years arguing over whether assad should leave in a month or in two months or in six months. and years have gone by so let's not waste more time on that question i mean there is no railways in india wasting more going to milan italy but like you've said it does feel like you know the state dept is back on to the outside moscow thing you know and i mean isn't it a little strange i mean you seem like a sensible man like you're not really picking sides is it a little strange the fact that there is a country or several countries which openly demand change in other governments by force why is that ok and if minutes well it just said you know sorry we've had enough of you trump you must go on that you know start arming anti trump extremists how would that look like to america you know if i had to do the list of who's responsible i think we wouldn't we would have enough time in an hour but certainly to the regimes disproportionate response the decision by by several outsiders to to as i say makes the objective which is to end the violence with the political objective which was to ge

must say assad moscow issue has been a debate forever and washington was first very adamant about assad must go now we hear well wait you can maybe stay do you feel that state department has a clear cut line one it comes to syria doesn't really know what it's doing as i think what happened is we went through as you say for a period of a sudden must go then during the first months of the trump administration it sounded as if that position had softened if you go back and look at some of the statements that secretary of state to listen or u.n. ambassador nikki haley made one thought that maybe there was a shift of late very clearly certainly in the words of secular tillerson were back to assad must go as i said earlier i think for already now should not be assad stays as goes we all could have our views and whether he's the right person to lead syria at this time the party for international crisis group is not let's not focus on that now let's focus on ending the war and let's not make intermingle the humanitarian concern which is the bombing of hospitals the bombing of civilians the shell

have really helped prop up the assad regime in a way that allows him to feel confident in his ability to remain in power in the future the rebels told. what happens if that forms joe well larry if it falls certainly it would be tragic and right now we're witnessing a very defensive crouch on american policy in syria we essentially are supporting the syrian kurdish minority military apparatus to protect a non clave and protecting them from iranian intervention russian intervention and whatnot but there's really no policy here so as enclaves may fall it's not clear what the next way forward is and the failure of the administration to gather significant diplomatic leverage and pool the warring parties together not includes engaging iran and russia the failure to do that is essentially leaving us in this continuous cycle of syrian government forces running over and cliff sometimes successfully sometimes not but not really seeing and to this tragic conflict alone is seen as the great moral issue. what are we doing. absolutely is a moral issue as you said in the opening there have been hund

must say assad moscow issue has been a debate forever and washington was first very adamant about assad must go now we hear well wait you can maybe stay do you feel that state department has a clear cut line one it comes to syria doesn't really know what it's doing because i think what happened is we went for as you say for a period of a sudden let's go then during the first months of the trump administration it sounded as if that position had softened if you go back and look at some of the statements that secretary of state tillerson or u.n. ambassador nikki haley made one thought that maybe there was a shift of late very clearly certainly in the words of secular tillerson were back to assad must go as i said earlier i think for prodi now should not be assad stays as it goes we all could have our views and whether he is the right person to lead syria at this time the party for international crisis group is not let's not focus on that now let's focus on ending the war and let's not make intermingle the humanitarian concern which is the bombing of hospitals or bombing of civilians the sh

group talking about the war in syria is growing more and more complex mr malley you met president assad in person do you think you will stop short of conquering the whole territory from the rebels i mean what recovering its unity under asaad may ultimately be better for syria than splintering it into a patchwork of rebel warlords controlled areas. so i made him many many years ago before before the war so i can't i can't really claim that i know from those meetings how he will act i think we know from the way he's been conducting the war that the goal is to reconquer or to retake as much of syria's possible and perhaps all of syria i don't think that that's something that's going to happen in the near term because of turkey's presence and because of the u.s. and kurdish presence in the in the east so i don't i don't think that that's going to be an attainable goal it is a goal that in the medium to long term the regime is going to continue pursuing you know it is going to raise an issue i mean again one one could one could say that when they take a position one way or the other about wh

when it began to shine a spotlight in assad's role of killing his own people. the growing concern in this dangerous and destabilizing activity is russia. russia failed to ensure that syria can -- when they found assad liable for chemical attacks. russia used its veto to shield aside five times last year. it is also provided cover for syria at the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons. russians complained recently that we criticize them too much. if the russian government stopped using chemical weapons to assassinate its enemies, and if the russian government stopped helping his syrian allies to use chemical weapons to kill syrian children, and oppression cooperated with the organization for the prohibition of comic weapons by turning over all information regarding this nerve agent, we'll stop talking about them.

