has iran withdrawn support of the assad regime? b if not what kind of support do they send damascus? >> thank you, congressman. iran has absolutely not withdrawn report for the ast saturdays regime. we see the iranians sending not only their own forces, you you have revolutionary guard core officers in syria. but we see them cultivating and sometimes sending over proxies. hezbollah, afghanistan forces have been there. it's entrenching itself in the social fabric in syria. which tells you they are there to stay. iran would be turning syria into forward operating base for missiles and other power projex tools if it weren't for a airstrikes. they haven't deterred iran to continue to focus on power projection base. >> i yield back. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, guys, i want to completely associate myself with the remarks. i wish you were here under circumstances that were different, but here we are. i don't think there's an administration anymore. we have a president who is acting on husband impulses. and the pol

host: they are against bashar al-assad. guest: which makes this a complicated operation because turkey is building a counter assad force, but using that to fight the american local partner in the east. iskey's reason for fighting its leadership is kurdish. there is a kurdish militia that conducts most of the capable military fighting. that is known as the ypg and is affiliate-- a syrian of a wider kurdish movement inside turkey, the pkk. president erdogan has warned the u.s. that the partnership with the ypg was unacceptable to him, however he has been negotiating for a de-escalation in the northeast. that changed during the call between president erdogan where president erdogan announced he would begin an operation in the east. host: i want to show what the president just had to say about this yesterday. he brought up the issue of turkey. >> very strong talks with a lot of people. we want to bring our soldiers back home after so many years, and the greatest war in the world they are policing. they are not a police force. w

shirley assad is stronger. assad is stronger. and this isn't good for iran? mr. hook: our military is in syria for isis, our diplomacy is focused on iran. that is why jim jeffrey and i worked together closely, because what i do on the pressure side and what he does on withholding reconstruction assistance, is mutually reinforcing. but diplomacy: has an impact if there is a military that is strong and in the region, and if our ally now aligns with our adversary, assad, that is not helpful for diplomacy and our interest in the region. that is a dramatic perspective on your part that iran is not celebrating what is happening in syria, it's extraordinary to me. let me turn to a different area. i do agree that there is an and norma's benefit in putting pressure on iran, whether it is maximum pressure or not, i don't know. but i believe a nation that decides to go nuclear should suffer a dramatic cost for doing so. whether they are at their knees or not, i don't know, and it is very hard for us to tell from the outside what is going on inside iran. but clearly, it woul

has iran withdrawn their support of the assad regime? if not, what kind of support do they still send to damascus? >> know, iran has absolutely not withdrawn it support of the regime. sending notranians only their own forces, you do have revolutionary guard officers in syria, but we see them cultivating and sometimes as well asr proxies i have any impact if any forces as well as syrian forces that they themselves have recruited and organize and paid. but we also see iran entrenching itself in the economic and social fabric of syria, which tells you that they are there to stay. would be turning syria into an operating base for missiles and other power projection tools if it weren't for israeli airstrikes which effectively stopping doing that. but the rate -- israelis themselves with tiger those airstrikes have stopped iran but they have not deterred them in continuing to focus on syria as a power projection face. >> thanks. your recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you guys. i want to completely associate myself

assad.all the sanctions in the world are not going to fix that. does the administration have a plan for countering iran and syria and can you explain what it is and how it will account for recent gains by iran backed regime forces filling the vacuum we created an northern syria? mr. hook: i like to answer your first question and i will take the next one. not pose a first question, i posed a first question as it relates to that. first, answer my question. mr. hook: the president's decision with respect to syria is not going to change our iran strategy or the efficacy of it. iran has given assad $4.6 billion in lines of sent 2500 ofhave their own fighters and helped to support assad. thatiplomatic work investor jeffrey is heading is to ensure as part of a political solution that all of the forces in iran under a running and leave syria. we are withholding a reconstruction assistance as one of the levers that we have. >> you really think that after having withdrawn and let the iranians -- what

