territory to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al jazeera joshua landis is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma he says despite their differences the kurds desperately need assistance from the syrian government. the kurds and the syrian government have had a lot in common they're forced competitors they don't want the same thing syria is hoping to reimpose its sovereignty over uppity the kurds one of course autonomy but they're in no position to make demands today as the turkish army closes in on them and has killed over thousand or so putting it's really been thrown under the bus unfortunately the united states which has defended the kurds its partners that y p g in the east of syria has refused to defend them in the west that syria has divided northern syria between

was turkomans everything east of the euphrates the united states. many beige is a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been and the united states has been giving a lot of weapons to the white now it's obviously telling a white peachy do not attack turkey with these weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything that aired or that says is going to happen that you're connected with the k.k.k. and so the united states is sitting on that kurtz and in essence is telling the white peachy you have to sacrifice your brothers in a funny way to preserve us out east of the euphrates. both samples of a medal winning a russian girl or have tested positive for the prohibited drug mill don't e m according to russian olympic officials however alexander crucial in this case says that he has never used banned substances are he's only trying to go has more from country with this official confirmation from the russian side we now understand for sure that both doping tests a and b. were positive and this is bad news fo

has been supplying a lot of weaponry to the kurds east of the euphrates when the united states first entered syria it turkey and the united states came up to an agreement that everything west euphrates was turkomans everything east of the euphrates the united states mendacious a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been in the united states it's been giving a lot of weapons to the white chick now it's obviously telling a white sheet do not attack turkey would lose weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything that your door that says is going to happen that you're connected with it and so the united states is sitting on the kurds in essence is telling them why peaches you have to sacrifice your brothers and me to preserve us out east of the euphrates on a new development to tell you about this hour a spike in violence in the eastern ghouta area close to the syrian capital damascus has provoked an outcry from the united nations it's calling for a cessation of hostilities following reports that government as strikes on the rebel held

territory to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al-jazeera joshua landis is director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma who joins us on skype from that so in italy good to see you joshua always actually going to see the kurds and the syrians fighting on the same side yes i think it will be the kurds in the syrian government had a lot in common their force i don't see they don't want the same thing syria is hoping to reimpose its sovereignty over. the kurds want to force economy but they're in no position to make demands today as the turkish army closes in on them was killed over thousand of them well let's help them make their demands will this help them get their way and considering the opposing opinions that you've just laid out for us in opposing viewpoints of what's going

to you have to sacrifice your brothers in a funny way to preserve us out east of the euphrates. both some pulls of a medal winning killer from russia have tested positive for the prohibited drug that's according to russian olympic officials alexander christian it has already stated that he's never used banned substances but the seller trying to has more from. with this official confirmation from the russian side we now understand for sure that both doping tests a and b. were positive and this is bad news for the o.a.r. team and for the entire country of course as well russian sports officials have ruled out that there was systemic consumption of dhoni and that alexander crucial need ski could have taken the drug on purpose the man himself also reacted to this by saying i have never taken any banned substances openly stating that i have never used prohibited substances or competed unfairly since i started in sports that's why i'm the person most interested to see an investigation as soon as possible the russian olympic committee is starting a comprehensive investigation of how th

has been supplying a lot of weaponry to the kurds east of the euphrates when the united states first entered syria it church in the united states came up to an agreement that everything west euphrates was turkmens everything east of the euphrates the united states many beaches a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been and the united states has been giving a lot of weapons to white egypt now it's obviously telling a lie cheat do not attack turkey would lose weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything in the air to a war that says it's going to happen that you're connected with it and so the united states is sitting on the kurds and in essence is telling them why peaches you have to sacrifice your brothers and i mean to preserve us out east of the euphrates. next we continue our look at recent discoveries from japan's official archives which shed light on the grim government run eugenics program which left thousands of people infertile over the decades that it was in force jacqueline who has their story. records of only a fractio