they directed their frustration and anger had president bashar al assad and his ruling ba'ath party assad refused to compromise. he accused protesters of being radicals and foreign conspirators and then he ordered a crackdown. assad sent the military in to crush dissent. the opposition took up arms. the rebels were divided along ethnic and sectarian lines but they organized into fighting units and took on forces loyal to assad across the country. was. the violence escalated. atrocities and rights abuses became more frequent the un said all sides were to blame a poison gas attack blamed on assad killed more than fourteen hundred people including children it was a new low. people started to flee the cities under siege and starvation became a weapon of war against those who remained while. this was happening another force was gaining strength the so-called islamic state they were fighting everyone not only the government but also rebel groups after they took over vast parts of syria and people sought their brutality the united states started bombing them from the air other foreign powers als

government and yet what sort of what shocks me is that whenever the assad regime seems to be making progress in expanding its realm of the government within syria for example rolling back isis from iraq places like this they get hit with new allegations of chemical weapons since most recently about a month ago what do you make of these that new recent allegations that assad has been using chemical weapons and basing the russians have been allowing it. well i believe that assad has not been using chemical weapons i think that nearly all of these charges against assad's regime as using them have been fake i think they've been essentially well if you look at the record and the almost all of these incidents of course take place in areas that are controlled by the so-called rebels and they have the ability to both carry out the attack and stage how it is viewed. it said something like the white helmet that are also being used as a propaganda tool when you control the turf when you control the media that comes out of it and you have a lot of fellow travellers in in the west and elsewhere

congressional hearing that quote assad won his war to stay in power a lot of people would say that's because of the united states and its refusal to get more involved in getting rid of him is that fair or not i think the united states played a role the international community more broadly played a role the timing of the conflict in the throes of other conflicts or rupturing and uprisings across the region no doubt also did too and frankly those inside syria have their own agency you know this idea though of what assad wins is a pretty interesting one to think about he's no doubt won a long term insurgency even as he tries to take more and more control of syrian territory he's also won some sort of interesting dynamics with the russians the iranians and hezbollah how does a what do they see is their long term goal in syria what do they plan to do what sort of weapon systems do they want to keep in syria what sort of military presence what sort of activities do they want to launch from syria so his winning is not an entirely positive affair even in his eyes i suspect but you worked in

regime with the justification be that al assad was quote killing his own people and more recently it has become i think a push for the united states to have rebel relevancy in the peace talks that will eventually decide what syria is going to look like and of course but will also include regime change and getting rid of al assad so the the the just because you keep shifting and we have nikki haley at the u.n. saying horrific things like we don't care what the rest of the world says but we have a right as americans to do whatever we want in syria i mean that's a ridiculous faves. yes syria reminds me a mixture it's a mixture of vietnam and afghanistan where on one hand you have the u.s. advisers that are on the ground as the early days of vietnam and again a lot of justification about this idea of fighting against a tyrant at that time it was the men and then in afghanistan where you're bringing in troops with the free syrian army being comprised of many foreign jihadists who've been brought in like the mujahideen war in the eighty's basically to overthrow sort of a russian friendly r

it's a bombed out shell. >> it's vintage assad.t's assad pre-2011, when he presented himself as the every man. a man who would drive himself everywhere. so he's back to that look. but assad was never realistically going to negotiate his own demise, not while the russians and iranians backed him on the ground. >> so? >> he's here to stay. >> that's it? you don't see any way out of this. there's no negotiated political solution? >> i think at the end of the day, there has to be a negotiated political solution. but the notion that assad must go is unrealistic. >> thank you so much for reminding us of all the horror that continues there. seven years on and counting. >> thank you. >> that is it for our program tonight. thanks for watching "amanpour" on pbs. join us again tomorrow night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪ >>> "amanpour" on pbs was made possible by the generous support of rosalind p. walter. katty: you are watching "beyond 100 days" on pbs. facebook cause share price continues to slide after revelations of huge data

