. >> how is president bashar al-assad holding on to power? >> the iranians are gaining influence in syria now by the day. >> and what will happen if asd falls? >> there is definitely increasing worry in the united states administration about in whose hands these weapons are falling. >> these two stories on this special edition frontline. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan, committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. addition funng is oved by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. >> narrator: guardian reporter ghaith abdul-ahad's journey into syria began five weeks ago on a supply route the

>>trace: we worry about bashar al-assad leafing but now it appears bashar al-assad is the greater of all evils. thank you, sir. >> if defense contractors send out thousands of letters saying they will have to cut jobs it will not look good for the obama administration so the white house trying to prevent the letters from going out. republicans are up in arms. what it has to do with the so-called "fiscal cliff" is next. three weeks after the murders of the united states ambassador and three other americans, the f.b.i. makes a quick visit to the scene of the crime. the latest on that investigation. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios ...bone is for a clean,o go wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly pro

weapons have yet to topple the government of president bashar al assad but they're flowing into the country with ease it's a trend that has some officials worried. provide arms to either side. for the majority and the risk of unintended consequences porous borders with its neighbors to make the flow of arms almost impossible to stop and lebanon's town of is one of the main gateways behind me is the way to one of the illegal border crossings between lebanon and syria weapons fighters and supplies go in to syria while refugees fleeing the violence come out but by no means is this a safe or easy journey frequent shelling as well as a large minefield on the syrian side of the border crossings like these a deadly gamble a gamble that lebanese sympathizers of syria's opposition are more than willing to make. this is five thousand. dollars thirteen hundred eighteen hundred and two thousand in tripoli r.t. spoke to this arms dealer whose business was booming. people come or contact me every day we have a revolution next door for sure we are with them will help them topple assad will be doing. the w

>>guest: it is destroying the typical theme of goodbye and bad guy because bashar al-assad is a moderatee fighting against him are fundamentalist so what is happening, bashar al-assad is an ally that supports both the shia elements and is supported by iran and he has been opposed by a block of sunni rebels and hundreds of small gang-like militias who do not have political or strategic structure. it is chaos. what we are seeing now is escalating into a higher legal of legal assassination. >>shepard: all this stuff is going on as the border with turkey that is concerning in the broad sense and we all know how easy it is to tip lebanon. it is a very difficult place, we call hezbollah a terrorist organization, but it is also a big part of the government there and in the southern part of lebanon without hezbollah there are no services. >>guest: keep in mind that turkey is facilitating the entry of supplies to the rebels you but at the same time reacting against a group that was lobbying shells into turkey. there is no real functioning government in many parts of syria and like libya has on di

people had high hopes just like bashar al-assad. where did that person go and that is one of the saddest things about them because they really did -- they really did develop a level of popularity in the country that wasn't insignificant. syria's difficult to engage popularity because sometimes people will, out in support of bashar al-assad in the government because they don't want to be seen as nonsupportive of non-supportive of the government because security is all around so it's difficult to see how genuine the popularity is but having been in the country quite a bit and gone around all over the country and talk to all sorts of classes of people, i really did think there was genuine popularity and for me he didn't leverage that popularity to implement true change that was really needed particularly at the beginning of the uprising. >> what did he talk to you about? >> you talked about -- he talked about his upbringing and we talked about many different aspects of his life, his upbringing which was fairly normal considering he was

i just want to ask you about bashar al-assad. do you think his time is up now? >> nobody knows exactly how it will go, but i suspect the regime will enable its own downfall by doing something stupid. >> by the nature of these authoritarian regimes, being very secretive about their power, it's difficult. to difficult >> you can not predict. you can imagine the pressure from that side, but you don't know whether there will be a palace coup, because you don't know who the advisers are. you cannot do that. ->> you. - people talk about arab exceptionalism. is there something peculiar about the arab strongman you don't see in other parts of the developing world that allows them to stay in power so long? >> i think it began with nasser. most places have a strong republican presidents. in the arab world they tried to reproduce themselves. i think that more of them begin to do that in the arab world. and they become very cl ubbish. >> they get tips from one another on how to stay in power. bashar al-assad has had one of the most successful regime this with his father han