or assad is gone.he realism of this is, we have to see the world as it is, not paint in black and white and jefferson will come riding in on a horse. i know you see the world that way but i think we haven't yet gotten there in syria to see the world in a realistic way. knowing full well there are things we don't like about the authoritarianism of most of the people over there, yet we deal with them on a daily basis. i think piece is prevented, i think assad is staying until someone talks to them. i think it will happen without us. i agree there are disagreements andeen assad and erdogan they don't right now trust him but there is a possibility. the russians will also be an influence. the russians are becoming players and we have this this political hysteria that somehow if anyone talks to putin, you somehow don't love your country. yet the israelis talk to the russians. everybody seems to have a realistic understanding of the world more than we do, particularly in our politically motivated world. my ad

assad regime just needs to keep going. the state apparatus in syria could not go on without these things. theo work with international community on a political revolution and the 2254,cts through ussc the assad regime could not defy them. could not replace all the support that the russians give. so whatever they think they need them to -- we do have continuing contact with the russians on a diplomatic level. nick can talk about military deconfliction, that is not my lane. but on a diplomatic level, we are in constant touch with the russians on the way to get to the in state, that i think we both roughly agree with. behavior in the region has to change in order for the underlying causes of the conflict to be addressed. there, we have a lot of disagreements about, and we talk about those all of the time. one way and which we were recently able to agree was in the establishment of the constitutional committee, which will be charged with undertaking constitutional reforms to try to address some of the structural problems in sy

assad, so no one wants to negotiate with assad. i think the one thing that hasn't been picked up on yet and i think it's going to be ironic because everybody seems to be concerned about the kurds is actually, i think the kurds permanent solution is much more likely to come from assad. he's there. he largely is going to stay barring something untoward happening to him from his own people, but the war is largely over. assad stays. if we're going to be realistic about this and we want to protect the kurds, maybe the diplomatic arena has gotten simplified. now essentially we have turkey on one side and syria on the other. everybody's going to talk about the sanctions which i frankly don't think will work. i think really somebody from the state department that's involved with diplomacy ought to be saying why don't we try to use our leverage to get turkey now and assad to talk, but we would have to ak nocknowledge that someone's going to talk to as d assad. i think if we did, the goal would actually be to allow the kurds to live in the n

resolution 2254 basically to assad and others means he has to go before we engage assad. is it still our government's position and you as part of our government we don't at that you can to assad and he can be part of no negotiations. >> it's our position that we don't talk to assad, but assad is part of the u.n. negotiations that we support under 2254. having been involved in one or two regime change adventures in my career this is very different. this isn't our idea to overthrow assad. president trump is september on to the ndaa a classified position to congress on 1 march of this year laying out our policies and is explicit it isn't to overthrow assad. the idea of free elections is the decision taken by the international community. >> i'm saying it's a possible opening and i think until someone talks to assad there is no opening so the war goes on forever. i think that that's the realism of this, you know, the realism of this is we have to see the world as it is not as we naively paint in black and white and jefferson is going to come riding in on a horse. i know you se

putin is already allied with assad. there is a possibility diplomacy may actually break through here. there is a real chance that the syrian civil war could come to an end if assad, with the kurds' help, would agree to secure the border and not allow kurdish raids into turkey. the permanent war caucus on both sides of the aisle claims that repositioning 50 troops is the end of the world? perhaps, just maybe, less of our presence in syria will actually lead to diplomacy and ultimately peace. only time will tell. i object. mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. schumer: madam president, i don't want to prolong this. i make two quick points. number one, my friend from kentucky thinks he knows what's better for the kurds than the kurds know. the kurds hate going into the arms of syria, hate it. second, if our friend from kentucky believes that anytime we've a small number of special forces in different places and we have them all over, that we need a declaration of war, then his view is

is just lined out but the problem of let me put it is the following he kept assad in power but he has not the financial means to stabilize this regime so this is why he needs something that looks like a political solution to make the west pay for reconstruction and to normalize relations with damascus so that's the big plan afoot you know how to get a political solution something that looks so to make everybody conciliate with assad ok very fascinating insight. to begin with to me give us an idea of what the turkish people are saying about the latest developments about turkey having such a central presence now in syria. the situation in turkey is quiet like there is only one voice of what's going on in syria and that is pretty much counsel david by the fact that the media is pretty much console they did under the influence of the government so. when the incursion started it apart from the pro turkish party h.t.t.p. almost everybody in turkey was kind of lined up behind i or the one including the main opposition party including the voices that we were thinking that the would kind of ch