it is more important to turkey that is to the assad regime. the assad regime is not fighting isis. the assad regime has every incentive actually to make sure that extremist groups perpetuate themselves inside of syria so the outside powers can't come in and strengthen the opposition and make a legitimate and democratic. therefore, i think we really have to be eyes wide open but different actors objectives, and we also need to recognize that we can't just fight isis alone. we actually need to start working now on creating conditions of stability and different areas of syria just like ilan said. so that over time there is hope for stabilization, a generation, not adhere. >> kimberly kagan, the founder president of the institute for the study of war, nancy lipper, president of the usip, and try to director for the middle east security program. we are at the u.s. institute of peace. on joshua johnson from 1a on npr. nancy, let me come back to you. let's .1 a clip from its simple purchases from -- both from damascus. they are addressing something that is on the vines of a lot of syrians

the assad regime is not fighting is isis. the assad regime has every incentive to make sure that extremist groups perpetuate themselves so that outside powers can't come in and strengthen the opposition and make it legitimate and democratic. therefore, i think we really have to be eyes wide open about different actors' objectives and we also need to recognize that we can't just fight isis alone. we actually need to start working now on creating conditions of stability in different areas of syria so that over time there is hope for stabilization, a generation, not a year. >> you are listening to kimberly kagen. nancy lindborg and elon goldenburg. this is panel on foreign policy in fragile states. i'm joshua johnson from 1 a on npr. nancy, let me come back to you. let's play one more clip from istanbul, both from damascus addressing something on the minds of a lot of syrians which is the violence going on for seven years. hundreds of thousands of lives lost, most recently in a place located just east of damascus. >> you know, n

then the intervention of russia in support of the assad regime.ecisive moment in the war that saw the government win back the second city of aleppo. and in eastern syria, the islamic state group growing a sizable force, taking territory and further fracturing the opposition. syrians fled the country in the millions. as the refugee crisis reached europe, calls grew the end of the bloodshed. faltering u.n. peace talks produced a cease-fire, but no meaningful breakthrough. meanwhile my russia, iran and turkey launched their own round of talks and they also had a limited success. war is more's complex and international than ever before. control twoorces thirds of the country with the rebels and the islamic state groups still present in some pockets of land. kurdish militias occupy much of the north, but turkey and allied forces launched an operation to clear them from the region in january. as t the war enters its eighghth year, , assad's hold looks stro. tens of thousands still live under siege and more than nine -9 million people are displaced. anch

will stop at nothing to use its permanent seat on this council to shield its al allies, bashir al assad, from even the faintest criticism. and we cannot take these actions because instead of calling out how assad, russia and iran made a mockery of calls for cease fire, too many members of this council wanted to wait. this is a travesty. this is the ugly reality on the ground in syria today. cynical accusations of bad faith from russia will not stop us from speaking out. and their blatantly false narratives will not stop us from telling the world about russia's central role in bombing the

demanded that assad goes, russia made sure he didn't. putin bet big on the assad regime and won big. but syria is only one front in putin's war. he keeps making awe bets. crimea redrawing boarders set after world war ii and nobody stopped him. >> russia's decision to send troops into crimea drawn global condemnation. >> and prorussia hackers, ukraine says he attacked their presidential election. since then, investigators have alleged putin used hackers, spies or fake news campaigns to attack elections in the czech republic, austria, boll boll car ya, norway, using the same tacti tactics, putin according to u.s. intelligence worked to undermine or political process and nobody stopped him. now according to the british government, the russians used a chemical weapon to poison an enemy on british soil. >> we will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil. >> the bets keep getting bigger and so does putin's place but placing these outrageous bets. he has, like it or not, made russia great again. >> next, my i

its forces have taken full control of the syrian town of a free and from this crisis and president assad made syrian troops in a single where they've now we take an eighty percent of the enclave. don't suit us on this is al jazeera live from london also coming up observers report violations of polling stations across russia where the kremlin is hoping for a high turnout of latham of putin's expected victory republican senate president trying not to shut down robert muller's investigation after he steps up his twitter attacks on the winter paralympics wrap up in south korea for recording the events that's it it sounds. in serious north western african region have vowed to fight song after the main town was taken by turkish forces. so he has declared victory in a free and raising the turkish flying in the town because the shop ministration now says it will use guerrilla tactics to become quote a constant nightmare for the turkish forces on korea's operation to clear the region of y p g finances in january and correct considers the one p.g. a terrorist organization links to the p.k. k. simm

