good question and not clear to me alt this point -- at this point that either are ready to play that role. i hope that changes over time because without a transition to new leadership i think syria will remain an explosive and unstable place for a long time, and if you look alt russia's internal challenges and the threat that islamic extremists of one kind or other could pose in russia, they're vulnerable in a lot of respects, too so they should have a an interest in the kind of transition that might make for a more stable syria but it's not evidence they share any sense of urgency. >> charlie: what do you think -- we'll talk ability ukraine in a few minutes. what do you think putin's intent is in syria other than to have an ally in power in the middle east and whatever advantage nat gives him both in terms of a port and a place

is defeated as you say it is also called, what then for president assad?ys he wants to stay for the best part of another six years, how does the attention then turn to that side of the problem? >> reporter: stephan-mistura is that assad will have to be part of a solution and it's a precursor for negotiation and i think everyone realizes the long-term prospects will be settled around the negotiating table but we are far from the reality and as in your report the suggestion was made that 200,000 people were killed,, in fact, the numbers are much higher than than when you take in account all noncombatants who perished because syria infrastructure has collapsed health wise and otherwise and millions of refugees and prospects of having a solution in the short term are negligent to nil but over the long-term some kind of political settlement will have to be negotiated and what happens to bashar al-assad in the government at this time will have to be determined around the negotiating table. but, again, that is a very far off option and it's not part of the mistur

but here's the key to the assad piece. if-- to any extent that assad wins, iran wins. so syria was the perfect state from the iranian perspective. because syria did whatever-- essentially, whatever iran wanted it to do. >> rose: and they gave them an access to lebanon and hezbollah. >> exactly. that's how they got weapons to hezbollah. and hezbollah couldn't exist without the support that it gets from iran. so syriaune syria's important for a lot of reasons to the iranians, so to the extent that assad wins iran wins and that's why this is so hard. >> rose: before i go to iran you do have a sense that somebody's got to do something now. that this thing is metastasizing, is growing becoming more violent and they're consoldaight and, yes, they've been stopped and, yes, at should point there's going to be the launch of a campaign to get back mosul, sooner rather than later, you would assume. and then there's the peshmerga, who say they're not getting any weapons or anything from americans, give them the weapons and they'll fight and go to mosul themselvess. but we're not s

it's not a pro-assad policy, it's a policy that allows assad to stay. we have told the syrians we will not go after syrian military positions. >> let's assume brett's right. >> i think he is right. >> okay. and i think that's right, too. that is really going to create problems for turkey for example, and the saudis in particular. not to mention the israelis. and we need the turks and the saudis as an alliance to defeat islamic states. aren't we -- isn't there a contradiction here? >> well, there certainly is a contradiction. and it does do all those things. but i think brett has put his finger on it. the iran nuclear deal is the tail wagging the entire middle east dog for the united states. that determines everything. barack obama needs him to be on board for this deal. so he's willing to allow these other events to occur. the question is, will the middle east degrade to the point where it will simply be impossible to get this deal with iran. look we just had our supposed ally in the middle east. we heard at the end of this week that the obama administr

assad in power and isis not taking syria all together or assad out? >> the you want a political settlement because it's clear assad isn't going anywhere any time soon, that's a legitimate consideration. this is what the u.n. envoy meant when he said last week that assad has to be part of the solution. no one likes that. i don't like it. it's the reality of the situation moving forward that he has to with considered part of a solution with a transition or afterward. with or without him the crux are of the matter once it became clear assad would stay in power can assad give up enough power from the center to the periphery that will satisfy at least a critical mass of the opposition? not everyone will go along with this. it is negotiable. they are far apart in terms of syria and the power central government will have. most believe there is a six-month window or so before the u.s. election kicks into gear and the obama administration attentions go elsewhere. if you want to look at a political settlement over this period of time you have to think of dealin

