it's an economic blow to the government of bashar al-assad. opposition fighters say they have taken control of syria's largest oil fields. it's difficult to prove but the v video seems to though the entrance to al-omar. this man says the area was taken at dawn from government forces. he said it's in the hands of the al-nusra front, only al qaeda-led group and the al-islam army and mouttet brigades. >> we are in omar oil field, here are bashar al-assad's vehicles and tanks. his men ran away like rats. >> it's the second time opposition fighters took control of the facility. >> the government withdrew from the omar oil field only to get it back again. if it has changed hands again, that means most of syria's useable oil reserves are in the hands of the opposition, and thanks to the e.u.'s decision to relax an embargo, they are allowed to sell it abroad. the bashar al-assad government has access to oil. there are working pipelines elsewhere in the county and a willing provider in iran. >> many of syria's oil fields line the north and east. most ha

is attacking sunnis, criticizing him for allowing iran to overflying iraqi territory to supply bashar al-assadn syria. and there is not much that the united states can do directly, since he would not allow u.s. troops back in 2011. so a very complicated issue and high steaks today in the oval office, dell. >> is there any sense that he wants troops back on the ground in iraq? >> we're not hearing that, and that is not going to happen obviously. we talked about the hangover with the american people and the president making it a political campaign point that he ended the war in iraq, absolutely no way in the world would u.s. troops be sent into syria. and so now the principle ask here by the iraqis and malaki. the white house acknowledges their concern, they are working with congress, there is the question what congress do to stop the sale of arms. the way it works is the united states can sell or transfer those arms. the congress would essentially have to proactively stop it through the power of the purse or some other means. it looks like, judging by the public comments by jay carney yesterday

>> rain iran is a backer of bashar al-assad and hezbollah. the attack appears to be the latest spillover from the syrian war. it was not the first of its kind. a car bombing killed scores of civilians in the southern suburbs of beirut. those who carried out attacks said it was in retaliation for hezbollah's participation in the syrian war. >> it will not change the political conditions of iraq. for both the fight in syria is their fight. >> this message is useless and our deployment is not only strategic but political. iran's position cannot be changed by such a message. iran and hezbollah will remain allies to syria and hezbollah will fight to safeguard strategic enterprises. sunni and shiite factions support opposing sides.

in syria a blow to the bashar al-assad regime as rebels seize a large oil field. the loss of the field means almost all of bashar al-assad's access to crude reserves has been cut off. >> no word on the deal in geneva, world powers have been meeting since wednesday. iran says it cannot accept an agreement that does not recognise its right to enrich uranium. that's a demand the u.s. allies rejected. >> it is 2:30am in geneva, as the talks continue. we go to hillary leverett, a former u.s. diplomat and the co-author of the "going to tehran." she joins us from washington. thank you for being with us. >> first question is the big question - how hopeful are you that they'll strike a deal? >> i'm not overly optimistic. even though they've come a long way the fundamental issue about iran's right to enrich uranium is fundamental that divides the broad - a broad swath of the international community from the four states that reject that - the u.s., france, britain and israel. they are the four states. it's a tough issue to get over. >> why is iran digging in their heels. why

and he has confirmed that bashar al-assad will be there. >>> rebelling in the north of mali has told azeera that they will continue attacks in the region if the military ginns what they call ethnic cleansing. >>> bosnian officials have uncovered what they believe is the coup try's largest mass grave. the remains of 360 people have been recovered in the northwestern village. the chief investigator says more than 700 bodies may have been buried there. >>> the discovery of the grave underscores the problem of locating and identifying people who go missing in conflicts. a conference at the hague is for the first time tackling this issue, but it goes further than just the balkans. in columbia, about 64,000 people are missing from the decade's long fight between the government and the rebel groups. there are no firm numbers but hue ran mites group estimate it's between 250,000 to a million people missing in iraq. and 20,000 people are missing from north's camps. >> reporter: it is estimated since world war ii millions of people have gone missing around the world. you can talk about natural