has been supplying a lot of weaponry to the kurds east of the euphrates when the united states first entered syria it and turkey and the united states came up to an agreement that everything west be afraid to use was turkey ends everything east of the euphrates the united states. mendacious a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been and the united states has been giving a lot of weapons to the y.p. to now it's obviously telling a white peachy do not attack turkey with these weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything that aired or that says is going to happen that you're connected with the paper and so the united states is sitting on the kurds and in essence is telling the white peachy you have to sacrifice your brothers and i mean to preserve us out east of the euphrates and a different element to this story russia's foreign ministry has said that several dozen citizens of russia another former soviet states were killed recently in syria and it's believed to have been in a u.s. airstrike and there is or would you anticipate any

has been supplying a lot of weaponry to the kurds east of the euphrates when the united states first entered syria and turkey and the united states came up to an agreement that everything west euphrates was turkomans everything east of the euphrates the united states men beige is a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been and the united states that's been giving a lot of weapons to white egypt now it's obviously telling a lie cheat do not attack turkey would lose weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything in the air to war that says is going to happen that you're connected with it and so the united states is sitting on the kurds and in essence is telling them why peaches you have to sacrifice your brothers and i mean to preserve us out east of the euphrates. meanwhile in london a flash mobs been held to show solidarity with the kurds in the african protesters fell to the ground and lay still as they were dead in protest against turkey's invasion of northern syria the demonstrators also made calls for the u.k. to stop selling we

escalated the conflict and the us has been supplying a lot of weaponry to the kurds east of the euphrates when the united states first entered syria and turkey and the united states came up to an agreement that everything west be afraid to use was turkey everything east of the euphrates the united states many beige is a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been and the united states has been giving a lot of weapons to the white now it's obviously telling a white peachy do not attack turkey with these weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything that aired a war that says is going to happen that you're connected with pay pay pay and so the united states is sitting on a kurtz and in essence is telling the white peachy you have to sacrifice your brothers and i mean to preserve us out east of the euphrates. both samples of a medal winning russian curler have tested positive for the prohibited drug mel don't e m according to russian olympic officials however alexander crew shown it says while he has never used banned substances particularly

to you have to sacrifice your brothers and me to preserve us out east of the euphrates. meanwhile the situation in another syrian hotspot is now developing violence in the eastern guta area close to the syrian capital damascus is on the rise and that's provoked an outcry from the united nations you are going to a station is calling for an end to hostilities following reports that government earth strikes on the rebel enclave killed at least one hundred people in recent days to is one of the few remaining opposition strongholds the syrian government says it strikes on the militants are in retaliate for shelling it that have killed civilians in the capital the area was among the deescalation so stop were established by the warring parties last year where across the story and of course we'll keep you right up to date with developments there. twitter shots though and hundreds of accounts of people with conservative views in the u.s. assuming they are also mated accounts from russia we'll look into that story after this. what politicians do you suppose to. put themselves on t

to you have to sacrifice your brothers and i mean to preserve us out east of the euphrates. meantime another situation in another part of syria developing a real hot spot again violence in the eastern ghouta area close to the syrian capital damascus is on the rise in fact so much so it's provoked an outcry from the united nations there were those asians calling for an end to all this still it is there at the moment following reports the government is strikes on that rebel enclave of killed at least one hundred people in recent days and a lot of violence there eastern goods there is one of the few remaining opposition strongholds now the syrian government line here is that it strikes on those militants are in retaliation for shelling attacks that have killed civilians in the capital the area was among the deescalation zones you may recall that were established by the warring parties last year but still a lot of trouble there will be across that story from the hills kicks off from there over the coming hours and days and keep abreast of it on our site r.t. dot com. next we con

cheat you have to sacrifice your brothers and i mean to preserve us out east of the euphrates. meanwhile the situation in another syrian hotspot is not developing violence in the eastern the area that is close to the syrian capital damascus is on the rise and it's provoked an outcry from the united nations the organization is calling for an end to hostilities following reports that government urge strikes on the rebel enclave killed at least one hundred people in recent days. is one of the few remaining opposition strongholds the syrian government says it strikes on the militants are in retaliation for shelling attacks that have killed civilians in the capital the area was among the deescalation zones that were established by the warring parties last year we are across the story in of course we keep me up to date with any and all developments. the. ok back to woman top stories now as some twitter users in the u.s. are seeing their accounts blocked i'm there a list of followers deleted twitter has allegedly branded some people with conservative views of balts well for more insig