to carry out airstrikes against bashar al assad's government. because the of the details. representatives of the russian armed forces have said they have intimation and reason to believe that the united states it's as talent base in syria has been preparing squads of rebels fighters to stage a chemical provocation a chemical weapons attack in the south of syria in doubt which borders jordan and israel they've been provided allegedly as when years twenty tons of norene this one is dead to date is disguised as disguise this cigarette packs and this attack is imminent the fed's officials have said that this attack will be blamed on the syrian government and will be used this is an excuse by the united states and its allies to strike could push al assad to his government did his military directly then they provoke the provocations mentioned will be used as a pretext that the united states and its allies to conduct airstrikes against military and state infrastructure in syria we're seeing that such strikes are being prepared by warships in the mediterranean the red sea and in t

and we know russia has helped enable iran's expansion in syria by prolonging assad's grip on power.and in hand, criminal and terrorists, putin and assad have cleared a path for the iranian regime to expand its military footprint. make no mistake -- iran is building an advanced military presence in syria and we risk willfully disregarding this reality if we cling to a failed policy of negotiating with russia. that's precisely what we are doing if we continue to seek out agreements to de-escalate areas in syria. these agreements with russia are dangerous. they are in fact paving the way for iran to stay in syria. that's why it's well past time for the president to recognize that in syria, here at home, or around the world, russia is not a partner for stability or peace at the end of the day. [applause] senator menendez: russia has made it clear that its alliances -- its made its alliances clear with a slaughter of civilians, dropping bombs on hospitals, on homes, on humanitarian aid convoys working to care for people under siege. and putin continues to exploit the migration crisis to

the assad regime is not fighting isis. the assad regime has every incentive actually to make sure that extremist groups perpetuate themselves inside of syria so that outside powers can't come in and strengthen the opposition and make it a legitimate and democratic. therefore, i we really have to be eyes wide open as different actors objectives, and we also to recognize that we can't just like isis alone. we actually need to start working now on creating conditions of stability and different areas of syria just like ilan said, so that over time there is hope for stabilization, a generation, not a year. >> you're listening to kimber taken, , the founder present for the institute for the study of war. nancy linford, the president of the united states institute of peace and ilan goldenberg, senior fellow from the center for a new american security. this is america broad brought n foreign-policy and fragile states at the u.s. institute of peace. on joshua johnson from 1a on npr. nancy, let me come back to you. let's play one mo

group talking about the war in syria is growing more and more complex mr malley you met president assad in person do you think you'll stop short of conquering the whole territory from the rebels i mean what recovering its unity under asset may ultimately be better for syria than splintering it into a patchwork of rebel warlords controlled areas. so i met in many many years ago before before the war so i can't i can't really claim that i know from those meetings how he will act i think we know from the way he's been conducting the war that the goal is to reconquer or to retake as much of syria's possible and perhaps all of syria i don't think that that's something that's going to happen in the near term because of turkey's presence and because of the u.s. and kurdish presence in the in the east so i don't i don't think that that's going to be an attainable goal it is a goal that in the medium to long term the regime is going to continue pursuing you know does is going to raise an issue i mean again one one could one could say that when they take a position one way or the other about whet

we should not engage in armed conflict with them chemical weapons on their alleged use by president assad have dominated the u.n. security council meeting this week even though the talks were supposed to focus on relief efforts. and the. u.s. in envoy even went so far as to issue threats to syria we also warn any nation that is determined to impose its will through chemical attacks and end human suffering most especially the outlaw syrian regime the united states remains prepared to act if we must in the past sixteen days there have been three separate allegations of chlorine gas attacks because that when you want to build up look we understand the goal of this just information campaign is to manipulate public opinion and convince people the syrian government is using chemical weapons issue but we have reasonable concerns that there are preparations to stage fake chemical attacks in order to later accuse the government and according to our data on the fifth of march the only terrorists used chlorine in eastern goods that injuring thirty people the u.s. envoy strangely enough pushed the se

bashar al assad's crimes were being pushed into the background. this happened in spite of the thousands of civilians who were killed by his forces in july twenty fourth two months after the russian veto the syrian opposition attempted to reserve rect caesar still seeing. this time they went to the u.s. congress which opposed the military intervention in syria even after the chemical attacks and. a group of republican support and u.s. intervention. evan mcmullan a member of the commission of foreign affairs arranged for caesar the photographer to be interviewed in front of members of congress. we knew that most people in the united states didn't know or of us its mass atrocities and the idea was that if americans understood more what exactly atsic was doing if they really understood they would have much more sympathy and they would expect i believe our leaders to do more and especially the president who is our commander in chief and who leads our form of a c to do more to act to stop assad's. trustees. caesar was in hiding afraid of being captured