the kurds are now looking to president assad for military help. the region, once a playground for so—called islamic state, has been plunged back into chaos. my guest is alan semo, representative of the syrian kurdish democratic union party in london. what are his people's options now? alan semo, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, great pleasure to be here. you represent the democratic union party of syrian kurds. should you and your people have seen donald trump's dramatic decision to withdraw us forces from your region coming? no, we haven't seen it. but should you have seen it coming? because donald trump, if one looks at the record, as long ago as last december declared that the us had won its war with islamic state, and therefore, he said, were going to withdraw our forces from northern syria. so, in that sense, you had some warning that this might happen. that's correct, but not in that extent — that we leave suddenly and without any replacement of the forces. there are people in your region talking of betrayal. is that a word you are using? it'

and with that relationship of the assad ridge on my - - regim regime? and those various organizations that they have received much acquiescing to deliver those communities inside syria. the very important security council resolution coming upe r for renewal which provides the international underpinning for the united nations toe enter into areas without the assad regime without that resolution all humanitarian aid delivered inside syria with approval that delivery is permitted to weaponize and politicize. >> my time is up. thank you very much. >> i will recognize myself. thank you both for your work. i am sure it must be ffrustrating. lop comprehensivel policy. but instead they've acted on a whim and have thrown our allies under the bus and in holding our enemies and i deeply, deeply concerned about this and of course you have seen to date in the vote we just took how bipartisan that rejection has been. but th the reputational damage t has been done you might have seen what i've seen from the scsa this is a stab in the back. why would anyone align with

first of all, restraints on assad's power, think about it this way. literally overnight because the kurds -- when the turks came in, the kurds didn't have us any more, they were forced to cut a deal with assad. and so suddenly the kurds are basically telling assad's troops come up to the cities that we once had and you now be the troops here to back us up. you take control. that's what they had to do to avoid being slaughtered. what it means in practical terms is that assad literally overnight has captured a third of the land of syria at no price, no concession. he had to make no concessions, pay no price. do nothing other than just send people up to take it. so this doesn't sound to me like we've imposed restraints on assad. it sounds like he's literally been gifted control of the national territory at no concession, no price. he had to do nothing. how about safeguarding the kurdish interests? i think that's self-explanatory. the kurds have been forced to align themselves with assad who in the short term may be fine but once this is all over i doubt

arthel: russia has stood by assad the entire time, trey yngst thank you.ric: defending president trump's decision to pull those troops out of the northern region amid bipartisan outrage over that decision. says top priority is protecting our service members and u.s. forces will be trapped between the turkish army that's moving south and russian-backed fighters moving north. garrett tenney has more from washington. >> last night president trump ordered all u.s. troops to be removed from northern syria this after ordered u.s. forces to pull out of specific areas of the region which opened the door for turkish offensive without the protection of american troops u.s. officials say the kurdish fighters in the area are cutting a deal with the russian-backed syrian government forces to help push back turkey and prevent mass slaughter, on fox news sunday defense secretary mark defended president trump's decision. >> what we are facing u.s. forces trapped between a syrian russian army moving north to take on the turkish army moving south, puts us in a terrible posi

