what dyou think is erdogan's objective?emains the same, to liquidate the kurdish presence on his border, establish 20-mile deep buffer zones which would require a induced construction of the kurdish areas, where they have been able to survive for the past 10 years. further ethnic cleansing of the kurdish populations. these missions that you mention, the syrian national army, relatively disciplined compared to hds, violent criminals, unconcerned with assad but hell bent on seizing territory from the kurdish population. christian: it's a peculiar position that hundreds of thousands of kurds in syria now. under assad, there was no love lost, they had no representation, but in this new reality, the semiautonomouarea of the country they were running is now open to question. there is the risk yet again that the kurds are destabilized and end up with no say at all on the areas in which they live. >> absolutely. saddam hussein denied the kurdish identity, and now erdogan is trying to repeat the same policy. kurds, syrians have been

in turkey president erdogan. it _ happened? in turkey president erdogan. it is _ happened?an, it is a _ happened? in turkey president erdogan, it is a major - happened? in turkey president erdogan, it is a major nato - erdogan, it is a major nato country but also one that has provided help to sunni islamist fighters, and turkey backs the syrian national army which is fighting with the majority, but not exclusively kurdish sdf which is backed by the us. turkey wanted to get rid of the assad regime but that morphed into trying to prevent kurdish threats from growing including a kurdish autonomous zone on the southern border with turkey so turkey plays a significant political and military role. four years ago turkey helped to broker the stalemate in the north west, and it was the diplomacy from turkey with the assad regime that failed in that likely ended up being one of the things that paved the way for the rise in operations by hts and other groups against damascus. 50 by hts and other groups against damascus. �* , by hts and other groups against damascus-— by hts and other

president erdogan of turkey welcoming the capture of two cities.n relations. welcome to bbc news. are we seeing now turkey very much pursuing its own interests in ensuring that the syrian kurdish groups regarded as terrorists are not consolidated control so close to its border? well, the turkish government has wanted for a longtime well, the turkish government has wanted for a long time to dislodge the kurds from northern syria, and they call them terrorists, but the truth is these kurdish groups, the sdf, is allied with the united states and primarily engaged with fighting isis. for turkey, this has been an important issue because the turks are really afraid that in, especially assad syria, the kurds will get some kind of economy in syria. just like the iraqi kurds did after the gulf war. so, imagine fora moment if you have a kurdish autonomy in syria, turkey has a very large kurdish population so you can imagine for turkey advocating for similar arrangements, that is a significant threat for erdogan and the kurdish government. that's really the r

reporter: will that be the message to erdogan? antony: certainly but all the conversations are looking to bring the country together as well as beyond the region and a unified approach to supporting the syrian people as they emerge from this dictatorship. thanks. thanks, everyone. reporter: thank you. ap

partners and i wonder what your message will be for erdogan when it comes to kurdish forces who have lost territory in syria against other malicious? >> first when it comes to the 1974 cease-fire agreement with israel has said is the syrian forces that were on one side of the buffer zone abandoned the area and israel's concerned that could be vacuum filled by extremists and terrorists. they told others it's a temporary move. when it comes to actions that israel is taking the stated purpose of those actions by the israelis is to try to make sure military equipment abandoned peasant fallen is the wrong hands extremist government. we are talking with israel and talking to others about the way ahead and when it comes to turkey. on israel to support: their moe and they have gone after state access and a lot of people understand that desire that there obviously people wondering if t it's overkill. the israelis are clear about what they are doing and why they are doing it. across-the-board when it comes to many actors who have no it just in syria is important at this time we all try to make

turkey had involvement in syria for quite some time, erdogan, president erdogan of turkey would likeime, president erdogan is not friendly toward the kurds either. so, this is not straightforward. >> not at all. and all the information we have is erdogan knew about the hts offensive, knew beforehand and he was helping and he was providing them with materiel and support and he advised them not to do it. the reason he didn't want them to do it is that he thought it would create instability which would bring more refugees to the turkish side of the border. he didn't want that fallout. but they did it anyway, and because they're more successful probably than he or they thought they would be, he's now seeing the opportunity. his opportunity is to move further into northern syria, they were already holding some territory on the border, basically turkish enclaves inside syria and extending those enclaves by the look of it and he's hitting out at kurdish groups. where you have the kurdish minority who are attacking assad, you got the turkish army who are taking this opportunity to strengthen