. >> as the fighting intensifies in aleppo, the main opposition to bashar al-assad's regime is declining to meet in pea sakes. genevpea--peace talks in geneva. >> reporter: this has always been the trickiest issue for the coalition and it remains over the next couple of days on one level this negotiating body representing the syrian opposition can't not show up as an international meeting of this magnitude. on the other hand if they show up and across the table from them are representatives of the assad regime, indeed, bashar al-assad himself, they risk losing what little credibility they have list with syrians inside the country who have sacrificed so much no the revolution as they see it to get to this point. >> and it is a source of hope for millions of americans struggling with mental illness and addiction. coming up, new rules for those trying to heal. >>> plus forced out the streets of san francisco transformed by the tech boom. >> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax cuts... the economy... iran... h

to support rebels in their fight against bashar al-assad.ran's influence in syria and the fact that the u.s. is engaged in new diplomatic efforts with iran. joining us now in the studio, director of the syrian center of political studies. he is a spokesperson for the main opposition group. from new york, saudi political affairs analysts, and nancy soderberg, former u.s u.s. ambassador to the united nations. where are things at in syria? you still have family in the country. update us. >> yes, the united nations just said today that more than nine million would equal to 40% of the population, they are in desperate need. add more numbers of catastrophe to the country which means they may lose second hen education of displaced people. this is the humanitarian catastrophe. it is considered as one of the wars in this century. which more important we don't see that in the international community, to put its efforts. we still see actions the international community dealing as a business rather than focusing on finding an end to the conflict in syri

of course it's support for bashar al-assad and the syrian government.posts it's a on one side with hezbollah, and against the united states and other allies who are supporting the rebels in syria. this has wider connotations. this attack happened in lebanon so there are people from iran and lebanon and perhaps other wider countries who are definitely effected by the events there in beirut. >> all right. thank you. >>> well the attack hand as representatives from 71 countries and organizations are meeting in kuwait, taking part in an african arab summit. we know there is a strong delegation there from iran at the summit. has anything been said about the bombings today in the lebanese capitol? >> well, darren we heard strong comments from the lebanese interim foreign minister who condemned the attack as a terrorist attack, and insisted that his country's resolve in combatting what he described as terrorism will continue to be strong. we are expecting statements by the lebanese president earlier than was scheduled. she was scheduled to speak on the second

third term, as a candidate of the supreme leader in iran, president obama in washington and of bashar al-assad in syria, it is an amazing work if you can get it. this war, which i believe it was a noble war that is my belief in it and you were kind enough over the years to give me a kind of a forum for this, but this noble war has got ten a tyrant. >> rose: robin wright? >> well, the prime minister al maliki wants more weapons from the united states, he is very concerned that his government, his military particularly can't control the growing insurgency, more than 7,000 people have already died this year, more than 1,000 last month, and he da -- his theme in washington is al qaeda is back and more dangerous than ever, and that he needs help from the outside world, it is a particular irony given the fact that just two years ago the iraqis really wanted the united states to leave, and even if the united states had been willing to leave a residual force behind to help the iraqis, the iraqis, this particular government wouldable, was dead set on getting the americans out and now he is coming back

you know, the regime of syria, the regime of bashar al-assad, the murderous regime is being sustained really only because of the iranian, the really incredible iranian effort that has been going on and that is largely carried on by transport planes that have been flying over iraq and essentially with iraqi permission. it is unclear if the iraqis had an air force and if they were stronger would they say no to the iranians we don't really know but what we do know is they allow those over flights to carry on and certainly against american objections but all of that comes back to, i think, to 2010, you know, the united states doesn't have a lot of influence there now. you know, we were there for nine years, you know, tens of thousands of troops, we fought a war there and lost a lot of people, we have virtually nothing there now and so we just don't have that much leverage. there is not that much we can ask maliki to do. he is coming to us asking for help but we can get a lot from him, but we don't really have -- we don't have -- we haven't had a presence in that country for two years now.

