loss both in a leper and in the capital city of damascus over the past few months this is the second bomb blast in just as many days yesterday twenty seven people were killed in a twin blast in damascus and back in february on the tenth of february twenty eight people were killed in a late pope when a twin blast happened there not far from the security building now these latest blast come just three days after the opposition marks one year anniversary against the syrian president bashar assad and there are demonstrations that have been organized plot the day to day in syria and they will be we expect similar in nature to the demonstrations back on friday which marked the one year anniversary so we are witnessing the violence in syria continuing to climb against the backdrop of the former u.n. chief kofi annan making some attempts at reaching some kind of peace agreement between the opposition and the syrian regime parallel to this violence on the ground there is a different kind of war that is taking place and that is the information war with many people saying that what happens in t

special envoy kofi annan said that he will be sending his team to damascus as early as this weekend to begin to scarfing plans his plans to deploy international monitors there he said the first objective is to of course stop all the violence and bloodshed taking place in syria and to establish an impended humanitarian assistance for all those in need in syria he said if the syrian conflict is not handled properly and handled quickly the end result could be disastrous for the entire region kofi annan the u.n. arab league special envoy to syria also pleaded with u.n. security council members to finally break their deadlock and come to a consensus and speak with one voice he said that will not only. give credibility to the international community but it will also help establish peace in syria and help his process a process that he said is very difficult very challenging but one that he is committed to now just last weekend he did travel to syria he met with syrian president bashar al assad he also did meet with members of the opposition group he said that while there are clearly are diffe

in the fact that it's coming closer to damascus. which is not unlike what the opposition and they are so intelligent. where the hallmark of. so there's some reasonable doubt. eventually because that well it's not really being free of the violence we've seen recently but of course now we're seeing those scenes that the capital the scene of a lot of bloodshed recently how significant is it that was saying that sort of on it's not happening in the capital i think any major turning point. either extremists or syrian army trying. to make government there is there some speculation merely because free syrian army has some syrian intelligence officers better this because of the nature of it. well what i think it is i think that the opposition if they're able to take you know the right to damascus the downside is one million people in the atmosphere opposition much that way mad. at something they have clearly that developments made on the military all the military bases that is as we're talking about the syrian free army making those gains i

arab league envoy kofi in arms and it was very strange that two days after is first visit to damascus the opposition syrian national council claim the mission had already failed i think it's irresponsible we're sending definite signals to damascus to cooperate with mr anon and we hope that other members of the security council will also demand the opposition does not provoke the escalation of violence cooperates with mr nonce missions you know mr lavrov also mentioned last week i highlighted the fact that russia and the arab league came up with a five point plan to help bring peace to syria and that includes our unintended humanitarian assistance and access in syria and also immediate cease fire where both sides put their weapon salad and begin to engage in dialogue according to the united nations more than eight thousand people have been killed in syria since this violence began. as a muffled but it's now talked to rob lines is that the editor of the online magazine spite of his lies could even to thank spring on r.t. moscow says it backs kofi annan peace mission but with no visible

political analyst dr romana shabby told us that it's in damascus to the poor and that he thinks that derailing those efforts. the objectives of these explosions that are coming with include these two explosions in the capital and this explosion today in the second largest city in syria this shows that there is an intent to actually destroy or create obstacles initiative by the former secretary general of the united nations kofi annan who is acting on behalf of the united nations and on behalf of the arab league and would receive the support. at least the verbal support from the russian foreign ministry now these explosions actually show the. success or force that announcement. came out just a few minutes in the program tonight a grieving mother and an angry. when you deal with the food they can intimidate people he thinks resigning. as to convicted metro bombers are executed in relatives as well as human rights groups say their trial was too quick to be fair we were poor. and as economic sanctions piled on around begin to backfire with spike in oil prices europe may be forced to rely