, because assad was a russian and the iranian asset nd ally. and we were in the process working on the jcpoa, and of aligning across the region with iran. this is the dirty little secret of the obama foreign policy. ran the program is the guy who aligned us with irgc assets in iraq against isis. if you want to understand why there's a growing corridor from baghdad to beirut, it's because we just created kill zones for attacking sunnis while never ever addressing the rise of the iranians and their shiite proxies. that is true in all the cost iraq, and it's also true in syria. this is the thing i think people missed this. the pkk, the ypg, has about this entire time that they're supposed to be our proxy, they kept the assad government forces in the east. planes go from damascus and there are assad forces and hezbollah. then they use it to reinforce the position. if we were serious about having a counter iran program we would return to our proxy, the pkk and what it said, close down the assad position come close down the assad and help us close do

assad, organizably worse than saddam or chaffedy. ideology state of the march on iran and islamic terror to al news ray. exploited by russia. thus all actions in syria are driven by our core object he was defeating islamic terror, restoring syria to a civilized state, and ensuring the removal of all iranian commanded forces from that country. some argue these object he was are too ambitious. but frankly we have no other choice than to pursue them in order to lead the world out of the crisis. now in dealing with today's situation in northeast syria turkey is obviously the immediate heavy. it acted unwisely and dangerously as you have indicated despite as i'm ready to despite warning after warning and incentive after incentive from this administration to choose differently including a package of economic and security commitments and a visit to washington. as a result, millions of vulnerable syrians are syria democrat forces sdf forces in the israel, jordan and iraq and the gulf and in the end turkey itself through this intervention are

position come close down the assad and help us close down assad position.we never ever said that. if you look at what brett mcgurk wrote a few months ago when he saw trump is going to pull out, he said sadly, what i think we should do is we should broker a deal whereby we take the sdf the we built up and we should put it up under assad. that was always the plan. that was always the plan. we outlined -- >> that's what we just did. >> that was the ypg program which we took on board. my point to you and all your sink and we took on without admitting it, our military especially took on the ypg political program in syria, which benefited in the end the iranians. that was the foundation that was late. once the trump administration came in and became hostile to iran, a lot of officials, well-meaning, very much in the manner that mark described while many, good intentioned, or trying to take the position that we had built up in syria and then grabbed a counter iran strategy on. the american military was never on board. general votel, former commander of centcom we

they are supporting bashar al-assad. the kurdish forces caught in between now with bashar al-assad.hey have lost the territories they have held. they are hoping for at on ami and they have been accusing turkey of committing crimes against civilians. major players faface-to-face alg that border. >> protests continue. a political solution needs to be found in the next few days and not weeks to avoid a complete economic collapse. the leadership accusing them of corruption. >> with one kick she became an icon. when she drop kick a bodyguard shooting protesters. it was caught on camera and shared across the country. >> i was not scared. we are dying. i got closer to him and said shoot me. it is not his right to carry weapons against us. walls of women have popped up across the country. knowing both sides are afraid to touch them. manyon maintains discriminator laws. lacks prosecution allows domestic violence to go unpunished. >> when it comes to organizational protesting for our rights, we have e independet women who live by themselves and work for themselves. work ine protesters shifts,

called animal assad.d his foothole in the middle east. and now, basically we have handed syria to him. and iran. >> so talk about dynamics of that now. now, the major players in syria will be assad, iran, and russia. and now, the kurds making this alliance with bashar al assad because it seems they have no other choice besides being literally wiped out from syria if they don't make that alliance. >> absolutely. it's a deal with the devil but it's the only thing they possibly could have done. the kurds, as we know, and we've heard over and over again, have been betrayed since world war i when they were promised their own land. in 2017, i witnessed the referendum, which was their chance to try to get something of a state that they've yearned for, that they've been promised time and time again. i saw them fighting. they are among the most noble people. they empower women. they believe in freedom of speech. they were our true allies. >> one of their female political leaders killed. >> yes. absolutely. >> coup

but in nearby tell ahmad assad's troops arrived to hold the turkish advance. that we came here to tell to merit to face the turkish attack against syria and to ensure the safety of families from the random turkish shelling. the development risks a direct confrontation between syrian and turkish forces meanwhile u.s. troops are continuing their withdrawal from northern syria president donald trump has said he'll keep quote a small footprint stationed in southern syria and threaten turkey with economic sanctions for its offensive against the kurds at the white house u.s. vice president mike pence who said to fly to ankara to negotiate a cease fire with turkish president at a one set out the administration's agenda there is the president's objective here is very clear that the sanctions that were announced today will continue. and will worsen unless and until turkey. embraces an immediate cease fire stops the violence and agrees to negotiate a long term settlement of the issues along the border between turkey and syria the european union has. also condemned the o