you had a chance to listen to what president assad said. still comes over as the man who feels he's in a degree of control. >> well let's remember at the beginning, we are talking about the man who doesn't have any legitimacy to rule. he uses the methods of his father. >> years which you have been trying to remove him and he doesn't go. >> that's right. that's right. it sounds to me he is in complete denial. he's completely detached from reality. he doesn't understand the complexity of the geo politics and development in the region and he continues to systematically lie. he's a liar and i am pretty sure that he is a psycho path a sociopath. >> whatever you think about him, the fact on the ground suggests that you are a very fragmented opposition, which is in itself incapable of resolving this issue. is that fair? >> well to some extent it is fair. let's remember syria has been under brutal dictatorship since 1962. so under such dictatorship there wasn't a chance for opposition to grow and function normally like the way we know here in brita

told assad's forces where u.s. fighters were going to be flying but that maybe iraq or some other country was serving as an intermediary. i would assume that's necessary so that the planes aren't crashing into each other. >> it's possible. and it's possible that coordination is happening. but there's a huge psychological advantage for assad to say that. he is demoralizing the free syrian army believe and they should believe the united states is on their side the moderate rebel opposition. if they're under the impression that the united states is in any way coordinating with bashar al assad that would be very demoralizing to them. he's try to convince them as it is that the united states is backing him. and if this in fact is the case i think he has a huge psychological reason for saying that. >> i can understand why that would not be desired but at the same time we don't want american pilots or whomever jordanian pilots, uae pilots hitting each other or hitting good guys on the ground. there does need to be some co

assad said, no. we are not getting into the coalition.ill: and baker, i admire the way he narrowed down people's choices and stripped away the arguments. he did it with assad, prime minister shamir, the palestinians. he was able to produce something in madrid that few people thought possible when he made the first of those nine trips. i thought it was really admirable. charlie: he also had one of the most important qualities a secretary of state can have. the knowledge that he has the president's ear, the best political friend of the president. bill: and a lot of other qualities. much like hillary clinton in a lot of ways. both hillary clinton and baker no one was better prepared than them when they walked into a room. that is really important in not just a negotiation but any kind of diplomatic interaction. they both think strategically as well. those are the qualities that make for very good secretaries of state. they were trying to solve a problem. charlie: what about the trip to china? the idea? bill: hillary clinton had a lot to do w

why would bashar al-assad agree to this? a help so extremely important to him? why would he stop the fighting there? what we gain from that? >> well, several reasons. one, he probably sees that he's not going to be able to eliminate the rebels single handedly. he relies heavily on the a rypiens, on hess bowl arc the new national defense militias that have been created in syria and he's still unable to really make a big breakthrough in aleppo. they tried hard the last two weeks north of aleppo and gained some ground, lost some ground, lost a lot of men and some prisoners apparently, including talk of iranian and hezbollah prisoners in rebel hands of that's one main reason. the second one is he wants to appear to the international community to be a man of peace and democratic transition, that has been his line all along. and very few people believe him. but this is something that is important for him in public relations terms, the other thing is there are several other major battles going on or starting around the country. the south is now a huge new -- it is a hu

not until we defeat isil and assad but, the u.s. cannot afford to continue to provide billions indefinitely. it is imperative that we have confidence that what we are providing is not suggest to waste, fraud abuse or diversion to terror groups so that we can continue playing a key role in responding to this crisis and maximize our effectiveness. and with that i'm proud to yield to the ranking member of our subcommittee mr. deutsche. >> thank you. i, too would like to associate myself with the chairman's remarks about the tragic death of kayla mueller at the bhararaic hands of the isis terrorists. our hearts and prayers go out to her family. we will continue to honor kayla's work by gives this the attention it deserves and i want to thank the chairman for starting this congress with the hearing specifically focused on the humanitarian effort of the syrian conflict. the title of this hearing speaking volumes to this situation inside syria and in neighboring countries. there is no end in sight. members of the opportunity to discuss the

assad, iran, others. you can clearly see a scenario where you defeat isil, you drive them out, where you see this chain from iran to a shia-dominated iraq to assad to hezbollah to hamas. we have to be conscious that you know, that is one outcome here, which is not an outcome i desire. i think it's an outcome that, you know, puts some of our closest allies in a very precarious position. and maybe even creates a worse seecenario in this. as we members of congress engage in this debate, we have to be very conscious of all possible scenarios. ambassador jeffrey, you touched on, you know, the lessons from vietnam that -- i can imagine a ground campaign in iraq with shia my shia militia, with iraqi forces, a prolonged ground come pain that drives out iraq. but what happens in that bordering country in syria? there isn't a moderate syrian force that can cut off that line of retreat. that then draws us into another rabbit hole. and another prolonged scenario. so, you know, i guess in the minute i have, i think st