and arab league envoy kofi anon is briefing the body on his findings following his recent visit to damascus and a later on we'll be joined by archie's new york correspondent marina court. dr marcus papadopoulos an analyst from the online magazine politics first says another mission should be hailed for its balanced stance toward the syrian on rest . and i think first of all kofi announced mission in syria needs to be applauded by the international community for having approach the situation in syria we've impartiality in that he's spoken so you members of the syrian government including president assad and also members of the syrian opposition the same cannot be said of. the american british and french governments who have made regime change their policy from the very beginning at the same time a great deal of caution needs to be it's just to end western governments so it's going to be no military intervention there could be no rarely ever attacks on syria there might be no cruise missiles fired on syria parts there certainly is a good possibility that there could be armed smuggled into syr

residential area in the syrian city of aleppo it was similar attacks on saturday in the capital damascus which killed twenty seven injured over one hundred others a middle east correspondent got the latest. well the explosion happened at one o'clock local time in the second largest city of aleppo in a residential area very now throughout the day state television has been showing pictures of destroyed vehicles of damaged buildings and shattered glass and it's termed the attack a terrorist bombing we are hearing from the opposition that the attack happened not far from a security building although officials say that it hit between two resonate residential buildings behind of course office and our eye witnesses on the scene said that there were bodies lying everywhere they also say that they heard massive explosions and gunfire immediately after what now understand was a car bombing now we understand this to be security officers who were firing in the air immediately following this blast they also cordoned off the area to try and prevent people from coming closer and now the blast comes jus

. >> more violence and casualties in syria as troops and rebels clashed in damascus. >> for the firstime in 17 years, apple is paying a dividend on its shares. ♪ french police say they're widening their search for the suspect who shot dead a french- israeli teacher, his two children, and another student eddie george school in toulouse today. been drafted into the investigation. following the shooting, president sarkozy travel to the seven french city with the president the country's jewish association to visit the site of the shooting. >> the president also awarded -- alerted the country's highest terrorist alert level for southwestern france. >> in toulouse hours after the attack, residents gathered near the ozar hatorah school to express their sorrow. >> we are in mourning. i am in shock. so are all my friends here. >> nicolas sarkozy paid a visit to the school, accompanied by education and jewish affairs officials. the french president and directed his election campaign to come to toulouse, calling the shooting a national tragedy. >> tomorrow, schools across france will observe a m

one day after twenty blasts on saturday killed some twenty seven people in the syrian capital of damascus and it is the latest in a string of suicide bombings that have been happening in syria over the past few weeks on the tenth of february last month in the same city as sunday's blast the city of aleppo in the roof of the country twenty eight people were killed in twin blasts not far from a security office now the syrian pris is blaming saudi arabia and qatar for sunday's vote they say that they have been calling for the arming of the opposition and that this is merely fueling the situation on the ground and intensifying the violence earlier on sunday also demonstrators gathered at the site of saturday's blast in damascus this gathering comes just a few days after the one year anniversary of the uprising against the syrian president bashar assad now parallel to all of this seemingly growing violence on the ground there is a different type of warfare on the go. what is the information war and hero international broadcasters are increasingly been accused of following their own agenda and

teams judah visit damascus to discuss deploying international monitors to syria it's part of special envoy kofi announce peace mission which pushes for a cease fire and dialogue between the assad government and the opposition there are based political analyst out romana shall be told of the terror attacks in damascus and aleppo greatly grows efforts the objectives of these explosions that are coming within two days two explosions in the capital and then this explosion today in the second largest city in syria this shows that there is an intent to actually destroy or create obstacles initiative by the former secretary general of the united nations kofi annan who is acting on behalf of the united nations and on behalf of the arab league and would receive the support. at least urban support from the. russian foreign ministry now these explosions actually show the need for the success of that and mission coming up in a few minutes or an artsy with me kevin now with a grieving mother and an angry you room. when you deal with things through thinking to meet people with interest signing but