reporter: will that be the message to erdogan? antony: certainly but all the conversations are looking to bring the country together as well as beyond the region and a unified approach to supporting the syrian people as they emerge from this dictatorship. thanks. thanks, everyone. reporter: thank you. [captions copyright >> ahead of this weekend's annual army and navy football game, watch friday on c-span, as west point and naval academy cadets debate who should receive an additional half billion dollars in funding. the debate is being judged by former joint chiefs chair mike lee melenchon a senator joe manchin and representative darrell issa and pat ryan. that is live at noon eastern. at the same time, pennsylvania's senator-elect dave mccormick, former nfl head coach bill belichick and others will discuss leadership, camaraderie and the historic rivalry between the two military branches. that's live on c-span2. it's also available on our free mobile app, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of g

he may defer to erdogan and let erdogan deal with all of the problems and isis in syria.ow that transpires. christian: it would appear that the europeans do want some involvement, though. we had a comment from the head of european affairs, saying russia and iran will not be allowed to return to syria. now we get word that the british government is sending 50 million pounds of humanitarian aid to the syrian people. they are not saying who that is going to come of it you would presume, would you not, that is going to the interim government? david: yes. a u.s. designated terror organization. listen come at the end of the day, this is a transitional government. people of syria are in great need of financial assistance, and the international community wants to be involved in one way or the other. i think there are issues of human rights, treatment of minorities, christian, jews, shiite, kurd, going forward, we do not know how that is going to pan out, but i can guarantee you it will have a chance of ending better if there is some degree of lesser involvement -- western involve

president erdogan also announced a new border crossing opening.ing to normal here in the capital. let's take a look at all the latest developments. lina sinjab has this report. hundreds of blasts like this one were seen and heard across the country. syrians left sleepless by the explosions. the syrian observatory says there have been more than 300 israeli strikes since assad was toppled. israel is also increasing its presence in the golan heights. it says it wants to protect its borders. translation: i instructed the idf to seize the bufferl zone between us and syria, and the positions controlled and adjacent here. this also includes the summit of hermon, what is called the syrian hermon. military bases and weapons storage facilities have been targeted. they don't want them to fall into the hands of islamist rebels who toppled the assad regime. but the leader of hayat tahrir al—sham, abu mohammed al—jolani, made no comment on the strikes. he is busy setting up for the new government. last night, he appointed an interim cabinet and met with the for

president erdogan has announced a new crossing will be reopened.ffensive by the rebels would not have been possible without the blessing of president erdogan. 6 million people had to flee syria and become refugees because of the war here. more than 3 million of them are in turkey. for a very long time turkey had put pressure on president assad to try to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict here to allow the return of some of those refugees. so i think there will be perhaps a push, some incentives for refugees who are now in turkey to return to syria. i was on the other side of the border in southern turkey and saw the first queues of people trying to cross into syria. people were saying they were very happy to see the fall of the regime, they were very happy with the opportunity to come back home uncertain about the future and a lot of people are saying they will wait to see what will happen next with syria, with the situation here, before they make the decision to finally come back.— to finally come back. hugo bachega, _ to finally come back

he may defer to erdogan and let erdogan deal with all the problems and isis in syria.e involvement. we heard from the head of european affairs, "russia and iran must not be allowed to return to syria", and now we get news the british government is sending £50 million in humanitarian aid to the syrian people. they will not say who that is going to but you would presume, would you not, it is going to the interim government? yes, hts, the us designated _ interim government? yes, hts, the us designated terrorist - the us designated terrorist organisation. i think at the end of the day this is a transitional government. the people of syria are in great need of financial assistance and the international community wants to be involved in one way or the other. i think there are issues of human rights, treatments of minorities, christians, jews, shi'ites, kurds, going forward, i don't know how it will play out but i can tell you there will be a chance of it ending better if there is a chance of western involvement. at the same time, i think this transitional government will rem