of assad and then those guys. my response was it sounds to me ike you're raising baby crocodiles in your basement. eventually you're going to have a lot of big crocodiles. in any event this kept on going, and mike's document is awesome, should read it, this war against isis was a vicious, brutal street by street war. and no one should be mistaken by that. 2014, fallujah falls to isis. fall of until the mosul and i was in iraq at the just and again, it was hard to know what was going on. i was walking into a meeting one night, nt obama in which i got an urgent call iraqi security official that baghdad was falling and it was hard to tell. event, in the summer of 2014 is where it was decided we concerted e a very effort to push back and that's hen we developed a campaign, which i think we'll discuss. but, that was kind of the sweep it, just starting where i came into it. >> i remember that time when about iraq worried falling, baghdad falling, because i was in baghdad getting calls saying baghdad has fallen from my e

biased toward the assad regime well i'm not biased toward the assad regime i just think we ought to understand what happened. from a mosque and use its q thanks for joining us on our to international and daniel hawkins welcome to the program. intends to meddle in next year's us presidential election that was the light hearted response from vladimir putin in answer to a question about moscow's plans. he's russia as well but. attempting to influence the 2020 lections states secret codes that you secretly yes we will indeed do that so we could chew you up properly but don't tell anybody ok well that's quite a statement coming from the russian president but you have to take it with a pinch of salt because he was obviously joking but on a more serious note he was addressing probably what might become russia did it his area of volume 2 now after all the numerous investigations that we've seen into russia's alleged meddling in the us presidential elections back in 2016 all the media hype that we've seen in the past 2 years pretty much every single quarter someone screamed that it was russia that medd

turkey is looking at what russia will do instead of assad regime. i mean assad regime brought in some force which it was conducting an operation after it and a received the the answer or the response. that took you put forward and you know they were pushed back but they recently i mean did that relationship between y p g and assad regime was also interesting to look at because assad regime wants to was says claims to be wanting the territorial integrity and syria but wait the jeep was a threat to that yet at a time like this are willing to coordinate and cooperate against turkey so that's a little bit interesting to look at by the same time to eat will and what should have said that it's very unlikely that the turkish forces will come across will come for confrontation with with the assad forces but the presence is very symbolic i think for the assad forces to be there right now however how russia what we act or will coordinate assad forces is more important for turkey than the presence of some such force you know who that russian position is critic

troops are withdrawn and the kurds have turned to syria'snt presi assad for help. from the turkey-syria border, orla guerin starts our covage. orla: rolling in to a heom's we troops of the assad regime. handed a victory without firing a shot. riving today in a strategic town, look who is back. the kurds say they had to do a deal w washington left them alone too face a turkish invasion. the choice, they say, was compromise or genocide. further along the key highway, another town also back in assad's hands. loyalists resurfacing. tu"i've kept this pic hidden for years, waiting for this day ," he says. for others syrians, this term is a painful blow. we met abu and his family on the turkish side of the border. he planned to go home once kurdish militia were gone. not now. i as shocked when they told me the regime is now in control. we were happy en the turkish army went in. we were hoping to go back and live happily in our ville. no one can go back with th t regire. mohammed wants to medicine in the u.k. he cannot see a future in his meland. >> i think this idea is im

no, it would not benefit the assad regime. >> the one activity that we do have in assad-controlled areas is almost exclusively through un agencies, with few exceptions. the issue of keeping control of resources and ensuring the integrity of the program is a const challenge. it is something -- a constant challenge. it is something we watch very closely. pleased to keep the attention on it as we will as well. >> i am grateful we have bipartisan legislation on this point. covered verynot often, but i actually -- people of both parties can work together substantially, particularly in the middle east. secretary, are there any u.s. individuals they tend by the saudi government, and what claims are they making to their release? >> this is an issue of concern. nationalistual thing held by the saudis. we have been engaging with the saudi government continuously he has been held for some two years without being charged. recently, he was charged and released. they are going through a trial. we hear that is a positive development, and hopefully that trial will be over soon and he will be exonerated