at the same time, i know there is a lot of concerns now about how we deal with assad's vero bombs ase train and equip these individuals, how do we protect them from the barrel bonds which cause them to diminish in greater numbers than they can be trained. i'm sure you'll talk about that. there is a lost discussion as you you know on the ground there about the exclusion zone. i know you have questions about that. and no fly discussions. it may be taking place to draw turkey more into what is happening in syria itself, which i think most of it -- most of us believe is very important. so as we -- as i close, i want to say we owe it to our nation as we consider this to know that the full range of america's elements of national power, diplomatic, economic, and military means are aligned aligned in such a way to get to the administration's stated goals. because of the nature of this decision, one, again this being made after a fact, all of us need to have confidence that the administration is truly committed to achieving the stated goals that they laid out and i think your testimony here i

senator donnelly: thank you. >> director clapper, what do you assess as assad's -- assad's likely response. do you assess that he will attack them? director clapper: as long as assad felt that this was something to be used only against isil, he would probably be ok with it. but he would probably have a hard time determining whether it was a threat to isil or to him. he could easily consider that force as a threat. >> do you believe you are receiving good intelligence? director clapper: we have a lot of intelligence gaps in syria principally because we are not there. we are working at it to come up with more intelligence from syria, but that is a tough problem. senator fischer: have you received any intelligence that the moderates trained by us would be fighting isil and not assad. director clapper: i guess the short answer would be yes. senator fischer: how would you assess that russia and iran would be looking at these trained forces? director clapper: they probably wouldn't like it. i think, at this point, russia looks at syria as a client and an ally. someone that they provide support t

. >> bashir al-assad along three visiting french polar rotarians. -- parliamentarians. these images being broadcast without sound. the day before the french party met with the syrian foreign minister to discuss antiterrorist measures. but there were no scoops to be had. >> the islamic state group is creating tension in our country. >> the parliamentarians and say they were on a personal mission, speaking to -- defending the initiative. >> neither you nor i nor the united states will do away with assad. it would go from bad to worse. it is clear that he cannot be ignored. i'm not defending him but i'm saying we will have to deal with him. >> he would not go into the details of the talks, saying he was to relay the information to the french government but the government has washed its hands of the delegation. >> this is in no way an official french diplomatic initiative. >> france severed all contact with the syrian government and closed its embassy in damascus in 2012. paris has given military support the moderate syrian opposition. on the syrian side, the government app

al assad shows no signs of bowing to his critics. >> reporter: arguably president bashar al assad is perhaps more confident at this stage it would seem from that interview in bbc than he has been in recent times maintaining his position that he will not cooperate with the united states whom he says is backing terrorists. that's how bashar al assad refers to the syrian opposition the syrian rebel groups. also saying that the information that's being shared is not tactical information. it's not any sort of specifics and all of that coming through third-party nations such as iraq. this was a broad ranging interview. one of the key points that was brought up is this issue of the barrel bombs. with the war on isis then a been taking place, a lot of attention is on that terrorist organization and very little attention has been on the reality that the syrian regime continues to bombard various neighborhoods with these barrel bombs. in the interview, assad denied the fact that his government is using this indiscriminate weapon. >> what about barrel bombs? you don't deny your forces use them.

assad, iran, others. you can clearly see a scenario where you defeat isil, you drive them out, where you see this chain from iran to a shia-dominated iraq to assad to hezbollah to hamas. we have to be conscious that, you know, that is one outcome here, which is not an outcome i desire. i think it's an outcome that, you know, puts some of our closest allies in a very precarious position. and maybe even creates a worse scenario in this. as we members of congress engage in this debate, we have to be very conscious of all possible scenarios. ambassador jeffrey, you touched on, you know, the lessons from vietnam that -- i can imagine a ground campaign in iraq with shia militia, with iraqi forces, a prolonged ground come pain that drives out iraq. but the real challenge here is what happens in that bordering country in syria. there isn't a moderate syrian force that can cut off that line of retreat. that then draws us into another rabbit hole. and another prolonged scenario. so, you know, i guess in the minute