turkey's president erdogan welcomes the capture of two syrian towns in the north which had been under kurdish control. in damascus, the rebels who toppled the assad regime are offering rewards for information about senior security officers involved in alleged war crimes. here in the capital, life is beginning to return to normal, with workers urged to return to work and some shops reopening. we'll have all the latest in the next hour. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu testifies for the first time in his long—running corruption trial. president macron calls cross—party talks in an attempt to form a new government in france — following a historic no—confidence vote last week. the city is now under curfew. and the end of the second day of the rebel control of syria after they toppled president assad. this is a city, a capital slowly returning to normal and you can see from here, the traffic still going to the streets in the traffic was very heavy during the day here and a sign that people feel confident enough into the new order, we have asked civil servants to return to work in

and what is your message to erdogan on kurdish-backed forces. secretary blinken: when it comes to the buffer zone that came from the 1974 ceasefire, israel has said syrian forces on one side of the buffer zone abandoned the area and israel is concerned it could be filled by terrorists and moved into the buffer zone and told us that is a temporary move -- did. [indiscernible] when it comes to actions that israel is taken, the stated purpose of those actions from the israelis is to make sure that equipment that has been abandoned doesn't fall into the wrong hands, terrorists, extremists, et cetera. but we are talking and talking to israel and others about the way ahead and when it comes to turkey -- reporter: on israel, do you support that move? they have gone after a lot of state assets and people understand that desire and people wonder if that is overkill. secretary blinken: israelis have been been clear about what they are doing and why they are doing it. across the board when it comes to any actors who have real interest in syria, it is impor

and it stopped as a result of a phone conversation that he had with president erdogan. i just know that for a fact. and i believe once he's in power here, one of his early calls will likely be to erdogan. if he hasn't started talking to him already, to tell him to knock that off. what's so our audience understands his motivation. he believes if you're a kurd and you're motivated against turkey and you want to take a piece of turkey back that you believe is yours to establish kurdistan, that is not the motivation of the syrian kurds in eastern syria. their motivation is to get rid of isis and make sure that they don't rise again. but that's that's beside the point. it is a complex situation. we don't need to get involved in any consequential way in syria other than to protect our own interests and make certain that isis does not rise again in eastern syria, which they have the potential to do. >> general, thanks so much. your your knowledge is really unmatched, and i appreciate it every time you come on. god bless you, my friend. >> great talking to you and your audience

this gives actually, for president erdogan. it's good. he's got a little wild card to play with. mr. putin, if he has to. because through his influence in this regime, if he has that influence. and again, we don't know that for sure but he can, you know, turn the screws on mr. putin on those naval bases and, and, and the airfield when he wants to and so, uh, in this region, everybody is talking to everybody, all of the time at various levels so, um, there's a lot more to, to see as this unravels. >> yeah, there certainly is. and then today we saw the u.s. with those airstrikes on various isis targets within syria. we know that there are roughly 900 troops currently deployed in syria. where do you see the u.s. position here? and do you think we'll continue to see these sort of bombs and strikes like we saw today? >> well it depends on our assessment of what the strikes that we executed did 75 strikes. that's a lot of strikes. you're bringing in b-52 bombers. they can do precision strikes. they can also do, uh what is known as carpet bombing. so they can take a large area and satur

president erdogan regards kurdish militias close to his border as terrorist organisations.ht to push them back, has long been unhappy at the american backing of kurds in parts of syria. so a lot to work through there. and at the same time, antony blinken here is trying to rally support for what the americans see as their vision for the future of syria, in effect, a set of conditions to try and get a government that would be amenable to american interests in the region. the americans are trying to get turkey and also their arab partners in the region to buy into that and to agree with those conditions before they would effectively recognise a future government of syria. an american man who'd been missing sincejune has been found in syria after he was released from prison by rebels as president assad's regime fell. travis timmerman, who was found by residents near the capital damascus, said he had been arrested when he entered syria seven months ago on foot. lucy williamson reports. prisoner of the old syria. poster child for the new one. travis timmerman, an american from mi

