, that assad is the problem. we cannot acheive peace with assad still in power. it is to them i was directing my comments. you are right, you cannot go to the sunni community and say that the deaths in their community are less important than other communitiy. same in the kurdish community. i do not think that any deaths are less important, it is just that my comments were geared toward capitol hill, more than anything else. >> i am from rt america news. thank you all for your very powerful and thoughtful comments this morning. regarding the mixed motives that were mentioned that compromise the legal basis for u.s. interventionism in syria, you mentioned a couple of arguments that undermined the claims of humanitarian intervention such as regime change goals and fighting isis perhaps. i wanted to ask if you would consider the u.s. ally ship or partnership with saudi arabia with regard to syria as also something that might undermine the humanitarian motive claim. so that is one question. the other one is the remova

necessarily a fan of bashar al-assad.i think he is a dictator. i think he's an anti- democrat, but the truth is that with the players on the field now he's of the one that gives the christians the best chance of having a thriving community. if you look at the alternatives, never minding the notion that the united states promotes that somehow magically this is all going to come together and everyone will live in peace and harmony. it's simply not going to happen. what are the alternatives? isis for some outside related organization or assad and of those choices i think those are the realistic choices. of those choices, the best is as odd. time was maisie-- maybe as recently as 2012 or 2013 where there was talk of perhaps a syrian military pushing aside aside. there was the same talk in iraq through the 1990s that the best and most likely alternative to saddam hussein was a group of iraqi-- sunni iraqi generals. it hasn't happened and so on the choices that i think the community is facing now, their best bed-- that is with

my comment were aimed at neoconservatives and neil -- anybody is better than assad, that assad is theproblem in syria, that we cannot achieve peace with assad still in power in syria. it was to them that i was directing my comments. you're exactly right. you can't go to the sunni community and say that the deaths in their community are less important than any other community. same in the kurdish community. i don't think that any deaths are any less important than any others. it's just that my comments were really geared towards capitol hill more than anything else. >> my name is pre-ready from rt news. thank you for you powerful and thoughtful comments this morning. regarding the next motives that were mentioned, the compromise the legal basis for the u.s. intervention in syria. you mentioned a couple arguments that undermine the claims of humanitarian intervention such as regime change goals and fighting isis perhaps. i wanted to ask would you or any of you consider the u.s. ally ship or partnership with saudi arabia sort of a notorious human rights abuse? the with regard to syri cit

the intervention of russia and iran has been so powerful in terms of giving assad the backing that he needed that taking out assad is very unlikely right now and the other is a look around at what comes afterwards and i think in understanding that now we have to broker what comes afterwards now rather then thinking we can overthrow assad and then figure out who and. it seems to me crazy for us to be in a proxy war with russia and it seems crazy for me to mean for us to be antagonizing iran at a time you know their major regional player. or in my off on no you're absolutely right and unfortunately with the moment that we're in terms of the tremendous antagonism that the press and the democratic party have against russian interference in u.s. elections or involvement with the trumpet ministration the working with the russians is not seen by many as a positive thing but it has to be done and there are cease fire agreements that have worked been worked out between the u.s. russia and jordan that is actually working right now in one small sliver of syria that's supposed to be extended to t

they see no alternative that would be acceptable to them, other than assad.'t see someone who they could bring in as a replacement that could hold the country theirer and protect interests. so even though in theory, assad, int wedded to practice, they have been joined at the hip with him. they have basically defended his prerogatives all the way through. and i think the deals they are currently cutting are setting for up for success themselves, for russia, at the syrian sunnie communities, which is the majority in syria, and long-term regional stability, because it's not going to deal with the underlying problem of violent extremism. want to be athey european power? >> i think number one putin wants to do something he said publicly. he would like to essentially reconstitute the sphere of influence that was the soviet union. taking over those countries? >> without necessarily fully those countries. >> if you talk to him, he'll tell you all about the russian ofple behind the borders countries that used to be part of russia. prepared's perfectly to use military