the assad regime and russians do not.my question to you, and this has not gotten enough attention, what is happening to civilians in areas that are being reoccupied by the regime, what is likely to happen in the large population centers of raqqah and azor which are full of people who oppose the assad regime and who will be pursued and killed if the russians following -- and the regime following this deal are able to go back in there. >> yeah. i seldom am compli plenty interest the russians but the russians involved throughout syria tend to treat the population fairly well. you're right, the assad forces have a terrible reputation and we'll watch that as closely as possible. again, they're doing this in coordination with the sdf, the sdf have a vested interest and sincere one in making sure their people are not harmed by the regime. we have to see how this works out. >> the sdf is largely a kurdish militia. their people are not necessarily the 70% who are not kurdish. let me ask you, this is real world stuff. if the y pg i

and i think so assad is reconstituting his forces.i expect the russians and iranians and the iraqi militia's have fought inside along with solo money, inside syria, i think we're going to start seeing them retake areas of in the north and northeast as well area and so this goes back to a policy thing. you saw brett mention that the goal originally was to out assad, that's not happening now and he's back in ascendancy. and if that was our political goal, we should have seen it through, not we had to expected outcomes such as this. >> lightning round, you want to address assad or what trump said? >> i think the definition is assad retaking control of the country. and with the help of his allies. i don't think there's any other outcome possible in syria. >> i wrote one piece in foreign affairsyou can read after i left . we should narrow our goals in syria to. the resurgence of isis, i think that's now much harder. and a potential threat to israel that did a lot to help with the israelis, other than that our ability to affect the course o

troops of the assad regime. handed a victory without firing a shot. arriving today in a strategic oktown, ho is back. deal with the regime in after washington left them alone to face a turkish invasion. the choice, they say, was compromise or genocide. r furtheong the key highway, another wn also back in assad's hands. inloyalists resurfac "i've kept this picture hden for years, waiting for this day ," he says. for others syrians, this term is a painful blow. we met abu and his family on the turkish side of the border. he planned to go home once kurdish militia were gon not now. >> i was shocked when they told me the regime is now in control. we were happy when the turkish army went in. we were hopi to go back and live happily in our village. no one can go back with the regime there. orla: his young relative mohammed wants to study medicine in the u.k. he cannot see a future in his meland. >> i think this idea is hepossible because i think syrian war is endless.la does that make you feel sad? >> i'm feeling sad for my country, my people. but what i ca

they called in the assad government to reinforce them, but the assad government is only coming in slowlythe assad government has moved into several locations but not as many as the kurds need right now. as those reenforcements from the assad army are arriving, the kurds are still fighting. they are still trying to push back the militias primarily, because right now it is the militias who are doing the ground fighting and it's the militias, according to numerous witnesses, they say the militias are carrying out atrocities. so this land grab is real. both the turks and their militias want to hold as much territory as possible, perhaps to keep it, perhaps to negotiate it away at a later date. the syrian army and the kurds, who are now joined together are trying to control as much territory as possible to keep the turks from taking a piece of syria. and in the middle of all of this are u.s. troops in this country, around 1,000. they are now in their phase of deliberate withdrawal. they are consolidating to more secure locations so that they can pull out according to the administration's orde

it was a gift to russia, a gift a gift to isis, and a gift to assad. and it was a blow to our security. now, a week later, the same kurdish forces who fought with special forces to fighting s are now tooth and nail to survive slaughter, russian and regime forces have quickly by the he vacuum left united states. president trump's decision has allowed isis fighters in escape from a to prison, paving the way for a esurgence of the terrorist group. get out of jail free card, if monopoly from the old days. and the humanitarian crisis is staggering. of thousands have been displaced. families, women and children, gruesome stories of beheadings, torture and abuse, all set into motion, by the actions of the president of the united states. what kind of message does this the world? how can america be trusted to keep its word? betray one of our close partners, loyal and faithful them out just throw like an old shoe? how can america be trusted to word when we make mpulsa decisions -- impulsive decisions that have an immediate and catastrophic impact on millions of

