. >> 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. majofundinis 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. additional funding is provided 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

no one is particularly interested in sitting down and having dialogue with the syrian president bashar assad also the u.k. and france recently suggested that a weapons in bargo on syria has to be lifted to the rebels as we see now the initiative hasn't been given any kind of green light so growing concerns what is happening inside syria. the latest on syria indeed from a middle east correspondent paul us live thank you. for now here are two the hunger strike among prisoners at guantanamo bay now into day forty eight the plight is still struggling to dawn a wider attention lawyers say over one hundred inmates are refusing food and a concern about their deteriorating state of health prison officials continue to downplay the protests and the little coverage in the u.s. media zante is more important now investigates. as you should be in the world of twenty four hour news no country knows the power of media better than the us hard to believe it's been ten years since the shock and awe campaign that launched the iraq war probably we could have removed saddam hussein in another way that would not h

charges as any kind of pretext or cover for its use of chemical weapons >> sreenivasan: president bashar assad is widely believed to have a chemical weapons arsenal, including nerve agents as well as mustard gas. e parliament of prus ved to reject a bill that would tax bank deposits in order to qualify for an international bailout package. to receive $13 billion from the e.u. and the international monetary fund, cyprus has to raise $7.5 billion on its own. but taxing people's bank accounts proved unpopular, even when the provision was added to shield small savers. banks across cyprus will remain closed until thursday to avoid a run on cash. uncertainty about the cyprus situation set markets around the world and on wall street on edge. the dow jones industrial average

the syrian opposition says that forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad fired what they are claiming all chemical weapons as rebels surrounding an army base in the town of address on the outskirts of the syrian capital of damascus now the reports we have all that to rebel fighters were killed and some twenty two people were wounded it comes in light of accusations last week in which both sides accuse the other of using chemical weapons in any mysterious explosion near the city of aleppo which killed some twenty six people and wounded dozens of that incident was swiftly labeled by western intelligence agencies as a chemical incident perpetrated by forces loyal to the syrian president assad the syrian regime osce the united nations to launch an investigation the russian ministry has said that if there are reasons to believe that chemical weapons in fact. comprising of permanent united nations security council members has to be saying to syria the american president barack obama he has constantly in the process put the issue of chemical weaponry on the table saying that a red l

lou: senator carl levin, pushing president obama to take a hands-on approach to the removal of bashar al-assad. and as senator john mccain looking for a no-fly zone to be instituted. while calling for surgical airstrikes to help drive the bashar al-assad. the president repeated that any evidence of this weapon to use would be a game changer, as he put it. president obama defended his administration's reluctance to use military force to quell the syrian civil war. >> when we are worki with the syrians themselves, so this is not externally impos, but rather something that is linked directly with the aspirations of the people inside of syria, it will work better. lou: the king has alsosaid the same. inside jordan comment they are the they delivered with answer should bashar al-assad we powers. >> we need to institute a transition as quickly as possible. if the issue ever came up, all of us would have to put our heads together and figure out if that would help the balance quickly. lou: the senate in the midst of a vote. their expressions, not ours. a senate budget bill being passed for the first t

rebels released a video where they accuse the united nations of assisting the syrian president bashar assad's forces in entering rebel captured areas in the same video they also put forward their demands. we demand from the u.s. the u.n. and the security council that the troops of bashan ascends regime withdrawn from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfilled during the next twenty four hours we will treat the hostages as prisoners now the united nations has of course condemned this incident the u.n. is currently negotiating with the rebels it demands the immediate release of its forces there is no reason at all under any circumstances in any kind of a sick imagination to try to harm harm those people so clearly gross disrespect for united nations gross disrespect of international norms of behavior of the united nations says that it's absurd as well on a regular supply mission earlier on wednesday when they were stopped by the militants the un force was established back in one nine hundred seventy four to monitor the disengagement of israel

damascus we are not in any way advocating the keys of bashar assad we are working and we do believe that it is still possible to achieve this goal towards the establishment of a platform for interest syrian dialogue for some reconciliation the impartiality here is crucial others that has more have more influence upon syrian opposition should do more by far more to impress these people that they should be really engaged with the government with the saudis i would put it rather this way. there is no alternative alternative is more casualties more tragedy what we experience there daily and others at brics have very similar views it has been proven through. several events national positions being explained by spokespersons by leaders themselves and then very sure that durban would add to this what we believe is a unified and coherent message. of what should be done there to resolve the problem there is some speculation in the west that russia and china are trying to bring break says their main job i need to call a force capable of deporting united states and nato from their leadership positi