for that you have to address the assad regime. secretary gates have said this before and chuck hagel who has now been fired basically, he said it to the obama administration that is not the strategy. >> and that is the larger policy debate even as people look horrified at this burping -- burning murder. thank you. we have all of the angles covering and including the implications for our coalition. will partners ban closer together as we've been discussing or flee this fight against isis? and later in the hour the politics, how the president's spending plan fits into all of this. we're following the latest for you in "the cycle" today. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle see how much you could save. congratulations. you're down with crestor. yes! when diet and exercise aren't enough, adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol up to 55%. crestor is not for people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. tell your doctor all medicines you take. call your doctor if you have muscle

on syria i don't have any doubt in my mind that bashar al assad has engaged in war crimes. i mean the use of gas against your own citizens is a war crime. the use of barrel bombs indiscriminately against women and children there are other examples. starvation as a tool of war is a war crime. there are things that are mounting. and mounting that kind of case and putting together that evidence in the middle of a war is always very complicated, number one. and number two, there are other policy choices that are complicated about the lodging of a -- of a complaint, et cetera and moving forward. because it can greatly effect the options that are then available to you in terms of negotiating and coming up with a political solution. so there hasn't been at this point in time -- i think there is evidence being collected and people are examining you saw the photographs of the 10000 or so people alleged to have been tortured. many of those issues by the way, there is not a clarity about the evidence of who ordered it or who did it, et cetera, et cetera. so i don't think cases are rip

assad dynamics. >> let me try to be real clear here. we are now communicating and coordinating our military operations with the assad regime. we're not doing it directly. and we're not doing it indirectly. >> if i could follow up. is there a third party as assad himself claims that is doing it directly? a third party that the u.s. works with such as iraq? we're not communicating directly or indirectly. no this isn't a nudge nudge wink wink i'm trying to parse words here. i'm not wink winking either. we are not communicating directly or indirectly with the assad regime on military matters. i can only speak for the united states military, the pentagon the defense department, i'm telling you, we are not communicating directly or indirectly with the assad regime on military operations inside syria. >> is it possible that iraq is communicating with the assad regime? >> that would be a great question to ask the folks in baghdad. >> i'm telling you what i can account for and what i can account for is our communications coordinate. >> isn't tha

president bashar al-assad must go. al jazeera. >> former prime minister has made a rare visit after his father's assassination. the case has deeply affected the country. >> it was an assassination that langed lebanon. prime minister hariri killed in a car bomb in the heart of downtown beirut. at the time, a belief that it would lesson lessen its influence. >> increasing sectarianism that happens, and it's extremely important that at the route of this was not so much the hariri assassination as it was the 2003 invasion of iraq. that's the point that it really began. once the iraq war was over, as far as the military damage and the u.s. damage militarily, that moved to lebanon and syria and it was manifested in what came to be the hariri assassination. >> it a direct impact on the had some identify with radical groups. there have been street battles between those who support the resolution many will tell you the increasing violence and divisions hear come down to the state, more specifically the politicians. not doing en

martha: a couple years ago he said assad must go.p watches hundreds of thousands of syrians pouring across the border and he said assad must go. i would begin i suppose by arming the syrian rebels. >> you see we sit here and we have the luxury of speculate being these things. the fact is that isis is at war with assad. we are pat war with isis. so it creates complications there. obviously we abhor with assad has done to his own people. but we are focused on this threat of isis where you started this interview. how you handle that conflicting -- those conflicting goals. martha: you spay what i would do. i don't know, i'm a lowly anchor. >> you are a powerful voice. people listen to you are every morning for guidance. martha: i listen to some voices say where is the winston churchill, where is the person who looks at the world in a come pro hencive way. >> would that the world were as simple as it was in the past. the world is complicated. you have got tools terrorists have tools they never had before. special media so you have to figh