meanwhile, the president of turkiye, recep tayyip erdogan, has called for concessions on all sides toized the northern city of aleppo in a lightning offensive last week. turkiye backs the rebels, while president assad of syria has been receiving assistance from russia and iran. the uk and the us havejointly called for de—escalation. our international editor jeremy bowen reports. the syrian regime is striking back. in the last two days, the un humanitarian office says more than 50 air strikes hit idlib, the province that is the powerhouse of the rebels. the hospital in idlib city was among several healthcare facilities targeted. the un says at least 44 civilians have been killed in airstrikes. air raids, body bags, civilians in another middle eastern country are grieving. a renewed syrian war will pour a lot more fuel on the fire that is consuming the middle east. it is the regime's response to the lightning offensive that swept up aleppo, including its ancient citadel. during years of war, the citadel was an impregnable regime fortress, but these men, from hts, took it almost without

these turkish backed forces have been used not just in syria but in of the place of work president erdogan of turkey as a foreign policy interest as well. there is what is left of the iran backed militia infrastructure which up until recently had been concentrated in the east and moving to be in the west with the assad regime and lebanese hezbollah. i want to cram in as much of the alphabet soup as we could before we get to hst, and all eyes are on the individual who led the charge. and then there is the u.s. force presence which is about 900ish located at the garrison where they have a large zone. the trump administration sought to pull out these troops and in the end it did not happen and all eyes will be on the incoming trump administration as the syrian civil war continues into a political phase. what role will the u.s. play and will it leverage the threat of a withdrawal as other actors are trying to double down. host: remind them what u.s. forces are doing their right now and what have they been doing on this drive to damascus? guest: they have essentially been sitting there. since d

i will continue those conversations with resident erdogan as we had turkey going forward.anning any actor inside or outside the country from putting their interest ahead of the syrian people, especially in this delicate moment. that includes a course isis, which no doubt will seek to regroup. as has been demonstrated, the united states is determined to prevent that happening. we also want to ensure we are doing everything possible to support those people and organisations that are working to find the thousands of disappeared people, children, women and men during the assad regime. that includes the american journalist austin tice, determined to find him and bring him home to his family. this is a moment of tremendous opportunity. because for the first time in decades, syria has an opportunity to have a government that is not dominated by a dictator like assad, that is not dominated by one religion or ethnic group, not dominated by an outside power, by isis, but is run by an answers to the syrian people, and we are determined to do everything we can working in close coordin

here are the neo-ottoman imperial ambitions of president erdogan of turkey. but but i think one thing we're seeing is the is the near collapse of of russian ability to do anything militarily drawn away from syria by the war in ukraine. what russia's interest in syria comes down to is its naval station at tardis and its air base north of north of tartus and latakia province. if the russians can make a deal with a new syrian regime and keep those bases i don't think they care that much about assad for iran, it's very different if assad and his alawite regime are replaced by sunni islamist iran is in deep trouble and its ability to support whatever's left of hezbollah, whatever the israelis haven't destroyed, and this whole opportunity for the rebels in syria, we owe to israel and we owe to israel's destruction, ongoing destruction of hamas in the gaza strip and its ongoing dismemberment of hezbollah in lebanon, the middle east is definitely changing to iran's detriment. but let's also be clear these syrian rebels, by and large, are islamists themselves. many ar

there with the forces on the ground he's got something to talk about with erdogan and mbs. he's in a critical position to help netanyahu so i think he's going to hold on to that for a while. he recognizes that when he's dealing with ukraine and georgia and so forth, the world is watching. it's not just about europe. it's about china, north korea iran. he's got some big opportunities to make some climactic changes in the middle east. if he plays his cards right, he wants to make america great again. he can't do it by just falling back into the united states, because it's not just about the united states. it's about our role in the world and i think he sees this much more clearly now than he did in 2016, 2017. >> yeah, we'll know soon enough. anyways, general wesley clark, thank you so much for being with us thank you, brianna and we'll be right back can't fool myself it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never

arrived in the us on thursday for meetings withjordan�*s king abdullah and turkey�*s recep tayyip erdogan

turkey's president erdogan welcomes the capture of two syrian towns in the north which had been underhe rebels who toppled the assad regime are offering rewards for information about senior security officers involved in alleged war crimes. here in the syrian capital, like a slowly turning to normal. the proxy of the traffic in the streets. servants were ordered to return to work today and some shops have reopened. i'll have the latest. lyse doucet in damascus, i'm get the girl removed the in london. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu testifies for the first time in his long—running corruption trial.