the leading opponent is bashar al-assad. syria's leader is being accused of being behind the bombing. >> they rushed to eastern beirut. this was as the weekend was about to begin. the bomb went off in a crowded mainly christian district of the city. local tv stations were broadcasting images of burned out cars and images of wounded people. 8 people were killed and as many as 100 were injured. the main target was a brigadier general, the chief security official in lebanon. he had recently implicated syria and its lebanese allies, hezbollah, for the killing of the prime minister. he was a fierce critic of syria. this will create shockwaves in the entire region. after a long time of relative calm, this is the first big attack in four years. many feared something like this to happen sooner or later and that lebanon would be dragged into the conflict some political leaders have accused the assad regime in syria of being behind the attack. >> for more on the incident from of volatility out of the region, i spoke a brief time ago w

why do you support president bashar al-assad? >> he is a very, very good president and the world. >> but some people say you should step down. you should leave pow is absurdi. he will protect us. all people like bashar al-assad. >> but so many people of died in syria -- >> because of -- >> that is what you often hear. they defend the president'. they brandish photographs of him and his powerful brother who commands the elite republican guard. a the governor's office, too, photograph of assad and his late father on every wall. the intelligence service keeps a close eye on everything here. the governor is the president's man here. i asked him about the tight security. >> security is not sites here. the situation here is normal and safe. just like any country, the security services will intervene to protect the regime and the rule of law here. >> now the fighting has reached damascus and aleppo. do you worry fighting could come here? >> we're in the process of putting down these destructive gangs in damascus and aleppo. i am not worr

we were -- bashar al-assad's father is buried in these hills. we were given rare access. he died in 2000, as syria's all- powerful president. it is often his -- it is often said his son is under pressure to preserve his legacy. this town was quiet when we visited. since then, there have been reported clashes between leading families. a measure of growing unease over their place in syria's troubled future. this region is still regarded as the president boss last lastbt -- president's redoubt. but war has reached part of this area. amateur video claims to show destruction in the community toward the turkish border. rebels now control some villages. the war is often described as a sectarian conflict. this man wants his identity hidden. he has long been in opposition. does he see it as a sectarian war? >> of course it is not. this is the work of the regime. from the very beginning, it has been trying to create this year to make them a line with the regime -- this fear to make them align with the regime. >> it is a secular mosaic. other parts of syria thought they were special

the syrian president are fighting against the shia group hezbollah and other sympathizers of bashar al assad. >>> a high-ranking syrian official says president assad welcomes in principle the cease-fire proposal by the united nations and the arab league. syria's deputy foreign minister faisal mekdad made the remarks on monday in an interview with nhk. president assad met with the united nations and envoy lakhdar brahimi sunday in damascus. brahimi called for a cease-fire between government and opposition forces starting on friday, the first day of aislamc eid al adha, a muslim holiday. deputy foreign minister mekdad attended the meeting. >> the president said in principle we welcome all these ideas, but we should discuss them with the relevant parties. two or three days there will be a very clear position by the syrian leadership on this issue. >> mekdad stressed the port-au-prince of a commitment by opposition forces to stop the violence. he also criticized saudi arabia and turkey for supporting anti-government forces. he called on these nations to stop funding and arming the opposition. >>

inside the stronghold of the bashar al-assad, the bbc gains rare access to one legion of syria still trying to ignore the conflict -- one region of syria still trying to ignore the conflict. in las vegas, the housing crisis has left people wishing they had not taken the gamble. >> i was left over extended. >> welcome to our viewers on public television in america and also around the globe. it has now been four weeks since the attack on the libyan consulate in benghazi, which left the u.s. ambassador and three others dead. today, american rule makers were demanding answers about whether the levels of security were enough. testifying before a congressional committee, state department official said the correct number of agents were in place. during this election season, this issue has become controversial. our north america editor reports. in the american ambassador to libya, chris stevens, and three of his colleagues -- >> the american ambassador to libya, chris stevens, and three of his colleagues died in the attack. they had repeatedly asked for tighter security. initially, the ameri

as president bashar al-assad syrian troops launched another attack on the rebels in the northern partof his country. there is a heavy turkish military presence this. clearly, the artillery has been given the grown light to fired. it is a dangerous dynamic and we could have a regional war. turkey is part of nato, so turkey could invoke the collective defense clause of that treaty and it would draw on the united states and other western allies to recollect and defend turkey if it gets into a war with syria. the other dynamic, the syrian rebels need help. it could be a point that syrian rebels launch shells at turkey to try and start a war that obviously they would get a lost help from going up against the common enemy, president bashar al-assad. >>trace: and the syrian rebel, how are they doing? >>guest: they have not been doing great but this week they did get some good news in an unusual victory. they took over a syrian air defense space which means they got the missiles inside that base, and if they can figure out how to use the missiles against president bashar al-assad's air force