south of damascus, you're getting a break, finally.parallel to the just east of 270 in montgomery county, clipping parts of gaithersburg rockville. laurel down toward college park, click the northeast and southeast d.c. as well there andrews air force base, the rain this morning. it is warm, 63 and washington. quantico, 64. 59, frederick. we had that little bit of rain, that we also have a dense fog advisory for southern maryland until 10:00 this morning. the jet stream reaches all the way to the hudson bay in canada. very unusual this time of year to get such a big rich in the flow, pulling all that warm air northward. off to the west, it is the winter with the cooler air dipping down and parts of new mexico and texas. over the weekend, parts of new mexico picked up over a foot of snow. 74, partly cloudy today. tomorrow lower 70's. by friday, lower 80s with added sunshine. the chance of rain and cooler this weekend. >> a very large funeral procession is getting closer to our area traveling south on i-95 in maryland, currently south of

r t beirut lebanon damascus is preparing to host a u.n. technical team to discuss a plan for international monitors in syria the group is part of a special envoy kofi annan peace mission aimed at establishing a cease fire and getting talks underway between the government and the opposition russia gave its strong support to the efforts and warn against any attempts to derail them. because there's those species i hope this mission won't be ruined we have a feeling that every time we manage to achieve some positive change in the stance of damascus there's an immediate counterweight reaction any steps forward are dismissed i hope this won't be the case of how countries in the middle east and some western states treat the mission of kofi annan it was very strange that two days after his first visit to damascus the opposition syrian national council claimed the mission had already failed respelling definite signals to damascus to cooperate with mr nods and we hope that other members of the security council will also demand the opposition does no

envoy kofi annan is due to brief the body on his findings following his recent visit to damascus batson it hopes his peace effort in the war torn country won't be in vain paula slayer reports. let's listen by the former head of the united nations is the latest attempt to solve diplomatically what is happening in syria and ratings ago friday and now and will brief and update members of the u.n. security council who are guarding the latest proposals on the table and these include an immediate halt to the fighting humanitarian assistance to civilians who've been caught up in the crossfire as well as political debate and political involvement not last weekend coffee and i was in damascus where he met with the syrian president bashar assad as well as the opposition and he went on record after those meetings in saying that the door was open to a diplomatic solution and at the same time the syrian regime has indicated that its response to announce proposals is positive now the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov has urged all members of the international community to back this mission with

i had a terrific team in damascus, and i really would like just to thank this committee for your support for our efforts. beyond that, i think the statement that ambassador feltman made is quite good, and i'll stop there. thank you. >> well, thank you very much, mr. ambassador. that does give us an opportunity to get a good dialogue. we certainly appreciate it. let me begin by asking both of you if you would share with us your perceptions of the state of the assad regime itself right now. are there any fissures? there have been some defections, not at the highest level. there have been some excuses we understand of various military figures, maybe others, as a deterrent to any plots or defection. what is your judgment about the current fragility, if it is indeed that at all, of an alawite family enterprise that has a lot to lose, obviously? >> a couple of things i would say on that, senator. first, the assad regime is under greater stress now i think than it was even two or three months ago. this is in part because the military is more challenged. there have been a steady stream of desert

well you know as dr bassam abu abdullah a professor of international relations at damascus university talked to the thanks ever so much for taking the time to be with us tonight syria's ruling party says islamic extremists have behind these latest string of attacks who do you think is responsible. good evening. the two dearest creations yesterday. we heard from these operations through important messages the first one to the syrian people who. were in millions in their last referendum because their new constitution their second message is to the syrian syrian people that they have been in the fifteenth of march in the streets. not only in syria about around the world so i think that the targets from these are parishes especially when you are talking about the christian neighborhood in the mosque. it was a strong message and they think that this kind of a persians it gives your impression that this is scar them with the. kind of operations we could see in my school or in many places in the middle of. their fear to the children this fear the kind of operation these people they are not l

syrian government obviously blaming each other for the twin suicide bombings that took place in damascus and syria second largest city off the left over the weekend now opposition says that everything has been staged by the syrian government to sort of deflect attention from its own crackdown on its people. and government obviously disagrees with that and says the latest example violence is yet and now they're evidence that armed gangs terrorist groups are present in the country that they're being financed and supplied by major world powers particularly saudi arabia and qatar high profile arab diplomats suggested over the weekend that saudi arabia has being sending ammunition to the syrian rebels mainly through jordan just this morning major clashes between gunmen armed gunmen and the syrian army took place in damascus in a pretty off scale a neighborhood got houses many embassies and this is really a new development because up until now a damascus was pretty much spared although opened clashes. socks out of work are reporting their will for more analysis of a firefight in syria and that