sixty million dollars in assistance to syria's political opposition to topple the syrian president bashar assad now this is the first time that the united states has publicly committed itself to sending non-lethal aid to the armed factions that are backing president assad bush into hasn't also not ruled out supplying the rebels with weapons in the future also on wednesday arab league ministers say that arab states are free to offer military support to the syrian rebels fighting the syrian president bashar assad if they so wish the arab league secretary general also say it and that the ministers had invited the opposition syrian national coalition which is an umbrella body for and he said political of liberal groups to occupy the seat of syria at the league this essentially means more political and more diplomatic support for the syrian rebels paula thanks very much indeed for that live update thats artie's paula slipper let's not talk to middle east blogger culture sharon he joins me live now here on r.t. cole i understand that obviously we're talking about syrian rebels here being behind the s

wanted to remove bashar assad from power it could do so within twenty four hours it has that level of military capability and superiority and i said knows it the u.s. is major concern and i think the west's major concern is what happens after assad falls and unless that question is answered the u.s. is i think the obama administration rightly thinking twice about forcefully removing us that it can be done at the drop of a hat but it hasn't been done for the reasons that need to be outlined in other words the sectarian. infighting among the opposition would you like if you're going to do like those really you're going to learn a thing i said would you like to see the u.s. do that in twenty four hours. it's not as simple as whether i would like what you did it was a party vote assyria with the forceful removal you just said it was yes but not worst possible doesn't mean it's inevitable no possibly nobody should have been able to finish should it be possibility means it shouldn't be done the u.s. has and has not exercised it should not be all right gentlemen i'm going to jump in here we'

these hostages says that it won't release them until the captives loyal to the syrian president bashar assad withdraw from a nearby village at the same time the militants are admitting that they took these u. n. personnel to try and prevent an attack by assad's loyalists in other words what we're seeing is that the rebel forces are using this you and team as human shields now the u.n. has of course condemned this act this action we've heard criticism particularly from moscow at the united nations. there is no reason at all under any circumstances any kind of a sick imagination to try to harm harm those people so clearly gross disrespect for united nations gross disrespect of the international norms of behavior now the united nations is currently also involved in negotiating their immediate release according to the united nations it's team were on a regular mission in the area we're talking about an area not far from the israeli syrian border that happened earlier on wednesday when they were taken hostage now paula leading up to this hostage crisis western countries and there are about allies

has begun trading the rebels to fight against bashar al assad's forces. but will it be enough without american weapons? >>> and speaking of foreign diplomacy, dennis rodman becomes the new bff to kim jong-un during a trip to north korea. yes, these are the real pictures. we'll explain later in the show. >>> first, our top story this morning comes from our nation's capital. at times it felt like a slow-moving train wreck, but time is finally up for the white house and members of congress. today, $85 billion across the board spending cuts hit federal agencies and the pentagon. two competing plans to avert the sequester failed yesterday, as expected. president obama will meet with leaders from both parties today, even though many lawmakers have already left town for the weekend. what's left is a deeply divided capital where yesterday senator lindsey graham took his own party to task for signing off on sequestration in the first place. >> i guess the republican party feels like the pell grants and food stamps and the faa and home mortgage interest deduction a

lavrov following his claim that the syrian opposition was ready to negotiate with syrian president bashar assad it is important to remember that this was the first time ever that the syrian opposition talked about the possibility of talking to assad although later backtracked by saying that he was willing to talk about the departure of assad with his vice president and his government but not with the syrian president assad himself now tips resignation does raise questions over the integrity of the syrian national opposition coalition it comes on the heels of twelve opposition members pulling out last week over disagreements over the election of a point minister and that follows a meeting over the weekend in which the e.u. met with the syrian national coalition of heartache later said to quote him that their meeting achieved nothing the tip has complained that there has been insufficient groundwork to to actually be able to form a government this is supposed to be or at least it's being touted as a government in waiting what we witnessing also is stark division amongst jihadists on the ground so

but bashar al-assad would either have quashed them effectively at the outset or-- . >> rose: or would have been more effective in opening up a bit. but bashar we know was not the original heir apparent. >> rose: the older son was -- >> so obviously he's not fit for the job. and when he was tested, he failed. >> rose: yeah. so you are suggesting, you are recommending that the president intervene with weapons. >> if the decision is to effect assad's calculus then i think we have to do two things. number one, is a no-fly zone in the area where the provisional government is now going to be established. >> rose: right. >> and this is-- does not require us going into full scale military mode of destroying all of the sands and all of the aircraft on the ground. that's an argument that the pernt gone makes because they basically don't want to do it. who can blame them he this they have a few other problems, afghan tan, sequestration and potentially iran. but when i was in the clinton administration, i had responsibility to the state department for the no-fly zone in northern iraq. and we oper