meanwhile the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has held talks in turkey with president erdoganition leading to an accountable and inclusive

fighters, allied with us who helped defeat isis, guarding isis prisoners, how concerned president erdoganther kurdish figures, the pkk? >> i'm very concerned. >> it appears there's a temporary ceasefire that's been put back in place until the end of the week. there's been an extraordinary amount of posturing, not just by the turkish military but by the syrian national army and supported around the town of kobani which is an ideological center and really one of the main population centers for the syrian kurds. and it's right up against the turkish borders. reports of dismantling the border wall. these are not great signs, so i think if there's an area of the united states and others ought to be pressing on, it is on this one making sure that we don't allow our kurdish partners to be overwhelmed by the turks or by their partners on the ground. >> financing me, we have only 20 seconds left. how hopeful are you of getting a ceasefire in gaza and release of the hostages given that burns is in doha and israel is saying they've agreed? >> most of the reporting is saying they're positive. keeping

erdogan has built a very strong, powerful army.t do you think of that situation? he said, they will be wiped out immediately and i moved them out because... and i took a lot of heat and do know what happened? nothing. nothing. i saved a lot of lives. now we have 900, they put some back, but 900, if you are talking about neither one of the sites have been essentially wiped out but nobody knows who the other side is but i do! you know who it is? turkey. turkey is the one behind it. he is a very smart quy' behind it. he is a very smart guy, they have wanted it for thousands of years and he got it and those people that went in are controlled by turkey and thatis in are controlled by turkey and that is ok! they know the way to fight. but i don't think i want to have our soldiers killed but i don't think that will happen now anyway because the one side's been decimated. are you concerned about more unrest — are you concerned about more unrest in — are you concerned about more unrest in that _ are you concerned about more unrest in that r

but the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan has said he hopes the syrian rebels will continue theirdner is with me now. let us start with the speed of the rebel advance on the nature of the assad regime.— of the assad regime. seria is a patchwork _ of the assad regime. seria is a patchwork of — of the assad regime. seria is a patchwork of different - patchwork of different controlled areas. it has had a bitter civil war since 2011, the government is the absolute antithesis of a democratic government, they have locked up, imprisoned and tortured tens of thousands of their own citizens. it is one of the most brutal regimes in modern history which is why there is such strong opposition to it but this conflict has been largely frozen but in the last few years. there was a sort of peace deal. the rebels, be they islamist or not have been bottled largely in the four north—east of the country. that changed at the end of november, only ten days ago when they came barrelling out to take aleppo in a surprise move and then advance south to take another city. they seem well armed, well motivate

i spoke with president aired one —— i just spoke with president erdogan of turkey to discuss the latest immediate humanitarian access to all civilians in need, and the return to the un facilitated political process to end the bloodshed. all parties are obligated under international law to protect civilians. now, this latest offensive was launched into government controlled areas by tahrir al—sham, a group sanctioned by the security council, along with a broad range of other armed opposition groups. it has led to significant shifts in the front lines, and tens of thousands of civilians are at risk in a region already on fire. joining me now is our correspondent barbara plett usher in beirut. this was a conflict that seemed to have been frozen, not really on the front page is very much because we were covering the conflict in ukraine, gaza, lebanon so much. but this really has reignited with the sudden surprise offensive by the rebels and they seem to be making real progress, don't they? making real progress, don't the ? , , , . , they? this is the second city they? this is the second cit

what is what is president erdogan's sort of long term strategy with regard to syria?>> i mean, the long term strategy is really to have a stable syria where turkey has influence, where turkey doesn't get any threats from syria, that, of course includes the kurds and how the kurds and assad and the sdf will act now hugely important. but turkey is also long term interest in syria. is, is is to have the sort of influence that some people get worried about. now it you know, the turkish politicians have been very clear about saying, you know, we respect syrian sovereignty and integrity. and so forth. but there's always been, you know historical lands in syria that some turks may feel and speeches made allied to that. but i don't think they're going to do any of that. i think they genuinely want a stable syria and hugely important to be able to return some of those 3 million syrians back to syria, a key reason that had president erdogan reach out and accept the outreach from the syrian regime of bashar al-assad was because they wanted the syrian refugees to go back. they we