president bashar al assad to step down and his sentiments were echoed by britain and by france just as the u.s. he says stood by supported and helped liberate the people in libya he would like to see the same thing done in syria but on the other hand you have many other countries such as russia china brazil and so on and so forth saying that there can't be any outside intervention into what's taking place in syria this is a crisis that needs to be decided and it between the parties between the syrian government and the opposition but as we've been reporting for the past week everybody's talking about the crisis in syria but not clear how to exactly solve it . nato chief has admitted the alliance's withdrawal from afghanistan could come earlier than expected a statement comes on the heels of a spate of attacks that brought u.s. casualties to two thousand insider attacks on western soldiers are taking their toll on the troops' morale said the secretary general i also have affected nato afghan relations as the alliance prepares to have security responsibilities to local forces middle east

president bashar al assad to step down and then his sentiments were echoed by britain and by france just as the u.s. he says stood by supported and helped liberate the people in libya he would like to see the same thing done in syria but on the other hand you have many other countries such as russia china brazil and so on and so forth saying that there can't be any outside intervention into what's taking place in syria this is a crisis that needs to be decided and it between the parties between the syrian government and the opposition but as we've been reporting for the past week everybody's talking about the crisis in syria but not clear how to exactly solve it . and international law professor daoud carolina says that syrians would never inflict such pressures destruction on their homeland and the fact that foreign fighters are involved in the war against the un charter if we are to believe the report of the. b n d a most respectable european it's a german. intelligence service one of the most respectable probably in the world who says that five percent only five percent of the opposit

in whom people had high hopes, just like bashar al-assad. where did that person go? that's one of the saddest things about them because they really did develop a level of popularity in the country that wasn't insignificant. syria's difficult to engage popularity because people will come out in support of bashar al-assad and the government because they don't want to be seen as not supporting the government because the security services are all around. so it's difficult to see how genuine and insincere popularity is. but having been in the country quite a bit and gone around and talk to all sorts of people, i really did since he genuine popularity. but for me personally, one of the saddest things is they didn't leverage the popularity to implement true change, particularly at the beginning of the uprising. >> host: what did he talk about? >> guest: he talked about his upbringing. i mean, we talk different aspects, is that remain, which was fairly normal considering one of the things that i did was interview his elementary school teacher, primary and secondary teachers.

there are there are it's a very confusing situation but let me just remind you what president bashar al assad said a few months ago when things started going really bad and he said that he would be willing to set fire to the entire region i don't know these were his exact words but it was more or less along those lines that he would destabilize the whole region and so this could very well be along the lines of what he said the other thing is gareth just said there the assassination of a government official this is more than just a government official this is this is the assassination of the head of the intelligence services. it is very serious when you're sensing someone of that stature you're you're you're demining you're taking apart the structure of the states so i think it's not just a minister of state or a. a politician that's been skilled it's someone who is very important imagine in the united states if they killed the head of the cia or in russia. with the security forces there that. if they killed those people this is what we're dealing with today you're you're you're you're taking

president bashar al assad to step down and then his sentiments were echoed by britain and by france just as the u.s. he says stood by supported and helped liberate the people in libya he would like to see the same thing done in syria but on the other hand you have many other countries such as russia china brazil and so on and so forth saying that there can't be any outside intervention into what's taking place in syria this is a crisis that needs to be decided and it between the parties between the syrian government and the opposition but as we've been reporting for the past week everybody's talking about the crisis in syria but not clear how to exactly solve it . damascus says the in lines share of those flying as syrian rebels are foreign mercenaries some reports even put the number at over ninety percent beirut based political analyst roula palomas says this is also clear from the videos opposition fighters posted online. all the you tube. videos taken by by the rebels themselves those who oppose the. opposition pages on facebook and elsewhere you could tell from the accent of those.

president bashar al assad to step down and then his sentiments were echoed by britain and by france the french foreign the french president's french president actually called on the world body to impose protections for the syrian opposition groups in opposition that have occupied the northern part of the country president obama said that just as us he says stood by supported and helped liberate the people in egypt and libya he would like to see the same thing done in syria but on the other hand you have many other countries such as russia china brazil and so on and so forth saying that there can't be any outside intervention into what's taking place in syria this is a crisis that needs to be decided and it between the parties between the syrian government and the opposition and russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov addressed the general assembly saying that the only way to solve this is through the six point peace plan that was outlined by former joint special envoy kofi annan many months ago and one of those six points calls for an immediate cease fire but the syrians are saying the