some will not go without any talk of the resignation of bashar al-assad. >> thank you. hoda there in beirut. more on what lakhdar brahimi had to say in the coming hours. meanwhile israeli jets reportedly attacked a military base near syria's port of latakia. the strike thought to have tart russian-made missiles. it's not the first time they are thought to have struck in syria. two other weapon stockpiles have reportedly been attacked. more from stefanie dekker in jerusalem. >> the israeli army is not confirming the reports. there has been reports of air strikes. in january there was reported strikes on a syrian convoy carrying missiles to hezbollah. israel didn't comment on the reports, saying, "we are not saying anything about this." later in the year reports that israel targeted a missile storage facilities close to the province of latakia. again israel not commenting on the reports. we do know israel takes the threat of hezbollah seriously and says if there's a threat to the israeli state they'll take actions. people say it's possible israel could have carried out th

rebels seize an oil field, it's a blow to the bashar al-assad regime. cutting off the crude reserves. >> opposition fighters say they have taken control of syria's largest fields, it's difficult to prove but the video shows the entrance to al-omar. it was posted, mages over the area for the last two months. it was tape at dawn from government forces. he says it's in the hands of the al-nusra front, an al qaeda-linked grout. the army. he introduces a man, a field commander who describes the defeat. >> translation: we are now in omar oil field, here are bashar al-assad's vehicles and tanks. his men ran away. >> it's the second time opposition fightersar taking control of facility the government withdrew only to get it back again. if it has changed hands again that means most of syria's reservation are in the hands of the opposition and thanks to the e.u.'s decision to relax on embargo they are allowed to sell it abroad. the bashar al-assad government has access to oil, there are other pipes in the county and a provider in iran. >> after four days of delibe

many believe bashar al assad got away with mass murder with the chemical weapons deal hailed as a success for diplomacy. the inspectors awarded the nobel peace prize and assad himself coming off looking cooperative. in washington today the u.s. ambassador to syria got a grilling. >> a mother watching a child starve to death is not really comforting that that child has not been killed by a chemical weapon. >> reporter: assad has so far weathered the storm exchanging weapons for power. richard engel, nbc news, cairo. >>> now to this widening and nsa spying story. all of it coming by leaks by the former u.s. defense contractor edward snowden. tonight's revelations involve very big names in the internet and e-mail world. now big companies are calling for new privacy laws to stop u.s. intelligence agencies from breaking into their data overseas. for more on all of it we turn to our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom tonight. andrea, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. the tech companies worry they are losing an arm's race with the nsa which nbc

iran supports the group, and hezbollah is supporting troops loyal to syrian president bashar al assad who have been fighting against rebel forces. the friction between hezbollah and sunni muslims in lebanon has intensified since hezbollah sent combatants to syria earlier this year. the explosions were the latest in a string of bomb attacks in lebanon. >>> now inside syria, president assad's military is continuing its effort to stamp out opposition forces. and as the violence grinds on, more civilians are paying the price. nhk world's sho beppu is reporting this week inside the syrian capital, damascus. >> reporter: it's our fourth day in the capital, damascus, the heart of president bashar al assad's power base. at night streets are empty except for members of the security forces. each day we hear explosions coming from the outskirts of the city where the syrian army is on the offensive against opposition fighters. syrians continue to suffer as the war rages on. this is a shelter for residents displaced by fighting. about 200 people are staying here. more than a dozen members of four

in fact president bashar al-assad has said, who will we talk to on the table? does this opposition actually control the ground, so a lot of obstacles ahead. but we have to be clear, the international community is determined to push forward. the u.n. announcing a date, making it very clear, they are going to push forward because they feel there is no other position. >> thank you very much. zena. >>> introducing laws in bangkok as antigovernment demonstrators occupy government buildings. thousands have been demonstrate be for and against the government in bangkok and the biggest mass really since 2010. in a moment we'll hear from scott heidler, on the outskirts of the capital. but first veronica pedrosa. >> this is what's become of thailand command center for the economy. one of the most successful in the region. demonstrators occupied the finance ministry. they're from a loose coalition trying to force the government out. they went in, even though they were warned, police would try to take back control of the building. >> these are the biggest anti-government de