turkey's president erdogan welcomes the capture of two syrian towns in the north which had been underre offering rewards for information about senior security officers involved in alleged war crimes. here in the capital, life is beginning to return to normal, with workers urged to return to work and some shops reopening. we'll have all the latest in the next hour. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu testifies for the first time in his long—running corruption trial. president macron calls cross—party talks in an attempt to form a new government in france —

the relationship between president erdogan and president putin has had its ups and downs over the yearsar... i think there was a statement from the foreign ministry today that made it clear that russia was in touch with all the main players here in this crisis. so, you would imagine the conversations are going on with turkey as well about the current situation. we have been looking at it as lines that bashar al—assad and his family reportedly given asylum, according to russia, on humanitarian grounds come in moscow, according to of the news agencies. one of the big questions of what is going on as who are these rebel fighters. frank gardner has more. syria is at a crossroads. everything now depends on us. that's the main rebel group here that's ousted assad, because this could go either way. a successful transition to a democracy of sorts or a descent into chaos. the words of their leader here, abu mohammed al—jolani, are encouraging. he says he wants a government for all syrians. so is that really what's going to happen? on the one hand, they have been trying to project a moderate and

erdogan has been clear he wants the kurds gone from this area. said, you know, i'm going to let the rebels i've been protecting for eight years in idlib led by hts, a former al qaeda franchise, i'm going to let them off the leash and go on this offensive. nobody, not turkey, not hds, and certainly not assad thought that they would blitz right into aleppo, almost without a shot being fired because the searion-arab army evaporated into the air. from there basically this thunder run into damascus in the space of, what, eight or nine days. now he's lost his regime. and even iran and russia are engaged in negotiations with hts for normalization. >> let's talk -- spend a minute on those two countries. obviously devastating blow to them what has just happened. what do you think the future for tehran and moscow is in syria? >> it's very interesting. if you look at sort of the regime propaganda from either of those countries, last week, two weeks ago, hts or the -- the genocidal terrorist organization declaring on non-sunni extremists according to iran, r

even though president erdogan has ambitions to be a regional force for stability.nough chaos in the region and there israel is watching this very closely. israel can't allow the chaos in the region to affect its security and its northern border either in lebanon or next to syria so we're several days, maybe weeks. uh hopefully not months from sorting this out. and remember, you've got people moving and trying to get out of the way of the fight so syria has been in the last ten years, a tremendous generator of migration forces and displaced people and human anguish. and this just adds to it. it's just such a tragic situation to see. >> yeah. general wesley clark, thank you very much for all of that context. really helpful. thank you. coming up amateur sleuths scouring the internet trying to find the unitedhealthcare ceo's killer. why? police say that is complicating their investigation welcome to times square that's none of my life. >> cheers i was so embarrassing. >> new year's eve live with anderson and andy. live coverage starts at eight on cnn. streaming live on

in turkey, where president erdogan is, major nato country but also a country that has provided laissezsome islamist, al qaeda fighters. turkey backs the syrian national army which is currently fighting with mostly but not exclusively kurdish forces which are backed by the u.s. turkey's initial goal with this intervention into syria was to get rid of the assad regime but that morphed into preventing kurdish candidates from growg and connecting and creating kurdish autonomous zones on the turkish southern border. turkey plays a significant military and political role. if we remember four years ago, turkiye helped broker that cease fire and that it was the regime that failed, one of the things that paved the way for the rise in operations of hts and other groups against damascus. lewis: hugely significant contributing factor. let's look at the other country here, iran. what do you make of them? >> iran and the assad regime go back many years. the islamic republic of iran has only had one state partner throughout its 45 year existence in the middle east and that has been the assad family i

erdogan in turkey, i worry is going to invade syria. have intelligence that he has many soldiers and many tanks and much equipment and many weapons right now stationed on the border between turkey and syria. and our kurd friends are afraid that mr. erdogan because of his hatred for the kurds is going to attack them. the kurds live very peacefully in northeast syria. so my message today is, president erdogan, i don't want to mess in affairs of your country, but don't do it. leave the kurds alone. leave the people of syria alone. turkey has problems now. turkey is supposed to be our friend. turkey is a member of nato. lately they haven't been acting like our friend. turkey has its own problems. the interest rates -- we think interest rates are high in america. they're close to 50% in turkey. some people think they're in a recession. their inflation is between 40% and 50%. if you invade syria and touch a hair on the head of the kurds, i'm going to ask this united states congress to do something. and our sanctions are not going to help the

