to talk more about itiam eastern goutah. the middle east programme director at crisis group. thank you rejoining us. let's get back to basics — can you explain why eastern ghouta is such a key battle ground? well, it is because the area is a suburb of damascus, is century. and it has been rebel—held from pretty much the beginning of the syrian uprising against the regime. and since the regime has been able to recover quite a bit of territory elsewhere in the country, and since the rebels have been shelling downtown damascus from their vantage point in the suburb, the regime clearly has decided now to retake that area now that it has freed up its troops in other parts of the country. so, we have 1000 civilians deadin country. so, we have 1000 civilians dead in the past few weeks, including 200 children — what will happen now to the civilians who are still left in the router and also the rebels who are still there?m isa the rebels who are still there?m is a good question. we don't know. the pressure is clearly tremendous. there

syrian state media has shown troops in side a small town in the centre of eastern goutah.that it has fallen and says it has beaten back army units, but if this place is in government hands than the on clive wood in effect be divided in half, following a trident tested pattern which pro—government forces have used across syria to force the surrender of verbal holdouts. both of the main rebel forces have vowed to continue fighting, but the battle may have reached a turning point. japanese officials have issued warnings after a series of eruptions from a volcano in southern japan. experts say that the violent eruptions at mount shin—moe—dake, onjapan‘s kyushu island, will probably continue for several months. the vibrations have caused buildings to shake over a wide area. talks have been taking place in brussels between european union and us trade representatives, over president trump's plans to impose higher tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. the eu described the discussions as frank, but said it wasn't clear whether europe would be exempt from the proposals. further ta