is territory to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with a foreign power is who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al-jazeera the presidents of turkey and russia have discussed the african operation in a phone call turkey's recep tayyip erdogan warned of putin over the actions of the syrian government which is russia's ally or some other injury and has more from istanbul. the first batch of kurdish fighters has reached the city of free and that's according to s d f which is a u.s. backed force and these kurdish fighters have travelled from the city of aleppo this is a city which is under the control of the syrian government forces so syrian fighters have been saying that this proves their point that kurdish fighters off the by the people's protection units have been allied with the syrian government all along there is expectations that more convenience of pro-government mil

of to the east of the euphrates the kurdish why p.g. holds the areas in yellow which include the region of the green areas land controlled by the syrian opposition supported by turkey and they are advancing on africa and under the turkish operation olive branch president assad's government controls the area to the south and the i.p.g. is territory to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al-jazeera the presidents of turkey and russia have discussed the african operation and a phone call turkey's. over the actions of the syrian government which is russia's ally a sum avenge of a house more harm istanbul. the first batch of kurdish fighters has reached the city of free and that's according to s.d.f. which is a u.s. backed force and these kurdish fighters have travelled from the city of aleppo this is a city w

the nothing and nobody can stop us supplies to efren as well as members and to the east of the euphrates river the developments when set behind the scenes negotiations the details of which are unclear if the kurds are going to accept the major conditions of the syrian regime will decide on that very heavy weapons. dance artillery and rocket launchers will they be exiting the city because the syrian regime is asking syria democratic forces to exit the city and to move to the east of the euphrates the kurdish why p.g. holds the areas in yellow which include the region of the green areas land controlled by the syrian opposition supported by turkey and they are advancing on africa and under the turkish operation olive branch president assad's government controls the area to the south and the i.p.g. is territory to the east of the euphrates is where the us has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al jazeera.

is territory to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al jazeera. defense analyst specializing in turkish foreign policy for the center for economic and foreign policy studies he says the syrian government is looking to regain control of kurdish dominated areas. turkey and syria in one thousand back in one nine hundred ninety eight signed the other on the agreement which prohibits the syrian regime in all forms to support p.k. k. or its lethal organizations. if the syrian militia if the government forces if the bashar assad's forces fight alongside with y. p.g. it is a clear violation of nine hundred ninety eight of the agreement and this is truly a clear pursing a clear red line in. missional defense understanding i think the syrian regime's intentions clear goal is to replace them at least curb any kind all kurd

west of the euphrates when p.g. city of creditors early want to start and that could be an issue especially as one says it might be just sex. the consequences of this fighting between militias and turkey could be very severe why is it in president assad's interests to do this why did he's being forced to do it another way p.j. again they're looking for a guarantor they don't see one of the united states and they were betrayed by russia and iran and often when turkey started moving conducting its military operation so now they're hedging their bets they're trying to leverage captured territory in iraq and they're resorting other places with damascus in order to get down to thomas ridge you talk to so this is a this is quite an unseen dynamic was interesting also as these are arabian backed militias these are iraqi shia militias this is a lot they're moving into her and they're not going to be able to do much absent russia's help and russia's going to always stay out of this war so this should be a they just say to tu

from members and then to proceed east of euphrates all the way to the iraqi border clearly that is not something that the us. wants to happen it has not disengaged from the from the white p.g. and and frankly we're going to an impasse at the very least what can say about the tennis and trip is that he is for stall for the time being a turkish operation against members which would have put. turkish troops face to face with american troops or sick on the. operation there but the issue is not going away and and we will have to wait and see whether turkey does indeed in a sense follow through on its commitment to move against membership in a sense it may come down to a question of who needs more of those just took a more value preventing could from getting a value and alliance with the united states and indeed does the united states small value an alliance with a key middle east country at a time when it's when its influence in the middle east is on the wane. well that's precisely the question that president out of the one has been directed at washington in almost every one of his speeches