ensureyria, it is to pressure on the assad regime. askey sees the assad regime a threat to them.and to deter iran operating in the south of turkey. these are all congruent with our interests. >> their goals are to play a leadership role in the region. >> i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for holding this meeting. thank you for your distinguished service. i don't envy you. this administration has brought this committee and house together on a bipartisan way. in a fashion that few issues have. we voted overwhelmingly to disapprove these actions. i want to talk about the u.s. strategic objective. and national security interest that you talk about. i want to ask you through each of these, beginning with the their has furthered strategic national security interests for us? >> it is an honor to serve my country. this administration. overall it is doing its very best to secure america. the one that has hit the hardest by what has happened is the defeat of isis. that was the purpose of our forces the minorities. the president has been thanked for his tireless efforts to

>> well a nightmare scenario, assad won. he es mated tdecimated the kurd project and ran back to assad for protection, a man who slaughtered a half million syrian civilians, the guy that used chemical weapons against his own people, it guy that butchered the syrians simply standing for more democracy, social justice and then we see putin that basically is the king maker, the deal maker of the middle east, the rise of isis on the other side, a force that was killed, butchered, decimated basically is revived and then turkey playing another role and dismissing the american -- i mean, american role in the middle east ends now, ends today with shame, betrayal, and genocide. >> michael, russia had its only i think foreign middle eastern base in syria, an assad syria, it was true before the war. it was the reason that putin went all in to defend assad and the reason i think in the balance it mattered to putin more than it mattered to us. quite clearly given that, does this actually mean anything extra, this sort of rapid withdrawal

of butcher and today assad destroyed and that's a great. story and jones with a view from istanbul you're even a shadow in moscow thank you so much to both of you think. let's get a quick check of some other stories making news around the world thousands have taken to the streets of the lebanese capital beirut for a 6 day despite the government's announcement of an economic reform package on monday demonstrators slammed the reforms as empty promises and continue to call for leaders to step down. northern italy is surveying the damage after storms and heavy rain battered the region triggering flash floods the most affected regions were in people want and. at least one person died when his car was washed away. norwegian police have now arrested a man and a woman in connection with the theft of an ambulance that ran into several people in the capital oslo police opened fire to bring the vehicle to a halt and seized 2 guns and drugs no one was seriously injured. so called emperor now he too has officially ascended to japan's throne at an elabor

operations within syria and assad regime in damascus? would you say the assad regime benefits from u.s. programming in syria? >> well, if i can punt to mike harvey on that, my understanding is, no, that it does not benefit the assad regime. >> congressman, you're raising a very serious issue that concerns us greatly. as you know, the one place that -- the one activity that we do have in assad-controlled areas is our humanitarian assistance program that is implemented almost exculusively through u.n. agencies with a few exceptions. ensuring the integrity of that program is a constant challenge, but it's something we work very closely with our u.n. partners on, we watch very closely and it's, please do keep the attention on it as we will as well. >> and we -- i'm grateful we have bipartisan legislation on this point. and i know it's not covered very often, but actually people of both parties can work together substantially particularly in the middle east and then secretary schenker, are there any u.s. citizens currently held or detained by

the kurds have now turned to syria's president assad for help.ian government forces entered several towns just south of the border on monday setting up a potentially dangerous confrontation with turkey. our correspondent orla guerin has sent this report from the syria—turkey border. rolling in to a heroes‘ welcome — troops of the assad regime, handed a victory without firing a shot, arriving today in the strategic town of ain issa. look who's back. the kurds say they had to do a deal with the regime after washington left them alone to face a turkish invasion. the choice, they say, was compromise or genocide. further along a key highway, the town of tal tamer also back in assad's hands, loyalists resurfacing. "i've kept this picture hidden for years, waiting for this day," he says. but, for other syrians, this about—turn is a painful blow. we met abu saddam and his family on the turkish side of the border. he planned to go home to tal tamer once kurdish militia were gone. not anymore. translation: i was shocked when they told me that the regime is