they see no alternative acceptable to them, other than assad.n't see someone they could bring in as a replacement that could hold the country together and protect their interests. even though, in theory, they're not wedded to assad, in practice, they have been joined at the hip with hi and they have basically defended his prerogative all the way through. and i believe will continue to do so. i think the deals they are rrently cutting are setting them up for success for themselves for russia. at the expense of the syrian sunni community which is the majority in syria and long-term regional stability, because it is not going to deal with the underlying problem of violent extremists. charlie: do you think they want to be a european power? jake: number one, putin wants to do something he said publicly. he would like to reconstitute the sphere of influence that was the soviet union without necessarily fully taking over those countries except in cases like -- charlie: if you talk to him he'll tell you about all the number of russian speaking people

charlie: because they went there in support at the invitation of assad.ake: and because they were prepared to set aside any sense of basic human decency. charlie: in terms of the plight of the syrian people. jake: to carry out and support a campaign of mass slaughter. charlie: has that changed since trump became president? jake: which part? charlie: russia's policy with respect to syria. even though they have an agreement now? jake: in fact, i would argue russia believes at this point it can achieve all of its objectives in syria, essentially ensure assad is in power for the indefinite future. that it will protect its own military position in the country. charlie: some i know will argue they don't care whether assad is in power. they just want to make sure there is stability, because what putin fears most of all is instability. jake: having dealt with the russians directly for years on the syria question when i was in government, i heard them saying repeatedly we don't care about the future of the syrian crisis. however, their actions have always suggeste

assad's forces are fighting isis in a different place, a town to the south.or gains. the russians concentrating firepower on that region, as well. at the same time, i do have also a big risk between assad and the russians, as well. the assad troops have said, look, we want to continue fighting the rebels, but russians are seeing at this point they want to keep doing cease-fires and keep the focus on isis, as well. it is remarkable to see just how powerful russia has become here in syria, especially with the u.s. somewhat stepping back. >> fascinating development. fortunate to have fred pleitgen live for us in damascus, syria. thank you. >>> a big test for the trump economy today. the july jobs report coming out in less than three hours from now. we'll tell you what to expect on cnn "money stream." during our made to move 2017 clearance event, you can do endless online research about the escalade. or, you can come in and have it all for less than you might imagine. don't wait. our 2017 models will be moving fast. you can drive a car... or you can drive a cadil

president assad's forces re—take more territory from the so—called islamic state.ancelled at the last minute after a tip off from police in spain. a maximum category ten storm has made landfall on the southern coast of china's guangdong province. typhoon hato has brought hurricane force winds and downpours. earlier, hato hit hong kong and neighbouring macau. it's been classed as the worst typhoon in the region for five years. earlier we heard from reuters journalist samantha vadas in hong kong. look, a huge clean—up operation is underway, right across the city. as you can probably see, authorities have cordoned off that area. there is a huge tree which has come down, and that is just evidence that the danger is still very much present, even though that typhoon has made its way up to china. now, authorities were warning yesterday that it was just too dangerous to come outside. now, many people are returning to work this morning after having to stay at home yesterday, as it was just too dangerous. and we believe the economic loss from yesterday was something like £40

we see they are fighting assad, whether they are fighting assad, whether they are fighting assad, whether—— or. they are good our bad is not our business -- or. it seems a remarkable coincidence that, on all the key positions that the cut our government has taken in regional affairs and issues in recent years, the aljazeera network appears to have backed those positions completely. yet you say you never have any interference or any contact with the ruling family of qatar, which completely funds your network. it just seems a which completely funds your network. itjust seems a very remarkable coincidence. it is, isn't it? however, let's get back to the state of qatar that finances aljazeera. how much does it cost every year? that is not something to be... that is not revealed here. why? we are both journalists who believe in transparency. why can't we discussed... i am not allowed to tell you now the number. who is stopping you? nobody is stopping... nobody is stopping me, but there are issues, there are many issues related to this. i don't think this is the real issue with aljazeera. relat

they soo no alternative acceptable to them other than assad. at the don't see someone they could bring in as a replacement that could hold the country together and protect their interests. so even though in theory they're not wedded to assad, in practice they had been joined at the hip with him and they have basically defended his perrography shall-- prerogatives all the way through and i believe will begin to do so. i think the deals they are cutting are setting them up for success for themselves for russia at the expense of the syrian sunni communities which is the majority in syria, and long-term regional stability because it is not going to deal with the underlying problem of violent extremism. >> rose: you think they want to be a european power? >> i think number one putin wants to do something he said publicly. he with like to essentially reconstitute the sphere of influence that was in the soviet union. >> rose: without taking over this country. >> without necessarily fully taking over those countries. >> rose: because if you talk to him

