bashar was ordered to come home. he joined the republican guard and was sent to serve in lebanon, preparing for the day he would take office. >> we all knew he was going to take over. we all knew that hafez al-assad was on his last legs, if you want. you know, he was close to death. it was very clear that he was very ill. and the question was always, "how well groomed has bashar been?" >> narrator: he was inaugurated in july 2000. the young doctor, with his fashionable british-born syrian wife, a former banker at jp morgan, promised reform. >> people were giddy with the idea of reform early on in bashar's reign. he opened up the country to the internet, he lifted exit permits, which were required for syrians to travel, and he allowed more trade in the country. >> he said, "we can open up. we're going to have some private newspapers, private press, internet." and he believed that he could win the hearts and minds of the people through modernization and let a lot more light in. ♪ >> he had allowed what became to be kno

chief has said that bashar al- assad's reign of terror will come to an end. -- she has said that bashar al- assad's reign of terror will come to an end. making her case there for a resolution condemning syria and calling for a transfer of power. the resolution is being backed by the arab league and calling for a national unity government to be established. russia has already voiced its opposition. that brings today's show to a close. thank you for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range ofwhat can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.

we never said retaining bashar al assad in power is a condition for crisis something that we should do something different it's not a part of russia's foreign policy to ask the leaders to step down regime change is not. the decision must be solely syrian only syrians groups of syrians must gather at the negotiating table and hammer and to deal with if the demand is for him to go and he doesn't then what's next calling the air force bombing we've seen that already on the security council will never approve this i guarantee it. as more details become available on this story we will keep our viewers updated. well the debate on syria at the u.n. most powerful body is shuttle to start at seven pm g.m.t. and we'll be bringing you the highlights of the meeting live right here on our t.v. series opposition who have made a chilling pledge to the country's leader they have veld president bashar al assad and his family will be killed like libyan leader kohl could deathy saying he's lost the chance of a peaceful next it clashes between government forces and rebel fighters a raging on the outskirts

people taking into consideration into consideration the russian proposal of power sharing with bashar assad staying in power really so you think negotiations are actually possible clearly russia pushing for that very concerned that foreign intervention could lead to more disastrous results there you think that negotiations could happen. yes i do i do think that negotiations could happen because in the end that is the only and think result and i think you also have to realize that this is more of a broader regional package after all what is this whole issue about syria what's it about previously if you recall when obama first came into power for example there was a policy of the morning with syria you know communicating communicating with syria and some of america's allies like the french president nicolas sarkozy paid more than one visit to syria the i am then was to decouple syria from the resistance axis and particularly from iran you know by communication by dialogue by incentives when syria made it clear that it would not be decoupled from the resistance actors and from the irania

. >> the arab league has urged the plan for bashar al-assad to stand down. rebels who have defected from the syrian army have taken control of a suburb of damascus. our middle east editor reports. >> look at central damascus and you might think this city is calm. but when night falls, heads for the suburbs, only 15 minutes' drive away. easy.g an isn't at the candidate -- at the end is a check point. >> army defectors across the country are fighting bashar al- assad's military. >> locals say they have kept the president's men out for the last two weeks. their weapons cannot stop an assault, but could make it costly for the region's forces to stay too long. the president says there aren't -- they are an armed gang. they say they are protecting the people. >> pass this on to the world, our revolution is peaceful. we do not attack the regime. they attack us. >> we are in control here. syria is ours and we will win. the army and security forces keep trying to get into here, but we defeat them. >> there are power cuts and fuel shortages. the nights are very cold.