earlier released a video where they accuse the united nations of assisting the spin president bashar assad's forces in entering israel rebel captured areas and also in this video they put forward their demands have a listen. i would demand from the u.s. the u.n. and the security council that the troops of fashion sense regime withdraw from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfilled your the we will treat the hostages as present. condition of the way now the united nations has of course condemned this incident the u.n. is currently negotiating with the rebels it demands the immediate release of its forces the united nations says that its observateur were on a regular supply mission earlier on wednesday when they were stopped by the militants the un force was established back in one nine hundred seventy four to monitor the disengagement of israeli and syrian forces and maintain the cease fire between the two countries who are technically still have more it will capture the golan heights from syria back in one thousand nine hundred sixty seve

pressure seems to remain intense on bashar assad. >> you could, in fact, make the argument that presidenteast is becoming merely the president of a couple of square miles in damascus. the rebels fired more shells once again today towards the presidential palace in the center of damascus but they were met with a huge barrage of missiles outgoing from the government positions. one journalist there reported something like 200 explosions in the capital today. meantime, the u.s. is clearly working with syria's neighbors, jordan, israel, turkey, and iraq to try to develop a new approach to put even more pressure on bashar al assad. we haven't seen now for several days. not since last thursday when state tv ran some pictures of him allegedly shot meeting some civilians last week. we have no way of knowing when that picture was shot. we have not heard from president assad several days. >> shepard: you wonder if he is still there. even. the u.s. military is no longer holding prisoners in afghan jails. the u.s. handed over control of the last remaining detention facility at the bagram base near kab

asher al-assad reiterated -- bashar al-assad reiterated that he has no plans to step down. lmost two years since the start of the civil war in syria. president bashar al-assad remains defiant. he's -- he says the west is conspiring to undermine his country. in an interview with the british newspaper, "the sunday times," he says john kerry is trying to force him out of power -- is wasting his time trying to force him out of power and instead suggested -- >> stop smuggling terrorists into syria. .top sending armament stop providing logistical support to the terrorists. stop financing the terrorists in syria. , rebel forcesnd are pushing to grab new territory in aleppo and in all the outskirts of the capital. the gains made by the rebels since last summer are widely seen by the opposition as a sign of the assad regime's disintegration. the syrian national coalition says it welcomes a national dialogue to solve the crisis, but only when assad goes, a precondition dismissed by the president. >> only the syrian people can tell the president to stay or leave, come or go. no one els

secretary of state john kerry says the aid will make an impression on president bashar al-assad that it's time for him to go. >> what we are doing today is part of a whole, and i am very confident that that whole is going to have the ability for president bashar al-assad to realize he better start measuring more effectively what his future is, what his choices are, and what kind of weapons he uses. jenna: ambassador john bolton is a form u.n. ambassador and a fox news contributor. secretary kerry says this is a significant stepping up assistance by the united states. what do you think about this change? >> well, it is an increase in assistance to the opposition, there is no doubt about it, but it's not guided by any strategy. i think the administration is responding to criticism that it's not doing enough, so it's taking effectively a half step. the fact is that as secretary kerry himself just said, they hope this is going to influence president bashar al-assad to step down. that's been their operating premise for two years. it was foolish two years ago, it's foolish today. bashar al-

a sunni muslim who was an important pillar of support for president bashar assad who is part of the smaller alawite sect it's a versus who was out of date to hit a muslim is a syrian uprising began reporter was amy has the details. of the most shocking news and details that after the bomb they discovered another bomb which is the daughter of the most. happily the happy news that it wasn't exploded. they managed to absolve it and sergeant the mosque of mr the madonna which is one of the most important school in syria and one of them. that important one in their stomach would be is the one who was targeted mainly because. he was he was considered a supporter of. the syrian government and made some strong speeches every friday trying to convince people to join the army and fight for their country and he was he was under a lot of threats around the time of the and said i rest in syria but he insisted on his and his position and did not change into becoming one of the one of the people who are reducing the rest. meanwhile cracks appearing in the empty syrian national coalition after the election

president obama saying that president bashar assad should go. saying that his days are numbered for 19 months. that is about 580 days. take a listen. >> it's not a question of when assad leaves. or if assad leaves. it's a question of when. he will leigh power. not a question of if. >> i am confident that assad's days are numbers. i think he must go and i believe he will go. >> the last one was today. >> if you go to the first time that he made the caug august 18, 2011, 2200 people died at that point in syria. now we're in excess of 70,000. it's one of the reasons i believe this will be forever a black mark on the obama administration. basically done nothing. the question he got today at the press conference to suggest that the u.s. hasn't done anything. the president pushed back hard on that but he was unconvincing in the suggestion we have done much. if you look at the numbers, it suggests we haven't. on the question of the use of chemical weapons, i think the president has shifted the red line a little bit. the first time he talked about chemic