president assad meets syrian troops in eastern goods where they've now we've taken eighty percent of the enclave. trumper news is attack on the special council investigating the us presidential election publicans warned him not to sack. the residents of cape town may be forced to turn off the taps by july . now polls have officially closed in russia's presidential election which is widely being viewed as a foregone conclusion with an overwhelming victory for incumbent president but in a putin is the latest on the exit polls with first two percent of the vote counted goosen is projected to take seventy three percent of the vote is nearest rival is communist counted it in who's sitting on eleven point two percent gruden in is a multimillionaire tycoon who's been critical of the government but not to send just behind him on six point seven percent is ultra nationalists vladimir zhirinovsky former reality t.v. star cosign a sob was one of the most high profile candidates but she's in fourth position with just two and a half percent of the vote well in the absence of credible opponents to

it would mean that one day bashar assad could appear before a tribunal. the russians use their veto. for those who support bashar assad cesar's photos did not prove that these crimes were committed by the bathurst regime. citron if you don't slow enough a zone they came in early for indian will say to believe this is. a. good result if we have fair play but when two days old miss group or do you foresee which could bore day for the year. but you do know for goofy. so that. you hockey oakley. and others i am a sufi sword. and that the words we make use them and you will get on the whole the feet will. be the muscle danny and the jimmy and the muscle into the model hold up . your own will come and they will you know what i look like across the u.s. into the hall for connecticut and i've been with them i believe many of those them up late those are small most of my book. the international community has been powerless since the start of the conflict in syria in june twenty fourth teen the islamic state in iraq and the levant isis announced the creation of an

what is the goal of assad? >> well, assad is trying to create a demographic change.o leave and allow it to be given, essentially, to iran. this is the last, the last position that iran needs to create their bridge, their land bridge between tehran and lebanon. we talked about this on your show priestly, and this is the last -- previously, and this is the last stronghold. by allowing them that access, it gives them another stronghold for iran in damascus. eric: what should the united states be doing? we had the airstrikes when the first chemical attack occurred last april, and now there are reports of more chlorine gas attacks. what are you calling on the president right now to do? >> so exactly like you said is, there were the attacks before, and what's needed right now are more attacks on to air bases, on to the assad regime's air bases to ground his air force. we need to show a serious push for force against the assad regime. otherwise we'll never be able to properly bring the assad regime ask the russians and the iranians to a negotiating table. eric: what about t

cetus when the population rose up against assad in the one nine hundred eighty s. and that is also was very similar to know actually in the you skipped scale if you consider how little the seat us population was then but then they swore and. the resist doesn't need the experience of the nineteen eighties you know it's in the majority population against may not at the other white regime backed by iran and russia you and i we've spoken before. about you know the problems in the middle east but what i hear you saying time and time again is how far this goes back in history of in shock about the one nine hundred eighty s. but you talk many times about the obama admin and yet the obama administration do you think there were fatal mistakes made by president obama that have led us to this apocalypse. now that the un has described the woman said what exactly you have to say through his speechwriter at rhodes once he thought the speech would have on the wall that he thought that privately and even publicly saying look oh these are thrives and they've been fighting for centu

like to see the assad regime step down and so you want to get turkish pressure to get assad out as fast as possible and put a new government so i think this is a double gambit on the on the turkish part to really put pressure on the side and put the end to end of this war but at same time their main goal is preventing kurdish independence from ok we thank you very much the whole partner for speaking to us thank you let's stay in syria that's where the main rebel group in eastern of all clave in that enclave rather says it's negotiating a possible ceasefire with the un more than twenty thousand people have fled fighting there as reports. this is still happening in the besieged pockets of rebel held eastern buthe the strikes and shelling have continued on duma one of the largest and most populated parts of the entries from inside duma this footage from a drone shows the shrinking boundary between rebel fighters and advancing forces loyal to president bashar al assad thousands of people have been wounded in more than fifteen hundred killed in the latest on slot for. sure that we hold the u