arrived in the us on thursday for meetings withjordan�*s king abdullah and turkey's recep tayyip erdogandle east. the meetings are part of an effort by the biden administration to promote an inclusive syrian—led transition among neighbouring countries and avoid any additional conflicts in syria. it comes comes as syrians continue to search prisons and hospitals for news of missing loved ones who disappeared during a sad's rule. from damascus, our international editor jeremy bowen has our top story. and a warning, there are some details you might find distressing. they have to find the missing and identify the dead before they can build a new syria. 35 more bodies of men killed in prison have arrived at the mortuary, and the hospital mortuary is full. the only way to find a missing son, father, or brother is to look for yourself. translation: it is painful. - at the same time we have hope. if we find him between the bodies, anything, as long as he is not missing. we want to find something of him. we want to know what happened to him. we need an end to this. the examination room is full of

earlier today turkish president erdogan told united nations secretary general that the syrian governmentngage with its people to achieve a political solution, and added turkey was working to de—escalate tensions. barbara plett usher is in beirut. there the government did put up resistance, damascus sent reinforcements of soldiers to fight them off. and they have been fighting there over the past couple of days. but now they have managed to take the city. they have moved into hama. they have actually seized control of the prison there and released inmates. and the army said it was redeploying outside hama in order to prevent civilian casualties. so it seems to be another big retreat by the army and another big victory for the rebels. and that's really going to send shock waves through damascus. this city is on the road to damascus. and there is one other major strategic city, homs, in between hama and the capital. and the rebels have said they're going to move on to that city. let's speak to un deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for the syria crisis, david carden — who hasjust led a

turkey's president erdogan has already said there is a new reality in syria.to the rebels. i'm not sure they expected them to advance quite so far so quickly. i think he will be concerned about any increase in power or area under the control of the kurds, so for turkey, they don't want to see the kurds get any stronger and the kurds get any stronger and the kurds have taken the easternmost city, the syrian army disappeared, they vanished, so the kurds took that over. what does it mean for the region? the good news is, although they started out as jihadists, is, although they started out asjihadists, the main rebel group hts don't seem to have any ambition is to establish some kind of global transnational caliphate. they are not isis or al-qaeda. they have some pretty suspect links. they are still a proscribed terrorist organisation by many governments. the terrorist organisation by many governments.— terrorist organisation by many governments. the eu, the un, the united _ governments. the eu, the un, the united states. _ governments. the eu, the un, the united

meanwhile the us secretary of state, antony blinken, has held talks in turkey with president erdogann establishing stability in syria. officials said the two men supported a syrian—led political transition leading to an accountable and inclusive government. it comes as syrians continue to search prisons and hospitals for news of missing loved ones, who disappeared during assad's repressive rule. from damascus, our international editor jeremy bowen reports — and a warning there are some details you may find distressing. they have to find the missing and identify the dead before they can build a new syria. 35 more bodies of men killed in prison have arrived at the mortuary, and the hospital mortuary is full. the only way to find a missing son, father, or brother is to look for yourself. translation: it is painful. at the same time we have hope. even if we find him between the bodies, anything, as long as he is not missing. we want to find something of him. we want to know what happened to him. we need an end to this. the examination room is full of bodies too. if they can't be identifi

continues despite the difficulties, you know, a few days ago there was an election in istanbul and erdogan's party lost the second round. and i think this is an indication that the human rights movements, democracy movements, are still there. they're not going to be deterred. they're going we're going to win this over time. but the issue we have to ask ourselves is what can we do now in the united states? i would say i would look to the next administration if this administration isn't willing to do it, to fund human rights activists directly, fund democratic movements and peace builders who are out there trying to make peace in the trenches. and this is a philosophy of the carter center, is that we believe that people can solve their own problems if we go into partnership with them. and we recognize that it's their societies to fix, we have to do our part. we just have to fight. we have to stop waging war and we have to stop really abusing the power that we have in negative ways. that's important. we have immense power. we have to use it correctly and if we do, we will make a huge difference