look positive the trap for the french apart from the fact that they appear to be recognizing bashar al assad whom they have spent months and years decrying on every possible ground is that says the public may well say that if france minded the sound business in the first place they wouldn't be in this awkward position of now having to be helpful over chemical weapons. now even if it doesn't host of the elimination of syria's chemical weapons the e.u. is still getting involved in the issue a rapid surge in the number of its citizens going to the country to join the ranks of the islamist opposition is sending alarm bells ringing across the continent more and more muslim europeans are promoting jihad duty on social networks as art he says are sillier explains. i am french to french parents my parents are atheist and do not subscribe to any religion praise be to allah who guided me. call on now calls himself abu abdullah having found islam on the internet in two thousand and nine in this video he's urging muslims to join the fight in syria is younger brother john danielle was persuaded to join u

look positive the trap for the french apart from the fact that they have here to be recognizing bashar al assad whom they have spent months and years decrying on every possible ground is that the public may well say that if france minded his own business in the first place they wouldn't be in this awkward position of now having to be helpful over chemical weapons. but generally even if it doesn't host syria's chemical weapons the a is becoming increasingly tangled up in the conflict since european spite she was a warning of a rapid growth in the number of citizens going to fight in syria alongside the islamist opposition one reason official site for the surge of support a muslim the europeans promoting jihad on social networks across the continent attest to the reports. i am french to french parents my parents are atheist and do not subscribe to any religion praise be to allah who guided me. all are now killed himself. having found islam on the internet in two thousand and nine in this video he's urging muslims to join the fight in syria is younger brother john daniel was persuaded to join up t

the trap for the french apart from the fact that they appear to be recognizing bashar al assad whom they have spent months and years decrying on every possible ground is that says the public may well say that if france minded his own business in the first place they would be in this all could position to now having to be helpful over chemical weapons and the u.s. has said as well as you were saying that there are possible options are they all within the within europe. they're all within europe you know i'm in the bus or on the other although when they get to america of course. was america come forward first they want to discredit a great deal with. i it's not a question i've had a chance to get out said to it is true that they have the. pasti to deal with this sort of thing if necessary i mean russia has some capacity as well well with no clear decision as we stand tonight again this six week deadline to get all these toxic materials the most of the way out of the country do you think that's too tight than well yes i do personally i mean there are certain the certain areas where the syri

the united states' position right now, i believe they have a contract with bashar al-assad to give all his chemical weapons back. the doomsday scenario, if bashar falls right now, who is going to have possession of these chemical weapons. jihadists, afghani type rebel groups, and the united states knows that very well. >> rose: so we have an interest in assad stale staig in power until all the chemical weapons are eliminated, at least until then. >> sure enough, by the deadline of first november, where he was supposed to give back all his-- all the companies that manufacture such weapons were the day before the deadline. right now we have another deadline, which is june, to have all the chemical weapons destroyed. >> rose: let me turn to iran. what is the saudi position on iran and iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons development. >> the position of saudi arabia is like the position of the united states and everybody else in the world. to have iran nuclear free. and we are very concerned from the position of the united states, britain, and france-- although france took a good position

and president bush are president bashar al-assad is mag peace talks.ranian administration is expressing deal distractions. releasing its own language which includes nclear energy. china now claims it allowed b-52's to fly through the disputed airspace and warning that it will take future action against them. >> unilateral actions like those taken a part of the identification zone. a constitute an attempt to change the status quo in this only serves those in the egion. >> joining us now, general jack keane. >> how seriously should we take this action by china? >> in and of itself, it's not serious. but the strategy here, this is a power play. the chinese are going to continue to do this because we have dominated this is pacific, 60 years now. >> they will do it with other countries and look for these fights short of direct conflict with the united states. the response by the administration is an appropriate and correct one to let them know that we're we are not going to abide by this nonsense. >> we are going to use the airspace and we are not going to