damascus is surprisingly cold in the winter. it snows. so the economy is hurting. the food supplies are available as ambassador feldman said, but people are reducing their consumption in general because of prices. with respect to the political side of this, senator, two points must be made. first, the assad regime in its darkest moments will try to paint this as a fight against sunni-arab islamist extremists. they are trying to frighten minority communities, especially when these minority communities looked at what happened in lebanon and iraq. they're very afraid. i think it is important for americans to understand that this is not about allawis verses a sunni-arab majority. lots and lots of allawis suffered just as much oppression, jut as much brutality as do their neighbors down the road in sunni-arab neighborhoods. it's important, for example, one of the leading activists on the ground inside syria right now, she's in hiding, moving from place to place and will pop up at demonstrations, she is a young woman, allawi movie actress, very well known. she's very bra

as damaging as the one taken syrian lives rafi claude's freelance investigative journalist from damascus says he's found what he thinks is proof of media manipulation of the conflict in syria in this video from the syrian town of holmes the camera focuses on the city's all the refinery the shooting begins seven hours before media viewers around the world see a pipeline explosion allegedly caused by assad's army bombardment you can clearly see that something is slowly burning in the distance when the smoke has thickened english speakers correct their cameras position for a better shot of what's going on they shake it to make it look like amateur video. it's clear it's not an explosion the people reporting it we do need to see it. in another video from a hospital in holmes someone behind camera talks to a doctor and the corner we see a little knock him. out when he should tell bush our good will punish you and talk about his wife ok let's recusal again after some thirty minutes awaiting the crew starts to get nervous and let's go under a beer maybe the whole on can read no we need al-jazee

damascus blamed the armed terrorist. there is no disputing the monthlong siege has left some neighborhoods bombed out wrecks. troops are on the move to quell resistance. such scenes have spurned calls for the world to act yet highlighted the impotence of a deeply divided security council. >> this council has so far failed. >> at this special session, western states denounced the brutality of the assad regime. >> there is no doubt that the authorities barry huge share of responsibility for the current situation. but one should not ignore the fact that for a long time they have been fighting not unarmed men, but combat units. and extremist groups which have committed a series of murderous terrorist acts. >> russia spoke about agreement with the arab league centered on the mission to launch negotiations between the opposition and the regime. the americans are watching these developments closely. >> we took note of the fact that this past weekend in cairo, the arab league and russian foreign minister agreed on the necessity

fresh battles have been reported in damascus and aleppo. for the first time, russia joined other countries in pushing for daily cease-fire set to allow humanitarian aid into areas affected by recent -- daily ceasefires to allow humanitarian aid into areas affected by recent violence. >> gunfire broke out in a neighborhood in damascus. they said that free syrian army fighters were trying to attack a house. security forces tried to force the rebels from an apartment where they were hiding. state media says several opposition fighters were killed, including at least one security officer. this is the most serious fighting of its kind. so close to the center of power. it comes after three bombing attacks over the weekend, two in damascus and one in syria's second city. the authorities say the blasts were the work of terrorists, which is how it often refers to the opposition. anti-government activists accused the syrian leadership of staging the explosions. there is a mass uprising in syria, but there is also an armed insurgency. meanwhile, after

it is a message he now wants to take to damascus. >> syrian artillery has been pounding the city of damascus for days. reports said the army has launched a ground effective to flush out the rebels. the humanitarian situation is catastrophic. kofi annan could travel to the middle east as early as friday for meetings with top arab league officials. he says he wants to meet as quickly as possible with president assad. the former united nations secretary general said that he will urge assad to find a peaceful solution through dialogue. >> time will tell. we will plead with him that he should engage not only with me but with the process that we are launching today. >> kofi annan called on the international community to support his efforts. meanwhile, germany's foreign minister outlined the goals that he believes the mission should achieve. >> for us, there must be an end to the violence. second, there must be humanitarian aid. he must make way for a new political beginning. >> but the syrian government has given no indication that it is ready to end its crackdown on opposition forces. it has also