its work in geneva but the most daunting task facing them is the reconstruction of the country the assad regime may have won the military conflict but he doesn't have the money to rebuild syria after years of fighting level on the constitutional committee in just a moment but 1st this report the task is enormous 8 years of war have taken a savage toll more than a 3rd of syria's houses are damaged in some places and science cities are as good as destroyed schools hospitals roads need to be repaired or rebuilt. the united nations estimates that it will cost $250000000000.00 others say it will be closer to $400000000000.00 yet the syrian government's entire budget last year was less than $9000000000.00 damascus has launched its own reconstruction programs but so far it has yielded little not only that the vast majority of what money is available is spent in areas that supported the government while opposition strongholds have been left in ruins. syria needs international backers to rebuild but its closest allies russia and iran do not have the money the russian economy is struggling under w

turn as turkish forces advance deeper into syria the kurds have turned to president assad and russia for help meaning that a face to face between the turks and the syrian army is possible also coming up a greek catalans protesting after spain supreme court finds the politicians who pushed for independence are guilty of sedition and disobedience. it's good to have you with us tonight longstanding alliances in the middle east are crumbling and it comes only a week after that announced pullback of u.s. forces in syria today syrian government troops moved into towns in the north east of the country at the invitation of the kurds is setting up a potential showdown with invading turkish forces it's all happening in areas controlled by the syrian kurds and the focus now is the strategic town of the turks have long threatened the town and now syrian troops have been the wild in to defend it. a local official in the town confirms that syrian troops have entered that there they are and like. syrian troops heading towards the takesh border 8 years after assad lost control over northern syria hi

withdrawal, the rising influence of russia, iran, and the assad regime, and the escape of more than 100 isis-affiliated fighters detained in the region. we specifically urge the president to end, end the drawdown, something that fortunately appears to be under way. we urge a reengagement with our partners in this region. we highlight the need for international diplomatic efforts to end the underlying civil wars in syria and afghanistan on terms that address the conditions that have allowed al qaeda and isis to thrive. we cannot repeat this mistake in afghanistan. so, madam president, i'm aware there is some appetite on both sides of the aisle to quickly reach for the toolbox of sanctions. i myself played a critical role in creating sanction regimes in the past, but i caution us against developing a reflex to use sanctions as our tool of first, last, and only resort in i am supplementing our foreign policy. sanctions may play an important role in this process, and i'm open to the senate considering them, but we need to think extremely carefully before we employ the same tools against a d

president trump stepped aside for putin, assad and erdogan. our allies the kurds are being slaughtered as a result of our betrayal and most importantly secretary mattis said quote if we don't keep the pressure on syria isis will resurge. it's absolutely a's given they will come c back. the president didn't like hearing medicine costs words but he's one of the most respected leaders on both sides of the aisle, liberal, independent and conservative. here's what he said again repeating, if we don't keep pressure in syria isis will resurge. it's an absolute given they will come back. so make no mistake, the president's incompetence, his impulsiveness, his erratic and this has made americans less safe here in our homeland. congress today must make the fact clear toan the president ia bipartisan fashion. we have the opportunity my colleagues in the house passed a resolution condemning the president's decision and overwhelming vote, 354-602 that means the vast majority of house republicans, 129 to be exact condemned the president decision syria. lead

the kurds suffering loss of life and property have alied with assad. russia has assumed control of our previous military positions and the u.s. has been forced in many cases to bomb, of our own facilities. the announcement today is being portrayed as a victory. it is far from a victory. serious questions remain about how the decision was reached precipitously to withdraw from syria and why that decision was reached. given the initial details of the cease-fire agreement, the administration must also explain what america's future role will be in the region. what happens now to the kurds and why turkey will face no apparent consequences. further, the cease-fire does not change the fact that america has abandoned an ally adding insult to dishonor, the administration speaks cavalierly, even flippantly, even as our ally has suffered death and casualty. their homes have been burned and their families have been torn apart. we know the truth about our occurred allies eowe kurd allies. they lost 11,000 combatants in our joint effort to defeat isis. we dropped bo