now assad has an informal agreement with the syrian kurds and has left them alone to fight their own out kobani at the moment. outside here we have the shia following there and then tartars which is the russian naval base and then latiqua and critical that assad holds that part of the world to maintain power. now you may have heard of hezbollah, they are the iranian by proxy forces who are in cahoots with the assad forces fighting against isis at the moment. what does this mean? this is a complicated ground picture but when it comes to talking about arming the rebels this is what we mean. if we are going to arm the rebels, which are historically the free syrian army possibly the kurds, it is not just isis that they are fighting. they are fighting jibad, and assad's forces and hezbollah, all four of these incredibly strong and potent groups that make this job very very difficult. joy. >> and so michael, when you look at that complicated picture, just put on your intelligence officer hat for a moment. is it possible for the western governments in alliance with countries like jordan to

assad contributed to the creation of isis. assad is a live with iran. as my colleague dr. brennan said, we're dealing not just with one one extreme violent movement. one is the side of the iranian establishment, the religious establishment. it's both a country and a cause and a poster boy for the cause is -- who's done a great deal to drive iraq into this disunity that isis was able to exploit in 2014 by allowing in some cases, encouraging maliki and other members of the shia governing coalition to oppress the sunnis and disagree with the kurds such as the country was not holding together well, thus, isis came on the seen and we saw what happened. we have to deal with all of these problems. we have a lot of friends in the region. i can't say that the administration doesn't do more against iran or syria because of the negotiations. i hope that isn't the case. but i think that we need to separate the two out. that negotiation on nuclear weapons has to rock has to rest on its own merits, whatever they may be. and our policy towards providing security in this region with our a

and the bashar al-assad regime as distasteful as it was, could control things inside. after the united states left iraq. similar assumptions were made. we have seen both prove untrue. we see fragmentation politically, ethnically within the societies tear them apart. as the fragment cakes within the society occurs. it is also starting to occur. my colleague correctly noted an influence in southern and eastern jordan. that's the economic dislocation from indigenous tribes. and the population that competes for jobs, resources, water and services. all of these things - you lay them on top of one another, and you get a level of complexity that we have not seen in the region in decades. add on top of that the break down of institutions and assumptions that used to govern that part of the world over the space of 50 or 60 years, and you have a dynamic and unsettling situation. jordan could be next, and i.s.i.s.'s desire is that jordan be next. >> thank you both. that's all for this edition of "inside story". we want you to talk back to your television, visit our facebook page

last week, forces fighting for syrian president bashar al assad, iran and hezbollah said they'd taken part in the northern suburbs of aleppo. rebels have since made ground for taking areas they lost to assad, killing his men and taking some prisoners, they say. >> right now, we are here in the village and managed to free the whole town from assad's gangs and the iranians. >> the rebels also lost many men in this fight. some belong to al-nusra front, an al-qaeda-affiliated group. isil is also fighting for control of aleppo. it recently withdrew from some suburbs, but remains a threat. it has supply routes for government and rebel forces. winning would be psychologically important for any side involved in the fight. >> it's a big city. the biggest in syria. it's the commercial heart of the country. it has incredibly strategic links to turkey in the north, to the heartland in the center and towards lebanon, towards the isil controlled areas, the kurdish areas in the east, so it's a very, very important symbolic issue that the government and rebels are both willing to fight to maintain th

and western position that bashar al-assad has to go. again it's confusing foreign policy. >> it's very confusing and confusing because there are no good sluices in this area. we are beginning osee progress on the ground, it is beginning to trend in the right direction. you don't have many of those ingredients right now in syria. there are a lot of questions and a lot of fingers being pointed about what could or could not have been done better in the last couple of years in syria. the real question is what do you do now? i'm not sure it's a bad thing that we have seen a bit of softening from the administration about the opening sort of preconditions for having a conversation between folks in damascus and in other capitals. >> i want to bring it back to the beginning valerie amos, 12 million refugees, what is the time we're looking at? >> years perhaps decades. if you look at bosnia, iraq, any of the place we looked at in africa we'll talk about decades to get these people home and resettled. >> hardin, thank you. >>> a dangerous game, am

the government of bashir al-assad initiated a plan to crush. he issued chemical weapons and weapons of mass distraction to kill his own people. they have been involved in widespread killing, including children as well as hospital patients, arbitrary arrests, and imprisonment. indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. systematic destruction of property and looting. systematic denial of food and water and prevention of medical treatment. so depraved has the assad regime been it is reported to have indiscriminately shelled with artillery rounds. a british volunteer surgeon reported victims of government snipers would display wounds on particular days indicating they may have been targeted in a gruesome game. the syrian government came to view doctors and nurses as corroborate her's. early in the conflict the assad regime imprisoned hundreds of health workers and tortured many of them to death. others just disappeared. government forces arranged the universal principle of medical neutrality. the government is not the only violator of human rights