nations -- kofi annan traveled to damascus. the lake has been given the task to persuade the assad regime to halt its violent crackdown, just one initiative the arab league hopes will demonstrate its willingness and ability to act. it suspended syria's membership in november and imposed economic sanctions. now it says more has to be done. >> we need to put more pressure on the syrian government to carry out all its obligations fully and immediately. >> but damascus remains unmoved by the threats of the arab league. the violence continues unabated. exiled opposition leaders want the lead to start getting tough with assad. >> the arab league must know this -- while it is doing nothing, syrians are dying. the arab league is partly responsible for the bloodshed. >> ever since its founding in 1945, the arab league has been accused of being ineffective and week. for years, opposition to israel was the only factor that united its members. decisions needed unanimous backing. consensus was rarely achieved. it was considered a toothless

an arab league envoy to syria kofi annan in damascus headed his make or break hypnotic mission and then called for an immediate cease fire involving both revel's and government forces so talks could begin that was immediately rejected by syria's exiled opposition it enjoys the support of some western and arab states including cata which is call for international forces to be deployed to help end the conflict however the russian foreign minister stressed that again any interference in syria's internal affairs is unacceptable i teased a town in africa has been following lavrov is meeting with the arab league in carro . the joint statement declared that's russian the league of arab states finally agreed on a road map that russia has been suggesting for quite a while now a five point roadmap for number one is immediate cease fire and stop of violence coming from all sides of the conflict that it's impartial and free monitoring of the situation in the country point number three which is probably the most important one it russia has been meeting all this time is no external interference as a

states treat the mission of kofi anon it was very strange that two days after his first visit to damascus the opposition syrian national council claimed the mission had already failed standing definite signals to damascus to flog rate but mr in arms and we hope that other members of the security council also demand the opposition does not provoke the escalation of violence and it was greeted with mr nonce mission but you do have a differences of opinion in the u.n. on the one hand you have the united states france and britain and on the other hand you have russia and china what we're hearing from washington is that the blame for the violence in syria is firmly to be put on the shoulders of the syrian president bashar assad and his regime. calling for his resignation they say meccans days are numbered and they're upping the pressure on him to step down what russia and china are saying is that the blame in the responsibility in terms of what's happening in syria needs to be shaped between both the regime and the opposition and they saying that here any kinds of cause for machine change and

we see what they're doing in damascus. they recognize that their link will be cut to hezbollah if mr. assad falls. so we see this throughout the region. they have never gotten along that well, the iranians, with the taliban. and, yet, they're willing to help the taliban to some degree to fight us in afghanistan. and we also see their mischief in all around the world, of course where they attempted to kill an arab ambassador. this is an on going effort. it is something we have to accept as part of the scheme. and we certainly take a lot of prudent steps to maintain our own force protection. but we also see them trying to find their way in and take advantage of anything that any of these asia wakening causes that come up. they tried it in cairo. i think they were pretty well rebuff there. the iranian revolution is not being seen as an example for any of the arab nations in their awakening. so it's not completely successful. it's highly concerning. >> my time is about up. i'll ask you briefly, is all this activity in the regi

for national has more from damascus. hopes are fading already but this mission will succeed the leader of the syrian national council a turkey based opposition group recognized by e.u. as illegitimate for a percentage of the syrian people has said that anons comments and his idea to find their way out of crisis through dialogue are disappointing while syrian people he's been massacred every day here in the country but hunger you has also said that any political solution will only work in syria if it's a company by military pressure on the regime of bashar al assad calls to give more weapons to the rebels and to provide them with any help they need have become especially loud after the rebels withdraw from the baba amr neighborhood in hopes heart of the conflict following the army's operation there saudi arabia and carter have been among the most active supporters of the militarization of the conflict in syria calling the idea to arm the rebels an excellent one who recently heard a lot about foreign weapons says here in s