they have long provided support to bashar assad. >>> people in cyprus are lining up to do something they haven't done in weeks, withdraw money from the bank. tell us more about this. >> they do have a limit on how much they can withdraw but at least there's someone at the bank they can talk to. people in cyprus are shuffling back toward some sense of order. international backers came in. now managers have reopened banks for the first time in nearly two weeks. people have joined the lines to withdraw their cash. some are relieved and others unhappy that withdrawals are limbed to 300 euros. government officials say they'll keep the ceiling on withdrawals and other capital controls in place for about a month. the president and members of cabinet will return 20 to 25% of their salaries to state coffers to take responsibility for the chaos. banks were heavily exposed to the debt problem in neighboring greece. under the terms of the bail out the country's second largest bank is to be shut. accountsf under 100,000 euros will be combined with those of the largest bank, the bank of cyprus. accoun

saying that the syrian president bashar assad must go.t if he does extremists could very well exploit a potentially chaotic situation. meanwhile, the man who has been murdering his own people to two years now vowed to wipe out what he called forces of darkness. jonathan hunt is in our newsroom tonight. threatening words from the syrian president yet again. >> yeah, for two years his actions have been speaking volumes, shep. now president assad has put it in writing in the wake of the killing of a pro-government cleric in that mosque attack. mr. assad released a statement, essentially addressing his long-time supporter. the cleric saying, quote: i swear to the syrian people that your blood and that of your grandson and all the march tars of the homeland will not be spilled in vain because we will be faithful to your ideas by destroying their extremism and ignorance until we have cleanse the country. that will send shivers through anyone who remembers the ethnic cleansing of the bosnian war. >> shepard: the blame game they are at that again

hezbollah strongly backs president bashar al-assad. >> on friday, cyprus was still trying to find a way out of its financial crisis. the finance minister had tried russia, traveling to moscow to drum up support for it he left without clinching -- support. he left without clinching a deal. time is running out. the european central bank said it would cut off emergency funding if a plan was not in place by monday. friday saw some signs of progress. pearlman passed bills to restructure the banks and place restrictions on transactions in times of crisis -- harlem and passed bills to restructure the banks and place restrictions on transactions in times of crisis. but at the end of the day, he has still not come up with the 5.8 billion euros that was being demanded. >> the countries that ask for solidarity must be prepared to do what is required of them. >> by friday night, cyprus was still looking at the possibility of financial disaster if a deal was not agreed. the tournament is normally held in june and july, when temperatures i our above 50 degrees centigrade. no decision has been made, b

assad and his regime. >> those opposed to bashar al assad's government are struggling to maintain a united coalition afterhe head of the u.s.-backed opposition resigned. "the new york times" reports arab nations and turkey have sharply stepped up aid to the rebels with the help of the cia. for more on that, nbc's eamon mohyeldin joins us. >> as you just mentioned there, the greatest concern for u.s. officials right now are the flights coming in from iran over iraq and into syria. now, according to u.s. intelligence estimates as well as syrian opposition figures they believe these flights are carrying important weapons and more importantly cash for the regime of president bashar al assad. they're denying that saying they're only sending humanitarian aid. more confirmation coming out that countries like saudi arabia, qatar and turkey are much more involved in accepting weapons directly to the rebels via support of the international community including western intelligence agencies like the cia. the concern is the shipments of weapons. are they actually getting to the right hands and that is a major concern

sources, or anywhere else, that bashar assad has said or communitied that he would in fact at some point be willing to use chemical weapons? >> i can't talk about any specific source of information. i can tell you that over a long body of reporting, i have come to the conclusion that they have the intent to use chemical weapons under the right circumstances, and that's what's so concerning. >> rose: what are the right circumstances? >> well, we don't know. again, the regime is under pressure. and ther there is, again, some debateif tre is some interpretation what that means even among themselves. but again, they have them. they have configured them. they have fired scud missiles before and i believe they have the intent to use them if they believe that will help their end game of defeating the rebels. >> rose: your advice to the president is what? >> if you issue a red line for our allies and our adversaries, it can't be a pink line. can't be a dotted line. it can't be an imaginary line. it has to be a red line. and that's alwayshe dger in issuing red line statements. but newt more impor