g they want east of the euphrates river and confront isis before the u.s. and its allies moved too far down the valley. now that that has been stabilized on that side of the euphrates, they see an ocportunity to clean the pts around damascus and elsewhere, and they are using tactics every bit as brutal as we saw in easteraleppo. jane: as you saywith russian support. presumably the russians could stop it. two they have that -- do they have that kind of leverage with the assad regime? >> if they were determined to stop it, perhaps, but they hav own no inclination to do so. we see this medieval siege going on in places like ghouta, butwe noill probably see the collapse of the resistance in eastern ghouta.al we will see where we may say -- we may e e a deal wherrviving fighters are allowed to go to another province such as idlib in the north, and family relief gets to civilians who have not h y much in sevears. ne: what should the u.s. policy be in syria now? >> wt it should be and what is maybe our -- are two different things the u.s. is playing a very weak ha

as if seen here, all the way down, to what we call the middle euphrates river valley. that's basically the river valley downstream to the iraqi border. we are pushing against that. as you do that, you are compacting what is left of isis. the fighting becomes tougher at that point. plus, you've got the distraction of what's going on, what's drawing off some of these democratic forces which have got about 50%. that's probably not a firm percentage. could be less, could be more. they see people under attack. that is causing their attention to shift in some cases. some of the troops have drawn off. not a significant number right now. between the concentration of isis and the distraction, you've got them fighting down the line, what we call the middle you -- euphrates river valley. >> you said it would be key to the discussion of nato. >> last august i think it was, we have rolled out a new strategy. we will start with a regional view. i was at fort benning, discussing with people who are going in. to drive them to the reconciliation table. sec. mattis: even before we got a

the us administration had promised they would pull back to the east of euphrates so the refugees wouldnever delivered... from what you are saying, the bottomline is that this is going to be a long—running operation. if you want to change the demographic, this could go on for months. it could be occupied by turkish forces for a long time and you could come up against american personnel you insist on going into the area. we have no interest in controlling a single inch of syrian territory. we have no interest. i wa nt to territory. we have no interest. i want to make that clear. we are not there on a permanent basis. we are there on a permanent basis. we are there because our national security concerns have forced us to go there. secondly we do want to see stabilisation in the region so that 3.5 billion syrians, which makes turkey the largest refugee holding country, to go back and resettle in their home and territory... with respect, this operation is much more about your fight with the kurds... we have no quarrel is with kurds. turkey was the first country to help iraqi kurds combat da

is territory to the east of the euphrates is where the us has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al-jazeera. takis president has discussed the operation in two separate phone calls with the leaders of iran and russia are shipped out of one warned me of putin over the actions of the syrian government which is russia's ally some avenge of aid has more from istanbul the first batch of kurdish fighters has reached the city of free and that's according to s.d.f. which is a u.s. backed force and these kurdish fighters have travelled from the city of aleppo this is a city which is under the control of the syrian government forces so syrian fighters have been saying that this group proves their point that kurdish fighters off the white people's protection units have been allied with the syrian government all along there is expectations that more convenience of pro-government militias not regular syrian governm

into the east of the euphrates river well our friend is part of northern syria and has an extremely complex mix of alliances with several regional and international players all involved last month the us led coalition announced it was intending to build a border security force in northern syria it would consist of thirty thousand mostly kurdish fighters who've been helping in the battle to get rid of eisel but that strained u.s. relations with turkey of course a key nato ally turkey launched an offensive to secure its border and clear a friend of the y p g the kurdish fighters it considers to be terrorists ankara says the group's an offshoot of the p.k. k. the kurdistan workers party with which turkey has been in conflict for three decades russia controls the airspace over threaten but ahead of the turkish operation it withdrew hundreds of its soldiers from near the city kurdish fighters held after in six years ago after the syrian president bashar al assad's soldiers left northern syria let's go to our guests now joining us from istanbul messmate the yangon and affiliates of the political