onlyjust president hearder one, but that is an overriding political objective for the electorate —— erdogantary, which is one thing on the line, if this is going to happen there needs to happen on a voluntary basis, and not the refugees, the right sort of conditions have to be created within syria. 0ne element of that is security, but as important of that is obviously economic livelihood, and that is where the focus shall be going forward. thank ou ve shall be going forward. thank you very much _ shall be going forward. thank you very much for _ shall be going forward. thank you very much for your- shall be going forward. thank i you very much for your analysis of what is going on currently in syria. appreciate your time. two leading business groups have warned that the uk economy is facing a difficult start to the new year. new data suggests a lack of confidence after the budget could affect both sales and how firms operate. the government says it's delivering stability for companies. 0ur reporter esyllt carr has the latest. it was the labour government that introduced the national minimum

the secretary in his meetings with president erdogan and the foreign minister of turkey last week emphasized to them that any influence that they have with hamas now is the time to use it. i can tell thaw the foreign minister came back 24 hours later when he saw the secretary and said that they had been pushing for a deal. we know, of course, egypt and qatar, who have relationships with hamas, have been pushing hamas for a deal. we are not leaving anything -- we are pushing it hard as we know how to do at this point. we believe we can get to a deal. but again, it remainsen couple bent on hamas and israel agreeing to the final terms and getting it over the line, and i can't in good conscience stand here and tell you that's going happen, but it should happen. >> are you going to continue to expel all russian troops perhaps contingent to lifting sanctioneds as we heard from the e.u.? >> i'm not going to get into the conversations we had with them. ultimately, as you heard me say last week, the disposition of those two russian bases inside syria is a matter for the syrian people to decide. but w

the erdogan was daniel eck, the spotify founder. a mixture of european and american investors. they have a deal with saab to work on the euro jet fighter and they have made deals with airbus and drone manufacturers. we have not seen a clear demonstration of the products. a lot of it has been bespoke a ideals and working on command and control software and making weapons more intelligent and more autonomous. this is the first time we will see something they produced go into the battlefield. they have not shared anything about revenue or profits. we know they have raised nearly $1 billion to date. caroline: we will see how it performs when we get that information. brilliant story, thank you. coming up, tiktok with mitchell green. this is "bloomberg technology." ♪ what does a good investment opportunity look like? at t. rowe price we let curiosity light the way. asking smart questions about opportunities like clean water. and what promising new treatment advances can make a new tomorrow possible. better questions. better outcomes. caro

there's a long lines of sons-in-law to mussolini with his son-in-law as foreign minister, to erdogang his sons-in-law, and now we have fathers-in-law and other hangers on. and including elon musk in the inner circle, authoritarians make inner sanctums, a blend of sycophants, people not elected or chosen but like musk, they're there anyway and often have more authority and more power than the people who were actually chosen and got official confirmation. they keep the secrets. if there's corruption, they're part of it, they get the spoils. and what trump is assembling, this governance structure, the frame is less democracy around the world than autocracy. >> how alarmed are you that christopher wray opted to resign from a job with a ten-year tenure, term? he's seven years in and on theed to resign rather than be fired by donald trump. does that raise alarm bells? >> it does. the whole point of the ten-year term is for the independence of the fbi, it's not changed at the whimz of a president, can't be politicized. and the fbi is an intelligence bureau, stands for cases built through em

i was just speaking with a leader of the turkish opposition, interestingly, you know, to erdogan forrs. i asked him about christopher wray resigning. i asked him about, you know, what do you think about this debate that's happening in washington? he was uncategorical, which is interesting. he said, don't do it. don't obey. fight as long as you can. don't resign until you absolutely have to. i just thought it was really interesting that that was the perspective of someone who has been resisting erdogan's authoritarian moment for a long time in turkey. >> yeah, a very important moment and an important piece.glasser yorker," thank you. it's an important piece, and we'll be reading it this morning. dana, it seems different than the aftermath 206916 16 electio least so far, in terms of the lack of protest at home and overseas. do you see things that could change that? domestically, some democrats think if trump were to follow through with the mass deportation plan, that might be the spark that changes things. what do you think? >> well, i agree with what susan was saying about this exhaus