he claims he witnessed firsthand what is going on inside the bashar al assad regime. at's where he spoke with our ivan watson. >> reporter: abdullah al omar used to rub shoulders with some of the most powerful people in syria. government ministers, foreign dignitaries, and even the syrian president. for five years, omar claims he worked in the presidential palace, his main job was propaganda. >> translator: i was a member of the press office in the presidential palace. we met and manufactured news and see how we could distribute and publish these lies. we invented stories that would help justify the crimes committed by the syrian regime. >> reporter: omar says he was a member of a 15-person team working under long time government spokeswoman bethaynia shaban. omar's job was to trash the defectors' reputations. >> translato we contacted regime loyalists from lebanon and syria to aper as guests. to say the defectors were bad and corrupt. >> reporter: now omar is one of those defectors and he's offering details and impossible for cnn to independently verify about how the

president bashar al assad to step down and his sentiments were echoed by britain and by france just as the u.s. he says stood by supported and helped liberate the people in libya he would like to see the same thing done in syria but on the other hand you have many other countries such as russia china brazil and so on and so forth saying that there can't be any outside intervention into what's taking place in syria this is a crisis that needs to be decided and it between the parties between the syrian government and the opposition but as as we've been reporting for the past. everybody's talking about the crisis in syria but not clear how to exactly solve it . overshadowed by the syrian conflict bahrain's rulers are taking an increasingly tough stance with pro-democracy protesters and the reason i don't bring five medics have been arrested a day out of they and four other doctors lawyers the final appeal of a jail time is for participating in the rallies that's still ahead for you. but the nation's chief has admitted the alliance's was troll from afghanistan could come earlier than expec

either we accept bashar al-assad to be our president or we have to be killed. iers wrote on every single wall in our city, "either you accept bashar al-assad or we burn the whole country." and that's what they are doing now. they are burning the whole country. >> ward: in the towns and villages around aleppo, the streets are eerily quiet. >> nana: the town is totally different. people have deserted. whoever left here, they were living under bombardment. >> ward: dr. maher nana left syria 13 years ago. >> nana: kids cannot sleep at night. people, they're... they're just expecting to get hit at anytime. >> ward: he runs a family practice in delray beach, florida, but now spends much of his time traveling in and out of syria on behalf of an organization called the syrian support group. its goal is to transform the free syrian army from a disorganized grouping of militias into a coherent force. but it also works closely with the u.s. government to identify credible rebel officers, like colonel oqaidi, and report on their progress. >> nana: these commanders, they vow

president bashar al assad to step down and that his sentiments were echoed by britain and by france just as the u.s. he says stood by supported and helped liberate the people in libya he would like to see the same thing done in syria but on the other hand you have many other countries such as russia china brazil and so on and so forth saying that there can't be any outside intervention into what's taking place in syria this is a crisis that needs to be decided and it between the parties between the syrian government and the opposition but as we've been reporting for the past week everybody's talking about the crisis in syria but not clear how to exactly solve it . as the west is firmly thanks john the syrian conflict tensions continue in bahrain which has been dubbed the forgotten prizing five medics have been jailed in the gulf kingdom for taking part in pro-democracy demonstrations they've also been convicted of a legal arms possession and incitement it's just a day after they and four other doctors lost their appeal for jail terms country's highest court the medics were part of a grou

>> well, i first met president bashar al assad in 2004. i wanted to interview him because he was the atypical middle east dictators, the laces ophthalmologist cannot prove to be president, and only was brought back into the reprocess when his older brother died in a car accident in 1994. he was doing the equivalent of an advanced degree in ophthalmology and was brought back and raised in this state apparatus until he became president when his father died in 2000, so i thought that was a very interesting story. he was different from the typical middle east dictators that i steady throughout modern the least history. and so in 2002i contacted a friend of mine who happens to the minister of higher education he was in academia, and when traveling to syria for years amid a lack of teeth of a lot of academics. he brought a lot of these people into government. that was a good or bad thing. many people saw it as a sign of academics and maybe even take the country in a different direction. so i contacted the minister of higher education and the con

jon: especially when the iranian support bashar al-assad's forces.t seems to do battle by proximate see with iran in that way we'd want to be helpful. >> when you look at syria you don't look at it in isolation. you look at iran and the arc of coalition they are trying to form, from lebanon in the west, to syria, to iraq to iran itself, so bashar al-assad going is certainly in u.s. interests, because it is iran's number one ally. and iran is all in. they have 2,000 forces in there, this is the iranian republican guards who are assisting the syrian military in forming an elite force by themselves snooze you've given us a lot of new information, general, thank you very much. general jack keane. jenna: a new scare aboard an american airlines flight. passengers told to brace for a crash landing. the details of a severe malfunction thousands and thousands of feet in the air. he's a known terrorist who killed an american soldier in afghanistan. he was once in gitmo and now he is back in his own country. there are fresh concerns he will soon be free. we'll