it would not be in bashar al-assad's interest to be seen to be hiding something at this point.ertheless, these things will have to be investigated. the tough investigations probably are still down the road. and when i say "tough" i mean going to sites which perhaps syria hasn't declared investigating and interviewing people who were perhapsed involved to really verify that they've gotten all the nooks and crannies of the c.w. capacity. but those details shouldn't take away of the significance of what had been done today. seen from the outside, i should point out, if you're a syrian, you probably don't care that much about this because, you know, from the syrians' perspectives, it looks like the international community prefers they kill themselves with conventional weapons as opposed to chemical musicians. so there's two ways of looking at this. >> ifill: because, in fact, chemical weapons have been used but they were a small percentage of the weapons being used to kill, as we just heard, more than 120,000 people. >> jeffrey brown's report is quite graphic in that. the problem i

commander salim idriss vowed to continue fighting to topple syrian president bashar al-assad., as margaret warner reports, that objective has become increasingly unlikely as the underfunded and outgunned group is forced to fight additional enemies. >> warner: last november we met colonel abdul outside aleppo. his free syrian army units were on the march, he told us, taking ground in the city and surrounding area and seizing the momentum against bashar al-assad's government forces. >> ( translated ): we have almost full control on the ground, though they are superior in the air and with rocket launchers, tanks and artillery. but we are spear juror on the ground and we have control. >> warner: but earlier this month, the well-regarded commander resigned his post. in this youtube video, he voiced frustration with all the in-fighting among the rebellion's disparate units and leaders, including jihadist brigades. >> ( translated ): you war lords stop chasing positions and status and carrying about being famous. return to the battlefields and leave behind your egos. >> warner: joshu

bashar al-assad said he shouldn't be involved in these talks. there is nothing that says he can't. and who makes up the opposition. the syrian opposition, al nusra, how do you get everyone around the negotiation table. first let's speak with david, who is in geneva. the u.n. secretary general making it quite clear what he expects from these talks. we go to geneva with a mission of hope. >> reporter: yes, it was a very previous statement. it wa--a brief statement this afternoon. and i think it was very apparent it was so short on detail. we're hoping in a half hours time to hear from the u.n.-syria mediator and the russians and the americans, who have been talking all day about how they're going to arrange this peace conference here in geneva. "n" january. we hoped to get a lot more detail from them. but it could be that they don't have much more to give us. it was a mission of hope, as ban ki-moon says, and he said this opportunity should be seized to try to end the war that has caused such suffering and destruction. but these are just words and hope. in the end we have to wait and

. >> in syria, a blow to the bashar al-assad regime as rebels seize a large oil field. the loss of the field means almost all of bashar al-assad's access to local crude reserves have been cut off. government forces rely on imported oil. it's unclear if infrastructure was damaged. >> i'm jonathan betz, i'll be back 11:00 pm eastern with the historic deal. first, "america tonight" is next and you can find us on aljazeera.com. >> >> good evening, i'm joie chen, you're watching "america tonight", the weekend edition. we begin with an investigation. the american cancer society hosted a smoke out, urging smokers to quit. despite well-documented risks, cancer, heart disease, one in five americans smoke. to quit the habit hundreds of thousands of americans turned to a pill called chantix. some had success, others died. adam may obtained documents showing hundreds of chantix users committed suicide. >> james mayhol pleads guilty to a burglary, receiving a 1-year sentence in the state penn tenary. the truck driver broke into a warehouse, after being sacked from his job, armed with

announced it will skip upcoming peace talks and vowed to keep up the battle against president bashar al-assad'sforces. >> ifill: and our thanksgiving week series on food continues with a profile of award-winning cookbook writer paula wolfert, now caught between her love of food and h