we have an exclusive report as president assad's forces ta ke report as president assad's forces takes to the front line. translation: we are hellbent on victory, we are not scared of death. i'm a commander on the ground and i've been wounded three times. on terror alert in rotterdam. a rock show is cancelled at the last minute. police seize a van containing gas canisters near the venue. typhoon hato hits mainland china with hurricane force winds and torrential rain. it's left at least six people dead in macau and hong kong. there's growing concern that an online auction of rhino horns in south africa will trigger an increase in poaching. in syria, the caliphate declared by the extremist group that calls itself islamic state is crumbling. on the battlefield, it is losing ground, but the battle is being waged one town at a time. in an exclusive report, our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is on the front line of that bitter struggle. she's been travelling with president assad's forces, backed by russia and iran, as they re—take more territory, ruled for years by is. this

chemical weapons sales through the syrian strongman bashar assad.g to bring you a very disturbing new report. m godaddy type in your idea. select from designs tailored just for you and publish your site with just a few clicks-even from your... ...mobile phone. the internet is waiting start for free today at godaddy. super cool notebooks... done. that's mom taking care of business, but who takes care of mom? office depot/office max. order online and pickup in store in just one hour. ♪ taking care of business won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. if you could book a flight, then add a hotel, or car, or activity in one place and save, where would you go? ♪ e

we said assad must go and then we really weren't prepared to do much to make that happen. so there was this yawning gap. >> rose: and then i.s.i.s. to close that gap, from my perspective, we both had to increase the means, the degree to which we were engaged to try to shape circumstances there, but also become more realistic about the ends earlier on, to recognize that having assad go right at the start wasn't going to work, that you had to have a diplomatic process, i think we came too late to that. >> rose: and coming earlier would have meant what? >> for one thing, early on in the conflict, the opposition had much more battlefield momentum. they controlled larger portions of the country. the russians weren't fully engaged and the iranians and proxies were not fully engaged to the choices facing assad and backers were tottering. >> rose: he was popular in those times. >> exactly. it would have meant getting a diplomatic process going the end result which would have been a transition from power was not made maximalistic demand at the beginning. >> rose: talking about terr

bracing as a reception there reelection of president assad with a ninety nine percent percent of the vote in fairness to michael fallon who has accused russia of helping donald trump being elected us president and who says that saudi arabia is defending its security by bombing yemen did not remember any policy i don't recall any party syrian member fact finding visit to syria that happened every year with m.p.'s going that the difference if you can be sad when you are that i did meet a surgeon to shake his hand and did i miss that appraisal history of ten years to sort of what it was that was what the reception was for it was to celebrate his re-election and since it's arguably difficult for juries a male or ministers or acknowledged boss aport for president assad of syria because policy changed not only on syria but also in libya when the prospect of nato nations support for isis day actually became a reality as revealed by wiki leaks for example the disastrous absolutely disastrous intervention in libya struction of. gadhafi government which made two.

bashar assad is a war criminal thugs and a murderer like bashar al assad it's already begun their equating duro to kim jong un that's crazy talk you might think there are no concentration camps there are elections with dora himself he joins a very exclusive club including mr mcgarvie. and and and kim jong un in terms of the real repression of his people what about this guy the king of saudi arabia his opponents a tortured and executed in public his family controls everything in saudi arabia he has deprived his people of freedom democracy choice talk about dancing with the devil. what does washington do sells hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons to saudi arabia. that for double standards us foreign policy is entirely hypocritical i mean they only characterize government says dictatorial or authoritarian when they're not favorable to us interests us maintains close ties and supports their monarchy in saudi arabia that's one of the biggest abusers of human rights in the world when it comes to putting labels on governments and other nations it all depends on who's a friend or a foe