last october, russia and china vetoed a resolution condemning bashar al-assad. this time around, russia says it cannot support any call for the syrian president to give up power. western diplomats insist the council could not stay silent as the situation deteriorates. >> i think we are at a critical point where the violence is escalating, and indeed, with each passing day it seems more and more civilians are being killed and more and more people are being killed. and that is a grave concern. >> pressure for international action is indeed mounting on the ground, with a sharp escalation in the conflict. in recent days, the violence and become so bad the arab league says it was forced to suspend its monitoring mission. furthermore, the west and the arabs are bringing in their big guns to weaken russian opposition. the head of the arab league and the prime minister of catarrh will address the council and western foreign ministers will be here to show she poured -- support for the plan. one possibility, if it does not happen, is an increasingly bloody status quo wher

president bashar al assad to step aside to. hand over his power to his deputy while a unity transitional government is formed interesting to note the fact that what we've heard mentioned from the prime minister of qatar is something that russia has been advocating for months russia has been calling for i national dialogue for both sides in syria to come together and talk about the conflict but we do know that u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is as united nations as are her british and french counterparts clearly you see a western kind of force opposition force moving forward trying to push for this resolution to be adopted within the security council and russia has said that you will not subscribe to any kind of campaign that organizes governments of other countries here's a little bit about what the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said he's going to do. we never said retaining bashar al assad in power is a condition for crisis sentiment we should something different with it it's not a part of russians or a policy

we never said retaining bashar al assad in power is a condition for crunch is something that we should something different with it's not a part of russia or a policy to ask leaders to. change is not. the decision must be solely syria only series of groups of syrians. to deal the demands for him to. call in the air force. we've seen already on the security council will never approve this. at this point russia has made its position it's clear it is basically saying that it does not subscribe to a campaign of overthrowing governments and sovereign countries but russia does say it is could made it to finding a solution a peaceful solution in syria but it is has to be a solution that includes all the people of syria. yes merino we know this syrian who has been speaking so did he i have to say that. the syrian ambassador to the united nations did have a stern to address the security council and he did say in part that the arab league representatives are neglecting to. talk about. the fact that there are reports also does include that there are armed groups fighting against the syrian governm

security council it calls for syrian president bashar al assad to step aside hand over his powers to his deputy while and national unity government is formed but most importantly it in at the end of this resolution is is a paragraph that says that the security council can decide to review syria's implementation of the resolution within fifteen days and if the event in the event syria has not complied the security council can adopt further measures in consultation with the league of arab states this is according to the draft draft resolution that was published by the guardian but we need to stress that adopt further measures is words that can be interpreted in various different ways and that is something that russia china and other member members of the security council are very much against they don't want to see what happened in libya happen in syria and this is where the sides are not seeing eye to eye odd now as you mentioned there is a major offensive that is taking place the diplomatic offensive at the united nations security council today because u.s. secretary of state hillary

what do you think should happen to bashar al-assad? >> he has to be killed. >> he kills everybody. >> he kills our people. he has to be killed. the young men were full of bravado. the older ones talked about the victory, but they were more conscious of the regime's strength. do you want help from abroad? >> a bit of intervention is good. we are going to win, whether there is intervention from the outside or not. >> their enemy, the president, also has strong supporters who will fight for him. four protesters across the country, there is no turning back. >> this is all bad news for president bashar al-assad. this city in the hands of the people and defended by men who have defected from his army. the question is how much firepower the president has it -- has at his disposal and whether he chooses to use it here to regain control of these streets. they said it was getting dangerous and they hustled us out. activists said the security forces were back hours later, arresting more people. >> you have news of political conflict in papua new

bashar is responsible.we have dreams like you. >> i'm afraid when i'm talk towing right now. why. i got this scarf and going to my home i'm not 100% i'm is going to be safe. because if not today, if not tomorrow, they will arrest me. >> reporter: the defiance possible because two orange jacketed arab league monitors are here. >> if you're here without them you don't, you will never going to see any protester. >> reporter: even so protesters told us they didn't trust the arab league mission. the monitors tell us this is one of the most difficult and dangerous situations for them. people are angry. the crowd is volatile. everybody wants to talk. the monitors say the most important thing they can do at this time is be neutral, is to take down all the information, and ensure they are completely impartial. everyone here has something to say. many push forward to show injuries they say reflected by government forces. absolutely desperate to show us the level of suffering. they can't go the hospitals because if th