the united states is not talking to bashar al assad. we probably informed syria through third parties when the air campaign was beginning. any sort of major changes to the air campaign get communicated but as he said there's no tactical details. there's no coordination in the air space. the fact that planes haven't shot at each other is simply explained by the fact that they're told not to shoot at other planes. isis doesn't have an air force. there's no reason to shoot at anything in the sky. >> it is kind of strange if you step back and look at it. here's the leader of a country, syria, and he's not even being informed what's happening in his own skies, not by the united states or by jordan. >> well, of course we -- our president has said that bashar al assad must go. he's a president of a country who's committed war crimes. i don't think the united states or our allies are going to communicate too much with him over our actions to destroy isis on his turf. >> he could complicate things though right? because in that same interview wit

took parts of assad and killing his men and taking some prisoners they say. >> translator: rite youfreed the gangs from assad and iranians. >> reporter: and lost men to al-news yeah an al-qaeda affiliated group and fighting for control of aleppo and withdrew but remains a threat from positions nearby and they have important supply routes for both rebel and government forces wins in aleppo would be important for any side in the fight. >> it's a big city the biggest in syria, it's the commercial heart of the country and has incredibly strategic links to turkey in the north, to the heart land and the center and towards lebanon, towards the i.s.i.l. controlled areas and kurdish areas in the east so it's an important, symbolic issue that they are willing to fight to maintain their control or the areas they control because the city is divided. >> reporter: cultural heritage being wiped off and show what is left of the old city one of the country's world heritage sites. aleppo has become an incredibly difficult place to live and people are without water and electricity aand little access t

is there a western strategy to address the assad atrocities. with respect to russia and iran, is it possible to talk with russia about syria? can we talk to iran? >> of course. after we talked to russia, the fact that chemical weapons have been removed by a large have a lot to do with russia. in turn, this also proves that if russia, the united states and others have different opinions on how to deal with assad, we are not getting closer to another solution. it is more competition. the more you come to a unified position on assad, the more you will be able to define a course that takes you out of the crisis. yesterday i talked to the prime and mr. of iraq -- to the prime minister of iraq and what he told me on the basis of the challenge of ias is that he sees the atrocities that assad committed in a different light. i'm not all that convinced of -- when people and their hopes on assad and that he could be reformed, i was reluctant to believe that. one also have to look at a situation and say that with russia, a solution is easier to find than w

this is not a problem going away anytime soon, not until we defeat eiffel -- isil and assad. the u.s. cannot continue to provide billions in definitely. it is apparent -- important that we continue playing a key role in responding to this crisis and maximize our effectiveness. i am proud to yield to the ranking member of our subcommittee. >> thank you. i would like to associate myself with the chairman's remarks of the tragic death at the hands of isis terrorists. our thoughts go out to the family and friends during this difficult time. we will continue to honor kayla's memory and life's work. i want to thank you for starting with a hearing focused on the humanitarian aspect of the conflict. the title of the hearing speaks volumes. there is no end in sight. members discuss the political and security aspect this morning. this afternoon we are here to focus on the growing humanitarian crisis. there are 12.2 million in assistance. that is the population the two largest cities in the united states combined. there are 3.8 million refugees in neighboring countries. there are 241,00

bashar al-assad must be part of the solution to end fighting in the country and opposition says he is problem. also this hour understand of protesters take to the streets in bahrain to mark four years for the start of the uprising call r for political reforms. and let the fun begin, it's time for brazil's biggest party, the rio carnival. ♪ fighting intensifying in eastern u rain -- ukraine hours but a ceasefire is to take effect pro-russia separatists on the outskirts of the town today, the government has become the main focus of the combat. these images are said to show a build up of russian artillery to the northeast of the rail way junction town and tweeted by the u.s. ambassador to ukraine on friday and said we are confident these are russian military and not separatists. and these are the areas currently held by the separatist fighters rebel stronghold of donetsk has seen shelling after the ceasefire deal announced and also been reports of shelling and live fire in the rebel held town of lohansk and one of strategic importance is a rail way town linking them to russia and governm