to carry out airstrikes against bashar al assad's government r.t.s. what does the of has the details. representatives of the russian armed forces have said they have intonation and reason to believe that the united states it's as a talent base in syria has been preparing squads of rebels try to is to stage a chemical probably cation a chemical weapons attack in the south of syria in doubt which borders jordan and these rail they've been provided allegedly as when years twenty tons of norene this one is dead to date is disguised as disguised as cigarette packs and this attack is imminent defense officials have said that this attack will be blamed on the syrian government and will be used this is the excuse by the united states and its allies to show a good bashar al assad to his government did his military directly then we put a look at the provocations mentioned will be used as a pretext of the united states and its allies to conduct an strikes against military and state infrastructure in syria we're seeing that such strikes are being prepared by wars

the fact t moving at all is a sign of president assad's confidence. syrian armed forces are going ahead into eastern ghouta that way, of course with the russian allies, and if they win -- at the moment, that is the way it appears to be -- president assad will have scored a very significant victory, because for the first time sce the war started, he will have secured his capital. the enclave has been controlled by islamist militias since 2012. some militias are negotiated, -- negotiating, and there ista of a deal, but not yet. the syrian army says it is fighting terroghsts in eastern ta, who fired hundreds of mortars into damascus this year, killing many civilians. even so, damascus a few miles away has suffered much less destruction and death eastern ghouta. but i found in a small basement flat, statistics don't matter when an attack has changed your family's life forever. everyone in this family was wounded by a mortar 10 days ago. they were out together picking up the children from school when the mortar hit. he lost three toes. a his wife haserious

topple assad in the next year? mr. votel: that's not my assessment. mr. graham: is iran helping assad? mr. votel: iran has been a key enabler of the regime for a while. mr. graham: is russia helping assad? mr. votel: they also are a key enabler of the regime. mr. graham: is it too strong a statement to say that with russia and iran, assad has won the civil war -- iran's help, assad has won the civil war in syria? mr. votel: i don't think that's too strong of a statement. they have provided him the wherewithal to be asent dent at this point. mr. graham: is it still our policy that assad must go? mr. votel: i don't know that that's our particular policy at this particular point. our focus remains on the defeat of isis. mr. graham: if you don't know, i doubt if anybody knows because it's your job to take care of this part of the world. what does it mean if iran and russia and assad have won in syria? what does it mean to us and to the region? mr. votel: it means that we will contend with this influence of iran in this

in this way. >> woodruff: everyone assumes assad comes out of thisus victor y. notes inl mplicated than that. i think there are a lot of players that have influence in syria right now. iran, of course, and russia, his main allyoy, but, know, we heard today from the numr-two at hezbollah that they will not accept a peace agreement that doesn't include c assad inharge. so at the same time, it's very unlikely any opposition figures are ever going to accept assad in charge post peaceful agreements. >> woodruff: just a horrific situation. it had gone on for ya. jane ferguson, really good to have you here in the states for a while. we look forward to more of your reporting from over there. hthank you. >>nks. >> woodruff: now to a surprising way to make money: the sneaker resale market, where used nikes and adidas can sell for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars. our economics correspondent paul solman has the story.t it's par our series, "making sense" which airs every thursday. >> reporter: in the back of new york's javits convention center buyers and sellers, t

extremist groups in syria are planning to frame chemical attacks to give the us a pretext to strike the assad government. that is rebel control of the syrian area of eastern crumbles and over forty eight thousand civilians flees treif humanitarian corridors. and moscow exposed twenty three british diplomats mirroring the step taken by the u.k. in response to the kremlin's alleged poisoning of former spy saturday screwed up and his daughter. thank you for watching the news headlines here at r.t. international broadcasting live from moscow and kate partridge. russia's defense ministry says rebel groups in syria have been armed with chemical weapons and are preparing to frame attacks as a pretext for the u.s. to carry out airstrikes against bashar al assad's government what i guess he of as the details representatives of the russian armed forces have said they have information reason to believe that the united states it's as talent base in syria has been preparing squads of rebels just fight as to stage a chemical provocation a chemical weapons attack in the south of syria in doubt which borders