i think it is the regime of bashar al assad is at stake. i think what the international community is trying to accomplish is a way to make it a political transition to resolve this question with a minimal reference to the use of force. nobody is talking about nato forces going in or external intervention. in fact, i think what the qatari prime minister said was that that could be counterproductive. leave it to the arabs to solve the problem, but in order to do that, they want the entire engine national community to get behind them. >> even if a resolution is passed, will president assad actually care? >> well, it is the best chance. as you said early on, the pressure has been mounting. there are economic sanctions, disapproval of his fellow arab countries. now, if the greater powers align themselves also against the way he is behaving, perhaps the message will get through, but i think your point is taken in the sense that he has been hanging on stubbornly, and at the moment, at least, what it looks like is that he is preparing himself to co

iran some of the opposition figures are in iran so there are efforts being made by the allies of bashar assad in russia in iran in order to facilitate i political process which might see i power sharing deal which we have all sides of i can answer your question i think this is the best way in order to to avoid violence now really with respect to the economy how that has a an effect there are of course this is an economic sanctions were very bruising very harmful however measures were taken by some allies of syria or iran for example some economic activity is trying to make up for the syrian losses together with russia as well so i do think that the economic sanctions yes they were quite a painful but i think that there have been measures taken to compensate for that and in the end i'm quite optimistic that u.s. and iran might see a bit more high tide which will reflect positively on the syrian issue and maybe it will make the russians a success in their efforts right revive can be a word many is the expert ali rees thank you very much for your input. iran's made a rest over last week's

first time a foreign reporter has been killed in syria since the uprising began in march this is bashar al assad has spoken to supporters in damascus for the second time in twenty four hours reiterating his dismissal of calls to step down journalist lizzie feelin has the latest now from the syrian capital. some reports the figures that hundreds of thousands of people who attended at least many tens of thousands of people there and of course. addressed the crowd amongst the people there was a huge forward of that was the president in his speech he mentioned that he very much wanted to be amongst the people and there were many young people that there was a large mix of different ethnic religious backgrounds of course. syrian government has been accused by media organizations and others being unfair regime because it is led by. a religious minority inside syria. and today there were many different religious and ethnic groups of people represented including so means kristie is. many different people so that there was really an impressive actually show of unity amongst the syrian people from

comes after the president delivered his first public address since june dismissing pressure to resign bashar al assad claims he still has the people support in leading the fight against what he's called foreign funded terrorism assad's promise to crush mercenaries and saboteurs with an iron fist saying they don't represent the syrian people. no orders were ever given to peaceful protesters retore to his commitment to democratic reform he said a referendum on a new constitution will take place by march the president also slammed the arab league which suspended syria's membership in november believes observers are currently overseeing the implementation of a peace plan eleven members of the team received minor injuries in an attack by protesters on monday moscow stresses the league should monitor the activity of all sides in the conflict let's get some reaction now from political analysts. thank you very much indeed for being with us sat has denied there's a crackdown on peaceful protesters so what are we supposed to make of the figures the un's giving more than five thousand civilians killed

syria's opposition made a chilling pledge to the country's leader they vowed that president bashar al assad and his family would be killed just like libyan leader colonel gadhafi clashes between government forces and rebel fighters a raging in the outskirts of the capital and. in damascus reports the syrian conflict is beginning to resemble libya mom too. you've got a civil conflict on your houses just seeming to ramp up evidence really by the violence has broken out for the past couple of days between the two sides now that's not being housed by the statement by one of the members of the main opposition body the syrian national council the mother head said that assad and his family would be killed like gadhafi now certainly does against a few of the fears on both sides really there's going to be retaliation and revenge attacks coming in this teacher and certainly that is a genuine fear amongst the people here you're seeing a very polarized country right now and the dividing lines are really being too on you know here in the neighborhood there's really a sense of the full oh you're ag

syria has criticised an arab league call for bashar al assad to give up the presidency ask us criticize the pill as an attack on its national sovereignty was something else a month of its observer mission to the country he said all sides of the syrian conflict must lay down arms or to serve first has more from the syrian capital the arab league could president bashar al assad to step down and to hand power his deputy and they also called for the formation of a national unity government and that would be a really early parliamentary and presidential elections now those calls have no been no.