that her own defense secretary has been caught out partying with president assad of syria i suppose if you judge people by that you spend time with the question has to be you know what do you remember where you were on the twenty seventh of may two thousand and seven. going to tell me yes i am so you are in syria and you were celebrating as a reception the reelection of president assad with a ninety nine percent percent of the vote in fairness so michael fallon who has accused russia of helping donald trump being elected u.s. president and who says that saudi arabia is defending its security by bombing yemen did not remember any policy i don't recall any party surround member fact finding visit to syria that. happened every year with m.p.'s carrying that but the difference of equally sad when you were that i did meet a surgeon to shake his hand and did i miss that abrasive history of ten years on this sort of but he was that was not the reception was for us to celebrate his re-election and since it's arguably difficult for juries a man a minister acknowledged pos aport for president as

in october we need to political solution a political long term solution which sees a syria without assad could one reason she doesn't say that anymore be that her own defense secretary has been caught out partying with president assad of syria i suppose if you judge people by you spend time with the question asked to be you know what do you remember where you are on the twenty seventh of may two thousand and seven. going to tell me yes i am so you are in syria and you were celebrating as a reception there reelection of president assad with a ninety nine percent percent of the vote in friends so michael fallon who has accused russia of helping donald trump being elected u.s. president and who says that saudi arabia is defending its security by bombing yemen did not remember any policy i don't recall any party syrian member fact finding visit to syria that happened every year with m.p.'s carrying the difference if you can be sad when you were that i did meet a surgeon to shake his hand and did i imagine that a brace of history have turned you know sort of what it was that was what the rece

people started asking what would happen to president assad.d you are putting the cart before the horse because if we are talking about constitutional reform, the constitutional reform may come up in the parliamentary system. charlie: the syrian people should decide what happens. >> the syrian people should decide the formal government, and after they decide the formal government, they should decide who is in it, so for people to have prolonged this conflict for at least four years, because this idea was on the table since 2013, and as secretary kerry has said time and again, this idea, my plan, formed the basis for security council resolution 2254 on syria, which unfortunately was adopted two years later. or even more than two years later. so we are talking about real situations. we need to bring these conflicts to an end. we need to bring the war in syria to an end. we need to bring the senseless bombing -- charlie: how do we bring the war in syria to an end? >> as i said cease-fire. believe ayou cease-fire in that small region will hold? >>

we have been reporting exclusively from the front line of assad's forces in syria. the caliphate declared by the extremist group that calls itself islamic state is crumbling. on the battlefield, it is losing ground one town at a time, president assad's forces, backed by troops from russia and iran, are slowly re—taking more territory that's been ruled for years by is. dutch authorities have ordered the last minute cancellation of a rock concert in rotterdam. it follows a tip—off from anti—terror police in spain. the city's mayor said they'd been warned a terror attack was being planned on a concert by the american band allah—las. australia's deputy prime minister barnabyjoyce is among at least five senior government figures fighting a legal battle that's threatening to topple the country's conservative government. australia's top court has begun examining an obscure law that bar's dual citizens from sitting in parliament. now on bbc news, time for click. this week and next, a repeat of click‘s stellar trip to india, with bangla bangers... smoggy sunsets... and angry

we have an exclusive report as president assad's forces ta ke report as president assad's forces taker on the ground and i've been wounded three times. 0n terror alert in rotterdam. a rock show is cancelled at the last minute. police seize a van containing gas canisters near the venue. typhoon hato hits mainland china with hurricane force winds and torrential rain. it's left at least six people dead in macau and hong kong. there's growing concern that an online auction of rhino horns in south africa will trigger an increase in poaching.

the russians and whether we like it or not the iranians we're going to have to accept the fact that assad is not going anywhere nor should he whether we like it or not his is the internationally recognized government of syria no one has given the us legal authority to decide the fate of other nations by any means and since world war two the united states has interfered as we know in at least eighty two foreign elections though not in the bad russian way presumably and bombed over thirty countries. this is no one appointed to us to this role this is not a legal this is not enforcing law this is violating law and so it has to end the nation magazine or it's action dot org and watchdog dot net are just some organizations that are sponsoring this petition so far fifty thousand people have signed a document in hopes of ending the u.s. is involvement in the syrian war and washington national banks are. we're going to talk about this a little more now with the executive director of the institute for public accuracy and coordinate or poor redaction dot org norman solomon how are you today norman