the loss of the field means assyrian's -- bashar al-assad's access to crude has been cut off. >> iran says it cannot accept a nuclear agreement that does not recognise a right to enrich rain yu.. a demand that has been repeatedly rejected. >> tomorrow is election day in the republic of honduras. voters go to the polls to choose a president and a congress. the presidential race pits the leader of the national party against xiomara castro del zelaya, wife of manuel zelaya, a leader forced from office in a coup. it was too close to call after a campaign dominated by an issue of crime. it has the highest homicide rate with 91 killing for every 100,000 people. >> with crimes rampant. voters must stay safe. we heard reports of intimidation of one party and its members and people here observing the election and what we saw on saturday in the capital was the head of the police and an army general were standing right next to the head of the national electoral commission. they were guaranteeing that the vote would be fair and free. they are sending thousands of schedulers and police making sure

iran is a backer of bashar al assad and of the hezbollah militia which have sent fighters to syria tos trying to overthrow bashar al assad. no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. rob reynolds, aljazeera. >> the iranian ambassador to lebanon blames israel for the explosions. >> a security camera captured the final moments before a bowing 737 exploded. experts from bashar al assad and two u.s. agencies are assisting the investigation. >> two jailed after a green peace protest against arctic drilling are free on bail. a russian and photographer are the first of the crew members to be released. the demonstrators face up to seven years in jail if convicted of hooliganism. they tried to scale a russian offshore oil rig last september. >> more trouble for the mayor of toronto. hecklers yelled also the council voted to strip rob ford of his powers. ford was caught on camera during the vote yawning and making gestures. he also nearly knocked over a woman as he rushed to help his brother on the sidelines. >> i apologize to anyone that i accidental hit when my brother was in an alt

bashar al-assad cannot be a part of that. >> to the russians understand, like you said, everyone.but they fully war that they can be part of this? >> they signed up to geneva knowing what it meant and they reaffirmed that actually, again, just this past year, but the russians are not in a hurry to compel bashar al-assad to step down and that is part of why it has been so hard to get to geneva as well and get the opposition going on the basis of the plan because they don't have confidence when the syrian government shows up they will be willing to talk about the future without bashar al-assad. >> i haven't hear one of your predecessors talking. >> which one? >> kissinger. >> okay. was it before the whole resolution, russia doesn't want chemical weapons. >> bold, frankly. there are areas where we allow it and that we do share a concern about extremist and syria becoming a state pays him. we do share a concern about chemical weapons, which is why when the united states indicated a readiness to use force, it has deterred the further use and eight inspired russia to get energized about

is backing the syrian government and calling for elections to be held not for the removal of bashar al-assad as president of syria, turkey on the other hand is backing the syrian rebels for the overthrow of bashar al-assad and the humanitarian and refugee crisis spilling over into turkey's border. but for once they have become bitter regarding this issue in syria and other issues. for once these two sides agree. what is happening on the ground of syria could tell a different story. >> protesters in bangkok say they want their prime minister to step down. the protest has run for four straight days now and we have this story from bangkok. >> reporter: it is not tense, it is rather festive and rather loud. they have a lot of whistles, and it's added a new measure of pain to cover these processes, i must say. there is been very clear instructions from the leaders there are not to be any weapons possessed by protesters. given that, anything could happen, violence could break out at any time. they are security guards that are dressed in black who are not slow to react if they see threats, and they

. >> cutting off nearly all of bashar al-assad's reserves. caroline malone has that story. >> opposition fighters say they have taken control of syria's largest oil fields. it's difficult to prove, but the video shows the entrance to ar-omar near deir ezzor. it was posted online. this man says the area was taken at dawn from government forces and is in the hands of the al-nusra front, an al qaeda linked group as well as the ekhlas army and mouta brigades. he introduced a field commander who described the defeat. >> we are an omar oil field. his men ran away like rats, leaving the tanks. >> it's the scop time opposition forces took control of the facilityies. the government withdrew from the oil field last november, tog get it back again. if it has changed hands again, that means most of the syria's oil reserves are in the hands of the opposition and thanks to the e.u.'s decision to relax, they are allowed to sell it abroad. the bashar al-assad government has access to oil, there are working pipelines elsewhere in the country and a willing pro