>> you know, i do know president bashar very with. i also know his wife and his children and my family knows them very well. and i believe that inis blood he does have reform, he does have the vision. and what i keep trying to explain to people is that i think that the system doesn't allow for that in syria. so whether the intentions are there, the way the political system is, the party, the sect, i don't think allows for reform to happen. because once they start to open that door, then i think everything falls apart. so i think he is hijacked by his position i, by the system that he is in charge of. >> warner: are you suggesting that he would like to compromise, to open the door to share pog we are but somehow has been precluded from it? >> no, i think-- i'm going back on my spernlss with bashar. he's always tried to im plement reform. i think the system just didn't allow for it and in than atmosphere of the arab spring where there has been conflict between the regime and the people and now that there is, as you see, the bloodshed th

. >> translator: we don't want bashar, we don't want him. we're not eating, we're not drinking.ope for our kids. we don't have any diesel. we have no electricity. the children have no hope. we hardly have any bread to feed our children. >> reporter: it was very difficult to understand how people can survive this, and why is not everybody leaving? but i realized not everybody knows somebody in the countryside where they can go with their entire family to be safe. >> translator: this army is killing us. they keep kidnapping people and killing them. wherever you go, snipers are planted there. i know some people and i'm going to them. they gave us a house to stay in. >> reporter: my days here have been the most frightened days for me in the entire trip. through all the hardship, they remain defiant. for the people of homs, it's too late to stop. resistance is their only path now. w...row. they genatectry, wch le me rf t. guinea pig: row...row.took one, 8 months to get the guin: ..row. lile cbby one to yell row! guineaig: ro's kof strange. guinig: row...row. such a simple word... row

we got used to that. >> what do you think about bashar al-assad? >> something i cannot tell. do not ask me about the president. did not ask me about him. >> it feels exhausted and despairing. the violence that is part of the uprising, protesters say, is a backlash against some any civilian deaths. -- so many civilian deaths. >> there was a terrible a example of what could go wrong. in lebanon, the country was torn apart by civil war. the big fear is that something like that could happen here. the challenge now? find a way to stop the slide into a future no one wants. >> we are live from singapore and london. still to come, the search continues in the wreckage of the costa concordia. >> let's there be light. and the skies over britain, ever glimpse of one of nature's greatest displays. politicians in the past have been guilty of allowing newspaper owners and editors to have too much influence. we listened to the exchanges. >> he has been chairman of the bbc trust for nearly a year now. back in the 1980's, he was the conservative party chairman. and the 1990's, he was britain's

border to safety, the children of syria -- are they being deliberately targeted by the government of bashar al-assad? digging deep in antarctica. a group of scientists is blaming the cold, in hopes of finding new life forms miles beneath the surface. welcome to our viewers around the world. the owners of the luxury cruise liner wrecked off the italian coast now blame their own captain for the disaster. they say he made an unauthorized deviation to the official course that took him to close to shore, with deadly results. a short time ago, the italian coast guard increase the number of people still missing to 29. as we begin, matthew price has the latest. >> today, as the wind whipped the waves, the vast bulk of the costa concordia began to shift in the shallow waters. it's no ship more under the sea. the abandoned -- they abandoned it rescue efforts for a few hours. rescuers were back on board, struck -- striding up the sloping deck, trying to find survivors. it is the divers who have the most dangerous task. the water temperature is not the problem. visibility is. in places inside the ship,