some people think that we are thought to work against bashar al-assad to weaken iran and he boll will. it's not the true. the saudi arabia opposition against al-assad a political fuel, it was, you know, regarding maybe the people in saudi arabia. otherwise we could work against iran and work with ball share al-assad. so unfortunately there is a misunderstanding receiving many americans in jail. so finally, with syria, for sure i have to admit that syrian issue, it is approve that arab country and muslim countries are weak, yet, they cancel -- can't solve their problems without helping -- and i say damascus. we are divided. we couldn't do ig in. and it it gives you the future of [inaudible] with respect to my -- [inaudible] but we can't solve any problems under the -- [inaudible] so finally, saudi arabia did some it's mistakes or -- i think also so that [inaudible] was too much high in the beginning so maybe they were expecting something to be happened but they were not. nothing happened -- [inaudible] also the countries they didn't do the minimum for especially with china and russia t

because they realize the costs of iran's nuclear pursuit and support for the bashar al-assad sheen. in fact, a range don't want their government to support bashar al-assad, a brutal dictator in the region. sanctions have also the effect of weakening iran's influence in the region. iran will have a harder time funding syria, groups like hamas, hezbollah. the statement of reasons hamas has distanced itself from tehran. tehran is no longer able to fund hamas and some of the other palestinian groups as effectively. now, of course sanctions are not a magic bullet, they're not a silver bullet, not a magic solution to a have to be coupled with engagement with the islamic republic, and there are indications that tehran is serious about coming to the table, and it has been serious for several months. there's been indications that it wants to discuss or perhaps resolve the nuclear crisis. i would argue that preceding the latest sanction against iran and the fact, debt when the p5+1, the u.n. security council and germany sat down to talk to iran, it was a problem of sequencing. iran wants p5+1

general assembly to call for an end to the regime of syrian president bashar al assad. lid al moualem described that as blatant interference in syria's domestic affairs. >>> north korea's vice foreign minister used a podium at the united nations conference to announce a change of course. pak kil-yon said his country wants to build relations with other countries. he said the united states should change what he called its hostile stance. >> translator: first secretary kim jong-un has opened a door to a new era. we will forge relations with countries that are friendly with us without being bound by the pass. >> north korean officials failed in april to launch what they called a satellite-carrying rocket. the leaders of other countries believe they were trying to test ballistic missile technology. pak accused the u.s. of forcing the security council to condemn the launch. pak said the only way to bring peace to the korean peninsula is for the u.s. to end its hostile policy. and he accused south korean president lee myung-bak of causing inter-korean relations to hit rock bott

that bought bashar al assad time. we gave russia veto power over our efforts through the u.n. meanwhile about 30,000 syrians are dead. >> what would my friend do differently? you notice, he never answers the question. >> we wouldn't be go through all of the u.n. and all of these things. >> we don't go through the u.n. we are in the process now and have been for months in making sure that help, humanitarian aid as well as other aid and training is getting to those forces that we believe, the turks believe, the jordanians believe, the saudis believe are the free forces inside of syria. that is under way. our allies were all on the same page, nato as well as our arab allies in terms of trying to get a settlement. that was their idea. we're the ones that said enough. with regard to the reset not working. the fact of the matter is russia has a different interest in syrian than we do, and it's not in our interest. >> what happens if assad does not fall? congressman ryan? what happens to the region? what happens if he hangs on? what happens if he does? >> then iran keeps their greate

as you watch this, sir, do you get the feeling that bashar al-assad is getting better at this? watched what happened in egypt and libya and he is dragging this thing out. >>guest: it is clear that president assad has learned all of the "best lessons of practices" from the crisis in egypt, libya and tunisia. that being said, that does not offer a solution for syria. it doesn't offer a solution for a country where the social fabric has been ripped apart. we are looking at a pattern that is likely to show a long-term crisis. we all want this to go away if a quick resolution in syria but the reality and the pressures from multisectarian country in lebanon and in iraq and now syria are that these are long, painful conflicts and they could take as long as they need to resolve and there needs to be unity at the international level, something we don't have in syria. >>trace: you are talking about people unestimating how long this would actually last and you talk about the arab spring, this is the air spring, summer, and fall and winter is is coming. >>guest: we look at this as an arab