. >> deborah haynes, thank you so much. prime minister mohammad ghazi al-jalali has been speaking this morning. he says i am here in my home, i have not lifted and i do not intend to leave except in a peaceful manner that ensures the continued functioning of public institutions and state facilities, promoting security and assurance for our fellow citizens. he goes on to say i hope everyone will think rationally and consider their country. we extend our hand even to the opponents who have reached out and affirmed that they have not harmed any individual belonging to this syrian homeland. he goes on to say we believe that syrian -- syria belongs to all syrians and that all of its citizens in this country can be a normal state, one that builds good relations since -- with its neighbors without entering into alliances or blocks. this matter is left to any leadership chosen by the syrian people and we are ready to cooperate with them by providing all possible facilitation. joining me now from georgia, sonny mohammed, head of pol

let's go live to our security and defense editor deborah haynes for the bigger picture here. who are the big players that will be watching this and what will their next move be? mainly russia and iran. >> they will both be watching what has happened with horror. there have been reports that iran has been pulling out its military commanders over the past few days in the wake of this rapid rebel advance. iran and russia were both absolutely instrumental in propping up the regime from 2011 when you will remember the uprising, a peaceful uprising first began inside syria calling for change, calling for a and two a regime that ruled with such brutality for so long even back then. it was part of that wider arab spring that started and you saw it move into egypt. it exploded across libya and also in syria and yet in response to the uprising in syria the asad regime cracked down with absolute brutality. you will remember they even resorted to using chemical weapons against its people. they used barrel bombs. there was absolute carnage across places. huge swathes of the city reduced t