something the assad regime made sure to point out is the fair kicked off. i have the you know monica this is one of the battles which is an economic battle. it's a battle against the sanctions in the european economic siege. alert me cool western countries that have imposed a scene just to note that the siege is not legal or moral. because it harms people up on that we have an activity we're seeing now with the participation of a big number of companies and countries. it means the beginning of a syrian economic rise tiny midday nobody saw the so. let's take a look it's more of today's top business headlines. c. e. o. indian tech giant infosys has resigned in a lengthy resignation letter michelle seek a complplaintf quote fox baseless and malicious attacks against him personally. following intense criticism by the company's founders to go was appointed in twenty fourteen democracy now! >> president trump is an accomplice to terrorism after his pathetic reaction to charlottesville, kkk, neo-nazis jump up and down with joy. if that is not being in a conference

but the russian position is backing assad and fighting any opposition.as long as you do not see improved perspective on the russian side, i do not see any margin for improvement. claire: thank you very much for your time. benjamin hadaad of the hudson institute. "we are not your enemy, co-the the words from" rex tillerson to north korea as they claim their latest nuclear missile could reach major sites in the u.s.. >> we have reaffirmed our position toward north korea, we are doing, we do not seek a regime change, not a collapse of the regime. we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula. we do not see an excuse to to send our military north of the 30th -- 38th parallel. we are trying to convey that we are not your threat, but you are presenting in i -- and unacceptable threat to us. 96, and has completed more than 22,000 solo engagements over the past 65 years. he announced his retirement in may. later, he is meeting royal marines who have taken part in a long trek in an aide for charity. the queen is 91. news -- big football this weeks

bashar al-assad. >> bashar al-assad, i know you mispronounced his name a few times. >> who didn't evenusing chemical weapons. jonathan, somebody's asking questions, it's not your press briefing. major, you want to come on up? and with that, i'll take some questions. steve holland. >> steve holland's not here. >> david jackson. >> david's not here. >> i'll let the tweets speak for themselves. that's the silliest thing i've ever heard. this is silly. stop shaking your head again. >> sean, come on, sean. sean... >> sean... ( applause ) >> trevor: good buy -- goodbye, spice. we'll -- we'll -- we'll miss -- we'll -- we'll -- we'll miss -- we'll be right back. which one of you has been eating all we'll -- we'll -- we'll miss -- we'll be right back. the cheetos snacks? okay, i've given you guys a chance to confess. this little baby can detect trace amounts of cheetos dust. whaaaaat? gloria? kids? [meow] when did we get a cat? dangerously cheesy. jwith seasoned beaf,d, but he's comforting himself hearty potatoes and warm nacho cheese sauce. bye jenny. ♪ taste the comfort with the new dollar be

russia has been providing air support to assad's military forces since 2015.syrian forces, backed by russia and by iranian militias, have seized thousands of square miles from rebels and isis militants, including the central province of homs. isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in a crowded market in the pakistani city of quetta. the blast killed at least 15 people and wounded 40 others yesterday. the bomber, riding a motorcycle, rammed a military truck near a busy bus station. eight soldiers were among the casualties. a military spokesman said it was an attempt to disrupt tomorrow's 70th anniversary of pakistani independence. flooding and landslides have killed at least 47 people in nepal this weekend, with several dozen people missing. three days of heavy rains during the region's monsoon season have displaced more than 30,000 families. the floods have toppled telephone and power lines, cutting electricity and communications in many areas. tomorrow on "the newshour," longtime california congresswoman maxine waters joins us for our series "o

my name is assad. assad and malkit are now in their 80s. assad is a muslim, malkit is a sikh.f india, and these scrolls have been written by people who survived the partition. when the new border was drawn, malkit had already made the journey to india with thousands of other sikhs, but his father was stuck on the wrong side of pakistan. 0ur homeland, punjab, was split into two. meanwhile, assad and his family were trying to flee in the opposite direction. special trains were the only way out for both, but each family faced a perilous journey. people were running like mad, as if it was doomsday. people had no idea what they were doing. they had children, they had luggage. they were running towards that special train. the mob of muslims gathered there, and they tried to loot us and murderthem. but my brother said, "i have a bomb in my hand. if you want to loot the things, you can do it, but don't come near me". it was jam—packed, and it was nearly sunset when we reached the border of india and pakistan. so the people who were sitting on the top of the roof of the train, they tho