has been supplying a lot of weaponry to the kurds east of the euphrates when the united states first entered syria if it church in the united states came up to an agreement that everything west you priest was turbans everything east of the euphrates the united states many beers is a sore point but that's still to be decided on but that's the way it's been and the united states that's been giving a lot of weapons to the white egypt now it's obviously telling a white sheet do not attack turkey with those weapons because the moment you do that you will justify everything that erdogan says is going to happen if you're connected with it and so the united states is sitting on the kurds in essence is telling the white peach if you have to sacrifice your brothers and me to preserve us out east. meanwhile to particular areas of folks in syria the second one another hot spot developing now violence in eastern guta that's near a close to the syrian capital damascus it's on the rise there the problems it's provoked an outcry in fact so much so from the united nations the organization is calling

to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker. at least twenty seven shia fighters were killed in iraq when eisel fight is ambushed their convoy the bodies of the victims arrives in baghdad on monday eisel fighters were disguised in iraq e army uniforms and pretended to be on duty at a fake checkpoint when the attack happened on the outskirts of how we. white house says u.s. president donald trump supports improved background checks on gun purchases earlier anti gun protests to staged a demonstration outside the white house to call for gun control after wednesday's school shooting in florida seventeen students and staff members were killed by a teenager with an assault rifle in the florida city of parkland trump is to speak to survivors on the web and stay in what's been called a listening session. meanwhi

took hold of the strategically aboard oil fields north of the euphrates river is september or they had previously be deisel control forces loyal to the syrian government control the lead to the south wall for paired to good corresponded particle hades. i said at a briefing with secretary of defense jim that is he was off camera but on the record and he called what happened in syria a quote perplexing situation and he said because for years the euphrates river has been a kind of do not cross line that if the u.s. or u.s. backed forces or russian or russian backed forces were going to cross it they talk about it before and he said that didn't happen this time he said u.s. forces were embedded along with the s.d.f. and they saw tanks and artillery start rolling in and say that one shell got within five hundred meters of the s.d.f. headquarters says that is when they picked up the phone they called their russian counterparts and he says he doesn't think that the group that moved in is actually controlled by russia he called this a great success story because in his words two great powers d

led coalition near the euphrates river coalition says it was responding to an unprovoked attack on the syrian democratic forces headquarters there who are fighting the government these are some of the survivors being treated at local hospital. to france now they're out of almost two thousand known citizens who traveled to join islamic state in the middle east intelligence sources say that sixty seven came from one particularly paris suburb tried to travel there for us. a short train ride from paris is trapped on the surface there's nothing much to set it aside from the thousands of other towns in the country but you don't have to scratch very deep to see that trap is very different where you won't see any non how the butcher shops there were i think at the moment over fifteen hundred prayer rooms and five mosques if you look at people on the street you won't see couples holding hands you'll see the women are dressed in strict islamic dress. there's a lot of home schooling so you couldn't really consider trap. typical french town anymore it's a little bit like a state within the state f

is territory to the east of the euphrates is where the u.s. has military bases and personnel on the ground syria's seven year war seems to have entered a new phase with the foreign powers who have long backed different sides trying to solidify their spheres of influence stephanie decker al-jazeera. john kass apolo is a defense analyst specializing in turkish foreign policy for the center for economic and foreign policy studies he joins us now live from berlin these syrian government allied militia forces was supposed to be arriving within africa in. within hours we were told this time yesterday they're still not there what do you think is going on and what are they going to be doing when they get that. well i think international community should focus on the request to know what the syrian regime can do instead or what they will do the same as such forces we know they can operate in any part of the country but they cannot operate in all parts of the country simultaneously and now they have their hands full in east ghouta there is a huge concen

the nothing and nobody can stop us supplies to efren as well as man into the east of the euphrates river. and that is the fear that many people are afraid of what is going to happen in africa and what will be the structure of the syrian forces from syrian state media we know that it will not be regular syrian forces which will be entering our freend and which has been confirmed by the press release that the first batch of fighters are in fact goodish fighters which are backed by the syrian government and according to the release by the syrian state media it will be the popular more popular forces or forces which we knew as the regular or paramilitary forces part of the syrian government forces are going to be taking part in the operations an effort in which appears to become a really a much larger flashpoint if to direct governments get involved in and out the sama did this deal come about do we know. but in the last few days we've been hearing about these talks going on between the buy p.g. and the syrian government there were sticking points including the matter of. the ending giving u