but i believe that they also need to be creating the conditions for the removal of assad. that is a much more complex task. i understand that. i'm not trying to oversimplify it. but i think that has got to be at the end of the road. and if that is what you are pointing to, i completely agree with you. >> well, couh just say you really didn't respond. in all due respect, dr. carter, to sending young syrians, in training them and sending them into syrian and be barrel bombed by assad. and the unworkability of that is in contradiction to everything the united states ever stood for or thought for. i hope you will rethink your answer to senator graham's question. thisiddy assy of cooperating with the iranians and quote taking isil first of which bashir assad is nonsense and immoral. the committee will return at 2:45 since there is a vote at 2:30. and members who seek a second round or those members who have not asked questions will be allowed to at that time. so we'll stand in recess until 2:45. thank you. >> i don't know what to say about it, but the level has hit a stride. >>

we know that turkey has been pushing for bashar al-assad to be toppled. what are the implications for the regional neighbours? >> first of all, bashar al-assad is in no position to do anything to turkey anyway. so bashar al-assad is - the civil war is essentially controlling not much of - not all of the territory. what the regime says at this stage is irrelevant. i want to say one think. it's not just the desecration of the tomb but there were 38 soldiers protecting the hostages, that is important. the tomb itself - people don't realise it the tomb was relocated to where it is now, from another location. it was in the 1970s. she was not in its original location to begin with. income, it was only symbolling. it was not - no knowledge for is to be there. >> i want to turn the conversation back to the largest picture. the turkish troops entered syria through kobane. we know they were secured by the kurdish troops by i.s.i.l. fighters. are we seeing turkey and the kurds putting the historic differences aside and uniting against a common enemy. >> i don't thin

a perfect and there is no al-assad bombing them there. or airstrikes my concern is that it is becoming one of their most important hubbs it. is uncontested. they have access to shipments and foreign fighters to take in. i think that is an area of growing emergence that i am surprised there is not more discussion about. because of how serious of a threat it will pose including to sinai. that would be a great spot of which to launch attacks into the sinai or get ice ill groups involved in sinai? that is right again the egyptian based terrorist group that recently affiliate with the isis. we worry about the threat posed to the western interests to egypt. and the tourists. american businesses and also our troop presence. that would be a mistake in your opinion to simply focus the fight against isis as being syria and iraq this group is increasing their footprint and presence in multiple stages including afghanistan throughout north africa. and particularly libya. that is correct and they have expanded their reach and i want to ask you about g

isn't it true that unless we buy into something that is about getting rid of assad turkey we will not engage in a way that we want them to? >> the turks have not said that in my talks with them. they share the same goal with respect to syria which is it will not be determined by military force and ultimately we desire of political outcome that is the desire of the syrian people and that outcome is one that does not include bishara al-assad. i have not had in my conversation with the turks, the requirement that we take assertive action against the cyber al-assad as a pretext for the turks to have any greater role in dealing with isil. >> isn't that true it true syria is still allowing foreign fighters -- isn't it true that turkey is allowing foreign fighters into syria? >> if foreign fighters get into syria it is not because the turks are allowing them. i have watched him grow up this problem. it is a greater problem that many of us has gotten the beginning. we are seeking greater information sharing and intelligence sharing with them. we we're restructuring some elements of the coalit

assad, iran, others. you can clearly see a scenario where you defeat isil you drive them out where you see this chain from iran to a shia-dominated iraq to assad to hezbollah to hamas. we have to be conscious that, you know, that is one outcome here, which is not an outcome i desire. i think it's an outcome that, you know, puts some of our closest allies in a very precarious position. and maybe even creates a worse seecenario in this. as we members of congress engage in this debate, we have to be very conscious of all possible scenarios. ambassador jeffrey you touched on, you know, the lessons from vietnam that -- i can imagine a ground campaign in iraq with shia my shia militia, with iraqi forces, a prolonged ground come pain that drives out iraq. but what happens in that bordering country in syria? there isn't a moderate syrian force that can cut off that line of retreat. that then draws us into another rabbit hole. and another prolonged scenario. so, you know, i guess in the minute i have i think start