in syria, he has propped up the dictator bashar al- assad.ern critics say, he shares the blame for the slaughter that has taken place during that country's seven-year-old civil war. john brennan, former director of the cia. >> what has happened in syria is a tragedy. and russia bears great responsibility for many deaths of innocent men, women, and children in syria, in terms of the brutal bombings that have taken place there, the support for bashar assad. basically, it's been genocide against a lot of the syrian people. >> reporter: assad will apparently stop at nothing including the use of outlawed chemical weapons on civilians to win the war. under a un agreement, syria was supposed to turn over all of its chemical weapons and facilities to be destroyed. but recently there have been more chemical attacks. and, no matter what the rest of the world may think. vladimir putin is clearly willing to deny and obfuscate, if it protects his ally, assad. >> do you believe the chemical weapons attacks in syria are fake news? >> reporter: of course. fi

declined an agreement with the assad regime to let the assad regime take over offering to prevent a turkish attack for better or worse the white b.g. was on its own if they decided to evacuate often because they felt they didn't have the strength or the public support to defend it that certainly would have negative consequences for the moving forward on the other hand if they decided to spare the city destruction possible destruction in a turkish military assault that could be part of a larger strategy which you know through a successful guerrilla campaign against turkish forces could ultimately get them some limited measure of autonomy meanwhile the syrian government has released video said to show president bashar assad visiting positions in eastern guta where his forces now control almost eighty percent of the territory state media say assad met soldiers who had been part of the effort to retake the area the un is said to be negotiating a possible cease fire with the main rebel group that. the rebels say they're in discussions about getting aid to civilians and evacuating people in need

right i think unlike the iranians who have an ideological support with the family of bashar al assad and because he is an alawite i think the russians are more pragmatic pragmatists they want to have a regime that is friendly in damascus towards moscow that doesn't need to be necessarily assad it but they need to have a regime which is similar to assad that is pro russian so the worst thing that could happen for the russians is if america expends it's small photos of the turks pounding their food or iran is expanding the photos at the expense of russia so russia sees this as you surprised in this report is sees russia syria as a jew strategic hub in the region they need it for energy they needed for military operations and it's also part of the global power game so they can't lose the regime but if it comes to. a new kind of arrangement with the turn it of forces in damascus even with some of the opposition forces russia would back it as long as this new regime would would help the russians maintain this that is in syria so in that way our son is expendable and they can they can pote

and syrian president bashar al assad has visited army positions in eastern guta where his forces now control almost eighty percent of the territory assad met with soldiers who had been taking part in the effort to retake the damascus suburb the un is said to be negotiating a possible cease fire but they may rebel group that phyla. the rebels say they're in discussions about getting aid to civilians and evacuating people with medical cases asama binge of aid has the latest on the situation in eastern. this is still happening in the besieged pockets of rebel held eastern. he strikes and shelling have continued on duma one of the largest and most populated parts of the entry from inside duma this footage from a drone shows the shrinking boundary between rebel fighters and advancing forces loyal to president bashar al assad thousands of people have been wounded in more than fifteen hundred killed in the latest onslaught from. russia we hold the united nations and the security council directly responsible for their silence around these crimes and for failing to take action to prevent thes

well in all the developments syria's president bashar assad has visited army positions in eastern guta by his forces now control almost eighty percent of the territory assad met soldiers who have been part of the effort to retake the area and the united nations is said to be negotiating a possible ceasefire with the main rebel group there those are the top stories that set for myself and the team there in london witnesses next. on counting the cost are russians getting all they bargain for economically as lemay boudin heads for reelection plus saudi aramco keeps the financial world guessing the globe's largest i.p.o. on ice will be asking what's behind the delay counting the cost on ages you.

g declined an agreement with the assad regime to let the assad regime take over offering to prevent a turkish attack for better or worse the y.p. g. was on its own if they decided to evacuate often because they felt they didn't have the strength or the public support to defend it that certainly would have negative consequences for the moving forward on the other hand if they decided to spare the city destruction possible destruction in a turkish military assault that could be part of a larger strategy which you know through a successful guerrilla campaign against turkish forces could ultimately get them some limited measure of autonomy. and the us republican senate has a warning present donald trump not to fire special counsel robert muller they say he must be allowed to investigate alleged russian meddling in the twenty sixteen presidential election as he's of tweets over the weekend trump accuse the f.b.i. leadership of lies corruption and leaking information has more from washington if twitter is any indication u.s. president donald trump is growing increasingly worried about the i