basically there has been concern that maybe bashar al-assad could get out of here, wash his hands of any wrongdoing. the editorial proposes u.s. and russia should persuade the president that his time is up to help form a transitional government and move on to ridding the country of extremist and arm -- armed militia. if we look at the cartoon, it shows the u.s. has taken a beating for the handling of this. crisis throughout the region, throughout the world. to try toicky project come together to get geneva to move forward. >> trying to patch things up as best he can. the first asian country to reach the country. >> used to be the u.s. against the soviets. now it is india against china. story aboutnt has a mars, india, mars. the 300 day 800 million kilometer journey has cost 70 million dollars. there are critics that say the government ambition should be more grounded. for instance, britain has given india more than 460 million dollars in aid. 40% of children are malnourished and half the population have no toilets. the endeavor has made india think the government head is in the cloud

do not think there is a military solution to the conflict in syria. >> do you believe that if bashar al-assadas the military vantage on the ground that there is a solution? >> i don't think bashar al-assad can win militarily either. >> do you believe he has the advantage on the ground now? >> only in a few places like up around aleppo. he has a disadvantage on the ground in the east and the south and other places. >> is killing remained unchecked, ambassador ford. come on, it seems that is a satisfactory outcome to you. the fact is, he was about to be toppled over a year ago, and then hezbollah came in and the russians stepped up their efforts. and then the revolutionary guard intervened in what you call "a civil war" and he turned the tide. and he continues to maintain his position of power and slaughtering innocent civilians. and you are relying on the geneva conference, right? >> senator, i would agree with much of what you said in terms of the balance shifting against him and the intervention of hezbollah helping the regime. more and more, the regime is dependent on foreign manpower becau

but opposition leaders say they won't attend unless president bashar al assad steps down. robert ford spoke at the senate foreign relations committee. he said syria's civil war is deadlocked with fighting among government troops, anti-government forces and foreign islamic militants. the united states and russia are trying to arrange a conference in geneva to find a political solution. >> the syrian opposition has a role to play here. it needs to tell other syrians not only what it rejects but also what it proposes in terms of a reasonable alternative to the existing assad regime. >> the united states is backing the opposition forces while russia supports the assad government. >>> more than 100,000 people have died during 2 1/2 years of fighting in syria. the most vulnerable victims of the war are the children. emergency coordinators at the united nations children's fund are warning of a lost generation. nhk world's mitsuko nishikawa has this report. >> reporter: three million children inside syria are affected by the civil war. unicef says many lack safe drinking water, he

iran, a state that supports bashar al-assad, and his ally is resolute. at another funeral the anger and the grief is clear to see. lebanon has seen decades of conflict. and it's times of peace have been tenuous. once again a foreign war threatens its lifeblood. >> an abdullah azzam brigades claimed responsibility. it's a sign that groups are on the rise in lebanon. >> in the philippines, there are problems about what to do with 4 million people left homeless. of the 13 million affected by the storm, 5 million are children. >> volunteers are trying to bring normalcy back to the children's lives in luanne. >> these are the children of lieu warn and they are playing a game, a race where they are supposed to hold on to each other and help each other go back and forth. this is one of the first time they've had organised play in days. they've been out of school for a week. this is a team of child psychologists and social workers coming from manila to restore a sense of normalcy. they've been in recovery mode like everyone else. some kids are having trouble tal

the lebanese shia militant group hezbollah, which has sent fighters to support the governor of bashar al-assad in to the football world cup qatar. it is attracting negative visitors. in eight years before kickoff. the emirate is a bastion of is beingy slavery, it reported. in response, qatar ledge to ensure respect for labor's writes. >> it is the world's richest country in terms of income. in 2022 it will be center stage when it hosts the football world cup. but getting there with huge costs, migrant labor from india. one man from that paul found himself worse off after being -- from the paul -- from the nepal found himself worse off. >> one official used to say, "what did he come here for, to work or to eat?" i decided to stay and work for two years. amnesty international's report, "the dark side of migration," raises concerns about be qatar construction sector. it says the abuses are not isolated. >> we have found detailed the problems of human rights abuses in relation to migrant labor is quite serious and is fairly widespread. damning.iticism is the report is based on around 200 interview