says 5,000 people have died, mostly protesters, killed by forces loyal to bashar al-assad. for 40 years, the assad family has held syria in an iron grip. assad has kept most foreign journalists out. we applied for visas six months ago, and only today, elizabeth palmer was finally granted official access. she saw only what the government wanted her to see, but there was plenty of violence up close. >> reporter: the group of western journalists were midway through their government-supervised tour of homes when the area came under fire. one french journalist was killed. so were eight syrians, ordinary residents of this middle class neighborhood. just 20 minutes earlier, we'd been on the same street to hear from the people who say the threat of snipers and kidnapping is constant. we weren't allowed out of the sight of our minders but could see from the bus window it is eerily quiet. armed opposition groups opposed to the regime now control whole neighborhoods which are off limits toal government vehicles. our bus driver didn't dare drive across town. he went around it. to the n

. >> this is only the fourth time bashar al-assad has spoken to the people like this since last march. might he showed a hint of compromise? would there be a way forward out of the conflict? he seemed relaxed enough when he came onto the stage, almost like a candidate for election. people are scared that the demonstrations will end in a violent breakup of the country. most of the cities whose names are on the wall behind him have seen demonstrations. but there was to be no compromise. >> our priority now is to regain security which our country has enjoyed for decades. this can only be achieved by hitting the terrorists with an iron fist. there will be no leniency for those who are using weapons to kill our civilians. >> and yes, the demonstrations continue today, the we have not been able to verify these pictures. according to the opposition, 35 people were killed today alone. arab league observers currently inside syria watched president bashar al-assad's speech as carefully as anyone. he was not complimentary about their mission. quite the arab league is just a reflection of the ara

in this context let's see if this you give me a few months and see how the process works for bashar does have. a base of popular support so. i don't think you can say that the party would be doomed the moment they call free elections that could do well why do you think human rights watch talks and for media neglects the damage done by militant groups in syria it's somewhat of a mystery to me it's a mystery and the city has made some pretty. provocative claims in with regard to syria one of them is that i think it was military people dressing up as doctors in homs hospital because any verification of that if it's a claim made on the basis of online people. and similar claims have been made by other human rights organizations human rights watch the. u.n. human rights council it's committee is all one way it's all about what the government is doing and making very very extreme claims the government's response to the death of two hundred fifty six children for example. four thousand five thousand of dart there is no desegregation which is what the critical reader would want you know you see

. ♪ >> syrian president bashar al- assad has planned -- blamed for rent agitators for anti- governmenttest. the country's largest opposition group, the syrian national council, called the speech incitement to violence that could push the country closer to civil war. assad said the unrest would only come to an end when the flow of funds and weapons from abroad stops. >> there was sustained of saw -- applause as bashar al-assad took the stage at the university of the damascus. it was one of his few appearances since the uprising started in march last year. he blamed syria's problems on outside forces. >> this conspiracy of foreign powers is obvious to everyone. everyone of us understand what they planned. it is editorial at the syrian people. the only people who do not know this have their eyes and ears closed. >> assad claimed there were no orders to shoot anti-regime protesters. not true, say dozens of army and secret service deserters that the u.n. says that, on average, 40 people a day are being shot dead by government forces in syria. these images purports to show regime troops with

the arab league called president bashar al assad to step down and to hand power his deputy they also called for the formation of a national unity government and. early parliamentary and presidential elections now those calls have been vehemently rejected by the syrian government here flagrant interference with the internal affairs really the sense here from damascus is that the government here are working on their own reforms they want the arab league mission to focus on their job of course the problem is you've got countries in the arab league like saudi arabia like qatar now seeing the sense that they're reaching democracy to syria when of course they themselves don't have democracy. russia's stance is once again that this should be seeking resolution with our foreign intervention i've actually spoken to the national coordinator council which is the opposition within the country they welcomed the maven again reiterated their felt that as long as there is no move towards foreign military intervention that they are very pleased with the response from the arab league mission because y